2020 - Is this Real??

Well, here we are in a new decade and whoever would have thought that it would bring a Pandemic? Certainly not me - and I guess not the other millions of people on our planet.

While we are all struggling in different ways and extremes, I have intentionally tried to focus on taking one day at a time and on the positive aspects during this challenging time of worry, change and the unknown.

For this reason in this blog I am only writing about the positive tools that have helped me over the last 6 months.

The first is embracing the “slowness” and the extra “time” that we have been provided with. During the two lockdowns that we have endured in Melbourne I have been unable to work at my job, so have used every possible free moment to get into my studio and lose myself in my art. With my favourite tunes pumping out of my speaker nice and loud, this opportunity has allowed me to escape reality and disappear into the bliss of creating.

“Exercise”, mainly long walks in nature and yoga/meditation has also been essential to my daily schedule. Appreciating good food, and the simple things like a good coffee have never seemed so special.

Spending time with my husband and daughters in our family home at a time when our girls should be preparing to enter the world on their own, (one who was about to move overseas), has been a time to really appreciate them for who they are and cherish being together and safe.

I feel like life has been stripped back to the basics so that we can appreciate the simple things that we may have taken for granted. It is almost like a “re-set” button has been pushed and as we emerge again after this passes maybe we will have changed for the good, view our lives differently and appreciate what really matters.

For me those things are: Health, Food, Shelter, Family and Friends.

Through this I have had to remember the importance of love and kindness, at times in moments of anxiety and worry I have spiralled towards blame, anger and judgment of others. Hopefully when this time passes and we may return to some kind of life that we have all been so lucky to have experienced before Covid, LOVE, Compassion and Kindness will be stronger than ever.

Lockdown II

A3 Original Collage

Solo Exhibition - SYZYGY @Folk Alley Cafe, St Andrews 14/11/18-18/1/19

2018 has been a very busy year for me personally.

There has been a few holidays, daughters growing with one leaving home, my part time job ending and the commencement of a new one a few weeks ago AND a few group exhibitions that I took part in.

It’s exciting to be coming towards the end of the year and having my first solo exhibition at the quaint Folk Alley Cafe located in the St. Andrews General Store, surrounded by beautiful bushland.

The exhibition is titled “Syzygy” - the definition of this is:

1.        Astronomy . an alignment of three celestial objects, as the sun, the earth, and either the  moon or a planet: 

Syzygy in the sun-earth moon system occurs at the time of full moon and new moon.

2.   any two related things, either alike or opposite.

The exhibition features collage works inspired by emotions and feelings experienced through the many different moon phases combined with my personal practice of yoga. Other inspiration also comes from relationships experienced and my love of flora and the natural beauty of our world, the importance of balance being a strong theme.

The exhibition opens this coming Saturday night 17th November, 2018 from 6-8pm.

Please feel welcome to join me and share light refreshments with drinks at bar prices.

If you are unable to attend opening night the exhibition runs over the christmas period until the 18th January, 2018.

St. Andrews is a beautiful peaceful country town, perfect for a Saturday morning visit to the market, combined with lunch at the cafe or other local eateries.

Printmaking course - collagraph technique ....

2017 resulted in being a busy year, full of new learning.  

I commenced part-time paid employment in a local shoe store, which has been a pleasure, especially being surrounded by gorgeous fashionable shoes.

It was tricky balancing life, work and art however the year was enjoyable.

8 months was spent attending a Printmaking course at Manningham Art Studios refreshing myself with linocut and dry-point intaglio.  I really enjoyed learning the technique of "collagraph" printmaking as this basically is a form of collage, incorporated with printing the plate resulting in a variety of texture and possibilities of color.

In December our class participated in the group exhibition of all students that studied at Manningham Arts Studio.  Titled "Reading Art"  each class was given the line from a story and interpreted that sentence in their own form.   Printmaking group had the line "the box appeared on the lawn one sunny afternoon" ...

One of the collagraph prints exhibited

The Space Between (Us)

Fellow artists and friends from NCAT Create 2016 have come together again as Chimera to exhibit at Balkon Art Incubator, Preston, Melbourne.

The exhibition is titled The Space Between (Us)  and as always this theme is interpreted in a variety of different ways.

Opening night was Friday, 17th November, 2017 with a huge crowd, which was great to see.  The gallery is located at 635 Plenty Road, Preston and opening hours are each Saturday and Sunday, 12 noon - 5.30pm. 

Exhibition closes on Sunday, 3rd December, 2017 which is the afternoon that I will be sitting at the gallery.  I would love it if you could drop in and say hello, while viewing the divine range of art works exhibited.

Opening Night

Pictured with my work "Higher Self"

Current Chimera Group Exhibition at Darebin Arts & Entertainment Centre, Preston

The most current group exhibition that I have work exhibited in is titled "Within the Grid" by a collective of artists who I studied with at the Northern College of Arts in 2016. 

The group is titled "Chimera" deriving the name from  a mythical or fictional animal with parts taken from various animals, or anything composed of very disparate parts, or perceived as wildly imaginative, implausible or dazzling.

The work that is exhibited uses the concept of a GRID as inspiration for a series of diverse works that we completed as part of the NCAT Create course in 2016.  The works are innovative and diverse in intent, conception and execution, incorporating various materials and art media, with both 2D and 3D pieces.

Opening night was well attended on Friday 7th April and the exhibition runs from 4 - 28 April, 2017.

Reflections of 2016 and what lies ahead for 2017 …..

I had every intention of writing this blog entry at least 4 weeks’ ago, early in 2017 but as usual time seems to pass by way too quickly. 

With every new year I subconsciously reflect on the year that has passed, celebrating achievements, feeling proud of new things learnt and being grateful for good health and happy times spent with family and friends.  Sometimes the year that passes delivers these fortunate memories more than others and I feel fortunate that last year was one of those years for me.

