broken

heliconias from my studio window

The view from my window is certainly very tropical and this part of the garden looks quite lush but we've had a very long dry summer so far.

At long last! It's been a long time coming but the summer rains have finally made it here. It has been so dry for so long, that what little grass is still in the lawn , is crunchy underfoot. A cyclone off the coast north of here is predicted to bring even more flooding rains here over the next day or two. Why we need to go from one extreme to the other is quite problematic. But it gives me a chance to do some inside, studio work which has been rather quiet during the warm months.

Reading all the blogs of review and how many different forms they take, shows how most of us try to make plans and organise our lives to get things done. I was most impressed by Amanda's blog and her review plans  but must admit I'm a bit more casual and don't do as thorough a plan as I should.

I always tend to start by clearing a space on my overflowing desk. But.... I always seem to get side-tracked by some unfinished work or project from earlier in the year. I hope to eventually start some completely new work once my list of stuff to do, stops  growing.
Which reminds me, I did promise to scan a few more images from my other diaries of 2012 (part of my review). If it's still raining tomorrow, I'll post some more.

small developments

blue forest

Just a few small developments at home away from the immediate stimulus of the SW coast and forests of Western Australia. It could be quite a while, if ever, before I translate these images into larger works. I just might even need to go back there for a reminder of what a beautiful part of the world this is with so much more to explore.

gloucester tree

burnt 

new bark

yallingup forest

bush grid

These little works are in this years "to develop even further" diary but I will post some of the other diaries meanwhile once I scan a small selection again.

just a couple

wa flora

I'm currently scanning some of the other work done in my diaries during the year. The images in all the diaries overlap and are not strictly sequential. While I'm waiting for one page to dry, I'll pick up another diary and work on the same topic. Sometimes all three or four all in progress, no wonder they overlap! These next two are still in "Yellow Line" but are developed further in other diaries and are the focus for work done at home now . They are a distillation of the experience, from a little distance in time. I'll post where they are currently a little later as they get progressively more abstract.

DEC

yellow line

Firstly to all my  blogger friends, I hope you all have a very healthy, happy 2013 with few computer problems and lots of art success. For my first few blogs of the new year,  I thought I would follow the ideas of Fiona and Sara by reviewing the previous year to give you an idea where some of my travels and ideas ended up. Apart from small artist books and zines all of my work centred around my little A5 diaries. I filled 3 little books this year and "yellow line" is the first I'll show some work from. Hope they are not too personal and still have some interest for others."Yellow Line" has about 50 images, too many to show so a sample to give you a taste. The cover has oblique references to Van Gogh, the severely lopped tree in Holland and the yellow line.

go with a friend

running backwards

The first drawing gave the book its title. The drawings are all behind the yellow safety line (like a railway platform) so should be quite harmless.( Each page started with a yellow mark.) Later drawings broke the rules a bit but were generally well behaved. I can give you more details about individual ones if you ask.

evans head ha,ha,ha

ID-map

just a taste

skuttlebutt

tripping blind

"skuttlebutt","tripping blind" and "just a taste" were done on a trip recently to Margaret River where we did sample many of the delicious wines at some lovely vineyards. Stella Bella was one of our favourites that had "skuttlebutt" as one of its cheaper wines. Don't you just love some of the taste descriptions eg "poached, dark flesh plums"? The tally marks were not the number of wines consumed. Who was countng apart from the driver?