26 The Linden Postcard Show 2009

A little postcard painting for this year's Linden Postcard Show.

Oil on cradled linen panel, 10.1cmx15.2cm (4"x6")
SOLD

Away awhile

Thanks for all your kind messages - we're doing ok.
Hope to be back to painting one day soon.

25 The Journey Beyond These Gates

Another version of the little red Morgan. This one is a gift for a very special person who my husband and I are very fond of. The painting holds some significance for the journey he has led for many years and the new journey he is about to embark on.

One of the things I really love about painting is its capacity to reach out and touch another, rather like music. Giving this painting to its new owner this morning and witnessing his joy, left me with a lingering warm feeling that is delicious beyond words.

"The Journey Beyond These Gates" 2008
Oil on cradled linen panel, 10.1cmx15.2cm (4"x6")
NFS

24. Little Red Morgan

I am aiming to explore a few variations of this little red Morgan, starting with this one in the late afternoon light. The owner of the Morgan is a rather special person who will selecting one of the paintings as a gift; the remainder will be offered here for sale.

In the meantime I am trying to squeeze in as much painting time as possible with the deadline looming for the Linden Postcard Show. I'll post pics here once I've dropped the paintings off in January. For the past few weeks I have been exploring ideas; now it's time to knuckle down and just paint!

"Little Red Morgan" 2008
Oil on cradled linen panel, 10.1cmx15.2cm (4"x6")
NFS

23. Collectable

Why do humans collect things? What drives this oftentimes insatiable desire to amass material objects such as stamps, art, classic cars and footy cards?
If you observe children you’ll notice that this penchant for collecting starts at a fairly early age. Certainly some of this is fuelled by clever marketers who produce not just one Polly Pocket toy but a whole series of them; and of course this is further reinforced by the parents who continue to add to their childrens’ collections. But look at what children collect when left to their own devices. They collect shells off the beach, pretty stones, buttons, feathers and coloured leaves – and children do this pretty much universally. It is not a far stretch to speculate that collecting might be an instinctive behaviour, that our evolutionary roots have seen us hard wired to engage in the collecting of objects.

In his paper, “Shelling out: The origins of currency” Nick Szabo (2002) proposes that collectables were the primitive currency that functioned to store and exchange wealth for ancient man. Szabo described how different tribes specialized in different prey determined by seasons and locations. With meat scarce for some and plentiful for other tribes, the early manufacture of collectables offered the opportunity for the beneficial trade of food and foraging rights in another band’s territory. Thus collectables functioned as insurance against starvation.

Early collectables were sometimes decorative, as in necklaces fashioned from teeth or shells; collectables could also be functional furs or hunting tools, clearly items of wealth for the hunter gatherer. Ownership of such items offered a fitness advantage that could be transferred to one’s descendants thus representing the earliest of heirlooms. Eventually the high value of these items motivated their manufacture for collectable purposes in their own right. The search for material such as shells, teeth and bones and the manufacture of collectable objects is likely to have consumed a large amount of ancient man’s time just as this collecting instinct still preoccupies the serious collector today.

Szabo contends that the issuing of twentieth century currencies not backed by reserve commodities (e.g., gold), proved to be poor in terms of holding value. Inflation saw a resurgence of markets in rare objects and unique art work. Szabo states that “…collectables both satisfy our instinctive urges and remain useful in their ancient role as a secure store of value…” Only time will reveal whether the current global economic crisis will see an increased confidence in collectables as a secure holder of value.

"Collectable" 2008
Oil on cradled linen panel, 10.1cmx15.2cm (4"x6")

22. They came and she knew she was not alone

My apologies for not getting this finished in time to post it on the weekend.
This painting features a favorite street of mine. Normanby street meets the bay at one end and one of Brighton's favorite cafe/boutique strips at the other. It's appeal for me though lies in the glorious old homes with over a century of stories to tell, including the residence of Aeneas Gunn, author of "We of the Never Never" (1908) and "The Little Black Princess" (1905).
In 2008 lives continue to play out beyond the Victorian walls in Normanby st, continuing the story making for future generations.

"They Came and She Knew She Was Not Alone" 2008
Oil on cradled linen panel, 10.1cmx15.2cm (4"x6")
AUD$100.00 (+ $10 postage)

A little time out

No little painting from me this week. Instead, I took a couple of days out to fly interstate to watch my son graduate as a firefighter. It was wonderful to catch up with him and his girlfriend again and to see him so content with his new life. We had an awesome time watching the new 'Panther' firetrucks in action; I followed my nephew on a torturous workout as he prepared for a jungle survival course and we got to explore one of the C17 aircraft which was very impressive!

I took a few hundred photos, so stay tuned for a little more action in future paintings :)

21. Reflections on a Morris Minor

This car lives across the road from a dear friend and fellow art lover. If it had any more character I reckon it would talk :)

"Reflections on a Morris Minor" 2008
Oil on cradled linen panel, 10.1cmx15.2cm (4"x6")
SOLD

20. Journey's End

Warning very long self indulgent post - don't bother reading if you've been up all night rocking a baby or completing a painting!

This week I received the incredibly relieving news that after 21 years of study I am finally to be awarded my clinical doctorate. My journey began at the ripe old age of 23 when in 1987 I went back to school to complete my VCE. I wasn’t driving then so over the two years of part time study my toddler, baby and I braved the elements and the public transport system so I could get an education that would hopefully result in a career once my kids went to school. I worked evenings in the entertainment industry so the bulk of my study had to be worked around my childrens’ sleep times, which as any mum will know is never guaranteed.

