Back In New Zealand

The rain is tapping on the roof and I am dressed in 2 layers of fleece and heavy socks, reminding me what a different world I have been transported into from the one I just left. It is chilly here, brrr. I am considering sewing up a faux fur toilet seat cover. I think my tanned face and highlighted hair looks a bit out of place in the mirror. The thought of drinking an ice cold soda is so very unappealing.

Our house in Christchurch does not have central heat, so I have to devise ways of heating the spaces I use the most. Luckily the upstairs living area is relatively small and can be closed off from the rest of the house by a sliding door. I also am keeping the bedroom warm (not too warm, just taking the chill off basically). The bathroom has it's own wall heater so I can heat that up quickly whenever I need it.

How chilly is it today? Well it's 10 celcius. That is 50 degrees F. Well that's not THAT cold for goodness sake. I need to toughen up.

So, artistically I am a little on hold until I properly transition myself to being back here in Christchurch. A lot of my stuff is en route in boxes.


In the meantime, I came across this artist, Rex Ray who does some really amazing art using simple shapes and fantastic colors. His large format paintings are amazing. I loved this clip because he talks about how he started into collage by just cutting up magazines. He did a collage a day for a whole year I think. The only point of it was as an exercise; for fun and not to judge the work or TRY to create an artwork out of it. I really like that idea.

Click here for the YouTube clip from Rex Ray.