Wattle l do!

Had a great day teaching aspirants how to tackle Wattle watercolours! Harder than it looks, it's a real meditation in the studio!

Now it's at the framers waiting for a beautiful frame to set it off! Arh! The decorative arts! Lovely way to be!

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!

"SUMMERTIME" at Jayes Gallery! Painting along.....

Hi there

Well summertime is here and my paintings (or a few of them) will be the fabulous Jayes Gallery in Molong in a group show along with leading artists, Eris Fleming, Jaq Davies, Ian Grant, Glenn Hoyle and Josephine Jagger- Manners. The show opens next Wednesday 30th January and runs for 5-6 weeks...... further details from jayes blog!

Ther's not a lot of engelman works available at the moment as I'm painting for my mid-year solo show with Jayes (19 July - 25 August 2013) and then, my nose will be well and truly in the paint bucket getting the large works out for next year's big one! Or maybe that will be 2015..... who can tell as I have big plans for large, large works from my recent outback journeys..... well documented landscapes that have burned into my soul!

But for now, here are the paintings that Jayes has available...... why not pop out to the gallery, stroll around the sculptures and have a chat with Libby and Hugh Oldham in their beautiful setting in Molong!

"Anticipation" - a painting inspired by my grandson William with his red hair and handsome face. I tried to capture the feeling that a boy has when he first goes to catch that ball! The moment that makes him a cricket fan for the rest of his life.... it's 100 cm x 88 cm and framed in a black box frame! Would make a great gift for a cricket fan or young boy!

Then there's a watercolour for the kitchen (?) I'm not sure where to hang this one but I think a nice clean modern kitchen/dining area, which is why it is framed with a deep white box frame and 120 cm mount in white all round - sort of building on a white on white theme - anyway, it's a fresh painting in watercolour with some black and gold inks on D'Arches watercolour - full sheet 70 cm x 50 cm framed.

And last, a small watercolour titled "Up Close Poppy" which shows the heart of our favourite red poppy in all it's summer glory!  There are many paintings in this group show that will delight you from Eris's spirited outback humour to Josephine's pretty interiors, there's a painting there for everyone!

The group show for Coloured City Creatives finishes tomorrow so then it's back into the studio and up to the elbows in paint, paper and canvas with the whip cracking.....

Love to see you at the studio some time but remember you need to phone and make an appointment as once I get 'on the brush', it's hard to focus on the 'real' world!

Outback Trekkin'.......

Well after quite some time, I am finally ready to do some blogging again! You might wonder where I've been... or those of you who follow my blog, and thankfully there are a few.......

These last few weeks, my friend Wanda and I have been outback and across the Birdsville Track down through South Australia, through the mighty Flinders Ranges and through the back country to Silverton, White Cliffs and back to Bourke.

This amazing trek was brought about through our great friend Stuart Johnson of Bourke and his wonderful 4WDs that he hires out to any intrepid traveller of this great southern land of ours!

The road ahead! Australian red soils abound right through the corner country of NSW and it always makes me really happy to be out in this beautiful land. It really is painter's country so if you want inspiration, then head out this way..... don't forget to call Stuart at Bourke for wise advice and a 4WD ready to go!

 Sitting in the shade while we get the car ready...... a terrific way to spend a day!

 The monitors are friendly out here as they survey they're land..... grand little proud creatures that welcome you to 'country'.

Not to forget the other locals having a laugh in the shade!

Over the coming weeks, Wanda and I will be painting up a storm! Literally, we found a wonderful storm in the Strezlecki Desert as we passed through that way..... so I am sure it will feature in ssome of our works as the palette of colurs was just amazing.......

With over 6,800 photos (and that' after chucking the crook ones away) to sort through it will take a while to relive this journey. I will load them up to panoramio (no not all of them just the special few) to entice you to the desert.

