GEMMA BLACK : ARTIST / CALLIGRAPHER

  This morning we took advantage of the beautiful day here in Canberra to visit the Botanic Gardens nestled at the base of Black Mountain, walk through the rainforest, the eucalypts, Wollemia pines and play with the water dragons. We started with breakfast at Pollen and as the morning got warmer and warmer the place to be was the cool of the rainforest. I saw a very interesting sign. My mind did a flip and my hear a flutter "could I possibly walk to the tower on the top of Black Mountain?" A truly beautiful red eucalypt Natural rock texture along the way. We made the decision to walk to the top though I had reservations as to whether I would make it. I knew David would as his fitness level is much higher than mine. I could hear my heart beat in my head and my pulse was racing as sweat dripped from my whole body. I made the decision to turn back after some really difficult (for me) steep slopes. David continued to climb as I headed back down to get the car from the gardens and...

  David Nuttall Interview Thoughts on retirement … or not! I’ve been playing the oboe for a long time now, it’s part of me. It’s not everything, but it is a major part of my makeup and I love it. I love classical music in all its forms, from as far back as you can go to contemporary music. I love it all, so to finish with Beethoven is not a bad way to say farewell. Beethoven Seven is hard work but it’s spectacular, and I’m sure the audience would have been all revved up.  Caroline was very generous with her words for all of us retiring last week. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel finishing up my professional performances but as well as my hugely supportive orchestral colleagues, I have had a great support team who’ve kept me on the stage. I have had excellent masseurs and a fabulous physiotherapist and GP as do sports people who travel with an entourage. For instance, Ash Barty always talks about the team who look after her, not so much about winning or losing. There is an understand...

  American poet Ogden Nash wrote: "The oboe’s a horn made of wood. I’d play you a tune if I could, But the reeds are a pain, And the fingering’s insane. It’s the ill wind that no one blows good." And, the good fortune that has come our way is the one, the only, David Nuttall (aka The Oboe Player). After fifty something years of an extraordinary career Nuttall is hanging up the reeds as he retires from the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. His final two concerts are this Friday evening and Saturday evening with Beethoven's Eighth Symphony followed by Beethoven's Seventh Symphony respectively. The seventh is my absolute favourite and in particular, the second movement. A career is not about the final farewell but rather about the years and years of training, passion & devotion to one's craft. It's a continuing professional development and maintenance of the highest professional standards, abilities and performance not just musically but personally as well over...

  Wonderful news of Ellen's operation it was a huge success. Neurosurgery is just amazing in this day and age and the surgeons who perform it are true healers. Two days in hospital and then home to recover. About six weeks and with the doctors permission before Ellen will be able to drive again. All the family is elated with this news and will help her in any way for the best outcome in recovery.  

  Having come to the ACT in 1977, a tumultuous year, I have grown very fond of my years here. One of the places I sought sanctuary was this place, the National Gallery of Australia. I talk a lot out our Gallery in my lectures and I have found it to be very welcoming, a way to touch and communicate with past creative minds.  I have seen the Gallery as I have seen Canberra grow and blossom into real places of worth to be in and live in. These from my walk in the NGA sculpture garden and on my Bridge to Bridge walk, enjoy!   THE FOG SCULPTURE

  Mads & Ellen In late October (2021) Ellen was diagnosed with a meningioma, a benign brain tumour. I chose to come here to Canberra when she told me this news. For Ellen it is another detrimental health event in a long line of such events in her short life. I postponed my November work schedule to be here and subsequently I have postponed my December commissions or passed them on to others. Ellen will undergo surgery to remove the tumour on December 6th at the Royal Canberra Hospital. Her attitude is positive, though I know a little frightened, she just wants to "get in to surgery, get it out and get back to her life, their kiddies and her work. And that's what we are all banking on. My time here is unknown as her recovery will be at least six week but here I am for now and very happy to be here with the young ones to keep us all happy and focused on her wellbeing.   

  On one of our morning COVID-exercise walks. It was a lot warmer than this photograph suggests. Stunningly awesome. Goodness, our short, sharp lockdown came and went so quickly, blink and you would have missed it. This happened only in southern Tasmania where we remain COVID free. That in itself is very interesting. The perpetrator, a 31 year old male, entered the State illegally, was COVID positive, escaped from hotel quarantine yet infected no one in his community outings for hours on end even visiting a supermarket and many friends. How can that happen? I just pose the question is all.

    Detail from the arrest of Christ with stunning lettering & ornamentation. Such intricate design and powerful imagery.   October 2021 is lecture month for me. I am privileged to be invited to present lectures on the Book of Kells for the Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Society (ADFAS) Queensland. ADFAS Byron Bay is also included in the Queensland circuit of lectures and why not! Due to our covid-19 restrictions with border controls all the lectures are presented by live-streaming.  Live-streaming has it's drawback of course but we have managed to iron out most of the difficulties to every ones satisfaction. I was particularly looking forward to traveling north into the warmth but alas I remain here in the studio in all my upper-body presentation regalia along with my jeans and comfortable flat leathers. So far I have presented to ADFAS Byron, Brisbane (twice), Brisbane River & Noosa with Toowoomba, Rocky & Cairns to come. Fortunately I love my subj...

    We have visited Strahan three times since I arrived in Tasmania. Normally a five hour drive from Hobart though this particular trip took us six odd hours as we encountered snow and lot's of it across the top of the State. Dangerous yes, exciting yes, I drove yes! We reached our beautiful destination exhausted yet happy.

