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.

The work is a descendent of two early works (pictured below), both of which share similar iconography: The Third Time, 1995, oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm (collection: the artist) and Not Drowning, 1996, oil pastel, 160 x 120 cm. (Collection Grafton Regional Gallery, NSW. Acquired through the Jacaranda Drawing Award 1996).

A SEAT AT THE TABLE: A gentle reminder

Pictured top: Rose Arbour, 2024, acrylic on canvas panel, 30.5 x 30.5 cm, one of three of my works included in A SEAT AT THE TABLE: A Celebration of Women Artists, opening tomorrow evening, April 23,  from 5-8 pm at Art and Collectors in Fitzroy.

Rose Arbour is from a suite of works drawing inspiration from the works of British Arts & Crafts artist, designer and educator, May Morris (1862-1938), who in recent years has finally stepped out of the giant shadow cast by her father, William Morris (1834-1896). 

Exhibiting artists: Ann Howie, Ann Thomson, Anne Marie Hall, Anne Montgomery, Bridget Riley, Deborah Klein, Deborah Walker, Dorothea Francis, Dorothy Braund, Erica Tandori, Evie Cahir, GW Bot, Hyunju Kim, Isabelle Chouinard, Jennifer Huang, Jenny Kitchener, Judy Cassab, Karan Hayman, Kari Henriksen, Karima Baadilla, Kate Beynon, Kathryn Ryan, Marie Mansfield, Miranda Hampson, Mirka Mora, Naomi White, Nora Wompi, Rachel Newling, Rona Green, Rosalie Gascoigne, Sophia Szilagyi, Sue Jarvis, Susan Baird, Susannah Bond, Sylvia Ken, Tanya Hoddinott, Thea Proctor, Vida Lahey and Yvonne Boag.

A SEAT AT THE TABLE: A Celebration of Women Artists

Art & Collectors

1/165 Gertrude Street

Fitzroy VIC

The exhibition runs from 24 April - 16 May 2026.

A SEAT AT THE TABLE: A Celebration of Women Artists

The works of many artists I’ve long admired will presently be gathered around a very special table at Art & Collectors, Melbourne. It’s a distinct privilege to have been invited to join them.

A SEAT AT THE TABLE celebrates the women who made room for themselves — and for those who would follow — in the evolving conversation of art. Set around an antique Japanese dining table, the gallery becomes a place of gathering — salon-hung, conversational, like stories shared over a meal.

This exhibition honours both history and momentum, celebrating the enduring power of women artists. Take a seat with these women — cool, composed, and collected.

- Art & Collectors website

Three of my paintings have been included in the exhibition, including Birds of a feather, 2024, acrylic on canvas panel, 30.5 x 30.5 cm. (Image 1, top). 

To preview another of my works curated into A SEAT AT THE TABLE, go HERE. 

Artists include: Ann Howie, Ann Thomson, Anne Marie Hall, Anne Montgomery, Bridget Riley, Deborah Klein, Deborah Walker, Dorothea Francis, Dorothy Braund, Erica Tandori, Evie Cahir, GW Bot, Hyunju Kim, Isabelle Chouinard, Jennifer Huang, Jenny Kitchener, Judy Cassab, Karan Hayman, Kari Henriksen, Karima Baadilla, Kate Beynon, Kathryn Ryan, Marie Mansfield, Miranda Hampson, Mirka Mora, Naomi White, Nora Wompi, Rachel Newling, Rona Green, Rosalie Gascoigne, Sophia Szilagyi, Sue Jarvis, Susan Baird, Susannah Bond, Sylvia Ken, Tanya Hoddinott, Thea Proctor, Vida Lahey, Yvonne Boag.

Art & Collectors

A SEAT AT THE TABLE: A Celebration of Women Artists 

Opening Night: 5pm–8pm, Thursday April 23

Location: 1/165 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, VIC

An invitation is attached. (Image on invitation: The Painter by Deborah Walker). 

The exhibition runs from 24 April - 16 May 2026.

A Bonus Post for INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

 

Yesterday I delivered my painting, Lady Justice ll, 2024, to Art & Collectors Gallery for A Seat at the Table 2026, a forthcoming group exhibition focusing on the work of women artists. 

Subsequently I discovered that the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day, which, as previously noted, falls today, is Balance the Scales. 

Lady Justice ll, 2024, Acrylic on canvas panel, 30.5 x 30.5 cm (pictured top) will be taking a seat at the table at Art & Collectors Gallery from 24 April - 16 May. 

