Stories connect us on a heart to heart level. I look back on my time as a young journalist in a rural town and realise how lucky I was to be able to peek into the intimate lives of the women who lived in the district, empowering them to share their stories.
Spontaneous adventuring can feel a bit daring and dangerous. Saying yes to chance gave me the opportunity to “get over myself” on an unplanned midweek road trip north.
In turbulent times, there is an urgent need for art to pay attention to the ordinary wonders in the world.. To give them form, to really notice and document life’s everyday beauty. To communicate the awe and wonder of being alive.
When you’re feeling dissatisfied with the unresolved pieces lying around, look at the work with new eyes. ‘What if’ is always a good place to start as it gets the creative juices flowing.
The only way to grow is to expand your thinking. I’ve invested in myself many times over even when I didn’t have the money upfront. It has always paid off although I couldn’t see the outcome at the start. Gamble on your creativity - for hard work and investing in yourself pay off.
What will you leave behind as your legacy? Think of all of that you have already achieved, rather than what you haven’t. Your creative self expression is your legacy. Be proud to share it with the world, no comparisons, no regrets.
Looking for inspiration? You have everything already inside of you. This is what I remembered when I went on a research trip down the rabbit holes of the internet. What I was really looking for was in my own imagination, a journey back to myself.
I love lighthouses.These powerful beams of light are a metaphor for connection, across the seas and lands. Having an online business is a bit like that. Shining a light from an online platform to inspire others.
When you’re feeling unhinged and not quite in touch with your inner self, look around for the tools you have to hand to put some structure back into your life. This helps turn experience into beauty, transforming the chaos into poetic metre, a daily ode to life told line by line, word by word, image by image.
A message arrived this week in the form of a non human messenger. It was a message about growth and transformation, the shedding of old ways of doing things. An indication that life was changing and I was changing with it.
Artists residencies can propel you forward in your art practice. This month I finished my fourth artist residency in four years and reflect on the top #10 lessons I’ve learned from all four.
It takes a community of like minded, inclusive thinking creatives to nourish an artist’s talent and confidence so they can breakthrough to success. An artist residency gives you the time, space and support to enable those breakthroughs.
What happens when you make a quantum leap? Your artwork conceptually ‘jumps’ and you move into a whole new method of creating. Making these leaps means you draw deep from the hidden parts of your imagination which are waiting to be released.
Lots of experimenting in the rain and mud with paper in this first week of my artist residency at BigCi in Bilpin. Pouring paper pulp and getting ideas together in readiness for our public Open Day on Sunday 4th April where I will be demonstrating my pulp pouring techniques.
To occupy is to name, make claim, live in and inhabit a space, temporarily or permanently. This is a tale of two artist residencies two years apart. One I am in now at Bilpin, NSW and one I was at in Central Australia in 2019 and the artworks I created there are now on exhibition at Northern Rivers Community Gallery in Ballina.
When it’s time for exhibition, how do you show up? I’ve learnt over time to make an occasion of it, dress in my best, put on red lipstick, show up for others, but more importantly, show up for myself. My joint exhibition Occupy is all about occupying space and time. As an artist and a woman it’s about staking your claim. I am here. I am worthy!
Art has the capacity to heal and connect people on a heart to heart level. The colour blue from lapis lazuli has led me on a circular journey through art and inspiring artist collaborations into the war torn country of Afghanistan.
How do we inhabit a space, occupying it with traces of our own existence in place and time? It’s an interesting question to ponder as I consider occupancy with my upcoming exhibition Occupy and resuming an artist residency in the Blue mountains. What traces of my own life and occupancy will I leave behind?
There’s so much been written about love in poems, songs, letters and books. Classic romances and cheap romantic paperbacks, they all have a place in fiction. And why not? It’s a day for silly love songs and picking flowers.
We’ve all got the same 24 hours in a day, it’s what we choose to do with those hours that defines our day. Being productive and creative when there are so many other demands on our time is a an ever vigilant process. How to do this? Segmentation is my key to make sure prioritised tasks get done and others don’t suffer as a consequence.
