This linocut was a long time in the planning, sketching and carving stages, but I’m quite pleased with the result. Hand printed on 45% organic cotton and 55% hemp, made in Australia tea towels and 50 x 50cm cushion covers. I thought I might try different ink colours on paper for Major Mitchell’s, Yellow and Red-tailed Black cockatoos and Galahs.

The Pop-Up Maker’s Market in Hamilton was a great success, with local artists displaying their work in a large retail space near Woolies. Meg and Darcy Jackson manned the shop for the three weeks leading up to Christmas, selling locally crafted items on behalf of the artists. I sold out of all these tote bags, except for a few dinosaur skulls!
My next market will be on New Year’s Day at Railway Place, Port Fairy. Please contact me via this website or on Instagram if you would like to order any of my prints or fabric items. Best wishes for a fabulous 2020!

I have been focusing on painting over the last few months, to finish my Diploma of Visual Arts at SWTAFE in Warrnambool. You can see some of my landscapes in acrylics by clicking on the Paintings tab in the menu (left). I also need to complete a unit on still life painting and a coherent body of work. So lots more painting before the year is over, although I might try some watercolours and oil painting.

Since I sold the last few ‘Heart of the Southern Ocean’ prints, I have been working on the two lino plates pictured. A humpback breaching and three Orcas creating a ‘bait ball’ of small fish. There will be 20 of each hand printed on 100% cotton rag paper, in dark blue and black ink, respectively.

What a great way to spend an autumn Saturday! While others were enjoying the football and netball, I had the opportunity to attend a workshop with local artist, Caroline Healy. Caroline has a bright and bubbly personality and offers encouraging and constructive feedback. The aim of the day was to have fun, learn new skills and finish with an acrylic seascape.

Some of the good tips I took away from the workshop was to undercoat with red (easier to see where you haven’t painted and gives the work warmer tones), use masking tape for a straight horizon line and keep working until you’re happy. I still have a bit more work to do with both these, before varnishing. I really recommend taking one of Carolyn’s classes, even if you think you can’t paint or haven’t done any painting since leaving school. It is a wonderful way to relax, meet lovely people and maybe surprise yourself with what you can achieve.

We had a lovely morning in Hamilton for our first HIRL Farmer’s and Craft market stall. The HIRL is a wonderful hay bale and mud brick building, surrounded by community gardens and the Eastern Barred Bandicoot Recovery Reserve. Lots of preserves, honey and baked goods, olives, fruit, vegetables and homegrown produce. My new fabric products (tote bags, tea towels and cushion covers) sold well, so I have some more printing to do!

Small and medium sized prints

Framed prints for sale

Happy stall holder:)

This Saturday we had our first stall at the Port Fairy Community Market in Railway Place. It was lovely to speak to people who seemed genuinely interested in the different printmaking processes, some of whom remembered linoprinting from high school days. I was very pleased to sell several of my collagraphs and two more “Upwelling” prints. There are only five of twenty left in the edition. I was delighted to sell one of the prints to a newly married couple for their new home, so I hope they get many years of enjoyment by having this work on their wall. I will need to get busy for the next market in a fortnight’s time, so I have more prints available.

“If the world could remain within a frame like a painting on the wall, I think we’d see the beauty then and stand staring in awe.” ~ Conor Oberst

Don’t images look so much better in a frame? A mount creates quiet space around the image, allowing the eyes to focus on the artwork. In a very active print such as “Upwelling”, a mount and frame is vital for balancing busy and quiet areas. This image was created for the Portland Upwelling Festival in November and I made an edition of 20. Unframed prints (image size: 30 x 40cm) are available for $80.

“I like to work in watercolor, with as little under-drawing as I can get away with. I like the unpredictability of a medium which is affected as much by humidity, gravity, the way that heavier particles in the wash settle into the undulations of the paper surface, as by whatever I wish to do with it. In other mediums you have more control, you are responsible for every mark on the page — but with watercolor you are in a dialogue with the paint, it responds to you and you respond to it in turn. Printmaking is also like this, it has an unpredictable element. This encourages an intuitive response, a spontaneity which allows magic to happen on the page.” ~ Alan Lee

I do enjoy the dynamic nature of watercolors; the way the color moves and changes as the paper dries and the lovely transparency they give to an image. I also like the variety of effects that can be achieved using different techniques – wet-on-wet, wet-on-dry, blotting, sprinkling salt etc. I still have a lot to learn to be able to create the images as I envisage them, but I’m having a lot of fun in the meantime.

Some watercolour artists I admire are Stefan Gevers,  Natalie Martin and Guy Troughton. Stefan Gevers paints nature and landscapes without any human impact, often in a very minimalist style. Martin paints Australian flora also in a minimalist, contemporary style and Troughton has a wonderful series of photo-realistic native birds. Linda Blackburn is a local artist who paints flora and nature in a beautiful delicate and impressionist style.