Artwork homecoming...

My work finally made it home from the gallery in Gore today - they've done a wee bit of travelling to get here!!! That means that I finally have all my pieces sorted for the NZ Art Guild South Island Members exhibition next month - YAY. Now I just have to package and post the last 4 pieces up. Here's the 2 pieces that came back today:

"Stairway to Heaven"
Acrylic
610mm x 910mm
$995

"Bananarama"
Acrylic
610 x 455 mm
$550

The first piece is destined for the exhibition, the second piece has now been sold - if you are interested in purchasing "Stairway to Heaven" or getting something made to suit your colour scheme/budget please email me: tanya_dann@xtra.co.nz (prices are in NZD and exclude postage. Layby available)

Latest Work

This is my latest piece - finished last night for the NZ Art Guild Masters Month Challenge. This months theme is Rene Magritte.

I've taken Magritte's Painting "the six elements" and where he had 6 different imaged in his own styles I have painted 6 images of my last 6 series of work. (Painting Link http://www.galleryofart.us/Rene_Magritte/magritte+1928+the+six+elements.jpg.html)

"Elements of Tanya"

Mixed Media
300 x 225 mm
Not For Sale

Edinburgh Realty Premier Art Awards

I got my acceptance letter in the mail today YAY!!!

When: 2nd - 31st August 2008

Where : Otago Arts Society, First Floor, Dunedin Railway Station, Anzac Square, Dunedin

Opening Evening Friday 1st August (invite only) where winners will be announced.

This is my entry:

"Jealous Streak"
Acrylic
750 x 250 mm
$399

Origami Jewellery

I've been working on a range of Jewellery using Origami and beads. Here are the first 3 peices. I will add more styles once I mastered the art of folding things that small (the folded fish are approx 1.5 x 2.5cm in size). These are available to purchase and I am happy to create any style/colour you see here with more or less beads etc. Email me to discuss the options :)

Secret Artwork by 88 artists up for auction on Trademe!

PSSSSSSSSSSST - Pass it on ......

The best kept secret is finally out ...

'Reach Out' was officially unveilied on July 1st at the
Bruce Mason Centre, Takapuna.


NOW you have a once in a life time chance to be the proud owner of this incredible artwork. Check it out on Trademe
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=166724806


20% of the proceeds from the sale of Reach Out are being donated to the Mental Health Foundation of NZ

For more details go to www.nzartguild.co.nz

Something a little different (work in progress)

I've decided to try my hand at something a little different. I was going to learn to bead for part of my textiles school project but since we were working to a 3 week time frame it just never happened.


This week I went off to the Library and got a few books out - one was called "The Beader's Bible" by Claire Crouchley. Its got lots of great easy patterns and really easy to understand instructions.

So last night I got out my beads and made a start on a cute swan pattern (see pic below). OMG this has to be the most difficult thing I've done. I'm a crafty person - I've done cross stitch, sewing, etc my whole life but I've never been challenged like this! I've gotten 3 lines in (as you can see) and had to take a break - it took me about 1/2 an hour to get this far and this was after spending 2 hours + sorting beads - now I know why people buy individual colours not the cheap mixed bulk ones!!! - it also didn't help that the kittens thought they would try to be useful and ended up spilling all my orange beads all over the floor - ever tried picking up tiny orange beads of a horible brown patterned carpet???

One day I may actually finish it - I hope to work on it tonight while and will update the progress as I go.

No art this time....

Sorry, I've been far too busy to be painting at the moment. Its the last week of my school holidays (4 weeks just isn't long enough... LOL) and I've been cleaning and catching up on errands.

Took the car for a warrant and oil/filter change today EEK!!!! My student budget didn't like that at all - thankfully I have a wonderful mother who helped me out (THANKS MUM!!!). I got such amazing service - they even cleaned my car and had a bag of lollies waiting for me on my seat when I got in (never got that before!!!) - I thought I'd let you all know if you are in Dunedin go and see Southern Motor Court



I did managed to score a brand new copy of my favourite book on TradeMe last week. It's called "Stitch - Contemporary New Zealand Textile Artists" by Ann Packer. It won the 2007 Montana NZ Book Award in the Lifestyle and Contemporary Culture section. If you find a copy in your library I reccomend getting it out for a look, it's absolutely gorgeous and full of great inspiration in the textile art field.

Last 2 for the Exhibition

Ok - I've done it, finished all my paintings for the exhibition I mentioned in my last post. I'm well ahead of schedual!! I will have 11 (not all are pictured on this blog) pieces in total, I'm just waiting on a couple of peices to return from the gallery in Gore that I have work in to finalise the last piece but everything is painted!!! YAY - its a good feeling!

