It's so good to have my mojo back, since January 1 i've felt it's a whole new year and a new start. I'm feeling settled, my exhibition at Hat Rock is testament to that. after hanging it with Sunny i stood and looked around the walls and realised this is where i live and it's good.  i'm working on a painting of a dress for Sarah (her wedding dress), another drawing of a wedding outfit for another Salty, Sonja's portrait and i've been getting everything together for the exhibition.  the studio's a mess, but now i've got time to really sort it out and start planning classes and workshops.

sketches and sarah's painting, i've really enjoyed doing it

   beginning with underpainting

MARCH 20

I had a lovely day revisiting paintings from the past.  

first to Matthew Flinders to photograph the Sweethearts painting that got into the 1996 Doug Moran prize.   hadn't seen it for 20 years but it was great to see that it has a permanent home (on loan tho) in the sweethearts home, the old catholic school building opp. the main campus, currently being renovated and looking great

then i travelled over to north geelong to visit my dear old friend Ray's brother Jeff to photograph the portrait i painted of Ray in 1985, a year before he died.  We all still miss him, a gorgeous elegant and funny man who left us way too soon

sonja, she's coming off

the stretchers and being

resized minus the body

and hands, it works better

a weekend visit from sunny, luke and etta. the reason for my move, spending more time with sunny and being here to really know and be with etta.  she's a little dynamo and loves spending time in my garden and at the beach :0)

EXHIBITION - opened April 5 and runs til Easter Tuesday 22nd. Sunny came across on the ferry and we had a great day hanging it, done by 2pm so time left for a swim at pt lonsdale, time in janet's garden watering the plants and dinner at noble rot - beautiful food

we rewarded ourselves with créme brûlée

the opening night was huge!  peter reckoned more than a hundred 

people, the biggest one they have had.  pretty hard to see the work 

but a real buzz and lots of people have returned later.

I had Etta to myself next morning while Sunny and Luke did a big bike ride around the gravel roads, we went to the beach and made sand cakes for Etta to jump on

lovely little red-hooded plovers were on the beach

sleepover and swim at Gail's - an amazing

pink sunrise at Torquay

 

 

AUTUMN ARRIVES

OK, I just found this post which has been sitting here for a month!!  it's definitely autumn now, the virginia creeper is bright red and fabulous, the mornings have a crisp coolness when we swim and daylight saving has ended now, april 12.   

the bad boys

are in town,

noisy but 

always nice to

have around

 

this little

fella arrived

one day and

really put

the pressure

on me to feed

him.  someone

has been for

sure but not

me. a very cute

fat young 

maggie with

a parent, they're

in the garden

every day

RENE, SAYAKA, CAL and MARA have been here, they stayed with me for 8 days and had a brief

visit to isobelle's at apollo bay, and days in melbourne where we all caught up at the beautiful moonee ponds queen's park for a swim, pizza and a beautiful evening.  i made mara a chocolate ripple cake for her 9th birthday.  they were all a delight to have around, so wonderful to see them all and hug rené 😊

family barbecue - great to get everyone together

 

Enjoying beautiful autumn mornings

very happy that these seals were on show for 

cal and mara on a beach walk

      what a gorgeous family

     night heron and the beautiful lake at Queen's Park

Swans at Indented Head

      Swimming mornings - Scoz is the most beautiful dog, 

always on alert