imBi

La grand citrouille

2011-11-02T08:27:00.001+10:00

lately its all been about 'citrouille'...en anglais...pumpkin....
this giant (a.k.a jabba) was lifted, transported, floated, carved and finally....raced!!!
yes...a giant pumpkin boat race...the above photos showcase the tranquil setting
of the life of jabba pre-race, grown peacefully by the mountain
with the dulcet tones of nature and occasional banjo to aid in growth...

above you can see the logistics required to move and remove pumpkins from the water
(bearing in mind jabba was a 434pounds!)
and the space required in-situ...
it was a crazy and unique event
the above pirate is responsible for the growth, racing and
believe it or not is the eventual
VICTORIOUS champion for 2011... (in 11mins & 38seconds)
check the gold medal and wooden carved trophy!!!!
since then...
the news has spread far and wide, with reporters catching the story
and pictures appearing in many local rags...
all i can say is arrrrrrrrrrrrr..........
am proud of my little pumpkin
aRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrr.........

hazel totally worthy

2011-10-27T05:30:00.000+10:00

this week's speech by Hazel Dooney
posted on her blog
hits a punch in the guts
read it and weep

strongman

2011-10-26T02:30:00.000+10:00

today is my birthday
and i pay homage to...
the strongman
the sky
to acts of random stupidity whilst abroad
to omelettes
leaves
metal
my children
and love....
merci et bienvenue trente-trois...!

pomme et pomme

2011-10-19T01:21:00.000+10:00

greetings from the land of le ou la pomme
recent wanderings in the orchard
revealed many things from the odyssey of ulysses
to the fine portrait of deceased 'papa' apple...aka, steve jobs.
anyway...check out...l'art est dans ses feuilles...ici...

walcha...

2011-09-20T21:34:00.000+10:00

where the...is walcha?
outback west wild, windy and
full
of amazing public artworks!

a recent adventure
took us to this little town...
so inspiring to see an otherwise sleepy town
come alive with creation
and culture
discovered also
in the local gallery
was the paintings of Idris Murphy...

i discover...
i love this landscape
those who paint it
especially with sparkly silver paint
and carve it...
and
not least
i love an
artist whose first initial is I.

waste not want not

2011-08-21T18:58:00.000+10:00

decided to practice some strokes on
recycled office folders
the dark green appealed to my senses
...

...
new work in colour scares me a little.

heri dono

2011-08-17T14:44:00.000+10:00

decided i like this artist a lot...a real lot.
Indonesia has so many incredible artists.
Heri is awesome.

melbOno

2011-08-17T14:22:00.000+10:00

Oh My....recently found myself on a plane to Melbourne.
the whole world there is
one huge, swathe of art, paint, grime, grot, noise
and the everpresent...tram dinG!

was a little trip
but wholly worth it.
Saw recent exhibition by Terri Brooks,
met and hung with people who
speak ART language.
had snazzy lunch with Ian Collens, a really nice non-collector of art...
hung with my two special cousins
who both live in warehouses
was introduced to Nick Cave's sound suits....HOLY moly...amazing
caught up with a friend who is making the 12th Apostle for Melbourne Festival...
and walked around alot
(check above sNaps)

thanks big city for the overload of INFORMATION
and sniff of icy antarctic winds....
and most important
the reminder that i love living isolated in the bush with trees xxx

balance

2011-08-04T20:58:00.000+10:00

Lately...(unimaginable it is august)
have been using my time...
effectively
for the study of...
temporality.

what beauty there is in knowing
that we can create and destroy all in the same
great
balancing act...

street sweep...(in prussian tone...)

2011-08-04T20:51:00.000+10:00

wintered

2011-07-07T09:56:00.000+10:00

THE COLOURS OF LIGHT....

This is not easy to understand

For you that come from a distant land

Where all the COLOURS are low in pitch -

Deep purples, emeralds deep and rich,

Where autumn's flaming and summer's green -

Here is a beauty you have not seen...

RIP Cy Twombly

2011-07-06T17:34:00.000+10:00

Just read the news, artist, Cy Twombly has passed on...

a scattering of blossoms

and other things...

humbled

inspired

miss mArita

2011-06-30T12:30:00.000+10:00

before leaving darwin
i swapped my washing machine
for the above painting by
my friend and artist, MARITA ALBERS...

she is an elusive internet character (i hope you are reading this M!)
but paints wicked stuff.
Marita is well loved in Darwin art scenes and nearly
all my friends have a painting of hers on the wall...
i like it cos all her chicks have black eyes
and bright colours

this lady above i love her
she is mythical
and wrapped in a blanket of tears

i say yes for elusive characters.
with black eyes.
thanks for the wine
and when do you get married?

blessed family

2011-06-23T09:12:00.001+10:00

i am lucky and blessed to have a truly inspirational family!

my uncle,
Stephen Killick
has a recent show/collaboration
at the
Glasshouse in Port Macquarie

there's a beaut interview to read also.

these guys have inspired my life
so gratefull!

on the path...

2011-06-23T09:00:00.000+10:00

i humbly share with you these pictures
last weekend i spent the whole weekend
walking in the forest
wrapped in the blanket of trees, rainforest and sunlight

i stumbled upon, what is for me, THE centre of my experience
right now
unfolding stories scribed on the seams of this ancient eucalypt
she stands tall
and witness to generations of change

in this there is something....

ildiko

2011-06-10T17:52:00.000+10:00

my friend Dallas from Raft Artspace
put me onto the work of Ildiko Kovacs.

there is a restrospective of her work
Down the Line,
currently on show @ the Hazelhurst art gallery, Sydney.
I think its nearly worth a trip down the coast for.

thanks ildiko.

11.5.11

2011-06-05T13:00:00.000+10:00

ok.
today my eldest daughter turns 11! happy birthday to her
and happy 11 years of parenting to me...

