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A life of learning and curiosity continues ...

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1991 Photograph by Michael Thorne It was 1986 when I was approached by the Crafts Council of the ACT to teach calligraphy. I had only been learning calligraphy for a few years though I was already through my Showcard and Ticket Writing and Sign-writing Certificate and well into my Diploma of Calligraphy and Bookbinding through the Roehampton Institute UK. I felt I was neither ready to teach nor  prepared for it but the lass on the end of the phone said she had seen my work and would I be prepared to "give it a go"? So I did. Thirty-seven years later and after a lifetime of learning, sharing and guiding others, the time has come for me to farewell the classroom and the zoom room due to a rise in lecture & presentation requests and my ever increasing want to add to my artistic collection and calligraphic repertoire. All my current teaching commitments will be met until the close of 2023. How fortunate to have made so many friends here in Australia and around the world and t
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A beaut way to start the year ...

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  Twenty-twenty-three has come at last. Let's all hope it is better than the past few years have been and the world settles into a more pleasant place than what it has been. This year I am determined to find my creative gene again. I am fortunate in that my year has started beautifully. Getting back into the classroom with ten dedicated and delightful participants was pure balm for the soul.  The Sturt Summer School in the Southern Highlands of NSW saw two hundred participants and tutors come together for five days of creativity in multiple disciplines. It is always enjoyable meeting new people both tutors and students. The grounds alone, full of beauty, inspire creativity. The weather was gloriously cool. I first went to Frensham in 1988 and took a class with Sydney friend and calligrapher Helen Warren. Then a class with the beautiful & talented Elaine Witton. The summer schools were then run by the World Education Fellowship. I have enjoyed teaching at Frensham many times ove
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A new start ...

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  And so it transpires we have found a beautiful yet quirky little home to start our new Canberra chapter. The home once owned and built by a very climate conscientious pharmacist is now ours to enjoy and care for. Tanks for water, tanks for grey-water, solar panels, double-glazed windows, trombe walls and clerestory windows all thrown into the mix to help our new solar passive home along. There are two good sized bedrooms and a remarkable room perfect for a calligrapher with an artistic bent. Just ready to walk in and get started. Built c. 2005 the house is almost hidden from external view. I like that. Nestled at the end of a very quiet cul-de-sac it is a little off the road in Lyons, a central suburb in the ACT giving us the opportunity to travel in all directions to be anywhere we wish to be within minutes. The greatest joy of all and one of my essentials on the "must be" list is that it is very short walk to the Woden shopping & health precinct.  For me the hardest d
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AGM Farewell Fare-forward

Today I stood down from the presidency of the Kingborough Womens Club. The group is the umbrella organisation that runs and looks after the Club House for women of all ages. Started just under fifty years ago to encourage women new to the Kingston, Tasmania area to meet, find company and share friendships. Each member is a remarkable woman in her own way, open, honest and collegiate. Each day of the week sees a different activity including craft, mahjong, fit ball & scrabble. Thursday has been our day for the past five years and we have enjoyed many wonderful activities made strong friendships.  We call ourselves LARS the Lettering and Arts Group and we call our meeting house the "Shed". The AGM saw my formal stand down and farewell by all the group representatives. I cried of course ... quite a bit ... and I could see in each person's face their full understanding where I was coming from. Huge support and flowers were presented. I wish the Club continued joy & su
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 The happy news is I am moving on, or rather we are moving on. As my website states: A quick little note:  Due to a home relocation from Hobart Tasmania to Canberra Australian Capital Territory, classes and commissions are currently suspended until January 2023
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TOUGH few months

  I wrote this a couple of months ago. Now I am moving on. _______________________________________________________ It is time for me to seek a path I haven't travelled before. I have become so very disillusioned with my creative work, my teaching and my commissioned works that I am truly unsure as to what my next steps will or should be. Over the past few years I have been slowly slipping into a mindset where my confidence level in both my work and my personal life has just hovered above zero. These past few months have been the toughest yet and I have slipped way way beneath zero mark. I no longer have anything left in the tank to offer and yet I yearn to continue to "make things" with my hands and my heart. My health is not in a good place, with two tears in my right shoulder rotator cuff and the accompanying pain is so incredibly great that there has not been one night where my sleep has not been drastically disturbed and I whimper like a dog with the pain. The doctors
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Creative process:

  I feel this is pretty apt for me! The creative process: 1. This is awesome 2. This is tricky 3. This is shit 4. I am shit 5. This might be ok 6. This is awesome It came to me as author unknown ... (though it could be a  Marcus Romer after I did a little research) I hope you're having a beautiful day!
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