Creative Connections Art & Poetry Exhibitions gratefully acknowledges the assistance, through the Community Grants Program, from the Office of Multicultural Interests which provided the funding for the 2014 Exhibition.
Artists/Poets
- Rick Sullivan / Kevin Gillam & Tash Adams
- Kristen Cameron / Fran Graham & Rosie Barter
- Kathy Adair / Graeme Butler & Mike Greenacre
- Lisa Joyce / Coral Carter & Amanda Joy
- Sharleen Jespersen / Liana Joy Christensen & Nathan Hondros
- Peter Dixon / Sue Clennell & Peter Jeffrey OAM
- Karen Forbes Smith / Maree Dawes & Amanda Joy
- Greg Barr / Gary Colombo De Piazzi & Julienne Juschke
- Catherine White / Tanya Knott & Meryl Manoy
- Kaye Howell / Veronica Lake & Brigita Ferencak
- Janine Noonan / Deanne Leber & Christina Gammon
- Holly Gray / Kevin Gillam & Sarah Leighton
- Richard Kousins / Meryl Manoy & Fran Graham
- Chris White / Mike Greenacre & J.R.McRae
- Vicky-Lee Devenish / Tineke Van der Eecken & Jacqui Merckenschlager
- Cameron Dermer / Nathan Hondros & Carol Millner
- David Brainstater / Deb Micallef & Peter Jeffrey OAM
- Stephen Franklin / Amanda Joy & Scott-Patrick Mitchell
- Delores Purdie / Julienne Juschke & Max Merckenschlager
- Chris Reynolds / Jan Napier & Tanya Knott
- Jessica Cantatore / Val Neubecker & Veronica Lake
- Michael Sinclair / Deanne Leber & Ron Okely
- Gillian Deague / Sarah Leighton & Colleen O’Grady
- Shelley Marcolina / Virginia O’Keeffe & Jacqui Merckenschlager
- Clinton Carter / J.R. McRae & Allan Padgett
- Clinton Carter / Meryl Manoy & Chris Palazzolo
- Andrew Murray / Max Merckenschlager & Glen Phillips
- Sharon Siciliano / Kelly Pilgrim-Byrne & Deb Micallef
- Elinor Doddrell / Carol Millner & Peter Rondel
- Ben Lee / Zan Ross & Scott-Patrick Mitchell
- Owen Nylander / Jan Napier & Peter Rondel
- Janelle McMahon / Val Neubecker & Tineke Van der Eecken
- Jason Whittington / Rose van Son & Ron Okely
- Owen Nylander / Colleen O’Grady & Joanna Wakefield
- Lana Davie / Mags Webster & Virginia O’Keeffe
- Matthew Froud / Allan Padgett & Gail Willems
- Shelley Marcolina / Chris Palazzolo & Tash Adams
- Denis Tomlinson / Glen Phillips & Rosie Barter
- Warren Brass / Liana Joy Christensen & Kelly Pilgrim-Byrne
- Darren Towie / Peter Rondel & Sue Clennell
- Joel Grant / Zan Ross & Maree Dawes
- Vivienne Sharp / Val Neubecker & Gary Colombo De Piazzi
- Peter Layton / Christina Gammon & Tineke Van der Eecken
- Lisa Bernic / Rose van Son & Kevin Gillam
- Katie Bassett / Jacqui Merckenschlager & Joanna Wakefield
- Jeff Loh / Jan Napier & Mags Webster
- Paul Rusconi / Chris Palazzolo & Gail Willems
- Paul Wright / Tash Adams & Glen Phillips
- John Pearson / Ron Okely & Rosie Barter
- Gavin McNamara / Rose van Son & Graeme Butler
- Vivienne Sharp / Coral Carter & Mags Webster
- Pauline Birrell / Liana Joy Christensen & Gail Willems
- Pauline Birrell / Sue Clennell & Fran Graham
- Diana Coote / Maree Dawes & J.R.McRae
- Diana Coote / Deanne Leber & Gary Colombo De Piazzi
- Lisa Coles / Max Merckenschlager & Veronica Lake
- Donna Barnsley / Brigita Ferencak & Zan Ross
- Emma Biasin / Christina Gammon & Allan Padgett
- Rick Sullivan
Untitled, 52 x 50 Mixed media on board
the day
dawn,
a bottle-top sky,
flotsam of can-openers,
coloured matchsticks of dreaming,
washers scattered,
toggles strewn,
corner braces askew –
the day
awaiting assembly
Kevin Gillam
map to salvation
this map
topography
salvage
piled precisely
saving dugongs
and black swans
from a diet of aluminium
and plastic seagrass
Tash Adams
- Kristen Cameron
Untitled, 54 x 46 Ink & pastel on paper
Kristen knows
Beneath the tangled
bark and bracken
rustling sounds from the shadows
stir the stream.