It is world environment day and i had a butcher bird visit me for breakfast...
and just watched a spider paralyse a bee...eek.

still trying to understand this world and the ever present
constant of finding truth within everything and nothing
have a new studio to play in...

it looks different now broke my back sliced my hands
mowing slashing cleaning and blah
but hard work pays off
and i can watch the trees change colour
everyday

this is my fifth studio in no less than a year
no wonder i am tired
anyway
onwards and upwards
my grandma says

i just put some drawings up
check them out if you want
go here

questions to you....

2011-05-31T18:51:00.000+10:00

these are questions i am asking myself
and thought i would put them to any one in blog land out there....

I am asking...
What is your inspiration?
What is at the core of your practice?

Is it the twinge on a leaf?
Is it the swathe of emotions spinning evermore?
Is it dense layers of history engraved on an city walls...

What place does nature hold for you as an artist?

Just wondering about it all in this weird digital age...
how relevant is the timeless, the hand made, the real?

Understandably a ridiculously huge/vast question....

hmmm....
i offer flowers as thanks for your thoughts or none as well...

Lismore strikes back

2011-05-19T17:29:00.000+10:00

lately Lismore reveals itself
in old architecture,
bridges
and brick walls...

i keep thinking about
the human obsession for
paint
on public surfaces

lismore vs darwin

2011-05-16T20:20:00.000+10:00

DARWIN

LISMORE

at Emma's house

2011-05-11T21:08:00.001+10:00

the LOST city....

2011-05-11T21:02:00.000+10:00

went to Darwin for recent exhibition with my friends
Emma Stocker and Colin Holt....
it was called The LOST City
you can check out some stuff in the link over there ------->

After being chewed up and spat out by Darwin
earlier this year
I returned feeling this journey may be the end
and completion of that time...

I arrived to a heavy blanket
complex, dense and layered
but
balmy, alive and endless
an edgy battleground of love and hate
simultaneous homesickness for the town that has been home
and loathing at the same time to get me out of there

funny...
all things considered, it is an amazing place
the show was great, drank to much red wine
met a Philippino shaman
sat in an over-sized government air conditioner (aka the CHAN building)
talked about art
made new drawings and studies of scungy Darwin surfaces
and sunsets
as always...

i am nostalgic...and yet, do not miss it...
so there...

here's some snaps...

street life....

2011-04-17T09:46:00.000+10:00

colours colour

2011-04-14T19:25:00.000+10:00

am being boring
but so excited
about things in general
even posting about the state of my garden which blossoms
dies is born again at the rate of knots
FANTASTIC she says
yes
anyway
i love my garden
and its bounty
BOUNTY
it is rum, a ship and a chocolate bar
and all things delicious
yummm nymummm

dans le ciel

2011-04-07T10:35:00.000+10:00

if i wasn't on the ground
think i'd spend my time in the clouds

j'adore le nuage
the story continues....

peepshow

2011-04-07T10:27:00.000+10:00

ok
went around the new abode
took some snaps
whole house is becoming a living artwork
nothing separate
even the garden is part of it
anyway
not much to say
but life is happening

thinking about much
doing lots so i don't think
which makes it busy
and the 8 batteries that hold it altogether
are somewhat hard pressed to charge in this
grey blanket cloud covered forest
when the sun shines
it is goodness
we get nearly 28 Volts of power
but MC Solar says we need 30 Volts

oh well....technology is different when it comes from the sun
sometimes i have to sit with quiet...

this new reality
seems steeped in preparations for dealing with the COLD.
chop, saw, carry, light, blow, brrrrr, smoke, stoke
are all new words in my vocabulary
as well as doona, ugg boots, torrential, freezing & steam

change from the steady D-town pulse of everything over 25degrees.

But i like it....my Scandinavian blood is good, enjoying the cold
hands in earth
etc
kooky burras everywhere
and i like the forest at my back door....
i paint.

roots

2011-03-27T10:36:00.000+10:00

thinking of time
whirlwinds
passings
change
old lithographs
archives
memories
time of butterflies
mists
light
strange.

piracy

2011-03-23T20:22:00.000+10:00

lately i have been a pirate...

my friend India posted about someone stealing her identity
on the net
and pretending to be her...
that's low piracy....
mutinous...

i seek only treasures buried on dream islands
and those within....

arrrrrrr....me hearties

new home

2011-02-24T10:37:00.000+10:00

pictures from the new house

view of mountain

chopping wood

busy business

lots to do in this new world

all photos thanks to Philippe Fleury and his iphone

christchurch

2011-02-24T10:20:00.000+10:00

woah...thinking of my friends in Christchurch...
a whole lotta shaking going on in these parts...

am kind of bewildered by the rate of natural disasters
currently unfolding in general...
a friend sent a message to her Grandma in CC
seeing if she was ok after the earthquake, then telling her she had avoided the floods
had missed the cyclone and was safe thus far!!

What a season....

Homage to the beautiful city
in an amazing land
strength to all
to rebuild...

(All pictures taken in Christchurch 2010)

arrives...

2011-01-23T07:48:00.000+10:00

have landed in new home...
creating and spreading new wings
yay.

A writer/journo called Nicolas Rothwell liked my mailbags last year and wrote a little story about them
here's a link if you interested....
was in Tuesday's Australian...(anyone keep a copy???)

Been too busy to scratch or have a read
Swimming everyday in waterfalls and rivers is hard work!!
Love me new nest...

sTuck - part III

2011-01-11T17:30:00.000+10:00

greetings from Gayndah....
I am here by the Burnett river, sweeping away...
looks like I might be here a while....
am aghast, lost and feel helpless about rain flooding and water...
there is almost no words left...
just survival.
11.1.11

trying to keep spirits up after 11 days being either on the road, stuck, or trying to break through.
5000kms of road and looks like I aint going nowhere.
Luckily the town here is high and DRY.
Yet, am feeling philosophical, if the river rose it wouldn't be surprising.

