A SHORT-TERM STUDIO IN BRUNSWICK – JULY-OCTOBER 2014

I rented a tiny attic in the sprawling Irene Studios complex, it was all I could afford. The window is about 2/3rds the size of the studio.

Obviously I would only be doing easel-scale paintings again.

This time I aimed to do 15-20 black and white paintings – mainly from the Encryption series.

It was grim, but all the other artists were very friendly.

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MY STUDIO RESIDENCY AT MAROONDAH ART GALLERY IN 2012

This was my temporary studio at Maroondah Art Gallery in Ringwood, Victoria.  I had a six-month residency – April – September. The  studio is part of a old primary school from around the 1920s.

It had central heating! But as you can see, was dauntingly clean and tidy – a challenge for me!

This is what it looked like from the door – a long narrow room

This is what it looked like looking back from the window. Lighting was fluoro and not great (colour temperatures? anyone?) and those pristine floors…

And then this is me settled in – everything dropsheeted, even the walls! You’ll note I belong to the plastic milk crate school of painters, shunning the traditional easel for variously stacked milk crates. This stems from the days when I painted very large scale, and milk crates were the best practical solution to raising and lowering a canvas metres long and high.

Alas those days are gone for me now, but I persist with the milk crates rather than invest in a proper easel, until at least I have a more permanent studio.