The working table

Leaf art on the drawing board: the first stage of several Leaves of Absence archival pigment prints. The Eucalyptus leaves are pressed, coated with clear sealer and the images drawn on with Winsor and Newton pigment markers.

The markers have become an indispensable part of this project, and, as a Winsor and Newton Global Ambassador, I'm very fortunate to have had access to them before their official Australian release in early July (more about this nearer the time).

Scarab Beetle Woman

Inspired by the splendid scarab beetle, a new painting is penciled in: Scarab Beetle Woman, pictured below with my primary source material, a superbly illustrated feature on scarabs in a vintage copy of National Geographic, unearthed at the local thrift shop in Abbotsford:

Further developmental views, concluding with the completed work: 

Work in progress accompanied by a favourite reference book that says it all

Scarab Beetle Woman alongside an illustration from the same issue of National Geographic

- an enlarged, rarely seen frontal view of the spectacular Chrysina macropus 

Completed Scarab Beetle Woman, 2016, acrylic on wood, 32 x 30 cm.

More Eventidings

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I'm unable to attend today's opening of Eventide at Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, so I'm very grateful for the partial installation view below, which MPRG curator Gary Lacy has forwarded via Eventide curator Rona Green.

Thanks also to Rona for the photograph of the work I made for Eventide: Cossodes lyonetii Moth Woman (2016, linocut, 32 x 30 cm, printed by Bill Young and hand coloured by me). Photo credit: Tim Gresham.

Finally, a view of the working table at Moth Woman Press, showing early stages of The Enchanted Hair Ornaments, the second of two mini-zines I made to coincide with the exhibition. Both mini-zines and my book, There was once... The collected fairy tales, are now on display in the shop at Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, where they will remain for the remainder of the show. To see the finished mini-zine, visit Moth Woman Press HERE.

Eventide will be officially launched at 4.00 this afternoon and the exhibition runs until 3 July. For further information, scroll down to previous post.

An Invitation to Eventide

The group exhibition/print exchange Eventide opens today at Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery. Curated by Rona Green, it celebrates the diverse art of the relief print.

In a modest celebration of my own, I've made two mini-zines that relate to the exhibition's theme and the linocut I made for the show. The first of these is The Story of the Moth Masks. The zine and its sister zine, The Enchanted Hair Ornaments, will be available in the gallery shop during the exhibition's run. The shop is also stocking my fairy tale book, There was once... the complete fairy tales. For more about The Story of the Moth Masks mini-zine, visit Moth Woman Press HERE.

Sadly, I won't be able to make the opening event tomorrow, but on 26 June I'll be giving a talk at MPRG along with fellow Eventide artist Euan Heng and curator/exhibiting artist Rona Green. (More about this in a future post).

Exhibition dates are 13 May-3 July. For complete details, see the invitation above. (Image on the invitation is by Rhyl Plant).

'Elemental' opens in Adelaide

On 10 April the Goldfields Printmakers exhibition Elemental completed a successful run at the Visual Arts Centre, La Trobe University, Bendigo. It has since journeyed to South Australia and is now set to open at Light Square Gallery, Adelaide College of the Arts tomorrow evening, 12 May, from 6-8pm. The show includes six of my archival pigment prints from the Leaves of Absence series.

Deborah Klein, Leaves of Absence, 2016, archival pigment prints. Installation view, Visual Arts Centre,
 Latrobe University, Bendigo, February 2016.

Vicki Reynolds, Studio Head, Printmaking, Adelaide College of the Arts, Adjunct Lecturer, School of Humanities and Creative Arts Faculty of Education, Humanities and Law, Flinders University will launch the show. If you are in town, do call in, either for a celebratory drink on opening night, or during the show's run.

Elemental is part of the Print Council of Australia's Year of Print, commemorating 50 years of the Print Council of Australia. 

The exhibition concludes on 2 June.

KROM: SONGS FROM THE NOIR & THE MEKONG HEART

Poster for the documentary. Click on image to enlarge.

In recent weeks one of my early drawings, Virginia Woolf and the Lighthouse (1992) was used as the basis for the cover art of Mekong Delta Blues, the latest CD by those superb Cambodian-based musicians known collectively as Krom. The drawing has also been used on the poster for a new documentary about the group, KROM: SONGS FROM THE NOIR AND THE MEKONG HEART. Layout for both the poster and CD cover are by Anya Minko.

On May 4 a special release of the movie was launched on You Tube.

You can watch KROM: SONGS FROM THE NOIR AND THE MEKONG HEART at the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hls2dD_kqPM

KROM's new album, Mekong Delta Blues is released on the MUSIK and FILM label and is available through AMAZON.

Here are some early responses:

Krom’s music is gut twisting songs connected to something profound, night time whispers, raw and real.

Roland Joffe, Director, The Killing Fields and The Mission

'...a triumph.......delighted to say, the  new album from Cambodian band KROM is a cracker....It's stunning...beautifully performed, mixed and produced... Cambodian C+W soul...marvellous...'

Mark Coles, The Shed, BBC radio

This is a highly emotive story about a remarkable group of talented people who have created a new genre: Mekong Delta Blues. Through their haunting fusion of traditional Cambodian folk and 'in your face' noir blues comes this wonderful album. In their unique way they paint the beauty of an ancient region in a modern and enticing manner. Their music highlights the deep rooted anguish of Cambodia's past, preserving almost extinguished Khmer melodies and raising awareness of the plight of disadvantaged and exploited women in the immiscible cauldron of humanity that is Phnom Penh. They are Krom...

Chris Catto-Smith

For more about Krom, see Blog Post Tuesday, 12 April, 2016.

Krom's Facebook Page (Christopher Minko/Mekong Sessions Krom) is here:

https://mobile.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001272020782&tsid=0.4106789075303823&source=typeahead

Sister Act

Sister Act (2000, colour linocut on Japanese mending tissue stitched onto brown oriental paper, 63 X 74 cm, ed. 15)

Before the last two prints but one from the edition of Sister Act go their new homes today, some assembly is required. As I hand-stitch the top corners, I ruefully recall that I failed sewing in high school and bless the person who invented needle threaders. 

Details of Sister Act. The image on the right shows the backing sheet that is integral to the work. Japanese mending tissue is
translucent. The brown oriental paper serves to highlight the white printed layer, which would otherwise be almost invisible
against the white areas of the mending tissue; it also lends a sense of depth to the work.