Unimaginable...
driving through flood affected areas
has been incredibly affecting...
am feeling the humanity of this crisis, for everyone...
it hits me in the core...
the smell of flood is like nothing else...
when i crossed over areas of brown wasteland...seemed like the soul had been sucked and driven downstream...debris littered, remains of this serpentine mud mass....

here's some pics from me journal of the day
not sure it is interesting
just feel low, tired of it, no end in sight
can't quite explain what it is to be trapped in all directions

at least in this I am safe mu kids are on the other side
i have food and can still drink tea...
am lucky so lucky.
heart goes out to it all...

to be continued.....

sTuck - part II

2011-01-09T21:57:00.000+10:00

greetings from Black Water
coal country, central queensland.

some adventures to date include:
jet skiing around the whitsundays
dolphins so close it makes you want to smile
storm cloud surfing
tent sleeping
waterfall swimming @ Eungalla
weeding for camping
eating slaty beef with Wazza and Dog
washing clothes in the creek
driving like a crazy woman to hopefully get somewhere else
a speeding fine (never had one in 12 years of NT)
drinking XXXX at the local pub
seeing coal mines close up
Ulysses butterflies
tree goannas
rainbows
black cockatoos
driving through post-flood town Emerald
inhaling the smell of flood (indescribable....like gristle, mud, mould & grass)

it has been a crazy adventure. wish my camera was working.
my regret to not stop at Comet to see the Leichardt Tree, which the explorer Ludwig carved back in the 1800's irks me. Wish i had stopped.

i learn: patience, patience and i think patience.
might sink some clothes in flood waters; pre-mordant for better days...

the road sinks its swirling self into me.
It is an interesting place to be.
not sure what is around the next corner!

to be continued.....

sTuck...

2011-01-04T20:08:00.000+10:00

as y'all might know...we are having big rains and disastrous flooding...
I am sitting here on the coast of Queensland
with some cane toads...

WAITING....

can't go up can't go round can't get through...
too much water everywhere...
the floods are hugeamungus.
after driving 3000km in perfect conditions
seems now have to sit by the big creek
for about a week or two
till the road opens.

so am in airlie beach, hanging, hoping watching...
i sit int he night light with bugs attracted to the light
a cane toad waits patiently an arm length away
ready to snap up some tasty winged thing.
never knew the sound they made when they snap up something, is cool.

it has been a beautiful drive nonetheless
spent the day in downtown bowen, with some black cockatoos
first touchdown on eastern ocean,
and the whitsundays are breathtakingly lovely.

but my mind races, like a torrent of water
flooding the highways
just want to drive through...get to the other side...
start new life...
patience is my great teacher these days...
or rather...no matter the path,
keep the head up
fight the good fight
and stay strong.

anyway, is a good opportunity to start a new blanket
for my daughter.
Maybe when i get to rockhampton, i can help shovel sandbags
at least i have a home on the other side
and hopefully all my worldly possessions
in boxes somewhere.
i am lucky.
heart goes out to all the people who have totally lost everything
in these murky, soily waters....

keep on keep on y'all, much lovin.

hohoho

2010-12-24T14:22:00.000+10:00

is that time of year again when we all get together
in some way, shape or form
to celebrate...
for some this is a burden or a wonderful time...
for me i am usually happy to be with family but sometimes nonchalent

this year my family came from high and low to get together
was really specialioso
a big reunion, was awesome...is awesome!
unluckily some of my cousins bought the dreaded swine flu with them
and randomly it struck..

so speaking from my quarantine station with heavy chesty nasty
and feelings of wanting to run around like a lunatic
i rest....i cough...and fight on....
the swine flu thing hits like a cracken to be sure...
it has made me a complete trash bag...
low and behold i have had to resort to reading Agatha Christie and Daniel Steele...
(that is shameful embarrassment and lack of selection to be sure)

anyway...i miss being able to hang out with my girlies family and catching up with old friends
i want to be healthy and happy...
i wish y'all to enjoy every minute of it....
and surprisingly this minute
i feel better!
yay...
think next year is gonna be a goodun...

wish you all much HEALTH and HAPPINESS....
and me some too...

abstractrionala...ode to D-town

2010-12-08T22:02:00.001+10:00

as i have been thinking about paint and its application
across the canvas of this old, red, sandstone country...
and as I try to extract a shard of Darwin glass from deep within my foot,
some friends and I will be having a show next year...
3 non-indigenous, abstract, Darwin, local (me for 2 more weeks), painters...

it will be interesting to bring this kind of work to the Darwin audience...
to see if the average punter can understand crazy, marks on a canvas
that are perhaps not totemic, ancestral or connected to country...
maybe this is a good way to understand something

not sure...despite being in leaving zone, it becomes weirdly apparent
that this place inspires me, you, them, us...
even in its gritty bloodthirsty, intensity...there is on this edge of the world
a glory, a splendor and untamed harshness
that keeps it all in check...

have to say, this edginess has kept me here for a dozen years...
two six-packs if we count
in local stubbie-curreny...not even a bloody carton mate!

but now, this glass in me foot is really painfull,
all things change....
am glad to have sailed here, made work here
and this upcoming show is like a beautiful ending...
or new beginning...it's all the same book anyway....

want to thank the cranky lightning man and Darwin edge
for teaching me about thrashing it out in loud, unrepentant
brush killing strokes
think it will take a while to put it in perspective...

but for now
i sit with a needle
and try to
un-stick
this razor sharp shard that has itself
firmly embedded in my left soul....

d-town....damn....

words & scratch...

2010-11-30T14:29:00.000+10:00

scratch. and sniff sniff...

just ant

NW Wind...

2010-11-29T11:09:00.000+10:00

note the sticky tape....

abstralian austraction

2010-11-24T14:19:00.000+10:00

today i think about australia and abstraction
or rather, as the title goes: abstralian austraction.

there is aboriginal art, post-modernist landscape abstractionists, sydney mob who generate flashy neo-abstract expressionist replicas, urban bansky stencil warriors and the occasional nature inspired painter. But what about vegemite and bark and eucalyptus and stuff?

