The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.
Marcel Proust
(I’ve always loved this quote)
I head into town for a publishing seminar called Forest for the Trees. It’s a collaboration between NSW Writers’ Centre and Sydney Writers’ Festival.
Forest for the Trees
Sally Swain
art journal page-in-progress
This is kind of
I’m not one for quoting poetry. I’d kind of like to be, but I’m not.
Using up the paint on the brush
Sally Swain play-in-progress
My Dad was, but I’m not.
Some people have a perfect, poignant poetic morsel for every occasion, but
How might I help you make a commitment to YOUR creativity?
I would indeed like to.
Fruity Dreaming Mandala
Sally Swain © original art
vision for the year
It’s been two years of Friday snippets and snoppets.
Two years of shaping
Wonder.
Where did it go?
Ceramics in Schools
coordinated by
Kristyn Taylor
for exhibition:
Human – The Child Artist Response Project
We most likely had a bucket-load of this magical curiosity-and-amazement stuff when we were children. The world was an intriguing place of potential. A cardboard
Who’dve thought sunrays could be so pink?
Get that light into you.
C’mon. Drink
View through the side mirror
a bit French Impressionist, do you think?
Sydney is a giant fungus. Every
Why cultivate sensory awareness?
Watery Boaty photo
I was captivated that a murky puddle formed a clear mirror
Obvious answer: for pleasure.
Less obvious answer:
I go away for five days. Not Big Away, but just out of town to a pretty place. I feel fortunate for a glimmer of space away from responsibilities. I soak up the sights and sounds of serenity and serious rain.
If I get on my high horse, I can say, well, it’s my Beauty Duty. After all, I support the creative well-being of others. I need to walk the talk.
Julia Cameron calls it ‘filling the well‘.
So it’s my duty to top up my beauty quotient; to pay attention to sensory delight.
That’s my rationale and I’m sticking to it!
Away at the watery boaty pretty place, I choose to make art.
First up, I slap down pre-painted papers: magazine pages, sheet music, fragments of the paper they wrapped around the seafood. Don’t worry – this wrapping didn’t make direct fish contact. Otherwise – ugh – odiferous collage.
Watery Boaty Papery
I pull some window
Radiatrix, Goddess of the Heating Element, embraces
Art Therapy – the Movie.
Radiatrix, Goddess of the Heating Element
Sally Swain © original artI made this sculpture out of a radiator and kitchen utensils way back in 1994. Radiatrix hung out for a while with Venus de Salad Bowl and Sunbeam Madonna and Her Winged Spirits in a shopfront at Walking the Street art festival in Newtown, Sydney. She then spent time in the 1995 State Library of NSW Australian Women Artists exhibition.
Today, those Spirits of the House are a bit dusty, scattered and paint-chipped, but still around. And ready to embrace an inspirational movie.
Meanwhile, Sally, Not-Goddess of
for troubled times
Sorry to do this to you, Dear Reader, but again I am compelled to talk about creativity in this political era. I say sorry because I don’t wish to overwhelm or weigh you down. That’s the last thing I want to do.
Art Heart Resource
(who knew a Sally painting could be so simple?)
I harp on about making art in troubled times, because
Art and Soul Space 