Painting in the Australian Outback is always a treat!

If ever you wanted to experience the Outback and delight your senses all at once, then going to Arkaroola with 8 fantastic women and 2 men to explore, paint and renew friendships is a great way to do it!

We have just returned from our fifth trip to that great Aussie icon, the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary where our souls were inspired, nourished and delighted all at once. Many people just drive in, stay over one night, then drive out which for me is completely missing this amazing opportunity to reignite one senses with the arid lands of Australia.

The landscape was alive with wildflowers and Sturts Desert Peas didn't fail us with their wonderful show of colour. The days were balmy and the evenings warm.

Sturt's Desert Pea - a wonderful sight to see!

Cassia blooms everywhere in the Spring making the fields golden

We wondered and wandered amongst the hills and plains, across fields of flowers, to Paralana Springs where the air was heavy and hot. We couldn't stay long and returned across the Strzlecki Desert, ablaze with colour. Here's Jan putting together some field notes on the Springs in the hot desert sun! Brave Jan!

 

A pure whit e gum stands proud against the rocks of Paralana Springs! Sure to bring out the best in any artist!

 

Lake Frome also amazed us with the best colours yet as recent rains had semi-filled the salt lake. Pastel colours criss crossed the land awash with salt below us as we circled in the Piper Navaho at 3500 feet. Ah heaven!

Lake Frome at it's most magnificent - an abstract of pastel shades!

When I began to take artists to the desert to paint, I never realised just how rich and rewarding the experience would be especially for myself! But as the adventures have rolled into each other, we have bonded together into a group, the Wild Women of Arkaroola PLUS (PLUS for the occasional brave male that joins us!). I cannot tell you how deeply these field trips have affected me and my artworks, but they have and I am now painting with all the JOY of a long life as an artist!

I wish you all a creative and fulfilling life as you explore Mother Earth! May you have eyes to see the beauty in her as we do.

The Inspiring Colours of Australia

Australia is a vast island continent that is made up of mostly desert although most people would not know it. The majority of the inhabitants cling to a small coastal fringe around the edges of the continent divided from the bush by long chains of mountain ranges so called the 'sandstone curtain". These dividing ranges not only divide the vastness of the land but also divide the country socially and economically in more ways than one despite what governments would tell you.

As I travel around Australia looking for inspiration for my artworks, I am reminded constantly of how an unwary population is allowing the countryside to be raped and pillaged by big companies. It scares me as I ponder the huge gaping wounds that mining makes, the wide and denuded soils of large agricultural consortiums, the dying and drying deforested hillsides and I wonder where it will end.

My early life on an orchard gave me a love of the land I live in and depend on, not only for food and work but also for inspiration to create my art works. The ways of caring for the land that I was brought up to were more closely connected with composting, planting of nitrogen giving plants between the rows, hand picking and pruning, working with the seasons and the cycles of drought and wet. These practices have largely been replaced by methods that for me, seem disconnected and ruinous. Monsanto and other large corporations do not have a holistic approach but instead use a broad brush that misses the defining moments that make up lives at a very personal level.

I worry for my grand children and what is being left for them but at the same time, I now see a new, young, vibrant and intelligent generation that ask the hard questions and who are taking on the bigger institutions and demanding to be heard. I cheer these leaders of the future on. New ways of lobbying in GetUp and Change.org are bringing about renewed hope for the future.

After 200 years of settlement, I see a new generation that at long last, regard Australia as their home as they embrace not only the mistakes of past generations, but build hope for a brighter future. In some small way, I trust that my environemental paintings will also bring about change and a rethinkng of politics and 'living WITH the LAND'.

 "Pittapunga Lake" (1.2 m x 1.2 m synthetic polymer on canvas) shows aerial mapping of land use in western NSW, the demands being made on failing river systems, the push into salt lake areas in an attempt to farm salt areas, the decimation of forested areas by clearing for even larger farms, the coal seam gas alongside large mines. Can we continue these unsustainable practises in a land that is largely desert? By the way, this area really exists except that the mine is my addition for now.....

