Cleaning for creativity

I really hate cleaning. I liken it to a brick layer who has built a wall, and then someone comes and knocks it down.  It is such a constant chore..a proverbial "Groundhog day " experience.
However, today I decided to clean up my painting room...it was so disorganized with stuff just thrown in at random, and then more things piled on top of the random piles. I found I was no longer going in,  and just painting in the garden..very nice but not practical in Brisbane's hot and capricious weather at present.
So I started to organize the various spaces..I threw out a lot of old papers, clogged up brushes (yes feel guilty here) and some, not many, of my precious creek finds... rusty shopping trolley, broken kayak, and a collection of odd shoes, etc are still here. I then moved a desk into position  beside my painting area, covered it with paper and this will be my new work bench. Feels so good.
Floor was then vacuumed, animals thrown out, door shut..to be compeleted tomorrow!! I feel so satisfied. Will  list photos when  mission is accomplished.
In the meantime here is a photo of another "pondering" painting...finished, not finished, not sure.

Edge of the pond..oil on stretched canvas..120 x 90cm

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.

Another painting

Following the theme of  "Ponderings" I have recently finished (????) this oil painting.... 90 by 120cm.

Over the holidays we are camping at Dumaresque dam near Armidale..there are wonderful waterlilies in this old water reserve and I intend to sit and draw, and be inspired each day. Bliss!

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.

More Baskets

I don't feel that I have done very much artisically lately but I have made a few more little baskets from bits and pieces I have found locally.

 Gleaning and gathering promotes the whole ethos of "waste not want not" (I can hear my mother's voice as I type those words) and everything becomes an adjunct to future works.  I retrieved these shells from a friend's seafood platter when eating out at a local restaurant. You might see them hanging off the side of a basket in a few weeks.

 Referring back to the original inspiration of the nest, I finally picked up the brush again and did a few studies on recycled craft paper ...(out of the bin of my brother's factory)..each about 40 x 50cm. Painting on gessoed craft feels so relaxing after the "drag" of the canvas surface.

Again back to the canvas..not finished yet and still way too fiddly..about 50 x 60 on a stretched panel. Will experiment on some wood panel as am keen to paint on an easier slippery surface.

Nest and baskets

A week ago I found a beautiful little nest which had fallen from a tree..so  poignant seeing one of these delicate structures now empty and discarded. 
This one has some white and blue plastic twine threaded through the natural fibres. Plastic is such a blight on our environment.

The nest  inspired me to make some rough coil baskets. I haven't done any basket making for years and I had forgotten what  a peaceful and contemplative activity it is. The core of all the baskets are natural fibres I picked up from my local creek area..the first one was sewn with string, and the second from an unravelled silk  scarf.  The last two (foreground) were made with only grasses, dried vines and twigs. Have no idea what the names of any of the natural materials are, but it was great to go foraging and gathering, and the only implement needed to make the baskets, was a darning needle.

Reflections of Nature exhibition

Last week three friends and I had an art show at the Richard  Randall Art Studio, Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens. The studio is heritage listed and  a most charming venue to exhibit in.
The other artists were Angie Archibald, Sharon Dekoke and Michelle Goodchild. Angie and Sharon are two wonderful ceramicists, and Michelle exhibited her beautiful silk paintings alongside hand made porcelain jewellery.
Although Saturday was a very wet day we had a steady run of people through all weekend and I want to thank all the lovely friends and family who came to visit us.

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone, and am grateful to know such talented and giving friends as Michelle, Angie and Sharon. Beautiful work girls!!