I love my new sim ring....I just picked it up and it is such a treat

I love my new white bookcase...its big and its made me rediscover some long lost books!

I love having time to think, to write and to play

I despise chronic pain...it is not fun

I love the kindness of strangers...especially when they offer you chocolate cake!

I love the quiet...but playing great new music is just as good

I love when things do really happen for a reason....

enjoy the full moon tonight.

at anytime, in any place....

For me last week it came in the form of a beautiful exhibition by jeweller Sim Luttin who tries to make a work everyday for the discipline and as a way of creating 3D diary of her year. I loved the idea and it brought to mind an exercise that poet Ryan Van Winkle once told me about. He used to grab a sentence out of the paper everyday and then continue to write from that line in a stream of consciousness. It warmed him up for the rest of the day's writing and took away the fear.... Fear you say?

I believe that you loose your confidence for your craft if you do not practice for a while....

And so, that is why im back doing quick sketches everyday in a diary that was given to me....

And Im loving it....

No fear...

Good question... one that would take a while to answer...so instead Im just going to tender my apologies to cyberspace for my looooong absence from this space and just say that its good to be HOME!  

2009

new year

new beginning

new dreams

awakening -

Happy beaching...Ill see you in the water!

I cannot believe my entry this week is going to be about finding a new word....

but maybe that is what I need at the moment...a time out from all the heavy stuff that Ive had to talk about and go through... and focus on something I love...

the ritual of 'taking time' for coffee!

Going though one of my favoutrite Swedish blogs the other day I found out that in Sweden they have a word for the ritual of taking time to have coffee and something sweet on the side...'Fika'. To take time out to talk with friends and family over a sweet treat and a small cup of coffee..... that is my life! I love it...

a moment

after the cold

after the wind

the birds sing again

and enjoy the orange light

as it tickles the bare branches

and waves goodbye to the wintery day.

As jazz sweetly plays in

the background

i enjoy the green tea incense

in the air

and stare out the white muslin

curtains

and sit

and reflect

on a space and a day

that is slowly feeling 

quiet -

complete -

and home.

and Im not quite sure what that something is? Is it a beautiful artbook that will inspire my drawings? An album of music that will get me moving?

Is it a moment of time in the studio where I can write and hybernate? Is it..... actually.... im not sure anymore!

After a couple of weeks searching in all my favourite places I havent been able to find that little feeling or thing that will stop my Easter egg hunt and put me at ease!!

Anyway.... a beautiful French word was given to me as a little gift the other day that I have to share...The word is 'sillage' and it means the smell of something as it permeates a space...like a perfume or a cake being baked and the movement of it through the house....

Now that is a beautiful poetic thought to savour for these wintery days.

Images of them intrigue me....

from Mel Young's jewellery bench images on her blog...

to Wendy Sharpe's drawings of her Paris Atelier that feature in her latest exhibition...

alluring

seductive

curious.

Its lovely to see the chaos

the creative unconscious

Laid bare.

 

am I couldnt have been happier with how it went! Make_Do 2008 turned out to be a brilliant group show with many new works in many mediums...thank you to all 23 artists involved!!! And thank you again Gaffa for being such a great space in Sydney...there are not many of you in this city unfortunately....

Someone just recently said that they think Im very brave for being an artist and putting my work out there....Well, I think we all are!

This is a tough town and we all do it for love in the end... A foreign concept for many I feel...x

in a week of deadlines and demands Im feeling alittle fraught!

Oh poor little tiny you might say but it has been 'one of those weeks'!

At the end of it though I am feeling happy and shiny as my series for the Make_Do exhibition has materialised out of the ether....and Im back writing for a publication, which has been scary and fun all at the same time, bringing back memories of hybernating and procastinating with uni notes in hand! Isnt it funny though how life ebbs and flows through chaos and calm, and how in the end, all you need is a good chat and comfy couch to keep you grounded....oh and watching boats rattle and hum on the harbour is always a nice meditation trick too!

in a week that brought much variance, i suddnely found that my 5 days had been bookended with visiting a new born on the monday and then working with a group of ninety year olds on the friday!

LOVE IT....

...as the week prior, in a day-dreaming state, I was lamenting the fact that I do not have regular contact with a varied group of people that would nurture my constant questioning about 'life' and life - experience within it....and then the following week that happened! I kid you not....And I received so so much....and answered at least one question Im sure!

A great quote found me too.... 'the years teach much what the days never knew...' philosophical I know but it is getting to the time where you curl up with a good book, a coffee and look at the leaves changing....

Enjoy the changing Autumnal light....

...and a multitude of memories in between!