Steady against the quiet
the mystery morphs
into the oddest shape
as out from underneath
waddles
the platypus.
Fran Graham
in bush’s tangle something sleeping
rouses from its carbon days
season of seared earth, of ash, of burn
is throwing off its winter shawl
as Kristen dips, she sparks, she dashes
her urgent strokes all swarm in colour
blue orchid, gold and crimson pea flowers
green twigs, a bud, bright velvet moss
see! her magic wand has rallied spring
Rosie Barter
- Kathy Adair
Untitled, 41 x 59 Acrylic on paper
Bullets striking the helmet
made an horrific din.
Ned looked out and saw rioting
colours of violence
in the chaotic upsurge of yellow wattle
red gum and blue Leschenaultia.
Graeme Butler
Colours and Words
The rhythm of birds flying
tosses colours in early dawn
Voices burst forth in heartfelt
melodies across your world
With joy and laughter
family and friends converge.
Mike Greenacre
- Lisa Joyce
Untitled, 40 x 42 Acrylic on paper
blue agate heals a broken throat
torn ribbon clouds across sky
river delta overflow
blinded eye
veins beneath winter white skin
painted china
a woman feeds
wounded birds
hidden in blue
a sigh
Coral Carter
Colour of kingfishers in latticed swatches
as they cut water into shimmering whorls
Drifts of silky paint, migratory as water
Come to rest in indigo and russet gold
White as salt, the page which holds
angels dancing on the roof
An Artist’s soul
Amanda Joy
- Sharleen Jespersen
Untitled, 42 x 53 Acrylic on paper
Seeing Differently
Mum is alarmed, watching
the storm clouds gather.
She does not turn and see
as I look up and grin
—then toss my scarf
to the playful wind.
Liana Joy Christensen
Subsumed beneath the earth of ink surface
What colours struggle in the grip of edged dark
A cool bright morning in July
Only you and I are awake
Blue is under there and above, a thin surface
Splayed between our other layers
The red turbulence stamped from force of brush
And the green of a field
Dripping from fragrant leaves
Nathan Hondros
- Peter Dixon
Untitled, 43 x 54 Artist proof, ink print
Are there silvery white
mirages on geranium red roads
like there are on bitumen?
The bush keeps many secrets.
Sue Clennell
Changing Flight Pattern
Dimly through clouds of rust red,
We see the ever scarring of factories
And roads that outline the earth
In an ever devouring scratching scab,
Where once the fields ran golden with wheat.
Of a sudden, a clouded barrier
Of fluffy white rolls redeeming
And casting a new strong light.
Peter Jeffrey OAM
- Karen Forbes Smith
Untitled 55 x 72 Fabric on paper
The best lace cloth
covers the gate legged table
lets the dark wood
shine through
the best lace cloth
covered in cake stands
and teacups
shows off a decorative edge.
Maree Dawes
Laced
Riddle of frizz, overlaid
in the making, moonsnuffed
clouds lacing over orbits.
Meridians weft,
each surface, a cusp flocked to
each crest, a secret layer
slipped under
Amanda Joy
- Greg Barr
Brothers Inside, 60 x 76 Acrylic on paper
There is a weight on my breath
deeper than any ache.
A sense of something beyond dread
to fill days with voids.
Days when you were here
days when you are not
and I am left in the uneasy flash of colour
splashed against the drab of you locked inside.
Gary Colombo De Piazzi
I Haven’t Looked Back
I look at the paints; and play with the colours
Contrasts and hues; with layers of others
I survey the valley; and gaze at the cliffs
Each painting like opening; some birthday gifts
I wanted to do it; with creative attack
I did it, and found; I haven’t looked back
Julienne Juschke
- Catherine White
Untitled, 97 x 38 Acrylic on canvas
Summer red ribbons
Dancing a riot in the breeze
Begging to be cut
Tanya Knott
A kaleidoscope of colour
burst across the page
Cathy is creating
her works in many ways.
Acrylics and water colours,
art tools beyond convention –
Cathy tries them all
and thus claims our attention.
