Just a quick note to let you know that the details for our two trips to Central Australia next June and September are now finalised, and as a subscriber you heard it here first! Both itineraries are 7 days (6 nights) of touring - with plenty of time in the landscape and engaging with art, without rushing.

I’ve been painting a collection of tree ‘portraits’ into tiny silver dishes for a show with friends based on the loose theme of nostalgia. I chose which trees to paint based on anecdotes collected from family and friends about trees they remembered from childhood. Interestingly it seems we are quite sentimental about experiences & places, as well as objects from our past - I wanted to explore this idea by placing a memory of a tree inside these little heirlooms, to frame them and capture their preciousness.  

I’m so pleased to be returning to Suki & Hugh Gallery in Bungendore NSW, to exhibit with ceramicist Larissa Warren. Our early conversations about this show immediately went in the direction of the earth’s rhythms and cycles, the cyclical nature of energy & resources exchanged between land and forest, and the layers of stories laid down over time. With so much to observe and learn from nature's harmonious designs, we hope to draw attention to the preciousness and fragility of the earth's resources and ecosystems.  

Personally though, I would have enjoyed a bit more winter! I just heard that weather forecasters are predicting a hot, dry Spring and although we had some welcome showers in Sydney, rain is still desperately needed all over the country. Sigh. 

However, Spring does bring energy and activity and I’ve certainly got a busy one coming up! This time next week I’ll be in Central Australia with my first Accompanied Adventure Group. Thrilled that the inaugural trip is fully booked, I’m taking expressions of interest for next year, please email me if you would like to be on the ‘thinking about it’ list... 

... this photo was taken during the cold snap we had in Sydney last week, I had moved to the other side of the building at Eramboo looking for some winter sunshine, but found the treeview instead. I’m lost in the world of trees for now, again, maybe for always! These works are for a forthcoming show at Suki & Hugh Gallery in Bungendore, this August.

I love working with this gallery, and I love the road trips that come with that relationship! The show is in conjunction with ceramicist Larissa Warren - our synergetic works explore the layers and scars in the landscape, and the cyclical exchange of energy between earth and forests through growth, decay and renewal. 

Sometimes trialling materials and techniques leads to discovering ways of expressing or creating something new. In an age where we are interacting with and relying on technology more and more, it’s enormously satisfying to engage with ‘old school’ materials and methods and create and make just for the sake of it. I’ve been working in a handmade artist book and filling it with ‘bushscapes’ from outside my studio, and have added quotes and ephemera from the bush and surrounds. 

Find all the details for my next workshop (May 4), a new store with wool and silk scarves and info about the final calls for An Accompanied Adventure!

...to come and visit me this weekendin my studio at Eramboo  Saturday 9th & Sunday 10th March, 10am - 4pm as part of the Pittwater Artists Trail. You can meet fellow artist friends Samantha Mackie, Tricia Trinder, Nicola Woodcock and hear about our practices, see how we work and find out what we have planned for this year.

Next week a whole new body of works will head off to the framers in preparation for ‘Essence’ at Saint Cloche Gallery, Paddington. This work is a collection of my observations and impressions of the beautiful country of Tjoritja (the West MacDonnell Ranges) in Central Australia. You are warmly invited to the opening at 6pm on Wednesday 3rd April, 2019 Saint Cloche Gallery Ineffable artist and adventurer, Shona Wilson will doing the honours as opening guest speaker.

Happy New Year (where did January go?) Actually I know where it went - not far. So good to not watch the clock or wonder what’s next, I feel really lucky to have been able to take a break and read and walk and talk and swim and look and notice and feel and rest..

But ... Back to business and onwards with exciting new work and projects in 2019. Right now, this little painting is hanging in one of my favourite places, The Corner Store Gallery in Orange. All works in the 8 x 10 Annual Show are small and lovely and come from all over Australia. This work is called ‘Walk the Creek’ and is about that cool, shady place along the creek’s edge after summer rain. 

The more I see in Central Australia, the more I’d like to see. Next September I’m planning to go back again, and I invite you to join me. In partnership with Alice Springs Expeditions, and timed to coincide with the colour and excitement of ‘Desert Mob’, I’ve designed a six day itinerary to inspire and delight with the most beautiful landscape and art experiences in and around Alice Springs and the West MacDonnell Ranges.

This coming weekend the doors of my studio at Eramboo in Terrey Hills will be open for visitors as part of the Pittwater Artists Trail and Sydney Craft Week. Tricia Trinder, Samantha Mackie, Nicola Woodcock and I will be setting up a working show and exhibition - which means we will have works for sale and works in progress, but mainly we’ll be available for conversations about our work. All four of us have been exploring a theme in our recent practice - the nature of making - what drives us, how we make our art, and the diversity of the materials we use. We will be demonstrating our techniques, exhibiting, and welcoming visitors to the beautiful setting of Eramboo with tea and cake. 

Here’s a painting that’s all about the sky. So topical as we find ourselves gazing hopefully at the weather and hoping the clouds are bringing desperately needed rain to drought affected areas, especially in the Central West. When the landscape opens up as you descend on the western side of the Blue Mountains, that ‘big sky’ view is just so beautiful and, well.. big! 