The group exhibition that I am luckily involved with in the next few weeks seems to tie in nicely with my moving as I was able to produce a conceptual work that is about my old room! How indulgent I know.... but it has been so lovely to get into a line drawing again...just lines...that when over lapped over each other, create a moving or floating space... and I truly have enjoyed working on it in the studio...which is still back at my old homestead... and that is great as Im focused when I get there!!! Very important! TO FOCUS... as the weather has been so beautiful that my new local beaches are subtly calling me...to come and enjoy that last breath of summer!

 

If these last two weeks could be a signifier for what could happen this year...Im in for one hell of a ride!!! Since writing last,  I have had hospital treatment to get me back on track, Ive been on a four day trip to the most beautiful city of Launceston to see an old friend get hitched, and I have moved house!

And now Im trying to take it all in...

What can I say... its been a trip! After quite a full on year last year, this year seems to be adding to that momentum....

And it is exciting... a new feeling of health, a new home, a new area of Sydney to explore, and visiting a new area of Australia! Cant ask for more than that!

(Geez there are alot of explanation marks in this blog entry... maybe that is a signifier of the last two weeks too!)

As a tribute to the most beautiful light that I have enjoyed these last 10 years I have included an image of my last abode...

..good memories...

Its refreshing and exciting and makes your heart beat just that little bit faster....

I remember this feeling, but it has been a long time between drinks!! 2007 definitely felt like it was the precursor to alot of happenings for 2008 and now I believe that to be true! With a move to a totally new area of sydney, two new exhibitions on the horizon and an improvement in health in the last week or so.... im starting to like the feel of this new year!!

With a few days in Tasmania this week, im even travelling to new destinations.... Ill report back on my musings on the beautiful island of Tassie soon...

To one and all! I hope 2008 will be an exciting and enriching year, with new opportunities and adventures!!!

Well..... that is what I would like to bring into this year!!! I feel like I am still on jet lag from last year that was fast, frenetic and full of change... good and bad....

As the sun keeps shining, I am wishing everyone happy beach days ahead!!

With this entry I have included some photos of my exhibition that is still showing at Bondi Junction...what an amazing opportunitiy that was!! I am still celebrating the momentus nature of it all! 10 years of my art practice!! Long may it continue.....

Well it is official! The show has started and the opening is on the 12th December!! Open the bottles of champagne!! Its my first solo show in 4 years! Very excited and nervous as it is displaying the last ten years of my life ....and it reveals alot!!

My illness, my travels, my poetry, my family and especially my passions......

That is a lot for one little tiny....

But the way that it all happened makes me feel happy and honoured that I get the chance to celebrate my marks, my colours and my ideas...

Perfect.

....to have fun, to discover new things and people every second of the day, and to be in touch with your intuitive creativity!

Thank you Lily for letting me feel what that is like again! Happy birthday!

I guess its perfect timing that my new series 'The birds and the bees, The air and the sea' is all about creating works for kids...

I just have to remember to finger paint even more!!!

Oh, and as an aside to my last blog entry, i watched one of my favourite movies, Himalaya, the other day and it demonstrates perfectly what it is like when a society truly lives and respects, Mother Nature, the stars and the seasons....a beautiful reminder.

I love this quote.....

"Thats one of the things that I have been trying to get used to - moving on 'time'..... For the hunters, the men, time doesn't exist. We just live through what nature brings to us, and that's the sun, and the moon and the stars. Thats how we moved through the day...." Michael Bani, Manly Winger.

We 'construct' time and the way we live with it. Wouldn't it be interesting if we could slow it down and enjoy the simple things again...

 

' Im on a break or sabbatical from my routine at the moment....and doesn't feel good!!! I love this time of the year anyway, but it's particularly good when you can take a trip and smell the roses! Im in the studio as we speak and starting a new series of works, and of course, I start with days drawing and limbering up....and more importantly researching and looking at the finer details. And I was just looking over thse etchings and remembering to be loose and free in my work....Good tip for life too!!

...was given to me today as I was asked to do another commission today. Now, the worry starts as you wonder if you can deliver a work that will truly live up to the expectation!! But the Precious Moments series is a body of drawings that relate alot to how Im feeling at the moment

....the quiet reflection and simple sentiment....

...which reminds me....

I must give a HUGE congrats to me mate Ladybird, who displayed these aspects in a beautiful series of works that are on show in a massive exhibition that opened this week!!! Congrats again!!

 

Its just starting to feel like spring and the feeling in the studio is beginning to be just right....This afternoon I started to sniff around, move things, clean up and look at old works and remember....

I was looking at one of the works from The Open Air installation and I had forgotton how much I loved seeing them all up on the wall in that Gaffa show last year...As I dont have a wall that I can pin things to I have become great at propping things up....and this little drawing propped up on the window mantle looked lovely and peaceful....

But its now time to shake things up!!