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
