What I am doing

Emma and I are looking at my projects for the next year. Emma is my art mentor.

Projects that are coming up:- a solo show at Arthur Gallery next month, workshops and presentations for the rest of the year, and art awards applications. The workshops will hopefully be held at BRACE and RADMAC.

Another venue is "backspace"- a brand new exciting project organised by the City of Ballarat, to be held behind the Ballarat Fine Arts Gallery.

Noteworthy Art Exhibitions

This is the east wall of the Kelly Brother's art show at Arthur Gallery. The pencil drawings were magnificent and very detailed and beautifully worked. They were well liked by the patrons which you could tell by the number of works sold this week. The strong coloured oil paintings which are also Surreal were beautifully presented. Very well done.




I am still updating this blog because of its popularity.

I will run the same post as in http://ballaratoutsiderart.publishpath.com/dawns-outsider-art-noteworthy-exhibitions

Ongoing dialogue between Dan (foliotwist) and Chai

http://chailim.publishpath.com/new-artist-website

Chai wrote:
thanks Dan,
I don't think I will take up the offer, I had a very heavy workload doing that site.
I find this website is the simplest to do and more suitable for SEO then any that I have done, except for my first website for Dawn www.dawnlim.com
This one was in the best vein, that Moshe Mikanovsky, Hugh MacLeod and Peter Wolsely blogged on their sites about artists online advertising and SEO.
Since Google's new priority in SEO directions, I have taken to blogging a lot more than I usually do.
regards chai

June 17, 2010 @ 7:44 AM (Delete this comment)

Online Newsletter

Just found Hugh MacLeod's website, wonderful blogs. http://gapingvoid.com/n2/

So many artists so hard workers for their online presence, my other hero is Moshe.

One of the best blogs I have read is http://fineartviews.com//blog/17411/artists-online-presence-how-one-artist-does-it

Thanks guys.

website seo comparisions

New comment from Chai (chail1@optusnet.com.au):

follow the updates to this blog on my website
http://chailim.publishpath.com/
The CEO of foliotwist is helping us to find out why this site is performing better?
both websites were started at the same time and coded with similar keywords down to the names of the sites.
The first was not as flexible for seo than this one. Maybe that is why.

See the comment here: ballaratoutsiderart.publishpath.com/reply-to-foliotwist

Dawn's Outsider Art Website

Hi everyone,

I have updated my Outsider Art Website.

Please visit and tell me what you think.

http://ballaratoutsiderart.publishpath.com

thanks

dawn

Giclee Prints

For Aussie artists, I hope the following post that I wrote on the foliotwist forum is interesting and can spark a discussion of this procedure.


Don't know much about the US, but in Oz, we have a lot of print shops even in small regional towns that have 2mX2m giclee prints machines.
However, I feel that the first part of this process, ie that the digital image of your artwork is so critical. The common method is to use a professional photographer, but the Sydney giclee shop recommends that you use a large scale flat bed scanner and they are the only ones with the biggest in the southern hemisphere. Then comes the giclee prints and any of the 2mX2m large format giclee printer will do a good job of printing it on canvas usually on a good quality 100% cotton rag.
Good info, I hope?

New website for artist

hello fellow artists, I have come across a website created just for artists,
it might not be as easy to create as I found out but it had a lot of desirable features and once you set it up, you should be able to easily configure the contents yourself.
However my husband who runs a web design consulting and tutoring biz, finds it quite demanding to set it up.
The site is still under construction but he enjoyed the heavy workload and found it quite challenging.
I loved it, its at http://www.ballaratoutsiderart.com
thanks to Doc Pixel whose blog my husband follows.

Galleries on Great Ocean Road

We drove down to Lorne on the Great Ocean Road today and we visited a couple of galleries along the way.

QDos art gallery, we liked the most because of the paintings in it from Dawn's University of Ballarat lecturer, Ian Reed and a friend's, Ashley Harkness. The gallery was nested in woodlands and has surrounding gardens and was on a forest road. It had a cafe, and Japanese-style accomodation. It was peaceful and beautiful.

