Random Grace

2010-10-25T17:06:00.000+11:00

Photography

2009-11-27T21:48:00.002+11:00

My son Luke is a keen photographer - here are some he put together from our travels!
Click on the link "Photography" above

travel quote

2009-10-10T22:02:00.000+11:00

"Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen."
Benjamin Disraeli

2009-06-04T22:06:00.000+10:00

Journeys, like artists, are born and not made.
A thousand differing circumstances contribute to them,
few of them willed or determined by the will --whatever we may think.
Lawrence Durrell

Sold this one today

2009-05-23T23:47:00.001+10:00

Homage #1 to 'the red tree'
I miss it already!

new little blue mood

2009-03-19T16:07:00.002+11:00

with a red tree of course!
acrylic & mixed media on canvas
50.5cm x 41cm

2009-03-18T11:29:00.007+11:00

Time - 153cm by 122cm (it’s big!)
Acrylic and Mixed Media on Canvas

You can find my art here:

at redbubble and here
at bluecanvas

also become a fan of my art on Facebook here:
Melodious Art

Group Exhibition I have some art in!

2008-12-11T16:50:00.001+11:00

2008-11-16T15:32:00.000+11:00

lost on holidays

2008-10-25T22:44:00.001+11:00

Inspired by Jay

2008-09-25T23:30:00.004+10:00

I asked Jay Cougar if I could paint his photo of hide and seek and the answer was yes! Thanks Jay! so here is another work in progress...

Its just a small 9" x 5" painting - acrylic on board

Six paintings on the go today...

Waterton in progress

2008-09-24T13:52:00.004+10:00

Painting inspired by a photo Jason Laderoute gave me permission to paint! (Thanks Jason!) Still in progress...

winter discontent

2008-09-05T21:19:00.002+10:00

“Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York,
And all the clouds that loured upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried”...

Just SOLD this painting!!! YAY!!!
I am ready for spring

Phuket Watercolour

2008-08-16T13:55:00.000+10:00

The Gift - my latest painting

2008-08-12T13:45:00.000+10:00

be still and know

2008-07-05T14:07:00.002+10:00

Exhibition of my painting "Be still and Know"...

(well, in my dreams anyway...lol)

IM GOD

2008-06-21T14:02:00.001+10:00

Every day I turn my Ipod speaker dock on and all I can read this as, is I'm God.
I know that it says iM600. What has consumerism become?
Anyway... perhaps its just a message to remind me of Gods' presence in my life???
Always there...

2008-06-16T20:56:00.003+10:00

"Within our deepest and truest selves is the capacity to weather the twin storms of acclaim and rejection - for surely both acclaim and rejection wash over us like constant breakers; assail us like strong winds."
Kent Crawford, 2008

2008-06-04T21:46:00.000+10:00

2008-05-01T10:55:00.000+10:00

'Tulips' in progress

2008-04-08T12:35:00.010+10:00

Tulips from Tom

Tom Vaughan took a gorgeous photo of tulips reflected in a puddle, I asked if I could paint it and he said he'd be honoured!)

So, here is a little progress... still lots more to do... this is just a beginning...

water colour!!! argghhhh! (you may think it strange that I didn't start with a wash of blue... but had to be creative, didn't i?

Focus on the (pink) colour 'Opera Rose'... thinking of entering a competition based on that colour!

Feedback appreciated!!!

Random small things

2008-03-16T12:39:00.001+11:00

Photo by Andrew, thank you

Mel’s Super Fast Autumn Trifle!

2008-03-16T12:32:00.002+11:00

Trifle:
noun: an article or thing of very little value or a small quantity or amount of anything; or a dessert usually consisting of custard and cake soaked in wine or liqueur, and jelly, fruit, or the like.

If you have not much time to cook, yet want to make a fabulous dessert that looks like you’ve spent hours cooking and preparing… this is the recipe for you!

Makes approx 10 individual desserts. Use small water/brandy glasses.

4 almond friands – patisserie bought ones
1 box of Turkish delight
1 french almond nougat bar
1 punnet blueberries
1 punnet strawberries
1 punnet raspberries
1 peach
2 plums
1 litre pauls thick custard
500g marscarpone cheese
250ml thick cream

Wash all fruit (let dry as much as possible) and cut into small pieces approx 1-2cm pieces. Cut almond friands, turkish delight and nougat into 1-2cm squares.
Mix with an electric mixer the custard and marscarpone until well blended.

