Dreaming of Spring...

While walking in the garden last Summer I came upon this leaf with a perfect caterpillar loveheart eaten out of it. Still makes me smile even though the Winter chill is here.


The girls and I are counting down the days until Spring. I'm tempted to get the sunflower seeds going but know that its still a little bit early. Patience grasshopper!

Had a lovely week this week with visitors from overseas. Isabel and Beatrice, daughters of our friend Christine who runs the incredible School of Hope in Tijuana, came to visit our sleepy little town. we took them to see the sights of Jervis Bay and did the tourist thing in Sydney.
We had so much fun and really enjoyed getting to know the girls better :)




This amazing fossil was at Stony Creek in Jervis Bay...sticking out of the sandstone with its centre completely crystalised...probably millions of years old...such a special treat!

One step at a time huh? Time for my second post and I've also figured out how to add one link but not several. I'm sure in time it will all be clear. Thought I'd share with you some of my paintings this morning and a little about them. The painting in my header and the one above are part of a series I began a few years ago reflecting upon the things in our lives that we have to be grateful for. I have painted several commissions in this series where I have been able to include fabrics, song lyrics and other things meaningful to the clients who purchased them. The painting above was commissioned by a woman who had spent several years in Africa as a nurse. The fabrics she collected had been sitting in her cupboard for years. Now they hang on her wall to admire every day. Another client had redesigned her mothers wedding dress for her own wedding. The small offcuts of lace went into her Gratitude painting in the shape of a heart to celebrate the connection between them.

This painting titled "Behind Closed Doors" is the first of the new series I will be working on this month. It sold the first day of our See Change Winter Arts Festival here in Jervis Bay and received just a great response that I'm excited to begin work on the series. I'm studying at Uni at the moment for my Fine Arts degree and my very first subject was textiles. This was a bit of a joke as I had never even owned a sewing machine and have previously relegated all hemming and repair work to my husband. Who would have known that I would fall in love with fabric and stitch...a whole new world has opened up!! In this piece I have combined reverse applique collage with acrylic paints. It adds a whole new dimension and some scrumptious textures don't you think?

This one was painted for my Day of the Dead exhibition last Oct/Nov. We had a fantastic night of music and art and raised funds for El Colegio de Esperanza, an incredible school built in the middle of one of Tijuana's poorest colonias. For those of you who live in Southern California the school holds regular working bees and Summer Camps where you can go and help out and meet the teachers and students. It truly is an oasis of creative vision and hope.

Our family at The School of Hope, Tijuana, 2008

"It is harder to see than it is to express. The whole value of art rests in the artist's ability to see well into what is before him." ~ Robert Henry

Hasta luego!
If you'd like to see more of my paintings come on over to my facebook page!

Gratitude

Excuse me for floundering around but this is all new to me and my first blog has already disappeared once so time to try again. persistence..isn't that what it's all about. I was listening to someone speak yesterday on blogtalk radio about how most successful artists are the ones that don't give up, the ones that just keep plodding along and slowly working towards their dream. DREAM..yep thats a big one to hold onto but i guess first you have to have a pretty clear one to envision. The Universe isn't that great at sorting through all the flotsam spinning around in our overstimulated 21st Century minds do try and be as clear as you can. MY DREAM is to create every day and to make a fabulous income from that creating, to teach others to free their own awesome creativity and to travel the world teaching and making art. is that clear enough UNIVERSE?? ha ha..those big bold letters make me sound impatient. I'm not really (well sometimes i am) but I do understand about the whole Divine timing thing and my life is pretty amazing right now...lots of blessing around here! One of the things that makes me happy is our beautiful home. i am soooooooo grateful for my amazing husband who spent two years of hard grind transforming our home from a little 2 bed fibro to a gorgeous mud brick work of art.