Rusted Veins Jewellery and Design

Finally got round to setting up a Facebook site for my jewellery range- Rusted Veins
Check it out and give it a like! https://www.facebook.com/rustedveins

Tattoo Heaven

Trying my hand at tattoo designs. Been drawing up this baby for a friend recently. Still got a little way to go, but I've been having loads of fun with it.

Quick Ink

Got to do a little doodling in my new handmade journal today.

Earthbound

Market Day Rewards

Spent the day over in the gorgeous little coastal town of Raglan today at their monthly Arts and Crafts Fair. The main purpose of the visit was to promote my art and to sell prints/jewellery, but I ended up meeting a bunch of random, cool people (mainly other stall holders) and picked up a couple of goodies that I thought I would share with you.

Got my hands on some lovely new stones including Opalite (currently my favourite stone), Citrine, Crystal Quartz, and Aquamarine. Now, I'm impatiently waiting to get my hands on some wire so that I can turn them into necklaces and re-home them.

Also found this super cool, hand-made journal. Not only is the marble paper cover and ribbon finish gorgeous, but all the pages are stained with coffee so it smells delicious too.

Makeshift Studio

Getting some painting done (finally). Too bad my "studio" at the current time is situated on the floor of the garage. Still, feels good to be surrounded by paint fumes, palettes, and the sixth season of Dexter to keep me company.

A Perfect Afternoon For A Photo Shoot

Made the most of the sunny weather this afternoon and spent some time with my favourite photographer and friend Josiah Clark (the man behind Snodge Films and Photography) taking some product photos of my new line of wire wrapped stone/crystal necklaces and dream catchers. Got the the lovely Kate Gascoigne to model some of the necklaces, and the hair braids I'm planning on starting to do at my market stalls.

In the process of setting up an Etsy Store right now, so that my stock is available online. But for now, if you are interesting in purchasing a necklace, dream catcher, or art print, mail me at lara.brock@hotmail.co.nz, or through Facebook for prices and availability.

 

 

Adventure Timing

Getting my late night fix of Adventure Time. There's nothing like watching a show that really shouldn't be on kids tv and was probably written under the influence of various drugs, to get the creative juices flowing.

Pencil To Paper

New sketches that I've currently been working on. Feels so good to finally be getting pencil to paper again.

Next step (in my productivity crusade) ; to spend some quality time with paintbrush and canvas. With a couple of commissions and some super exciting new ideas for my personal work just about spilling out of my head, I don't it going to be a particularly hard task

The Miracle of Productivity

After a few weeks of what can only come under the category of 'laziness' or 'procrastination', I seem to have finally found my groove again (or more like it has found me). During the time period which my motivation and drive seemed to take an unexpected hiatus, it has now done its time wandering and come back home. Not only have I begun organizing myself for stalls at multiple markets and festivals this summer, but I have completed a new commission sketch, am racing through an oil painting, and my brain is practically exploding with ideas for new projects, drawings and paintings.

Even got to stop by the local art supply store Gordon Harris to pick up some new goodies which I will soon be putting to plenty of work. Good things are on the way.

Business Ventures : Market Day Prep

Besides a few commissioned artworks that I've undertaken recently, the work production front has been unproductive to say the least. There are so many cool ideas floating around my head, but at the moment they have had to take second place to my list of things to get sorted in order to be ready for my stall on Sunday morning.

Spent the early early hours of this morning watching recorded tv and packaging up all the art prints that Cambridge Graphics and Print did up for me earlier in the week. Very tiring process, but it will be worth giving each artwork that little bit of protection.

The Wonders of Windy Wellington

Set out on a 6 and a half hour drive down the North Island to Wellington last weekend, in order to attend an interview as part of the application process into the Bachelor of Fine Arts program at Massey University.
After an array of stop offs, disappointing milkshakes, plenty of caffeine, and a gorgeous sunset, we made it surprisingly comfortably into the welcoming arms of the Windy City.