I am just trying to understand what abstract means in terms of our culture, history and identity. Or does it even matter? Not sure that I even have an argument.

Yet I feel there is something vital in a whole heap of artists work...something that pierces the veil of the post-modern, conceptual, machine driven art world and exists as itself, without trying to be....i don't even know who has it, but i see it and when i do, it goes bOOm. you know who you are.

As usual, my attempt at intelligence is GAMMON.
Think i might paint in vegemite.

2010-11-15T14:42:00.000+10:00

oh um...
if you want to check out some recent thoughts from
study land adventures...
here's a shameless self-promoting link:

Imbi in studyland

this picture is there and some others

smash it

2010-11-09T14:41:00.000+10:00

recently played with smashing plants on paper
species include:
cycad, erythrina, mango leaf, grevillea, melastoma and can't remember.
i then painted eucalyptus over the top.
mango leaf was blue.
now i am painting.

street life: india part 2

2010-11-03T12:44:00.000+10:00

street life: tamil nadu, india

2010-11-03T12:24:00.000+10:00

inspiring street life

2010-11-02T14:35:00.000+10:00

here are some recently inspiring street scenes

NO no no no no no no no No No no nooo.....

this one is awesome, cullem bay roadworks.

Some artists go to galleries, I do to...

but most often i find reality is the best exhibition...

especially when the feet wonder.

therefore:

the whole world is a gallery, a visual feast

on show all the time

every detail part of the grander exhibition

but if you live in darwin

is probably really boring.

anywaY, that's how i see it.

oh yeah...

the sign with all the rules...is for my friend feilipu.

(stupid anglophones...tabernac!)

back on deck

2010-11-01T13:56:00.000+10:00

ahh...
blessings blog-landia!

returned, have many stories to tell...but soon.

India was amazing, my garden is amazing
these images are details from home...
it is good to be amongst familiar moulds, lichens and such
D-town...the love hate relationship goes ever onward...

now i can put pics.
am loving the BLUE colour lichen growing from the rotting tree stump in my yard.
perhaps it will fall into a painting

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmooooooooommmmmmmmm

2010-10-04T14:59:00.001+10:00

ok.just checking in y'all...
heres an old toilet.
isn't it beautiful.

fits with the philosophy
of finding beauty in imperfection

actually was experimenting
if i can put pics here in blogland
seems the wardens
at the prison cell (aka university)
have determined uploading images
can be dangerous.
very.

i have nice pics to share with y'all.
oh well. later.

tomorrow i will be using the toilet
in singapore (very different to Australian toilets)
and then wednesday will be India...
am not sure what the toilets are like there,
but my friend told me that once he was in
india having a crap and the pigs below
were happily awaiting his plopped delivery...
yum!

bon voyage...

blogaduck

2010-09-28T16:58:00.000+10:00

a friend came to see me in my uni box/studio/cell/bunker
he is cool
a local photographer, with a penchant for deep thoughts
challenging questions and a need to find answers behind all things
we had a great conversation
he took some snaps
here's the link to Tom's musings.
What he says is all true.

can't seem to upload pics...this new system is shite
any thoughts anyone??

darwin rocks

2010-09-22T09:31:00.000+10:00

my posting has been somewhat irregular lately
randomly meandering through a variety of themes
countries, ideas and contexts.
thought to apologise for the lack of continuity
but...mais....
in the words of hip hop artist DPZ
'i will not apologize'....

no really, life is often complex, multi-layered,
organic and changing
gotta keep it real....

these are images of home, the rocks close to where i live
have enjoyed being close to the ocean
and being able to always find something beautiful

i am so happy that we have purple rocks
what a colour!

oilio

2010-09-16T12:32:00.000+10:00

was playing in studio the other day
made some juice from the leaves of a local plant - cordia subcordata
painted some paint on paper, then poured generously.
the results were quite unexpected, but lovely rainbow slicks....

...

2010-09-13T17:30:00.001+10:00

recently at the cinema
captured the animation
saw robin hood.
feel like shooting arrows
and wearing long skirts

awakened

2010-09-10T12:45:00.002+10:00

well...
am slightly flabbergasted and stoked

all my life
i usually get asked one of or three questions:
1. Have you always been Imbi?
2. Where does your name come from?
3. What does it mean?

so, i usually reply, in order, yes, imbi is my given name,
the name comes from Estonia and
lastly, I don't know what it means.

but now, after following a lead, I have discovered the origins...
Imbi is the Estonian derivative of the Finnish name Impi.
In Finnish mythology, Iman Impi or Olipa Impi are names associated with the creation goddess Ilmatar,
the Mother of the Waters, who gave birth to the universe.

Finnish mythology stems from the bardic tradition, told through generations and sung for possibly thousands of years....In the late 1800's Elias Lonnrot collated the lines of verse into the Kalevala. The first verse or Runo, sings of Ilmatar and her journeys through winds, water and stars....

"She, the virgin of the air, Beautiful maiden. Nature's child...By the wind the maid was rocked, On a wave the maid was driven, Round about the blue sea surface, By the whirling whitecaps lifted, Where her womb the wind awakened, And the sea-foam impregnated." -Runo 1, Kalevala

It is all interesting...at least now there is a reference. This is a sculpture of Impi Ilmatar:

following the fence fcukers

2010-09-07T16:30:00.000+10:00

latest favourite artwork in Darwin town....

sometimes art is found in the highest, hottest places....
this reminds me almost of the Utopia Panels by Emily Kngwarreye ...
her work is more refined of course...

it still blows me away
when i see graffiti 'cover-up' jobs like this
why would you cover black with white?

Perhaps somethings are best left to the realm of mystery...
or sublime....

asclepius speciosa

2010-09-06T18:12:00.001+10:00

the food of monarch butterflies

the delightful smell across the summer fields

i think it would now look more like dried capsules

with flying tufts of hair lifting in the early autumn wind

thanks to the person who took the following picture

can find other nice pics here

brown and red

2010-08-23T15:19:00.000+10:00

returning to the land of red and brown
at least there is light and incredible ocean....
warm warm warm....
and mangoes too...
back into studio...this is my backyard above...
blessed really
new work in the making after gestating
little show/exhibition happening....

to be cont.......

summing up....

