studio blog

the bamboo grove

The Bamboo Grove is the start of a series for me and is inspired by my travel to Japan. The Arashiyama Bamboo Grove is a short train trip from Kyoto and it is awesome to walk through with the towering bamboo on each side of the path. I took photos of a musician playing a Japanese flute and the music created a magical feeling amidst the calm of the bamboo grove. I started with a photo followed by a thumbnail (bit bigger but less than A5 size) to get going. Then an ink drawing … and now I am working on a larger charcoal drawing and the beginnings of a painting in gouache. The colours are muted greys, greens and ochre with a base pigment in a turquoise blue. I haven’t decided on a title for these art works and they are definitely works in progress.

Bamboo Grove sketvhBamboo GroveBamboo Grove charcoal

bamboo grovebamboo grovebamboo grove

I am using gouache for the painting “the Bamboo Grove” – gouache is very versatile and can be used as a very translucent medium through to very opaque. I have been applying the paint in thin layers and gradually building up the dark tonal values. This is still a work in progress and there is more decision making to happen – the bamboo grass along the edge will add further softness. The colours I have chosen so far are mostly muted greys and greens – I think they are creating the calm I felt in the grove.

the bamboo grove

thinking of Japan

In November 2025 I went to Japan and a special moment was in the bamboo grove near Kyoto. We left Kyoto by train to Arashiyama. The bamboo grove was very calming.  The tall bamboo appeared majestic in a way – it was awesome wandering through beside the towering bamboo.  We got there fairly early in the morning as we heard it might get very crowded. The experience was magical and especially when we came to a section where a man was playing a Japanese instrument which I think was a Japanese bamboo flute. It has inspired me to draw on that experience with charcoal, ink and gouche artworks.
bamboo forest musician in the bamboo grove

using coloured pencils

Using coloured pencils – I have been using Caran D’Ache Luminance coloured pencils for some time now. I love the intense colours that the waxiness of pencils can produce. It has been fun drawing flowers and selecting colours both for the flowers and the surrounding areas. With oil painting, layering is important to me and I love using these pencils in thhe same way. I have been working on a number of flower drawings, mostly flowers I have always loved and have included them in my series ‘in the garden’ – here is my link. Succulents are a new favorite for me – sometimes their colours are striking but other times more subtle shades of pink, mauve and grey. I have been planting more succulents in pots and I love the plump shapes – like jade, crown-of-thorns, aeonium. I often take photos of small patches of succulents I find, often in someone else’s garden – it reminds me of my intrigue with moss along the edges of a pathway when I was a child.
flannel flowersdaffodilsMarion's succulents

Sending love to Lismore

Sending love to Lismore – The devastating floods in Lismore and the effect on the community has been enormous. People have lost homes, businesses and ,very sadly, loved ones. Amongst the memorable have been the heroes who saved lives and risked their own. People needed to be boated, helicoptered and some swam to safety. The high bridge crossing the Wilsons river was crossed with boats of people. The centre of Lismore has a heart sculpture to welcome people to the CBD and the hands and heart of the sculpture sitting in flood waters has become an iconic image. As a result, red hearts to show love for Lismore have sprung up everywhere – as though planted and growing – this is the inspiration for this series.

sending love to Lismore

I have begun to use gouache as a medium and have been enjoying the new approach which it has given to me. Being mostly opaque, water -based and fast drying gives me the immediacy of inks which I have used in other mixed media works – but allows a more graphic approach which I am finding a lot of fun.

I began with a small art work (called ‘Sending love to Lismore’) inspired by a Domestika learning module with Cagla Zimmermann. I find messages from other artists help me to think in different directions – it’s good to have diversity of process to think about when creating. My next one is called ‘Growing hearts’ and makes me think of all the hearts which have been popping up in Lismore.

Growing Hearts with paints

Growing hearts

New ideas about water lilies

My environment is a source of inspiration for art.
There is a dam fed by an underground spring – it has fish, eels, tortoises and lots of ducks and water hens.
The water hens have just had babies.
There is an azure kingfisher which lives there as well.
My next mixed media will be the kingfisher, water lilies and dragonflies.

Waterlilies
Water lilies on our dam at Uralba

It reminds me of Monet’s water garden – I would love to visit there and is ‘on the list’!

Spotted pardolotes – mixed media series

I have been making mixed media art with papers and ink. I love mixed media – it is a lot of fun. Four of them featured spotted pardolotes which are a small bird but my interests in them goes back to primary school. I was living in Victoria, Australia. I think it was the Gould League and I drew a spotted pardolote for a competition – I was happy with the result but unfortunately I don’t have the drawing. I love spots on birds – pardolotes, brown pigeons, guinea fowls and so on.

I created 4 mixed media pieces – Bush Pocket, Chance for a birdsong, Morning Light and Special Haven.

another beautiful day for painting

I think ‘the smell of rain’ is finished – in time for the Ocean Shores art expo. Now need to continue on with ‘Treasured’, a painting of a dog who I saw one day when I was out and he was a very special and ‘treasured’ dog with a beautiful garland of flowers. These works are for the art expo with the theme ‘treasures’.

the smell of rain
the smell of rain

Treasured
Treasured