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

Happy New Year

Revisiting an old work as a new year begins: Beacon, 1995, oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm.

The painting resurfaced during our move from Melbourne to Ballarat in 2019, so it has become a signifier of new beginnings in more ways than one. 

New Year’s Eve was also Shane Jones’s and my anniversary; last night marked 32 wonderful years. A celebratory meal at Oscar’s in Ballarat was followed by a pyrotechnics display that we modestly believe was unparalleled anywhere in the world - forget about Sydney Harbour. 

 

Wishing you a Happy First Day of 2025 - and also the remaining 364.

Our 30th Anniversary

Happy First Day of 2023!

New Year’s Eve 2022 was especially significant for Shane Jones and I, as it marked the 30th anniversary of the night we met. Ironically, it was at a mutual friend’s New Year’s Eve party neither of us had wanted to go to. (Unlike our cat, Alice, we are not, nor have we ever been, party animals). 

Earlier in the evening we enjoyed a celebratory meal at Oscar’s in Ballarat (top picture), and later welcomed in the New Year at home with Prosecco and sparklers.

By way of a trip down Memory Lane, the remaining photos, the best I’ve been able to excavate from my iPhone in a relatively short space of time, date from 2002 to 2022.

In the studio at our former Abbotsford home. Clipping from Domain, THE AGE, Melbourne, April 24, 2002.

Excerpt from the Gallery Association Magazine, Art Gallery of Ballarat. Interview by Amanda McGraw, 21 January, 2020.

With Shane at his solo show at Charles Nodrum Gallery, 12 June, 2007. Directly behind Shane: Steven Kafkarisos. In the background to my right: Mark Chapman and Angela Cavalieri.

At RMIT TAFE Gallery, Melbourne, in front of my linocut installation, Iron Butterflies, 7 December, 2007. Photo credit: Robin Rogers.

At the opening of a group show at C3 Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne, 2 September, 2009. Far right: Paul Compton.

Pictured with Shane and his sculpture, Passage, at the Small Sculpture Awards, Deakin University, 22 October, 2009

Article by Megan Frankel-Vaughan, Sunraysia Daily, Mildura, Thursday November 27, 2014.

Photographed by Anne Spudvilas (who also made the martinis) at her former property at Wentworth on 6 December, 2014.

Alice at our former home in Abbotsford on 24 December, 2017, two days after she first came into our lives.

In Melbourne with our friend Leigh Hobbs and Shane’s sister, Patricia Gillard, 11 December, 2019.

Directly after the sale of our previous home at Golden Point, 18 November, 2019. Photo: Terrence Morse.

At our present home in Ballarat East shortly after we took possession in late 2019. Photo credit: Tim Gresham.

At the opening of Backstories, my solo show at Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne, 24 July, 2021. Photo: Kathryn Ryan/Julie Keating.

I can’t begin to imagine where the past 30 years have gone to, nor can I imagine life without Shane. Happy 30th Anniversary to the love of my life. Long may our journey continue. 

At Potts Point, Sydney, October, 2022.

Moving forward

This brand new year may still be markedly tarnished by the old one, but in anticipation of better days to come, here is a preview of just some of what’s ahead, at least, in my little corner of the world. 

Due to circumstances entirely beyond my control (one of those infernal curveballs referred to in my last post) there will be further changes to my exhibition schedule for 2021. My heartfelt thanks and gratitude go to Stephen McLaughlan, Director, Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Theo and Soula Mantalvanos, Co-Directors of Queenscliff Gallery and Anne Virgo, Director, Australian Print Workshop, for their kindness, support and understanding and for rearranging their already brimful exhibition calendars with astonishing dexterity.

My revised exhibition dates for 2021 are as follows: 

Backstories, Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, July 21 - August 7. Opening 2 - 4 pm Saturday July 24

Rückenfigur (working title), Queenscliff Gallery, 30 September - 18 October

The George Collie APW Award Exhibition, Australian Print Workshop, Melbourne, will also run in the latter half of the year, most likely in September. Dates TBA.

More detailed information will be supplied nearer the time of each event.

On a positive note, the delays have enabled me to extend my vision by creating additional works for both solo shows. Pictured on the drawing board, top, are two of several paintings in progress for my exhibition at Queenscliff Gallery. 

A new dawn

The sun rises on a new decade and a kinder, gentler world in Soothsayer (acrylic on linen, 40.5 x 30.5 cm).

Wishing you a safe and happy New Year, with all the good things you would wish for yourself in 2020, and beyond.

Another New Year's Eve

At the start of 2019, the painting in the top left-hand corner above was on my easel. I wondered then, as we all do when another year has just lurched to a close, what the coming year would bring. If only I'd known.

The images above are not my "best nine"; rather they are a random selection of some of the works undertaken during 2019. It was a surprisingly productive year. Given the unexpected direction our lives took, I still can't believe I managed any studio time at all.

Most years are a roller coaster ride and this one was no exception. I hope it has ended on a positive note for you, as it has for Shane, Alice and I. 

Goodbye 2018

There are several #bestnine apps designed for Instagram wherein your most popular nine posts for the year are gathered together and displayed in grid form. I decided to give it a try, and, as this is the last day of the year, thought I’d share the results here.

My nine for 2018 were not chosen by a robot, however, but by me. Whether these are actually my best nine is subjective, but they’re fairly indicative of where the work is right now and where it’s potentially heading from here. 

Enjoy the final hours of 2018, everyone. I have a feeling that 2019 is going to be a fantastic year!

Out with the Old, in with the New (and so say all of us)

We've just arrived at Ballarat, where we'll see in the New Year.

I must admit we weren't looking forward to the journey. In the past week Alice, our rescue cat, has settled into our Abbotsford home with astonishing rapidity. Shane and I didn't want to traumatise our new family member any more than she already has been in her young life. But, happy-go-lucky kitten that she is, she took it all in her tiny stride, despite not being impressed with having to travel in a cat basket.

The only time I've seen a new pet settle in quicker than Alice did at Abbotsford was today, when she made herself instantly at home here. She's also been as good as gold and hasn't even attempted to fell the Christmas tree - at least, not yet.

Whether you're a party animal like our Alice, or plan a slightly more sedate evening, much like Shane and I, we wish you all a fun, happy and safe New Year's Eve - and may it roll over to more of the same in 2018.

Happy New Year

2016 is a leap year, so whatever your resolutions may be, you will have 366 days to realise them. Whether your goals include turning over a new leaf or you decide to stay just as you are, may you rise to every challenge in a year filled with happiness, creativity and good health.

A clear work top ready for the New Year and new beginnings. (My workstation at Abbotsford in Melbourne).