2010-08-19T15:25:00.000+10:00

ah...

wake up ding-dongs

ding-dong

AHHHHHH!!!!

in the flesh...

2010-08-19T15:16:00.001+10:00

attended a talk about art reviews yesterday,
you know, critical dialogue and the extrapolated contextual
anyway....

came to light that reviews can happen
with a writer never actually seeing the work...
that a judgement can be made purely from digitalised images, catalogues and thelike

i stop to wonder...what is the point of exhibiting if we
are moving to an online world, an art of mechanised imagery, viewed through screen??
to me, and what is paramount to my practice...
is having the age old hand to art,
slow cooked, heart felt, real thing is where true inspiration lies
in the flesh...

people ask me "do you have a website??" and i pause to wonder
if i really want one...it makes it too easy to access work, too easy to see something
and feel nothing...

i understand the digital reality and yes, here i am on blogger
but after a hefty time away from computer land
i strongly feel more and more that works should be seen
we should see people {face to face} not [facebook]

anyway...a post script to this...i had only seen jean-michel basquiat paintings online...
and recently made a pilgrimage to the musee des beaux arts de montreal,
and saw 2 basquiats in the flesh....am so excited, i buzzed for daze....
totally changed my perspective on it, deepened my love for his messy, anti-aesthetic...
loved it...

heres some crappy digital reproductions for you all to not get it....

random quebecois

2010-08-04T01:37:00.000+10:00

ponderings on a culture....
the longer i stay, the more familiar the "couche-tard" becomes
the less confronting the french language...
the forest seems to reveal more secrets
and the trees whisper deeper songs....

Quebec, is a fascinating world....defined by its history, proud in its heritage....
poised between the anglo/francophone...
yet belonging to neither.....
it weaves its mystery into me....
like the still lakes abundant across the plains,
what depths lie here, one cannot fathom,
yet the light....
shimmering like a million stars on the water
will never leave my heart

pharaoh's son....

2010-08-04T01:19:00.000+10:00

here is sit....a rainy day at the base of saint-hilaire....still in quebec....
i meet Mario the pianist/magician/comedian....(who also kicks ass at Patonk)
he sees my name...
"ahh...i didn't know you were a son of David...."
et voila....
"do you have pen and paper....."
"oui oui" i reply....
he writes (in shaky english):
THE SON OF PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER
~~THE PHARAH'S DAUG~~ WAS
THE DAUGHTER OF PHARAO'S SON

i like today....and all days.....
the summer has been a god one....

travel intèrnational

2010-07-07T03:47:00.000+10:00

transit town

here i am flying flown over the great dish of ocean

that is the pacific

the trip was long and arduous

but i arrived into the gentle arms of mont saint hilaire

which is a beautiful place to be

am travelling Quebec for summertime

and i find the colours so vibrant

sometimes i feel lost in a francophone reality

surrounded by french language

french culutre

that is embellished with the quebecois flavour

everyone is out, the sun is hot, really hot

am surprised, lucky i can do hot, my blood understands it

here are some pics

banjo

2010-06-18T12:28:00.000+10:00

yes....todays title is 'banjo'

because....

i have been learning the past 6 weeks

the basics and absolutely love it!

So the story goes...

my friend and i decided late on friday night

that instead of sitting around by ourselves,

we would take our banjo and puppet conversation

to the streets.

we grabbed some chairs, water and the kit

i got my cowgirl boots and hat,

we jumped in the blue balooga whale ute

and kicked it....

her puppet, affectionatley known as 'noway',

has fluffy yellow pants

and a possum look in his/her eyes...

and my banjo makes nice noises.

busking is a cool social observational exercise.

had a british backpacker very close to my face

telling me to 'play the guitar, i want to hear indi pop,

british indi pop, i hate the banjo, play me some guitar....'

his beer breath and brain couldn't grasp the idea that

a banjo is a banjo and not a guitar....oh well....

one man sat and listened, closed his eyes,

as I played noway a sad song in Aminor,

he stood up, pulled out his fat wallet

and plonked a $50 on my banjo bag.

all in all our conversation in music and motion

proved economically viable

and most importantly it was....

so much FUN.....

british indi pop can suck my _____, and the banjo

well....we can keep playing

waltzing matilda.....

gReen....

2010-06-15T11:49:00.000+10:00

green paint scary....
in the sunlight.
that's ok she says.
everything changes....
yay.

2010-06-04T12:27:00.000+10:00

this one is going to the big smoke
gets to be pinned to the wall at Togart10....
funny, but still feel like my art scrapes out of the quagmire
don't feel professional or clean
it's all wonkey and messy, oh well...
don't really get it...
oh well.

in the night forest....

2010-06-01T12:28:00.000+10:00

lately studio
has been fractious
don't get what it is i do...
but felt good to make these...
seems like all i want to do is play banjo.

roundabout

2010-05-28T12:29:00.001+10:00

can't get comfortable in my shoes...

even though i don't really have any.

not sure....twisting and turning.

think food is wise....

coconut also.

hits my head, with life force.

doonk. thud. dent.

trying not to go round and round in circles..

roundabout...

around about

it does it doesn't

all

nothing

stupid head.

coconut brain

coconut...

...

2010-05-26T13:53:00.000+10:00

sometimes cracks appear in the armour...
when i am not as tough as what i want to be....
when i want to pretend that i am impermeable,
that nothing can move the mountain.

but sometimes, i am just human...
simple, complex, alive.
no more no less than anything else....
am moved by my soul, this soul
where fire burns, sometimes hot, you get burned

other times we are all just fools....

aboard a rudderless ship.

landing in places where we do not know

other times, the tyranny of distance
can sway us. move us, destroy us,
erode our mountain
like a river carving valleys.

tired of this stupid love song.
the (uni)verse, poem of love or pain
surrender.....again.

passing....

