After spring-cleaning my studio, I decided that the last chore left was to clean and re-organize my paints .... good thing I did: I discovered several tubes of colour I'd thought were 'lost'
Studio Spring-Clean and Seeing
With a crazy year behind me, I finally got into my studio on the weekend ... and landed up doing an extra-super spring-clean.
My family tease me saying that I clean more than I paint/create ;-) but I think the line between the two's not that clear.
As I re-arranged canvas, tidied tins of paint, lined up turps, thinners and linseed oil and sorted through drawers filled with an array of the things I delight in ... pins with shiny round heads, ancient nails inherited from Gramps, rusty bottle-tops, twigs-a-twisting, pressed leaves, used old postage stamps, stencils that outline things, pretty pens, waxy crayons, Willow Charcoal and sticks of incense of Sandalwood and Old White Musk .. I realized that far more was going on than a mere clean-n-tidy. 
I found myself re-acquainting with 'hidden-treasures' that had been put away for safe-keeping; Forgotten feathers found still brightly coloured, I was remembering the importance of delighting in the simple things that make me happy. Discovering a packet full of torn map pieces, I was determining that it was time for new direction. And then seeing beautiful butterfly wings that had been tucked between the pages of my journal, I thought … it's time for new dreams and for looking forward, however fragile our futures sometime seem.
Finding Freedom
THE VESSEL AND BEYOND
Ceramics Southern Africa Annual Regional Exhibition
at the KZNSA Gallery 2-21st July 2013
Along with my art-partner-friend Joan Martin, we were invited as contemporary visual artists to enter a bowl that had already been crafted by a ceramic artist, and to have it included in the exhibition. We could decorate the bowl in any chosen medium, provided it was permanent.
It was an exciting challenge with lots and lots of interesting possibilites.
I hadn't anticipated how stretched I'd be with the timing of this and our exhibition at Fat Tuesday, but managed to get a nice result with copious amounts of coffee again.
I titled the piece FINDING FREEDOM. Within the bowl is a silhoutted figure holding on (and letting go) to strands 'tied' to butterflies that appear to be flying up up up into the sky. Along the rim of the bowl I've inscribed the text ..... you gotta let go to be free to be free you gotta let go .....
I thorougly enjoyed the process ... especially once I realized I'd have the work finished in the nic-a-time :-)
The exhibition was opened by Jenny Stretton, Curator of Permanent Collections at the Durban Art Gallery. Joan and I were delighted on arrival to find that our bowls had been hung right next to each other ..... and so to celebrate we enjoyed a glass-a-red and a delicish meal sered at the Art's Cafe.
Joan's bowl on the left is titled "Sewing the Nest"
Silence of the Lands - our exhibition
Our exhibition at Fat Tuesday ... for the third year in a row, has again been a wonderful success and a tremendously all-round enjoyable affair. 
Shannon from Fat Tuesday is phenomenal in her treatment of both artists and guests .... we are truly and most sincerely grateful for all she does!!! Shannon ... you're a trend-setter in every regard :-)
You can login here to see more photos of the exhibition opening and walkabout.
Also, Estelle Hudson did a BRILLIANT walkabout last Saturday .... her insights are remarkable. Below is a transcript for you to read:
Walkabout for Silence of the Land
Introduction
My brief from the artists is to look at their art from a psychological point of view and a dream perspective. What this tells us is that they are very aware that the whole exercise of painting this body of work, has been about .....more than surface.
In order to honour this request, I have interviewed the artists separately and studied their paintings and with them reflected on the process, which has been about struggle, frustration, resistance until resolution , and this exhibition is evidence of that. The one and a half hours given to each artist to do this has been for me a real privilege and now i have the awesome task of communicating some of the richness of these conversations in the walkabout .
The unique feature about this exhibition is the task the artists set themselves.
They agreed on the subject of landscapes, they agreed that each artists would bring a reference and all four would respond to the same reference with their own interpretation . (more about this later)
I have chosen to use some Narrative therapy principles in this conversation.