Meryl Manoy
- Kaye Howell
Untitled, 40 x 90 Acrylic on canvas
Blue Hiatus
that moment
rising swelling
an arc of shifting blue
a hiatus
of time and motion
paused on the cusp…
cresting, crashing,
tumbling & falling
into fragmented foam
Veronica Lake
Rolling and Roaring Seas
Seagulls – Carriers of Hope.
Bound to find Land where none can be seen.
Life in all its Simplicity,
Life in all its Perfection.
Brigita Ferencak
- Janine Noonan
Coloured Patterns, 36 x 33 Pastel on paper
We peered through
the hole in the fence
swapped lunches
toys and jokes
tears and shrapnel
leftovers from fights
closing the distance
with pinky promises
Deanne Leber
Down the rabbit hole;
leaves pirouette like children playing,
golden sand sweeps
side to side
like a waltzing mist,
distorting concept into a
mesmerizing
dream.
Christina Gammon
- Holly Gray
Untitled, 36 x 28 Acrylic on canvas
fours
four trunks writhing skyward,
force of sap and leaves keening,
forever blossoms to birth and gift again
for these are the steeples, the not
forsakens, brailled bark
for reading, limbs and rings
forming creeds and time’s reason
Kevin Gillam
Artist,
Select your coloured threads,
Make lace of floating clouds,
Surround with gentle sound.
Observer,
In this dreamy world
of shadow shapes,
and pastel softness,
feel the inner harmony
of a peaceful soul.
Sarah Leighton
- Richard Kousins
Untitled, 25 x 30 Acrylic on canvas board
charred trees
bushfire rages
black death
Meryl Manoy
Wild Fire
Today, orange speaks
to Richard so he loads up
his rollers and spreads
his passion across the page.
Flames leap as he breathes
his excitement
vivid in texture and tone.
It could also be a field of
wild flowers and a pony
nibbling the poppies.
Fran Graham
- Chris White
Untitled, 50 x 40 Acrylic on canvas
Dance Hall
The vibrant lace of flowers
rises in urgency towards sky
in greens and
yellows and whites they dance
with skirts twirling and
partners’ arms outstretched
the pianist’s hands pounding
out rhythm and blues
as the night grows wild.
Mike Greenacre
Capturing Spring
Wattle and wind swept leaves
Swirl down in the eddying stream…
It’s Spring, but a patch of snow
Glitters and glows …
I feel the golden sun
Warm on my hands and cheeks.
It’s the warmth of the colours
I’ll capture, the feel of Spring I seek.
J.R.McRae
- Vicky-Lee Devenish
Untitled, 25 x 20 Acrylic & pastel on canvas
malachite kingfisher
his beak a fish
his eye the sky
his heart a home
his flight the wind
his touch the sun
his coat a rainbow
of a thousand flowers
Tineke Van der Eecken
How Green Is My Valley
The cottage glows with inner warmth
as Spring peeps through
energising neat flower beds.
Beyond my valley, tangled trees
scramble to the defining edge of boundary rocks.
Jacqui Merckenschlager
- Cameron Dermer
Pongo from 101 Dalmatians, 46 x 46 Acrylic on canvas
The split grin horizon
As sharp and sweet as the
Jaws of a happy, lucky dog
Watching from a window sill
Where my friend leaves his poems to dry
See the blemished blue sky
The flesh and yellow of the earth
The freedom of animals, of muscles
Of black and white release
The you and the I
Off the leash for once
Nathan Hondros
Pongo!
You have reminded me
how the olive green paperback
smelled new and had to be folded open.
You have reminded me how we loved
the delicate line drawings & hated DeVille.
You have reminded me how –
from our world of bitzas
collies ‘n kelpies – we were transported
nose first into his polka-dot world.
Carol Millner
- David Brainstater
Yellow and all Colour, 36 x 45 Acrylic on
Yellow and all colours
Sunlight
Fills every corner with a saffron glow
Warm and inviting
Gilding each surface with gold
A spectrum, a rainbow, a riotous display
A brilliant, dazzling, generous soul.
Deb Micallef
Running Water, Shifting Frames
Oscillate, palpitate, articulate
Squares of colour and let them merge
Into ever fresher colours and bands.
The world is shifting frames,
Entrapping different fields of meaning,
That change like chameleons before our very eyes.
Peter Jeffrey OAM
- Stephen Franklin
Untitled, 25 x 35 Oil on canvas
Drumming
Drummed colour into
a russet blaze over eyelets of
bluebelling inky
Water leaves
Seasons leave
Crackling fragments stay
in the rhythm, leaving us
to ask-
Where in the whorl
Did you see that light?
