Although I have started working on a print for the Osmosis Exhibition later this year, I’m still not convinced. So I thought I would revisit the photos I took on my last excursion, and start planning the next! The contemplation of revisiting has been with me since my first visit, because it really is an interesting and inspiring place to delve into from a cultural and historical perspective, let alone the scenery. This coming weekend is also the staging of an Art Festival there, which would be fantastic to go to. Part of Lumina, a calendar of winter festivals in Tasmania, the town is promising to entertain with arts and crafts, tours, a gala ball (which would be great fun) and all the attractions that Queenstown has to offer.

The town is nestled into a sort of basin that is surrounded by dramatic hills. These hills were devoid of any vegetation for a long period of time due to harsh mining practices, but are now returning to their naturally dense forest state. The cool rainforests that border the town suggest that some control of the vegetation is needed to keep the sun shining on the brightly painted houses and keep the moss at bay in the not too distant future. Such is the dilemma for life on the west coast.

So it is back to the drawing board to allow the thoughts to fester and hopefully emerge with renewed direction for the work that needs to begin. But if you do have a chance to head over to Queenstown this weekend (14th, 15th and 16th May) then there will be plenty of entertainment and interest from the area.

I’m just back from a trip to Queenstown on the West Coast of Tasmania. It is a dramatic drive across the mountain ranges to get there, and made all the more dramatic by the bushfires that were dominating the news. The smoke enclosed the ranges and sank into the valleys.

One stop along the drive was the beautiful Nelson Falls. The forest of leatherwood trees mixed into the temperate rainforest were in full bloom and the air was filled with a hum of bees as they worked their magic amongst the spectacular white petals which were raining down in gentle drifts gathering on top of ferns and cast across the forest floor. Just beautiful!

What a contrast entering Queenstown! The hills surrounding this mining town were laid bare by the ravages of harsh past mining practices, but the regrowth is now establishing itself with a vengeance and it is possible to imagine the forest I had just left eventually covering the steep slopes.

More to come!

While I was at it I added a few things to my blogroll, like the black and white Flash website I built for my Dad’s sculptures, Sculptural Forms and the photo website Photomuse that was really about finding different ways to display a gallery of images in Flash.

I also did some appearance changes to Tania’s Golden Moments Massage website, which I haven’t told her about yet! See how long it takes for her to discover the new look? It is similar to the old one really, just a bit simpler.

So having familiarised myself with the old html code again it is time to move on to something else I guess! Ahh I know – time to work on my son Craig’s mechanical air-conditioning website, Duomec…

The New Year was welcomed in with a flashy storm after a very hot day here in Tasmania. Flashy because it made a lot of lightening flashes across the sky with some deep rumbling to accompany the light show, then only delivered a short burst of rain and very little cool breeze to drive away the heat that had settled in the house. So no trip to the wharf to watch the fireworks this year, just the backyard! You can just make out the row of white socks on the washing line – ah suburbia!

So what does 2010 have  lined up? Some of my work from the Master of Fine Art examination exhibition will be on show – and sale – at the Brunswick Street Gallery between the 26th and 11th of March in a group show called Printmaking 10A. I’ll post some more information about it as it appears, but the news blog on my website is also a place to check. I’ll post the work that I will have in the show there.

Also happening is Osmosis 2010. This year we are travelling to Queenstown on the West Coast of Tasmania to delve into the aesthetics, history and culture of the town. It has been a mining town which has had boom times and hard times and the remoteness along with the weather conditions (plenty of rain) make it a challenging place to live.

I took this photo about 9 years ago when I was lucky to have the opportunity to walk around the Queenstown copper mine. This is the edge of the mine which dives into a deep funnel.

So I will be posting events as they happen on the news blog of the Osmosis Artists website, starting with a trip over to Queenstown next month.

Looks like a busy year is starting to take shape…!

