MOONLIGHT SWIM

Pictured top: Moonlight Swim, acrylic on canvas. (Progress view). From the current suite of works provisionally titled Flowers of the Femmes Fatales. 

In this instance, the flower associated with my protagonist, namely a water lily, appears as a stylised motif on her bathing cap. Its design was adapted from a vintage knitting pattern that was sourced online. (See below). 

On my morning walks by the Yarra River in Melbourne I pass a similar ‘No Swimming’ sign to the one portrayed in the painting. 

Directly below are a series of developmental views of Moonlight Swim.

Ballarat Heritage Festival 2026

Above and below: selected highlights from the penultimate day of Ballarat Heritage Festival 2026 on Saturday, 23 May, all of it enjoyed to the fullest with my partner in just about everything, Shane Jones. 

It’s our favourite time of year in this part of the world. For us, as for many people (judging by the hoards lining the platforms of Ballarat Railway Station), the festival wouldn’t be complete without a steam train ride. 

For Shane and I, however, the day’s high point was Charmaine Channell’s imaginatively conceived and exquisitely realised exhibition, The Grand Old Dames of Ballarat at The Old Butchers Shop Gallery, in which Ballarat’s historic buildings were gloriously personified. 

Gloria - Art Gallery of Ballarat, gouache on paper (directly above), incorporates numerous works from the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of Ballarat, including my painting, Vorticist 2, 2004. (See detail below, followed by the actual work). 

The final day of Ballarat Heritage Festival fell on Sunday 24 May. 

Highlights (in no particular order) included the legendary Ballarat People Who Promenade, of which Shane Jones and I are proud members. 

Pictured below: Promenaders founders, Megan Finlayson (AKA Queen Victoria) and Bryan Putt, followed by random views snapped during our eventful stroll through the city.

Following two views: 📷 Megan Finlayson.

Among the exhibitions we visited on day 3 were: THINKING OF PLACE IV: FLEET at Post Office Gallery (pictured below) 

- and The Coburn Collection at Ballarat Town Hall. (Last three photos). 

Ballarat Heritage Festival 2026 ran from 21-24 May.

Scenes from a bookish weekend

1. Shane Jones and I with our dear friend, Annie Drum, at the signing of her stunning debut novel, Don’t Forget to Remember Me on Saturday morning at Collins Booksellers in Lydiard Street, Ballarat. 

2. Snapped on Sunday afternoon: Louise Jennison and Gracia Haby at their wonderful stall at Melbourne Art Book Fair in the Great Hall of NGV International, Melbourne.

3. A bird’s eye view of Melbourne Art Book Fair 2026 from the balcony of the Great Hall.

4. A delectable Lamington - or what’s left of it - at Ballarat Railway Station cafe (devoured prior to Saturday’s  book signing and included in this post especially for my London-based, Lamington-deprived Aussie friend, Bev Murray). 

Congratulations, Annie, Gracia and Louise. We feel blessed to have such lovely and talented friends and are thrilled with our book and zines haul.

Recent activities

Today’s post features selected highlights from the past several days, beginning with the opening night last Thursday of A SEAT AT THE TABLE: A Celebration of Women Artists at Artists & Collectors in Melbourne, followed by the Saturday afternoon launch of the seventh and final ONE HUNDRED FACES at Playing in the Attic in Talbot in regional Victoria. Our weekend was capped off with the Twelve Minute Play Festival at Creswick. 

In the top image, I’m pictured at Art & Collectors with my three paintings (L-R): Rose Arbour, Birds of a feather and Lady Justice ll, all 2024, acrylic on canvas panels. Directly below my works is Three Heated Figures, 1991, oil on board, by Dorothy Braund. (Photo credit: Shane Jones). 

Thank you to Angela Tandori and the crew from Art and Collectors for inviting me to be part of the exhibition and for making us feel so welcome.

The exhibition continues to 16 May.  

Every year Shane Jones and I declare ONE HUNDRED FACES at Playing in the Attic, which opened on Saturday afternoon, is the best one ever, and it really does seem to get better with every passing year. Apologies for the seemingly unavoidable reflections in the above installation view.

The work looked great, there was a fantastic turnout, a truckload of sales and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect. 

That’s Playing in the Attic’s Trudy McLauchlan directly above. Below, exhibiting artists Shane Jones and Loris Button take in the exhibition after the crowd has thinned out. 

ONE HUNDRED FACES can be viewed around the clock in the main window of Playing in the Attic until 25 May.

Sunday afternoon found us at Creswick, a short drive from Ballarat, for Creswick Theatre Company’s second Twelve Minute Play Festival. Over the course of an afternoon, 12 new Australian plays were presented, each of them twelve minutes in length. 

The eighth play, THE GIFT, a dark comedy by our friend, Gaye Britt, was perfectly paced, with a delightfully unexpected twist at the end. All twelve plays were terrific by degrees, but Gaye’s was one of the absolute standouts. Another of my favourites was the touching Either/Or by Kate Lawson. In contrast to Gaye’s play, it moved me to tears. 

Gaye is pictured above, centre, shortly before the house lights dimmed.

Outside Creswick Courthouse Theatre, the venue for the Twelve Minute Play Festival (shown above), I was thrilled to discover The Magic Pudding Playground, which is centred on one of my favourite books, The Magic Pudding, by Norman Lindsay. 

Creswick was the original home of the legendary Lindsay family, several of whom became celebrated artists and writers, including Lionel, Norman, Percy, Daryl and Ruby. 

My late father, Ron Klein, was also born there. I sometimes wonder whether he, his siblings and parents ever crossed paths with the Lindsays. I guess I’ll never know.