Giovanna Scott artist

With One Hand Tied Behind Her Back

I’ve fractured my wrist!

That’s the very condensed version of events on 11th August. A quick drive to Emergency and a temporary cast (apparently I’m hilarious under Midazolam), followed by a visit with the Orthopaedic Surgeon who gave me the bad news that the bones had slipped out again and I needed surgery.

I’ve lived 50 years without breaking a bone. This was new territory and I was a little freaked out. Surgery was booked 2 days later and I have reached the 7.5 week mark. I’m in a compression sleeve and a darn sexy splint and pain is finally under control.

So where did that leave my art?

I totally abandoned it. I tried many times to add more layers to my Fragments pieces but I think I threw a lot of them out and I was shattered. I’d built this huge series in my head and (funnily) under the influence of Endone (aka. Hillbilly Heroin) nothing was happening. Surely Artists before me did their best work “under the influence”, so why not me?! Ripped Off!!

I began to think. What did I already have that I’d put off, that was easy and accessible and wouldn’t take a lot of time and energy, and I could do with my left hand tied behind my back?

Enter my Safe Zone — COLLAGE.

And then #squareathon popped up on my Instagram feed and it all came together. Relief and apprehension. I wasn’t keen on throwing Fragments in the fire permanently, but I needed a moment to attach the jumper cables and pop the clutch and roll her down the hill. I think it worked.

I now have an invitation to join Paper Love exhibition Revival Art and Design and Hang About Framing and Gallery from 9 – 19 October.

Now the Husband has declared I can do this “with one hand tied behind your back”! And he’s right. (The Dad Jokes have flowed thick and fast lately).

Squareathon has ended but my collage-ing hasn’t. I’m sharing the daily things on Instagram, both the feed and in stories, with the Instagram linked directly to my Facebook Art Business Page. I’m so excited and grateful to have allowed all those serendipidous moments to collide and bring me here. I was including collage in my Fragments pieces, but now I know it’ll go in a new direction after this.

I hope this encourages one of you to figuratively tie your hand behind your back, think what gifts, skills, and materials you already have, and take that chance. It doesn’t have to be art-related. This was a great moment to silence the noise of competing interests and just do what had to be done.

Till next time…..

An Offering, with Thanks

It’s been an amazing couple of months in the studio and out and about in the World. One thing I’ve discovered is that people are wanting unique artwork on their walls. So what better way to say THANKS and making that happen, than having a GOOD VIBES sale!

TAKE ME TO THE SALE

So why the sale?

Well at the end of 2017 when I decided to leave teaching after 20 years, and focus on the making and creating, I made a tremendous amount of art in many different styles and subject matter.

Some were sold in and around Brisbane, some interstate, but some even made their way overseas! I couldn’t have asked for a better first 12 months as a professional artist and it’s because of you.

So, for the next 2 weeks you get 40% off the whole store. If you live in Australia, that also comes with free shipping.
The best time to put some affordable goodies in your home or office could (potentially) be now.

After 10th April the shop will close and these works won’t be offered again online.

TAKE ME TO THE SALE

Go to www.madeit.com.au/GiovannaScottArtist
Sale ends 10th April. No nasty code, no reproductions, just 100% original artwork.

Nocturne: the birth of a series

In 2017 I started an online class with Lendon Noe called Meaning Making. It was looking at the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke and translating one or a fragment of a poem into works of art using collage, ink, image transfer and much more.

And I loved it!

I didn’t finish it “live” but it challenged me to find some of my own favourite poets and authors: Neruda? Rilke? But I wanted something more, something I could really hook in to.

Enter Peter Goldsworthy. His poem Nocturne hit all the right feels and so I began. A little bit of Lendon and a little bit of Goldsworthy and a whole lot of me.

I made a video explaining some of it.

In the coming months I’ll be fine tuning the process and the quality of work to give Goldsworthy’s poem and imagery the respect it deserves. I hope you’ll join me on that path either via Instagram, Facebook, follow this blog, or sign up to my newsletter.

And remember, my store will be open for the next couple of weeks. Every item is an original (no reproductions) and signed and matted, ready for framing.