We decided to visit Geelong after trying to play golf with Martin at Curlewis and could not because of the rain and the large number of players.
First we stumbled onto Robyn Redman's studio at Pandora's cafe who had a very successful art show in Ballarat' Galley and had coffee and cake there, then we came across Art Worx after buying art supplies at Cavalier's.
At Art Worx, we met Steve and Jess Baker, father and youngest daughter who were running the new art supplies at Geelong. Steve himself is a painter and so is Jess who has been learning under Robyn.
Next stop was the Metropolis Gallery which was showing a remarkable artist David Newbury who sold a lot of art because he was dead. It is really sad that he did not reap the rewards when he was alive.
We also saw Aalto Gallery which is now defunct and finally we visited Robert Dowling, a National Gallery of Australia show. Robert was an 19th century Aussie painter who was quite accomplished but died early in the peak of his career at age 59. The front entrance of the Geelong Gallery did not do justice for the appearance of the gallery because inside it was a beautiful heritage building with lovely back gardens.

This month's notable art exhibition

Very beautiful photographs of trees in the landscape, printed on 100% cotton rag, showing at the University's Post Office Gallery.

Very bright colours that I liked. They were very good quality prints.

Art Competition

I am preparing my portfolio to apply for a couple of exhibitions by next monday.

Life is busy ... painting and writing and surfing the net.

Chai has been busy with the blogs and updating, trying to get rid of those pesky spam comments.

And preparing my paintings for the exhibition next month and life is busy!!!!

And Chai is sick, have to take care of him and life is busy!!!!!!!!

July 2010 Art Show at Arthur Gallery

David von Harten's exhibition at Radmc

Saw David's art today, very beautiful ink drawings.

nice one David.

Dawn's art classes

Dawn has been teaching art at Radmac and I think this is her 3rd year. It started with Carolyn's instigation at church and then she hired a space at Radmac and has been at it ever since.

This year we are preparing a workshop with a powerpoint presentation and hope to have the first draft to show her mentor end of this month.

Art in Ballarat

There are about a dozen art exhibitions in Ballarat this month. We have been to see a few, and I like the different mediums and genres there are, such a good variety for a small regional cetre like Ballarat.

The most interesting show, I like is the one of Gordon Monro's difference engine, (photos below) and an article in the newest art newsletter describing it.

Next I also liked Robyn Redman's show, especially the landscapes.

Paintings sold this year

This painting, Jugging was sold this year along with the next one, Bird in the Bush and another, Father's Tears.

Bird in the Bush was one of the newest painting done this year and sold as soon as it was finished.

Father's Tears goes back a few years and I have written a blog about it a few years ago.

Jugging.

Bird in the Bush

Michael Morgan's exhibition

Today we went to Michael Morgan's exhibition at the Convent in Daylesford. Michael was a fellow student and later casual staff during Dawn's undergraduate years at the Univerity. His exhibition was in the same style that we know he paints in. Brightly coloured and busy. It was his birthday too.

Michael Grant's exhibition

We went to Michael Grant's Prelude closing exhibition yesterday. It was fitting for this weekend being ANZAC day on Sunday. Michael was inspired by the battlefields of Papua New Guinea during his two visits there. The little painting exploration on show was a prelude to his future exhibitions for this year. Very good show.

Westpac Bank Ballarat

Dawn just finished exhibiting at Gallery on Sturt and the owner has retained this painting to show off at the Westpac Bank in Ballarat.

It looks terrific hanging at the entrance of the Bank.

Hopefully, this will give more exposure for Dawn's art.

Dawn's artist statement

dawn lim

abstract art and my spirituality

“When I start to paint I have no preconceived idea of what I want to do, just a feeling in my soul that I want to paint. Then I choose some colours and I begin mark making, helping me to create. The technique of mark making was first introduced by The Surrealist Andre Breton. It was called automatic drawing. This method has been invaluable to me, helping me create, not just copy. My paintings are also informed by a few artists, Elizabeth Cummings, Aida Tomescu, Willem De Kooning and Tony Tucson.

I pray before I paint, that I may be inspired and that I may enjoy a spiritual experience while I work. The subjects of my paintings are elusive and take a while before I may see any subject in them at all. They may not mean anything, because they are abstract, but sometimes I find a reflection of my sub conscious, or spirituality within them.

Some are informed by the world around me, such as climate change, lack of morals, or the violence and hopelessness in the world today but of course I also have some light hearted paintings, because after all I believe we are here to have joy.”

Dawn is a Ballarat artist who has lived here for 27 years. She also takes private & group art classes, taking students from where they are at and helping them to move on.

Opening Night at gallery on sturt

Dawn's exhibition at Gallery on Sturt

Dawn is in a small group exhibition at Gallery on Sturt.

First one for 2010. Boy time flys!