2016 was a wonderful year for me in terms of personal growth as I studied my Certificate III in Visual Arts at Northern College of Arts and Technology.  The course was part-time and provided an excellent opportunity for me to learn new skills that I previously had not explored.  The exposure to collage, watercolors, oils, acrylics, intaglio, gelatine and lino-cut printing have added a new dimension to my art and skills that I had not previously had.  Weekly life drawing sessions really pushed me out of my comfort zone, into that space of self-doubt which is so critical to learning and growth.  Prior to the course I really hadn’t enjoyed drawing and didn’t possess the skill or knowledge however, it is so nice to confidently say that I can now draw.  

It was a really special time to work alongside other talented artists, collaborate and learn from one another.  I feel really blessed to have met such beautiful women who have become wonderful friends.

Naturally, a particular medium resonates with us more than others and one that I am particularly enjoying at the moment is collage. 

To enhance my interest and gain further inspiration, I attended a workshop in January at the home studio of Anne Warren and this inspired me to continue exploring collage further, resulting in a body of works titled “Glamorous Nature”.

These pieces explore the synchronicity between women and nature, in particular how the beauty of each collide and enhance each other.   We live in a fast paced, disposable, sometimes artificial world where beauty is so often critically judged.  My intention is for these works to celebrate the simplistic beauty of women and nature.

While I really never “plan” for what lies ahead, I do intend to exhibit this series in the future, whenever that may be.   This series came together quite organically and while I can have the best of intentions of what work I may like to produce, the majority of the time it just happens.

I have made some conscious efforts however for 2017 which include continuing with intaglio printing and learning collagraph printing.  As always I will always work on some mosaic pieces and jewellery.

For me it is important to be involved in my local arts’ community and therefore I will be volunteering as a Gallery Attendant at the beautiful historic Montsalvat in Eltham on a fortnightly basis.  This provides an excellent opportunity to support other artists who exhibit in the galleries and also assist the daily operations at Montsalvat.

The first exhibition that I will take part in this year is titled “What Lies Beneath”  a group exhibition by Thou Art Mum exploring Layers at the Long Gallery Montsalvat in April/May.  

The 2016 NCAT Create students will also be exhibiting works relating to "Grids" at Darebin Arts & Entertainment Centre from 3rd April - 1st May, 2017 and I will exhibit a piece titled "Spring in Tathra" in this group exhibition.

This year I will continue to have my art available for purchase.  Currently it is available via Etsy, Red Bubble, Saatchi Art and other exhibitions throughout the year.   Direct enquiries via this website and social media are also welcome.

How it all began and some personal details about me ...........

I am a mother of 3 young females who I absolutely adore and cherish.  I am also a devoted and supportive wife, living in the leafy northern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia.  I work from my home studio and operate Fickle Nellie.

I have had a few different jobs during my professional life; waitress, legal secretary, receptionist, administration/office duties and my last profession was in the Early Childhood Sector as a co-educator in 3 & 4 year old programs.

Personally my interests and passions are: music, walking, yoga, weight training/gym, cycling, reading, singing, coffee, good food, friends and I love the beach.

I have always been drawn to the aesthetics of mosaics and learning the art was on my "list of things to learn and do".  Ten years ago the opportunity to do this presented itself.  After admiring the work of a family friend named Pam, I asked her if she was interested in giving me private lessons and I was so lucky that she offered to do so.  

I visited Pam for a 3 hour lesson once a fortnight for about 2 months, at her home studio and looked forward to this time so much, excitedly waiting for the next lesson at the end of each completed class.  I was so fortunate to be taught by such a talented woman, who inspires me so much with her amazing work.

Pam set me free to practise independently and I just kept making whenever I had spare time.  Initially, I created garden balls and other garden objects.  In 2013 I joined a local female artists' group named Thou Art Mum, who exhibit annually with themed exhibitions.  The first exhibition that I entered a piece in was titled "Branching Out" (a tree theme).  

I had a collection of 3 mannequins and was inspired to mosaic a female torso, with trees wrapped around her body.  This was the first large piece that I had attempted to work on and after many hours "Mother Nature" was complete and exhibited at the Long Gallery, Montsalvat (2/4/14 - 11/5/14).  It was with mixed emotions that this piece was sold and I was fortunate to be the recipient of the People's Choice Award, for this piece.

"Mother Nature" exhibited in the Long Gallery, Montsalvat, Eltham as part of Thou Art Mum Group Exhibition,  Branching Out, 2014.  Nominated as People's Choice Award winner.

The next Thou Art Mum Exhibition for 2014 was "On the Surface" at Gasworks Art Park, Albert Park, with the theme exploring pattern and texture.  For this exhibition I was inspired to produce 3 works combining the contrast of mosaic with printed retro material.  I entered 3 pieces for this exhibition and these were also the first framed mosaic pieces that I produced, taking my work to a new level.

In addition to producing mosaic works, I taught myself how to bead and create jewellery.  I like to wear a variety of colorful pieces of jewellery and found that it was difficult to find unique pieces to accessorise with my outfits.  This prompted me to experiment with a variety of materials including gems, thai silver and rare vintage belt buckles.  I have created and sold many pieces of jewellery, including earrings, rings, bracelets and necklaces.  

My jewellery and mosaic creations became popular and with quite a few sales happening I decided to create Fickle Nellie a business selling unique one of a kind pieces.  I then opened an online store with Etsy in 2013 - https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/FickleNellie.  

I have tried a few different sales approaches including sales within the home (party plan style) and a few different markets.  Sales and marketing is still an area  that I will be focussing more energy on, with a shop opening on this website very soon.