2010-05-24T12:24:00.000+10:00

a while back i lived with the people you see
it was an intense time...
but has shaped part of who i am.

one of my family passed away recently
old johnny...
he was a painter, song man
and eldest son of old auntie mary.

they are singing now...making baparu, manikay...

ngarri djiny ngamunbarra
ganalbingu....
ngarri ngadji...
djut djut djani bangadi.

ginger

2010-05-24T12:11:00.000+10:00

went on the weekend to the opening of 'colour country - art of Roper River'.

got to stand in front of some giant ginger riley paintings....(bit like the one above)
be transported into a world of colour and mystery.
and listen to bossy old ladies tell their stories....
it is a fantastic exhibition, all being told...
loved all the colours....
didn't get bored even....which is unusual.

but really it was ginger who captured my being....
especially the red triangles,
which i can't find images of, but hold dear....

x shamans

2010-05-21T12:31:00.000+10:00

have been amusing myself lately....
with thoughts of my ex-partners new job description....

shaman, is a tricky one:

'sorry we are late for school dad was in a trance....'

'dad....what's for dinner....let me channel my guides....'

i think careers week at school might be interesting. 'my dads a s-h-a-m-a-n'. 'what's that??'

did the spirits leave the lunch-box behind or was it just plain forgetfulness???

it is amusing, for a while...

lucky i am an artist, way more functional!

etoile et emo

2010-05-21T12:15:00.002+10:00

some things just are funny.....
lately in the studio
took some pix.

fair weather.....

2010-05-13T14:04:00.001+10:00

all hail the blue skies
and beautiful dry season....

found my feet taken on the
Ian Fairweather memorial walk here in Darwin the other day....

it is a lovely little walk near mindil beach, up a hill, over rocks
look to the sea....i was mindful of the man...the artist...

here he is, in his studio....
Ian is famous in my home town (Darwin, Australia)
for living in the hull of an oldboat in Frances Bay,
but mostly because he
sailed (drifted?) in a re-purposed WWII aircraft
across to Timor....the Indonesians kicked him out returned him....

Ian was a prolific artist...he used canvas for his roof
and painted on cereal boxes (my hero)
he was messy, unconventional, and the best....

leaves.light.

2010-05-09T22:00:00.000+10:00

on a lighter note....or not
don't know
heres some images of some painty stuff

put leaves on primed, canvas, paint stuff

took leaves off.

left these marks above.

so much fun.

house guest....

2010-05-09T21:53:00.000+10:00

well....told you about my poor little house friend

the cool monitor lizard who used to

skulk along the back verandah.

now he feeds the bananas

and bones to earth.

no sign of cane toad.

2010-05-05T10:30:00.000+10:00

leaves love light.
light leaves love.
love. leaves. light...

link it

2010-05-04T11:53:00.000+10:00

hey blog land
am meandering through
the muddy waters...
trying to find clarity and direction about new work

how to link paint with plants
but there is no division really

above is erythrina variegata
makes lovely shapes. leaves are beautiful.
think it might be the plant of the week....

love n lee ness

in honour of reptiles

2010-04-21T16:35:00.002+10:00

last week: first cane toad in garden.

this week: dead house goanna.

ca va mal....tres mal.

looking

2010-04-19T14:42:00.000+10:00

i love that my job is looking for
lovely references to plants

like a pirate unearthing grand treasures
drawing the map of the new world
uncovering what is hidden

buried treasures
buried marks and translations

2010-04-16T14:46:00.000+10:00

bored self-obsessed

2010-04-15T19:27:00.001+10:00

here is a recent new work

been using webcam

kinda like it

painting is squeezing in between the cracks

of study and research

this painting was born from the stars

when i sat around a fire

burning

perhaps there is nothing intelligent to say
about the process...

sometimes i wish i could fall into the paint.

some naughty dogs from across the street
came over and ate some canvasses
was slightly grumpy
but....
they are all good: re-primed them
and they have lovely footprints on the back!

i really believe art is life
nothing is separate
dirt, dog-hair and all

i wonder how that will go with wanky art collectors
and archival experts
who love clean, neat canvasses -
except where the paint is meant to be

i don't subscribe to that.
perhaps it is all emotional vomit anyway

thinking about painting as artist vomit
makes me think about some things quite differently.

especially Van Gogh's painting 'Sunflowers'....
imagine vomiting sunflowers...

an integrally beautiful inner world
must have grown within this man...
vomiting a starry night also.

anyway....i need to eat!!!

essence

2010-04-13T12:48:00.000+10:00

what is there but the essence?
the simple elements that make a plant
that make a human
so simple and complex at the same time

there is something profoundly beautiful in looking and discovering how a species is put together, the forms, the rhythm, how it dies, the colours. if the leaves join or are opposite

my eyes are happy to be in this plant world
i look and it goes inside
seem to repsond by making organic lines

not sure
am hanging
a bit...not used to this process....but think i like it.

under the weather.....

2010-04-08T16:11:00.000+10:00

hola worthy blog readers

does any one know of any artists who do or have ever made work about plant species???

Apologies to our northern hemisphere dwellers, this is really only for the area otherwise known as; java major, novae hollandae, new holland, australis, terra incognita, terra nullius or the like!! Some people might also say australia....

i am really trying to find wicked stuff....interesting and beyond botanical illustration....
we shall see.....hmmm

i have to quote guy maestri (above) in his visual language of the waratah....

this branch of research is taking me unexpected places and i feel a bit lost in the wilderness....

