Oh, hi there! It's been a hot minute since I last popped in here. I suppose that I've been rather distracted with setting up the groundwork for life here on the West coast. It's been a year since our move to Perth and it has taken me this long to get into a routine. But here I am now settling into life as an artist over in the west. I've taken my time finding my feet, but you know, I think it's been good for me to have a shake up in my routine. It's forced me to think about what I really want and how I want to proceed in my creative ventures. I'm at the point now where I'm setting up my online store again (it should be live by the end of the month - woohoo!) and thinking about how to get my work out there.
Living by the sea is just as lovely as I imagined it would be and I can feel the saltiness entering my art practice once again. These days I have a few varied projects on the go but the whales always come back to me, unexpectedly calling out to be painted at the most inconvenient moments. When they call me I simply must go, so I revolve all of my other creative projects around the whales and I'm totally ok with that.
I walk along the beach and stare out to sea most mornings. Sometimes the pull of the studio is stronger and I start the act of creation as soon as I wake! For some strange reason, afternoon walks elude me. I just can't seem to leave the house after 3pm - maybe it's that I'm too deeply immersed in my work, or that it's become too cold and windy, or that I'm tuned into an interesting podcast, or the garden distracts me on the way out. Who rightly knows?
I am in love with life here. Spring is nearly here and the earth is green and lush from winter rains. Flowers are starting to bloom both in gardens and in the wild and it is spectacular. I just want to immerse myself in the fresh wonder of this season!
Here is a sample of just some of the creative projects I have done over the past 12 months:
I've only recently fired my kiln up again and in doing that I realised that the elements are nearing the end of their life, so I'm currently waiting for new elements and a technician to come over and fix things up. When it's done I'll be focussing on making some beautiful small pieces to stock in my store, including some jewellery which I'm very excited about! This year I also started attending traditional printmaking classes at Fremantle Arts Centre. Many years ago (like 2 decades ago!) I did printmaking at TAFE and I have very fond memories of the print studio and the process. I've wanted to return to printmaking ever since then but life had other plans, until now. I have so loved using a printing press again. Linocut is so much fun and etching is a magical process. It's so exciting to be learning these skills and opening up yet another mode of making.
Anyway, that's my little update. I really do hope to pop in here on the regular now. I want to use this space as something of an online visual diary where I can examine ideas and link to resources and inspiration. So, talk soon! For now, I'll leave you with some images of my lovely little studio:
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