I’ve been too busy to share the excitement but great news, I have been chosen to be in the top 100 entries for the London competition. My selected entry will be in an exhibition of the top 100 entries, at the Bankside gallery (situated near the Tate Modern on the southbank)  from the 9th to the 19th September. So it looks like I’ll be heading to London again next month!

As mentioned in an earlier post, I attended the Traquair Fair in the Scottish Borders on Sunday, on behalf of Edinburgh Printmakers Gallery and studio who were the guest exhibitors this year. I volunteered to do a 30 minute screenprinting demonstration which turned into 2 hours. The time flew because I had such a ball, at one point I had a line up of children wanting to have a go. I designed an image specifically for the event, which was a drawing of several Emus…I figure I’d teach everyone a little about emus at the same time because of the countless comments I’ve had about the Ostrich’s on my website, instead of Emus. The emu is one of two animals featured on the Australian coat of arms (along with the Kangaroo). One child even stood up and gave a fairly accurate height of an emu which was very impressive.Here I’m holding up one of the screenprints by one of my lovely volunteers who all did a great job and enjoyed themselves as well. We also had etching demonstrations of zinc and copper plates. I got to draw up a quick drypoint  (drawing onto a sheet of metal with a sharp tool which is then inked up and printed). I chose to draw the stunning mansion house  which hosts the annual Traquair Fair…it’s Scotland’s oldest inhabited house, even the grounds are like a secluded forest in parts. You can see a pic of it on the website.   www.traquair.co.uk  My drypoint image was printed before the end of the day which was a real treat! Thanks to Paul!

So my first screenprinting demo was just fabulous, I would be more than happy to do that again in the future!

Well I’m still buzzing a little from my recent trip to London, so recent in fact that apart from washing the London underground off my face this blog is the first thing I’ve done since getting home. I’ve spent the past 2 and a bit days in London working in the gallery in the OXO tower wharf on the southbank where my work is featured in conjunction with the summer exhibition with the Skylark Gallery. It’s been a wonderful experience meeting some of the other artists, exhibiting in such a cool venue as the OXO tower, and conducting two artist talks outlining the  processeses I take to create each individual layer which makes up my silkscreen prints.

The other great news I received yesterday was that of an art competition that I entered last week, themed ‘London Lives’. The competition was in conjunction with the guardian newspaper and Cass art supplies. The aim was to create a drawing or painting of London in a way which represents London to the artist, and in a format which can be reproduced to fit on the Blackfriars Bridge (which you can see in the above photo, it’s the red bridge beyond the wharf). The top 200 entries were announced  yesterday at midday and I was on the list!! I must say that I love the process that the competition has taken to announce the winners, it reminds me a lot of Charlie and the Chocolate factory with the golden ticket…it’s the anticipation which adds to the fun! I’m chuffed to be in the top 200 but I will be even happier if it makes it through to the second round which is next Friday when the top 100 entries are announced. All the top 100 entries are invited to exhibit at the Bankside Gallery, next door to the Tate Modern. The winner of the entire competition gets their work hung on the bridge for 12 months, as well as a solo exhibition and £1500 worth of art materials, not bad !! I’ll keep you posted….and if you don’t hear anything then that means there’s nothing to tell! Fingers and toes are crossed!

Photos of me doing the artist talk in the gallery are on their way, they were kindly taken by the organiser of the summer exhibition, Gill, whom by the way is the most positive, bubbly and efficient person (apart from my mother) that I’ve ever met. It was a pleasure to have worked with her on the late night Friday shift at the gallery. A big thankyou to the superwoman herself! We all need superwomen role models in our lives!

‘Westminster’ original silkscreen print 2010

I have just completed my new series of drawings on LONDON!! I have been wanting to draw London for years, it’s an exciting city jam packed full of the most stunning architecture.  I’ve spent the past few months working on a range of original silkscreen prints which will be launched at two concurrent exhibitions. One exhibition will be in conjunction with the Skylark Gallery, at the  Oxo Tower Wharf on London’s southbank (details below), and the other at the Marianne Newman Print Gallery in Sydney. Both are due to open in the next fortnight…. the reason for my lack of blogging in the past few weeks. I have attached the poster for the London summer exhibition if you’re willing and able to attend.  If the exhibition is anything like what the organisation has been so far then I’ll no doubt give it the 5 stars! Fantastic stuff!!

I will also be doing a series of artist talks on both the 29th and 30th July at the Oxo Tower before heading back up the road to assist the Edinburgh Printmakers Gallery with printmaking demonstrations at the Traquair Fair on the Sunday in the Scottish borders. The Traquair Fair runs over the weekend of the 30th and 31st July and promises to be just as amazing as it was in previous years to the relief of all the locals who make this such a creative and lively event. I’m looking forward to it. The Edinburgh Printmakers Gallery have been invited to exhibit work by it’s members as well as run a series of workshops and demonstrations in screenprinting, etching and monoprinting. Two exciting dates for the diary!