Narrative therapy is sometimes known as re-authoring conversations, conversation between therapist and storyteller. These stories consist of two principles , The Landscape of Action and the Landscape of Identity.
The landscape of action includes the event that takes place, linked in sequence across time, past, present and future what happens, where does it happen, how does it happen.
The landscape of Identity is about the meaning we give to those events, and how it informs and shapes our lives. Because my brief is about exploring the psychological dimension and dream perspective I ask the kinds of questions about the journey each artist has made in this exploration of the soul, the psyche, the journey inward, and relate it to these two landscapes.
Marie Louise von Franzen in talking about The Jacob Ladder dream and Jacob's acknowledgement that the land was a sacred place, says, 'it touches a mystery we haven't yet been able to solve....
She says: we project our souls into the landscape and every soul and every nation has such a geography.'
(The Way of the Dream, page 86)
From Harold Voigt:
At another level, the word silence makes one think of music and of those intervals without which music could not exist. The notion that colour, line shape and texture, like music, constitute an inherent langauge, even if not in the service of representational content, goes back to Kadinsky and Klee. Voigt associated his paintings more with silence than with music and makes it clear that they are intended to direct the viewer inward...the works are vehicles for contemplation and meditation. They create space for the viewer's spiritual activity. (page 88)
Both Von Franzen and Voigt give recognition of the growing awareness to the emergence of the area of the influence of inner experience.
.....and so it is with dreams. We honour the dreams when we take responsibility for listening and following through with the guidance the Unconscious imparts through dreams, when we take time to reflect on the dream. We reflect on the paintings as if they are dreams.
The Artists cannot work on a body of work for a period of time without being influenced, guided and informed by their creations and respond to the landscape they have painted. Marie Louis Von Franzen says we project our souls into the landscape, therefore the painting is an entering into a space where the language of dreams apply.
My next few comments are directed at the collective experiences of the artists .
They talk about the frustration, the sense of dissonance in trying to interpret another's image. After all any decision to paint something is usually because there is an emotional response to the subject. The landscape of action is the event of painting what is not your choice. They experienced over time a going back into past, childhood memories, some traumatic, a strong resistance or a quick response to the soul of the other through the image. Confronted by this event, the blank canvas and another's image, was to somehow take ownership of it. In dreams we are confronted by images and symbols and it is only when we take ownership of these symbols, recognize ourselves in the symbol or image that revelation happens, transformation occurs.
So, with the artists, once they got over that first hurdle they took off and for some the other's image became their favorite painting. It was interesting what some did with the blank canvas before starting.....attacked it with scratches, taking away pristine surface, stained it with brown colour, or gave it a total wash with red, then started the process of washing it with cool colours to push or bring forward, this act includes being willing to lose control in order to become spontaneous, listen to intuition, to listen to whatever emerges as a result of the above.
When it came to colour each artist makes her choice and it becomes an expression of her landscape of identity, the meaning that has emerged out of the landscape of action, that place of the DOING of the painting.
For Ana it was red. She starts with a red canvas and Joan's comment that Ana's paintings bleed is very insightful. Red is about pain, the grief of loss of a brother as a young child and how painting helped her resolve this. Red is about passion, maybe her Portuguese origins explains this. She says I have to listen to my gut, allow the unconscious to speak, intuition plays a large part in my art.
For Maggie it is phalo turquoise - a new colour for her and speaks to her about water, A symbol of the unconscious. "This colour has taken me to places where I would not normally have gone, an experience which has been hugely rewarding ", she says. When Maggie and I do our Paint Your Dreams workshop we encourage participants to express their feelings in colour. Here Maggie does likewise, feelings of the unknown below the surface, the bonding of the four artists and the level of trust and honesty become luminous in this colour.
For Joan her colour is black - there is a strength about this colour, it defines and emphasizes, SO contrary to the way she dresses. Her students freak out when she wears black, but in her art, black becomes the language of an identity that is unique, a celebration of life, "a visual equivalent of my story,"she says.
For Lara her colour is sienna....it holds the richness of the land, the silence. As a child she played with mud and collected bottles of different coloured sands, her identity is found in the solitude, the simplicity of the earth and the strength of being ordinary. She uses this colour as the symbol of the land, she says 'I am the land and my surrender to the vastness and to the smallness gives me my identity. ' All her landscapes from the smallest size to larger sizes express vastness and distance and the the need to be a pilgrim, willing to travel the unknown.
Their choice of their favorite painting was also revealing.
Sometimes it was the one they had the most difficulty with, sometimes it was the one that just painted itself.....
But the profound experience that resulted from the painting left me, yet again, awed by an Unconscious which cuts through murkiness into clarity.
One of the images was a blue, wood and iron house. The artists interpreted this image in their a own unique way. Lara, however, could not find peace with her painting, until she put it in the far distance , giving it a place of almost insignificance. In our reflection on this she explained to me that she identified the house as a structure in her life, which is policy driven, restrictive, risk aversive and playing a dominant part . In Narrative we often identify a problem as the dominant story. Our work together is to look at the multi-storied nature of life and to detox, if you like, the dominant story which has become problematic. This is what Lara did in her painting...she put this dominant story , the symbol of the blue house to her, within the context of the multi-storied nature of her life, recognizing and privileging the other facets that make up her life which she chooses to celebrate and voila.....a clear, moment of insight about giving something mistaken importance at the cost of other stories that give her meaning and identity.
Maggie's painting was suddenly transformed by her new colour to which she adds her footprint, leaving her footprint and all that implies for the future.
Joan has a moment of feeling overwhelmed by the tree with leaves until she introduces swallows and the swirling, circling symbols of life bring grace and light where frustration dominated before.
Ana's painting is an unknown tree which she suddenly identifies as the Pigeonwood, a tree known to be a quick grower, but sheltering and nurturing the new seedlings until they are ready to stand on their own. Her own nurturing maternal instinct is confirmed in this moment. This is highly significant given the latest information....!
With this body of work which is the expression of symbols given substance and made flesh...we return to the title of the exhibition
The Silence of the Lands
and in the words of Frederich Von Hugel:"Before all greatness be silent - in art, in music, in religion, ....silence".
There is a greatness about interior work and we honour this work for its willingness to be reflective of the inner, personal journey of the Artists. =
_____________________________________
SECOND WALKABOUT BY Jeanette Gilks on Sat 29th June
Jeanette Gilks a respected Durban art teacher and Fiber artist conducted a walkabout from an 'artist's perspective'.
Jeanette’s vast knowledge of art history and contemporary art allows her to reach informed insights, revelations and connections about artists and their artwork. Her close association and her sharp wit with her perceptions about the work on show even surpized us.
We'll post a transcript/video clip on U-Tube shortly.
Silence of the Lands
Silence of the Lands
You are invited to an exhibition by:
Joan Martin, Lara Mellon, Maggie Strachan and Ana Pereira de Vlieg
Tuesday 18th June at 6:30pm until Saturday 6th July 12noon
@
Fat Tuesday
Bellevue Campus - Bellevue Road - Kloof – 031-717-2785/9
Cash Bar Downstairs or call ahead to book a table for supper at Bellevue Café (031) 717-2780
As with previous art exhibitions at Fat Tuesday (Two Goats and a Dog - 2011, Lost Found & Stolen - 2012) this exhibition is as much about our relationship with one another as the development of our art. This time our group has been expanded by the inclusion of Ana Pereria De Vlieg.
At our initial meeting we came up with the idea of landscape as a theme. All four of us have explored landscape in one form or another in our previous artwork.
Some of our early attempts at a title for this exhibition included “Land Claims” and “Land (re)claimed” but both were rejected for their political association. We have recently settled on the title “Silence of the Lands” this was inspired by the following quote “Where the river is deepest it makes the least noise.” Lara Mellon was instrumental in coming up with this title and she says: “There’s an unsettled quietness in all our work … a peaceful threatening …”
In order to challenge each other and underline our association we decided to all approach the method of making art for this exhibition in a particular way. Each of us selects an image and shares it with the other three - specifying a particular format i.e. A4, A5 etc. We all paint from the same reference image and share the results at our regular meetings, which occur about once a month. Each artist can submit as many versions as she wants of the same image, as long as the same reference is used. These monthly meetings are held at Durban Girls’ College Art studio in the afternoons where informal crit. sessions are conducted.
Lara Mellon – Sienna Soil – 15x15cm
Maggie Strachan – Red Earth – 15x15cm
Joan Martin – Ana’s Gold – 15x15cm
Ana Pereira De Vlieg – Tilled Soil – 15X15cm
Tues 18th June 6:30 – Exhibition to be opened by Joan Martin
Sat 22nd June 10:30 - Walkabout from a psychological perspective with Estelle Hudson, Narrative and Family Therapist
Sat 29th June 10:30 – Walkabout from an artist perspective with Jeanette Gilks, Fibre Artist and Art teacher
Art in the home ....
It's nice to see my works in the home of the buyer ... very different to viewing the artworks en-mass on exhibition, and certainly way nicer than in my often-upside-down-studio !
Yes we do have fun while we're at it !
Following on from our previous exhibitions at Fat Tuesday, 
we're scheduled to exhibit there again in June, 2013. This time we're fortunate to have Ana de Vlieg join us.
We meet regularly to discuss our work.
As four strong personalities, we have a lot of fun. We discuss - debate - deliberate - decide - deduce and well ... we drink. We drink copious cups of coffee, and when it's fitting we'll have a glass to celebrate the occasion.
We're using an interesting process for this exhibition ... but more of that later ... can't let the cat out the bag just yet ;-)
One not only needs 'balance' in composition!! Ana will go to any lengths it seems to get great pics ... and manages to do this with style all the same (how beautiful is her crochetedjacket).
Maggie needed a quiet place to read over the first draft of our exhibition statement. She found this great spot in Joan's office, in and alongside her fabulous classroom where we get to meet each month. The view of Durban's Berea stretching towards the sea is spectacular.
Ana's always hard at work taking notes ... by hand or by apple :-)
So there you have it ... when we're not painting away in our studios, we're getting together where the cameras snap, the cuppa's are a-plentiful, the computers tick tick away and the whole thing of collaborating is fabulously filled with friendship and the stuff that keeps us going. Joy, joy, joy !!!
Fotag - Friends of the Tathum Art Gallery
Each year, the Tathum Gallery hosts an event in November of
works donated by artists, which are auctioned to raise funds for the galleries purchase of new works. This is the fourth year that I've enjoyed participating and in contributing in a small way along with other artists supporting art.. !
You can see the works that I donated here.
The works will be available for viewing from the 25th to the 30th November, when also the final auction will take place.
ToOn delivering my works to Maggie to get bundled off and sent to Pietermaritzburg, I was delighted to see that for a change WE MATCHED ... so we took a photo for fun.
Maggie has so many intersting nooks and crannies and interesting finds in her garden ... I regularly want to snap away and capture these images ....
Bright happy friends ...
My friends Maggie and Joan visited me for my birthday 
with prezzies that only artists would know to give to artists ) ... and as in the last two or so visits ... they're MATCHING AGAIN :-)
So, we had to take photos ... don't they look beautiful !!
Magical Connections
I've uploaded images of the two commissions just finished 
and delivered to the buyer. I LOVED doing them ... and plan to do more towards my first Solo Exhibtion ... !
You can see them here: under the sub-gallery "Look to the Hills" or on my artist page on Facebook.
I meant to take a photo of the works up in the buyer's home ... but was dead tired and left with my camera still hanging over my shoulder, unused .... "get some rest Mellon" ... or better still, time for a holiday.
We're new 'old-friends' ... and seem to have an unbelievable synchronistic and magical connection. She'd be talking to someone about the art, and then gets an email from me and vice versa.
On one occassion I'd literally just thought of her, mentioned her to my husband Patrick, and then within an hour bumped into her at a book launch (caught on camera by a journalist as in the photo insert)
Even how we came to meet was incredible: in 2007 she'd been given an article of my work featured in a magazine and kept track of me since. On the day she first mails me to make contact, I had been listening to the radio (which I seldom do) and hear this lady being interviewed about her clinic for epilepsy at Entabeni... and so when her email pops up in front of me I'm blown away coz I just heard her ... she was the lady on the radio!!
We've had many more such synchronistic and magical moments in connecting. It's wonderful.
Going Home ... memories of open fields
There is something about landscapes with horizons that seem endless; 
endless in hope and possibility, and in freedom.
I refer to the process of painting these as “resting in the landscape”.
I have wonderful childhood memories of long solitary outrides on horseback alone and content, with the lands as much stretched before me as was hope. In a sense there is a longing for these days, but not a melancholy. Hope persists and freedom if not in open fields, is still within spirit.
Click here to see new works
Special Delivery ...
Two of my artworks were sold to a buyer who bought the works for her sister's 50th, so I had a little fun wrapping them to make it a special delivery ... I love doing things like this and wish I had more time on my hands to make and to wrap and to give gifts like this ... :-)
Walkabout by Estelle Hudson
Tomorrow Saturday 26th - 10:30am ..... @ Fat Tuesday, Kloof
Join us for the walkabout, see the works before they come down at 1pm .... shop in Shannon's INCREDIBLE Fat Tuesday Shoppe and stay for a delictable snack and cuppa at Bellefue Cafe !!! :-)
We had fantastic feedback from those who attended Estelle's walkabout of our exhibition last year at Fat Tuesday, where everyone absolutely enjoyed and were informed by Estelle's remarkable insights.
A little bit about Estelle: Estelle Hudson is a narrative and family therapist.
She conducts dream workshops for professionals, masters students and interested people. Her personal interests include feminist spirituality, drawing, painting and dream work.
Estelle and Maggie Strachan have conducted dream-painting workshops together for many years.
Estelle was also a painting student in Maggie’s studio and a student of drawing, printing and mixed-media with Jeanette Gilks. She continues to work with the Garret Artists group.
Lost, Found n Stolen - Walkabout with Ana Pereira de Vlieg - 12th May
Ana Pereira de Vlieg led a group of interested people around the exhibition. Her comments were insightful and her animated descriptions and passion for art drew the audience in ... even the artists were fascinated with new perspectives of their art.
Ana will be conducting another walk-about on Tuesday15th May for her students and anyone else interested.
A little more about Ana here: Ana Pereira de Vlieg earned distinction early on in her art career by being a finalist in the Emma Smith Scholarship Competition, awarded to her when she did honours in Fine arts at the Natal Technikon.
She has been employed in formal art education functioning as the art teacher and vice-principal at a school for disadvantaged children in Kwamashu. Participating in community based projects such as murals for Effingham Road Bridge and everyONEcounts is testament to her warm generous spirit.
Most recently she completed the KZNSA Professional Course in 2010 focussing on an investigation of the shadow – using art as a means to confront the “negative” in ones life and use it as a healing tool. She uses this therapeutic aspect of art in her private lessons for adults held at her studio in La Lucia.
Along with Joan and Lara, Ana participated in the international Sketchbook Project,hosted by the Brooklyn Art library, New York City.
You can see more photos from the walkabout on Saturday here.
Lost, Found and Stolen - Opening
Maggie Strachan, me and Joan MartinWe had a most enjoyable and very successful opening of our exhibition: Lost, Found and Stolen @ Fat Tuesday on the 8th.
Jeanette Gilks gave an interesting address with her usual insightful take on the works.
Tomorrow Ana Pereira deVlieg will conduct a walkabout, but for now ... here are a few pics from the opening by kind courtesy of Harry Lock who is a fabulous artist, photographer.
I'll post photos of my new works within the next two weeks.
Jeanette Gilks giving her address at the opening on Tuesday.
You can click here to see more photos ...
Barefoot Dancing in my Studio
After a looooooong day working .... one step into my studio and I'm happy. I light the incense, in this case MYSTIQUE (it's usually Sandalwood, but this smells pretty much the same) ... and I turn on the tunes. Tonight we're rockin to good ol' Creedence Clearwater Revival ... for whatever reason. Pat's out practicing golf, Andrea's at lectures, James is chillin somewhere - who cares for supper ... I'm here and very happy :-) ... see more here!
A Walk through The Trees - Sketchbook Project, 2012
Sketchbook Project, 2012
"A walk through the trees" .... a walk through the forest
I've loved working on this project, and thanks again to Joan for introducing me to it, and then to have Ana join us recently too has been great.
Each page was meditative. I'd take my pages, clipped neatly on a clip board and work into it each night in bed for a few minutes ... or sometimes for an hour or so ... before dozing off to sleep.
The rhythm of sketching and dreaming through each page was therapeutic ... and I loved it.
You can click here to view the pages in more detail ... or see the snapshots below.
Some of the pages included text, which I've detailed below the images.
A walk through the trees ... through the forest. Lara Mellon. Dedicated with love and gratitude to Maggie Strachan. Durban RSA 2012.
The wind began to blow hard and I was not afraid to be freed, and so I began to find my path through the trees, through the trees.
I found bugs and beetles and butterflies but no best friend.
The gentle breeze kisses my cheeks and I wonder.
Walking through forest, along paths, through life, is always better with a friend.
I loved flying kites, now my dreams fly on butterfly wings.
I think I think too much.
windmills, windmills, windmills everywhere ... turning everywhere
sometimes our dreams must be set free
Walking alone is not lonely.
Suffer the little children. Even the lilies of the valley.
Burnt Sienna is my favourite colour. Red hot from the earth. And I have a dog called Sienna.
all i want is peace and quiet.
I look to the hills, where does my hope come from. My hope comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth.
flowers are still flowers in the dark.
I would travel long distances on horse back, into fields that stirred with dust and smells of earth. Up hills, along roads sometimes, just me, Safferrick and our thoughts. Beautiful times not forgotten.
Figures would appear walking along the paths I'd travel. I was not afraid, even when the shadows were dark.
I owned a dog called Ta-Tinka and I loved her very much.
Don't let the birds nest in your hair.
When I was seven, I dreamed of owning a circus and also of owning a massive farm.
It is with reverence and awe that I watch the butterfleis flitter flatter in my garden.
I long to walk where it is quiet and still.
light at the end of the forest it is bright it is light at the end of the forest it is bright. It is bright at the end of the forest. It is bright at the end.
and then it is light. just light
Look to the Hills
... another painting finished ... with the weekend ahead and Patrick away, I'm looking forward to getting alot of nearly-finished-works FINISHED this weekend. And the weather's perfect.
I finished this one last night: it's part of the Look to the Hills Series ... click here to see the others:
Lucky me ...
I seem to have had quite a 'lucky run' of late. It all started two years ago after I'd bought four large brushes from an annual sale in Jhb. As August is my birthday month, the timing is always good and I'm well justified in spending some cash on a few treats. However, I wasn't so lucky in that the brushes after using only once or twice distorted.
After following up with the local supplier for nearly a year, I finally decided to contact Winsor and Newton directly. I WAS AMAZED at their POLITE and HIGHLY EFFICIENT service.
To my complete surprize, withn two days I received a note to collect a parcel from the post office.
Arriving home and opening up the parcels, I was delighted beyond delight to find two
full packs of brand new brushes ... LUCKY, LUCKY ME !!
Update on 2011-10-28 13:39 by Administrator
"one man's trash is another man's treasure"
By far the MOST luckiest of all finds was when at the start of the year, alongside my gardener Henry, we took a trip out to the garden refuse dump. I hadn't been in months. As we had a few plastic items to dump, Henry directed me to park where typically I would not park.
I sat waiting in the car while he unloaded the boot. I thought how true was the saying "one man's trash is anot
her man's treasure". I looked up and noticed a plastic box, and felt COMPELLED to go n take a look. Never! I thought. I'm hardly the adventurous type and in fact a bit of a "bang-broek" (scardy-cat) ... besides, there's nothing I need.
But the compelling voice/force was such that I tentatively got out the car and ran
across to have a closer peek. NO WAY .... I could hardly believe what I saw. I picked it up - popped it in the car and sped home.
On opening the container, there I found about 60 tubes of high quality paint, W&N ... various series - as well as Maimeiri and Classico! Some were brand new. Later that week I calculated the monetary worth and by gosh ... it's alot !
I'm convinced that the paints had been tossed out by an unknowing family member ... and I get the feeling that this was likely at the death of a loved one ... where the family m
embers could not have known the worth and value of what they were throwing out.
So, here I am using these paints ... some of which are of colours I've not worked with before ... and now am expanding my palette. I do have a kind of melancholy about it too ... and hope that if these did belong to an artist who has since passed on, that they're looking down on me with a smile in seeing how much joy they're bringing to me.
Update on 2011-10-28 13:39 by Administrator
Birthdays are meant to be great ...
I'd been wanting (actually - needing) a bigger easel for the last few years. After a successful exhibit at Fat Tuesday in March I thought okay, this is it ... will splurge out and get me that easel. But our home was in need of quite a few things and so I thought best to leave it for a while, and maybe to hold out till my birthday in August ... I'd ask the family to hold back on the gifts of chocolates and club together for the easel I'd had my eye on.
But August came and I was busy with a whole bunch of things and thought ah well some othertime.
And then I get this call from my Dad in Springs to say he'd come across an easel lying about in a friend's garage and did I want it. He thought it was like the one I already had. I ummed n ahhed a bit n then thought that actually, the group of ladies I'd been facilitati
ng through the Artist's Way, had said they'd be keen for me to teach them the basics of painting so, ja, sure, another easel would be needed.
Two days later it arrived and oh would you believ
e ... it was a hardly-ever-before-used full size easel ... just like I'd wanted ... and the timing of this was that it arrived ... in time for my birthday. Go figure!
Update on 2011-10-28 13:42 by Administrator
A few weeks ago, I had a call from an aquaintance wh knew of an elderly couple who were wanting to sell some art stuff. I didn't need anything but said I'd be happy to take a few photos of it all and pass round to my network.
I photographed it all and made up a list of the prices they wanted; which was a few rands for the easels (e.g. R15 for the desk easel etc etc). With my friends wanting to learn how to paint I thought okay, a few more items to add to my art studio at hardly any cost and was happy to purchase for myself.
As I was leaving, I noticed two wooden artist boxes and asked what they were. "oh, those are only junk" she said. I pulled them out from under the table, and asked how much she'd want for them. "fifteen rands each she said".
I opened them each up and found a full set of watercolour in one, and oils in the other ....
Another lucky find ....
At the same time I also found this brand-spanking-new Winsor and Newton Watercolour Travelling Kit ... I've since used it ... on the beach in Mauritius ... I paid all of twenty south african rands ... !!
Two Goats and a Dog - Opening
We had a fantastic opening of our exhibition "Two Goats and a Dog" and then to follow had a great walk about where Estelle Hudson spoke about the works.
Click on the link to see more: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=638749505&aid=281751
