2017 Contributing Artists/ Poets
1 Natalie Green Ann Harrison, NSC Val Neubecker
2 Andre Mooibroek Nathan Hondros, Colleen O’Grady
3 Julian Skewes Peter Jeffery OAM, Virginia O’Keeffe
4 Kelly Thomason Amanda Joy, Ron Okely
5 Rhiannon Burns Julienne Juschke, Allan Padgett
6 Sarah Fogg Veronica Lake, Chris Palazzolo
7 Chris Van Aurich Deanne Leber, Glen Phillips
8 Brindle Hay Meryl Manoy, Keren Gila Raiter
9 Steve Pearton Shey Marque, Zan Ross
10 Jeremy Gowing Maureen Sexton, Jacqui Merckenschlager
11 Clinton Carter Tineke Van der Eecken, Max Merckenschlager
12 Bonnie Wilkinson Deborah Micallef, Rose van Son
13 Aimee Dickinson Scott-Patrick Mitchell, Sandie Walker
14 Tony Stanesheff Alistair Bain, Jan Napier
15 Kristen Cameron Wendy Beach, Val Neubecker
16 Catherine White Colleen O’Grady, Sunny Blundell-Wignall
17 Gillian Deague Andrew Burke, Virginia O’Keeffe
18 Janet Stein Graeme Butler, Ron Okely
19 Walter Hall Coral Carter, Allan Padgett
20 Keith Meakin Liana Joy Christensen, Chris Palazzolo
21 Rae-Anne Gilbert Glen Phillips, Faye Teale-Clavi
22 Gail Thomson Sue Clennell, Keren Gila Raiter
23 Sharleen Jespersen Maree Dawes, Zan Ross
24 Delores Purdie Gary Colombo De Piazzi, Maureen Sexton
25 Terry Bralich Tineke Van der Eecken, Brigita Ferencak
26 Audrey Warbie Margaret Ferrell, Rose van Son
27 Shane Mallard Sally Gaunt, Sandie Walker
28 Lisa Joyce Alistair Bain, Kevin Gillam
29 Karen Forbes Smith Wendy Beach, Fran Graham
30 Kristen Cameron Mike Greenacre, Sunny Blundell-Wignall
31 Janine Noonan Andrew Burke, Ella Harrison
32 Valda Petersen Wendy Beach, Graeme Butler
33 Chris White Sunny Blundell-Wignall, Coral Carter
34 Kaye Howell Coral Carter, Liana Joy Christensen
35 Lara Goodger Liana Joy Christensen, Faye Teale-Clavi
36 Jacob Nuich Sue Clennell, Faye Teale-Clavi
37 Michael Chandler Sue Clennell, Maree Dawes
38 David Wilson Maree Dawes, Gary Colombo De Piazzi
39 Steven Pratt Brigita Ferencak, Nathan Hondross
40 Rick Sullivan Margaret Ferrell, Fran Graham
41 Cameron Dermer Sally Gaunt, Mike Greenacre
42 Vickie-Lee Devenish Julienne Juschke, Jonah Tan
43 Chris Reynolds Fran Graham, Veronica Lake
44 David Brandstater Mike Greenacre, Shey Marque
45 Marianne Percudani Ella Harrison, Jacqui Merckenschlager
46 Janelle McMahon Ann Harrison NS,C Max Merckenschlager
47 Elinor Doddrell Nathan Hondross, Scott-Patrick Mitchell
48 Grace Panaia Peter Jeffery OAM, Jan Napier
49 Joel Grant Amanda Joy, Val Neubecker
50 Clinton Carter Julienne Juschke, Virginia O’Keeffe
51 Lana Davie Veronica Lake, Allan Padgett
52 Jason Whittington Deanne Leber, Chris Palazzolo
53 Andrew Murray Meryl Manoy, Glen Phillips
54 Lindy Johnson Shey Marque, Zan Ross
55 Stephen Franklin Tineke Van der Eecken, Jacqui Merckenschlager
56 Josh Harper Max Merckenschlager, Rose van Son
57 Greg Barr Deb Micallef, Sandie Walker
58 Michael Frith Gary Colombo De Piazzi, Scott-Patrick Mitchell
59 Justin Carter Margaret Ferrell, Jan Napier
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2017 Artwork and Poetry
1 Natalie Green Untitled
30 x 42 Watercolour on paper
Images whirling,
spirits dancing in the light
fragments of life emerge
and time yawns an awakening.
The land holds fecundity,
Ancestral.
The dreaming.
Ann Harrison NSC
_______________________________
The Dry
Midday, and the sunburnt country
bakes beneath a summer sky,
airless, not a wisp of wind,
the earth is talcum powder dry.
dandelions, the last survivors,
cast an optimistic glow
but embered scarring flaunts where bushfires
raged their paths not long ago.
the country sighs and wonders when
the rain will bring new life again.