But do always be careful when you travel out there for while it is a magnificent and wild place, it is also unpredictable and a trap for the unwise and unwary..... carry plenty of water, and spares, and take your time..... we saw many cars by the side of the road with broken axles, shredded tyres etc as people tend to think it's a racetrack and forget the dangers of being stuck out there without provisions or help.

So till next time, have a wonderful life!

Have we lost our way on this planet?

We have but one home - it's called earth..... and it's an important place because even if we could find a way off, other planets are hardly welcoming.... we still haven't found one nearby that would support life and even if it could, it would taken many generations to build the home we have here.... or did have here.... before we started to pollute and rape the earth.

2012 is surely the year for a wake up call... as we plunder the limited supply of oils, coal, minerals and metals, convert them into rubbish which we then bury back into the ground or worse, throw out to sea, maybe this year we could all take a look at our own consumption and start to think how we might be part of the solution. For me, I have cut down to a pretty simple lifestyle and this year, I am determined to not buy anything I don't absolutely need and to mend things rather than throw away.

My paintings have traditionally been inspired by our beautiful Mother Earth, the wonderful landscapes we live and enjoy and I have found great pleasure over my life creating many paintings, each one completely different to the next. The joy of being able to express myself through art has never left me.

In these later years though, I have found myself wanting to express my concern for the earth and what we are doing to it seemingly with little regard for the future of the generations of human beings to come. Here in Australia, our laws unfortunately were set in place by colonial attitudes to allow the rape and pillage of the landscape by the early settlers and those same laws also now allow us to mine the landscape to its detriment...... most people don't have the time "to give a damn!" esconsced as they are in a cheap luxury lifestyle and kept busy by an aquisitive culture that has made 'money' god.

Today I worked on a painting entitled "LAND / SCARRED" (above) which features the pindan soils of the top end of Western Australia - those luscious reds and purples of iron ore, those sensuous curving hills and there right in the middle I find myself painting a mine site..... it isn't any particular mine site, just one that I designed from the lay of the land on the canvas..... worked up from a number of mine sites that I have seen from the air in my travels. Please feel free to download it and save it as a desktop image if you would like. I doubt if it will ever sell but if I can raise some comment, an eyebrow or make someone out there think, then I have achieved much.

Stop by again soon....

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.

Forbes Town - what a hoot!

Well, this last week saw some of my works shown at Forbes Town Hall some 150 kms west of Orange where I live. It's always interesting to take your work into another town, especially the smaller towns and see what the exercise brings! I'm not sure about anyone else, but I had a fabulous time..... the people of our Ozzie country towns are really the 'salt of the earth', super friendly and welcoming!

One very special lady I met called Lee wrote a poem about me and she has given me permission to put it here for you also to laugh at enjoy! Lee also liked my hand painted shoes (grand-daughter's art) so much that she was inspired to paint her own..... now that's my sort of person!

"Limericks de Joy"

To Forbes came this artist extraordinaire,

Environmental from her feet to her hair.

She was surely inspirational,

Her paintings quite sensational,

Yes, Joy, your a lady with flair.

Came this talented artist from Orange,

(which doesn't rhyme with anything)

For her spectacular paintings to bring

All that nature does impart

Painted right from the heart

Glorious colours that make your soul sing.

I have to say, I was wined and dined in style, Pam and Tony made me very very welcome and the last night party! well, what can I say except that 2 days later I am still recovering! Yes Forbes, you are going to be hard to beat!

I had to add a photo of one of the many floral arrangements that the Forbes ladies put around the show....... the colours of our bush flowers are really beautiful aren't they? We all just love those blue gum tips and bright red bottle brushes. I thought this would make a nice painting..... hmmm....

The Town Hall is really quite stunning inside with a colonial architecture that reflects our rather British heritage so the show looked quite good in the space provided. One hopes that the Forbes Council learns to encourage the arts further and support the hard work of their local people. Maybe an Arts Prize or an Aquisition from the regular shows that the people of Forbes voluntarily put on.It would be good to see these country councils participate more fully and engage their arts communities by building local collections of Australian art.

