I didn't think I would spend all day editing images to launch my bigcartel shop again!!!! http://katiealleva.bigcartel.com/
But there you go~ it has been laying dormant for most of the year due to settling into a new teaching job and moving to a new town. The reality of doing the work that I do is that most of it takes a long time not only to create, but to consolidate it (i.e. getting the work ready for hanging, sealing it with archival lacquer etc), photographing, editing in Photoshop, getting my head around all the interfaces I work with when loading content onto my website and shop, buying more art supplies, experimenting with new ideas, finding the time to blog, to promote through social media and the list keeps growing! Sometimes it is hard to keep up.
I have really enjoyed worked with paper (yet again) this year and have some very special pieces that have been sitting for most of winter in piles. Layered on top of one another. At the beginning of the year I found myself with more time and space to create and that's when these beauties were made. Moving to the coast for the first time in my life really resonated with me and influenced my choice of colour palette. I was found a new found love of immersing myself in the ocean. Even though I have lived within the Northern Rivers for the last ten years I have never lived this close to the beach.
That feeling was back. My childhood experiences of being quite the water baby were reconnecting with my present wateriness. What is it about water that calms and soothes and takes us to that quiet moment within ourselves? Recently I was investigating the meaning of words associated with 'water' and 'blues' and I came across the word 'Acqua' which means water in Italian. The name fit so well with my change in my practice due to moving to a new place yet again. (Can I tell you something? I have moved about nine times in the eleven years I have lived on the North Coast. Perhaps this is the reason for the constant fluctuations in my practice as I am always influenced my immediate environment?)
There is something about my new series called 'ACQUA'. I have a profound love for it. I think it is the abstract nature of the picture plane and those colours; the blues, greys, blacks, whites and splashes of red are in perfect harmony. When I love a work, I hang on to it. Like I said Acqua has been nestled in a dark paper pile in my studio all year and I am willing to part with it. You should see it in the flesh. Its surface is not dissimilar to velvet. The paper has transformed to become this porthole to a mysterious watery world.
Deep. Emotional. Solitude. Acqua is all about those cravings we have for the ocean experience, for our heads to be immersed in water on a hot Summers day and our spirits to be cooled by its gentle affectionate waves.
The SHOP.
It feels good to be back online. I have put in a lot of effort to bring my own shop to you. Sometimes I wonder where all my new work will go? How do I get it out there? How do I get more people to see it? Markets? Let's face it, its market central out there at present. Exhibitions? Hmmmm. Well. Nothing yet. I hope to show somewhere in Mullumbimby next year. The ideas are unfolding, but more about that later.
So here is a good opportunity to buy direct from me and support an artist who loves to create. Those of you who know me well, know that this has been a life long passion and I have put in a lot of time over the years both as a practising artist, and educator.
I have a lot of things on the go at once, and work through a long list of things to do, whilst I manage my day job (as part time high school teacher), look after my little 3 and a half year old and attempt to clean the house, wash clothes, cook dinner and make sure the pantry is stocked. Occasionally I detour from food shopping and head straight to the art supply shop and sneakily purchase a new canvas or paint colour. Recently I found these awesome circle canvases. Stay tuned these will be loaded up on the shop next!
I absolutely miss my press and here's why; it has been under the back patio in our tenant's area and I haven't had access to it. It is safe and I guess it's feeling a bit lonely too. On that long list of things I said I have to do is: move the press - invite 4 men over! When I eventually get to that dot point, I will be back into printmaking again.
Please know that if you buy one of my pieces you are buying something I can't replicate. I need to move on and don't wish to pigeon hole myself. (In case you are wondering why I work in so many mediums and styles!). I will wrap and package the work/s beautifully, and sometimes I pop in a free print or gift. So I encourage you to purchase from my shop and if you have read this far and are one of the first 5 customers to purchase from my shop I will add a free gift to the value of $20.
Thanks for stopping by.
Happy shopping. X kt X