The Yin and Yang of the Art World

Do landscapes sell? Are art buyers/lovers really interested in the landscape?

It's amazing every day, no matter where or what I go or do, I find people with differing points of view especially about the art world. I guess, really, everyone's experience is so different, so diverse, that we each have to make up our own mind in the long run.

So just thinking it through today, I realise that in my life I have over 700 paintings of the landscape hanging on people's walls and in their offices all over Australia, the US, China, Japan and various other countries throughout the world. My lifetime has been spent pursuing the essence of landscape through colour, shape, intricacy, abstraction and a variety of techniques and materials. Just this week, I have completed several pieces both large and small, and as I view my studio, there's not much in stock..... so the landscape must still be a winner for many collectors - at least in my experience!

So what do you think? Here's my latest work titled "The Ancient Ones" inspired by the many ancient rocks that continue to erode out into the Australian landscape wherever you go..... they can be found in all sorts of places but it's the remote ones I love the best! In an arid landscape, there's nothing quite like coming across a pile of massive boulders! They provide shade, colour and form, beautiful washes of colour, and they 'talk' to you! They tell the story of our fabulous place - our home - Australia!

When I look, I see maybe a couple of female figures laying in repose, maybe discussing 'life' as time passes by..... what do you see?

More on my website!

It doesn't matter what you paint, just continue to follow your heart, eyes and soul and keep painting - "Let it flow and let it go!" (Joy Warren of Solander Gallery in 2011) Thank you Joy for that timely advice. I needed to hear it then and I keep repeating it to myself each day.....

Have a happy painting day and remember, even when sales are slow, it's time to catch up on all those images that are waiting dormant waiting to be born!

Wilderness Painting! Come and 'see' with me!

Hi all

Well on my return from the desert trek that Wanda and I took late last year, the place that stood out the most as a painter's paradise was definitely Arkaroola in the South Australian Outback! What a place! IMy heart yearned to return and so after much chopping and changing, I am on a roll and getting back out there!

But wait! You are invited to come and paint with me! This is NOT a camping trip, oh no no! This is not 'roughing it' in the desert! This is a lovely comfortable week at a wonderful wilderness sanctuary in the heart of the North Flinders Ranges that has a highly regarded reputation in the eco-tourism industry! A gem in the bush!

Owned by brother and sister, Doug and Margaret Sprigg, this amazing place will host our painting tour. There's several 4WD treks to take, an aboriginal elder who will guide you through some of the area's dreamtime, not to mention the most inspiring landscapes to get you painting and 'seeing' like you have never seen before.

It was so inspiring that on my return I painted "Flying High" in a whole new range of colours. My own sense of vision has been heightened by going out there and seeing Australian as if seeing it for the first time!. This is truly a wonderful experience (and comfortable and cosy!)

I would love to see this place through your eyes! And see what you come up with in paint!

 Violet ranges with acid limes and yellows, hourly changes of colour, like driving through a 'living painting'

 Some of the landforms are quite strange, new shapes and hills, a fascinating array of colours in a rugged land.

There's an 'ah!' around every corner.... a place begging you to stop, the contentment you feel in this awesome place...... aaahhhh!

If you would like to come along with me in May, then go to my newsletter for more details!

Can't think of a thing to paint? Overcoming the blank mind!

This year has been the most amazing year for me with so many things happening, things to see, journeys to do that I often feel quite saturated and not sure where to start. You all know the feeling: there's either too much going on in your imagination or not quite enough! It's hard sometimes to find that cruisey neutral gear that allows you to roll through the next painting with ease!

Added to the grief of having a mental block, or an avalanche, there's the continual interruptions to one's day / week from a variety of competing concerns / jobs. And so life goes on... so how does one get into the right mindset to just start?

