Australia Day 2016

Words on the art journal page are from Welcome to Country by Uncle Bill - William O'Brien of the Birpai Nation. I pay my respects to the Elders of this country both past and present.

My Country The first poem I ever learned at school, still my favourite.

The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!

Kudditji Kngwarreye expressing his Story through the medium of paint. In this video you will hear Kudditji talk and sing about his homelands whilst viewing his colourful interpretations of said homelands in paint.

A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die -
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.

Artist: Gracie Ward Napaltjarri Dreaming: Muntati - My Grandmothers Country

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold -
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land -
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand -
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

~ Dorothea Mackellar

Artist: Nellie Marks Nakamarra
Dreaming: Travelling Through my Country
Painted in Alice Springs 2011

I so love watching Nellie Marks paint this - it is like a moving meditation.

Walking in This World

Walking in This World by Julia Cameron, is the sequel to The Artist's Way. Our creative cluster has decided to work through the book this year.

So I read through the first chapter and I got to the task at the end. I got myself all ready to participate, and then I read, 'Task: Do Nothing'. Do Nothing? Really? So that afternoon, I got a beach towel and headed off to the beach and sat - no book, no phone, just my towel and my doggie, couldn't leave her behind. Oh how lovely it was. As I write this I think of a friend I mentioned this task to. She said how difficult it would be for her to do, to have nothing to do. And I wonder, as I write this, how are you at doing nothing?

I invite you to take 15 minutes and join in, doing nothing. That's me resting in the picture above, as I bravely tackle the task of doing nothing. My brain told me it was time to redo my toe nail polish, but you know what brains are like, always coming up with things for you to do. So I thanked it for the information and refocussed on the task at hand.

"How beautiful it is to do nothing, then rest afterwards". Spanish Proverb.

Dr Ellen Langer - Mindfulness, Mindlessness, Art

"All it takes to become an artist is to start doing art." ~ Dr. Ellen Langer

So no more excuses, start doing your art today.

Over the last few years I have been learning about and practicing mindfulness. Recently a friend shared a video of Dr Ellen Langer speaking on mindfulness. Known as the 'mother' of mindfulness, Dr Langer has been working with mindfulness for over forty years. In addition to being an educator, author and researcher, Dr Langer is an artist.

Dr Langer defines mindfulness as, 'the act of noticing new things'. "Simply notice new things, that puts you into mindfulness."

If you are interested in mindfulness and creativity, I recommend watching Dr Langer's talks. Over the past few days, I have been looking for new things in my environment. In the walks I normally do, and with the people I am with. I invite you to join me and start to notice at least 5 new things each day.

Ellen Langer Part 4 from LIPTV 2 on Vimeo.

Ellen talking about Mindful Creativity...

Website: Learn more about Dr Langer and view her wonderful art - my favourites The Greyhound Bus - click here

Today in a list... I invite you to notice and write each day about what you noticed... one idea: write what you notice in a list.

Artist Date: Visiting Jason DeCaires Taylor

"For sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor, the ocean is more than a muse — it's an exhibition space and museum. Taylor creates sculptures of human forms and mundane life on land and sinks them to the ocean floor, where they are subsumed by the sea and transformed from lifeless stone into vibrant habitats for corals, crustaceans and other creatures.

The result: Enigmatic, haunting and colourful commentaries about our transient existence, the sacredness of the ocean and its breathtaking power of regeneration."

"Video documentary detailing the changes to the Silent Evolution installation including unseen footage of the process behind Jason DeCaires Taylor works."

Heart of a fish. Underwater sculpture figure.

Journal prompt: while watching a video or tv show, quickly sketch then colour something that you notice.

The Artist's Way Book Group 2016

If you would like to work through The Artist's Way this year, please let me know.

Our 2016 facebook group is now full and underway - however if you, or a small group, would like to work through the book with me as your guide, please contact me.

The Artist's Way is a book by Julia Cameron. It is for those people who wish to explore their creativity through a 12 step process.

Journal Prompt: Add a few things you are grateful for each day, to your journal.

How to create a better world... a happier world...

add some gratitude

Welcoming in 2016

Saying goodbye to 2015 and welcoming in the New Year

Early morning walk on the beach... I just never know who or what I'll meet on my walks...

A bright new 1st totem creation

1.1.2016 Beach stone and shell mandala

Welcome to 2016 a bright New Year.

May you be Well, May you be Happy.

If you'd like to bring more happiness into your life this year, I invite you to explore Mindfulness. Mindfulness has the potential to be life changing.

Mindfulness... the art of paying attention to the present moment in a particular way, and non judgementally. Want to try a mindfulness practice? Focus on your breath, as your focus drifts away bring your attention back to your breath.

Artist Date: Visiting Grayson Perry at The Rocks

"I think that this is the best showing of my work thus far, it's certainly the biggest, and it has pretty much all the major pieces I've made over the last decade or so. And, it covers all the themes that I work on - it's an awful lot of work. I think that anybody that comes to this show, the one thing that they'll say is, 'God this must have taken a long time'." Grayson Perry

Grayson Perry is on at The Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney from the 10 December 2015 - 1 May 2016

The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia is pleased to present the first major survey exhibition in the Southern hemisphere by internationally renowned artist and Turner Prize recipient, Grayson Perry, as part of the Sydney International Art Series.

Grayson Perry is one of the best known British artists of his generation, acclaimed for his ceramics, sculptures, drawings, prints and tapestries. With a keen eye for detail and a love of the popular and vernacular, Perry infuses his artworks with a sly humour and reflection on society past and present.

A talk by Grayson Perry at MCA from 2005

Artist Date: The Art Gallery of NSW - The Greats from Scotland

The Greats: Masterpieces from the National Galleries of Scotland

On at The Art Gallery of NSW till February 2016

Botticelli ● Leonardo ● Cézanne ● El Greco ● Gauguin ● Monet ● Poussin ● Raphael ● Rubens ● Titian ● Turner ● Vermeer

The Greats: masterpieces from the National Galleries of Scotland is an extraordinary and richly presented showcase of some the world’s most revered old master paintings and drawings by many of the greatest names in European art.

Comprising over 70 outstanding works, all but two will be seen in Australia for the first time, including Botticelli’s exceptional The Virgin adoring the sleeping Christ child. Drawn from the prestigious collection of the National Galleries of Scotland, the exhibition spans a period of more than 400 years from the Renaissance to Impressionism.

Presented exclusively in Australia by the Art Gallery of NSW as part of the Sydney International Art Series, this is a rare opportunity to experience, contemplate and appreciate the grandeur of The Greats.

Anatomy of an oil painting

Artist Michelle Hiscock recreated Camille Corot’s painting 'Ville-d’Avray: entrance to the wood’ c1825 over the course of a week at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The original Corot painting is from the exhibition The Greats: masterpieces from the National Galleries of Scotland.

December 20 Santa's Secrets

I Hope Christmas is a wonderful one for you and yours.

Creating this week: the lead up to Christmas - Santa Claus. This week I'm sharing some of the wonders from Santa's hometown.

It starts with BELIEVE.

December 19

Creating each day: thinking of family in Washington State.

I don't know why, too many movies maybe, but when I visited the US, I expected to see lots of built up areas and cities. I wasn't prepared for the majesty of the country, or to see moose standing on the sides of the road as I drove through Washington. In this video, come along on a drive through Washington State Olympic park.

I was so drawn to the indigenous art when I visited. The shapes and vibrant colours, the totems - wonderful, stunning, story tellers.