Just add content ...

There's been a lot of cleansing and cleaning happening this weekend. Planning for Open Studios at the end of May has intersected with a happy state of self reflection. Everything needed to create good art is here - in the physical and every other sense. It really is time and never too late to become mindful - and make good art - or the best art possible.  A clear focus on content and an uncluttered space to create is my most pressing need to explore emerging and persistent ideas. Making room to play within the boundaries I set means digging deep and letting go ... of my accumulated "stuff". So ... all the "stuff" that is taking up the physical and mental space I need to create is being cleared out, donated, sold, gifted or relocated to the rubbish tip.  That which remains has been sorted, remembered, deliberated over and retained - for all the right reasons.

Living Change @ The State Library Gallery

A surreal and almost indescribable afternoon at the State Library of Queensland yesterday with the official opening of "Living Change" exhibition as it begins a year long tour of Queensland regional centres. To have a quilt included in this amazing collection of artists was overwhelming. To have my father present ... there will never be the right words. Congratulations to all  the artists - sculptors, painters, weavers, potters and and textile genres - such talent and so humbled to share this space with them. It was a day of exquisite company, unexpected friends, an emotional roller-coaster and a day that I hope will never fade from memory. Family is everything. Many thanks to Janet de Boer and TAFTA, Flying Arts Alliance and the generosity of sponsors of this annual event.

Journal covers in blue

Keeping art journals is something that brings me great joy. Sometimes it's the ideas or images that pop into thoughts ... other times it is a way of working through or exploring a concept and sometimes it provides a place to start when absolutely nothing inspirational seems to be happening. I made ten journal covers from a stash of indigo dyed and printed fabrics - getting ready for Open studios at the end of May!
You might enjoy  ten minutes with  Paulos Berensohn  who has spent more than sixty years teaching and making journals.