"A well kept footpath"

"a well kept footpath"

Recently I met up again with friends who are one of my longest art supporters from the early 1980's. They have just downsized from an old Queenslander and moved into a new apartment. I was thrilled to see that they still have one of my very early works on the wall . When I saw my early work from 40 years ago, I was reminded of some good advice from my favourite art teacher Roy Churcher. "Don't be in a hurry to exhibit, wait a while till you find your feet or you will want to buy back some of your early work as you will move on so much." While coming face to face again with one of my first paintings out of Art School was a little daunting, I could see a connection with  my work today and felt comfortable that I didn't show too early.

My friends are great travellers and like ourselves, include Prague as one of our favourite cities. In 2001, since my daughters were both working in London, my wife and I met up with them in Prague to explore the city together for a week. 

Later when I got home, I used my diaries and ephemera in a series of mixed media works for an exhibition -  "In Praha 2002" at Doggett Street Gallery. The exhibition was only a very modest success and I had some works left unsold. What better way to downsize myself than by giving my friends a choice of some of these reminders of their favourite city to book-end my other earlier work.

"linkages"

I always find it amazing how others can find their own links and connections with artworks. Often the original connection or meaning can be quite different but still very valid. If you click on the images and open them in a new tab, by right clicking, you can enlarge the work and see some of the detail like in "A well kept footpath" :  "Massive City Cleanup planned ". Just what was being planned for the poor dogs???