Open Studio 24 and 25 May

This year's Open Studio visits for Tarome and Boonah are 24th and 25th May - and now that the bridge has finally opened, this year  we offer a visit without the added excitement of crossing Warrill Creek. Mel Forrest is our artist in residence for 2014 - and we invite you to contribute to the community cloth - stamp, print or mark a textile piece that will be stitched into a celebration of Open Studios and creative communities everywhere. We will have mini-workshops each day at 11am, 1pm and 3pm.    
Beyond the Open Studios weekend,  enrol in a full day workshop - try dyeing, printmaking, journalling and explorations in mixed media - the full workshop program  for the remainder of 2014 will be available over the Open Studio weekend.
The Garage Gallery will be operating again this year - we have another international art quilt exhibition - Celebrating 25 years of Studio Art Quilt Associates - around 50 small works that will be seen first in Australia at Aliquilts Studios.
Feel free to bring a picnic and a blanket and simply enjoy the gardens.We'll be having a sausage sizzle using products from our friends at Aratula Butchers - bring a chiller bag or esky and call in on your way home from Open Studios.  Suzy Buhle's gallery is also open each weekend in Elizabeth Street, Aratula - and don't forget  Patena Moesker and Sally Hart over at Bunjergen. Can't wait to see you at our place and welcome you to Open Studios. Look for the red and white Open Studio signs along the Tarome-Rosevale Road  and then Niebling Road.

Creative spaces

Creative space of course! A lovely day to spend time brewing this and that - big surprise for Open Studios on 24 and 25 May - I hope you can join me, Mel, Chris and Rebecca for some fun in the Studio and gardens. The gardens are getting a pruning and the garlic vine has decided to put on a show about 5 weeks early. A nest of double bar finches is sharing a squashed up nest with a lemon - not the best spot to raise a family in the lemon tree which is better described as a condo' for little birds. More nests than lemons sometimes .... a bit like life.

A new spin on sharing ...

A wonderful day in the studio working with raw silk and beautiful papers .... and then I heard a funny sound which turned out to be a legless friend getting sorted for a sleepy day in the rafters. Am very appreciative that it stayed there all day .... let's hope it decides to go somewhere else (like a decent tree) tomorrow (a tree snake, and harmless).

ContextART Adventures

Korowal School was the venue for this year's ContextART Forum in the Blue Mountains (Hazelbrook). So many options for 2,3 and 5 day master-classes - and I drifted towards using natural dyes in  Dye, Stitch and Print with Hilary Peterson. Imagine being immersed in a classroom of gifted and generous artists. The biggest surprise (for me) was learning to create beautiful books. The strips of mulberry paper (left) were all dyed using the same mordant and mix, but with different foliage. Before being hand  stitched into a book, they were re-dipped in some exquisite left-over brews. Magic  really does happen!

ContextART 2014 in the Blue Mountains

A five day workshop with Hilary Peterson at this week's Contextart Forum was part of my Queensland Regional Arts Award prize. It has been an wonderful, exhausting and stimulating few days - learning more about natural dyes and being with seven like minded artists ... experimenting with silks, wool, linen and various papers.  Thank you Hilary, Janet de Boer,  TAFTA and Flying Arts Alliance Inc for this incredible experience.

Record rain

We had a rather large rain event which resulted in us getting a mention on the ABC news - but more importantly, it washed away much of the bank on the opposite side of our almost-ready-to-open new bridge. We're not giving up just yet .... bring on Friday and the bitumen!

Adventures in the copper

A magic day spent using the copper over a small fire where I steamed various packages - and they now rest in the studio waiting to be opened when I'm back from the Blue Mountains.... if I can wait that long! Lots of experimentation - with lots of choices from the hundreds if not thousands of plants in the gardens.

Remember that shower scene?

It seems so long ago that I took a selfie in the shower - printing a series of fabrics that have been  incorporated into a free range log cabin quilt - unbelievable freedom and able to use a number of hand dyes, printed and reworked aubergines and deep rubines - contrasted against black and white mono-prints from a wonderful day with Ankie King. Loved thread drawing and stitching  using  Aurifil threads - from SAQA Signature Thread range.