Day 3 - Really pleased! (I'm going to have to think of a new post heading soon)

But I am. I am really pleased with my day yesterday and the turnaround I've made in my creating in just 3 days! Yesterday I finished 4 small paintings! These works are following on from some of my mixed media works of last year, layering pattern, book pages and images and they are all figurative which is the direction I want to take and persevere with. Well almost figurative, they are all faces.

During a pause in my process yesterday I was looking at the finished little works and I had a huge BFO (blinding flash of the obvious)! I was thinking something like "It'll be a shame when I have to stop working in this style to paint my Paris paintings." Uh hem. I don't have to stop! I have been working on a look or style for my Paris paintings and hadn't found one. This will do perfectly and it is how I want to work! Sometimes the obvious can be so obtuse. Now all I have to do is to start them.

Ah, starting. It seems it is true what they say "just begin" and it will work out. I began 3 days ago with the commitment to paint every day this year after a pretty dry creative period. It seems it is true, all it takes is to start! The problem with that sentence is that it implies that all you need to do is to start ONCE. The truth is that I must start constantly, start painting today, start a new painting, start the difficult part of the painting, start the finishing off etc.

I still don't have a scan of my new paintings to show you yet but I'm sure you will love to see another Paris sketchbook page so here is the dining room of the Musee Jacquemart Andre. I tried to capture the beautiful bronze, ceramic and red silk lamps but didn't do them justice at all.

Day 2 - pleased

Pleased I am. Spent almost all day yesterday reorganising my studio space. Moved just about everything to a new location, some of it into the storeroom, although not as much as I'd planned. The new layout might just work! But... it was late afternoon and I'd not painted. The room was a huge mess and I couldn't see the surface of my desk. I pushed a clear space in the mess and looked for something to paint on. A piece of watercolour paper 10cm x 10cm was in the mess pushed aside so I chose it and began. I started well, a bit of collage, a smear of gouache, some coloured pencil. Ugh, that stage where every fibre in my body seems to be screaming "Yuck! Stop it now! Try again." I persevered. I LOVE what resulted! I feel like I have broken the back of my block already. Painting everyday is going to be VERY good for me!

But there is a problem. I had that carefully cut piece of paper there for a project I'm not ready to talk about here. I actually have a couple of projects on the boil at the moment and I am not at a stage where I can show what I might paint. Solution A: If I paint every day it is likely that I'll be able to paint something just for fun and be able to show you that! Solution B: I'll show you some more of my Paris sketches, which is the solution I've chosen for today.

This is another sketch of those chimney pots I loved in our view from the apartment. This one has them almost obscured by T and the apartment itself, but I didn't think you'd mind. Ahh, Paris!

Day 1 of my new regime

I'm going to paint (or draw) every day this year.
Well, I took my sketchbook to the beach. I don't know why I haven't done that before. I love other peoples beach sketches! (I particularly love Marina's.) Maybe that's why I don't take mine there... I don't want to know mine are not as wonderful as theirs. Well, now I know it, but I also know practise will improve them!

On the painting front, I needed to do a bit more towards the reorganising of my studio space. I grandly call my little room my 'studio'. It is tiny and I have sooooo much stuff and furniture. I'm moving some of my stuff next door into a storeroom. It will mean I'll have to go in there on and off, but it will be better for painting. My problem is that the storeroom is already full so sorting, throwing out and reorganising is going on in both rooms. It will take time, but I'll get there. In the mean time I've almost made enough space to do some painting! Yay!

Well well well. I had to scan my Moleskine so I could show you my bad beach drawings so I scanned my Paris drawings at the same time. The reason I haven't shown you my drawings (I think) is that scanning them really means the trip is over. In my mind I race back to Paris at every moment I can. Scanning the drawings makes it really really over. Ahh, Paris!

Wednesday December 30^th 2009

I’ve been to see Julie & Julia. I love food, Paris and blogging so it was right up my alley. While I loved the movie, it was the beautifully portrayed goal setting and perseverance that really struck a chord with me.

Goal setting is not my strong point. I had already decided 2010 would be my year of setting goals AND working towards them but this movie came at just the right time for me, in that post-Christmas haze, you know the one where the only thing that seriously goes through your mind is a general light hearted dalliance with what may happen on New Year’s Eve.

