Return to the hand made life

My return to the handmade life has been a long but satisfying journey.
My pregnancy & the birth of my son (bJuly, 2006) has been the main catalyst in regards to everything I've been involved with art wise so far, since February 2006.

Before that, I had been dabbling with drawings & splashes of paint here and there, but I felt downhearted. I'm so glad that time has passed, and it's upwards & onwards from here on in.

I have a long way to go, in terms of distant goals eg. Travel to and exhibiting my works in Europe, The Pacific Islands, Asia, the U.S. and abroad.
However, I am a big dreamer- with monumental dreams, which I am currently working on making into my 'Reality'.
On that note, I am going to carry on with my collage drawings while my son is peacefully sleeping, until next time-
Kia monuina,
Cerisse Palalagi

Collage is cool

I had so much fun collaging mono prints, woodcut prints & found paper. I lay these cut out shapes on and around the screen printed images.
I really enjoyed looking at the textures & colours, seeing how they felt against one another.

For each composition, I always started in the center of the image & worked my way outwards.
I worked on one at a time to a point where I felt that was enough, or with some I would do so much, put it a side/.... start some more & then eventually go back to an unfinished work and complete it.

I let the clothing dictate the nature of how the work evolved.
On some of the collaged works I combined elements of 'drawing' to it, my signature.

Niu works by Cerisse Palalagi & Natalie Couch

Working on the Manu prints with artist& friend Natalie Couch, I was about to make a whole bunch of prints in town when I realised I didnt really have time.

I soon remembered that I had old prints from a few years back studying at Te kura toi o Buck Nin sitting underneath my bed. ( I was reluctant to throw them out as I always remembered what my old Art teacher Amanda Bade told me, 'Never throw your prints away, even if you think they are ugly at the time, they'll come in handy one day...& you know what, she was absolutely right!)

I decided to go ahead & recycle these prints by utilising them in this project. Carefully cutting out shapes, this process allowed me to think about how I might use these on each print.
It seemed natural to use these prints in the project as the main colours I had printed in were green, orange & brown.

In the Manu project Natalie Couch & I decided on the exact same colours, hows that for a complete coincidence. I think its the Universe's way of arranging things in time exactly as it is meant to work out.

We both screen printed the dolls onto paper, then collaged & illustrated them to a pint we felt that they were finished.
Initially we were really inspired by the 'Manu' souvenir doll, we were both gifted one as children & they become our connection to all things Maori. We ended up having a play around with her 'features' and presented a few variations of Manu, reflecting the varied features of many Maori women of mixed heritage.
The exhibition is at Artstation , 1 Ponsonby Rd, Auckland