its been a while...

Studio time is currently not happening 

BUT

the news is ...

the backyard at home ... the place where I had dreamed of building a studio

Our home sold officially last Monday and in late June we will move. Unfortunately there will be a gap between when we leave our lovely old home and the new home becomes vacant ... about 18 days in all.  BUT... we've found a new home to go to which is just what we needed. Built in 2004 it's solid and spacious and a huge change in appearance and style.

Nothing that an artistic eye cant bring a fresh vision too... with a little help from a good team.

Its quite a change for us in a number of ways...  a low maintenance home was top priority, as was wheel-chair accessibility in light of the elder of the family, Olivia, who, though still sprightly at age 82, is wanting the comfort and reassurance those of her vintage desire... especially if visitors were to need this kind of accessibility. The path up the left side of the house is a gentle slope and there are no steps at the back entrance to navigate.

There is garden to enjoy but not so much to look after. Plenty of room for my interest in growing things from seed and propagating... employing pots and small creative garden spaces. In fact that is something I didn't insist on at my mother's home when I came to live with her there. She was very much queen of that domain and loved her freshly mown lawns and resisted my visually eclectic garden ideas. Once I realised that I naturally pulled back, shelved my gardening instinct for the time being and madly pursued Homage to the seed from every angle but my own gardening exploits.

That was not a problem for the most part, especially as I was slowly recovering from illness when I moved in. Plus I'd begun gardens from scratch many times over the years and had had to leave them. In retrospect I was quite sad about the home and garden I gave up at my Mayfield cottage in Newcastle to move to QLD and thus took quite some time to adjust.

Now, however, at this new house there is far more room for my imput  so we will create together. I'm really keen to bring some plant experiments into my studio and work a lot more onsite in that way.

 the side path to the back garden and entrance

Even though I've not been painting I've been actively working on projects and concepts of late. One thing I really hoped this move would bring is space to conduct the kind of home-based art practice that furthers consolidation and consistency in the long term.

When I found this place in late April on an online real estate site the floor plan offered hope of a good studio space... and on first sight that thought was confirmed. As soon as one steps in the front door the room opens out to a living space that is a great size.

Currently rented to a young couple running an alternative health business this space is being utilized as a reception area.

the curtains will be removed

walls painted off-white to tone with the tiles

A hanging system for artwork will be installed

 in this extra wide entrance and hallway

Looking out to the front door 

with the studio space on right

the floor tiles are the same through out 

and we rather liked the neutral tones

The area is undergoing change... with many homes 

built following WWII in this area now being altered.

With my studio contents in storage  since mid-March (just got the bill again this morning reminding me) painting and the usual preoccupations are on-hold, which has lead me to fresh contemplation of how to proceed when creating the next phase of my ongoing venture.

During a Building & Pest Inspection carried out today on our soon-to-be home I got to spend almost two hours with handy tradesman brother Russell measuring up rooms and making notes. The dimensions of the studio are going to make for a really decent workspace. Located in the first room on entering the house... which opens out into the wide hallway... I'll be using book  shelves on castors as a movable wall, lined up for privacy.

A table I spotted recently that might work well for the studio plans. Two tables on wheels that are quite light and easy to clean could be moved around with ease daily as required. Ive found this to be a preferred way of working.. as long as there re plenty of other surfaces to hold everything I like to have to hand.

For occasions when the studio will serve as a showroom, or more space is needed, the furniture on castors will be moved. Additionally there's space in the garage for storage of artworks as soon as shelving's installed.

Its a low-set, single story home with most of the living space and small garden at the back of the house.
I'm really looking forward to the practical way this house can be set up for work-at-home peeps.

At the back of the house is a covered outdoor area where we'll 

set up a table which can also be an occasional workspace and 

workshop area as well. This is likely to become a very homely

space for meals and reading and flowing from the kitchen and 

living area its perfect for entertaining. Freshened up it should be 

a gorgeous outdoor room filled with plants and comfy pieces.

These are iphone pics taken today ... the only thing we can find to be bothered by is that we cant move in till july. Having been a rental property we must wait for the contract to be finalised of course. It won't be long before we will be flat out unpacking and trying to piece together all that is needed to get moving. So for now I am trying to get other things planned and be ready.

I'm off to Melbourne Saturday night till Wednesday. Sadly the visit is prompted so I can join dear friends on Monday following their sad loss which was touched on in the post 'For Rohan' at Visual Eclectica.

I will  stay with another dear friend from my Themata Studio days in Johnston St, Collingwood. All the planning for the trip has surfaced so many memories of the 12 years spent in Melbourne and spending time with these friends who have remained close to my heart over many years will be precious.
Its been too long between visits.