So this week, I'm off to Coffs Harbour, a trek of some 800-900 kms north and to the beach! Yay! My paintings will once again go on display only this time at Opal Cove Resort - so let's see if Coffs can come up to Forbes standard! It'll be a challenge!

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!

Dreaming of the Kimberleys!

Waking up this morning to sub zero temperatures, I stick my head back under the blankets and begin dreaming of the Kimberleys again! I see myself bumping along looking out the window of the 6WD at what has to be one of the most amazingly beautiful landscapes in the world. 

The colours just bounce off each other, the shadows, the light, the blue blue sky, those limes of the spinifex and oranges of the rocks....opposites on the colour wheel, they dance around each other forming their own magical music! Songlines the aboriginal people call these places/ridges/ranges and to me, they definitely do 'sing'!

 

 "The Bungle Bungles at mid morning"

I go to my studio and prepare my papers to start but it's so cold, the paint won't dry so I head off to the art shop. Staggering out more exceedingly poor than before, I am happy with the colours I've found....quite a different palette to the one I am used to. The grey cold wind whips around my legs as I huddle into the car $200 spent. OMG! This is such an expensive 'need' of mine! 

I am reminded of poor Gaughin in Tahiti writing to his dealers asking for money to buy paints! Like him, I also rely on my dealers and gallerists to keep me going but this year, I keep getting told that sales are slow. I'm afraid to say, it's been my own sales that have kept me in paint and paper. The GFC has bitten deep!

"Echidna Rock"

I take out my colour notes from the journey. I have to burn that blue blue sky into my deepest psyche so that I can recreate it perfectly. I could not believe when I looked up, just how wonderful that deep blue sky was above the tones of oranges and limes. This was indeed an inspiring journey......which reminds me, I am in the running to win another but to Uluru! Hmmm wouldn't that be fantastic!

Over the next few weeks, I'll be putting my field notes (small works on paper), my explorations (large works on paper) and major works (large works on canvas) as I develop them in the studio from my memories, studies, diary and photos so keep an eye out. Here's the link as I paint away the days!

 So happy painting to all of you out there or happy collecting - or both!

EXHIBITION OPENS SUNDAY 14 AUGUST 2 PM AT JAYES IN MOLONG NSW -
Everyone welcome!

Back from the Bungle Bungles! WOW!

Hi everyone!

Well I'm back from the trip of a lifetime!  The Top End of Australia in the the Kimberley Region has to be one of the most colourful landscapes I've ever been in. Truly painter's country!

The variety of colourways runs through the violet, orange and lime green ranges and form the most wonderful and inspiring landscapes I've ever had the privilege of seeing. Definitely a 'must do' in this lifetime so get out your bucket list and add it if you haven't!

However, I must warn you, you need to be fit, able to put on your runners sitting on the ground, climb and walk in wobbly circumstances - definitely no broken or wobbly ankles!

 

The Bungle Bungles - awesome, huge!

 

Me in my muffties! These clothes took a beating! and I look a bit worse for wear as well!

Ngumbun Cliffs - we had a forced stay in this beautiful spot and Thank You!

 

Moon over the Osbourne Range near the Bungles!

I'll be having a small showing of my field notes, photos and sketches plus a couple of larger works at Jayes Gallery next month, August so just go to my website for details of dates of the opening! Love to see you all there!

Gotta get painting!

Recent ramblings.....

Winter is here and it's so gloomy looking at blue that I decided to do something a bit brighter and warmer for my blog background....makes me want to paint!

Recent days in the studio have seen me exploring hotter and hotter drier landscapes as the cold of an Orange winter sets in! Seems a bit weird calling it an Orange winter but that's what it is......winter in the town of Orange! My desire to travel west into warmer climes always drives me crazy at this time of year and this year, my car broke down delaying the outback trek that I love so much......what to do? I think I'll take a few smaller trips....next week off to Forbes though for a workshop and it's always warmer and drier out there! Maybe I'll just keep driving west.....hmm now that's a thought!

