lakes & reeds

this morning my little man and i ( 3 year old) packed ourselves a thermos of coffee for me and a thermos of hot chocolate for him, a quick stop at the bakery for 2 croissants and off to the lake we went , after yesterdays inspiration in the studio i thought we’d venture off again to a place that gives me peace of mind and a menu of unlimited inspiration for more work to be done, not to mention somewhere for my little one to skip pebbles, watch turtles and generally be free….the sand was fresh after our downpour last night only our new footprints in the sand, until we noticed many different sizes of bird prints in the sand, a mark left by a slithery snake and what appeared to be a wombat that had wondered down for a morning drink after foraging for food all night.the smell of the bush was awesome, the sweetmess of blossoms, gum trees with the dampness of rain….i have often come here to clear my mind and generally just sit and take it all in with my sketch book handy for ideas……..

great afternoon in the studio…..

finally managed to get about 4 hours in my studio today with no distractions..awesome, that has been very rare lately,,was great just to be able to not worry about time or needing to get anything done..started by melting some wax with no idea in mind as to what to do, hadn’t used my etching press for a while so monoprint it started as, then combined with encaustic and this is what i came up with, quite similiar in idea to a series i have been working on of the reeds that grow around the edge of our local lake and the reflections made in the water and patterns produced from them..it is raining at the moment the door is open, the sound is wonderful, the frogs are happy, croaking in chorus, the air smells fresh..i can hear thunder, there is lightning, think it may be time to pour a glass of red and go out to the veranda and enjoy the show..until next time..

female form

mother nature never fails to reveal herself in the most unexpected places, noticed this tree whilst camping at the beach on the south coast, its awesome….

encaustic & ochre work in progress..

the ochre used in this work ( the red & yellow) comes from the Northern Territory of Australia, the same ochre that has been used by our indigenous aboriginals for over 40,000 years, i feel quite privlaged  to have a small amount…the photo doesn’t give the depth of colour justice though, combined with the lush texture of the encaustic i feel quite happy with the way this work is going…

our Linden Tree…..

spiral made out of the golden leaves in autumn..

we share our life with a large old Linden tree, our home is partially covered by it, my studio, my children play under it, ducks sleep in the garden below, coffee with friends, glorious green when you look up, brilliant yellow in autumn,sweet smelling blossoms in spring, i love looking out my studio doors and windows and feel surrounded by it, we are lucky to share its life with us…………..

encaustic experiment………

it’s late, all quiet aside from the frogs at the dam and a lone willy wagtail singing its midnight mating call, time for the soul and for my mind to wander from the day, had a great afternoon in the studio, have been experimenting with encaustic very different to my printmaking, such a lush medium, this is my first post here and look forward to random ramblings, art work of mine or just general thoughts to keep here and share…………..