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.

"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!

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.

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!

Arkaroola Art Tour a hoot!

Well hi everyone!

We're back from Arkaroola and it was as usual, amazing! The artists found inspiration and healing in this very special part of the Ozzie outback - deep in the heart of South Australia. It has to be one of my own very favourite places to visit......

We started by flying over Lake Frome - less well known than Lake Eyre and a gem..... this time, the lake had a 50-75 cm cover of water making the surface like a mirror. We were so dumbstruck by it that we couldn't speak much to the consternation of the pilot who thought that we might not have been impressed. But I assured him that we just couldn't speak at the sheer beauty and ethereal nature of the lake in flood.....

 

Lake Frome

After having our minds expanded in the observatory that night by Doug Sprigg who showed us the starry night sky through his wonderful telescope, we climbed exhausted into bed our sides aching from laughter.

Next day saw us take a gruelling tour of 4 1/2 hours of back breaking chiropractic abuse in the open back of a 4WD across country to Sillers Lookout! But it was well worth the rough ride with everyone sliding up and down the seats into each other!

View from Sillers Lookout

On Day 3, we took a fair hike of just over a km the guide said (hmmm..... it was definitely a lot longer than that!) down through Mawson Valley and to the riverbed where Sharpie, our aboriginal guide told us some dreamtime stories from the area. I think we were all so tired by this time, that we were just happy to have a seat even if it was in the sand! But it was a gentle way for the tour to wind down.

We headed back into the studio, but I feel we all had so many images fighting to emerge in our heads and hearts, that we all found it quite difficult to focus on just one thing to paint..... so we chatted away the afternoon with some people painting hard!

There are more photos on Panoramio and I will load some more as I find time. But in the meantime, consider Arkaroola as a must see destination for the Australian painter! They are friendly, helpful and ready to welcome artists with open arms..... it's well worth the long (fascinating) drive out there! But take plenty of memory cards as they won't go astray!

Looking forward to being able to take more of you on wild painting adventures!

Joy - oh and, we are having a group show at Aawun Gallery later this year! So don't forget to keep an eye out for details as they come to hand!

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!