Wednesday 4 November 2015

Feet on the ground for a while

I have had an unbelievable year with travel and work, and love every minute of it. I have a great balance in my life so it is easy to juggle the many diverse things that I do, which are almost all art related. I have met so many wonderful people over the years through art and it is always a privilege to be able to share my knowledge with others.

Travels
This year I have been away or teaching for nine months (not all togther of course). Sometimes I even have to think where I went and when. Here is an overview:
 
  • Lots of weekend workshops at WEA Sydney
  • A week at Koro Sun Resort in Savusavu teaching Botanical Art and Travel Sketching. This is definately a holiday wrapped up in a workshop at the most incredible Fijian resort
  •  
    Koro Sun Resort, Savusavu.  Some of the group enjoying morning tea.
  • River cruise where I managed to do lots of my own sketching
  • Visit to Prague which was an amazing experience. Really loved it.
  • 2 weeks in Cambodia and Vietnam taking a travel sketching group. This was such a wonderful experience with the most fabulous sketching opportunities. Doing Cambodia again 2016
  • Teaching workshop for the Botanical Art Society Queensland at Mt.Cootha Botanical Gardens
  • Talks for the Australian Historical Garden Society and the Vaucluse Garden Club
  • Five day botanical art workshop at Mossman, far north Queensland 
  • Two back to back workshops in Perth, WA
  • Four days in beautiful Beechworth. I love that place and have done many botancial art and travel sketching workshops there over the years
  • Coming up - two day botanical art workshop mid November at Sturt, Mittagong, southern highlands NSW
Here are a few photos from this year:


 In between all these engagements I have my Distance Learning Courses in Botanical Art, Natural History Art and Travel Sketching. This is almost a fulltime job on its own with hundreds of students, but it is just one aspect of my working life which gives me a lot of enjoyment. I just seem to fit it in somehow, or rather fit in my other committments.

I have just begun a new work for the 2016 Botanica exhibition which will be in the Sydney Royal Botanical Gardens. I will try to get three paintings done this year. I am working on birds as pollinators and have almost finished the initial drawing. Will blog the progress.

Here is my 'bird' painting from last year's exhibition - Eastern Spinebills (male, female and juvenile).

I am loving painting birds and insects in conjunction with my work as it gives me a new challenge, expands my repertoire and enhances the botanical subject.


Eastern Spinebill birds on Bongala Spinebill Grevillea

Details of birds


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