Amanda Joy
positions of a winged hymn
. elsewhere in this world a blue
fairy wren threw lost it’s elbows
, but here it is again, in a sin
-gular pose. our landscape is
emotional; in danger we aren’t
, but this bird…pray it is never
undone, an unknown becomes
.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
- Delores Purdie
Untitled, 25 x 35 Oil on canvas
Pure Joy
Ready… steady… go
Load the brush and throw
A master surveyor
Of texture and layer
Stroll on a rose-scented path
Poised and controlled
ready to roll
Roll up your sleeves
And scrunch the leaves
Now lie in a raspberry bath
Julienne Juschke
Shipwrecked off Biscay
Wild-eyed convict women scream
their babies slip away in dream.
Antipodes, a future lost
in spill of rafts and wreckage tossed.
Max Merckenschlager
- Chris Reynolds
Fireworks, 68 x 79 Acrylic on leather
Fireworks
At apogee
skyrockets crack
Stars fizz like pop bottles
gold red green
flower into fountains.
We watch a river
s
often their fall
quench their fire.
Jan Napier
Dazzling explosions
Of ceremonious light
Cars line the foreshore
Tanya Knott
- Jessica Cantatore
Untitled, 33 x 40 Acrylic on paper
Late Afternoon
the fields of Provence
kaleidoscope into
fifty shades of green
the mistral wind roars
in from the north,
sweeping
buttercups and poppies
like brushstrokes
on a canvas.
Val Neubecker
Rebirth
Deep within
green forest seething
lies a secret place,
where secret heart’s blood
pumps, surges and
life regenerates;
Wild eyes flicker wide
alive in darkness.
Hope is renewed.
Veronica Lake
- Michael Sinclair
Untitled, 25 x 20 Acrylic on canvas
With knife and brush
I pushed around the colours
And lit the page
The last sign of the fire
Was the landscape
Reaching into charcoal
Crackling and spluttering
Trying
To catch its breath
Deanne Leber
The other side of darkness
They lie
who would trash the planet
claiming their might as right
From his recumbent position
the artist creates his picture
declaring with limited movement
that beyond the gloom of darkness
shines the light of each new day
Ron Okely
- Gillian Deague
Untitled, 29 x 20 Water colour & mixed media
Fantasy
You took my breath away
With this joyous forest!
Surrealist dawn,
Like in a storybook.
I could sit for hours
Amongst these painted trees,
Or slowly stroll
Through verdant pasture,
To salute the rising sun
Sarah Leighton
Classical music fills Gillian’s ears
As she paints brilliant tears
Of dotted delight, the pink of rose
Pretty blues on delicate mauve
And gentle aqua brings to mind
The art of a woman so refined
And with a sweep of the brush
Some colours rise like a blush.
Appear delicately contoured trails
Of interesting shapes like animal tails
Colleen O’Grady
- Shelley Marcolina
Untitled, 45 x 55 Oil pastel on canvas board
Sinuous
A linear curve replicates and turns,
Provides us with mystery;
what lies beyond that twist out of sight?
An S, a capital, a precursor of words,
a symbol of secrecy,
Sizzling start of summer. A stanchion, a sail.
A sunburst of stitchery for Shelley.
Virginia O’Keeffe
Guy Fawkes Night
Neighbours gathered, billies boiled, sausages sizzled
enthusiast fathers emptied beer bottles in readiness
children ignited the entertainment with glowing sticks
jumping jacks, sparklers and squibs, squeals and leaps
big boys joined in with explosions of colour
as Catherine wheels spun on rickety fenceposts
and sky rockets, launched from beer bottles,
excited the smouldering sky. Whee!
Jacqui Merckenschlager
- Clinton Carter
Untitled, 47 x 57 Artist proof, ink print
Patterns
I love the precision of circles,
The consistent click, clack of wheels.
The notion of black and the contrast of white,
A clarity you can feel.
I love the patterns of nature,
The rhythm of cycles and streams.
The way things grow, the way they flow
And nothing quite what it seems…
J.R. McRae
Snowflakian diatoms populate the heaving riven sea
too fine for the human hand to feel
or for the human eye to see
but: in their teeming trillions they sustain life,
and in so doing, comfort and nurture an evolving
curvature. The yearning artist pulls his thoughts
and feelings in finely drafted drawings
through an inky screen. And a wonderland
of transformation and startling patterned shapes appears
as if by magic.