For those based in Sydney, the details of the Sydney exhibition titled ‘The Darwin Method’ (in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, and also in relation to the artists method of making observations and recordings of the physical world around us.) are detailed in the fliers attached below. I will be exhibiting with two other fabulous Sydney based Aussie artists. I would appreciate everyone who goes so you can fill in for me, unfortunately I won’t be able to attend the opening…it’s a wee bit more than a train ride away!

I was recently very fortunate to of been invited to submit an edition of prints to a very cool artist run print gallery and studio, called Snap Print in Bristol’s old town. The 8 resident artists invited a further 16 printmakers throughout the UK to contribute to the print exchange of which 1 of each print is boxed up and given to each contributing artist in a lovely box set of 24 mini prints. The rest of the 16 prints in each edition are for sale in the Snap Print Gallery. I went along to the opening night last week and was very impressed with the quirky little space as well as the professionalism of the gallery layout, not to mention the lovely group of artists who make up Snap. The exhibition looks great, you can certainly pick up an absolute bargain, with a large range of very well priced, original and beautifully handprinted works for sale. The exhibition runs through til September. For more information you can visit their website. http://www.snapstudio.org.uk/hello/

This photo shows the front viewing window with all the 24 mini prints pinned up on the backwall, and the contributing artists names written on the front window. I heard Bristol was creative but even the lady who owned the B&B I was staying in had her own printmaking studio at  the back of her Victorian tenement in the heart of Clifton Village. In addition to that I met her friend Deenagh who was looking after the B&B and she was also a painter…such a creative little hub of a town. …perhaps it’s got something to do with the architecture,…check it out…wowee, it’s called Royal Park Terrace, just beautiful. Talking about creativity, even the mesh fences I found in Bristol were inspiring…just beautiful isn’t it…what a beautiful green that is. By the way, if you click on the images you can view them full size! Enjoy

There’s not many places in the world where you can catch a 4 and a half hour train from one capital city to another…well ok, in Europe, but as an Australian it never ceases to amaze me. The photo above is of the countryside somewhere between Edinburgh and London.  I spent last week in London doing lots of arty things but firstly stopped off for a few days in a village called Wargrave to spend the weekend with a friend. I was taken sailing on the river thames from Wargrave to Henley. We had front row seats of all the ‘wags’ houses (this is a new term I have just learn’t which means the footballer’s wives)

Here’s my favourite, an old tudor style mansion with geese running about the grounds and a garage which the boat drives straight into. It looks like something from a fairytale storybook.

I also managed to visit an artist run studio/gallery space which was part of an annual 3 week gallery/open studios event around Oxfordshire. I visited one called Artspace which consists of converted old barns that sit amidst lush green countryside. The grounds themselves are sprinkled with sculpture work and intertwined with fluffy chickens that roam around freely, using the sculpture as if they were furniture in their own loungeroom.

You can click on the photos to see the full size versions.

Artspace runs every year showcasing a large range of artwork from over 80 artists. It’s a beautiful English day out..we took the liberty of taking our own English House and Garden photo (above). www.barngalleries.com

London was great, I’m getting used to the crowds a bit more now but I will never get used to the tube..the way it just stops somewhere random and you have to sit there waiting in the train for up to 15 mins or more, as if time isn’t an issue. No one seemed to bat an eyelid when time was put on the shelf and schedules were flung out the window. I had an appointment with a London publishing company and was an hour late of which they replied, ‘yeah that happens in London’…so either people in London are always stressed out and late or completely chilled out because lateness is an everyday event. Either way I did have a very productive week signing up with a publishing company who are interested in making a series of prints and canvases from my animal series. As a printmaker myself I am a little concerned with having reproductions made from my work when I spend so much time and energy in educating people of the difference between an original print and a mass produced one. Saying that however the exposure will be phenominal with the work distributed to over 35 countries worldwide.

So favourite building in London on my recent visit would have to be this one…………situated in Marlybone, just off the high street…I stood staring at it on the street as if it were a Ron Mueck sculpture or something.

I had my fair share of luck too… I went to check out Scottish artist Barbara Rae’s current exhibition at the Adam Gallery on Cork Street, which was just fabulous. I arrived last thing in the day at about 5.30pm, with 30 mins til close and Barbara herself was there in the gallery. She was also down from Edinburgh which was just such amazing timing and co incidence. We spoke about Edinburgh printmakers and she kindly signed my book (pictured below) The book is just beautiful, I feel priviledged that I was able to tell her so in person too.

So all in all, a great time had in London, and of the two capital cities I say this…

London..a great place to visit,  Edinburgh..a great place to return.

I would like to thank my great friends Nicole, Steve and Celestine who made my trip so enjoyable.