So in Julie Powell style I’m setting myself a goal – a big one! The true beauty if Julie’s goal was that it was exactly perfect for her. It incorporated her loves and her strengths. I need a goal like that. I think too, that I’ve put as much thought into mine as she put into hers, well, at least as much as the movie indicated anyway. My goal for this year is to paint every day (or draw or some creative expression other than sewing) and to keep me honest I’m going to post it here daily too.

It might not sound like a huge change to you but it will be for me as I’m one of those who has difficulty prioritising my art anywhere near the top of my list. Other things and people are constantly slipped in ahead of my art practise. I was brought up to be “good” and considerate and as a consequence reaching goals really only works when they coincide 100% with what’s going on around me. Not that I want to indicate that I’m unsupported in this because I am generously and lovingly supported in this goal and always have been. This really is a personal goal, a job of surmounting my old ‘self’ to allow my real, genuine and creative self to flourish.

Now, I wonder how Julie Powell got those boxes for the number of recipes and the numbers of days on her blog? (Not that it’s there anymore.) I’m off to check out how I can record my year of perseverance here…

Saturday January 2^nd 2010

OK, I think we can all see the problem I will be attempting to surmount clearly demonstrated here. I could not find the little box widget to record the number of days left this year and the number of days I painted, then I got distracted and exactly zero painting has occurred.

I’ve been and dragged out my copy of The Magic Lamp: Goal Setting for People Who Hate Setting Goals, dusted it off (surely it can’t be THAT long since I bought it?) and I’m going to read it, set goals, work towards them AND paint.

So here’s the deal – I am going to try to post daily here this year, however I’m not going to let blogging come before the actual work I want to blog about! I may post an image without words some days, just to get it on here and some days I may not post at all, but I will be honest about the painting every day. Oh those heady days BEFORE New Year (way back on Wednesday when I started writing this!) when I could say to myself “It’s not New Year’s yet! I can leave it until tomorrow to paint.” I must start today. I must paint every day.

Moly Exchange update

I've been a bit behind on more than just blog posts I can tell you! Here is my latest entry in a book from Moly_x_25 which is actually nearing completion. This particular moly (affectionate term for Moleskines sketchbooks) had lots of entries about each artists own local environment, a theme that wasn't prescribed by the books owner, but one that evolved never the less. Last time I drew in this book I did a beach and ocean view and this time puzzling on what to draw has meant I've had this book for quite a long time! Finally *bing* and I knew I had to draw my new vegie patch. Yes, I've joined the many who are first time vegie gardeners this year. Well, not really a first time, but it's been ages and I've never been terribly successful. This time I've started with good soil and some good information and I'm powering along harvesting salad greens (and reds!) every day with beans and peas only days away from picking and many other goodies growing well. All organic of course which is the challenge.
I also needed to catch up on my pages for Moly_x_48 - The Exquisite Corpse exchange. These particular books are not the Japanese fold ones like the one above, but the normal small sketchbooks and when they are completed the pages will each be cut into three to create a wonderful mix and match type book filled with drawings from artists all over the world. Here are my latest. Firstly "Liza was inclined to laziness".
"Lloyd knows what he likes" was inspired by the recent gallery drawings of Rick Tulka, a fabulous artist and someone I can now call a friend after meeting him while in Paris. Check out his wonderful drawings of Le Select, the cafe where he draws daily and where we met up. Better still, buy his book Paris Cafe: The Select Crowd

Not sure what I was thinking with this one... think I was still jet lagged... here it is "Squish could touch his toes (if he had any).

What a poor sad neglected blog!

Sketching at the back of Notre Dame
Originally uploaded by Jan and Roly

I'll have to admit I came back from Paris and I though "blog schmog" and just let it sit here. Waiting. Oh dear! Enough is enough!

I have lots of stories about how fabulous Paris is including the one about the time we decided to go to a recommended restaurant for dinner later in the week. I phoned up "allo?" "Allo madam." "Parlez vous Anglais?" "Non madam, seulement Fransais" (or something similar). Oh dear. Now I realised I didn't know the first word I needed! Reservation! Luckily the French word for 'reservation' is 'reservation'! I went on to specify the day of the week, the date (to make sure I said the day correctly!), the number of people and the time (with a little help from my now very friendly French friend on the other end of the phone).
Finally we got stumped. I could not understand what he was saying at all. "Oui or Non!?" I said at last. "Oui, Oui!" he said, so we went on. I spelled my name in French as my final triumph and we said "au revoir." Later that week we turned up to the restaurant and they were expecting us!!! Yay!