Before I sign off...
ten mins from the new place is an environmental centre that I visited again the other day. Denise Rivers, a friend I met volunteering in the seed lab at the Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens (where I spent a year on residency in 2010) does volunteering here on mondays and over some years began collecting seeds on site and germinating the seeds in their nursery below.

 Denise took me through the area she has spent 

considerable time helping restore with other 

volunteers. Loved this ferny grove and creek.

the seed nursery

Knowing I will live in quite close proximity to some excellent reserves and can access a bike-path by a creek from this new place I am very pleased. It's also only a ten minute walk to a large and busy local Library, Aquatic Centre, sports fields and large shopping centre. I will have a number of directions to head first things of a morning to start the day. Oh.. and I noticed a community garden at the park close by the house this week. So much to explore and look forward to.

cheerio,
S

Where I used to ride my bike to was beside the 

Brisbane river... such a built up area I lost interest. 

And the traffic bothered me. I'm now really looking 

forward to discovering where I will be moving to.

the beach at the river

love these mangrove seed pods... beautiful structures.

Shaking things up!

Getting on top of things and making new starts is the theme of this week.

I saw this film on the weekend... Darjeeling Unlimited!

Did you see it? Precious, obscure, annoying one minute and stunning the next! A bit like life really.

film poster

Moving can seem a bit like the image at the top... too much to carry... and as if one's in some vast and strange land or is it mindscape? I don't have Louis Vuitton luggage like they did but my 'stuff' is precious to me nevertheless.

So to focusing and make fresh starts this week. The thing that needed renovating the most I determined on Monday night was the very first blog Visual Eclectica  I started 4 years ago on May One.

And before the reno came the need to consider what the blog means to me... now and then ... to think about what's transpired, what could be done away with and what must stay.

a new blog header 

I've done most of the changes I wish to make there now ... except the one which takes the most time... blog lists and links. That part is so out of date and I realised would have to be tackled on another sitting.

books, blogs, journals and writing on my mind

Last night I was tinkering with blogger and noticed the untouched blog I set up in a fit of restlessness one night in early 2011. I had no idea at that time what I needed a new blog for and in the end I didn't use it save for a few haphazard posts. I think I selected a tumblr template eventually to pursue some initially unformed idea.

Aha I thought... I will employ this shell of a blog for its template and really start on my book Ive been going to do for about a year now.

So just like that, at about quarter to nine last night, I began my book which currently has a most basic working title: homage to the seed ii! You know how the first post becomes the last with blogs... I left a single post from 2 years ago as the FINAL post and began to title 43 posts, allowing 25 for chapters and all kinds of material found front and back of a book was allowed for in the extra posts, all roughly titled so I would remember what to start adding in when the time comes. Things like foreward, afterthoughts, acknowledgments etc etc. The usual!

By the time I turned out the light 5 hours later the book was scaffolded and I was over the moon about having made the jump... even if this rag and bone beginning is a long way from what will be needed to call it  a BOOK!

I'm now sitting in the large hall of a Performing Arts venue, below, in Brisbane ... its afternoon, this place is by the river, parking's free,  the coffee's good, wifi is working and free... laptop and iphone's plugged into power points and a large window on the other side of a busy kitchen looks over the river. Makes it a great place to be able get on with it today... and a welcome change form working at home.

The Brisbane Powerhouse via here

Who knows what progress will be like on this project... just being able to tackle one part of a chapter is useful and now i have a good place to do just that.

Time to notice things...

Having packed up my studio weeks ago and put it in storage everyday life is currently in a highly unusual phase.

But then again...
       
I've been here before...

waiting...

I remember a lovely blogger friend a few years ago went through a very drawn out period waiting to sell her home and she spoke of the frustrations that were part of daily life on hold and I could relate well and exchange the odd note.

All of us find ourselves at times in our lives where something is on hold and we have to become very patient in the meantime. If we are very fortunate the waiting does not last too long.

The first phase of change after putting everything in storage was the couple more weeks spent at home getting ready to put our home on the market. Days really seemed to grow long with that pressure. So many small jobs or time-consuming ones that dulled the mind. I did grow very restless.

And quite soon!

Then there was the next step where the photographer came to take shots of the house for the agents website and such. That meant a huge overhaul of everything in sight. I ran out of puff doing my home studio. I figured it was a work space and I would be forgiven a little chaos peeking through!

I've posted these images of my bookshelf holding some of my journals that go back to when I was about 15. FOr the first Open House I redid my book shelves to try and line up things in some order. That was very satisfying.

Some of the journals have become quite worn over the years they've been shared and read by students and company as I felt that there was no real point in keeping everything in perfect condition and not sharing anything.

Now with cameras and documentation processes so good I share them in other ways.

For every restless hour and annoying moment what I have found is that I am thinking about things in fresh ways,  taking time to explore things that have been on hold... even noticing things I have not lingered on in ages.

It seems the process of re-exploring the things from one's life can really bring forgotten things to light.