20:10

2010-03-22T17:46:00.000+10:00

syzygium suborculare - red bush apple

This year....

has seen a cosmic shift in the practical day to day world....last year i was teaching in the school system, delivering art lessons to the masses of children who would rather be playing computer games! I learned how to make up silly songs on the guitar and be weird enough to get by, but even my fiery passion for art did not enthuse.....

so this year....i am embarking upon what initially seemed like a journey away from the old 'institution'...how ever out of the frying pan into the fire as Tolkein would say. I got a scholarship last year to do a 'Masters' by research...i was thinking wicked...i can play, research and make art, what a life! To a certain extent it is that but the old familiar feeling of prison sentence is looming again on the horizon....

So here I am...I remain enthusiastic and have a fantastic project, I am researching PLANTS of the pan-tropical region...artists who use them, ways to play with them, what colours to glean from their juice and all the rest....

the reason behind this is quite simple....over the years of living in Darwin, I have always searched for a reosurce identifying what plants give colours, what you can do with what....but to no avail...seems like the time is right to investigate.

I know a little but not a lot.... I am inpsired by two amazing women...my old auntie from wulkabimirri, who taught me how to look and see, and India Flint....who taught me that anything is possible with a bit of sense and magic!

So I am playing with plants and drawing, making, dyeing, painting, learning, smashing and reading an awful lot. Some i read isn't awful...soon i get to go out and boil the billy. Any one want to come???

bonheur

2010-03-21T21:33:00.000+10:00

oh dear...
a long time between conversations
a long time for feet to travel, hands to play and soul to grow

needed out time from the cave
needed time for the heart to heal
needed fresh inspiration and to move some energy in motion

you get the picture

thankyou to the lovely sheep who took all the pictures
thankyou to the lovely sheep who kept me company
been great grand adventures
feel soul inspired
such great friends
and of course
love

bonheur
happiness

back in studio now
xx

the darkness

2009-12-26T12:41:00.001+10:00

Amazingly...I have been painting in fairly monochromatic colour schemes over the last bit. The latest is syrupy dark black sepia coloured ranging into white and black with grey.

The other day I did a painting and low and behold....GREEN appeared. It was kinda scary. It intrigued me and felt rightly wrong and lovely all at once.

Over the years, most of what people say about the work I do is "it is so dark", or "you should use more colour" or blah. Well, interestingly the colour that I always have used most of is white and black you only need bit anyway. I was reading about the Austrian artist Hundertwasser the other day....here's what someone said:

"...black is not the same as darkness, black is a vibrant colour fully the equal of any other hue. Darkness, rather, is the depression of the colour scheme to the lowest values...abscence of colour is not the same as lack of light".

Hundertwasser had a psuedonym or philosophy of 'dunkelbunt': dark colourful or "a darkness consistning of the greatest possible concentration of saturated colours, glowing out of an endless depth..."

So there...a huge sigh of colourful relief and validation that the darkness illuminates....which reminds me of the black feathers of crows. They are black and full of all colour, but secretly underneath the down feathers of all crows is white.

lately

2009-12-19T15:31:00.002+10:00

latelyness in the studio
has been fun
(apologies for crapness of images....mobile is a poorly substitute for camera proper!)
anyway
you get the idea maybe
x

mERRY sICKNESS

2009-12-19T14:53:00.003+10:00

As the christmas messages keep rolling in,
I am reminded of the importance of the season
to rememeber....
to love
to give and share
and embrace all the beauty
which is there and here.

I am celebrating new growth
being a part of everything
and a part of you.

As for the mass celebration that is christmas
I think of it as the 'merry $icknes$'
and am more excited about truly giving
to my family and friends
not presents or things
but time and by being present!!

And as for the world, I think instead of wasting time buying useless crap
(only >5% total goods consumed in America last longer than 6months)
make something
plant trees
hug someone
dance
sing loud
eat something tasty
plant more trees

There you go....happy season.
Conquer your empty fears...
Enjoy.
I will too......

eye of the storm.....

2009-12-12T15:00:00.003+10:00

woah and wow and ahhhhhh
we have been in the midst of a tropical low, currently moving into a possible cyclone
i live in the place where i put the red dot!!!
the eye of the storm.
it has been windy
raining raining raining raining and raining
pouring
so much water
so much weather
full on
bring it on!!!!

never rains but it pours.....

RIP

2009-12-09T12:32:00.004+10:00

today am thoughtfullllll
about how life changes
all things pass
all things grow

a family friend passed away
he had an overdose
so i am thoughtful
and heartfelt

it can be so clear and beautiful
yet hazy and unclear behind

sometimes we can be alone
and forget that there is so much love

makes me feel that life is short
and you gotta live
in totality
in goodness
embrace it all
and live
live live
it is beautiful and hazy
clear and out of focus

my lovely cousin says:
"i have all the room
in my world for you"
it is true
x
ps the photo is a baby Buchania obovata

word of hands & toxicity

2009-11-30T09:05:00.006+10:00

my friend in tasmania told me about an exhibition

called; light and shade

by Chantale Delrue (pictures above)

I was intrigued, and discovered that she draws stuff and uses natural dyes on paper to make work. WHich is kinda inspiring. Oh and some plants.

I was pondering the toxicity of gum turps

oil painting and using oil mediums

even though it is so lustrous, nice and amazing

i can't help but feel a bit light headed after a painting session.

i hear India Flint in the back of my mind...'of course my petal' she says, 'why would you use that poison?' Of course.

Some of us are just a bit slow.

Perhaps the skanky pot scrapings will become masterpieces.

But, still, I love paint. Paint. Rabbits eyeball and calcium carbonate, ground pig tooth and pigment, black tar and bitch -u- men.

BUt still could try being less harmful to myself and the world.

So thanks to my friend and Chantale and India endlessly.....

Tuckson/ Tomescu

2009-11-26T14:03:00.005+10:00

tony tuckson

Aida tomescu

ooooh
so excited
a friend sent me the link to a current show @ Liverpool St Gallery in Sydney.
two of me favourite australian painters;

Aida Tomescu & Tony Tuckson (d.)

What a great combination of mark makers and painters.

Also excited cos the director bought me mailbags!

2009-11-25T23:20:00.002+10:00

local art galleries.....

