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| Not Drowning, 1996, oil pastel, 160 x 120 cm. Collection Grafton Regional Gallery, NSW. Acquisition of the 1996 Jacaranda Drawing Award. |
At present, I'm trying to keep my head above water as Shane and I tackle a slew of odd jobs and renovation projects before selling our respective properties and moving into our new home.
New carpet is being laid in my old Ballarat house this week. Our furniture and other possessions are strewn everywhere, including the kitchen, sunroom and my studio.
The contents of the boxes below, labeled 'Library Books', are from our personal library. Rest assured, they are not overdue library books!
Ideally, we'd have preferred polished floors, but the condition of the floorboards is too poor.
Before the carpet can be laid, Shane and I have to paint and install new skirting boards.
Meanwhile, in the Ballarat sunroom, a steadfast Alice guards our possessions.
As stress levels mount, however, she wisely decides to follow in the footsteps of her namesake and escape through the looking glass.
While the carpet installation is under way, we're in Melbourne, madly finishing numerous odd jobs, cleaning, clearing, rearranging and decluttering the contents of Shane's Abbotsford house before it's placed on the market on May 1. The agent is sending over a photographer on Tuesday, so the pressure is really on.
In the meantime, work deadlines, including a forthcoming solo show, are piling up. Despite my best efforts, it feels like I'm sinking fast. I may just throw in the towel and follow Alice into Looking Glass Land, where, with any luck, a clean, organised, workable studio awaits me.