        On Monday of this week David and I had an interesting steam train trip. We were visiting Strahan for some well deserved R&R.  In the early morning and drove to Queenstown where, very excitedly we boarded a steam train on West Coast Wilderness Railway. It started out like Gillian’s Island, perfectly well. Along the way we were served drinks and delicious Tasmanian fare. Between Lynchford and Rinadeena Saddle however a certain part of the mechanism between the engine and the Abt rack and pinion track broke. The Abt rack and pinion allows a train to motor uphill and downhill. We were stuck in the middle of a rainforest for just over three hours. We were perfectly fine but an urgent need to go to the toilet was for the most part felt more pressing by the women. No toilet facility onboard though there was at each station … if we ever got to them.    We had two train driver engineers but they were not in a position to repair the damage. Three en...

    Whilst on a trip to the west coast of Tasmania we visited the tiny railway station of Lynchford between Queenstown and Strahan. As the area was known for it's mining (gold and other such riches) there remains a tiny two room museum that can only be accessed by train as part of the West Coast Wilderness Railway. It is on the tourist trail and we were playing tourists. It was here I made an exciting find. Orpiment. I have talked about orpiment for years in my lectures on the Book of Kells but I had never actually seen it before last Monday. Orpiment - arsenic tri-sulphide - was used in the Book of Kells as a gold-like pigment and it was also used to adorn the tombs of pharaohs including King Tutankhamen. I was delighted. Magnificent!

The past five or six months has been frenetic to say the least. There have been vaccinations, TSO concerts, lectures to attend online as a participant, lectures to give, Book of Kells, A calligraphers Life. There have been workshops both in-person and online ... many of them. Some have been pop-up workshops that I organise on the spur of the moment with a group or groups in pandemic lock down (gratis) then I have have some invitations to teach in Australia, the UK, and the US. There have been exhibitions to attend and exhibitions to contribute to not to mention preparing works for a major journal (shhhhh) about to go to press. Gosh ... and lunches & dinners to attend. Now I'm off to meet a calligraphy friend for a coffee!

    Thursday just past we gathered at the Lettering & Arts Shed to craft a couple of drum leaf bound booklets. Thanks to the guidance of Jenny Blake, friend and fellow Shed mate.  This binding is perfect for workshop notes and exemplars as every page lays flat. If you google "drum leaf binding" you may well find a couple of designs with images and instructions.   The music pages are real and have a little foxing that adds to the authenticity.

  It is something I can't seem to shake off, the feeling of guilt. What is it that makes me feel guilty. I don't even know what it is I am guilty of? I have always had this guilt complex since I was a youngster. Upbringing in a strict Catholic family? You are all guilty even if you aren't. I am always afraid even though I truly have "nothing" to be afraid of. Just recently, I felt guilty in having to let a beginner student go because I needed, no, wanted my Tuesday mornings back, or so I said. teaching one-on-one is difficult and even though I would sometimes work on my own stuff while they were labouring away ... I'd feel guilty about that even. Now I feel guilty I have not worked hard enough to have all my film clips ready ... when I said I would. Am I lazy? What do I really want to do in life? I feel that dwelling on such questions are a waste of time, just get in and do something good, something worthwhile. Something, anything I won't feel guilty about...

    Time is moving on at a rapid pace. I don't know if that's because I am busy or that time has actually sped up. Of course I have been busy. I have been preparing for an upcoming one-day virtual workshop with the Texas Conference Legacies III and as usual I am privileged to be on the faculty. Over the week-long conference I will attend lectures, view the exhibitions and partake in some breakout conversations and lettering discussions. I will be wonderful to se many of my friends again and to make new ones.   Recently I ran a three hour workshop for the Art Society of Tasmania on how to use gold leaf on a number of different substrates. Time was tight so I had to be quite regimented in the flow process so I could get all the different techniques in that I wanted to share with the group. It was a successful little gathering at Lady Franklin Gallery and all went home happy with their bits ... and pieces. In the recent two weeks covid-19 outbreaks have arrived on our shores...

   Gemma Black: maker of written artifacts with pen & ink-stone  Artist: Neville Dawson   I met a man on a bus   I arrived into Hobart Airport from one of those long haul trips that I have taken from time to time. I was exhausted after an enjoyable teaching tour. I boarded a mini-bus to take me into the city centre as David was working in Orchestra and had taken the car. A gentleman asked was the seat next to me taken. It wasn’t, so I said he was welcome to sit there. Invariably a small-talk conversation started though I could hardly keep my eyes open with the tiredness. Suddenly my senses piqued when he said he was an artist and all my concentration was suddenly focused on this quietly spoken man sitting next to me … "An artist? So am I” , I said … “ well sort of” . The gentleman, whose name is Neville Dawson, turned out be so interesting and charming that our trip into the city ended so very quickly. It saw us swapping names as he...

 It's a good to be alive day ...         On a beautiful cream 300gsm watercolour paper this is a repeat of a piece I did quite a few years ago now. Walnut ink & vermilion gouache, It was originally a contribution to a conference faculty exhibition in the US. A student saw a partial image in a versals workshop I was teaching recently and he asked if he could use it in a religious text exhibition towards the end of 2021. I'll set the link here when the show goes online.