Year: 2025
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The house next door
It’s been two years this week since my neighbour died. I was reminded of him as I wandered in the garden and came across his “surprises”. He found discarded little gnomes which he placed in our garden and our task was to find them. We did share an enormous history over nearly 12 years and…
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A day at the coast with SWELL
We headed to Currumbin Beach for the annual SWELL SCULPTURE FESTIVAL. What makes this unique is that the art work is installed on the beach and the boardwalks of Currumbin Beach. This year, more on the Boardwalk due to the damage from Cyclone Errol. It’s on from the 12th to the 21st of September. There…
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Fruitcake
I wandered into a big hall which was part of Matsuri 2025. Japanese culture on show. On one side some stunning Ikebana. On the far side of the room, a man sitting in front of a very long instrument. An instrument unlike anything I had ever seen. I approached with some curiosity. “What is this?”…
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Unroll a scroll
Scrolls were an early form of the written word. Papermakers of Queensland were on a roll to create their own scroll – they fulfilled the brief creatively and magnificently. Whether on a vertical or a horizontal setting. Joanna Faber’s handscrolls of “Tidal Calligraphy” with handmade bleached banana fibre paper and digitally printed seaweed images. Karen…
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The colour orange
It has had a bad press. Will it ever recover from the unfortunate associations which have come to characterise it ? Perhaps I can help bring it back – and share some of the impressive oranges I have come across in the last few weeks. The burnt orange and the warm fuzz of the Fruiting…
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Red Hill Gallery
I am not a painter but I am always interested to see how others hone their craft so I accepted an invitation to see Terry Swann talking about her watercolours.https://www.terryswann.com.au/ I asked a lot of questions and she was kind enough to answer all of them from how she started in watercolours, (she was terrible…
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Quilts across Queensland.
My interest in quilting started years ago. I was a young mother living in London. I loved visiting Liberty’s in Regent St and buying the off -cuts. I then painstakingly cut the material into hexagons and hand stitched them into a quilt which lay over our bed for years till it literally fell apart. I…
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An outsider looking in.
The invitation to this year’s RNA (Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association) Fundraiser said “Elegant Attire”. So I put on some plain blue trousers, a fuchsia jacket and a pearl necklace with my favourite buddha and some milky blue stones, stud pearl earrings and flat leather shoes.My hair is a mess but it is windy…
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Ode to Gwyn
Gwyn Hanssen Pigott OAM (1935–2013) was an Australian ceramic artist. She was one of Australia’s most significant contemporary artists. By the time she died she was regarded as “one of the world’s greatest contemporary potters”. She worked in Australia, England, Europe, the US, New Zealand, Japan and Korea. Here is her obit in the Guardian which makes for an…
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Luminous-A multicultural world.
On a chilly night in Brisbane I went off to the Southbank Parklands where Multicultural Brisbane was putting on a show called Luminous. There were so many people lining the banks of the river. I stood in the middle of an adorable family with two little ones and an older lady of Indian origin with…
Mezze Moments 