The ace of hearts is high

I’m not usually one for Valentine’s Day, but by sheer coincidence, this is the painting that’s currently on my table easel. Pictured top: The ace of hearts is high, acrylic on canvas (work in progress).

While I’m here, Happy Valentine’s Day to my two loves, Shane Jones and Alice B. Cat (pictured below) and to all of you Valentines out there. ♥️

The music and lyrics of popular songs (particularly, but by no means exclusively, from the Great American Songbook), occasionally inform my work. In this instance, the title of my painting is a line from Taking a chance on love (music: Vernon Duke lyrics: John La Touche and Ted Fetter). The song originated in the stage musical Cabin in the Sky (1940), where it was introduced by the incomparable Ethel Waters. Waters later performed the song in the MGM film of the musical (Dir. Vincente Minnelli, 1943). It has since become a standard and has been widely performed, but in my opinion, no one, but no one, sings it like Ethel Waters. To see her version of Taking a chance on love, click HERE. (Apologies for the YouTube ads that precede it).

The lyric is below:

TAKING A CHANCE ON LOVE

Here I go again

I hear those trumpets blow again

All aglow again

Taking a chance on love

Here I slide again

About to take that ride again

Starry-eyed again

Taking a chance on love

I thought that cards were a frame-up

I never would try

But now I'm taking the game up

And the ace of hearts is high

Things are mending now

I see a rainbow blending now

We'll have a happy ending now

Taking a chance on love

Here I come again

I'm gonna make things hum again

Acting dumb again

Taking a chance on love

Here I stand again

About to beat the band again

Feeling grand again

Taking a chance on love

I walk around with a horseshoe

In clover I lie

And, brother rabbit, of course you

Better kiss your foot goodbye

Things are mending now

I see a rainbow blending now

We'll have a happy ending now

Taking a chance, taking a chance

Taking a chance on love. 

♥️

Directly below are a series of earlier progress views of The ace of hearts is high:

LOCALS

 

My painting Eye Candy, 2024, Acrylic on canvas panel, 30.5 x 30.5 cm, is part of a terrific lineup of artworks in LOCALS, the upcoming exhibition at Outre Gallery in Fitzroy. The opening event is on Friday, 20 February at 5 pm. 

Scroll down for further details, including a complete list of artists. 

LOCALS runs from 20 February - 15 March 2026.

Two exhibition openings: BREAKING GROUND and THE PAINTER’S EYE

Pictured 1-7: a handful of snaps from today’s launch of BREAKING GROUND: Women Artists in the Whitehorse Art Collection at Whitehorse Artspace, a stunning exhibition, impeccably curated and presented.

Upon arrival it was a thrill to see a reproduction of my painting Masked Australian Painted Lady II, 2024, a relatively small work, writ umpteen times larger, in front of Box Hill Town Hall. 

Thank you for welcoming us, Kerrianne Stone, Acting Curator, Arts and Cultural Services, and for including my work in the exhibition. It was a delight to meet Cr Kirsten Langford, Mayor Whitehorse City Council (pictured below), who opened the exhibition so memorably. (I particularly enjoyed our conversation about the colour red). And it was terrific to catch up with Marguerite Brown, Acting Cultural Services Coordinator Arts and Cultural Services, after far too long. The occasion was capped off by an unexpected surprise visit from two old friends, Nathan and Anne Moshinsky (images 6 & 7).

It’s not very often that Shane Jones and I have works in exhibitions opening on the very same afternoon, in fact yesterday was a first. 

From Box Hill, we headed to Collingwood and Nicholas Thompson Gallery. The Painter’s Eye, an exhibition superbly curated by Kez Hughes, comprises 14 small works by 14 artists. Kez’s own work, Fortune, 2026 (not pictured) was one of several personal highlights. 

In the case of both exhibitions, my only regret is that I didn’t take more photos. Nevertheless, the last two views feature Shane Jones and his painting Moonlight and Rain, 2022 in The Painter’s Eye.

BREAKING GROUND: Women Artists in the Whitehorse Art Collection at Whitehorse Artspace runs to 14 March. 

The Painter’s Eye at Nicholas Thompson Gallery runs to 14 February.

A long overdue visit to POWER OF PRINT

Yesterday Shane Jones and I finally made it to POWER OF PRINT - Works from the Maroondah City Council Art Collection at Artspace at Realm. Due to a series of extenuating circumstances, we weren’t able to drop in earlier, and a doozy of a summer cold almost convinced me I was destined to miss it altogether. We cut it pretty fine - yesterday was the last day. 

The exhibition comprised 38 original prints by 28 artists from the Maroondah City Council Art Collection, dating from 1977 to 2025:

Raymond Arnold/Martin King/Lloyd Rees/Jayne Dyer/Catherine Woo/Tony Scott/Jill Orr/Karen Casey/Yvonne Boag/Caroline Williams/Heather Shimmen/Allan Mitelman/Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison/Clare Humphries/Teho Ropeyarn/Nusra Latif Qureshi/Deborah Klein/Vicki Couzens/Ben Reid/Judy Watson/Yuho Imura/Maria Kozic/Rona Green/Melinda Harper/Katherine Hattam/Angela Cavalieri/Judy Holding/Bridget Hillebrand

Included in POWER OF PRINT was my three-colour linocut Sister Act, 2000. That’s me with the work in the first view (📸Shane Jones), followed by selected installation views. 