More here

So for a little preview of what I'm painting, here's a sample! I'd love to say it's the finished image but the finished works has a few more marks on it.

And another inspired by Lake Eyre, currently in flood for the second year around.....

 

I've been asked a couple of times lately how I would describe myself as a painter. One person felt I was an impressionist, which is a description I rather like but no sure it fits. The second person told me they had been told by their art teacher that I was a landscape painter which isn't a good description either.

So for the record, I personally describe myself as a contemporary landscape painter. My works are done from 'memory' of landscape, and are not actual places. If they have a place name with them, it is for reference purposes only and to let you know where I was when I gathered the 'feelings of place' that I paint. I prefer to paint 'memories', 'sensations' 'form' 'marks' 'patterns' that come from being in a 'particular place' at a 'particular time' such as sunset and sunrise, my favourite times of day as the gods change over their influence....

My interest lies in the abstract nature of the earth and her patterns, the marks that we all leave behind as we try to change this place and make it bend to our rules, mostly with dire outcomes. I love the terra forming patterns of farmlands especially from above and my works are increasingly becoming aerial landscape patterns.

My palette is drawn from the iron rich soils of Oz, the deep red soils of our outback and the fabulous blue skies above, reflected on the earth and waterways.

I've added a share button so you can share this blog with your friends! Take care through the winter cold months and keep warm! See you out back!

Review of Canberra Show

Sarina Locke from the ABC opened the show last Saturday night! Here's Bob (Director), Sarina and Joy (me!) All round a great success!

For more....

New adventure - oh Joyous!

Well hi,

It always seems a little weird, sitting here at my desk, pondering the outside world......they tell me that computers make you antisocial......not sure whether that's right in my case as I seem to get about a fair bit......yep, even at my age!

Just lately, I've taken up the new role of arts editor for Style Magazine......"the essential lifestyle guide for rural and regional NSW". And just this week, the first edition came out with my glamour shot, editorial and feature article in it! Couldn't be more thrilled really.....amazing what glossy white paper and crisp clean print can do for one's words. I have cleaned up OK for the photo.....am amazed at how good Diana's photography is. Either that or she has a fabulous camera that should be gold plated!

See what I mean! Hmmm! This is going to be a good journey for me, I feel it in my bones! And it's always good to be able to write about the thing that inspires you the most in life and for me that would be the arts! All those wonderful images and objects that people create...there's always something new to look at, wonder about or trigger something deep!

So anyway, the adventure begins.....who would of thought that at my age I'd start yet another new journey and one that will inspire me to grow more! Life just gets better!

Joy

2010 - Faster - Weirder!

Well, it seems my paintings have made it to Bologna for the "Small Treasures" exhibition in May at the Galleria de' Marchi.

 Above is the painting I executed for last show which didn't make it due to the economic downturn and now this time around, we have the volcano in Iceland doing it's thing.....just a reminder of my current theme for painting - Climate Change.

I must say I just love it when Mother Earth behaves badly! Just as we hear that there's a One World Order creating Carbon Credits to bring climate change under control (? what's that about), ol' mum lets off enough pollution to remind us just who is charge.

Of course if you live in those big battery sheds called cities, you hardly ever get out to see how awesome nature really is and so you can imagine in your mind that man is really in charge......for those of us however, that live out in nature, just one summer storm reminds us to be on the lookout.

"The Eye of the Eagle" exhibition at Jayes in Molong went really well and was received with interest by all who came along. Many were surprised at how positive the show was as they were expecting something gloomy but really, I just paint the beauty of the earth as I see it and despite what we do to her. I focused on landscapes from an aerial perspective as seen by the eagle in flight. As I googled my way across the earth daily, I found amazing patterns and places that inspired me to put paint to canvas in the brightest of colours trying to capture the eagle's pentachromatic vision.