Val Neubecker
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2 Andre Mooibroek Unique House
41 x 51 Acrylic on board
The roadhouse goes between flooding transparent white
the road goes beyond eyes fixed on the blue door
I saw in Spain, Corfu and Crete
rivers of blue-white climbing up the walls
he who built the road knew the way
the factotum of form and function
a fence for livestock keeping some in, some out
a fault in the floor senseless atom cloud trees
I passed this way to Ithaca and stopped went back
to work odd jobs in the mystery of colour
Nathan Hondros
_______________________________
Unique House
What has Andre created here? Is he exploring urbanity?
Or is it someone’s charming residence by the sea?
A unique house for very special people I feel
Who have made it their own, a home for real.
Perhaps it is Andre’s, showing off his skill?
Or maybe a fellow artist whose home is his thrill?
Whatever the case there isn’t any doubt
That Andre’s beautiful work has a mighty clout
Colleen O’Grady
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3 Julian Skewes The Flame
41 x 51 Acrylic on board
JULIAN, somewhere the basketball courts field colour.
The half-time cheer girls are dazzle dazzle
As they fire the crowd to the climax of game
That once spent, litters the boards in ash.
So too with all the colours of the World,
Adorning the rainbow nations in contest for the four-year CUP.
Yes, as you say, Sport dances the ball into nets,
And Art flames colour with rainbows of Love,
Taking us into other worlds, richer than our everyday,
So we bring back gifts to share with all in body and mind.
Peter Jeffery OAM
_______________________________
The Flame
In front of the goal posts is a square of turf worn to ground
by studded boots; scrambling, thumping, walloping down
till all that’s left is a square for glory, where you fight for
that space, that sliver of unguarded air, an invisible door
and smack, your boot connects in the sweet spot
leather to leather; the crowd roar to their legs,
drum their feet and crow. You’re at the corner,
pounding your chest, team mates hugging
lift you up high, carry you off in glory
you’ve stoked their fire. Goal, goal, goal!
Virginia O’Keeffe
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4 Kelly Thomason Untitled
29 x 42 Acrylic on paper
Painting Seeds
Cosmic kernel of art
dwells eye-like as ocean
held in a rockpool unspools
with each wave in arrival
Coalescence of light
to cornea the way water
feathers paint through fibres
of paper the way art
makes flowers open outward
from these pages
Amanda Joy
_______________________________
From the Beginning
If only we could see
what awaits us
Would we have
changed anything?
Well we didn’t.
What you see
is what you get
Vive la difference!
Ron Okely
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5 Rhiannon Burns Teddy Bear in the Park
26 x 31 Acrylic on paper
Teddy Bear in The Park
He has a red bow tie
Why?
Rhiannon is happy
That’s why
So let’s jump with joy
into the pool of water
delicious, delicious, muddy water
that covers and splashes the bottoms of trousers
A canvas of art to go with the tie
Julienne Juschke
_______________________________
A Bear in There
A well-dressed gentleman bear emerges
red bow-tied walking from a carnival sky
into your daytime dreaming; flowers burst
from bud into envelopes of petalled vibrant colour
– waiting for pollinators to make their day,
to transform this fertile land
into germinating luscious night.
Daytime glare is abridged
through well-placed polaroids
– filtering shine and stroll.
Allan Padgett
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6 Sarah Fogg Wind Blowing My Mind and Rose
26 x 31 Acrylic on paper
Lido Memory
A ribbon of sand,
slides thick and slick along
a shoreline yellow as butter;
a slash of bright shining colour
bordered by summer-red roses.
Lido sunshine conjures melted memories;
salt on peeling skin, sunburned noses,
sandcastles and squeals
as we hip-hop over hot sand.
The gently swelling sea
cradles ghosts from the past.
Veronica Lake
_______________________________
The wind points the way –
in my mind I’m a baby
and an old lady in a chair –
somewhere between the two I play
and throw my mask away.
This is my life. The rose petals
are its carpet of years.
Chris Palazzolo
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7 Chris Van Aurich Untitled
50 x 40 Acrylic & ink on paper
Raise
Toes lost
In a swarm of grains
Clipped shells, bottle tops
At home, we miniaturise sunsets
In jars and shelves and photo frames
In thumb drives, digital disintegration, light
Night tiptoes around damp towels
Drags footprints up the hall
Loses shape
Reconfigure, sunrise, dunes
Deanne Leber
_______________________________
Dust Devils
What comes after a dust storm,
Rolling over the country before a cold front?
and rain like wizards with wands
that strike deep in dark earth to flick
buried seeds to unroll their bright genes
to come thundering up in rich colours—
reds, ochres, blue bands—and damn the dust.
Glen Phillips
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8 Brindle Hay Untitled
29 x 42 Mixed media
Poppies
A host of poppies tall and straight
is what I see in this landscape
by Brindle. Perhaps a field in Flanders
where one’s imagination wanders,
or maybe a garden bright,
its colours bringing great delight.
Meryl Manoy
_______________________________
Poppy
Poppy in the garden
can you stand on dark matter
extend your roots
into old things
decomposing
and still grow tall and vibrant
enough
to turn the grass green?