So here are the last 2....

In Absence of Dreams
Acrylic
550 x 100mm
Set of 3
$165

Blood, Sweat & Tears
Acrylic
300 x 100mm
$90

More work.....

Here's another 2 small pieces:

Re-Run
Acrylic
300 x 100mm
$90

Wasted Life
Acrylic
300 x 100mm
$90

I hope to include these in the NZ Art Guild South Island Members Exhibtion, "Common Ground" which will be on at Gallery O, The Arts Centre,Upstairs in Boulevard Shops and Galleries, Worcester Boulevard, Christchurch from Monday 15th Sept to Sunday 21st Sept.

As yet untitled...

I find the hardest thing to do is to title my works. Sometimes I have titles picked out before I start a piece, sometimes it comes to me while I am painting and other times I just don't have the foggiest!!! Like Now...


I have been working on 6 pieces over the last 2 days, these are the first 2 that I completed this morning.

Seeing Stripes
Acrylic
300 x 100mm
$90

Don't Cross the River
Acrylic
300 x 100mm
$90

N.B. 11/7/08 I have now given these paintings titles :) One came to me while listening to the radio (an old school America song ;p)

Latest Pieces

These holiday's I've been working flat out trying to get a whole heap of work done! Here's a few of them...

"Painted Absence"
Acrylic
200 x 200mm
$150

"Burning Like Wild Fire"
Acrylic
225 x 150mm
$95

"Colours of Our Nation"
Acrylic
250 x 200
$130

"Rainbow Warrior II"
Acrylic
450 x 600mm
$530

I've also done one for the Edinburgh Realty Premier Art Awards here in Dunedin - just got to remember to get down there by Friday and pay the entry fee!!! This will be on from the 2nd - 31st August 2008 @ The Otago Art Society, Dunedin Railway Station.


There are also a few more pieces underway to - lots more stripes!!!

To purchase any of these peices email me tanya_dann@xtra.co.nz I do accept commissions so am happy to produce one to match your colour scheme and budget.

Art School Projects

Here are the projects for my first semester studio classes:

PHOTOGRAPHY

"St Clair Montage"

We had to produce a minimum of 5 images from a series of photos we took based on the theme "Location". I also produced large versions of 4 of these images which I gave to my grandfather as a gift - he made his living out of photography and was quite excited that I had taken an interest in it.

SCULPTURE

"Reach"

Ball berring, mdf and plaster

We dismantled a car and had to use at least part of it in our sculpture, I uesd a singular ball berring which was found on the back seat.

PRINTMAKING

"Pikao"

My final presentation was of 5 images (although I have over 40 individual pieces). We just had to play round with stensils and colour for this project. Really easy and lots of fun. We also had a political protest project to do as well where we had to create a t'shirt stencil - this is what I did for that:

"No.1 Terrorist"

TEXTILES

Part 1: It all started with us getting an item worth less than $5 from an op shop, writing stories about it, drawing it, deconstructing it (pulling it apart) then reconstructing it into something else. I started with a cute knee length skirt and made it into this bag (and one of the bearish things fro a previous post)

Part2: Create something using a variety of textiles and methods. I created a set of 3 masquerade masks that were unable to be worn. The idea behind these was that they are highly decorated and beautiful from the front which distracted the viewer from the person wearing them hiding their true selves which was represented by the things that made the masks unwearable - the hidden truths about oneself.

"Make it Memorable Exhibition"

The following paintings will be available for sale/on display at the Bruce Mason Centre, Takapuna Auckland for the duration of the month of July 2008.

The Perception of Innocence
Acrylic
400 x 200mm

$290

Over Flow
Acrylic

200 x 200mm

$160

Chocolate Chip

Acrylic

350 x 450mm

$350

NZ Art Guild 2008 Collaborative Project "Reach Out"

After being unveilled this evening at the 3rd annual NZ Art Guild members exhibition which opened tonight at the Bruce Mason Centre in Takapuna, Auckland I can finally show off this amazing artwork it is in all its glory! I give you "Reach Out"

I am so proud to be apart of this amazing artwork!!! 90 individual pieces make up this artwork done by 88 members of the NZ Art Guild. If you can be bothered counting them out my piece is 3 rows across, 4 rows down from the top left.

To get prints of the whole painting or any of the individual images go to http://www.nzartguild.co.nz/reachout.htm where you will find details, prices and an order form!