During January I attended a workshop at the inspiring NAS campus in Darlinghurst, guided by abstract artist Tonnee Messiah. She set an exercise daily taking me back to basics to consider in my practice. The best learning I took away from the week was to consider what exactly it was that attracted me to the landscape - light, dark, colour, shapes, atmosphere - and then draw a simplified  image, followed by a deconstructed image and then use this to encompass what I saw in the landscape, or how I felt, rather than producing a representation of the scene. It was an inspiring week, although at times confronting.  
I also discovered that the wearing masks created a barrier. Usually in these situations, everyone found their tribe, or person to chat to, by the end of first day. Instead, whilst we were pleasant to each other, communication and sharing wasn't coming naturally. Removal of the mouth seemed to  remove connection. It wasn't until the third day, when we removed our masks to present to the group, that there was an engagement. The group relaxed into each other with a sense of trust and shared inspiration of ideas and concepts. With masks back on, we used eye-contact in our sharing of ideas - no longer strangers behind the barrier.
​Check out Tonnee's for on instagram:
tonneemessiah

You always have to realise that you're constantly in a state of becoming. And, as long as you can stay in that realm you'll sort of be alright." Antonia Perri Cone Mrljak

I have just finished reading "Becoming" by Michelle Obama.
Toward the end she writes "For me, becoming isn't about arriving, or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self........It's all a process, steps along a path. Becoming is never giving up on the idea that there's more growing to be done". 
This resonated with me; It is how I  feel about my art making - the continual investigation, experimenting while pushing boundaries as I search for my authenticity in mark making. 
It is often painful and frustrating, However, it is also exciting when creativity kicks in with marks appearing on paper from a place of subconscious process whilst 'letting go'.

Felicia Finlayson's love of nature permeates her drawings and paintings. She tends to oscillate between " visual impressionism" and gradual states of abstraction. Subjects are drawn from her own inner- city garden and from travels in Australia and Europe. Walking, her preferred mode of moving through a landscape, allows for both close and far looking- a characteristic of Felicia's paintings. Felicia and Marilyn have never been content with simplistic repetitions of motifs and themes. They treat each canvas as a NEW challenge. In this way, they not only keep themselves motivated but create fresh new work, deliberately open to interpretation, for their viewers.
 
Chrissy Stevenson: artist, art educator

​The influence of the 2020 bushfires that were shortly followed by Covid19, caused me to ponder the vulnerability of life and our environment, raising my anxiety levels. At times I felt discombobulated, realising I had no control on either event. I turned to the environment to seek comfort by connecting to the earth and the support it offered – grounding me. 
 
Using the Japanese practice Shinrin yoku - forest bathing – I meditated whilst walking, slowly taking one step after the other into the bushland, breathing in the smells, listening to the sounds whilst observing the surrounds. Initially, I saw my surrounds realistically, however as the practice progressed the details were lost in a blur of colours and shapes. 
 
My paintings during Covid19 lockdown were also more realistic, however with time and by continuing a meditation practice, my works too became simpler and more abstracted. I have represented this observation by exhibiting a mixture of both forms of expression. Whilst forest bathing does not have to be connected to water, I was drawn to water during the practice and it features in most of the paintings. 
 
And, when all else failed, a gin & tonic provided relief.