Keren Gila Raiter
______________________________________________________________
9 Steve Pearton My Brother’s Tractor
32 x 30 Acrylic on paper
Red Tractor Farm
Pass beneath the eucalypts, gum nuts dropping
two dogs leaping to net them from the air
Pass by the old stone house, the net of smoke
from the wood stove mixes with the diesel
Pass through the olive trees, weave up and down
rows between grape vines, their nets of red fruit
Pass outside the nets to the top of the orchard
six green parrots preening on the scarecrow
Shey Marque
_______________________________
My brother’s tractor is RED-hot!
On the farm, it tears it up, making the earth
open for seeds, for rain, for the sweet, green
plants to rise up to the sun.
My brother’s tractor is a metal dragon,
making a big noise sunrise to long
after dark. It never lets up — determined,
just like my brother.
Zan Ross
______________________________________________________________
10 Jeremy Gowing My Camper Van
32 x 42 Ink & pastel on paper
No Parking
No parking here.
No stopping – me now.
Driving through the
countryside. This is
home – among trees
red earth and infinite
blue. The only stops
now are for art, starry
skies and dreams.
Maureen Sexton
_______________________________
My Camper Van
I’ll take the slow road, the country connections,
beyond the cities and their incessant traffic noise.
I’ll linger at a country pub where travelling folk
drink latte, exchanging news with locals
about the crops, the weather and their views on everything.
I’ll sleep along the track behind the sign
and awaken to a chorus of birdsong
and the munch and grunt of kangaroos.
I’ll record memories in sparkling colour
and story lines.
Jacqui Merckenschlager
______________________________________________________________
11 Clinton Carter Star
30 x 42 Acrylic on paper
Australia from Space
Where trees lay eggs
Birds grow leaves
Spiders fly like foxes
Sun meets dirt, lakes and salt
Rainbows are born
Sun-spotted lucky blue
Tineke Van der Eecken
_______________________________
Star Strategy
Fire the booster rockets!
Let’s swing our craft around
this cluster of star bursts,
supernovae and black holes!
Our expanding universe has
infinite space for us all,
my inter-galactic friends.
Max Merckenschlager
______________________________________________________________
12 Bonnie Wilkinson Woman
40 x 46 Collage
Bonnie’s Woman
A rustle of silk, a clatter of beads, a crinkle of taffeta
As She wafts into the room enveloped in a rose garden
Beautiful, alluring, sparkling, clever,
While concealed by the layers of froth
Ivory boots tied with satin laces
And tough denim jeans!
Deborah Micallef
_______________________________
Pins & Needles
Cotton thread, doyleys
mother made, the kind
she set her scones upon
first prize, wrapped blue
in cellophane.
Christmas early she would
say, between textures, pins–
cloth is where you’ll find
her gifts.
Rose van Son
______________________________________________________________
13 Aimee Dickinson Untitled
30 x 42 Ink & pen on paper
Abhor Thoughts
i wonder if the sapling, when winter
comes, is grappling w/ the idea of its
own mortality, how leaf leaves to leave
branch naked in breeze, that death is an
act of how we undress so a soul can lift
only to discover that each spring green
recovers, life returns, bidding & budding
fruit a hum & blur of colour colour colour
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
_______________________________
Communication Tree
listen (lean in)
with these limbs
beneath this three –
blue sky
I (softly) speak
my breath as wind-song
shifts leaves
weaves story
my seeded words
of sharing
Sandie Walker
______________________________________________________________
14 Tony Stanesheff San Sebastian
56 x 38 Oil pastel on paper
San Sebastian
Brusque air, twisted, swirling,
Gathers at the head
Whose half-lit eyes
The heavens call.
Your deed gives name
to places tourists’ feet now wander,
captured in symphonic colour,
watching the sound drowned
by arrowing faith and still-stood shafts.
Alistair Bain
_______________________________
San Sebastian
Look at this bastion of Basque masculinity!
That haughty three- quarter profile turned
to camera, those perfect teeth. He’s here
for festival of course. But king, film star,
millionaire? No. This is just Rodriguez,
headwaiter at my hotel!
Jan Napier
______________________________________________________________
15 Kristen Cameron Untitled
21 x 30 Acrylic on paper
After dawn’s pink thread, loose birdcalls unravel in the yard:
the twitching Calico kitten needles past craft bag on bench
to sniff at closed, frost-pearled window for avian scents.
Before the clock radio’s alarm casts on Perth’s 98.5fm:
small paws slip across warm bed covers to knit
soft breaths into Sleeping Nan’s rosy beaked-nose.
Between these times, found and clawed—a fallen ball of yarn.
Wendy Beach
_______________________________
The Soft Touch
red mixing bowl
tucked under the arm
reach for the stirrer and…
W-H-I-P I-T
fast as a flash
light as a feather
the aerated whirlpool
whisking amalgamating blending
to create a gossamer confection.
Val Neubecker
______________________________________________________________
16 Catherine White Untitled
31 x 42 Acrylic on paper
Stunning!
That’s all that can be written about Cathy White.
Stunning! A creative beautiful masterpiece is right.
