Water for Life International Art Exhibition 2018

This is an introductory video to the "Water for Life" Exhibition in which I am representing Australia next year.

Australia is the driest island/continent on earth and exhibitions such as these aim to raise the conscience of humanity.

My work will feature our driest landscapes, the great outback where water, although it has shaped the landscape for many millions of years and has left it's mark everywhere, no longer exists. When the rains do come up north and the waters flow wide over the floodplains, it gathers into salt lakes and is not supportive to life.

Water is really scarce here and it is worrying that our government doesn't seem to appreciate the value or disaster that is facing us.

https://youtu.be/2vdHy5oXnyQ

Merry Christmas to everyone!

 

Well here we are again at the end of the year and all out of breath and wondering what the hell the New Year will bring!? If it's anything like 2015, it will be an awesome ride!

We, the Wild Women (22 of us so far) of Arkaroola PLUS (plus 3 men now!) went into the desert once again to explore and paint and be inspired and just to chill out and be free!

Arkaroola is such a great place! The air is so different with it's decaying radio active background (I kid you not!) The area is made up of uranium bearing rocks but the slow decay is natural for man to live in and much of Australia is of course the same! We just aren't told it unless we do some research.... however, out there, it seems to bring about a healthy change and many of us return refreshed, renewed and ready to go!

This last year, although the Sturts Desert Pea was just at the end of flowering, we did manage to find a few to photograph along the way.

Maybe you can join us in 2016. We go again in May and September. If you live overseas, you can fly into Sydney and then onto Orange where we will meet you and make sure you get into a 4WD to come along! We would love to show you around Oz!

 

 

  

  

 

 

 

  

  

  

 

Another big week at Arkaroola!

Flying in a small plane out into the western deserts is not for the faint hearted, or so I found out this time around. For the first time, I actually got airsick.... not just the squeemish tummy but the real throw up in a bag stuff.... oh nightmares! I really thought my number was up by the time we got into the desert..... aaargh! The Piper Navaho tossed and jolted across the skies thrown about by hot pockets of air and small clouds..... but sigh, it was fantastic to be back out there.... once the tummy settled.

This is the 5th trek into the wilderness that I have organised for my artistically inclined friends. Twice a year, I invite people to join me in this wild adventure and it is a lot of fun. It's energetic, focused, free, exciting and inspiring..... Just to get out there in that uranium decaying background seems to reignite the soul and cal, the mind.

Flying above Lake Frome has to be one of the purest joys of life on earth. It's a surreal and majestic sight and never the same..... again this time, it lay resplendent below us swathed in layers and the palest greys and ochres, watercolour washes across the plains. It's not a well known salt lake, but in many ways, I love it more than Lake Eyre. About 600 sq kms in size, it's like being on another world.

OCTOBER ACRYLIC WORKSHOPS - 3 & 4, 10 & 11 October 2015

Hi everyone,

The October Workshops will focus on Acrylics, moulding pastes, flow mediums and other exciting innovative ideas for creating wonderful artworks.

We had so much fun at our last workshops, that it seemed a great way forward to get right back into all the mess again and start creating for Spring and Summer..... These mediums produce such amazing textures for seaside rocks, rock faces in the landscape and other subjects!

 

 

So once again, this popular workshop will be held over two consecutive weekends so you can do one day on each weekend , or two on the same weekend - you mix and match to suit yourself.

The first weekend will be in the studio where we will explore the mediums and how they end up being so interesting and intriguing......

The second weekend will be en plein aire (weather permitting) or in a secret location where we can gaze at the landscape.....

the October Acrylic Workshops

Dates:    Saturday and Sunday 3 and 4 October and
Saturday and Sunday 10 and 11 October.
  (You can also do one day of each weekend if helpful)

Times:     9.30 am for 10 am start to 3.30 pm for 4 pm packup.

Cost: $150 per 2 day weekend

There is a $25 additional cost if you need me to supply materials - paints, brushes

Cost does not include paper (for sale on the day) and canvas (which you will need to buy -
suggested sizes are 45 cm square or 45 cm x 60 cm rectangle.

"Diaries of a traveling artist" on show now!

Hi everyone

Well this month and into next (13 April), my artworks are showing at Fairview Artspace in Mudgee. These works have all been inspired by my various trips into and around Australia.

As I explore this colourful and exciting country, I find I just have to return to the studio and express myself in colour and form that reflects the feelings I have felt whilst out there..... yep, out there.... outback as we call it!'

To give you a small idea of some of the places I have seen, here's a couple of photos:

 

On 28th and 29th March, I will be out at Mudgee in the gallery. I'll show a series of slides of places I have been to give you an idea of what inspires me to paint the Australian outback.

For too long, we have all been led astray into believing that this is a dull, dry and dusty country worth nothing else than for raping and pillaging. Well, the Australia I know is far from being boring, flat and dull. It is a wild and wonderful country full of colours, energy and forms beyond anything we can imagine.... but you need to be able to find the places, take the time to let the magic happen.

Join me in Mudgee even if it's only to be inspired to get in your car and travel out into our wilderness!

The Echidna Garden

Nothing is quite as ZEN as a walk in a wild wood and coming across a lone echidna quietly going about his/her business..... well, at least this was my experience of seeing this amazingly beautiful creature wombling along in amongst mauve melaleucas and bacon and egg plants this last week.

 So here he is...... emerging from the bushes. He/She hasn't noticed me as I am upwind and staring stupendously!

 Yes, a little closer, OMG!

 

And now just a few feet away and he/she still hasn't seen me which is strange as I am beside myself with delight!

 

And this is the pretty melaleuca that is such a feature of this recent regrowth from welcome rains.

I just wanted to share this with you all! It was a lovely week on Jacquie's farm in the Shoalhaven Region. Have a wonderful life!

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.

Arkaroola just continues to delight the senses!

Having just returned from my fourth trip to Arkaroola over 2 years, I am still delighted and inpired by that arid and ancient landscape. The sheer size of the outback continues to astound and overwhelm as it silently stands witness to all we do.

Paintings cannot express the feelings that collide within one's soul as the eyes get reddened and lined with tiredness at trying to take it all in. I realised this time just how many people travel through that country and come home feeling overwhelmed.

Flashes of ochre walls this time in unexpected places were found as now, this time, I am finally able to start to get down to the details. Found, three more ochre wall sites to explore for next time!

The wall glows under the gums, a hidden site, not much visited and not well known, and darned difficult to paint with any conviction. People cannot imagine that this exists but there it is.... it's quiet ethereal presence from over 500 million years ago - a testament to how beautiful the earth must have been at one time.

These colours would have made up the landscape long before they all became melded into one dull brown or grey. They would have shone on beaches and riverbeds, the sides of hills and mountains - a veritable Garden of Eden.

Now, all we have left in the landscape are a few wild arid places, wilderness areas and sanctuaries, looked over by daring and courageous guardians like the Spriggs of Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary. These are indeed sacred places but will we be strong enough and vigilant enough to protect them from the voracious appetites of a consumer culture. I certainly hope so.