Art Retreats, Painting Practice & Creative Renewal in Capertee Valley
What a colourful, bountiful Autumn! As the evenings cool and the sun’s touch becomes gentle, I’ve been filled with gratitude. I’ve witnessed many months of work in my studio and in the Capertee Valley coming to fruition.
Now named Nguluway, meaning ‘to meet each other’ in Wiradjuri, our farm has truly become a place of connection, rejuvenation and creativity. Together we have been stretched to explore, exhilarated by beauty, and restored by the earth.
Over recent art retreats, we deepened our knowledge of picture-making, composition, colour and mark-making. We developed awareness of the role of our nervous system in the creative process. We practised self-compassion and kindness as we risked putting brush to canvas!
It has been a delight and a privilege to host these retreats, to be alongside the retreatants as they entrust me with their creative growth.
There have been so many highlights:
walking in the chilly shallows along the Capertee Creek between glowing sandstone cliffs,
painting on the serene Ganguddy shoreline beneath massive stone pagodas,
sharing stories and meals around the fire
seeing each person respond uniquely to the landscape and interpret it in paint.
While all this was happening, and amid increasing global turmoil, my recent work was hanging at Stella Downer Fine Art in Sydney. The exhibition Falling Upwards explored painting as a contemplative and spiritual practice. The process and meaning are inseparable: the image and mark-making together become a metaphor for lived experience.
The large paintings of banks of reeds on the lagoon’s edge were made using small brushes and fine, deliberate strokes, each painting being built slowly, one mark at a time. The large skies and the small alla prima (all at once) works in this series were conceived rapidly with loaded brushes or palette knives. Both working methods, though distinct in practice, demanded embodied awareness and trust. I was repeatedly challenged to step into uncertainty, committing to an alternate sense of time and value.
At a time when much of the world seems bent on distraction or destruction, my paintings evoke those times that challenge us to adapt, reshape our ways of seeing, and discover new pathways forward. They hold space for both harmony and disruption, order and irregularity, beauty and challenge. Like the changing trees of Autumn, they remind us that to rise often involves falling.
Soon the retreats will be finished for the season, and it will be a time to ground, deepen my focus, and rest. During the approaching winter months, I will be immersed in my studio practice, and on the farm, we will be preparing the soil for the new orchard.
With an eye on Spring, I invite you to see what wonderful opportunities lie in wait then. Bookings are now live on my website for new art retreats to tickle your fancy, motivate and inspire you!
Whether you’re an aspiring, emerging or accomplished artist, you’re sure to find a retreat experience that will reinvigorate your art practice. I’d love you to join me in Capertee and play a small part in your creative journey.