Did she use her wheelchair for those interesting streaks
That remind me of the outback tree-lined creeks?
Perhaps a space view of our teeming, busy city,
Miniature roadways, curving cul-de-sacs are rather witty
In this masterpiece of informative and imaginative artistry
That tells of a painter who has a gifted mastery.
Colleen O’Grady
_______________________________
Your heart
a brave repetition
lending shape to this music
of marks. Drawing from and pushing into
each blood-lit moment.
I blink: can see the dextrous
flicks and rolls
inscribed on and within:
no mere background,
a body rising and falling,
alive in the pluck and swerve
of itself.
Sunny Blundell-Wignall
______________________________________________________________
17 Gillian Deague Untitled
30 x 42 Mixed media
sprinkler spraying
in a green backyard
these are the colours
that stay when the spray
is turned off – a gentle
rainbow in the sun.
Andrew Burke
_______________________________
On a Caterpillar
Oh caterpillar so pale, so wondrously magical.
Already you have captivated the world with your beauty.
Layers of colour, moulded and hummocked soft on your sheath
of velvety skin. Look at how marvelously nature has captured
the pastels of daisies, the murmur of lilacs and lavender leaves.
All too soon you’ll be hidden within a silken cocoon, crisp
and contorted, but when you emerge,
Oh moth! Butterfly! the earth will delight in the flash of your wings.
Virginia O’Keeffe
______________________________________________________________
18 Janet Stein Untitled
21 x 30 Acrylic on paper
The yellow sea at sunset
Rolling in on pure white sand,
Might wet those yellow towels yet.
They belong to four red kiddy-winks,
Who are as burnt as they could get.
Graeme Butler
_______________________________
Wishing on Clouds
Look Mum
The boy cries out,
The flowers
seem to be
talking to each other.
Yes what do you think they’d say?
I sure hope there’s rain in them thar’ clouds.
Ron Okely
______________________________________________________________
19 Walter Hall Untitled
30 x 21 Acrylic on paper
stand in a crowd
stand apart
pins in a pincushion
don’t touch
some lean right
others left
try to interpret a sunset
red means something
other than danger
Coral Carter
_______________________________
Holding Up the Sky
A famous action painting hangs
on a long wall in a nation’s capital
where viewers gasp at its audacity
its shimmering dripping
its startling leaning
poles of cobaltian blue
– and it is here in this joy-filled field
of writhing colour and walking joy
that your skill emerges shining
and vapourises any doubt.
Allan Padgett
______________________________________________________________
20 Keith Meakin Untitled
21 x 30 Acrylic on paper
The Insouciant Snail
Having dined finely
on my fresh broccoli
this gourmet gastropod
sets out for the next
row of the backyard
veggie patch
I sigh and shrug
somehow I cannot begrudge
this neon thief its greens
Liana Joy Christensen
_______________________________
The black was the long sleep
that never swallowed my face –
but a lot of me
was running out at the time –
the more of me I lost
the tighter the black squeezed
but I never lost consciousness.
Chris Palazzolo
______________________________________________________________
21 Rae-Anne Gilbert 21 This Year
30 x 21 Acrylic on paper
Portrait of the Artist
I know a lady with green hair.
She’s here, there and everywhere.
Wants her portrait but can’t keep still—
all over the place like a will
o-the-wisp. Poor painter tried
but every brush flip she moved aside!
Yet he did not give in and plied
his brush with red, yellow and green
‘til it was the greatest portrait ever seen.
Glen Phillips
_______________________________
Sequells
Autumn colours creep in
green turns slowly
yellow, auburn, red
as foliage changes
the landscape,
mystical beauty abounds
picturesque sequels
fall across the canvas
Faye Teale-Clavi
______________________________________________________________
22 Gail Thomson Untitled
21 x 30 Pencil on paper
Three Rosellas sitting in a tree
and if climate change causes a Rosella to flee
there’d be two Rosellas sitting in a tree
and if a man-made fire causes a Rosella to flee
there’d be one Rosella sitting in a tree.
One Rosella sitting in a tree
and if land clearance causes that Rosella to flee
there will be no Rosellas,
not one,
sitting in a tree.
Sue Clennell
_______________________________
The Line
The line that stretches between this world and that
below which green under-depths
and striped, anonymous, sea creatures loiter
above which
skies are blue and people dance together
is the line we walk
every day
Keren Gila Raiter
______________________________________________________________
23 Sharleen Jespersen Untitled
30 x 42 Watercolour on paper
Red Green Black Yellow
kangaroo paws
bottle brush
grevillea
running postman
pincushion hakea
new holland honey eaters
yellow tailed cockatoos
golden whistlers
wing feathers of night parrots.
Maree Dawes
_______________________________
Everything on this earth has a hand.
BANG, down to the surface it goes, then
let it slide, laying down the colour of
itself, it handles the eye. See the colour
trails, slides, bangs, each to the other
hand, BUT not quite
touching.