Start layering your ingredients into the glasses, (the friands make a good base) layers of the custard mixture and cream alternate between the fruit, cake, nougat and Turkish delight. It doesn’t matter really if you just chuck it all in together. Enjoy! (don’t think about the calories!) It is after all, only a trifle thing!

* Substitute other fruits depending on the seasons.
* Marinating the strawberries in vodka or grand marnier or a liqueur would also be great – only if you have time!

and such is life... tangled yet beautiful...

2008-03-09T15:00:00.001+11:00

doodling my life away...

2008-03-06T18:26:00.001+11:00

2008-02-13T21:16:00.003+11:00

last night
about 10pm
i walk into malia's bedroom to switch off her bedside lamp
she stirs
opens one eye
i reassure her its ok
she says i love you mummy
she says i just need to tell you something
she says i just really need a drink of water... cold water
i get water and come back and sleepily she takes a sip
i think she is sleep talking mostly
she tells me she loves me again
then she says mum what is shakespeares first name... and i reply william
and she says thank you and is deeply asleep again
and i say thank you

Peace...

2007-12-24T22:16:00.000+11:00

...and the hand of the sea said come follow me...

2007-10-06T20:53:00.000+10:00

Ma

2007-08-03T14:28:00.000+10:00

an irish kind of sunset

2007-07-27T15:42:00.001+10:00

It was brilliant to catch up with our Irish JOOLS yesterday! So much fun! only mobile phones to take photos with though!

Rainer Maria Rilke

2007-05-22T13:58:00.000+10:00

"One lives so badly, because one always comes into the present unfinished, unable, distracted. I cannot think back on any time I lived without such reproaches or worse. I believe that the only time I lived without loss were the ten days after Ruths' (Rilkes' daughter) birth, when I found reality as indescribable, down to its smallest details, as it surely always is."

capturing the ethereal light at our place 3.48pm

2007-05-19T16:00:00.000+10:00

STAR - dust?

2007-05-15T12:58:00.001+10:00

my secret recipe chocolate fudge

Happy Mothers' Day

2007-05-10T14:55:00.000+10:00

I went to the launch of this little book today - proud to know that some of my own mothers' wisdom has been quoted in it! I think our friend Susie did such a fabulous job, she is such an inspiration to me...
Mother Wisdom - by Katrina Crook and the wonderful Susie Cameron

Archibald 2007

2007-05-07T20:47:00.000+10:00

Ester Erlich - Tim
I think this was my favourite today - went to the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes exhibition... It was better than I had expected - not sure why - I guess there is always controversy and interesting press around such a competition - and I was quite blown away by it today. Yeah, I think this portrait of Tim Rogers was just so real, perhaps just someone I felt I could relate to in this sea of faces... Larger than life - yet real - I think Ester Erlich (who is apparently quite short) captured him wonderfully.

Jeffrey Smart

2007-04-29T09:47:00.000+10:00

Hide and Seek III, 1970
Over the last couple of weeks I have travelled along the M7 several times and it always makes me think of Jeffrey Smart - in the same way that looking at Parliament house in Canberra does...
His comment on the urban landscape is captivating. I love the compositions of his works and his use of light, bold colour and concrete shapes which for me, capture a deep emotive questioning - certainly disillusioning and mostly unnerving. This is a calculated environment - the essence of a modern paradise lost?

Gerhard Richter

2007-04-21T21:52:00.000+10:00

Abstaktes Bild 1990
Was at the beach today. Watching the water. Reflections in water. Such a simple abstraction that occurs naturally and is present every day - yet mostly unnoticed - unimportant. I guess that is why Richters' art continues to inspire and intrigue me...

Georgia O'Keeffe

2007-04-19T21:06:00.000+10:00

I am so inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe and I love this quote of hers -
"Nobody sees a flower - really - it is so small, it takes time - we haven't time - and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time."

Vassily Kandinsky 1916

2007-04-19T19:43:00.000+10:00

Red Square

I guess, what I'm trying to explore is... the expression of love in art...

To me, Kandinsky certainly loved Moscow - you can just tell in this painting by the whimsical strokes and warmth of colour - perhaps memories of happiness, the excitement of the possibilities of the city - from almost a childlike point of view...
Kandinsky was able to capture something quite exquisite you can almost hear the music...

