Saturday 12 May 2012

passing of seasons

A few weeks ago I thought Winter was upon us. We even lit the woodstove a couple of times. Then this lovely balmy respite has given us a week of glorious autumn weather. I so love this time of year between the end of Autumn and true Winter setting in, heralded officially by the first frost. I heard at the garden club that they have had at least one frost already at Blandford - only 6km down the road so its probably just a matter of days before the icy tentacles of Winter tighten its grip around us. So I do my daily walk around the garden  anticipating the day will soon arrive when the last flowers and foliage of 2011 will crumple and return to the ground.



Outside my studio I have a little pond and took this picture of a pink calla lily opening up which grows beside a bust of Kuan Yin, the Buddhist represention of compassion.

Yesterday I started on this new work. It will be called "Beyond" I worked a lot more on it today and it has changed a lot since these photos! This work will be a bit similar to "Still Life"

Today I did some free motion stitching around the face to simulate strands of flowing hair. The figure will feature dimensional bas relief effects of folded cloth....



A close up of the face for "Beyond", oil over acrylic paint







Friday 11 May 2012

Art Bazaar



Rodney and I will be stallholders at the annual Art Bazaar held at Maitland Regional Art Gallery on Sunday 10th June. The quality of the arts and crafts on offer is very high as the stallholders are limited to 70 and selected by a panel from the Gallery as the best of the applicants.It is limited to artisans based in the Hunter Valley and Newcastle regions.

Apart from the superb local art for sale it will be a delightful day out (weather permitting!) as the bazaar is set  outdoors in the lovely grounds of the Gallery. So if you haven't yet visited the Gallery this would be an opportunity to appreciate all it has on offer too. The Gallery cafe is offering an expanded menu of choices so altogether this would be a delightful Sunday outing to see the best of local artisan wares, peruse the Gallery and its current exhibition and then sit in the sunshine for a lunch time gourmet treat!

I will be offering for sale all the work I've produced in the last year plus my hand made beaded adornments.

Wednesday 9 May 2012

more art from Murrurundi show

Yesterday another trip to Tamworth, another Xray on my ankle and yet another consult with the bone doctor. He said all is looking good and the bone has finally knit together. I was expecting he would then scoot me back to work but he was a little concerned about building up some strength and gave a me a referral to see a physiotherapist. So perhaps another 1-2 weeks before back to work according to how that assessment goes.

I have had a lazy week, not doing much art, though the ideas keep churning away just below conscious level. After winning a prize for my landscape effort I have had to give some serious thought to perhaps doing another! I do love the natural world, Rodney and I are both enthusiastic gardeners, and this is my favorite season of the year in the Upper Hunter Valley area. As I drove the hours journey to Tamworth in the mid morning yesterday I was enthralled with the vistas of yellow, gold and ochre coloured paddocks of dry grass and the pale grey winter skies, tinged with a little mauve or turquoise....


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River Water Hole, 34x72cm, winner of "Pages River Theme" at Murrurundi Art Show 2012

The winner of the Fibres/Textiles section was Charlotte Drake-Brockman, a well established local artist. She wove this delightful little melon basket which contained chook feathers and a tiny blue egg. To the right is another entry which is a larger nest made of leaves and twigs and containing duck eggs. A nest won last year too....so perhaps I see a trend here!

Charlotte Drake-Brockman, Melon Basket, winner in Fibres/Textiles section of Murrurundi  Art Show














In August the Arts Council will host the biennial Norvill Art Prize. It is an award given for best landscape painting. The first prize is a very credible $15,000, a very substantial prize for a rural based competition. I am certainly giving the landscape genre more consideration than usual! Anyone who is interested in checking it out should see - www.norvillartprize.com








Some entries in the Fibres/Textiles section, including the winner on the table to the left