Art Posts

All I want for Christmas is cards! Handmade Christmas Cards and Gift Tags

January 27, 2014
Christmas Cards 2013
Christmas Cards 2013

A very, very belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all! Hope you all enjoyed your break!

Apart from the usual Christmas shopping, I once again decided to set myself the task of creating my own Christmas cards and gift tags. This year I wanted to make cards that were easy to put together but as always there was more to it then I expected :/. I also decided to write up instructions for these cards as there was such interest in my two previous Christmas posts (here and here) over the December break. Hope they help you make your own wonderful creations!


The inspiration for this year’s cards came from leftover twine I’ve been collecting from wrapping gifts. I have a habit of over estimating how much I’ll need and usually end up cutting off the extra. I decided that the cards would use the twine by threading it through to make shapes and patterns.

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The 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT7)

April 3, 2013
The 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT7) at QAG and GOMA
The 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT7)

A few weeks ago while I was in the city, I impulsively decided to check out the The 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art at GOMA and QAG. While I was a little rushed (I had about 45 minutes), I managed to see nearly all of the artwork from the exhibition.

The Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT) is the only exhibition in the world to exclusively display art from Asia, the Pacific and Australia. In GOMA, the artwork will instantly hit you as you enter the doors while other artists can be found in select areas of QAG.

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Favourite Artists: Katie Daisy

February 8, 2013
Favourite Artists - Trust your Heart by Katie Daisy
Trust your Heart

It’s been a while since I wrote a favourite artist post but this one only just caught my eye recently (well sorta – explained further down) and she needs to be talked about! Today I’m looking at the wonderfully whimsical, colourful and spring inspired work of Katie Daisy.

Katie Daisy is a freelance illustrator originally from Illinois who uses both watercolour and acrylic paints to create illustration and lettering pieces. I’ve actually admired her work once before – I reblogged one of her pieces on my tumblr blog in June last year. It wasn’t till someone recently posted about her work that I checked out her portfolio and was amazed by her lovely paintings and pictures.

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Semi-Permanent – Brisbane 2012

September 8, 2012
Semi-Permanent Brisbane 2012
Semi-Permanent Brisbane 2012

The Semi-Permanent Creative Conference finally rolled into Brisbane last Thursday after an unfortunate rescheduling from July. It was worth the wait for the 8 talented speakers that came to share their stories, experience and advice. This was also a special year for the SP as it was their 10 year anniversary (5th time in Brisbane). Despite the disappointment of the video intro saying ‘Sydney’ (Brisbane pride!), the day was, as always, insightful and inspiring.

I didn’t take my camera on the day but Camille Santiago took some fantastic photos which you can find on her blog here. Now to the speakers!

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Matisse: Drawing Life at the Gallery of Modern Art

January 30, 2012
Matisse: Drawing Life Exhibition
Matisse: Drawing Life Exhibition

Over my Christmas break I went to see the Matisse: Drawing Life exhibition at GoMA which didn’t feature his colorful and bold paintings but instead displayed his simple black and white sketches created during his artistic career.

I’ll admit that my art knowledge about Matisse is pretty slim so it was interesting to go and learn more about him. While there were only a few minor paintings within the collection, I think his sketches reflect a lot about his interests and the processes behind his paintings.

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Birthday Gift Tags in December!

December 22, 2011
22nd Birthday Gift Tag
22nd Birthday Gift Tag!

I’ve been busy making cards and getting everything ready for Christmas however I also had time to make a gift tag for one of my dear friend’s birthdays!

While I originally planned to make a full card, I decided it would be better to keep it to a simple gift tag so it didn’t overwhelm the present itself. It still ended up being a pretty giant gift tag though ^^;;.

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Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition at the Queensland Art Gallery

December 4, 2011
Henri Cartier-Bresson - Sunday on the banks of the river marne, 1938
Sunday on the banks of the river marne, 1938

I first discovered Henri Cartier-Bresson’s photography back in university when his work was used as examples. Despite analysing his photographs, we never really got the chance to learn about the man himself. When I heard the Queensland Art Gallery was holding an exhibition of  his work, I told myself I had to go and see it. Luckily I managed to get down to the art gallery on the last day ^^;.

Cartier-Bresson was born into a well-off family and at a young age was exposed to photography when he was given a Box Brownie. He attended art school at 19 and was mentored by Cubist artist André Lhote. From Lhote he learned about the combining of reality and classic forms, which you can see in his photography.

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Favourite Artists: Adrian Valencia

October 28, 2011
Adrian Valencia - Spazio Autori Illustration
Adrian Valencia – Spazio Autori Illustration

This artist’s website has been sitting in my inbox for months waiting for me to write a blog post about him. I discovered Adrian Valencia back in August and he was featured in that month’s Inspiration Collection. Since then I’ve been through his portfolio and blog and he’s now one of my new favourite artists!

Adrian Valencia is originally from Argentina but moved in London in 2000. He’s a self taught illustrator with a background in graphic design with a lot of his work being travel and fashion inspired. I like how he fleshes out the backgrounds and put the subjects within a space. I want to to visit some of these places they look so good!

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Surrealism: The Poetry of Dreams Exhibition at GoMA

September 30, 2011
Surrealism: Poetry of Dreams at GoMA
Surrealism: Poetry of Dreams at GoMA

I’ve been meaning to go and see the Surrealism exhibition at GoMA but it wasn’t until my friend mentioned catching up that we decided to spend a day checking it out since it’s in its last week. Please excuse the low res photos, I only had my phone with me ^^;.

I will admit going into this that I knew little about the history, artists and philosophy of Surrealism. What I discovered was that the movement came about in response to Dadaism which focused on intentional irrationality and the rejection of the standards of art. Surrealism took a different direction, focusing more on the creativity that spurred from the unconscious mind. The movement originally started off as a literary one before spreading to painting, sculpture and film.

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