I have been dabbling in the craft of website building again for a friend at university. It is such an interesting process – especially when you use a hand code method and need to negotiate the scope of the project keeping in mind that this is an interest rather than a business!

Bert Aperloo has been terrific to work with – fast to deliver the content I ask for and happy to alter things according to design and time restraints. He is a multi talented man and his work truly reflects who he is which is a fabulous quality in this day and age of over emphasising mediocrity through repetition of thematics. His work has a lot of strong and unique qualities.

Bert Aperloo is having an exhibition at the Top Gallery in Salamanca Arts Centre during November, so if your in the area it will be a good show of work that will form part of his Master of Fine Art.

Tomorrow is set up day for the Osmosis Exhibition. It is going to be an exciting show with work in various media. If you haven’t had a chance to have a look at the Osmosis website yet, then it has quite a lot of the work that will be in the exhibition on it so it is a good browse!.

The exhibition will be at the Sidespace Gallery in the Salamanca Arts Centre from the 8th to the 21st and we are having an opening night on the 10th at 5.30pm. Come along and have a pre dinner nibble and a glass fo wine to celebrate the beauty and diversity of Bruny Island captured by twelve Tasmanian female artists!

The tannin rich water that has been flowing onto the beach over the last couple of months is such a beautiful translucent tone – just love it! It looked like silk in the afternoon glow.

I kept the curtain open in my room so that the morning light would force me out of bed to catch the sunrise! It was well worth it as the colours glowed a warmth and grace that left a calm feeling with me all day.

The first light struck the white of the waves as it lifted above the sand dunes and highlighted the rocky cliff faces on the other side of Cloudy Bay.

The morning sun was also fabulous for picking up the edges of the patterns left by the water running off the sandy beach. Delightful dancing forms!

But eventually it was down to work! I like ot use tools from the environment that I am working in, and in this case the screw shell made an excellent scratchy tool. They are a foreign species to Tasmania, coming from New Zealand, but they are super efficient at breeding and it is a sad sight when you see a beach covered with these invading shells. It suited my project to use a screw shell to mark the plate that subtly refers to the colonising of Australia.

Bruny Island lighthouse is a very popular spot for visitors to go. Located on the southern tip of the south end of Bruny it is a fabulous place to check out the view of the coastline. Great spot for a lighthouse I guess! I arrived towards the end of the day when there was a brief moment of sunshine warming up the side of the structure.

This view from the lighthouse is towards the bay we stayed in for our Osmosis 2009 workshop weekend. It is out of view of course, but after another 45 minutes (or so) drive I arrived at the Cloudy Bay Cabin and took to the beach with my camera as the sun disappeared for the day.

The landscape is just beautiful on the Island. The profiles of the distant hills are quite a dominant feature – perhaps because you can see so much without interruption.

The Osmosis journey is on again this year. We have expanded our number of exhibitors to a healthy dozen and we have an exhibition scheduled for September at the Sidespace gallery in the Salamanca Arts Centre.

First step is to take the journey to the location we have chosen, which is Bruny Island this year. Several ladies have already ventured across the short but deep stretch of water that lies between the Tasmanian shore and the Bruny coastline. The ferry leaves from Kettering and tomorrow I will be on it to join a group of 5 for a weekend of making art.

This year we have people working in a number of media – painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture, so the final exhibition will be an exciting event as we gather together the work for the first time. We have built a website which is at the ‘bare bones’ stage but the news page is a blog which will have entries of progress as we work towards the September 8 deadline.

So I’m off to put together a boiled fruit cake  and all the arty supplies I might need for the weekend, and of course the camera! Hopefully it won’t rain the whole time and I will have some half decent photos to share here when I get back.

I know it is a bit over the top to put up so many photos – but it is such a fantastic, magical place to take in the sunset that I just can’t resist sharing the moments as they happened! The island on the right is called Woody Island and it used to be grazed by sheep – how wonderful it imagine the sheep being rowed across to and from the island!