Allan Padgett
- Clinton Carter
Untitled, 57 x 47 Artist proof ink print
Enclosed in a frame
two millipedes –
what’s in a name?
A skeleton screen printed,
how is this done?
The secret is Clinton’s.
Meryl Manoy
Exoskeleton
Inside/outside
does not concern me anymore.
Locking my insides out here
in a cage of syntax
enables me to continue to be
there is no hypocrisy.
This, my exoskeleton,
is outside outside
and inside you
is outside too
Chris Palazzolo
- Andrew Murray
Untitled, 59 x 48 Acrylic on paper
Inferno
Licking scarlet tongues
search in hunger,
lap the cooled seething embers.
Beyond the trauma
far below, a valley of green
is spotted by scouts.
It trembles,
quivers
and prays.
Max Merckenschlager
Green Dragon Abstract
The little green dragon waited so long
for the flare of spring’s red poppies
in fields and woods to unfold for him.
Now he pranced happily eyeing petunias
pinkly ready to unravel his returning.
Glen Phillips
- Sharon Siciliano
Untitled, 31 x 38 Acrylic on paper
The Eye
I am the centre of the storm,
wormholes surround me
as I travel the universe, from A to Infinity
amongst the whirling chaos.
Kelly Pilgrim-Byrne
Blooming tangerine and mint
An orange eagle wafts on a marshmallow sigh
Peach mist fingers, curling around,
Mint and tangerine cloud of leaves
Autumn floating downs
Coppery in the breeze.
Deb Micallef
- Elinor Doddrell
Untitled, 27 x 47 Acrylic on paper
lithe skein of dog
warm brown, mid-tan, russet
arching under the brush
Carol Millner
Through the windows I saw
quite simply by chance,
a family of eels
in a strange kind of dance.
The music was coming
from down on the sand,
so skillfully played
by the new crayfish band.
Peter Rondel
- Ben Lee
Untitled, 27 x 47 Acrylic on paper
The elbow as brush,
and caves, sky and jungle
appear on paper. What
I feel – the hard-won world
in triptych, silent shadow
and light … deep soul
music if you listen closely.
Zan Ross
coral triptych
. i paint coral fractions w/ my
elbows. in the middle, i follow
my nose as bee’s pollen blows
currency throughout a meadow
.
in the algorithm hymn of giving
we share celestial plans: show where
to dance, give flowers a better chance
.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
- Owen Nylander
Untitled, 27 x 47 Acrylic on wood
See strands of a story
split into beginnings
middles ends.
Ideas and inspirations
are neatly outlined
in black and white.
Jan Napier
If I could see as Eagles do
or owls that hunt at night,
would visions be a wond’rous view
seen in a different light?
Would I see shadows on the ground
in colours that are only found
in tales of magic, fairytales,
where child-like fantasy prevails?
So shadows too can play a role
in all that makes a poet’s soul.
Peter Rondel
- Janelle McMahon
Untitled, 38 x 30 Acrylic on paper
Day’s End
a deepening sky,
the last remnants of
a fiery sunset
drifting across
a filigreed gate
a sense of tranquillity
at day’s end.
Val Neubecker
Universe
back stroke in coal water
spray aqua bubbles around
moons of Mercury
Tineke Van der Eecken
- Jason Whittington
Untitled, 33 x 41 Pencil & acrylic on paper
Favourite lines
Once in spring
I found your favourite lines
framed in white
the colours angled
left to right
the words below
your signature revealed
released for all to see
Rose van Son
Bassendean: Then and now
Then
Years ago
a boy grew up in Bassendean
watching his father
grow sweet peas for show
First Prize tickets
were always red
His dad loved red tickets
Now
The art class meets
on Monday in Bassendean
More red tickets
Ron Okely
- Owen Nylander
Untitled, 39 x 46 Acrylic on canvas board
Owen’s technique was his desire
To show a more interesting view
With startling red like that of fire
Streams of black passing through
Of a hidden black-shaped harp
With a frame that enhances all
The beautiful painting clear and sharp
A pride to hang on anyone’s wall.
Colleen O’Grady
Fiery leaves in autumn wood,
where perhaps nymphs hide in dark places
with cicadas, troupes, tinkers and squirrels,
they busy themselves scrunching and scuttling
before a carpet of royal crimson falls
to show us the way to Winter.
Joanna Wakefield
- Lana Davie
Untitled 37 x 50 Acrylic on paper
Colour Portrait
Here’s a carnival that sings
alizarin, shouts in Prussian
out-loud-blue. You’ve splashed
into a (lemon yellow) twist
of giggle; grooved
a mood in mauve.
