Out & About: West Gippsland Open Studios Visit

Recently we went on an art studio hop!

Open studios West Gippsland runs some weekends where some local artists' studios are open to the public to come and see creative people in their spaces. We chose three to visit, although there were 18 open studios over that weekend.

First up we visited Helen Timbury's bright and inspiring studio. Helen is a printmaker who is in love with colour, just like me. I loved all the beautiful old furniture in her studio and left with total antique-look paper drawer and studio lighting envy! And oh so inspired, of course!

It's always fascinating to me to peer into artists creative spaces. To see how they organise and store items, and how they choose to decorate them.

You can see those paper drawers up the back there that I am envious of! And those studio lights made the whole place look like naturally bright daytime light, for a studio that apparently was quite dark before.

We watched as Helen inked up a wombat lino cut, and the kids got to turn the big wheel on the press.

Turn, turn, turn...

The finished print

I'm a big fan of Helen's vibrant work. Miss 6 said that Helen's studio made her feel like doing paper mache :)

Next up, we went onto Wendy Hitchin's (aka Beady Wendy's) studio space, where she makes glass beads and jewellery.

Some of her gorgeous handmade beads

Interesting explosion of colour with the necessary supplies

Wendy wears special goggles to make the beads, as the flame is quite bright. She heats up the glass and rolls it around a metal rod, turning and turning as she goes, to make the beads. The kids were quite happy to wear the glasses and see a bead being made.

I love seeing the processes of all crafty things being made, it's so interesting to watch. Her beads are so colourful, and the kids got inspired watching one being made. (I didn't get a shot of the bead, it went into a kiln after she made it; if you leave them out to cool down in the open air they will crack.)

Our last studio visit for that day was Russell Lilford. His studio was situated at the side of his house in a converted garage. 

Studios that have a couch as part of the set up get a big tick in my book; I think to sit and contemplate in a comfortable seat is a luxury in a creative space; and I say if you have the room, totally do it!

This was one of my favourites of Russell's artworks. I like the contrast between the small brushstrokes and the bigger blocks of colour

Candles, feathers, shells and vessels adorned some of the shelves

Russell is a printmaker too, and has a press in his space

There is something special about jars of paintbrushes and gatherings of art supplies

It's really great to get out and about to see some art in real life. You tend to give pieces more of your time and contemplation than if you saw them on a computer screen. Creativity is contagious too, and getting out to see some art gets the motivation and inspiration flowing. 

Jules :)

My Art Studio Electronic Equipment & New Printer (Yay!!)

As well as all my art materials and supplies, like canvasses, panels, paints, brushes, pencils etc etc I have a number of electronic 'tools' in my art studio here.

Please note this article contains affiliate links, see the bottom of the post for an explanation.

So, my trusty electronic studio gadgets include:

-An Epson 3800 printer which I use to print out my giclee prints. It holds archival ink tanks and is reserved for printing art prints only.
(A giclee print (pronounced "ggee-clay"- say the 'g' as if you're French) is another term for a Fine Art digital print. All prints in my shop are printed right here in the studio using only archival, museum grade quality inks and papers for my prints.)

 -My trusty iMac desktop computer with a 27" screen which really is fantastic for doing artwork on. (I clutter up my virtual desktop just the same as I clutter up my physical desktop; I need space!)

- A Wacom tablet for drawing digitally. (Mine is a little on the old side but it's still doing the job nicely- I'm scared to look at how far this technology has come as I'm sure I'll want to upgrade if I do.)

My Wacom Drawing Tablet

- An Epson V800 Scanner. I did a lot of research when it came to using scanners for artwork, which could be a whole other blog post. I ended up deciding on the V800. And for anyone that's researching it for scanning large artworks: yes! The lid comes right off! (I could not find that information anywhere- not even from Epson themselves!)

Epson V800 Scanner

-Small toaster oven for baking polymer clay items (as I'd rather not use my food oven).

-Other small items are a lightbox and a cheap hairdryer. Both entirely indispensable when it comes to creating art, in my humble opinion.

High tech stuff

-Then I have a normal everyday printer. I use my everyday printer for printing recipes, enlarging roughs, printing out invoices, the kids homework, and printing things like mailing labels and tags for my products. And... er... printing out numerous copies of Equestria Girl characters for my girls to copy from... *roll eyes here*.

Which is where my new purchase comes in. Way to go Epson for bringing out a cartridge-less printer!!

Epson EcoTank

I spent a small fortune last year on ink cartridges for my cheap everyday Epson printer, but unfortunately it has died and I need to replace it. I could've bought another cheap printer and kept throwing well earned money at new ink cartridges; but I decided to pay more upfront and have purchased a Epson Expression EcoTank Printer ET2500. The ink comes in bottles and you place the bottles directly into the printer. Apparently the bottles print around 4000 pages in black and white or 6500 pages in colour. I will rejoice in not having to replace those darn cartridges all the time! And they always seem to run out at the most inconvenient of times. And the bottles are cheap!  Around $15 AUD per colour (so that's cheaper is US dollars; my US friends) when you actually need to replace.

Perhaps Epson had to come out with something like this, though I'm not sure if other companies have similar versions, but due to so many people feeling dissatisfied and ripped off by ink cartridges I think it was high time something like this came out. I'm very excited to be done with those ink cartridges and I can finally print freely without feeling like I'm printing with the liquid from an expensive bottle of champagne.

I've also ordered 100% recycled copy paper, as I needed some more of that, too.

Just don't tell my two girls that we could potentially be printing out hundreds of copies of Equestria Girl characters. Ok?

Hurry up delivery man!

Check out the Epson Expression EcoTank Printer ET2500 on Amazon.


Jules :)

*Affiliate Information: Affliliate links help me earn small commissions on products (at no extra cost to you), which helps support my love of blogging and sharing creative things. I only ever recommend or link to products that I'm genuinely into.