Artists Blog

Thanks to all of you for your comments, they really mean a lot to me. I have been such a slacker with posting of late - lots of “Real World” goings-on PLUS fighting for the computer = not a lot of posting.

 Another soon-to-be-cyclone is brewing out in the Coral Sea. Bring on the Dry Season and soon!

I’ve been stewing on all the things I’ve got on my “To Do” list as well. I don’t physically have a written down list, just a mental note that seems to be growing by the hour! When did organising one’s life get so hard?

Still, whenever things seem to get overwhelming, a walk and sit outside brings everything back into focus. There are hundreds of butterflies around at the moment, on a manic mission to drink lots of sugar and mate. Not a bad lifestyle really.

This dusk shot of the brilliant blue Ulysses is a bit grainy, but the blue was just so intense in the evening light.

Pink pegs on the clothesline are a favourtie spot for these Eggfly butterflies, who are so often dancing duets in the air - circling round and around each other but never colliding.

I’m feeling a bit disillusioined with art at the moment. So many Galleries have closed down here in Cairns. Lots of artists have lost money and trust. The economic woes of the world has really hit hard in this tourist town - lots of businesses are really doing it tough. On a brighter note I have ben invited to “try out” for the Miniature Society - they have two judged intakes per year - the next being in April. I need to complete 6 pieces (no bigger then 10cm on the longer side) to be considered. I’ve only ever done the one miniature for the exhibition late last year.

Still not sure whether I’m up to the task - more stewing on the subject required!

Cyclone Hamish certainly knows how to stir it up, even if he can’t make up his mind where he’s headed.

Yesterday Clifton Beach had a foreboding feel hanging over it.

If you look very carefully on the horizon you can just make out the shape of something luxurious…

…with a much more mundane friend beside it. I wonder if that’s the vessel that lost those 33 containers of Ammonia Nitrate, with another 3 tonnes spilt on deck. But don’t panic, it won’t explode unless it comes into contact with heat or chlorine….

Whilst on the subject of all things awash, we were pelted with such heavy rain late yesterday that we had several creeks running all throughout the yard and patio. I stepped onto the paving that was submerged up to my ankles and a tiny frogged grabbed my foot as it sailed past. It was headed for the white water rapids at the BBQ, and then the waterfall down the side gate. I rescued him and a couple of buddies till conditions eased.

Not sure if they were happy being turfed out of the Frog Hilton later that night, but I’m sure they’d want to join the DEAFENING CHORUS of their bazillion mates in the creek out front!

Image courtesy of the Bureau of Meteorology

Cyclone Hamish could be here as early as tomorrow night/saturday morning. There goes the weekend plans of exploring the Tablelands. Still, might be less crowded at the Coffee Plantation.

Thanks for all your lovely comments on the last post. I was hoping to be able to get a lot of painting done, but the Evil Taxation Return had other plans for me. It’s still not completed, and it’s like an infected thorn sticking in my toe. I was wading waist deep in papers, some going back to the 90’s, which thankfully are on their way to a new life in the reincarnation recycling bin. You know what it’s like, once I get bitten by the Purge Bug, I keep doggedly on, ripping up old bank statments with maniacal glee. Tax returns from the 80’s (just how did we survive on incomes so low?) even surfaced. I used to keep everything. Just in case. (Margie I can hear you laughing from here you know…)

Anyway, in an effort to tear myself away from all things mind numbing and soul destroying, I unwrapped a beautiful new Italian sketchbook (The Moleskine) this evening, and felt quite inspired admiring it’s creamy blank pages. Elli commented on linework in the last post, and linework is just what I need right now. There is an exhibition entitled “Line” closing soon, so I need to get a wriggle on. The lovely Elli also commented on museums being the source/inspiration for good work, and I do sadly miss them living up here. One of my favourite was the London Natural History Museum. I could live there and never ever get bored. The moment you set foot in that wonderous building you feel awe (and that Harry Potter might appear any minute). When I was there a while back I took so many (poor) photos. (This was still the age of film). I really think it inspired me to build my own naturalist’s collection, which I have been doing since I was a wee thing, much to my mother’s disdain. A decomposing red-bellied black snakes’s skin was binned whilst I was at school one day.

Everything was just so beautifully presented in polished timber cases. Did  anyone see the ABC’s recent series on the London Museum? How pedantic were they with dust getting into displays? Amazing dedication.

And the organisation - oh! It made me want to swoon.

So once back in Perth I built up a collection, mainly of beachy things, as we lived on the coast. After winter storms were the best time for finding unusual things, when the sea bed was trawled up and dumped on the sand. A lot of it stunk to high heaven, even after lots of bleach was involved. An outside collection was the best place until the smell disappeared.

When I proposed a piece for a Royal Show exhibition, I turned to my collection. I was able to use my finds, and gathered knowledge to put together a huge body of work, which won the Blue Ribbon at the Show. It met an untimely demise which I haven’t written about, but I did post some better photos under a post (click) HERE.

Below are some really bad photos from the film days.

So now I’m really keen to get some of my Tropical finds down on paper, captured in lines. Maybe even a splash of colour as well.

The Tax can wait.

Even though it was 33 deg C today, there is a definate change in the air. Even though the radio said the relative humidity at 8am last week was 94%, the mornings feel different. We really only have two seasons up here, Wet and Dry, and it’s been an amazingly dry week. (I may have put the mocker on  myself as there is talk of a cyclone forming by the end of the week - Cyclone Hamish). Last year March was the wettest time of the year - who knows what’s in store?

You can’t fool the plants though. We have decidious trees in the street - the Beach Almond (the bat’s & cockies fave). Whilst they are nude for only a fraction of time, they do drop their leaves. They go from deep emerald green to fire red canopy.  It seems one leaf is extra keen.

And speaking of nudes, here is one I did late last year at uni. We had to choose an artist whose palette knife technique we admired, and to emulate that style in a painting of our own. I can’t recall his name, but I do remember the vibrancy and movement he captured in his work. First nude and first palette knife painting. It was quite quick, around an hour and a half, but man did you use up a lot of paint! With some colours at $38 per tube, oil painting is NOT cheap.

Hope you are all enjoying Autumn wherever you may be!