Twenty years ago, when I first started out on my own as a teaching artist, one of my first adult students was a woman who later admitted to me that when she first rocked up to one of my classes she was mildly terrified. You see, her previous experience in art classes had left her feeling attacked, judged and hugely discouraged. She was relieved to discover that I was not the kind of teacher who would snatch the brush away from her and fix her "mistakes" or even show her how to do it "properly". That's because I work according to some firmly held beliefs regarding creativity and the making of ..read more

Curiosity and Creativity go hand in hand. It is difficult to be creative if you are not curious. Asking the question "What if?" leads to a spark in the imagination and takes your brain on a journey involving adventure and exploration: "What if I do some oil pastel scribbles before I paint with watercolour?" "What if I incorporate some beautiful paper samples in my artwork?" "What if I try drawing with my non-dominant hand" Curiosity allows you to ask questions beyond "what's the correct way to do this?" and kicks the right side of your brain into gear. So it enables you to stop slaving over y ..read more

I have to confess that for the last few years I have pretty much given up on the new year's resolution thing. It seemed a bit pointless when we were in the grip of Covid lockdowns and the like. The world had changed and to be honest, my commitment to exercise more, or eat fewer carbs seemed somewhat trivial in the light of a global existential crisis. Having said that, though, the new year is an opportunity to reset to some extent, to refocus before the busy dayliness of everyday life kicks in and squeezes out any intentions to make things a little bit different or better as time ticks by. I ..read more

You wouldn't be unusual if you think that life feels like something of an uphill battle, especially at the moment. Climbing a mountain is an often used metaphor for the journey of life, probably because it feels pretty accurate. Author of The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron uses it to refer to the journey of the artist as well. The thing is, we often think that the journey of life (or as an artist) is a straight line heading up the mountain. We start at the bottom and, as life evolves, assume we get higher, closer to our goal at the top of the mountain. The thing is, that's not really how life pa ..read more

So this morning my husband wished me a happy international women's day and in the next breath asked me if there was an international men's day. He was pressing my buttons and as he knew I would, I reacted swiftly and with force. "Every *!*@$%* day is international men's day" I hissed. He was greatly amused. The reason he knew I would be unable to ignore his dig was that on this day every year, some male asks me that exact same question when I make reference to IWD, which I always do in whatever workplace or other context I find myself in. And usually they are not just having a go...they genui ..read more

This blog refers to another recent one where I talked about the need to Step Away for perspective. As well as that, we need to keep a healthy and safe distance from whoever and whatever we are following. There are few things more annoying on the road than tail-gaters. I am fortunate that my location in the outskirts of Brisbane means that I frequently get to travel on relatively quiet countrified roads. But equally, I often find my self being followed way too closely by other cars. You might know from my socials that I am pretty big on wildlife, so I am always mindful when travelling the loca ..read more

No doubt you have heard people say things like: "I don't know much about art, but I know what I like!" Often the subtext of such a statement has to do with what is and isn't art. You might have a very clear idea about what you think art is and is not. Or what constitutes "good" art or "bad" art. For me that line of demarcation is pretty rubbery, if, in fact it exists at all. If you have started reading in order to find out the definitive answer according to me, sorry, I'll have to disappoint you. We all know that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" or in other words, art is subjective. And ..read more

Are you a "con-artist"? I don't mean as in some kind of trickster who is able to fleece people out of their hard earned savings. I mean as an artist, are you confident? I can almost hear you chorusing collectively "Hell, no!" It seems that one thing we have in collective common as artists is that we are periodically plagued with self-doubt and lack of confidence in our abilities. Or in our ability to spruke our wares. Not all of us, of course, but the vast majority, because part of what makes us artists is our sensitive nature, our complexity and our imagination. Artists can potentially catas ..read more

"Perspective" is the theme for this year's Queensland Regional Art Awards. It is a good theme because you could apply it to your artwork in a number of ways: You could use linear and/or aerial perspective to create depth in your work You could depict a scene or an object from an unusual perspective or even from a variety of perspectives in the one art work You could portray an idea, sentiment or belief from your particular perspective You could combine any of the above within the one work And so on... Whichever way you go, perspective and artwork are integral to each other's existence. Line ..read more

Have you ever heard the saying "earth without art is just "eh""? It's kinda what is happening at present. For many people, life is pretty "eh" right now. And I honestly believe that some of that is due to the fact that we have placed art on the peripheries, deeming that it is something that is not crucial to our survival. But is that really the case? Sure, when we are worried about money, putting food on the table and keeping a roof over our heads, we are less inclined to think about about things like art. And I totally get it. There are times when we have to be very careful about where our m ..read more