White space
is your silence
before
our response.
Mags Webster
Red Capped Parrot
A subtle slam of parrot in a tree, Purpureicephalus Spurius has
come to tea. Red on his head, red on his socks, he’s even
wearing red on his jocks. His coat is all colours: grape, lime and
sun; Purpureicephalus is a body of fun.
He clambers upside down the lilly-pilly, totally unaware that I
think he looks silly. His manners are dire, he spits fruit in the
drive and his voice is the scratch of a board and a wire.
But Oh, when he flies, this clumsy fat-feathered Spurius, he
whips through the air, and becomes Spurius Most Glorious.
Virginia O’Keeffe
- Matthew Froud
Untitled, 37 x 50 Acrylic on paper
It would be too easy to glibly say:
life can be turbulent.
But hey, Brother,
it can be.
And as with your art –
these tempestuous waves salute
you in their bold unfolding
as they rear and rumble
in a steel blue cluster
upon a fragile, yet sturdy, shore.
Allan Padgett
Light, separated by the stain of water
cut loose from clouds, stumbles over the oceans canvas
meets the ultimate blue of the muscled sea.
I took the light from the sky and offered it to you.
Gail Willems
- Shelley Marcolina
Untitled, 36 x 49 Acrylic & oil pastel on
Morning Hair
I see my morning hair;
the blues the light in the cold cold air;
the red the digits above the pillow’s seam;
the field what remains of sleep and dream;
the yellow the chink of sun in the blind,
and greens the trees my eyes will find.
Heave my legs to the edge of the bed
the hair rises with my crusty head.
Chris Palazzolo
under the reflection of reeds –
black bream
schooling
Tash Adams
- Denis Tomlinson
Big Boats, 30 x 60 Acrylic on canvas
Just Another Day
It seemed another day by the blue sea.
Who could know a tsunami crouched on
its haunches in watery wastes offshore
ready to spring at our homeland, gather
houses, cars and hopes in merciless maw?
Glen Phillips
Big Boats
For a second I saw Monet
his luminous blues in a nuanced sea
azure cobalt indigo ultramarine
a thousand passing impressions
caught with a full wet brush choppy strokes
and a steamer or is it a tug a tanker an Ark?
jostling bobbing a fugitive moment
one sunny afternoon in Freo
with ice-cream and lemonade
a million miles from France.
Rosie Barter
- Warren Brass
Untitled, 45 x 45 Acrylic on canvas
Perspective
Little blue spots that come
to us all are rendered
faithfully, but small
— in the overall scheme truly
sorrow is but a single step
in the dance of life.
Joy sings through
these greens
like the memory of trees.
Liana Joy Christensen
The Pear
Nature’s metronome,
windswept and overripe
swings fat-bottomed and lush,
fruity Latin moves.
Kelly Pilgrim-Byrne
- Darren Towie
Cherry & Tomatoes, 40 x 75 Acrylic on canvas
Six strawb’ries set sail
on a rickety old raft
some thought it strange
but everyone laughed.
They sailed from the jetty
when no-one was there,
but where were they going?
They just didn’t care.
Peter Rondel
My tomatoes are red-faced children
with the sunlight trapped inside.
Waiting for the ripening,
waiting to leave the field.
Each containing seeds
for the next crop.
Sue Clennell
- Joel Grant
Thunderstorms, 50 x 71 Acrylic on canvas board
Water as light;
water becoming light;
deep water, almost black –
the medium, the scratched
form whirls. All this from
me: what I see rising in
water during days spent
thundering down on
earth.
Zan Ross
Storm
Off centre there is darkness
cold that pierces instead of hovering
senses open for sound and flash
too easy to judge dark as angry light finds its way.
Maree Dawes
- Vivienne Sharp
Untitled, 26 x 52 Acrylic on paper
Alpine Freedom
the breeze brushes her face
as fingers slide
the ribbons free
streaming
soaring
whirling in confusion
above the snow
then down
to the fields below.
Val Neubecker
In my life there is always two.
You guide me while I find myself
in colour that escapes my brush
and draws me outside.
Catches autumn leaves falling
and the swirl of flowers on clear sky days.
With my hands I grow into the hues
you bring me and shape each stroke
into a smile that has me signing “more”.
Gary Colombo De Piazzi
- Peter Layton
Drumming, 30 x 30 Acrylic on canvas
Watching
the ground below
rise and fall,
cushioned curves with
outstretched, smiling limbs,
I fall…
just to the left
cold, flat and hard.