The real reason I wanted to mention this restaurant is that our walk to it demonstrates why I love Paris so much. It turned out the restaurant was only a block and a half from our apartment. We went down the stairs (at this stage of our trip the elevator was still broken - but that's another whole and long story!), through the courtyard, out the front gates of the building and onto our street. We turned right. Turning right wasn't something we hadn't done before. Far from it really, but we usually went left as left was the direction of the metro, the Seine, I could go on. We turned right, walked to the end of our block and turned left. I don't think we had ever turned left there before. It is quite an unremarkable street. We walked the block and a bit to the restaurant and we were in an area we had never seen before! We loved it. We were early (well, you never know how long a walk it might be!) so we explored, finding a whole street of art galleries, artists cafes and cafes in courtyards filled with interesting types.

I live in regional Australia. We have a lot of space. I found it mind blowing that we had never seen something so close to us. Paris is dense. The buildings, especially in the ancient part we were in, are so close together they do not afford a view to what lies beyond. It is only through exploring that Paris reveals herself to you. I love that about Paris!

Bonjour!

Eiffel Tower
Originally uploaded by Jan and Roly

I'm back from Paris and slowly getting back into everything. Haven't done much scanning yet, well, truthfully I've done none! This is just to let you know that I'm alive and that I've had The Most Wonderful Time! This is my favourite photo that I took in the month in Paris. Did you know everything in Paris is beautiful? Well, it is.

Do I need to carry a sketchbook when I have an iPhone?

I'm packing to leave for Paris on the weekend. I have made my 'Perfect Journal' and am finally the owner of an iPhone 3GS. Both of these will slide into my shoulder bag and accompany me everywhere. Each has it's uses... but doesn't the iPhone win? (if there was a competition).


My iPhone is my new favourite thing. I will take a photo (at the very least) every where I go and these will be geotagged. T will be carrying a supa-dupa camera (it's his passion) and will be taking his own photos. My geotagged photos will assist him in identifying where he took his photos as he sifts through what will be thousands of shots when he gets back.

My iPhone will tell me where I am. We have a month in Paris and we are by nature wanderers. Last time we were there (which was also our first time) we frequently tossed up whether to go to ___ which is what we planned, or keep wandering because it was beautiful right where we were. (That's the thing about Paris, EVERYTHING is beautiful. You don't really have to see 'the sites' because what you are looking at every second is beautiful.)


The downside of being a wanderer is that you don't really know exactly where you are at any given time. We would get back to our apartment and find we had been just near ___ and not known, missed it completely. So our dilemma became whether to go purposefully back through our wandered territory, or go somewhere new. New always won of course, so there were things we missed. This time we will be able to wander AND to know where we are. But not only that, my iPhone will give us access to our Google Map.

We have created our own Google Map with place markers on it of all the places we would like to go "if we end up near there." We haven't put our must-see's on it, just the addresses of little shops, restaurants, markets and streets that we have read about or been told about. You know, you hear about a place and think "That sounds perfect! I must go there" and when you check the map it is way out to billy-o and it doesn't really warrant a full blown excursion just for the 'cute little ceramic shop'. But should we wander that way, we won't miss it this time!


And then there are the applications. It really is the 'apps' that makes the iPhone a winner over and above other smart phones. I have my translator app, the plan and tour app for the Palace of Versailles, lots of other travel apps. Then there are the photography apps. I was worried about the quality of the 3mpx camera, I would have like more, but the quality is surprisingly good and the sheer fun and pleasure the apps bring to taking photos is quite exhilarating. (I took these photos of my sketchbook with my iPhone!)


Oh and I can use it as a phone too. And email. And blogging and flickr and Facebook and twitter etc etc. Or listen to music. Or play games. (I wouldn't of course. I'd draw in my sketchbook instead!) So, my sexy little piece of hardware reduces the number of things I carry quite substantially; phone, camera, ipod, gps, guide book(s) and maps at the very least. And it weighs less than my ipod alone does.

My sketchbook, on the other hand, does the exact opposite. It creates more things I need to carry. I need my pens, my watercolours, water brushes, blotting paper, tissues to clean up with, glue, (and if the world was a different place) scissors or a knife; lucky I don't carry pencils and erasers any more.


The photos I intend to take are different from the ones T will take. They will be shots of patterns, details and reference shots for paintings I intend to do when I come back. I can get a lot of these shots taken in the time it takes to do a single sketch. It was the time it takes to do the sketches that surprised me last time. When you have the possibility of fitting in seeing Place Vendome this afternoon versus finishing the sketch you are doing in Place des Voges instead it actually gets a little stressful. We didn't see Place Vendome last time. It is on our list (and the Google Map) for this time.