Some of my tricks are: 

To just do it! Get in that darned studio and pick up the brushes! 

Look at those shoes your grand-daughter made for you, put them on, dance, jump and run around, get free again! Remember the joy of painting when you were young and unencumbered!

Sometimes the best results come out of sheer frustration and trying something completely new. I like to run with a few new techniques and just throw paint around- see what comes! Here's one I did with a business card instead of a brush - just for fun!

That's all well and good if it's a sunny day and warm outside but what if there's a chill wind blowing....? 

I like to promise myself a great cup of coffee from Moshi Moshi with 2 of the nicest young creative people around, Lotti and Dan! After seeing their cheery faces and getting one of Dan's neck rubs, topped up with Toby's (great coffee) I head off cheerfully into the chill wind...

Another is to flick through my photo album and print out a couple of inspirational landscapes- you know the ones that turn you on!

But recently I came across a marvellous creative soul who gives away so much information to us arty farty folks on how to be businesslike and break bad habits. Mark McGuiness of Lateral Action is one of us so he really knows the problems we wild children can have trying to do the adult stuff! His FREE book is available online at http://lateralaction.com/creativeblocks/ and well worth the time to read! Co-author is Marelisa Fabrega.

The Year of the Rabbit has hopped around wildly for me but the lessons I have learned along the way have all helped me to maintain focus, overcome 'painter's block' and keep on that journey towards my 'self'- the 'real me' at the core of my being! I reckon it's been a great year with so much still to do! A wonderful end to the year is looming steadily and I'm sorry, I have to get back to my painting! What about you?

Ruminations of a frustrated artist!

You know the saying "Just do it!" Such wise words, so hard to follow but today I did! I did it!

I think finding this website "The Flinty Hard Road" and reading it made so much sense to me and brought me back to the place where I know I'm not alone..... the arts is a hard career choice.... probably the hardest! I really related to the heading "Fabulously successful, penniless and deranged" particularly the 'deranged' bit!

Lately I've been well, let's say "occupied" but today, I bit the bullet and "just did it!" and boy does it feel good. I went to the studio and prepared all those canvases that have been patiently waiting for me. There they are now, all virginal white, covered in that clean clear pure pristine coat of gesso. They wait for me now to pour forth all my energies onto them..... sigh! What a good day's work!

The weekend saw another exhibition of works open to an assembled throng of art lovers, purveyors of fine art and wine, some really decent and genuine people amongst them..... the wallets remained firmly locked and who can blame them for today's economy sees most people worrying about their retirement plans as their super funds vaporise before their disbelieving eyes. Not so for us artists, we don't have the luxury of retirement plans. We'll be painting until we're blind and hanging around hopefully for a sale.

But we do have the luxury of filling our lives and walls with wonderful art that others can only dream about! Not for us, those dreary prints and commercial crappy decorator pieces, don't they make you cringe!

 At least 3 people promised to buy work.... ah that's nice and I remind myself that despite the current downturn this year, I have had some sales and offers that other artists would be glad to have.

So to get into the studio today and back to my virginal white canvases was a joy! My mind started to focus immediately as I imagined the images starting to appear. I could feel the paints calling to me from their tubes to squeeze them and spread them luxuriously across each virgin in turn. Ah what a pleasant day!

It's going to be good year after all! There's so much to do and so much opportunity lying right here at the doorstep.... it reminds me that "everything you need, is right there in front of you!" So watch this space as the year rolls on.....

"Flooding of Twin Lakes" Oil on Canvas

Here's one that I would like to see painted up into a large work...... hmmm.....

So keep painting out there!

Colour Blind or what?

Here's a great test from Pantone for all you colourful people out there!

Take the test and let me know your score! Put it in the comments field if you dare! I am pretty pleased with my results I tell you......for eyes that are getting on in years and used every day to sort colours, I am pretty chuffed with my score!

It's great fun too!

 You'll ind it here thanks to Pantone!