Zan Ross
______________________________________________________________
24 Delores Purdie Untitled
21 x 30 Acrylic on paper
A posy of flowers and I breathe
every scent, every colour as it erupts
and cascades before my eyes
in the slow combustion
of winter days.
Build warmth
into each brush stroke
and hold the music of birds
in this world
edging from cold.
Gary Colombo De Piazzi
_______________________________
Dance of the Umbrellas
Shall we dance through
city streets? Hold me tight
against the winter wind
and the rush … of
flashing coloured lights
a discotheque through
sheets of driving rain.
Maureen Sexton
______________________________________________________________
25 Terry Bralich Untitled
30 x 42 Acrylic on paper
When in Perth
Colours of flame
Dark-orange to violet-mauve
Dawn and dusk burn
Threads into our senses
Find the green spot
Picnic my day
Tineke Van der Eecken
_______________________________
Earthen I am
Strength and Consistency are my brothers.
When we gather the world rumbles
No stone remains unturned
No grain of sand shall be unmoved.
The winds obey us.
No Heathen dares laugh –
For we are united,
Unrelenting…
Forevermore.
Brigita Ferencak aka The Wandering Gypsy
______________________________________________________________
26 Audrey Warbie Untitled
30 x 42 Mixed media
music –
like a sunrise
of pink marshmallow
crescendos into
crimson
vermilion tones
before a groovy saxophone
swings in with the blues
Margaret Ferrell
_______________________________
Under the Mulberry Tree
Such fire, such light
& in the blue, your name.
Colours plumed to stitch
all those daisy chains tied
under the mulberry tree.
Where are you now
my fair-weather friend?
Rose van Son
______________________________________________________________
27 Shane Mallard Untitled
30 x 42 Acrylic on paper
A Dragon’s Point of View
“Oh,” thought the dragon
“Not another dragonslayer to fight!”
I see horned helmet, slender legs
my scales flashing in his shield
Let this be an end of knights’ delight
in being smeared in dragon gore
to add to his store of tales of Yore
One more blast of nostril fire
this knight is toast and
I’m off to holiday on the Gold Coast
Sally Gaunt
_______________________________
Captured
colour
full arc
of life in far-reach
stroke.
in swift movement
throw
ball, chase
dog
capture
yellow heart.
Sandie Walker
______________________________________________________________
28 Lisa Joyce Untitled
30 x 30 Ink on paper
When The Sun Is Painting Skies
These are welcome days
that spring forth
however we contort them.
Call the pastel blossoms red
and by their dead lingo’s name,
for someone they are somehow living
and little matters
when the sun is painting skies.
Alistair Bain
_______________________________
yeah , no
yeah, no, I think it’s a lemon,
but I mean, it could be a
Beatles “We All Live in a Yellow
Submarine”, or it could be a kind
of manky U.F O., or could even
be a jaundiced Freudian
after-thought, but yeah, no,
I think it’s a lemon
Kevin Gillam
______________________________________________________________
29 Karen Forbes Smith Untitled
26 x 36 Mixed media
Over the springtime, the seeds grew;
They had the best sustenance
gorged on sunlight and night’s dew
drew bright blood and new bones
from rich soil through their stems
formed full baroque bodies
and as the soft breezes blew
bore bright, florid flowers
in seven hues of amethyst.
—A view of dreams being born.
Wendy Beach
_______________________________
Purple Patch
A museum of patches and thread
curated with pieces and passion
with flowers of yellow and red
ribbons and bouquets in fashion.
Her colours are pure and auspicious
feminine, bold and exciting
her structure inspired, delicious
its ordered arrangement inviting.
This ensemble of power and intention
the artist’s ingenious invention.
Fran Graham
______________________________________________________________
30 Kristen Cameron Untitled
24 x 30 Acrylic on paper
A Drover’s Song
The rich blue-clad sky
twirls its rhythm and beauty
over the sun-scorched plains
where the drover rides high
above his cattle lowing their heads
against the suns beating rays
and suddenly a voice appears
yes, it’s Clancy loudly singing
a drover’s song of hope and joy.
Mike Greenacre
_______________________________
A fluid scene,
ladders
of azure sky, patterns
that a robot
or algorithm
could neither create
nor drink from.
You say a newborn
has neither the tools or mastery to decipher or recognise;
loved ones just random blobs. Yet, surely not only lips
that suckle.
Sunny Blundell-Wignall
______________________________________________________________
31 Janine Noonan Untitled
30 x 30 Acrylic & ink on paper
It’s noodles from Noonan
running-on writing
from the heart –
Waves of delight flow
through the viewer’s eyes …
This is just a clip,
a hip dip into
a mind constantly moving.
Andrew Burke
_______________________________
Waves of dreams
I held for long
waves of things
I will never know
waves of secrets
yet untold
waves of spirit
bright and bold.
Ella Harrison
______________________________________________________________
32 Valda Petersen Untitled
30 x 30 Marker & watercolour on paper
I spoke to the tree, rapidly though I was alone
Without fear that someone would say ‘Don’t talk to it’
or ‘Don’t talk of it’ setting my lips loose with shameful
words I was never to utter, in blinding tones on short,
sharp breaths until I trembled like a scared child.
