So Saturday morning the first order of the day was to let RIP . . . . . so that all our pages, or at least most of them, would be of a uniform size, to be assembled into our own hand made book.
Setting up in the shade, under the blue tarp on Saturday morning, (assembled competently by Mr Lee, of the perfectly barbecued eggs ) was the start of some fantastic exploration of mark making and layering. The process was addictive and the results were so varied.
I loved that each and everyone, from people who haven't done art, to those that practise on a regular basis, embraced the creative adventure with such enthusiasm.
Bitumen, shellac, tea, sand, gesso and acrylics were sploshed, sprayed, splattered and layed on the paper. Again and again . . . . . . and again !
Bummer ! By Saturday afternoon I had allowed an unknown BUG to invade my innards. It was adamant that I lie down and be very ill. ( No nothing to do with my food preparation !!)
Fortunately I had already asked a dear friend, to come and play with the press, so in the after noon Jennifer Hamilton, guided the group through the delightful process of Mono printing.
Out came the inks, rollers, Mylar and papers to press, squash and extract every ounce of impression that could be made from our found and collected objects.
Between my bouts of sleeping, I could hear the OHHHS! and AHHHHHHHHHHHS! all afternoon . . . if I had have had the least bit of strength I would have dragged myself downstairs to see what all the excitement was about. As it was I had to wait until Sunday morning to see the beautiful results.
Thank GOD for forward thinking. I had prepared the Saturday evening meal prior to feeling ill . . . . . . thankyou to Cameron who played a very good Mr MUM. . . . . with the help of some of the other guests, so that the evening meal was a success.
So, as I lay sick and sad, the delightful sounds of laughter coming from 11 individuals enjoying themselves, kept permeating through to my fog.
Not amused !
I didn't even get to eat my Tia Maria layered cheesecake ! Jennifer who had 3 servings said it was scrumptious. Thanks Jen !
Sunday morning I was past the worst of what ever had ailed me and surfaced to much sympathy ( thank you one and all ) so that we could try out various ways to embellish the work from the previous day.
With glazing, layering, collaging and further printing the pages were developing into a sound body of work, that was ready to be housed in the book that we constructed on Sunday afternoon.
We used the magnificent hand made Himalayan rice papers to cover the back and front of the covers. In went all these extremely creative pages. . .. . . what a sight.
A complete packaged treasure !
Sunday afternoon as we had our show and tell, I was conscious that this was our last workshop at the Rusty Roo for 2009.
Still feeling slightly precious, I thought that it was good that I would now have a break to relax a little and do some of my own work . . . . however, I was also thinking how much I relish the joy of sharing and the camaraderie that always developes over these weekends. . . . . Yes ! I will miss them.
So . . . . . thank you to everyone involved throughout 2009. It was a true Joy and a privilege to have your involvement, enthusiasm, laughter, excitement and creative juices at the Roo with us.Best wishes, for a joyous Christmas and a truely happy and Creative NEW YEAR
Sharon & Cameron
Rusty Roo artist retreat
a place to let your soul breathe