I don’t find myself heading north very often, but found myself at 7am today on this beautiful beach at Urenui, half an hour from my home town. It was calm and the sun had just appeared and I was in awe of the reflections and the rock formations. I felt inspired for the first time in quite a while and that was a great feeling. .
Firstly, I have to say…this is not my image, but my son’s.”Upside down moon” is its title I believe. I have posted this, as for the first time ever, I have no new photos or art to share with you. My camera has been collecting dust over the past few months as I have been focused on completing some study and family priorities which have consumed me recently.
So, here I am, in nearly March and not one single blog, photo or art to share…not that I haven’t been thinking about it all…I have the application for the Lysaght Watt Trust Art Award for this year and am close to a decision on a piece to enter..imagine winning twice!!! It is an interesting theme too, being “Yin Yang” which has me thinking about the endless flow between light and dark, solid and fluid, old and new, good and evil, morning and evening, hard and soft, masculine and feminine and the other Yin Yang examples found in nature and around us and also in us….two opposite and opposing forces at play…
I am thinking also of another GARDEN Art Exhibition this year (after our great review last year) and also a photographic exhibition of Taranaki photographers… and I dream to enter a portrait competition and also of having an exhibition of my Italian photos and setting up a real physical art support group too – to share ideas and support each other, even more than we do now……so many ideas. Maybe I just needed some creative down time over recent months to re-emerge stronger, more creative and inspired than ever before? The balance of creative forces in my own body and mind and heart are shifting again and I feel a re-awakening happening…
May March bring you joy and creative inspiration also.
Well 2016 has been and gone and it seems timely to reflect a little on what was great about it before launching into 2017 plans and goals. So here are my top 3 highlights for 2016.
The absolute highlight of 2016 was winning the prestigious Lysaght Watt Trust Art Award for 2016 with my photograph “Daily life: Under the Eiffel Tower”. This is my absolute proudest moment as a photographer and artist.
Another highlight this year was participating in the Taranaki Arts Trail and having my gallery/studio open this year at home…with my photograph “The Rejection of Ariadne” displayed under the Taranaki Arts Trail signage at the Gallery profiling all the artists.
Finally my third top highlight was organising and participating in “GARDEN – An ART Exhibition” which involved over 20 distinct and talented Taranaki Artists and showcased a wide variety of artistic talent from drawing to sculpture to fibre work and pottery, all with a garden theme, and was on display during Taranaki region’s Garden Festivals in late October/November this year. I was extremely happy with my own entry – a photograph printed on linen.. Botanical Beauty.
So, all in all a really great year. I had other goals this year…a new book, a new improved website, but they didn’t quite happen…watch out 2017! It’s going to be busy….
ps.. “The Fantail Collection” of my curated collection of original vintage NZ art and collectables is also awaiting a new separate website so I can share my love of original NZ art in its own space…2017 is going to be very busy!
So, watch this space…its going to be another busy year this year and I hope that you also have some big plans and dreams to make 2017 the best year ever!
Great news!!!….ZNO have finally agreed to reprint all my beloved books…The Little Christmas Advent Alphabet Books…
So if you have one and are using it right now and the glue has failed or is starting to fail on it, please, please send it back to me urgently and I will send you a brand new one (with a lifetime guarantee apparently). I also
have a small number of the reprinted book available to purchase if anyone is interested…a limited edition and very lovely unique, distinctly NZ and original Christmas gift!
Important! Product recall “A little Christmas Advent Alphabet Book”.
There has been a problem with the publisher’s glue supplier/manufacture and some of my precious Christmas books have fallen apart before the second Christmas. (Not ideal for an heirloom item!)….
If your book appears to not be stuck together any-more, please contact me urgently and I will arrange a replacement.
Sadly the supplier ZNO have only given me 5 new replacement copies despite acknowledging it was their glue and manufacture that has failed so I am still fighting them for a full replacement of all copies ordered!!!…but I will get you a new copy if you contact me…(ZNO will replace each book on a case by case situation apparently which is expensive and relies on you telling me that your book has failed and then me having to send it to them rather than them just accepting that they stuffed up!).
I am so sorry and deeply frustrated by the whole ZNO book publishing experience and even though I am a small tiny order…the right thing was for them to republish my entire order. I want you to love and treasure your Little Christmas Advent Alphabet Book as much as I did making them and so please tell me if they are failing…I will make it right!
Finally….Botanical Beauty (2016) was my entry into our GARDEN art exhibition recently held. It was printed on linen (although I also have a copy printed on archive quality fine art photography paper too) and it looks amazing! I was so happy with it after a nervous start when I realised the original photo was taken on my phone and not my trusty canon!
It’s such a great feeling when an image comes together just as you imagined in your head.
I had never travelled this road. That’s what funeral’s do to you. They make you travel new roads, see new sights, meet new people. The storm had passed and the sun was making it’s way through the dense black clouds and seemingly straight down onto one tiny little house, alone in this beautiful valley. On a day of sadness, it was a ray of sunshine in more ways than one.
There was something about the light this morning that made the mountain seem especially majestic. What an incredible sight to behold while going about the morning’s chores…enough to make you just pause and consider the incredible thing that is nature.
Today I was on a very well traversed road and from under a cloud of fog and ending a weekend of sleety flurries, icy winds and rain… emerged this! Stunning….
It is a painting…The weight of water. But as much as I love painting, I also love photography. And I love combining them in new ways. So, this is a photo of my painting…but not a copy of the original painting. It is something else that is new, exciting and familiar but strange and different.
Black Box Art Studio 
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