Setting up the stage so-to-speak for Open House viewings means creating 'stills', frozen experiences of home with everything perfectly in place and de-cluttered to arrive at an ideal configuration.

After we've come back into the house having waited out a viewing session the house always looks delightful... like a moment has been suspended in time. More photos are taken and then the desire to start making a mess anywhere is greatly diminished.

Last week the creative tension was running high... and yet... any real desire to paint or create seemed to have vanished in the effort to make home utterly organised and hopeful aesthetically pleasing to those coming to view the property.

My mother has fallen in love all over again with her house... not that she has ever been in danger of not enjoying the place. The fact of doing makeovers, adjustments and improvements... it all added to the sense of it being new and oh so appealing all freshened up.

 I have to laugh at the paradox of the present... normally I am busy making 'mess' and thinking of keeping is under control. Just now its perfect and I wonder how to not disrupt a thing between viewing.
Today I suggested we go stay elsewhere till the next viewing is done as it was all perfect for viewers this morning.

                                    Olivia (my mother) arriving home with shopping in hand.

All the time she's spent in the garden has been worth it for her. I se her taking lots of pleasure sitting in different corners of the house and verandahs. She's excited about the next chapter but loving the house being so fresh and appealing!

Olivia reading the Real Estate pages.

Creativity in the kitchen at meal time is now a place for the art to happen... even if on a rather relaxed scale! Preparing food is getting more attention. That's made me realise how often Ive been on the run and not taking that kind of time to source and prepare the best kinds of foods everyday.

Living in an old-style Queenslander home has been a great experience. So much character and ambience. That in itself has made quite an impression on how things are seen and experienced here.

The lattice always casts the most incredible patterns with light.

Ive taken many a photo of these patterns.

And the latest of this verandah...

We don't know the time frame till we leave but we do know that everyday brings more to notice, remember and appreciate! I might not be creating in the studio but something is being fed in the process that is stirring the imagination!

Thanks to all who have been offering there good wishes through this transition.

Will keep you posted!

shifting everything around...

Two weeks ago my studio was looking like this... positively overflowing with work, books, materials and such.

ON March 21st I held a One-day-only Moving-Out-Sale that was such a joyful event. I actually found it very enervating to order the studio before finally dismantling everything. Various people came by, cups of tea was shared, someone brought lunch, some Art-pieces found wonderful new homes and this farewell gesture successfully wound up my experience of being in this excellent studio.

A few days before the Art Sale!

The day of the sale there was a very organised look about the place... all ready to pack.. or find a new owner. The great thing about moving is getting to decide what to keep, what to let go of.

It was a major thing moving from this Paddington Studio... I'd really settled in, which can seem disconcerting when it comes to getting everything out later. But it is the only way to work... throwing oneself into it in the first place!

Going through my collection of seeds and seed-pods last weekend I realised so many of them had disintegrated... some into dust, others not quite so dramatically. Here on the verandah above I put aside the baskets of pods that needed checking.

Much as I value this collection I had to be rash and put aside just the best things to keep. And that is what is great about moving. One casts a discerning eye over all and does something crucial in an art studio... says good bye to things that really do need to go. I could have been tougher... but... enough for now!

The studio on the last morning... floors washed

... only a few pieces of furniture left.

emptiness.. just how it was when I arrived last year!

wet floor!

the back verandah... the garden so lush after a summer of rain!!

One thing I packed off to a good friend this week was a heavy box of Oil Paints... collected slowly over 15 years but really only used during the years 2000 to 2002 when studying painting for a time under new teachers had led to a return to Oils that I'd so loved as a young student. 

When moving to a new home with an internal studio in 2002 I'd discovered after a time there painting in Oils inside the house was not a good idea for me... and I'd given over to acrylics instead. It feels good to make those kind of clear decisions. The whole process of packing, first slowly separating everything into categories then musing over each thing as I handled it,, decided where it should go... all this was a strong reminder of where I have been and whats been the focus over time.

Finding room at home for studio things has been interesting...

Most studio goods have gone to storage. With my home going on the market after Easter we are gradually packing away all the excess things and trying to work out what to give away or let go of at home too... so the paints I really like to use have been brought home incase there is time to settle into that soon... but for now it's busy just getting everything done in readiness for the changes coming.

Interesting to be back in this space... despite being small a lot of work has happened here these past 5 years. And on the desk-top computer... 5 years ago I was a complete novice... 4 years ago I started blogging and now ... quite familiar with the online world!

Decisions... lots to make in the next while!

At least it feels comfortable here at home. I don't mind having a little breather to think about the Artwork before I can get back to it down the track.  And there is the book project waiting to be started very soon.        

It seemed poignant to take these before and after photos... eras coming to an end. Its good to have the memories. Before to long the next chapter will emerge and the paint will be unpacked again!