The gallery space is quite nice and is in a block of cafes' and pub. The street has alfresco dinning and is a favourite eating spot in Ballarat and hopefully we should get a lot of passing traffic there. See you there.

Leonie

My name is Leonie and I am a current student of Dawn Lim.

I have throughly enjoyed each lesson and look forward to the next.

Since being a student of Dawn's she has not hesitated in sharing with me all she has learnt through her own experience as an accomplished artist. Dawn has not only encouraged me but also given me the confidence to allow my own style to come through with each piece of work. I too would like to encourage anyone who has desired to take art lessons, but never dared, to give Dawn a call.

Leonie has only being with Dawn a little while, but look at her progress. She takes her lessons very seriously and she learns fast. It was very good to know Leonie and she is not afraid to take on the task of a big canvas.

Affordable art show

Dawn put in a couple of her paintings in the Affordable Art Show at the Post Office Gallery of the University of Ballarat, this Christmas.

The show is an annual event for any artist in the area.

It is a nice space because it is right in the middle of Ballarat.

We would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Beaufort Show

Dawn put in a couple of her artwork into the Beaufort Show and one painting came second in the abstract section.

It was only a small exhibition of the local artists. Some of the art were quite good.

Upcoming exhibition is at Gallery on Sturt sometime in Feb 2010.

Wow what happened to the time, 2010 is only around the corner.

Dawn has been busy this year, teaching art classes and individual tutoring. Dawn has also put her art in another website, wonderart.com.au and a german art website too.

Dawn's present webpage comes up in Google first page for the search engine, when you search for original abstract art for sale in Australia. We are quite happy to see this as I have spend a lot of time doing the behind the scenes keywords and webpage, and a lot of money learning about this.

Wonderart website

We have found a wonderful art website to sell our art in addition to our usual website. This is an Australian website. Hopefully this will spread our online presence. Some artists think that advertisement and online websites are not good, or doesn't really do anything much. However, we think that websites are a good thing to have, because they are readily accessed online, and is one more avenue to make known our presence.

Art of giving Charity Art Exhibition

Dawn donated a couple of her paintings to the Art of Giving charity art exhibition.
The money raised will be given to Mind, a mental Health service provider which has supported people recover from mental illness and rebuild their lives.
All the money will go towards developing Mind's Ambassadors of Hope program which will raise awareness of mental health and allow people to communicate about mental illness.

Hybrid sculpture 2009

Last night we went to the Hybrid exhibition. It was so very enjoyable, the host was great. And we listen to Damon's talk. He had a lot of fun using his Travel Award last year. This years sculpture was very impressive especially the bottle tree. There were 61 artists' exhibiting.

Spring paintings

These two new paintings are going into ebay to test the waters.

It would be good to know how they are received at ebay.

Both paintings are done this month.

Pipers by the Lake

Today we went to Pipers by the Lake to see 3 pieces of Dawn's painting that Emma from Arthur Gallery has negotiated with Pipers, to hang the paintings. We are grateful to Emma for helping Dawn to exhibit her paintings at a new venue in Ballarat, and Jen the manager at Pipers choosing Dawn's paintings.

Arhur Gallery warming

Tonight we went to the new location of Arthur Gallery for the opening night of the exhibition by Kat Barrand - 'Concrete Umbrellas'. The drawings were quite good and interesting. The venue was not large, but big enough for one exhibitor, there was quite a bit of wall spaces.

Cliff and Carolyn were there too. Doug, Ann and Loris were there too, Kat is doing her honours year with them I think.

New Paintings 2009

Dawn's new paintings 2009

DROUGHT: Perceptions & Propositions

DROUGHT- Creative Cross Cultural Collaborations. Curated by Lella Cariddi

Tonight we went to the drought exhibition and seminar. Dawn met Bruno Leti, a visual artist & writer, whose work is inspired by the poetry of John Shaw Neilson, and in turn, some one commented that Dawn's work was in a similar vein as Bruno, and finally Dawn met him. Bruno talked about his long collaborative engagement over the years with poets, Chris Wallace Crabbe, Alan Loney and Peter Steele and others.

Art Galleries in Melbourne

As a result of exhibiting at Melbourne Art Show 2009, Dawn was approached by a couple of gallery owners, to exhibit in Melbourne and Geelong.

So this week, we took 12 paintings down to the Elsternwick gallery for approval in our new combo van. The van was quite roomy for the paintings.

Hopefully, Dawn could be exhibiting there.