Maternal Beauty and Strength in A3.

"Annie and Bella" blessed my Studio with their beauty, presence, and their palpable bond in July this year, but I couldn't yet share my progress pics as the artwork was a Commission from a daughter to her mum. But here they are, my vision of them anyway. My pencil marks on paper begged these girls' amazing essential essence to join me in moments of deep peace and remembering.

Metamorphosis

Fifteen amazing little living examples of constant change are living out the start of their lives on my Studio desk! I rescued these Peron's Tree Frog tadpoles from a small pool of water in a friend's garden about 2 months ago. The days were still very warm, and not long after I set the taddies up in two aquariums at home, the pool was a green warm soup with no sign of life other than algae. So watching them change and grow legs is so rewarding, knowing that there will be a few more precious frogs on the Earth because I helped them!

SOLD

'Firm Foundations' Graphite 16" x 20"

I live in one of the earliest settlements in Australia, the Hawkesbury River region. Governor Lachlan Macquarie was Sydney's first Governor, ordering and supervising the creation of buildings such as the first Barracks stables which still stands as the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. The Hawkesbury Regional Gallery's current Exhibition commemorates his BiCentennary.
For the past three months every spare minute (few though they seem to be!) has been spent actually IN this drawing! I feel as though I have been wandering the stables behind the Domain, hearing the shouts of men as they saddle their horses before riding the dirt roads of Sydney town 1810, and seeing the horrific conditions the early convicts who built this city had to endure. I know the heat and dust and flies.. I smell the incredible sea salt air of Sydney Harbour on a Spring day and hear those sea birds wheel and soar high in our beautiful cerulean sky.. Those horses who were shipped across the ocean to live here (months spent sailing away from the cool green of England) surely deserve a memorial to their struggle to adapt to this land, to temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius (100F).
I drew an Arabian mare as tribute to the Endurance horses who now bring fame to the Sydney through to Hunter region, with the lower Blue Mountains being some of the best Endurance country in the World!
Private Collection.