suzanne33

Hello, I am a mixed media artist and lover of all sorts of junk- especially stuff I can incorporate into a painting or a collage. I live in NSW, Australia in a small town by the Clarence River. Now that I have retired from my other life, I am a full-time artist who works everyday in my studio that overlooks gum trees and the river.

Between us, my husband and I have 4 grown up sons and 5 grandchildren- 2 boys and 3 girls. We also have a chocolate coloured miniature poodle who is now more latte than chocolate!

We love to travel both in Australia and overseas.

Please remember that Australia has very strict quarantine laws and will check parcels. To find out more go to http://www.daff.gov.au/aqis/mail/cant-mail

When I am not working I could be:
* Travelling- I love Japan having lived there for a year in 2006-7, or parts of Australia. I dicovered Scotland in 2018.

• At the beach-My favourite thing in life is to dive through the surf with my eyes wide open. I love shells, the lacy designs the waves leave when they recede and the amazing art work that sand crabs create when they dig their holes;

• In an art store hunting for new materials- love paper and paint.

• In charity shops with my eye on something interesting-a book, lace, old papers;

• Meeting with friends;

• Volunteering at our Art & Craft Association's Gallery; in my studio.

• Gardening- we now have half an acre of garden so there is lots to do. Love discovering new plants that have popped up after rain.

Did you notice I didn't mention housework or cooking? I do both but not with enjoyment-luckily my husband is a good cook. As we have just moved house I have to include house renos.

In my studio you will find:
Me
Sometimes a friend or two
Paper-I love paper. All kinds, all colours, all textures
Paints-I work mostly in acrylics and any other water based medium
Painting and collage tools and equipment-I was saving these for 20 years!
My easel-a gift from my school when I retired.(they knew my passion!)
Reference books
Art school notebooks from when I did courses
Old books, knitting patterns, dress patterns
Printmaking needs- paper, inks, brayer, baren, lino blocks, woods blocks AND my press.
My junk-the herbs and spices of my paintings
Part finished paintings
Printing experiments & finished works
Postcards and flyers for exhibitions
Handmade cards
And much more

I am more into painting, collage and printmaking but I like to make my own cards using these techniques.
I love printmaking- etching,lino, woodcut, monoprint and have my own 2nd hand press!
I joined Swap-Bot for the ATCs so I have to say I love making them. I usually include painting or printing techniques in the ATCs that I make.
My favourite subjects to paint are trees, flowers, sea creatures and other aspects of nature. I love strong colours (rather than neutrals), texture and enjoy playing around with all sorts of techniques. I have taken a liking to art journals and tip in pages and am endeavouring to use these techniques in my collages. Recently I have been doing a bit of watercolour as well.

Scandanavian crime novels are my favourite, followed by British then other crime novels.
I like historical crime as well.
I also like children's books. My favourites are Corduroy, Are You My Mother?, The Story About Ping, Harry the Dirty Dog, books by Mem Fox, Janet & Allen Ahlberg and A A Milne (especially poetry)
OLD, broken, sad books that can come to life in one of my art works would be reloved by me.

Cigarette smoke
Perfumed items
Cats
Tea or Coffee
Not interested in Halloween
Not interested in Christmas or Easter
Glitter - it ends up in the ocean and eventually in us when we eat fish.
Feathers
Balloons- they end up in the ocean and are ingested by turtles and other sea creatures.

As I live in Australia it may take 10 days or more to receive my swaps.

Thank you to everyone who has ever sent me lovely commercial papers for ATCs and collage. I now have more than enough.
However I would love to receive...
ATCs
Handmade paper
Textured paper
Old maps
Pages from old books

@mappy for Wattle ATC
@bug for Zentangle # 1
@piratecaptainmo for Zentangle #2
@cafras for Fingerprint ATC