Friday 24 January 2014

Carparks and Street Art

On Wednesday evening, while roaming around Hamilton Central with a couple of mates taking photos and getting kicked out of private car parks, I came across a piece of street art that I'm astounded I never knew was there.
Not only is it a bright, attention grabbing piece, but a collaboration from my all time favourite street artist Shida and NZ street artist Eno. Hidden in plain sight! (although my lack of attention to the Hamilton Street Art Scene probably has a small part to play as well).

I wish I could tell you what street it was off, but i can't remember where exactly it was that we wandered from in order to find this, but I visit again I will take a note for anyone who is interested.

After a well needed stalking of Shida's Flickr page, I have discovered that this, in fact is not the only piece from the street artist in the Tron. Will have to go on a mission to find the others asap.





(Please excuse the cruddy photo quality. They were taken on my phone's camera and that's about as flash as it gets. If you want to see a better quality photo click here)




Saturday 18 January 2014

In The Wake Of Creative Advances

As any artist would know, not everything you create makes it into the big wide world. A lot of the time, pieces of art remain unfinished due to loss of interest, or just isn't going in a direction you want to continue moving. So they get pushed to the side of the room to become instruments to your progression in other area of your work.

I though today I'd give you a little inside look at a few pieces that didn't quite make it, some random unfinished sketches and a few works that still have potential but are not quite what I'm inspired to be working on right now.



This was one that I had big plans for. but ended up losing interest part way through. I have a feeling it was around the time I discover just how much I loved playing with oil paints, and the acrylic paint just wasn't taking me any further in this piece. I still have hopes to pick up where I left off with this one though.



One of my experimental oil paintings. Went into this one with no plan, and no expectations of an outcome. The only process I had was to play and expand my skills and techniques with oil paints while I was still under the watchful eye of my oil painting tutor Jane at the WSA School of Arts. I doubt this piece of work will ever be finished.



An illustration I was planning on using in my 'Cosmos Collection'. This one is of Mercury, and would have been the first one of the series, but there's something about it that bugs me. But who knows, I may still be able to salvage it and save myself from creating a whole other image.



A painting I started, but again just lost interest and never found the passion for again.



A large acrylic and spray paint work that I was using for experimental purposes, but was actually coming along really well until I made a few rough decisions, and went a little overboard with the spray paint. A good little lesson in the fact that there is such a thing as too much paint, and not to rush.





The last three are drawings I started when I was hanging around waiting for planes/taxis during my trip to Hawaii mid July. Was planning on finishing them and doing more with them, possible a painting or large sketch, but never really got around to it.



Tuesday 14 January 2014

Copper Hearts/Black Magic on Etsy

Recently got my mate Josiah Clark (https://www.facebook.com/josiahclarkphotography) to do a bit of a product/modeled photo shoot with my new range of jewellery Rusted Veins. I've been focusing a lot more on two specific ranges for my jewellery label recently, and here are a few killer shots Josiah got for me (modeled photos to come soon)
Available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/nz/shop/RustedVeins









Above are some of the pieces from the "Copper Hearts" Collection. Aspects of this collection include the obvious visual characteristics of the copper wire and chain used, light, ethereal impressions, and vibrant earthy tones.

Another collection is titled "Black Hearts". It captures more of a rough, grunge feeling with strong characteristics, and the use of black wire gives a darker, rawer finish. The photo above is from the shoot the other day. The two below are from a previous product shoot, also shot by my friend Josiah, which I blogged about here.




Friday 10 January 2014

A Case of Green Fingers

For a long time, I've wanted to spruce up my room with a bit of the outdoors. Unfortunately for me, I have a habit of starting all sorts of big plans and ideas and always end up a little bored. Any plants that I would have bought, would undoubtedly lasted about as far as my attention span reaches (which trust me, is not far). As pretty as pot of flowers would have looked sitting at my desk-no doubt inspiring jaw dropping drawings and ideas-a wilted heap of leaves and soggy dirt doesn't quite induce the same effect.

So today, I acted upon a solution and bought a range of low cost, low maintenance baby cacti. Found an assortment of jars, pots, glasses, and bowls to plant them in and got to work making them look pretty. Some of them are just so gorgeous, and I'm so happy with the result. And they're practically impossible to under feed! They're a perfect little addition to my creative work space.





Wednesday 8 January 2014

Business Plans

Not only have I set up an Etsy Store for you to purchase my handmade necklaces and dream catchers (http://www.etsy.com/nz/shop/RustedVeins), but I have also managed to get my shit together for the time being and set up a site which you can buy my more popular art prints from as well -> http://larabrock.bigcartel.com/

For the moment I'm only doing orders for NZ and Australia, but if you are from further abroad and are interested in buying a print, the please email me! I'm still more than willing to work something out just for you.