Christina Gammon
Drumming
stars in outer space
matter colliding inwards
cockerel breaks the night
Tineke Van der Eecken
- Lisa Bernic
Untitled, 30 x 40 Acrylic on canvas
It’s music
Such diamond droplets
here on mirrored glass
a bird tiptoes across the stage
slides where colours glow
colours Cézanne would admire
if only he could see
could hear your music
Rose van Son
‘smarm’
‘smeared’. favourite word that.
that and ‘smarmed’. how the
‘s’ then ‘m’ ricochet off lips and
tongue, the chewing gum vowel
sounds of ‘ea’ and ‘ar’, suggesting
perhaps a finger, with paint,
‘smearing’, or even a toe, in the
subtle but not lost art of ‘smarm’
Kevin Gillam
- Katie Bassett
Smacking Munyee #4, 32 x 43 Acrylic on paper
Grevilleas
A pallet of pink curls,
bursting buds of Grevilleas,
invite a tribe of honeyeaters to sip
nectar drips on gold specked anthers.
Jacqui Merckenschlager
High above like a windblown seed
the cherry blossom sways and parts with ease,
And I spy the summer green lawn beneath
Waiting for delicate dancing feet.
We will have sundaes
Of strawberries and cream
And sugar pink cakes
that steal their colour from the cherry
blossom tree.
And these summer colours
Will never fade from my memory.
Joanna Wakefield
- Jeff Loh
Untitled, 52 x 52 Acrylic on paper
The wind has stolen my washing!
Taken off with Mary’s knickers
splatted Rob’s jeans into a puddle
unpegged mum’s petticoats
spread sheets and towels
all over the lawn and left
one lonely sock
just hanging.
What a dirty trick!
Jan Napier
Dreams: The Director’s Cut
Sleep is the metteur en scène, unrolls
a screen where we project the movies
of our selves, and deconstruct the plot lines
of the day. Flashback, blur, shrapnel
of colour, tilt-shift of synapse, special
effects of brain. Sometimes, in the rushes
of the night, we recognise ourselves,
shy cameos, wearing a tactful green.
A walk-on part among those stars, those
superheroes: crimson, canary, ultramarine.
Mags Webster
- Paul Rusconi
Untitled, 50 x 40 Acrylic on paper
I’m Dying!
The field is the colour of fresh dried blood.
The detail spiritualizing white.
This is the moment of trauma called dismay,
when the fingers of the departing, seeking
to return, touch the living fruit
and turn its pulp into ectoplasm.
Chris Palazzolo
Caravaggio, this room, this painting, coloured red
has the white bloom of fungus, the craquelure,
flaking of old age. Like a woman seen through a window
streaked with dirt and dust the pentimento of your eye
stares back at me.
Can you teach me to paint?
Gail Willems
- Paul Wright
Untitled, 60 x 55 Acrylic on canvas
yacht club flags
in the wind
ringing
the dinner bell
Tash Adams
Regarding A Heated Moment
On a cold morn my poor hand would feel
like a blue glove grasping my homework,
hoping the teacher at last would deal
with me jovially. And thereby warm my
spirits while frozen fingers sought to steal
a little circulation from his schoolroom stove.
Glen Phillips
- John Pearson
Smiling Spirit, 23 x 23 Acrylic on paper
He walks on air
From where I stand
his feet don’t seem to touch the ground
A boyhood dream fulfilled
His team has won the final
He’s been captain for the year
Wipes away a silent tear
Dad’s week on the mine
He’s not here FIFO
Ron Okely
smiling spirit
shake your head & swing those hips
flash your eyes & smack those lips
shimmy to the music as the sun sets low
wear purple for the dockers in its afterglow
strum your guitar as the moon beams bright
pale yellow ball in a dark sky night
pop a snagger on the barbie & smile a while
we love to see you grinning like a crocodile
let your spirit free let it smile! smile! smile!
Rosie Barter
- Gavin McNamara
Rapid Creek, 60 x 30 Acrylic on canvas
Rockfall
a wash
an early winter
an autumn rain left behind
but sun shines through
this granite where Rapid Creek
meets land and sea
this light meets mind
this light you and me
Rose van Son
Raven paused, squinted into
the light reflecting off the salt lake
and tasted the gritty dust storm that
raked the deserts colours into air.
This place is not about beauty
he smiled
it’s dastardly sublime!