The tree did not transform into a raging monster
nothing echoed from its hollows, nor was I hung
from its fork by those words rolled from my tongue.
After, I cried, just me with that tree, until calm again
—trees are good listeners for such things as these.
Wendy Beach
_______________________________
Meet Mr. Greeny-Blue and Yellow!
He is a flatfooted fellow
Sporting a bulbous nose,
And a forehead so very high
Hiding his sunken eyes.
He is jolly, not mellow
And he loves a surprise!
Graeme Butler
______________________________________________________________
33 Chris White Untitled
46 x 58 Acrylic & ink on paper
Magenta
When we hug it seems you disappear
and reappear like cloud
or bacteria.
A billion humming colonies;
no solid point
just a reaching into.
My wanting
subsumed in a wider biome.
I try to read you
from the beginning,
but can pull only a cross section
at a time.
Sunny Blundell-Wignall
_______________________________
wake up early
my edges already frayed
so many things to do
REMEMBER: bills to be paid
take off warm clothes
throw on the cold
start in a hurry
as the day grows old
busy red busy blue
busy me busy you
Coral Carter
______________________________________________________________
34 Kaye Howell Untitled
30 x 42 Acrylic & ink on paper
as morning unravels
nights purple ribbons
daylight frays the horizon
south wind begins its game
of blow the man down
darkness slinks west
holding hands with silence
in this industrial part of town
steel beams nuts and bolts
begin to scream
Coral Carter
_______________________________
The Ceremony of Weather
Threads of rainbow and smears
of blue sky are inextricable
from the thunderhead grey
In Africa this mingled weather,
sun, rain, rainbow, is
called “monkey’s wedding”
I don’t know why. But, although
I see no sunny yellow here, I
suspect that the same trickster
spirit is at play
Liana Joy Christensen
______________________________________________________________
35 Lara Goodger Untitled
39 x 39 Acrylic on paper
The Rime of the Ancient Forester
The mystic offspring of Vincent Van Gogh
and Robert Frost, such a perilous blue
has the ancient lineage of fairy tale
I slip sideways on this icy night,
amid the shadowy trees
I am drawn to the presence-in-absence
palpable at the vanishing point
Who calls me? Who was it
that just passed this way?
Liana Joy Christensen
_______________________________
Cerulean Sky
Ocean laps, deep blue
under calm cerulean sky
a dolphin frolics amidst foam
as water plays back
both reciprocate splashes
in consecutive waves
serene peace eminent
Faye Teale-Clavi
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36 Jacob Nuich Untitled
42 x 30 Mixed media
Red is the colour of Summer’s hair
she makes out she’s harmless
but sends fire everywhere.
Red starfish in the grass and sky,
and all we can do
is wonder why.
Sue Clennell
_______________________________
Landscape ablaze hot
orange flames burst
consumes vegetation as
purple smoke feathers
air pungent
Faye Teale-Clavi
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37 Michael Chandler Untitled
45 x 33 Acrylic on paper
They came through the fire
Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego.
The king who bowed down to Ishtar,
the king who built a garden in the desert,
the king who brought down Jerusalem,
could not harm them,
Shadrach, Meschach, Abednego.
Sue Clennell
_______________________________
Sturt’s Desert Peas
are from the mulga, way out east from home
one year they grew from seed in our garden
sprawly, weed-like growth no preparation
for their enameled black on red
kapow!
Maree Dawes
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38 David Wilson Untitled
30 x 42 Acrylic on paper
Wheatbelt 2017
Rain comes heavy
late summer
heat persists
past autumn
blossoms
come early
kunzea, acacia
scaevola
and then
the frosts.
Maree Dawes
_______________________________
It’s as if the world is a mirror
and I live on the seam
between real and not.
Flip the dark and find
gold in the evening
set of the sun.
Prick the traits embedded
in sticks and twigs to imprint
this canvas with colours
of fire and night.
Gary Colombo De Piazzi
______________________________________________________________
39 Steven Pratt Untitled
30 x 42 Ink on paper
Unspoken words linger in silence.
Creating beauty without a whisper.
Thoughts are carried by soundless waves.
Back and Forth,
And Back and Forth
Without knowing why time was created,
Tender beings waft from Here to There,
Prancing through forests of seaweed.
Their contentment is rippling under the surface
Brigita Ferencak aka The Wandering Gypsy
_______________________________
Landscape, ocean, skies you have found
your way with the grandeur of these red birds
with wings flaming like hieroglyphs blue islands wrecked
imagine us struggling for breath on reef rocks
surf dragging at our heels
Ink weeping on the Architect’s plans
a royal flush of water colour in purple in blue
Like our forefathers taking flight
from the centre of things to the edge
Nathan Hondross
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40 Rick Sullivan Untitled
30 x 42 Acrylic & glitter on paper
From earliest moments
memory carries colour.
Rick, your spontaneous
images spatter earth colours
in abandon:
umber and russet, ochres
of red and yellow,
green, gold, and glitter
of gems – primeval –
from an artist of daring.
