Thornbury Community Festival

Looking forward to the Pop up Makers Market part of the Thornbury Community Festival on tomorrow at the Thornbury bowls club.
The bar will be open plus tea and scones and lots of lovely hand made products.

Have been working on one new painting plus some new cards and decorations.

Changing street scape.

This loose and fast painting of a row of old shops and a church on the Northcote, Thornbury border was done a while ago. I passed by there recently and noticed that the shops have been demolished and a lot of redevelopment is going on in the area.
The gritty nature of the area is being replaced by the shiny and new.
The Baptist church is still there. I don't know if it ever had a cross but it doesn't have one now.

Grand Entrance.

This art deco house will be well  known to many local people.

I love it's curves.

Back to Thornbury

Another @madenthornbury market rolls around. Lots of work by the ladies at the Thornbury neighbourhood house and volunteers ensures that this is always a great market.


Great food, entertainment and the usual high quality hand made craft at 99 Leinster Grove, Thornbury this Saturday, 23rd August from 10am till 2pm.

Strangely Familiar

I have completed some new works in the blue sky series which means I now have twenty four images that are available as prints.

These works are interpretations of photos taken in the Northcote Thornbury area. I like to walk around the suburbs taking photos in a rather random fashion and then later choose images that seem to have the right feel.

After a enjoyable day at the Made N Thornbury market in May, I will be having a stall at the Kensington Arts and Craft market for the first time on Sunday July 27th.

Cards & Artwork for Made N Thornbury Market

Another Christmas Made "n" Thornbury market coming up this weekend - 7th of December at 99 Leinster Grove, Thornbury.

This year I have attempted to print my own cards on my dining room table. I have no press so it was very much a case of manual labour!
By producing some small linocuts which I then hand rubbed, the resulting print quality was better than I expected, at lest appropriate for cards - that is if you believe in the idea that defects are a sign of the hand made.
My main problem is the actual linocuting! I'm a bit out of practice and need to work on my skills and imagery. However I'm quite excited about the prospect of developing this technique further.
As usual not enough time to get much done before Christmas.

I have also produced more of the suburban blue sky series and have some available as prints.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Market at Abbotsford convent.

As well as continuing to work on small street scape paintings and drawings, I have also begun a series of paintings featuring native Australian plants.

Here are some new works which were displayed recently at the Abbotsford convent makers market.

                                       

        




 
 
 
 


 

After the Event

The Open Door pop-up-shop which recently opened for two weeks in Thornbury, was a great experience that not only helped to promote local designers and artisans,  but also the Thornbury Neighbourhood House. It was also good fun.

We really appreciate all those people who not only made purchases from the shop, but who also visited and provided feedback and encouragement.

Here are some more examples of my paintings which I am now making available as limited edition prints.

 

 

 

 

 

Open Door Pop up Shop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Thornbury Womens Neighbourhood House is running a Pop up Shop at 825 High street, Thornbury for two weeks from Monday the 20th of May, and I am excited about being involved in this.                                                                                                                                                     

The shop will be dislpaying and selling items from a number of designers, makers, crafters, who usually have stalls at the Made 'n Thornbury craft market, so there will be a variaty or original handcrafted items available.                                                                                                         

                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                       

Above is an image of a new painting, and a drawing from a series I have recently completed that feature street scapes that will be familiar to anyone who knows the High st Thornbury area.        

 

New Paintings

I have started a new series of paintings which are similar in their subject matter to the blue "cloud street" cards, however they are rather different in colour and atmosphere - more still life than street scape.
Once again they are quite small (16cm x 12cm), and although they are individual works I think they would suit being displayed in groups or pairs.

At the moment I am enoying working on these little paintings using a limited palette and scale - they seem to follow on from one another naturally.

These and other works will be available at the Made N Thornbury craft market being held this Saturday, May 4th from 10am till 2.30 pm, 99 Leinster grove, Thornbury.

Streets and Laneways

Spent another enjoyable day at the Made 'n' Thornbury market on Saturday.
I really appreciate the wormth and enthusiasm conveyed by the friendly crowd of mainly locals, who turn up to support our market.

This recent painting, (which has now found a new home) is in response to the more unkempt areas of my neighbourhood. I find the wild plants that grow in these places to have a certain strange beauty.



Here are some more examples from my series of concertina cards which I have come to think of as "cloud streets".

 

 

 

 

The images on these cards are 7cm x 7cm in a series of four.

These and other works will be available for purchase at the Abbotsford Convent Makers market on Sunday the 21st of October and also Sunday the 9th of December.

Nearby and Faraway

This urban image represents a scene that is local and very familiar to me.

The small paintings on this concertina card are about somewhere more remote, more imaged than real. Faraway in an absent-minded sense.

 

 

 

 

Views from the footpath

Watercolour of a well weathered weather-board home.

New Cards

The popularity of native plants in Australian gardens has provided me with inspiration for these hand painted cards.
Sometimes I like to ignore the big picture by focusing on small details such as the delicate patterns and colours of overhanging branches which can be seen on many a suburban street.

These cards and other art work will be available at the next Made 'n' Thornbury  craft market on the 5th of May.

Empty streets

This painting is based on a photo I took in New Zealand early last year. It was situated in a row of abandoned shops in a tiny settlement near Colac bay in Southland. There was a gold rush there at one time apparently, but now the place is a classic ghost town, apart from a few local fishermen and farmers.

I did try and paint one of the more elaborate buildings but it ended up looking more like a very fake stage set for a Western. So I choose this one, used a large brush and kept it loose.

Sometimes its more about the feel than the details.

Meanwhile back in Civilisation....






Small drawings on cards.

Shop and Dwelling

There are so many of these places dotted around the older suburbs.

It's not hard to imagine the sort of activity that used to flourish here - but now so quiet! (apart from those places that have been reincarnated as purveyors of exotic beans).

Some more examples of suburban skys.

New Year and New Work

On New Year's day I went walking on the deserted, baking hot streets hoping to find some inspiration to overcome that lazy (but lovely) summer feeling.
 Lingering in the shadows I took a few photos of  - well shadows actually, and did manage to find some images which I have used to create another series of very small paintings.