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!

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!

Masked Ball - Orange Regional Gallery

What a Grande event! Orange Gallery's La Grande Masquerade was an wonderful evening full of fun and laughter....much amusement as we all guessed who was behind the mask!?

The evening just got better as it went on......so here's a little show I made from it....forgive the arty shots, can't help myself......lot's of Alan Sisley enjoying himself! and others, can you guess who.......

Orange Art Society Annual Competition

It's been so busy these last few weeks and so much to do, be done......well at last it's done!

And it was a great roll up at the Orange Art Society Competition the other week......about 2 or 3 weekends ago. We all gathered round to see a wonderful exhibition of local talent.

I was invited to judge the show, 7 or 8 sections and then formally open the evening's celebrations and hand out the prizes. There were some outstanding works amongst what was an excellent collection. There is no doubt about it, the local artists are good painters.....with some good teachers, past and present.

With four seasons a year in the region, from bright autumn colours, through winter whites and greys and into fresh spring greens and our sunburnt summers, this region really develops the senses. The Central West has always produced excellent artists, Tim Storrier (Parkes boy), Elwynn Lyn (Canowindra boy), Lloyd Rees (Bathurst way) and Brett Whiteley to name a few. There's also Reg Campbell of Sunny Corner, and his protegees, Greg Turner then Tony Mason who kept a line of good basic realism going, and gave a thorough understanding of European traditions to their students.

I travel all around the place, east to west, and visit many art societies and galleries, and really, Orange can hold its own.....

This year saw the CWA exhibit as well......so it was representative of a large group of painters. Well done to all who helped out and supported this venture. I hope to see more of these in the future.

Go West for Inspiration!

Art is alive and well in Forbes! Yesterday, Wanda and I went wandering along the long road to Forbes, we stopped, took photos, laughed, and gained inspiration from a beautiful landscape.

It was getting ready to snow in Orange so we escaped a gloomy day and headed out in the car, cameras in hand. The mists were hanging over the landscape giving it a soft gentle light, and the blue gums were cerulean with grasses of apricot and creams.......an excellent day for painters to be out and about!

We landed in Forbes and took a peek at the Lachlan St Gallery, the home of the Forbes Art Society. They were all painting furiously and enjoying each other's company. A great little gallery fronts their workshops area and displays a wide range of loval arts plus a few from other areas.

It's a terrific space and one could feel the pleasure that these artists shared in their love of art and painting together. We were made to feel very welcome as we shared a cup of tea with them and talked about their work.

13 Photographers at Borrodell!

Well Wow! What a great night! The gallery was crowded for an interesting night again at Borrodell Cellar Gallery....the wine flowed, the noise, the noise, the noise, ah and yes, it 'was noise' as well.

13 photographers showing off their art which included some gimmicks, some tricks and some really cutting edge images. It demonstrated how photographers now feel the need to break away from classical photos and become more edgey as the market becomes flooded with wannabees. In some ways, the work reflected the break from traditional art forms that artists went through when cameras first came into being and threatened the life blood of artists.

Back then, recording the family and their belongings was the realm of realist painters and of course this shifted as photographers took over. Artists had to find the edge and they did. Now we see this happening as photographers find their domain being impacted by the digital camera.

So an interesting show that demands attention and raises questions about the place of photography in the modern world and the future.........must go if in town........open until end August!