A quarter of the way through this year, I decided that it was about time I took some actual art classes.  Since, clearly, I was doing visual art, it made sense to learn something about it.  I chose my teacher by (relatively) slapstick accident.  I met Karen Nield through a ‘speed dating’ event run by Monash council for artists and arts workers.  While I’ve continued working with sand, I’ve been working with other mediums in Karen’s studio once a week.  In particular, I’ve settled on using white charcoal and pastel on black cardboard.  The technique is the closest I could get to the kind of head-space that the sand art forces me into – the way light works, the way shadows are achieved, where the focus is.

The theme has been the 18-month sojourn in the Solomon Islands. The time has been on my mind and I haven’t really found ways to celebrate the experience on the projector, the pace has just been too small.

And so, with Karen, I have been exploring my favourite photos as well as my favourite memories – the ones I wasn’t able to capture.  And that has been a total joy.

And so… It looks like I’m getting enough work together for an exhibition… Wow.  That will be an experience.  Stay tuned.