Check it out…. this is a photo on page 3 of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland annual review 2009 book. Edinburgh Zoo celebrated it’s Centenary year last year and so had a Society Centenary Reception of which certain people were invited to attend, as pictured. That’s Edinburgh Zoo Chief Executive David Windmill with no other than Princess Anne and Sir David Attenborough in the middle (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)  standing in front of my chimpanzee canvases which were commissioned by the Zoo to hang in the new boardroom at the Budongo Chimpanzee enclosure at Edinburgh Zoo last year. I have images of the canvases on my website under ‘private collections’. As a huge fan of David Attenborough and his stunning nature programs I’m stoked that he was actually standing in the same room as my Chimp canvases..I hope he liked them…I wonder if he commented on them

In this world of new fangle ideas, new technologies and fast paced electronics it’s very difficult to keep up. Obviously I’m talking about those that don’t prioritise Ipods, iphones, ipens, play stations blah blah blah the list is endless. And obviously I’m talking about myself who has been forced to move with the times by my friends who have kindly upgraded my music system from what it was 5 years ago when I had a cassette walkman to then a CD walkman, then an MP3 player which held all of 36 songs, and then more recently my sister bought me an ipod to put my music on. It’s a very pretty little thing but everytime I go to press play it seems to of ran out of battery…and then of course you need the cables to plug it into the wall or the computer. I walked into a sony shop last week to buy an apple cable and the guy just looked at me and very kindly told me that it was a sony shop that sold only sony products….I left the shop feeling like an old lady, but really you  don’t need to be old to not understand these things, because I’m not old and I definately don’t understand these things. First things first, I got home and pulled out my old cassette walkman, still had my Prince tape inside. Although I couldn’t find the headphones so I put two and two together and fused sony and apple by taking the headphones of my ipod, and whallah it worked perfectly. My huge shoebox of old home made casssette tapes are making a comeback!! Welcome back cassette tapes, I missed you all…sometimes it’s best to go back to basics!!



Well it’s been the most surreal week of my life I must say, almost one surreal thing per day for an entire week. It all started Tuesday morning when I attended my first meeting of the week with my accountant and spilt a pot of hot earl grey tea all over his paperwork. (my paperwork is at least smelling fragrant now alongside all the other paperwork in his filing cabinet. )

By Wednesday I was having difficulties resolving an image I’m working on so I went to a contemporary dance performance and about 10 minutes into what was a dimly lit, quiet performance I picked up my bag of Jaffas (round orange flavoured chocolate balls) at the wrong end and they all bounced their way down the wooden floor of the aisle, every last orange one of them.

On Thursday I attended a spanish animation afternoon of which only about half a dozen people turned up because that was the night when the hot weather valve was switched on and every man and their dog were out in the meadows soaking it up. The animations gave me clarity and resolution with that image I was trying so hard to resolve . ..so nice surreal.

Then by Friday I thought I was featuring in my own film when after a long day in the studio I decided to meet a Spanish friend of a Spanish friend for the first time and while we were sitting outside at a cafe  in the Newtown my handbag got pinched from under my feet so we spent the rest of our evening in the police station..bad surreal.

Saturday came and went… in came the great weather and out went my work schedule. My day turned into 9 hours of making up for lost BBQ weather in the meadows with 20 million other people as the meadows was transformed into the Glastonbury festival for the weekend. Surreal with a capital S. So yesterday was Sunday, the last day of the ‘S’ week and low and behold I had another BBQ …this time at a friend’s new house near the Pentlands. The surreal moment came when I was cycling through Viewforth on my way home and I saw one of my favourite, if not my favourite comedian walking down the road. I was bowled over, and by Sunday I had well and truely overdosed on surrealism that I didn’t know what to do, so I stopped for a coffee and cycled back through Glastonbury on the way home.

I have been kindly asked to post the image of the drawing I was commissioned to draw of the mountain in Wester Ross, in the Scottish Highlands, which I wrote about in last month’s blog. So here tis.  An original drawing of watercolour, pencil and pastel on watercolour paper 56cm x 76cm. The drawing is due to arrive in it’s final destination in Ireland today or tomorrow. As is the majority of commissions that I get, they are a pleasure to do, from start to finish….but particularly this one which took me to a remote, raw part of the Scottish Highlands that I had never been to before. I went in search for a distinctive looking mountain called Liathach which is famous amongst keen hillwalkers, such as my client. I had a rare glimpse of this beautiful mountain under bright blue skies and t shirt weather conditions. I spent nothing short of an hour and a half driving around in search of the ultimate spot to draw from. I drew my initial sketches and a preliminary drawing outdoors, my drawing board leaning against a huge boulder, my water bottle standing in the shade to keep cool.  I had to keep reminding myself of where I was as I stood standing in 17 degrees, in Scotland wishing I had packed my sunscreen. Liathach… .a wonderful experience, great opportunity, and a very successful outcome, if I say so myself.