This is part of the reason I wanted to stay for so long this time. To ease the pressure around the time it takes to sit and draw and see and experience and even wander. I don't know if we will actually have time to see everything on our list even with a month! But if I didn't take my sketchbook, if I only took my iPhone we could get around it all. I could paint from the photos I take and those photos would take me right back to the spot... or would they?

And I think that is the real difference between my sketchbook and my iPhone. When I look back through my sketchbooks I am truly transported back to that exact moment. I can see, hear, smell it all again. Vividly. When I flip back through my photos of last time I find myself thinking "where was that?"

I'll carry them both. I'll let you know who wins. I suspect there actually won't be a winner, that it will be more of a truce. But I'll let you know.
ps. This time I made my perfect travel journal out of a book with the all-time perfect title. Guess how long I'm going to be in Paris!? I filled it with my favourite paper - all the one kind this time because that is how I wanted it to be. It also has some pages from an old Paris Guide Book scattered throughout. I had another Paris book with beautiful illustrations in it that I was also going to incorporate. The book is in poor condition so a prime candidate for rebinding however I discovered it is a reasonably valuable book and a first edition. I couldn't bring myself to pull it apart. It has an elastic closer and a ribbon place marker, some loose sheets of blotting paper, but that is all this time. I wanted a simple version of my usual rebound journal this time. I love it. It IS perfect!

Selected

Dinner Suit has been selected for the Warwick Art Prize. Yay!
It's surprisingly difficult to photograph. It doesn't look this motley in person. It's on its way to Warwick as I speak. It is in the textiles section. It is a difficult work to classify but 'textiles' seems perfect to me; it adds yet another layer of meaning to the work especially as textiles is traditionally "women's work."
I haven't entered any selected (juried) exhibitions in a long time but I'm getting back into it again and getting accepted into this one is just the boost I needed.

Moly Exchange update

I've been working in a few Moly's (short for Moleskine) lately. I'm in a few exchanges and I was a bit behind on them. I've also been bitten by the experimentation bug, which often happens when I'm working in someone else's Moleskine! Why is it so?

These three are for Moly_x_48 - The Exquisite Corpse exchange. You may recall that these will be cut into three when the book is finished and the images and words will be able to mix and match.

Jethro doesn't remember the 70's

Dougal doesn't like his job

Philippe speakes all languages

This one is for Moly_x_3 which is an all Australian exchange. This is my own moly and it doesn't have a theme. (Click on it and it should be easier to see.)

Family Ghosts

I'm a winner!

I was lucky enough to be the winner of Anastasia C's blog giveaway! Yay! I'm so happy because I was already a big fan of her retro repurposed paper goodies to be found in her Etsy shop. So to win some was fantastic. A wonderful parcel turned up in my letter box, stuffed full of goodies and even a vintage sewing magazine! Anastasia you know me and what I like, don't you! And yes, I like! Thank you!
I got lots of lovely tags, my favourites being the legs walking on vintage maps. (I really think she was thinking of me making these!!!) And beautiful cards, present toppers and some gorgeous twine. And a vintage Simplicity book!
Check out the glamor! I love this book Anastasia! Thank you again!

I've also been lucky enough to receive two 'one lovely blog awards' and a 'blog lovin' award.'

from Rainbow Revolution - thanks!

from Planettreasures - you are too kind!

And this one from Tif at Owl and Fox - aw shucks!

I must say I do love my blog and I'm deeply touched when I find others do too. I also love lots of other blogs. I recently did a huge panic when my list of blogs I follow disappeared from my Blogger Dashboard. Phew! It came back the next day but I was pleased it is also copied into Google Reader so if they were gone forever I still had access to them.

So how do I choose to award? It is really hard to find a blog that hasn't recently been awarded, not that it should be consideration I guess, however it does seem more reasonable to award those who haven't just posted a similar award!

I've decided to award blogs that are new to me so here they are

• Ashley at 31experiment
• Nina at Puka Puka
• Georgina MacDonald
• Kyles at It Was Always This Simple
• Cath at Chunky Chooky

OK, so some of them are less new to me than others but it doesn't really matter. Lovely ladies you can feel doubly awarded as I'm giving you both the "One Lovely Blog Award" and the "Blog Lovin Award"!!!