Margaret Ferrell
_______________________________
Green Spill
Fallen under the weight
of his favourite colour
he crawls to the next one
hopeful of finding a contrast
or a lighter shade
to reduce the heaviness.
But loving green the most
he’s happy
even though it’s got him pinned.
Green is who he is.
Fran Graham
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41 Cameron Dermer Untitled
42 x 30 Acrylic &ink on paper
Banana Split
My Banana Split Man, without icecream
my start man becomes my finish man
tall, long arms, cheeky grin, smudge eyes
moptop fuzzy black hair
Upside down Sydney Bridge grin
liquorice stripes invite me in
for a stripey cuddle:
my head wants to shout
“Shake me ‘til all the pistachio nuts
and cherries fall out”.
Sally Gaunt
_______________________________
The Re-telling
At first just painted yellow in
striped pyjamas with arms
outstretched, welcoming friends
into the fun of characters
drawn from the animated world,
until the image is re-worked, grows
just like any good story-line:
embellished, each time it is told.
Mike Greenacre
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42 Vickie-Lee Devenish Untitled
50 x 41 Marker & ink on paper
Mindful
nature’s sights and sounds ripple and flow and sing and squawk
they rustle and crunch and flitter and flap
i breathe and smell and look and smile
nature’s mediation
today’s meditation
my mind is full of now
Julienne Juschke
_______________________________
Summit of colours
Connecting two dimensions
Nature’s splendid world
Jonah Tan
______________________________________________________________
43 Chris Reynolds Untitled
40 x 30 Acrylic on paper
Balloons
Hot air and early rising
gets these beauties high.
They hang in the air
breathing fire, a flotilla
of colourful gasbags.
The blue sky morning
holds them up
an astonishing performance.
The desert below is white-faced
with awe and disbelief.
Fran Graham
_______________________________
Flying High
Our bird’s eye view
scans a lunar vista
far, far beneath us:
one diminished, disconnected
from this moment.
We are suspended
hovering in quivering shimmering air.
Drifting through heat haze
floating free over silvery sands
into the azure vault of dawn.
Veronica Lake
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44 David Brandstater Untitled
46 x 65 Mixed media
Happiness from Within
Colours hide the clues
to the painter’s heart
the image deep within
this patterned screen
cries out in celebration –
two human hands spread wide
in the sun-drenched sky
and a face, just smiling.
Mike Greenacre
_______________________________
Vidimus
‘We have seen’ (the artist’s sketch)
A window pieced together over time
each fragment of glass calls its own
colour, distortion, perspective. Play
of sunlight creates a moving garden
alive with patterns that meander
throw polymorphs across the floor.
Your thoughts are lured to wander
with them like bubbles trapped inside
as the liquid glass cooled, tiny bits
of you fixed in the heart of light
Shey Marque
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45 Marianne Percudani Peacock
90 x 40 Papier mâché
Scent of ancient
greatness
touch of bluish
velvet
feathers looking
for the ink
of self discovery
and the wildest of dreams.
Ella Harrison
_______________________________
Peacock
Aware of his magnificence
in courtship display
he quivers his fan
of mesmerising eyes
arching above the elegant vase
of his iridescent chest
exciting himself
enticing on-lookers.
Jacqui Merckenschlager
______________________________________________________________
46 Janelle McMahon Nellie
37 x 30 Acrylic on paper
The helicopter hovers
Its blades whirl like dervishes and the waters part.
Secret life emerges from the down draft and dances to
its own rhythm.
Colours in the water now twirl like Spanish dancers in a
festival
and the sun throws these colours to reflect glorious aqua
blue, gentle pink and vibrant purple.
The sea celebrates life in colour.
A kaleidoscope.
Ann Harrison NSC
_______________________________
Lyrebird’s Lair
Rainforest’s secretive plunder
of maiden-hair, fruits and of waterfall thunder
gathered and jealously gloated upon
mimicked and mocked by the lyrebird song
echoes that ring in the rainforest air …
memories wistful from lyrebird’s lair.
Max Merckenschlager
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47 Elinor Doddrell Untitled
28 x 33 Acrylic on paper
edges masked from the calligraphic
force of colour we write to the margins
in words the other sees unsorted
a mess of fine fettle in the heart of things
words cannot trick the page
I’m the one rubbed out, receding into black
who brought the night sky with a wrist’s flick
and you’re the one with the colours
you, who’s brought down upon us your Aurora Borealis
Nathan Hondross
_______________________________
inspiration
light tracer, shape embracer
in particles & waves we create
bring into being an interlace
a canvas we stroke with genius
inspiration comes, hums along
the length of paintbrush, splashes
in dashes something fabulous
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
______________________________________________________________
48 Grace Panaia Untitled
28 x 23 Acrylic on paper
Gynetta, you have graced me
With your painting brush in mouth,
To my responding word of mouth.
Imagine-ation gives us two paths.