Mark Rothko 1959

2007-04-18T19:08:00.000+10:00

Red on Maroon

Rothko always makes me ponder the simple - or what we would imagine to be simple - but what in actuality is rather difficult. The depths, the composition, the knowledge of colour, the capturing of emotion or mood that Rothko does so well, continue to inspire and challenge me to paint in the abstract...
"love one another and you will be happy, it's as simple and as difficult as that" - Michael Leunig

Picasso 1932

2007-04-16T09:51:00.000+10:00

Girl before a mirror - are we who we see in the mirror?
When I was in New York, I spent quite some time in front of this painting at MOMA. It is one of those paintings that invites revisiting and each time you do, there are more insights, more questions, more complexities. It is one painting that I feel captures so intricately the struggles women face in modern society with beauty and identity. The often warped and unnecessary critical sense of self (perception?). Is our image so caught up in our sense of 'who we are'...

Great article here

2007-04-15T11:30:00.000+10:00

What makes an artwork a masterpiece? a masterpiece a masterpiece?
Is it the well acclaimed critical onlooker? - the talent alone? - its appeal to the vast majority? - the money spent on it? - that it exists? - that it captures something words can't express? - that it has had life breathed into it? - that it resonates? - that it is hanging in an art gallery? - that it has been well documented and shared? - that it is framed? - that the artist is a master artist, having studied at the finest of art schools? Can it not exist alone and without ever being seen by another?

Paul Cézanne 1899

2007-04-12T17:04:00.000+10:00

Portrait of Ambroise Vollard - the art dealer. You have to wonder what Cézanne thought of the man - those large, dark, vacant eyes. I would read it as suspicious and doubtful - perhaps even distrustful?
Apparently Vollard was a very secretive man - even though an amazing tribute to Parisian art for the 19th-20th century - which began with his belief in this artist, Cézanne.
Post script - Vollard sat for this painting over 150 times and still Cézanne believed it wasn't finished...

I love that colour was of most importance to Cézanne, in fact he believed that artists should conform to the logic of colour and not to the logic of the brain.

Apparently, Matisse had to have Cézanne’s small, great Three Bathers. The picture, he wrote, “has sustained me morally in the critical moments of my venture as an artist; I have drawn from it my faith and my perseverance.”

Renoir 1881

2007-04-12T10:08:00.000+10:00

Watching 'Amelie' again recently I was intrigued by the old man who paints reproductions each year of this painting. How he always struggles to capture the girl in the background with the glass of water - those distant and not-fully present eyes. How true it is that we all are so often not present - somewhere else.

2007-04-05T17:44:00.000+10:00

it is art history month on my blog - sorry if you would rather go to sleep!

knowledge of the beyond

2007-04-05T17:34:00.001+10:00

ok, so.. not my usual inspiration, but... sitting with this for a moment...
what is it about the face of Christ in this 1463 fresco painting:
Resurrection by Piero della Francesca
what is the quality? the risen Christ with knowledge of the beyond...
in those eyes...
to achieve that communication as a painter?

Rembrandt 1660

2007-03-29T20:58:00.000+10:00

the denial and betrayal of Peter...

"Then a servant girl, seeing him in the firelight, stared at him and said, "This man also was with him." But he denied it, saying, "Woman, I do not know him." Luke 22:56-57

Caravaggio 1610

2007-03-29T12:09:00.000+10:00

it is clear, the influence that Caravaggio had on Rembrandt - the denial of Peter

self in progress

2007-03-15T21:46:00.000+11:00

2007-03-12T12:24:00.001+11:00

painting self portraits is bloody difficult!

someone said my dad looked like Ernest Hemingway... strange thing is - my kids call my dad Papa!

2007-03-12T12:20:00.000+11:00

"Forget your personal tragedy. We are all bitched from the start and you especially have to be hurt like hell before you can write seriously. But when you get the damned hurt, use it-don't cheat with it."
-- Ernest Hemingway

wholeness

2007-03-11T18:39:00.000+11:00

I've been reflecting on
being whole in this life, not perfect

when I am whole, I see love as limitless
when I am broken, there is never enough...

surely, wholeness is next to holiness

I continue to believe each day in living
a grateful,
graceful
and generous life
and
to be courageous enough to be honest with myself

what would happen if I did expect?

