RECAP

it's just occurred to me that this blog is also 

a great way to put up photos from times

past.   and thinking about the art vault's

fourth anniversary has prompted me to

publish photos from the past year. during

that time i did two residencies at the vault,

one in august when an overnight stay on

julie and kev's houseboat just bonded me

to the murray river,  and the other in april

this year when i had a solo show in the

white gallery, and when sunny and i drove

to wenthworth to see the confluence of

the murray and the darling.   and then i

saw the house . . .

below -   work from

my show at the art vault in april

Bride II   graphite on arches paper  2.4m sq

a bridal party came in to have photos taken with 'bride'

i loved my time at the art vault, it's

a great thing to be able to live and

work in a place where your work is

on show and there's the opportunity

to meet visitors and take them

around the work on a daily basis.

my time in mildura on both visits

also confirmed for me that it's

a really busy town with an

energetic creative community,

and there's a general friendly

feeling of well-being here.

above  images from the show at the art vault  'the unknown wearer'

etchings and drawings

BELOW - images  of things that inspired me to move up here.  mildura and wentworth

this is what i saw on the morning i woke up on the houseboat, then the birds arrived, cormorants, ducks, darters and swallows.  fish were literally leaping out of the water up and down the bank -  after so many years of drought i couldn't believe how alive and beautiful the river was

these swans were expecting to be fed - look at those feathers

resulting prints,   monoprints of the river bank done with the help of peter lancaster of lancaster

press  www.lancasterpress.com.au

at last i find a way to celebrate this crazy dressing table.  peter lancaster and i discovered it at the great shop at the mildura tip - it's called 'around again' and this was is 'the good room'.   to think, if i'd been living here already i could've bought it.  well, now i can share it

with you,  even the wall colour is perfect

a trip to mungo, below  -  what an amazing place, those wonderful eroded dunes around

the perimeter have an atmosphere about them,  and to walk past them over the top and

discover the smooth rolling sands beyond is such a dramatic contrast

reflections in the water on the murray - the red is a terrific

metal bridge in a very strange place, an awful development

of modern multi storey apartments looking out onto a marina

that feels like a real dead spot - but the water is still a source

of inspiration

fantastic railway building right in  mildura - 

the melbourne, a historic old paddle steamer coming

up to loch 11 - it has  a wonderful old horn, an

evocative sound as it comes around the bed

perry sands, just five minutes from wentworth - the contrast of the lush agricultural land around the

river and the scrubby desert landscape five minutes inland is another plus -  the drive from

wentworth to mildura is half an hour and is filled with changing scenery  

the day we went to see the murray/darling junction

we lay around on the grass with these lovely little grass parrots walking around us, then drove down

the street to see the 'for sale' sign on my house

and here i am