Harrington Waters

I put in an order to Vistaprint recently for a t-shirt with one of my paintings on it. They do such a great job of printing. The colour quality is amazing and I can't wait to receive my new shirt. (This is not an paid endorsement. This is unsolicited praise!)

The painting I've put on the t-shirt is called "Harrington Waters". Harrington Waters is a housing estate on the Mid-North Coast of New South Wales. The land was claimed out of the living mangroves and now has large houses perched on it, each guarded by a standard large dog. The estate is near the original village of Harrington, which is charming and which provides some of the best fish and chips I've ever had. Just north of Harrington is Crowdy Head, whose Santorini-style lighthouse features in some of my artwork.

Here is my painting of Harrington Waters, soon to be star of t-shirt:

Image: Harrington Waters by Alisa Perks. Gouache on paper,

Seminar for "creatives"

Hi Readers

Today I went along to a seminar for "creatives", to a talk about helping artists to be in business. It was very entertaining and I came away feeling more free and inspired than even before! There were lamingtons, too.

A point that the speaker, Monica Davidson, made to us was that it's OK to do artistic things to attempt to make a living. The arts are an increasingly popular occupation in many countries, and it deserves respect.

The high unemployment of the last 20 years had made me think that there's no such thing as a "safe" job any more; something to "fall back on". Who wants to fall back anyway, if you can possibly avoid it?

Surviving: I work one day a week as an admin assistant and that keeps the wolf from the door, as we live very cheaply at home. I make lots of the things we need for our home - food, household things, clothing. That saves us money. The less money you need, the less you need to work.

Today's seminar was run by Arts North West, who are active in encouraging arts practitioners from our region of New South Wales. Thanks to them and to Monica for today!

Image: Green Irises detail, by Alisa Perks. Gouache on paper.

Yarrie Lake

Dear Readers

Yarrie Lake is a magical place near Narrabri and Wee Waa, in New South Wales. It was a chance discovery for us a few years ago. We had just visited the CSIRO Australia Telescope near there (see Blog Post #1) and saw an interesting blue dot on the map which needed investigating.

Yarrie Lake is like the beach but inland; a large, round lake fringed with casuarina trees, beaches and picnic shelters. The belief is that the lake is an old meteor crater.  All we could hear there was the sighing of the breeze through the casuarinas. 

The lake is not always there though. During drought it can disappear, but it comes back when the rain does. It's a beautiful swimming place. I painted the image below from my memories of Yarrie Lake:

Image: Yarrie Lake by Alisa Perks. Gouache on paper.