Richard Dunlop; Ghost Net basketry.

I took a stroll into the valley the other day to see the latest exhibition  at the Jan Murphy gallery. Richard Dunlop has his new works up and they are wonderful...full rich luscious colours against  dark black voids. The works are large and exciting and his glazing technique employed throughout the exhibition recalls the old masters. The subject matter is varied..from violins to fish to flowers, but there is a sense of the old vanitas theme running thoughout ...this is especially evident with the smaller works of the hanging birds..the birds are cropped out of the picture frame for a contemporary take on the subject, but death and finality are overwhelming. Some of the other works such as Reef Arrangement recall early natural history investigations...collection, selection, display. It also raises the environmental question of how soon will the 'mundane' flora/fauna of our times be objects for modern Wunderkammer, the ornate display cabinets housing curios of scientific and natural history enquiry.

Richard Dunlop

Richard Dunlop

Further along Brunswick street, I dropped into Artisan to have a look at the exhibition "The Long Tide"...Ghost net basketry made by 22 indigenous communities in the north of Australia.

Aly de Groot, Basket grouping, 2011.(from Artisan website)

Last year we were at the Laura indigenous dance festival, and many of the local peoples there were also utilizing marine fishing debris to make a wonderful mural as a backdrop to one of their stands.
Ghost nets are huge floating nets which have been abandoned by the original users; these nets become entangled with each other, and carry on their task of "fishing" with horrendous results on marine fauna.

On a final note closer to home, I tried to reduce the fussiness of my latest painting..not a great photo with flash bouncing off the wet paint.

Painting, gifts and handmade cards.

So far, this year has been defined by "family".. with celebrations and commiserations, connections and partings...endearing but sometimes depleting. I  need a lot of "me" time..the quiet, the contemplative..to let the waters settle. I have two ways of finding the balance in my life..I walk by my creek, and I paint. Today and yesterday I painted in between the usual interruptions of life.
Two unfinished and rather sad looking attempts in my ongoing "Ponderings" series were  laying around my studio floor, and it was one of these that I took my brush to. Just enjoying the tactility of the paint without much cerebral interchange with the medium, was so enjoyable.
I love gestural markmaking and despite looking at so many expressionist images, I still find my brushstrokes tight and exact. I  haven't been able to let loose and paint with the shoulder nearly  often enough..but today I did make some larger marks than usual which was good...always so far to go!

Oil on stretched canvas 120 x 90cm

We all love little surprises and the other day I came home and there was a sweet little gift with a handmade card sitting on the table on my front veranda.  I can't wait to wear my tree! Will keep the bunny swing ticket and recycle for someone elses gift.

Yesterday another friend brought over a beautiful bunch of bush flowers, with yet another handmade card. The cards are not only lovely to read, but very special to know that people have actually put thought and time into them. In this day and age of fast consumerism, the gift of time is very special.

The flowers are beautiful and I will dry them when they are past their prime.

Handmade card in front of flowers.

January update

I cannot believe how fast January has gone and how long ago Christmas was.
A friend and I have decided that artistically, 2012 is going to be a fallow year..a year where the creative process of art is enjoyed without worrying about the outcome. A year of artistic play without commitments. Sounds good.
My husband,youngest daughter and I saw in the new year down at Dumaresque dam near Armidale. I had envisaged painting and drawing the waterlilies, but to my dismay, the dam had been cleared of them all except for a few little stragglers here and there.  But what I discovered this time which I had not noticed at all last time because I was so fixated on the lilies, were the amazing geometric shapes of the water reeds.

Some quick sketches from my notebook, and along with heaps of photos, may contribute to some more resolved work in the future.

The northern tablelands of NSW are wonderful, and I get so excited when we come across wild apple and plum trees. I made plum coulis with my little bounty of rich luscious plums...what a lovely momento of our soujourn by the dam.

Because I am on a pond theme with my paintings lately, I met a group of friends a couple of Sundays ago at the Roma street parklands. We had a picnic on the boardwalk beside the lotus lilies and I was fortunate enough to manage to retrieve one of the beautiful seed heads from the water as it floated by.

Did some sketches using Chinese ink stick, graphite,  and white ink. Below is an oil painting (90 x 90cm) that I have done lately..began with the inspiration of the above but meandered into something else.

The red slash is one of the gorgeous red dragonflies that buzz around the parkland waters.

As a final entry today I am including a photo of the "finished" work that I had in my previous blog entry..

Hope that your 2012 is going to be a wonderful one.

Lilies

I have finished  a couple of waterlily paintings.

Cloud Reflection is an oil painting on stretched linen ..101 x 101 cm. I used layers of coloured glazes and experimented with splashes of medium over the wet..this is quite evident in the "cloud".

Sunset Lilies was initially underpainted with acrylic and is the same size as the one above. I find acrylic so much "louder" than oils. This painting has had subsequent layers of oil glazes applied.
Both can be viewed  at Paris Design Living, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane.