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

Lara Mellon - Durban, KwaZulu Natal South Africa

A path through the trees

You can read more about The Sketchbook Project 2012 on their blog, their website or on Facebook.

Update

on 2012-01-12 15:10 by Administrator

I've just uploaded my first clip on YouTube ... :-)      You can see it here

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 !!