endings and beginnings

The art exhibition last week was a lovely ending to two years working in the Brisbane Botanic Gardens as artist in residence. The exhibition was held in the Richard Randall art studio nestled in the Mt Coot-tha Botanic Garden . All the watercolour and ink paintings were done in the garden during 2017.  Sculptures of birds, insects and plants made out of paper, ceramic and natural materials were also on display.

I will miss the beautiful Brisbane botanic gardens. They have been my inspiration for two years.

Now to clean my studio and get ready for a new project working with nature.

2017 draws to a close

Have a wonderful holiday.

Thank you for your support this year.

See you in 2018.

Les

Apron off.....

Endangered Species - Eucalytpus infera

For the past couple of months I have been painting specimens from the Eucalyptus Infera. Jason Halford  from the seed bank (which is situated in the Mt Coot-tha Botanic Garden ) has been supplying me with specimens. We are hoping to make a trip next week to see the trees growing in their natural habitat. I am looking forward to meeting the trees I have been painting. 

The Eucalyptus infera is listed as a vulnerable plant species.

 

Collaboration with RANT clothing - 'Grevillea' fabric

I had the wonderful opportunity this year to collaborate with Brisbane fashion designer Sarah Garrett-Hodoniczky of the fashion label RANT clothing. 

Combining the artwork of selected Grevillea specimens at the gardens and digitally printing them on pure cotton, a range of comfortable summer styles have been designed by Sarah at RANT for the new range.

To view the range please go to RANT clothing website - www.rantclothing.com.au

All garments are 100% made in Brisbane.

 

(Photographs taken in the Mt Coot-tha Botanic Garden by Todd Hunter Mcgaw)

 

ink workshop in the botanic garden

Photos of students wonderful work from the Ink workshop in the Mt Coot-tha Botanic Garden last weekend. They created wonderful inky images from botanical specimens.

 

I will be doing another ink workshop on the 6th September ( see 'workshop' page of the website)

 

bird call

Birds I have encountered in the botanical garden......... more sightings to come

The birds are made using recycled materials in the studio.

“I hope you love birds too. It is economical. It saves going to heaven.”  Emily Dickinson

bodhi tree

fluttering leaves

For the month of June I am working in the City Botanic Garden, Brisbane.

I discovered a huge Bodhi tree in the garden. It was blessed by the Dalai Lama on one of his visits to Brisbane. Thank you Lyn ( volunteer guide) for showing me the tree and telling me all about it.

The free garden tours led by the volunteer guides at 11 am and 1 pm each day are informative and well worth attending. A great way to learn about the garden.

remnants

falling petals

still lovely

after the workshop....

flower painting in the studio.

Susan's beautiful ink painting of flowers done today in the flower workshop. Everyone did wonderful painted and drawn interpretations of flowers.

art in the garden

'Art  in the garden' workshops start in May.

Classes are held in the pavilion nestled in the Australian Plant Section of the Botanic Garden. It is wonderful to work looking out into nature. For our first class it rained lightly after tea. 

Wendy creating magic with charcoal.

“The workshop is not a class to make art; it is a class to make mistakes, to rework, not to make finished pieces”
— Rick Rotante

1. traces

“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”
— John Muir - John of the Mountains

The new work has begun. 

a slow walk

a slow walk in the garden reveals hidden beauty. Standing still and listening to the breeze in the leaves, the rustle in the grass of a darting water dragon , the ducks on the lake. Looking up to discover two Tawny Frogmouths staring down at me. 

Place

“A place belongs forever to whoever claims it hardest, remembers it most obsessively, wrenches it from itself, shapes it, renders it, loves it so radically that he remakes it in his own image “
”
— Joan Didion

standing at the edge.

traces of landscape 01.04.17 - 31.03.18

A new year begins with Autumn in the garden. The theme of this years work is' Traces of Landscape'.

“These trees are magnificent, but even more magnificent is the sublime and moving space between them, as though with their growth it too increased. ”
— Rilke

by a pond

“I am following nature without being able to grasp her..I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers”
— Claude Monet

Pru gave me a big bucket of waterlilies. What a treat it has been to paint them. Thank you Pru.

banksia . banksia

“One looks,looks long, and the world comes in”
— Joseph Campbell

back to work! Into the last month of painting in the garden. Painting what I love most.

summer in the Japenese garden

Summer is here.  

“Go to the object. Leave your subjective preoccupation with yourself. Do not impose yourself on the object. Become one with the object. Plunge deep enough into the object to see something like a hidden glimmering there.”
— Matsuo Basho