Blog

Amidst a festive flurry of activity I wonder to myself.....am I making progress? That pesky little signpost called 'productivity' usually pops up in my mind when I ask myself this question. What do I actually have to show for my time in the studio this week? How many paintings have I started or finished?

If you've been following my Instagram you'll know I've been taking a bit of a deep dive into colour recently. I am a self confessed colour addict and it's always been a fundamental part of my visual language. But more often than not, I've worked with it intuitively or subconsciously rather than intentionally and consciously. I was interested to test my knowledge and understanding and see where making more conscious decisions about colour choices might take me.

As part of my latest body of work, I wanted to revisit art making processes that I haven't used for a while. And no, I haven’t fallen out of love with colour, I’m just having a little wander! Years ago a printmaker friend sold me little old table top press. And it’s gathered dust and got a bit rusty but whilst I was cleaning up for open studios it seemed to be the one thing that I just kept moving from place to place, with no real idea where to put it.

I'm working on a couple of big paintings at the moment for an upcoming exhibition in early 2023 and whilst I had greens on my palette I wanted to capture some of the colours in my sketchbook for future reference. ....

'The Visitors' is my visual response to the profound physical and energetic impressions left by the diverse array of people who came to my studio in October 2021, as part of the Noosa Open Studios art trail.

This month sees the start of a new body of work, so I've been contemplating exploring new pathways to creating, beginning with materials, processes and a fresh perspective. Should I be following a straight line? If I was a representational painter doing a traditional perspective drawing maybe, or if I was an architect and wanted to avoid wonky buildings! But I've been thinking lately about straight lines in the context of the 'artist's path.'