The Joy and Life of being an Artist!

The Year of the Rabbit has left me quite exhausted! There has been so much change, hopping about and so much to do..... so many little ends to tie up, so many decisions to be made and so many new forces to be considered. This last year has left us all a little dazed and I find myself thinking what will the Year of the Dragon bring.

So I am starting early to consider the year ahead. With a very full month ahead of me and an important solo show next April at Aarwun Galleries, it is time I knuckled down to serious work in the studio.But whew! What a year and still some to come.

This morning I was driving, no....cruising along the highway in my comfortable car, looking out over the hills and valleys of this wonderful landscape I live in; abundant growth everywhere and warm sunshine after a week of non-stop rain. I noted that the rivers were full to the brim and wonderful puffy white clouds building up in the bluest of skies overhead. I am always happiest in my car, free as a bird listening to music and cruising the landscape. My heart sings! Or in my studio, paint everywhere.... love getting all messy and seeing what works with what.

I have just had lunch with my dear friend Karrin, wonder woman artist from Lightening Ridge and a true Ehulii woman spirit. She looked marvelous! You can find her art work on her website. We always enjoy sharing together the various stories of our respective lives. True friends are great treasures to be enjoyed while we can so these are special moments when we connect with our soul sisters.

We both are acutely aware of the damage being done to this sacred land we live in and we worry for the delicate deserts and waterways being disturbed by an ever increasing mining presence. It might be that Australia will be uninhabitable in time as awareness of being in touch with the land is eroding in the face of an increasing greed. It is another invasion happening - perhaps the last! I remarked to Karrin that lately it is the aboriginal people that are buying my artworks and not the European descendants. I feel that is a privilege and shows my connection to the land is being recognised by the original land owners. But with it, comes a responsibility: a responsibility to reach out and make others aware of the 'pain' the land is in.

I hope I am up to it. Still Canberra is the place where my next show will be so maybe, just maybe I can make a small contribution to raising consciousness. I certainly hope so! So look out for "LAND /MARKS" in April!

"LAND /MARKS - abandoned" Mixed Media on Paper 52 cmx 70 cm

This painting depicts an abandoned homestead block in the western desert.Man has tried for over 200 years now to conquer the inland of Australia but marks such as these home sites left long ago show the harshness of a desert that we still have not learned to live with.