Wellington has held me captivated with every visit, and this time was no exception. There's just something magical about the ruggard hillside speckled with rickety old houses and winding roads disappearing around hairpin corners -vehicles haphazardly parked on makeshift carports jutting from the side of a cliff face. The center of town is always bustling with such interesting individuals- from the suit and tie businessmen, to the jeans and t shirt shopper and the horrendously clashing prints and top hat busker on the corner. Its a city with such an amazing sense of character that draws you in and steals you're heart without you even realising.

As well as getting an in depth insiders view into the Fine Arts Campus, (and a particularly short interview), I managed to case out a few quirky cafes, wander through countless racks of gorgeous clothes, and catch up with a couple of really good friends who moved down at the beginning of the year to begin their own endeavors into tertiary study.

Unfortunately I was not in possession of a camera whilst amid the cultural commotion that only a city like Wellington can produce, but I did manage to get a few shots on the journey out through the hills, coast and Desert Road to share with you just a tiny bit of my lovely little excursion from reality.

Tumbling

Had a play around, customizing my Tumblr format recently. I am now considerably happier with the layout and style now. http://aesthetic-explorations.tumblr.com/

Creative Endeavors

Apologies for being a little on the quiet side lately. As you would all know, life has a way of filling your life with time consuming activities, and consequently we end up left with little time for the all the extra things we want to do.

Fortunately though, the activities filling my time at the moment are one that still feed my creative hunger. I’ve been spending quite a bit of time branching into different areas of the arts and crafts industry, developing my skills a few other areas.

This includes;

• ·         Starting a few commissioned drawings for some extra dollars to put towards a flash new camera. Obtaining said new camera will hopefully help push me into developing my skills in photography so that I can start taking pictures of my own to draw from rather than relying on the internet to provide the setups that I want.

• ·         Creating a small range of product to sell in the local monthly market. Been spending time making some custom jewellery pieces and researching ways to produce fine art and t-shirt prints which is super fun and exciting to work on.

• ·         And working relatively full time at a local café (not exactly pushing I know, but definitely beneficial to fund my artistic endeavors) 

Testing colours

 

Had a decent play around with colours, and colour combinations at my oil painting class on Tuesday morning. Managed to get paint EVERYWHERE (as per usual), but came out with some test paper and trials that I'm pretty happy with. Can't wait to start on some bigger pictures!

TED: Simon Sinek

This is the video that inspired my last blog post (which is only just an offset of a thought sparked at the very beginning of the speech)

Seriously, I recommend you watch. Such an aspiring speaker and his ideas can be applied to many shapes and forms of life

Why Do You Get Out Of Bed In The Morning?

Watching a TED talk recently (in attempt to find inspiration to write my artists statement) the speaker, Simon Sinek, raised a point that while simple, profoundly hit home in my mind.

That question was "Why do you get out of bed in the morning?"

He talks about the fact that most people know what they do, and how they do it, but very few people can explain why.
So when posed with the question- Why do I get out of the bed in the morning? -my reasoning descended from confidence to confusion incredibly quickly.

We all know that we awake from our slumber in the general hours we consider to be morning. We go about our day and then go to sleep at night. Any behaviour that doesn't conform to the cycle is considered 'unusual'. But WHY?
Because we're told to do so? Because its what we've always done? Because it's what everyone else does? Because getting up in the morning serves a purpose (to our lives or to others)?

Sure, if you delve deeper into the question you can come up with logical answers of how our ancestors had to make use of the daylight hours to hunt and gather. Its just human nature. Its in our DNA.
But this information is no longer relevant to our modern lives of technological advancements and non existent socialization constraints. We possess the capabilities to get whatever we what, whenever we want. Our habitual waking routine serves no fundamental benefits to us. It has it become a societal ritual that we have never bothered questioning. You could probably spend the entire day in bed, and still have access to all your daily needs and desires.