Further information about the exhibition will be posted nearer the time.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2026

On International Women’s Day 2026, here’s to the notorious Femmes Fatales of Film Noir, who never did care for the rules and weren’t afraid to break them. 

Pictured: Deborah Klein, Lady of the Camellias, 2026, acrylic on linen, from the Flowers of the Femmes Fatales series. 

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.

One Hundred Faces 2025 #2: Lady of the Camellias

One of many things I relish about ONE HUNDRED FACES at Playing in the Attic is that it can present an opportunity to take new ideas for a test run. The two works I’ve made for this year’s exhibition will form the basis for a future suite of works incorporating flowers associated with the femme fatale in film noir. 

Pictured top: Lady of the Camellias, 2025, acrylic on canvas board, 10.16 x 10.16 cm, followed by selected views charting the development of the painting. 

As an early rough sketch reveals, the face decoration was originally intended to represent an orchid, another flower symbolically linked with the femme fatale. 

The work was initially under-painted in Payne’s Grey. Aside from the flower tattoo, I had envisaged the rest of the image in monochrome - a nod to the classic black and white films from which it draws its primary inspiration.

To preview Cultivated Poppy, the companion work I created for the exhibition, go HERE.

The sixth iteration of ONE HUNDRED FACES will be launched at 2 pm this coming Saturday, 26 April. The exhibition continues until 25 May.

Playing in the Attic 

13 Ballaarat Street

Talbot VIC 3371

Hours: Friday - Monday, 10 am - 4 pm.  

Eye Candy

Pictured top: a recent studio view. The newly completed painting, Eye Candy, is on the worktable, and looming over it is a poster of the work that was its primary influence, Portrait of the Journalist Sylvia von Harden, 1926, by Otto Dix, one of my favourite paintings in the entire world. 

In 1993, I was awarded a three-month Australia Council studio residency at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris. I still recall the thrill of coming upon Dix’s original on my first visit to Centre Pompidou. Until then, I’d only ever seen it in reproduction.

Subsequently I purchased the poster from the gallery shop. Ordinarily I’m not one for souvenirs, but wanted to memorialise that indelible moment of discovery. When I unrolled the poster back in my studio at the Cité, however, I discovered a serious fault in the colour reproduction and had to return it the following day. I felt ridiculously proud that I was able to explain the situation in my less than basic Council of Adult Education French - although I guess the flaw was fairly self-explanatory. The poster was cheerfully exchanged for the one shown here and it has been with me ever since. 

The hairstyle in a vintage photographic portrait that I’d had on file for ages was the basis for my protagonist’s bobbed hair. Serendipitously, the woman in the photograph is Otto Dix’s wife, Martha Dix. It has been cropped from the original image, a double portrait of Martha and Otto Dix, 1925, by August Sander. You can see it HERE. 

The Dadaesque eyepiece in Eye Candy takes its cue from Sylvia von Harden’s iconic monocle.

Directly below: an earlier studio view with Eye Candy still a work in progress. 

Eye Candy, 2024, acrylic on canvas board, 30.5 x 30.5 cm will be part of WAYS OF BEING, my solo exhibition at Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne, running from December 4-24.

For further information on WAYS OF BEING, scroll down to my previous post. 

Acanthus

On the easel, top: Acanthus, 2024, acrylic on canvas board, last seen on June 1 as part of Decorated Women, two giant projections towering over Ballarat’s wet and wintry streets* in White Night Ballarat 2024.

*N.B. Spring is here now, supposedly, and it’s still wet and wintry. But I digress…

Acanthus can be viewed up close and personal (and on a more human scale) in my upcoming solo exhibition at Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne from December 4-24. Do save the date. 

Photo credit image 2: Tim Gresham 

Photo credit image 3: Shane Jones

TENDER GRAPES, a work in progress

Pictured above, from top: a new studio pinboard (carefully curated, as it holds a mere fraction of my huge postcard collection) and on the worktable, L-R: Tender Grapes, 2023, acrylic on canvas panel, 10 x 10 cm (study) and Tender Grapes, 2024, acrylic on canvas panel, 30.5 x 30.5 cm (work in progress).

Pictured below: a closer view of the works. For more about the study for Tender Grapes (a finished work in its own right, as are all the studies in this series), go HERE.

The face tattoo is based on the following detail from Autumn and Winter, c 1895-1900, an embroidered panel designed by May Morris. 

Both paintings will be included in Decorated Women, my solo exhibition at Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, opening on December 4.