Day 46 Thursday

Well, it has been a rainy week in Mildura, which has been good for the crops as well as my work as I have been tucked away in my new studio. On Tuesday I went down to the Art Society of Mildura’s studio on the Murray and painted a small panel of some apples from a video I had shot previously. The group was very welcoming and interested in my method of working from videos. In the studio I have been working on two large paintings, one for the Waverley Art Prize, and another for the Blake Prize for religious art. One of my landlords Greg, and his wife Sue dropped in and brought me a kerosene heater and then took me over to her studio to see her work and have a bit of a chat. Mildura is an amazing cultural oasis in the middle of inland Australia, everywhere I have gone this past week I have encountered artists or art-lovers. I have been enjoying the aquatic centre, not only for the hot showers – but also doing some laps in the heated pool and taking advantage of the body balance classes as well. I feel like things have slowed down a little bit, so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to post daily, but I will put new work up as it emerges and hopefully a bit about the process as well. I appreciate everyone who has kept in touch as I’ve been away and I think the next three months here in Mildura will surely be some of the most productive months I will have. I’m also attaching a small gouache of a persimmon orchard I did from a video as well, and I’d like to have a show of my gouaches here in Mildura at some point, so I’ll keep everyone posted on the blog.