Highlighted in image 6: Rona Green, Wayne and Bazza, 2018. Hand-coloured linocut;

Highlighted in image 7: Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison, A Lament to the Sleeping Kingfisher, 2004. Two-colour lithographic offset print, hand-coloured with pencil. 

POWER OF PRINT ran from 2 December, 2025 - 26 January, 2026.

BREAKING GROUND

At the first month of 2026 draws to a close, an exciting new exhibition is set to open. BREAKING GROUND: Women Artists in the Whitehorse Art Collection, focuses on women artists whose works are represented in the Whitehorse Art Collection. 

“This exhibition celebrates the work of innovative women artists, past and present, who have made significant, yet often under-recognised contributions to Australia’s cultural life.”

Forming part of the exhibition is my painting Masked Australian Painted Lady II, 2024 (pictured top). Scroll down for further information. 

I do hope you can join us next Saturday at the exhibition launch.

BREAKING GROUND: Women Artists in the Whitehorse Art Collection

Exhibition Opening: Saturday 31 January, 1.00pm – 3.00pm

Whitehorse Artspace

Box Hill Town Hall

1022 Whitehorse Road, Box Hill VIC

artspace@whitehorse.vic.gov.au

9262 6250

The exhibition runs from 31 January – 14 March, 2026

Old work in a new setting

Muse, 1998, two-colour linocut printed from two blocks, 73 x 62 cm, an old work resurrected and hanging in a new spot (our bedroom). 

Underneath the work (image 2 above), Boodie, my childhood bear, leans against a favourite cushion, sourced several years ago from a Ballarat op shop.

In a wider view (image 3), the ethereal Christening Gown #3, 2022, an oil painting by Shane Jones, is reflected in the mirrored wardrobe.

Happy New Year

 

Ringing the New Year in with The Secret Room, a new, more or less completed painting, the first in a fledgling series. 

It’s far too early for 2026 to unlock all of the secrets it has in store. Nevertheless, I hope it is off to a fine start for all of you - and long may it continue. 

Pictured top: The Secret Room, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 20 cm. The work marks a return to two longtime influences: Film Noir and Surrealism. 

Pictured below: Shane Jones and I on New Year’s Eve at one of our favourite Melbourne restaurants, Gaylord, where we celebrated our 33rd anniversary.

The following images were snapped over the Christmas/New Year period, which Shane Jones, our cat Alice and I have been spending in Melbourne, and where we’ll be spending a lot more time in future. The final three views of the Christmas lights were snapped from the banks of the Yarra River, a short walk from our Melbourne apartment.

Belated Season’s Greetings from all of us.

9

POWER OF PRINT

My linocut Sister Act has been included in the new exhibition 

POWER OF PRINT

Works from the Maroondah City Council Art Collection

Exhibition launch: 6pm Tuesday 2 December

Opening remarks: Martin King, artist and Senior Printer, Australian Print Workshop and artist Nusra Latif Qureshi 
  

POWER OF PRINT reflects the enormous creative potential that resides in the meeting of ink and printing matrix with paper, and the continued fascination the print medium holds for artists.

The exhibition features 38 original prints by 28 artists from the Maroondah City Council Art Collection dating from 1977 to 2025:

Raymond Arnold/Martin King/Lloyd Rees/Jayne Dyer/Catherine Woo/Tony Scott/Jill Orr/Karen Casey/Yvonne Boag/Caroline Williams/Heather Shimmen/Allan Mitelman/Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison/Clare Humphries/Teho Ropeyarn/Nusra Latif Qureshi/Deborah Klein/Vicki Couzens/Ben Reid/Judy Watson/Yuho Imura/Maria Kozic/Rona Green/Melinda Harper/Katherine Hattam/Angela Cavalieri/Judy Holding

Pictured top:

Deborah Klein

Sister Act, 2000

Linocut (3 colours) on Japanese mending tissue overlaid onto brown oriental paper

Maroondah City Council Art Collection

The exhibition opened to the public on 24 November 2025 and runs to 26 January 2026

ArtsSpace at Realm
Ringwood Town Square (opposite Ringwood Station)
Ground floor 179 Maroondah Highway
Ringwood VIC
03 9298 4553
Monday to Friday: 9am to 8pm
Weekends and public holidays: 10am to 5pm

Bryan Brown in Ballarat

 

What a pleasure it was to meet actor/author Bryan Brown yesterday evening following his scintillating talk (in conversation with Renee Price of Collins Booksellers), at glorious Palace Regent Cinema, Ballarat.

I’ve admired Bryan Brown’s work as an actor ever since I first saw him in Breaker Morant (1980, Dir. Bruce Beresford). Writing is a relatively new string to his bow. 

He’s a natural born storyteller. Based on the moving, sometimes hilarious, personal anecdotes he shared with a large, captivated audience, some fascinating insights into his writing process, and a brief, but tantalising reading from his latest novel, Hidden, Shane Jones and I can’t wait to read his books and will treasure our signed copies.