So the question now turns to what purpose does getting out of bed really serve? What are you doing in your day that is any different to what you did yesterday? Or the day before that? (which "conforming to predetermined behavioural cycles" is by all means, a legitimate answer)

So I'm curious to know- Why do YOU get out of bed in the morning?

New Pathways: Illustration

While I love drawing 'realistic' pictures, I've been feeling a need to explore a more creative approach to drawing- so I've been working on a new style of sorts that lets me be a little more expressive with my (cliche) hippie side. I've found a few super inspiring artists to follow and study and quite unexpectedly developed my own kind of style in the process.

It has been super fun playing around with ideas and developing techniques in this style. I also feel that it opens so many more doors for me in the creative industry (and in such a competitive industry it never hurts to have different options available to you).

I look forward to being able to show you more work like this in the future.

Exciting News Of the Art Competition Kind

About 6pm on Monday I opened up my emails to check on the array of email subscriptions (I've found that signing up to the weekly newsletters of sites like ArtBiz and EmptyEasel super helpful to both the creative development of my work, but also the more 'business-y' side of things as well), and to my delight, saw an email informing me that the painting I had entered into the WSA National Youth Art Awards had been selected as a finalist.

Needless to say I was stoked.

From Friday 27^th September, until Monday 28^th October there will be a gallery exhibition at the ArtsPost Gallery - 120 Victoria Street, Hamilton, New Zealand - showcasing all the finalists work ranging in ages between 15 and 27 years. If you're in the neighbourhood, I highly advise for you to pop in and check it out.

Untitled
Acrylic Paint on Canvas
24”x24”

ArtsPost Gallery, Hamilton, NZ

A Point To Remember

I recently stumbled across the poetry of Charles Bukowski in my endless internet endeavours. The name was one that I recognized, but the work associated with it was an unfamiliar territory.
Whilst reading through a collection of his works, "Upon Reading A Critical Review" was one poem that really stood out to me. Quite often as an artist, even before you have finished one piece/body of work and idea, you have already moved on to the next thing to capture your attention. This can cause varying amounts of frustration when all other people can see is the older, decaying ideas that no longer spur your artistic capabilities. All you want to do is show them the inside of your brain, to say "Look! Look how many better ideas are to come", when they get caught up in things no longer relevant to you or the art you are producing.
To me, this poem captures that sense of creative progression in a very simple, but powerful and clever way.

upon reading a critical review
by charles bukowski  

it's difficult to accept
and you look around the room
for the person they are talking
about. 

he's not there
he's not here.
he's gone.

by the time they get your book you
are no longer your 
book.
you are on the next page,
the next
book.

and worse,
they don't even get the old books right.
you are given credit for things you don't 
deserve, for insights that aren't 
there. 

people read themselves into books, altering
what they need and discarding what they
don't.

good critics are as rare as good
writers.
and whether I get a good review or a
bad one
I take neither
seriously.

I am on the next page.
the next book.

"F nish Th s B k": An Adventure Of Sorts

 
Got my hands on this little gem today. "F nish Th s B  k" by Keri Smith is an interactive book that allows you to write all over it, and has an array of instructive steps and activities that you must complete in order to ‘finish’ the book (as the title so aptly states). Its a great tool to harness you sense of adventure and creativity. I’m having so much fun with it already.

A Spot of Sunshine

Have to say, I've been busy dreaming of the summer months (and all their glory) quite a bit recently with all this cold, cloudy weather lurking around. Just thinking about sunshine, sand, ice cream, bikini's and temperatures that could actually be classified as warm is like emotional torture, seeing as summer still seems so far away.

With all that daydreaming I chanced upon this pair of uber-cool Sunflower Harem Pants recently from Sabo Skirt. (Don't you love it when a great fashion find coincides with a moments thoughts!) These pant are the perfect little number to see in the warmer months. They're classy and casual, and not to mention super fun. I may also have a slight bias considering the fact that sunflowers are my favourite type of flower. But, in any case, I have to have these ASAP.