Here's one that I did for "Small Treasures". I was inspired by the recent flooding of our inland. I think this one is called "Flooded Outback" but can't be sure, such is the state of my thinking this year! If you look close, you'll see the little farmhouse caught in the middle of islands between the floodwaters with all the roads closed.

It has been such a busy year and so far, too much to do and think about. The floods have been amazing though and right across our land bringing relief to our drought stricken land which is the 'boom and bust' nature of Australia.

I just love this place. It's so amazing to be alive here and now! and to be able to see it all from Google Earth - what a fantastic invention!

I wish you all the best out there in lala land! Keep sane amongst the madness of it all!

Early Morning Australia

I don't know why but I just had to get out of bed at sparrow's fart this morning and head off for a walk/stumble in the bush. Of course, my fave spot of the moment is Gosling Creek. So off I went.

I think it was the fact that for the first time in a while, we had clouds in the sky, a promise maybe of rain but certainly of a colourful sunrise. Clean crisp and cool air.....not to be wasted I felt! The recent heat has made me very thankful for the early breeze of morning.

And there's always the beauty of watching nature paint the early morning sky.....that blend of colours, that big soft water colour, an amazing thing to watch and for me, it had been too long since I had gone out and appreciate the sunrise and bird songs.

And there's the other thing, nature painting the trees as the sun rises, the way the light captures the beauty of the branches and the eternal clear light of Australia. It's a beautiful place, inspiring and ancient.

Although out of focus, an effect I rather like as it reminds me of a soft water colour work, the light and colours of the early morning amongst our trees is always wonderful to catch.

Well, this week has seen the last of the paintings for my next show at Jayes and I am glad to be able to rest again at last. The year ahead is quite daunting with 6 shows, 2 of them overseas and 2 in major cities......it'll be a big year! As well, I am hoping to catch a trip outback......whew!

But bring it on! One day at a time and I'll be there!

Hope you have a great day painting and being inspired. Do stop and smell the roses or at least take a break and look out at the world in wonder.

"The Eye of the Eagle"

 "Gorge and engorged" 68 cm x 48 cm Mixed Media on D'Arches

This recent month has seen me hard at work in my studio imagining flying over the deserts of Central Australia as an eagle and then putting this down on paper. I was amazed whilst reading up on eagles and how they see, to learn that they have pentachromatic vision (we have tetrachromatic). Eagles can see ultraviolet and infrared colours - so Wow!

Pondering the complexity of this, I felt that they saw far more brightly than we did and so I pushed a few colours round in Photoshop to see what effects I could get. All this dreaming and fiddling around has led to very colourful exhibition indeed. At first I found it too much but as I settled into it, the paintings burned into my soul and I now feel quite at home with them and their intense colours.

Why eagles and why now? Firstly, recent heatwaves have crossed the country leaving it bare and exposed, dry and parched. Daily reminders of the planet getting hotter, have left me wondering once again about Climate Change; is it real, why does it happen and what does it mean?

I don't have answers to this although I find it extraordinarily fascinating......like most of us I believe.

Australia is the driest and harshest continent on the planet with the most ancient and exposed soils. Millions of years have passed and former mountains have eroded down into floodplains and deserts. These cover over 90 % of Australia. The colours when viewed from a plane, are bright reds, oranges and yellows with tracks and dry river beds crisscrossing the land.

Secondly, I feel, if we could read the land, if we could understand the patterns and their meanings, then just maybe we could learn to live with the earth successfully. We could stop building cities on fertile lands and fields, we could build for temperature and climate changes, we could do things better. It's true we've survived for almost 5 million years but the recent upswing in our skills has hurt the planet more than ever before and now we worry about our own survival as a species for probably the first time ever in our history.

I have painted these paintings from a deep part of myself that yearns for a greener place, a safer place but at the same time is amazed and drawn to the wondrous colours of the earth.

