Lino printing as a starting point

Images from the residency studio. 

Working with lino... but breaking the rules in order to interpret the seed capsule cross-sections in a somewhat painterly way. 

Rushing off to an appointment I willpop back and add more details later.

Identifying species I collect is always interesting. The Cooper book on Rainforest fruits of Australia is a huge help.

another cross section...

Cairns Residency Week 1: Orientation

Living next to a Botanic Garden is a great pleasure, albeit temporarily! I only have to walk a few minutes to be here at the entrance of the Visitors Centre at the Gardens.

This board lights up at night ... 

The gate below leads into the Tanks Art Centre in the Gardens precinct... the exhibition will be on here.

Home for 4 weeks ...a comfy Qld-style house on stilts!

The back yard

All week Ive collected seeds... identifying them all will be a task though!

I've borrowed these interesting guides ( above left) that are on laminated fold out cards and make for concise reading!

I brought with me a bundle of drawings on A4 that are simple working drawings for inspiration. I like to have visual prompts around to feel the space is mine.

after 5 days the place is looking very lived in!

Seed collecting has been helped along by the fact that I gave a brief intro on my project to the Garden staff on Thursday... I get messages to say there are things waiting for me in their outdoor lunch room.

The conversations with staff allow one to feel quite at home... the fact everyone is so friendly is a huge plus! 

Today being Sunday I have not meetings and plan to spend a long day in the studio... week one has been so dense with meeting everyone and getting oriented to  the house, a new studio, the city of Cairns as well as the Gardens.

Huge thanks to Curator Chris Stannard, Gio and co. The only thing I am having to seriously adjust to are the Midges (tiny biting insects which leave nasty itches) and insects of all kinds. Note to self: apply sunscreen when going cycling into town! 

Open this Saturday, 8th September, 10am till late!

Hello...

I've been catching up after 3 days of the Open Studio event last weekend. I'm also OPENING THIS SATURDAY 8TH of SEPTEMBER as well as I have some visitors coming and want to work all day on paintings for Cairns.

I'll be there from 10am till nightfall... at 134 Latrobe Terrace, Paddington... My Studio is on the left of the Gallery toward the back ... down a few stairs. If you live around these parts... come along!

Very pleased to say my brother-in-law Robert took photos friday night for me after busy times getting ready for the Open Studio weekend. Thanks Roberto!

This is a little concertina book with a wonderful piece form Ben Okri's Epic Poem ' Mental Fight'

The Ben Okri text from Mental Fight above reads:

We are , more or less,
the makers of the future,
We create what time will freeze,
And a beautiful dream shared and realised
by a beautiful mind,
is one of the greatest gifts
we can make for our fellow beings.

NB Mental Fight: Okri's 1999 epic poem, Mental Fight, is also named for a quote from the poet William Blake's "And did those feet ...,"^[17] and critics have noted the close relationship between Blake and Okri's poetry.
Listen to an audio here.



The weekend event... three days of sun and cool spring breezes ... was exciting to set up ready for sharing with those who came by! Having painted solidly since late June there was much to show...especially new work heading to Cairns for Exhibition there in October.

Roz (do visit her gorgeous blog) came over on the day on Friday and made a splendid contribution... especially with curating the work. Being a makeshift space in terms of exhibiting it called for lateral thinking and aesthetic ingenuity.

Ive always loved arranging things, curating collections and personal artefacts, so it was a  new thing to hand over and to such capable hands I relished the opportunity to step back and see through another's eyes.

In fact the entire weekend was an wonderful chance to see through the eyes of others... every conversation takes one somewhere different and in this process one learns a lot. 

WIth 6 weeks till the opening of the Cairns Show I found it perfect timing indeed to discuss both the artwork and project in general. One painting that had been out of circulation whilst on loan gathered attention and in a spot with good lighting had me consider it all over again and wonder why I'd not painted more works like it.

Of course I must thank everyone who came along and took time  to engage with the work. The studio has been refreshed... a wonderful fresh breeze has come through taking old energy with it!

Online visitors are also to be thanked for greatly encouraging words.

My family were a great help... surprisingly my siblings were for once all in the sme city..so that was fun and a great support! Big thanks to Janna and Olivia!

Adept Display is a  business my Sydney-based brother Lindsay has been running for the past 6 years . I like that hanging systems make it far easier to create a feature wall of artwork of different shapes and sizes. My Brisbane-based brother Russell now installs the hanging systems here.

And if you need a framer ... Nobel Framing I can totally recommend if you are in this city. Accustomed to working with artists and Art Institutions Pete Nobel is a good problem solver... and story teller I might add!

Wrote this post several days ago now .... then ran out of steam before publishing it. I've actually since taken more photos at the studio but distractions abound... so much going on I'll have to get back to that later!

Cheerio,

S