Graeme Butler
- Vivienne Sharp
Untitled, 25 x 25 Mixed media
we put our hand on rock
saw our self outlined −
healer hunter shaman
put our hand in paint
made story magic
increase
the imprint
began in caves
and binds
you me
all of us
Coral Carter
Maps
You’ve pressed a map into clay, made country
I know well—familiar delta of lines, same
tumulus at base of thumb. Your map
won’t date or crease with age and overuse—
unlike my own. Each time I open them up
new culs de sac emerge, old borders blur,
destinies alter course. I hesitate between Heart
and Fate—such extremity of absence to explore.
Mags Webster
- Pauline Birrell
Untitled, 30 x 45 Acrylic on canvas
The Artist’s Palette
Delicate and pure
the choice of colour is
—flawless in its artistry—
The brush strokes
bold and sure.
Liana Joy Christensen
She floats vertically in the Dead Sea
eyes skyed with fragments of old shadows
hair saddened, mud encrusted skin of glass
and the moment heavy salt licks away tendrils of pain
smooths old hands dissolves wracked limbs
spills age the from the space between nose and lip
mutating woman colours herself
unafraid of the light.
Gail Willems
- Pauline Birrell
Untitled, 40 x 80 Acrylic on canvas
I’m thinking of green,
the colour of lime, kiwi fruit.
Grey and charcoal,
the colour of cockatoos.
I’m thinking a veritable rainforest
with birds free like the grasshopper
who fiddles and dances all summer.
Beware winter, grasshopper,
when the grey and green are enclosed
in a heart of ice.
Sue Clennell
Eclipse
The ocean’s green water
lights up with dawn’s early rays
its emerald centre
and jade-like fringe
pivot to the rhythm
of a primitive ritual
before grey clouds
eclipse the sun.
Fran Graham
- Diana Coote
Untitled, 30 x 45 Acrylic on canvas
Colour Bible
Blue to purple
Hayman Island
Bombay Blue
Lilac Time
green
Aquajet, Lakeside
and so to red
Pink Azalea, Bardot
Tiger Rose, Flamenco.
Maree Dawes
All colour names from the solver paint bible 2005
Strike Up the Band!
Let’s march – red, white, red!
Strike up purple here instead,
Blue too,
Striding through,
A splash of that, a dash of this!
Lashings of colour – pure bliss!
Blends of colour, zip and zing,
Bands of brightness swoosh!
Colour palettes make me sing,
Laughter is the joy it brings.
J.R.McRae
- Diana Coote
Untitled, 40 x 80 Acrylic on canvas
We watch the sun
Sinking into earth’s skin
We scratch our scars
From the inside
We fly with wings
Deanne Leber
Day bright and me with you
dressed in Prussian blue running
as swathes of cobalt, sky, ultramarine
smudge against zinc yellow, geranium
and crimson to drag the jade and turquoise
into a blur of more than I can hold,
escape into a smile.
Gary Colombo De Piazzi
- Lisa Coles
Untitled, 30 x 25 Acrylic on canvas
Opal Hors d’oevre
Glance up!
See how your swinging lamp
plunders opalescence
from this pitch black hole?
Gouge quickly, friend.
Tonight we’ll celebrate!
Max Merckenschlager
Kimono Silk
A swatch of Kimono fabric;
a swathe of silk draping skin,
stenciled in morning-glory colours,
scattered with the flesh-pink petals
of sacred water lotus.
Each one a cup of light
offered to the sun,
peeping skyward
from beneath dark waters.
Veronica Lake
- Donna Barnsley
Untitled, 40 x 50 Acrylic on canvas
Honey glazed skies
silken to touch
Unleashed circles of Truth and Light
Descending quietly
-
An Equilibrium within-
Brigita Ferencak
Like my smile that lights
the sky, yellow laughter, pink
joy, happy blue talk. There is
the path the horse takes when
I ride. The route the boat takes
when I sail. The steps I take
when I hear music – arms
flung in joy; feet tapping,
sliding the lino, bowing at the
finish.
Zan Ross
- Emma Biasin
Untitled, 32 x 42 Acrylic on paper
cradle me in the curve
of your hand,
shield me with the obscurity
of your shadow,
then leave me
and let me
be
Christina Gammon
The difference between us is as narrow
as the space between the comfort
of wood shavings
and the warmth of sedimented sandstone
layering itself for posterity –
as your gracious art infiltrates
my mind and takes my body
to a Pilbara-lined space
of shallow depositions
and warming, deepening reflection.
Allan Padgett