Australia may be the oldest and most exposed place right now, but believe me, it's where other countries are headed over the next few thousands of years as the glaciers dry up and and the mountains erode down to floodplains and deserts. Look at this place, Australia and learn for this is where you are headed. It is not a country that can sustain many more people than it currently does......it is not the lucky country it once was.......and we will need to move whole towns and populations as the heat increases and the desert continues to grow ever larger.

There is no doubt in my mind that human activity here in this 'sacred' place has exacerbated the rate of desertification. The ripping out of whole forests, the ploughing and chemical spraying of large tracks of land, the channeling of water away from floodplains and marshlands continues today despite the warnings written already in our land and able to be seen by the eagles looking for their old hunting grounds.

Try looking at the earth through 'the eye of the eagle'!

The exhibition can be seen at Jayes Gallery in Molong NSW from 5 February to 7 March or online closer to that date.

Birthday Week!

Well, I went out and had a little walk again this morning....nothing fancy....tried another stumble / shuffle that I think is a run along the path...it's a beautiful spot, the sun is shining and look what I found.....

This little Aussie Pea Flower is called Hardenbergia and at this time of the year can be found in abundance throughout the bush.....just lovely! It'll make a nice Aussie card.....hmmm!

Then went out to the Orange Highland Gardens to measure up the first sculptures to arrive for "Sculptures in the Garden". This is our latest event to be organised and is a new event for the area. Over 14 sculptors will be exhibited with over 26 sculptures....we are really happy as this is the first time for this event!

It's a beautiful outlook from the gardens across the valley to old man Canobolas....love the way the chair reflects the shape and blue of the mount behind it.....nice balance.....I wonder if this was placed here on purpose?

I find one of Norman Organ's emus as I stroll about! They're terrific! Can't wait to see them this weekend in all sizes!

It's fun and warm hearted art isn't it? The work from Suvira McDonald from Byron Bay is very very good.....2 lovely pieces called Citadel that I could definitely live with....this is promising to be an excellent show....hope the weather holds!

And last but not least, this is a brush I bought myself for my birthday! Found it in Raw Canvas for only $14.95! So all you budding artists, get down and see Raw Canvas and buy one! They are great for watercolour paintings!

I have to say my birthday week has been a good one.....tiring in many ways, but happy and quiet as well.....plenty of time to start to catch up on things like my online diary!

Hope to hear from you all soon!

And on a lighter note!

From my friends in Fuerteventura



Ida and Tito sent me this video this morning. Tito has organised and an event for the town! Wow! Well done Ida and Tito......I want to be there! Look at all the sunshine! Happy faces and good fun!

For all the biennale group, Tito painted the big bright paintings on the side ogf the building towards the end of the video! He was such a funny man and Ida made the funny video on the biennale (plus this one) that's on my other blog at

http://joyengelman.blogspot.com/

and for more of Ida's work, go to here.....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAODaefNC_M&feature=email

Have a great day...the sun is trying to peep thru here in Orange in Oz!

Easter Breakdown.......or was that breakout?

Well I don't know about you, my friends, but Easter was just lurverly......I took myself to Sydney and looked after my 2 grand children.....what a hoot! but boy oh boy, am I paying for it now.....

The energy of the young is so fantastic! A continuous thread of high power, loud and bright noise that almost reaches the white point in your brain after just a few hours......still, for a gran, I think I did pretty well.

I did manage, amongst the melee, to grab a shot or two of that over the top and bright muralised room that Josie wanted......it took 3 long days over last Christmas to complete and will be due for renovating shortly......I think it would completely over power me but she seems to be happy with it.....so here's a shot for you to ponder.....



ah life is grand but today, I'm feeling a bit slow so here's hoping that you are all well and fine and painting along....selling as well....it's always good when someone else likes your work too.....

Time to focus on the good things in life....food....and off to the markets so I don't completly starve!