Upon completing my VCE I applied to uni for a degree that would see me become a librarian – as much as I loved art it wasn’t part of my mindset for a career. We had children and a mortgage and I needed a career that would offer financial security. I loved books and the idea of spending my whole career surrounded by them held strong appeal. However by the time the offer came I was pregnant again and struggling with the issue of full time childcare, rejected the offer. I enrolled in night classes at TAFE studying human resource management over three years whilst also working part time. My baby was born late in the first year and accompanied me to lectures in her first few weeks until she had a routine of sorts that her dad could handle. I got bitten by the activist bug during those years so when I wasn’t working in my job as a counsellor I was participating in various social justice committees and organizing student marches. It was a blast; I had a lot of fun in those years!

At the end of the three years I didn’t feel equipped enough to enter the human resources industry and my Uncle an organizational psychologist, encouraged me to study psychology to build on the skills I had. Still struggling with the issue of childcare I enrolled in my degree by distance education. For 8 weekends a year over 6 years we travelled down to uni at Gippsland where I would attend lectures over the two days whilst my husband entertained our children. Our 4th child was born during this time and also accompanied me to lectures. In between weekend schools I had to be incredibly self-disciplined to keep on track with study deadlines whilst also working part time. My efforts paid off with an offer of an honours scholarship at Melbourne University. The scholarship required that I study full time, so after 11 years of part time study I rather nervously enrolled as a full time student.

Completing my honours year on time whilst maintaining part time employment and meeting the needs of my family was incredibly challenging. The course was demanding and highly competitive. We had gone from 300 students in my degree down to 40 in my honours year and this would reduce to 12 in my doctorate. I set my alarm for 3am most nights and worked on my honours thesis for the 3-4 hours before the family woke; it’s not a practice I recommend as I became quite ill as a result of sleep deprivation. My husband rose to the challenge and took the children out most weekends so I could meet the final deadline.

At the end of my honours year I received offers to undertake doctoral programs in both organizational and clinical psychology. My husband was keen for me to become an organizational psychologist for its financial potential, but clinical psychology won for its perceived benefits to me in terms of intrinsic rewards. I completed my coursework for my doctorate in 2001 culminating in an internship in oncology where I would then gain employment in my first role as a psychologist. The following year saw a prolonged setback to my studies when I underwent emergency surgery following the birth of my 5th child. I slowly persevered with my thesis juggling mothering and part time work.

3 years ago my husband bought me a painting easel. I had dabbled with drawing and painting over the years but had never persisted due to the competing priorities of family and study. Fortunately this time I logged onto an art forum where an inspiring artist found me and gave me the push I needed to persevere with my painting; thus I embarked on my journey into the art world. At this point I was juggling my thesis, my family, my work and then art as well.

There were many times that I briefly flirted with the idea of quitting, most typically when one of the children were ill, or when I had an attack of the guilts at missing yet another important sports day, music concert or any of the other special days my kids did without me. There were also a few times when I gave the notion of quitting more serious thought. The first time was during my internship year, I lost my baby I was carrying just two days before the horrific attacks 0f 9/11. Working in my first year in an oncology ward I was already feeling quite confronted with the reality of our mortality. My grief saw me reflecting on my purpose in life and the seeming pointlessness of my goals. The second time I gave considerable thought to chucking it all in followed the birth of my 5th child when serious complications required the skills of a pretty amazing surgeon to save us both. My thesis was put on hold and there were many times in the months of recovery that I questioned what the heck I was doing with my life when it could so easily have been snuffed out in the blink of an eye.

The last time I thought about giving up was as late as last year just prior to submitting my thesis. My eldest son who has faced a lifelong battle with a genetic syndrome was dealt the severest blow yet to his health. I was so close to finishing, but every day his needs were so much greater than my own. Even if I could find the time to finalise the editing I couldn’t seem to raise the emotional energy I needed to see it through. In that last straight I almost fell. Paradoxically it was my son’s illness that ended up propelling me forward with an urgency to see it over so I would be freed up to balance my work hours around his needs.

So why am I telling you about my journey? I am aware that many of you who come in here and leave your kind feedback are also travelling long journeys, some as long as mine, some even longer; and I know that those journeys sometimes feel like insurmountable mountains with one step forward and two steps back. I know too that sometimes you are plagued with doubts about whether you will ever get to the place where you want to be. I also know that some of you will be tempted to give up as I was when it was all too hard. Well I want to tell you what it was that kept me going. Whilst fear of regret at not finishing sometimes kept me going, generally the long term goal didn’t figure all that much in my thoughts. Mostly what got me through the really hard times was my practice of focusing on the here and now. This was my choice and I generally lived it moment by moment. That was pretty much it, for 21 years and here I am now at my journey’s end and it really only feels like yesterday that I began.

And now for my next journey….

"Journey's End" 2008
Oil on cradled linen panel, 10.1cmx15.2cm (4"x6")
AUD$100.00 (+ $10 postage)

SOLD

Brighton Grammar School Professional Art Exhibition and Sale

6 of my paintings are being exhibited among illustrious company this weekend at the Brighton Grammar School Professional Art Exhibition. My work comprises nocturnes primarily from Melbourne's bayside area including "As the Sun Goes Down: Ricketts Point" a favorite painting spot among artists. The exhibition features the work of some very well known Australia artists including David Boyd, Brian Dunlop, Pro Hart, Tony Irving, Lionel Lindsay, Clifton Pugh, Brett Whiteley and Jan Sensberg just to name a few. If you enjoy Australian art it is definitely worth a visit. I am quite envious of a friend of mine who bought a really nice lithograph by Geoffrey Ricardo at the opening last night.

The exhibition is open from 10am-4pm, Saturday 11th Oct to Sunday 12th October in "The Atrium" Brighton Grammar Senior School Campus, St Andrews st Brighton.