a twist in the tale

The whole Sams Creek mob (that's FP, Sass, EJ and myself all crammed into the hatchback) returned to Jindabyne and the Lake Light Sculpture event to pick up the 'ex' - and this is how I found it...





fab isn't it! - the folk of the show there were rather worried about how I'd react - but I was choffed that the audience got involved in the event and tried something for themselves - well done anon!

This is a version that I've fiddled with at home - but chose not to set up this time - my thought was, if I go to the hassle of putting a spiral in the work, no doubt within half a heart beat someone will move the books just a smiggen and throw the aesthetics off completely. And I have always thought of the work as a pillar - a tower of books - not unlike a skyscraper - and was keen for everyone to view it as such...

I'm just a minimalist and purist at heart really


but it was great seeing the piece like this (FP was betting that it would be torched at some point during the event... which was something that I would have liked to do myself - and you'll have to return to see if I get around to it now that fire permits are not required)

I was equally surprised and pleased to see how well it held up in the weather - there was a solid downpour on the saturday night - and all that the work showed for it was a very slightly warped volume 1 (up on top)

I have some rather subversive plans for 'ex libris' and I'll post these as the year and the work progresses.

lake light sculpture... and me

I've had one of those stupidly, impossibly busy days today - topping off a stupidly, impossibly busy week, month, year...

Yes I'm nastily over-committed at the moment - this morning I had to attend an ABaF (Australian Business arts Foundation) workshop in Bega - which I had to leave early (of course) to rush off over the mountains to Jindabyne (2 hours away by car from Bega) to install 'Ex Libris' for the Lake Light Sculpture show




We arrived with under an hour before the deadline... and quickly got into gear - FP had to travel the whole way up with the work's steel rod denying him a quick getaway from the car (hee hee hee - once you have your slave labour force in the vehicle - make sure they stay there!) There is no way that I can ram the steel rod the required distance into the ground - this one is down more than a 30cm in dry hard soil so lugging FP was essential.






And here it stands! all done in time... I am thrilled with the site and the way the piece works - I only had a diagram and a google earth satellite view of the potential sites - I've never actually been to Jindabyne before today (yes sad I know) - I mostly was keen to have a site that had something by way of a tree/s... this position exceeded my expectations - just look at the specimen on my patch - and how about the boulders!

in the opposite direction is this....



Jindabyne Lake (looking rather low - I was shocked to see the marks of the usual water level and where it is at the moment...)




So I gave 'Ex Libris' a quick hug (you get a fair idea of it's size...and mine! from this shot)... and we were off again - we will be returning on Easter Monday to pick it all up and bring it all back down the mountain... whether it makes it through the predicted damp weather or not!


Oh if I get the chance to actually see all the show before each artist picks up their gear I'll drop a line - from my vantage it looked verrrrrrry interesting...

ex libris off to jindabyne

a quick update - stay tuned for pics from Lake Light Sculpture Exhibition in Jindabyne as my ephemeral book work 'Ex Libris' has been chosen for inclusion...


I'll be installing the piece this Thursday April 9


The show is open from April 10 - 13 - so you'll have to be quick to catch it!

ex libris... in the works

I've been working my way into my giant pile of books - and starting to make something of them....




I'll show and share a little bit more of what I'm up to here in a short while....

'insight' @ spiral gallery

I often get so involved in work (life...) that I forget to blog all sort of stuff! Like this - I was invited to join in with Spiral Gallery members for a great and fun exhibition titled 'insight' - its on now at the gallery (until march 12... I think... exact dates are another of those things I tend to forget...)

The idea of 'insight' was those things that inspire the creative process - items or collections from the home or studio...

I took the whole thing rather literally - and I took in both my little piece 'debut in pink' (its had a few outings now) and the photo that inspired the whole series... still in its original frame ( shhhhh - mum and dad are away and don't know I've nicked it off the sidetable - I'll get it back before they return... I hope)


and yes that's me in my official pic from the 1971 Cobargo Debutante Ball where I was flowergirl - ahhhhh my first (and many argue final) true girlie moment - look at those curls.... juxtaposed against the dead straight fringe (I had/have dead straight hair - my mother believed curls were superior to straight hair... thanks mum) - she also always insisted on hacking all my hair off (this was the early '70s - era of the ultra long hair... think marcia brady.... thanks mum - way to make me popular)..... the comic/tragic tales of my childhood were central to the works of last year.

you've gotta laugh about it all - 'cause there's no going back and doing it again (save me!)

art camp

Yesterday I was invited to conduct a workshop with senior art students from BHS - I've attended the 'art camp' at tathra quite a few times over the years - but this year was by far the best. What a lovely bunch of youngsters - enthusiastic, talented, good-natured, open-minded... a total delight


I was there to present a workshop on integrating text in artworks - I chose to also show students how to create layers of text in works using gouache, ink and acrylic glazes - (its not the usual sort of thing these guys may be exposed to - so I thought they might find it interesting) I wasn't sure how much we could achieve in our very tight 3 hour timeframe - but just look at all these guys managed!

what a display!





I was astonished at the results - some just really got the hang of layered gouache and acrylic - and whilst these were just exercises and done at break-neck speed - it was incredible how terrific and how finished so many pieces were...








and how students took all the exercises on board in order to create outstanding integrated works - look at how one took a print from an earlier workshop - and thought about how text may add quite different things to the work....





I have a soft spot for anyone who manages to pull something off that you don't think is going to work... not until the very last moment - this piece (well it was originally 2 pieces...) was bitsy and fragmented - and I wasn't confident that it would come together... then with the addition of large '505' lettering, and another layer of glaze- and the fortuitous addition of the second artwork under the (already cut!) heart shape.... and just look at the rather great artwork that resulted....





it is soooo very gratifying to have a class of eager students who all create little marvels. I hope they enjoyed the afternoon as much as I did!

launching calligraffia

Like most Aussies I've been transfixed (and not in a good way ) over the past week by the weather - and the utterly indescribable devastation of the bushfires of Victoria. There have been nasty fires in my area as well - but it pales into insignificance in comparison to the loss experienced down south.

It has been difficult finding the energy to focus on anything else - and I have had somthing really quite special to be focusing on....

some of you eagle-eyed creatures may have noticed the tentative emergence of a new blog (I'm now the mum of 3 bouncy baby blogs... well sort of... read on...)

Tonight along with fellow Aussie calligraphers Gemma Black and Julie-Ann Williams I'm releasing Calligraffia into the wwworld.


I'll admit Calligraffia was initially born out of one of my wild 'what-ifs'... in this case - 'what if we joined together terrific calligraphers from around the globe with a wonderful blog - where we could share everything wonderful about our shared passion - calligraphy'?....

and bless 'em these two said..... 'oh yeah... what if!'

its taken a bit of time to get our baby ready - and wow what a birth!


we decided to properly launch to coincide with the first anniversary of the Apology to Australia's Indigenous Peoples - and with good reason.

If you trundle over to Calligraffia right now you can wallow in the gorgeousness of our first post - the making of the Apology manuscript...

(detail from Apology manuscript - calligraphy by Gemma Black)

I'm hopeful that Calligraffia will become a blog of excellence - where visitors will have a smorgasbord of calligraphic tidbits - as our byline describes: 'news, views, reviews, interviews and how-tos' - all from the world of calligraphy - trust you travel over there - and enjoy (let us know what you think - and if you've got something calligraphic to share - drop us a line at calligraphiablog@gmail.com)



now - I suppose I just have to do something about these stretch marks.... oh and I'm going to have all these youngsters vying for my attention... goodness whatever was I thinking!