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 Rust or Iron has always been a part of my life since my early days as a potter.  I no longer glaze pots and commit them to the fire for the iron oxides to coat them with colour.  Time passing has always been a theme of my work since the nineties and it still speaks to me but in cloth now.  We use and create with iron for its strength, dig it up raw from the earth and cast it into all manner of things.  Gradually as time goes on the iron breaks down and rusts and returns to the earth from where it came.  On cloth it leaves beautiful markings with additions of vinegar and salt.  The serendipity of this is the same as a kiln opening, you do not know really what you finally get till all is revealed.  Different weights of cloths give different markings, temperature and time of the year have an effect as well.  Nature has its say on the final imprints on your piece.  I created this quilt with circles of rust, time and nature moves in cycles ...

The border ranges and Lamington National Park are never far from my heart, having lived there over twenty years.  Huge mountain ranges stretching as far as the eye can see, rainforests lush with life and greenery, skies that go on forever.  When I die that is where I want my ashes to go, down where the wild eagles fly and the thunderstorms gather on hot afternoons to march their way north.  It is something I do think about as my life is shortening now, I have been given my exit date approximately and life is about looking back and reliving in one's mind as one looks at going.  I have been painting lately, loving it.  This is a 24 x 24 inch canvas titled of course, "Border Ranges" and am doing a whole series on them, seeing myself back there as I do, loving the memories and the journey. 

Memory from my life on Lamb Island, the bay was an integral part of our life and had many moods.  Acrylic on Canvas. 

I started my art journey as a potter, lots of mugs, jugs and casseroles, till I eventually made large gold art pieces.  I stopped several years ago, painted for some time then into quilting.  Lately I have been returning to painted work that echoes my time in the ceramics world.  I enjoy working with lustres and gold leaf and textures.  This piece is 24 inches x 36 inches, acrylic on canvas, yet to be titled.  I will probably be only featuring paintings on my blog into the future, quilting is fading for me as a form of expression.  Its an odd angle to photograph a work from however I wanted to show the light on the gilded areas. 

I lived in South Australia for a time and  used to love to drive along beside the mighty Murray River, the colours so Australian.  The high sandstone cliffs in places towering over the river and rich bird life made it a very special part of Australia.  The rusted and dyed fabrics in this piece are reminiscent of the Murray and that time in my life.  Picnics along  the river banks with my children and then the long drive back to the Adelaide Hills where we lived dot my memories.  Size about 5 ft eight inches long.  I still have to hand turn the bottom of the quilt but that is for another day. 

I lived on my grandfather's sheep property, "Wayford"  while very young.  He and my grandmother had twelve children and raised them near Armidale in New South Wales.  A beautiful home with a long driveway of pines, gardens, tennis court and down the rear was a shearing shed.  I used to visit it and was fascinated with the slats in the floor and how the light shone through them and the smell of the sheep wool.   Along the road it sat on were several properties all belonging to family members including my great grandfather's home named "Blink Bonney' .  As a child it gave one a sense of family and grounding and with a huge family came many cousins, around 24 of them by memory.  Quilts 29 x 27 rusted and commercial fabric, farm stencils.  Machine and hand quilted.  

I finishing quilts for my yearly showing in the local library.  I like to do this showing because it is where I live and create.  Somehow its important, to belong and have a sense of place and I hope my work reaches out to my local community who visit the library.  I live in a suburb by the bay, cohesiveness of community via knowing everyone is impossible, its not like the country towns I have inhabited in my life's journey.  It lacks the easy going friendliness of a small town  simply because of its size.  I made the top of this quilt using rusted nails and wire.  Was not happy with it so never completed it, something seemed to be missing and yesterday I decided to add the hand dyed fabric and extra wire circle rusted piece on the bottom, loved it the moment I laid the green fabric down.  Sometimes quilts take a very long time, we have an idea and create but we have to wait for the completion till something else presents and  ...