Sale Time

With all the crazy around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, I thought I’d do my bit and have a little sale this weekend.

Saturday and Sunday only, head to the SHOP and receive 20% off everything in the store.

That’s it. No exclusions, nothing! Free postage within Australia (overseas buyers, we can talk postage via email).

So if you’ve been sitting on the fence, ummmmmm-ing and aaahhhh-ing, you now have no excuse.

REMEMBER: 9am Saturday until 9pm Sunday : 24-25 November 2018 (Brisbane time)

See you in Store!

www.madeit.com.au/GiovannaScottArtist
Giovanna

Somewhere in…

It’s been some time since I’ve shared a video with you of me doing the thing that I do. So, I used this awesome photo taken by my friend Gina Rodgers while she was on holiday through Europe. It’s just great in so many ways: the composition, the colours, the everything!!

So here’s the original photo I stole from her Instagram account: (used with permission)

(The Dürrensee is a lake in the Dolomites in South Tyrol, Italy)

And here’s me just getting it done (once I dusted off the filming equipment)!

Last year my friend Kate went on a sabbatical throughout Europe and I tell you, the photos were amazing! (Why just Europe? Well, it seems everyone was heading that way this year.) After a wine or two over lunch, I agreed to paint some as a birthday gift. I shared some process pics on Instagram and Facebook under the hashtag #somewhereineurope if you want to have a look.

Here are the original photos with the final painting. “Pont Neuf, Paris” , “Stockholm, Sweden” , “St Chamond, France”

Pont Neuf, Paris

Pont Neuf

Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm

St Chamond, France

St. Chamond

Landscapes are tricky but loveable little buggers. Sometimes more so than portraits. There’s a lot of detail and perspective, and the trick is knowing what to leave out while capturing the essence of the place. And you invariably have to crop it and tweak a few colours, buildings, horizon lines, etc to turn it into a great painting.

I loved doing them so much, I decided to do a 4th photo to enter into another group exhibition at Aspire Gallery, “Somewhere in Oslo”.

Somewhere in Oslo

It didn’t sell at the exhibition but a few days later got a message from my gorgeous friend Lindsay who has moved to Canada. Was “Oslo” available? Can she have it? Ummmm, lemme think……OMG YES!!!! (this is the 2nd time someone has messaged me after an exhibition!) Can I now say I’m an Internationally Renowned Artist? haha!

If this is something you’d like me to do for YOU, get in touch. This group of paintings are all 20x20cm on cradled hard board. They start at AUD120. The process is easy. You provide the photos, tell me what surface and size you’d like, I quote, I crop, I paint. Molto facile!

Remember, email address is hello <at> giovannascott <dot> com for a no-obligation chat.

Would love to hear from you.

xx Giovanna

Quickie Cards

I received a phone call from my friend KL. She’s pretty awesome and over the years she’s purchased my Art Cards to give to friends, family and clients. We keep each other happy … quite literally …. she’s hilarious and a beautiful soul. She wanted to know if I had any more greeting cards for clients. Well, I didn’t and hadn’t thought about it for years. So I asked her if she’d like the Quickie Project images (insert lewd exchange) and so the process began to put some of our collective favourites into Art Cards.

Art Card Series

And it’s not a quick process. First they had to be cleaned up in Photoshop (really basic skills here, I’m not even working at an Intermediate level) and then sent to the printing company here in Brisbane for placement and pricing and sizing and how big the logo would be, and where it would go, what type of stock and how heavy??? Lots of little details that I had forgotten about and in a language that had also been lost to me.

But after a few emails and phone calls we have these beautiful Art Cards that are a great weight and beautifully bright white with a smooth but not slippery surface – perfect for writing!

KL chose her favourites, and now I can offer them to you. I have 10 packs of all 5 cards available. They’ll come to you with their envelopes and simply and sustainably wrapped with a personal note from me on a tag adorned with my original hand-carved stamps.

They are listed on my Gallery Page, along with 2 designs available as single cards.

Like KL, if you would prefer to grab a few designs in bulk, or to feature these in your shop, please email me at hello@giovannascott.com and we can chat about what you’d like.

Without you and good friends like KL, I couldn’t continue to do what I do.

Many thanks,

Giovanna