2007-03-07T12:46:00.000+11:00

I ask questions of the paint
not expecting answers
not expecting truth
not expecting joy

I ask for creativity and expression
not expecting that I will be transformed
not expecting that I will see beauty
not expecting life

I ask for Gods own hand in each brushstroke
not expecting a presence
not expecting a grace
not expecting a gift

but I have to ask...

my dad - a work in progress

2007-03-06T22:49:00.000+11:00

2007-02-28T09:58:00.000+11:00

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.

Martha Graham

six degrees

2007-02-15T20:56:00.000+11:00

I painted this a while back - it's about holding on and promise - titled 'covenant' and... because I am in an artistic blue period? (if you haven't already noticed) I painted this from the negative of a photo with all those poetic and persuasive blues not to mention the beautiful white...

I love that the hands are recognisable...

anyway, I thought it would be cool
to try converting it back for the sixth degree with the aid of simple photo editing technology
so here you go...

Degrees taken to get to here:
1) hands holding (the actual event)
2) photo taken of hands holding
3) inversion of photo to negative (blue/white)
4) painting of the inverted photo
5) photo of the painting as above top
6) re-inversion of the photo of the painting to its opposite above

2007-02-08T13:06:00.000+11:00

"Every totalitarian regime is frightened by the artist...
Indeed, poetic imagination is the last way left in which to challenge and conflict the dominant reality."
Walter Brueggemann

my australia day view - girt by sea

2007-01-26T09:26:00.000+11:00

can you see the beer bottle in the middle of the cricket game? now that just says australia day perfectly to me!

sky orchestra

2007-01-11T09:39:00.000+11:00

woke up early the other day to this! I love this city!

2006-12-19T10:43:00.000+11:00

a simple plan
born of hope and light
crept in
one day
in the trouble of night

tiny fingers
baby toes
an earthy, innocent newborn glow
the smell of love in a dusty shed
a simple plan, the angel said

patient stars couldn't hide
while alone we slept
in our fear and pride

little hands covered in blood and dirt
would change the world
and all its hurt

coffee please!

2006-11-27T20:18:00.000+11:00

the hoarse dog
sits by the back door

i with hand adorned hip
stare him cold through blurry glass

what is it about ownership that
makes it more distracting and loud?

what is it about shortened nights and
packed schedules that attracts the chaos?

a bird in a tree
a blue tongue lying around

the kids laugh at poor old mum
'a horse dog!' they bellow
sides splitting,
they roll on the floor...

off to school and
dog asleep in garden pot!

this is why
my pillow looks good again
and it's only 10 o'clock!

life

2006-11-16T20:24:00.000+11:00

all to pass on
give away
bequeath

to make your mark
leave your etch

believe the best of all
live whole and full

harbour study #3

2006-11-14T20:28:00.000+11:00

2006-11-14T20:09:00.000+11:00

let all the beauty that we see
and generosity that we receive
be reminders of who we are
and who we're meant to be

let all the scars we wear
of all the heartbroken moments we've known
be an invitation to grace
and shoes for the long walk home

harbour study #2

2006-11-11T21:37:00.000+11:00

2006-10-27T11:11:00.000+10:00

it is possible to believe in something...
and fail to live up to it

2006-09-07T12:34:00.000+10:00

do i live more in
the sinewy jungle of my head
than in the air i breath
and the grassy cradle of my step

2006-08-18T20:04:00.000+10:00

A card I bought in New York

2006-08-15T10:17:00.000+10:00

I curl up
on the couch
and place my hand
in yours,
tomorrow

Hope

2006-08-10T14:32:00.000+10:00

she taps me on the shoulder and smiles
she knows where I come from
she prepares the way
she dances in sunlight

her heart is pure
her generosity unending
her silverlined wings are mine in waiting

she holds on tight
her breath is sweet
she is to live for...

the world really does exist outside of NY

2006-08-08T10:36:00.000+10:00

family tree

2006-06-27T12:36:00.000+10:00

root and bark
name and date
overload to contemplate

too much story to fear
tears of death
and joys to hear

rifts and fractures
distance,
time
and forgotten lapses

wonderous places
journeys and faces

stories bizarre and proud and scary
love
by marriage and birth constant and steady

enduring and enchanting I trace
her story and his story
like the map of my face

blood like sap of this beautiful perennial tree
a leaf of wonder when you look at me