I'm writing at the close of this leap year day, also the end of our Australian Summer, sharing something with you from my Summer studio glow. It’s been both a restful and busy time of creating new paintings, finishing and starting new sketchbooks, enjoying a daily pattern making routine, and of course spending time outside... happily in the garden.
Im not sure what you’re creative practices are but here the best part about Summer has been the blend of cool times spent in the studio and warm times spent in the garden, all being places to create from.
You see the longer in my life that I make, the more fond I grow of how the making takes me on a complete ride from sitting, to taking something in to myself, to breathing and then responding, moving through and across the many art forms I enjoy. Just yesterday gathering the harvest from an abundant passionfruit vine, I got to settle in and sit in awe as a family of fantails, such sweet tiny birds, enacted quite the performance right up close around me, flitting all about. By the end of the day, the effect those 5 or so minutes had on me resulted in sketches then patterns, and one I particularly loved titled ‘Vistors in the vines’ (instagram @yshstudio_YveY). How humbling, stilling and thrilling it can get really, and it is often that precious and direct from inspiration to art.
A highlight of my Februarys 2024 experiences was definitely last Friday nights' artist talk and life drawing in Melbourne’s National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), with renowned Australian artist, Prudence Flint. Precious time was spent in the gallery after hours amongst the NGV Triennial exhibits with a small number of others led us to sitting with Prudence’s stunning paintings hearing about her practice, then drawing the beautiful life model Marcel - exquisite! The night served as a reminder of how simple and elegant my joy can be. It is a deep pleasure I hold, being an artist living and working in Melbourne, indeed Australia.
So that is February 2024, and here comes Autumn!
More next month from the YSh Studio Blog or catch up together via Instagram, @yshstudio
Warmth,