Recently I had the great joy of travelling to Central Australia on a family holiday. The beauty of the landscape far exceeded my memories from a trip when I was 11 years old, the same age as my youngest daughter. I was able to appreciate how attitudes are thankfully evolving with regards to the traditional custodians of this ancient and sublimely beautiful land. Complex layers of geology and geography, of native flora and fauna, traditional culture and knowledge, and the scars of more recent times create a mind blowing combination of visual, natural and social narrative. I was able to make a few quick sketches, but am looking forward to returning soon for more in depth study of the Finke Gorge in particular, in preparation for a new body of work. 

An exciting opportunity has arisen to occupy the Corner Store Gallery in Orange at the end of this  month. I’ll be setting up an open studio and spending time there workshopping the concept of ‘small worlds’ - looking at familiar motifs and features in our landscapes. Visitors, landscape and art lovers and collectors are welcome to join me in the gallery while I work. You can also join me in a workshop to create a small framed world of your own, bookings via Eventbrite here...

I’ve always preferred wide open vistas. Moving into a studio surrounded by National Park forced me to contemplate going into the understory and out of my comfort zone, it triggered nostalgia for the bush and trepidation for the future of our forests. It’s been an interesting and challenging process, learning about trees and working out how I wanted to represent all sorts of sensations, memories and symbolism I found in the shadows.

Cicadas are still singing loudly outside the studio, and everything is looking pretty dry and crispy. In the shadows of the bush, mostly I can see blue. It's a deep Australian kind of blue, or maybe that's just how it looks to me. I like working in blue and enjoy all the associations that come with that colour. This year I'm gazing inwards and checking out the understory of the bush, which is a bit out of my comfort zone, as I am characteristically drawn to wide open landscapes. 

Looking outwards or inwards, we find interesting recurring themes, and tokens or totems might pop up, just like that - out of the blue. Artworks are being resolved ready for a group exhibition called 'Out of the Blue', where 8 Sydney artists have responded to the theme in porcelain, paint, timber, paper, wax and photography. My contribution to 'Out of the Blue' centres around the Bogong moth and the blue Australian bush near our Snowy Mountains. Others are looking at the sky or ocean, and others are focusing on sentimentality and emotional associations.

'Vast' opens in just over a week at the beautiful contemporary gallery Suki & Hugh in Bungendore, NSW (about 40 mins drive from Canberra)  Another lovely country town and one to put on the radar for its scenery, galleries, food, wine and hospitality. The opening is from 3-5pm on Saturday 19th August, and everyone is welcome. 

....Talk us through your artmaking process.  What makes one of your artworks successful? 

In terms of being successful, finding the balance between letting the pigment do its own wonderful thing and adding just enough detail to get the viewer's imagination started is the point I feel a painting is complete.

Thank you for the captivating conversations and warm support through the lead up and over the duration of 'Gradient' in August (where did September go?)  It seems the quiet expanses of mountain landscapes hold a fascination for so many, no matter the season. 

If you missed visiting 'Gradient' in person, there are some works still available via the Saint Cloche online stockroom. I'd be happy to answer questions about these works or arrange a viewing for you. 

Thank you again for your continued interest in my art.

Please join us for the opening of Gradient - Wednesday 17th August 6-8pm at the lovely gallery of Saint Cloche, Paddington. Immersion in this body of work has allowed me to explore not only the dramatic physical details of mountainscapes, but also to think about the atmosphere and feel of the mountains. When I met ceramicist Rachel Harrex we quickly discovered in each other an awe for vast alpine landscapes, and our conversation soon turned to the silence, stillness and subtlety which we both hoped to express in our work on this theme. We've both left footsteps across South America, Europe and Asia (albeit in different decades!) and share a passion for the geography and mood of the mountains. Gradient refers to both the unique colour gradations when cold air and refracted light interplay with cloud, snow, ice and shadows, and the steep clines of rocky slopes.

This painting called 'Cultivated' was selected as a finalist for The Hunters Hill Art Show, which has been a goal of mine for a few years now. The best thing is that it was enthusiastically purchased by a lovely young architect as a gift for her sister's 21st. Serendipitously the said young architect owns the 'twin sister' of this painting.

Last month I ventured out from the city on a couple of trips to rural NSW, taking in some fresh air and inspiration. Enjoying family walks in high alpine scenery, big skies and unique wildlife, I also managed to visit two of my favourite regional galleries and attend a wonderful charity art auction in Wagga.

Thank you for your support and well wishing during 'Elements' at Saint Cloche in February. The exhibition went incredibly well, and I am grateful for the wonderful privelege of showing my work alongside the beautiful works of Marina Pribaz and Jan Howlin in such a light filled and exciting gallery space...

I'm very happy to let you know about an exhibition opening at the lovely Saint Cloche Gallery in Paddington, in just under two weeks' time!  Wednesday 10th February to Sunday 21st February 2015

Elements is a new group show that explores notions of what this word means. Working in a moorish palette of indigo, earth tones, olives, organic greens and copper – the concept will be explored by a painter and 2 ceramicists.