early spring
September. Spring has arrived.......
the last days of winter
the last days of winter .....working with paper........ inspired by nature
dusty landscapes
winter drawing in the garden with pastels .
grevillea heaven
The Grevilleas are flowering. Painting heaven.....
winter landscape
winter gathering
trees by the lake
I have been spending time by the lake in the Australian Plant Section of the botanical gardens walking and writing and staring at the reflections on the water .
a return to the lake.......
Cooler weather ...it"s time to head into the garden and paint.
magnolia
into the arid zone
The work table in the studio is full of wonderful thorny specimens from the botanical gardens.
Handle with care!
thorny poetry
For the month of April I will be in the arid zone.......
I am meeting Steve,the supervisor of this area of the botanical gardens, on Friday. I will be focusing on Southern African succulents and have some ideas for 'arid zone inspired' sculptures. I'm excited!
autumn
“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of each.” —Henry David Thoreau
learning through seeing
Monday mornings I go early to the botanical gardens to collect specimens to paint during the week. I carefully select, cut and take them back to my studio. They are placed in a row of glass bottles on my work table. Each day I select a single flower to focus on. I try to simply paint what I see .
pastel drawings of this week's specimens hanging in the studio.
the place of honey bee dreaming
Mount Coot-tha was home to the Turrbal Aboriginal people for tens of thousands of years before European settlement. After settlement the summit was cleared, leaving a single Eucalpyt tree. This gave rise to the name One Tree Hill, which remained in place until 1880, when the area became a public recreation reserve. The name Coot-tha comes from the Aboriginal word ku-ta meaning honey. This area was where the Aboriginal people collected honey from the native stingless bee. Coot-tha means ‘place of honey’.