News Flash! - It's Roly again

Roly is this weeks Weekly Monster on Tilda in the Burbs! Tilda (another Boxer) is a little more clever than Roly. She has her own blog, even her own Twitter account. She also has a weekly series where she shows off other dogs. (I think it was her owner's idea to call them 'monsters.') Tilda's post also features one of Janey's drawings of Roly. Check out the other drawing here. Roly really appreciates all this attention - thank you Tilda and Janey!

Jan and Roly

Yep, we're a team, me and my boxer dog Roly. Roly's getting on now. In fact I am surprised he is still with me after the doom and gloom the vet told me about 2 years ago. Roly is nearing 13 now which is quite an age for a boxer especially one with kidney failure, blindness, deafness and allergies to just about everything. I think it is the good diet he has had to have due to his allergies that mean he is still in such good condition. It's only been about the last 12 months people have stopped mistaking him for a puppy!

He doesn't like to face the camera.

Maybe it's because of his single tiny centre tooth.

It means we have lots of mug shots of him.

A couple of years ago I made a video of him one morning when he refused to get up. It happens a lot more frequently these days. He loves his sleep. Some mornings it must be hard for him to motivate himself to get up. After all who doesn't love a lie in all wrapped up in a comfy bed especially if it's in the sunshine!

Of course it's no good if it gets too bright. But he gets by.

Studio with Thoughts finished - again

I posted a shot of this painting last week. At the time I thought it was finished. This time it really is. Studio with Thoughts.
It has to be finished because today is the closing day for entries to EMSLA. It has been turned upside down again since last week. This orientation is how it began. It has a much more enclosed feeling and is actually quite three dimensional. The thought patterns float in the air inside my small cramped studio. The colours are muted because it is what happens in the space that is the most important thing.

I am taking a big risk here. EMSLA is a selected (juried) exhibition and I will be publically humiliated if I don't get in now that I've blogged about it. But I wanted mostly to record the entry of it into the competition. I've not been entering competitions for many years for a variety of reasons. It will be good for me to face my demons and get my work out there again - even if it is only for the selection process and I miss the exhibiting part. It will be good for me.

An Illustrated Life

It's been a long time since I did a rave about Danny Gregory here on my blog. I started this blog originally to share the challenges I drew for his Everyday Matters group. At the time his books weren't available in Australia so I initially just interacted with the group online. Then I bought The Creative License from Amazon and waited a couple of months for it to arrive. (With the exchange rate etc I couldn't justify the cost of air freight.) When it did finally arrive I could not believe how perfect it was for me. I have revisited that book so many times! I do loan it to friends from time to time and by the time it comes back to me I'm desperate for a Creative License 'fix.'

Challenge #27 Books
Originally uploaded by DannyGregory

I'm a bit backwards at times, so after the success of my first Danny Gregory purchase I went back and ordered Everyday Matters, his first book. Wow. It too is wonderful, different to The Creative License, but just as wonderful.

So, I was excited when he released his latest book An Illustrated Life, drawing inspiration from the private sketchbooks of artists, illustrators and designers. Thanks to the global economic downturn, I was reluctant to buy it when it first hit the virtual shelves of Amazon but on a recent trip to Sydney I was thrilled to find it on the analogue shelves of Kinokuniya (my favourite book shop in the real world). I snapped it up, brought it home, looked at the pictures and put it on the side table next to the chair that gets the morning sun and... well, life went on, as it does, and the book sat there.

Purchase guilt set in. I don't know if you suffer from it, but I do. That truly annoying voice in my head started saying things like "you bought it and now you're not even reading it!" in a guilt-inducing tone. OK! I'll read it.

An Illustrated Life from DannyGregory on Vimeo.

Well, it turns out those voices in my head have a purpose! This books is, dare I say it (?) the best book I've bought in a very long time. I don't know what you look for in a book but I'm looking for a) inspiration to actually do my own work, b) I want that inspiration to be 'open' so I can do 'my' work and not be prescribed to or overly influenced and c) a gentle hand on my shoulder that says "you're fine! We all feel like this and it's OK. Just do the work and you'll be fine." This book does and says just that. The strength of the book is that it says it in fifty voices! Fifty unique voices and hundreds of sparks of inspiration.

If you like to imagine you are someone who keeps sketchbooks or a journal or such then this book will help you to see how easy it is and reinforces the fact that you just have to touch pen (or pencil) to paper and be yourself within the pages of your own book to create something that not only records the visual aspects of the world, your life, etc, but also improves the quality of that life. It seems intangible, strange, unlikely, but doing this does create a preciousness of what usually just slips by us - our 'everyday' life.