2009-11-24T20:51:00.003+10:00

went

out to arnhem land the other week
heres some local art
and stuff
in no logical order of course
my backyard is big
awesome
ancient
amazing
and sometimes
art happens too.

bush galleries

sigh...

2009-11-19T10:15:00.005+10:00

...if today was a day
and i was a painting
it would be a cy.
yep.
big.
gestural,
lines
and guts.
sigh for cy.
sigh for cy.
sigh for cy
sigh for cy
siphorcy
cyphercy
cryforcy

cry for cy
i cry for cy
i cry.
cry.
cry.
cry.for cy.
onley one. cy
sigh......

might even be a bit too colourful for me today.
the gremlins have me again.

techniglitch

2009-11-12T21:35:00.004+10:00

i had no internet, and have been randomly posting around darwin town
i'm sure of you with limited, slow or variable access
you understand the lack of bloghead...

and to add to the techni-glitchdom i have been sunk into
my nice camera was stolen by a band of thugs (maybe)
who are hopefully using it well...and i can't even take pics on my mobile because the connection cord was in my camera bag that was pinched - so grrrrrrrrrrrr.

but before all of that i have to catch up.
oh and the reason for all of that was that i now have internet.

oh no how did this get lines>>. oh my head. I been at home a lot lately being a mum
we seem to have mutated into half male versions of our selves.
Lucky the heat broke and we have had a cold snap of rain and soggy
frogs singing in soggy
i am brain soggy
oh dear
what about the art??

this is my kitchen ^^^up there

unravelled

2009-11-12T14:01:00.003+10:00

this is my latest great conceptual artwork
it is a site specific installation
i don't know why i have these numbers

it is a metaphor about the destruction of the world
and how we abuse nature and throw away the peel
and about repetition and organisation
subscribing to the machine of non organic lifestyle
whilst at the beach...and it is about colour and how
it has meaning
and how we unfold on life's journey
it is about place
it is incredible
the fragments should make you feel impossible limits of imagination.
it is orange peel.
i ate it.
and the banana.
you can use it.

Homeland hills

2009-11-12T13:45:00.002+10:00

recently went down to the place where i was born...
it was amazingly cold, wet rainy and coLd for us tropic dwellers!
Which seems odd because now just a monthish later, my family and friends down there are now having a heat wave!!
heres the snaps:
pic i grew up with - vintage jo davo (me auntie) painting

the castle i love on top of the hill....

it was awesome...tea for two in the rain on the hill with india flint. I got soaked to the bottom of my all stars, whereas india had her purpose built woolly skin jacket which was green and amazing. Oh and of course the fire just appeared to keep me warm...
tea cermony

at its most loveliness

tea and fire...warmed me spirits and soul.

stirling theatre...i starve for old buildings and oaks.

sculpture in woods

sculpture in city at night...an old friendy

oh and we thought the koalas had scratched this but i had to look twice...unless they were tripping out on too many gum leaves which is plausible in my world!!!

thanks india and adelaide homeland hills

hope you can cope with the heat, i loved the rain and storms.

lost at sea....

2009-10-12T13:48:00.003+10:00

ooo had the exhibition opening...all was good. Chased my friends little baby around the gallery, on hands and knees. Much more stimulating than having to explain the complex process of mark making and buying and selling of art business!!!

If you wanna look go to: www.raftartspace.com.au
Is all there.
yay.
finis.

opening the door.

2009-10-05T15:08:00.004+10:00

I have a friend with whom I share a book. We write in it and then send it across oceans, to read and muse over and send again.

It is a beautiful process of boomeranging.

Anyway, one day I had some people over and was sharing something I had written in the book with some strange folk from Tasmania. Low and behold, next day there was a word written lovingly inside the front cover that had not been there earlier.

Duende.

One word. It mystified me for at least a month, but was happy to let it mysitfy me, cos it felt familiarly familiar. So anyway, amazingly it gives a voice to the force which thus has been unexplainable. The strange concept which is not a concept but a space that leaves you somewhere else....that is where it, I, you possibly dwell.

There is no literal translation. English is so restrictive and limited.

Here is what someone said about it (though the Spanish poet Lorca wrote about it too):

[So, then, the duende is a force not a labour, a struggle not a thought. I heard an old maestro of the guitar say: ‘The duende is not in the throat: the duende surges up, inside, from the soles of the feet.’ Meaning, it’s not a question of skill, but of a style that’s truly alive: meaning, it’s in the veins: meaning, it’s of the most ancient culture of immediate creation.]

Someone else said:

[The duende….Where is the duende? Through the empty archway a wind of the spirit enters, blowing insistently over the heads of the dead, in search of new landscapes and unknown accents: a wind with the odour of a child’s saliva, crushed grass, and medusa’s veil, announcing the endless baptism of freshly created things. ]

This is the house in which I live.

rough.

2009-09-21T10:19:00.002+10:00

this one is from me latest peeps
a whole exhibition of recycled mailbag canvas paintings
has been fun
and messy
and lovely and rampantly chaotic
my friend said he felt sea sick
i hope you do to
cos thats really about it.

what do you draw on she asks????

2009-09-18T10:26:00.002+10:00

well...where to start really....
i like drawing anywhere
sometimes it happens in the supermarket you know...
and you havn't got something
so you just have to put your head in the frozen peas.
so good in the hot climate.
ahhhh,
but here's a few things i draw on....

cross. again.

2009-09-07T09:35:00.003+10:00

today is monday.

um....want to say something profound but it's all a bit confused.

Not very cohesive.

Lost at sea in a whirlwind really (as usual it seems....damn)

I am otherwise known as 'their mother'

and apparantly am lots of things

don't like it when people say things about me

what is truth anyway, we all see it from various angles

just like the way we see anything

some see just scribble

others see beauty

some see the struggle behind the layers

others see a story

it is all true, and i am 'their mother' and blow me down

i am cross.

the x.

damn it all into the black hole of calcutta......