Thinking

Actually, I'm thinking about quite a lot of things today. But first I'm going to ask you what you think. You may almost recognise this painting. I actually began it last year and at the time I thought it was finished. It is of my small studio and it's voluminous contents. With the entry deadline for EMSLA drawing very near I wanted to revisit the work. (It is exceedingly difficult to photograph both last year and this year!!!)

Still Life in Studio With Thoughts
Acrylic on Canvas 101.5 cm x 75.5 cm

What do you think? (Please click on it to see it enlarged.) I've got to try to take a better photo tomorrow. It IS very pale, all chromatic greys. I don't know! This is the point I get to prior to entering competitions every time! And then I just don't enter. Quite a vicious cycle really. Don't get me wrong. I do actually really like the painting but I just don't think it's good enough.

The painting is pale because it is what happens in my studio that is important rather than it's actual appearance. Because it is my space, in spite of it's size, it has a huge limitless space in my mind. I truly believe anything could happen in there, all I need to do is enter and begin. I wanted the studio to be present in the painting but for something else, the 'intangible' to be the primary subject matter.

Oh, I really don't know. I might have a go at finishing another work in progress and see how it turns out. Why do we artists doubt ourselves so completely?

Moleskine Exquisite Corpse Update

You might remember I'm participating in Moly_x_48 - a group of artists who exchange Moleskine sketchbooks and our theme is 'The Exquisite Corpse.' I've been way behind on this exchange but I finally put my entries in Emma's book.


The idea with the Exquisite Corpse theme is that the final books will have each page cut and divided into three. The images and words can then be mixed up by turning different parts of different pages, like the 'mix-up' books we had as kids.

To see more Moly_x's visit the Flickr group.

Wishing you a very merry Christmas (in July!)

Do these words conjure up an Australian Christmas for you??

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Jack Frost nipping at your nose
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir
And folks dressed up like Eskimos
(Torme & Wells, 1946)

No, not usually. Unless, of course, they refer to the Etsy Down Under Street Team (DUST) "Aussie Christmas in July" promotional weekend.


Etsy DUST members from all around Australia are coming together for one whole weekend - this coming weekend, 12.01AM Saturday 25th July through to 11.59PM Sunday 26th July (AEST), to showcase their talents & stunningly handmade creations.

All stores participating will be offering a promotion to their customers - free worldwide shipping or % off sales; a selection of items at reduced prices or reverse auctions.

With so much variety, including jewellery, children's clothing & accessories, art, supplies, vintage items, stationery & bags, you are sure to find something to suit each & every taste.

The DUST team will also be running giveaways for the entirety of the weekend, giving you the opportunity to win some fabulous prizes from Australian sellers. Poke your nose into the Etsy Forums during the promotion for your chance to win.

I encourage you to visit the participating stores, as well as our team website - http://www.dustteam.com/ - and support the handmade revolution sweeping Australia.

Stay tuned for more details as the weekend draws nearer... I'm joining in too of course! Check out the deals in my shop here. Or head over to the DUST website to enter the giveaways and you might win something special from me!

Laptop problems

I've been having problems with my MacBook Pro. I just picked it up from finally being repaired and only one of the problems has been fixed. I'm pretty sure the other was overlooked! Also it now has an additional problem! So as soon as Matt is back from his lunch break I'm heading back with my laptop again. Until I'm fully functional I can't say I'll be able to blog much, if at all. Sorry!

On the weekend I...

...went to Taree.
I work in a school. Sometimes the journal writing there inspires me to write. Looks like it didn't work very well this week.

What was inspiring though was the (can I say absolutely fabulous again?) Absolutely Fabulous Neil Cuthbert exhibition on at the Manning Regional Art Gallery.
I hadn't heard of Cuthbert before but wow! I now know. I love his paintings and it is a huge exhibition. It really is a 'must see'.
I'm often a bit of a sucker for a good narrative painting anyway, but these are really remarkable. And yes, I am inspired. I am thinking figurative narrative thoughts...
The Taree Regional Art Gallery was also the venue for the latest Building Blox forum I spoke at. Once again I was thrilled with the day. I met so many interesting people and I was able to spread the word about how Etsy is a great way for artists and crafts people to sell online. And about how DUST is a wonderful support network for Australian Etsy sellers. Doing something similar in Port Macquarie in the next few weeks. I hope you will come along if you can.