A giant bird, an Arabian roc lays a golden egg
Against the sealine of blue,
Or Sinbad is cast on a beach with towering palms,
And he ventures through
A phoenix cave of flame and rainbow rain,
into a molten golden treasure and endless delight.
As always, best wishes.
Peter Jeffery OAM
_______________________________
Powerful
Not electric leads unplugged, but arms upraised
and looking for connection. Raw energy
arcs and sparks from a face radiating glee.
Grace is alive and loving it, wants to share
some high voltage hugs and snuggles with YOU!
Jan Napier
______________________________________________________________
49 Joel Grant Untitled
27 x 42 Acrylic on paper
Plumb Line
Taking shape, tangle of angler’s
line, nested on water, near-purple
Each intimate curl, a gesture
of capture and release, a golden thread
enclosing the moment an object was
found, held, revalued and released
Amanda Joy
_______________________________
Beware
Light shimmers
the cave’s watery depths
tides flood the labyrinth
of underwater tunnels
silently, stealthily,
the mini-sub emerges
propellers stirring
the last vestiges of sunset
James Bond on a mission.
Val Neubecker
______________________________________________________________
50 Clinton Carter Untitled
46 x 31 Acrylic on paper
With his beard, tatts and leather jacket
I should be wary, I’ve been told
But all I see now is a man
who chose to answer my lost phone
and wait at the shop for me
Different people
Different looks
Different dots
Diverse
Yet surprisingly alike
Julienne Juschke
_______________________________
Morning Flight
We were camped by a lagoon, under the fringe of paperbarks.
The night had been icy, we were glad of our swags.
Just before dawn the singing around us began with
a flutter of throats and the rustle of wings.
Swift swooped the budgies, the jewels of the desert,
above were galahs, red finches, corellas.
They swept to the rim, flocking and squabbling,
and drank with a sense that this was their due
As sun broke the sky up they billowed and danced
shards of opalescence in feathery hues.
Virginia O’Keeffe
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51 Lana Davie Untitled
17 x 40 Acrylic on paper
Meadow Sweet
breeze-tumbled blossoms,
toss delicate heads
giving the nod to morning light.
Petals flutter fragile,
ruffled and rifled
by sly wind fingers.
Bright cornflowers and poppies
heave and ripple;
perpetual flimsy dancers
whirling to the music
of a whimsical wind.
Veronica Lake
_______________________________
Life in Its Myriad Fusion
When you dance
inside this armature of
scintillating forested pigments
your heart is embraced
and your life is steered
through such coveted warmth and comfort
along and beside and within
a path of knowing always, forever
– that you took the one that matters.
Allan Padgett
______________________________________________________________
52 Jason Whittington Untitled
40 x 30 Acrylic on paper
For You
The photographer asks us to move closer
And I’m already forgetting this moment
Slide inside its shell
This fingerprint ink
This thin, thin skin
This rainbow’s arching, this begin, begin
Her scalp shakes loose the hair
Veins drink chemo, toxic
And my tears, and my tears
There we are, in the photo, there we are
Deanne Leber
_______________________________
There are no words for this violence –
two chunks of that malignant purple
have broken off in some cataclysm
edged in reds that are either flames or tissue –
it is either very big or very small
and if it can be visualised
that’s because vision is ecstatic.
Chris Palazzolo
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53 Andrew Murray Untitled
38 x 50 Acrylic on paper
My Blue Heaven
Heavenly blue has many shades.
Pastel at dawn, bright at mid-day,
grey-blue at dusk, darker at night,
a navy backdrop for stars and moonlight.
Here and there a wisp of white.
Andrew has woven all shades of blue
into his painting – I like it, – don’t you?
Meryl Manoy
_______________________________
Antarctic Blues
Blue ice is precious
and known to so few.
It is found in Antarctic
waters when the ice shelf
breaks away. But in truth
you can see back to dinosaurs
in the depths of that blue.
Glen Phillips
______________________________________________________________
54 Lindy Johnson Elvis
40 x 30 Acrylic on paper
At the Emu Farm
They huddle together in the yard
do a mad dance to your whistling
a hundred birds stomp their feet
in unison, heads bob up and down,
the females drumming to a boom,
then settle as you stop whistling.
Elvis has sat on the nest for weeks
guarding his strange brood of one
and a shiny plastic bottle is missing
from the string on the gum tree
Shey Marque
_______________________________
Elvis is a song-bird, huge, like an emu;
blue, but those red eyes look inside, know
you. Even so, he just smiles when you
look back. Oh yeah — he knows you deep
down, keeps coming around ruffling feathers,
comfort on two legs, sings you awake,
sings you to sonorous sleep, don’t matter
that you snore.
Zan Ross
______________________________________________________________
55 Stephen Franklin Untitled
51 x 61 Acrylic on paper
Europe voyage
I have scratched a map
From your home to happiness
In winter score skates
In summer find fins
In spring weave wings
In autumn sail across the sky
Tineke Van der Eecken
_______________________________
Questions and Answers
Exploring this world of constant change
he asks questions, not expecting straight answers.
He stretches his imagination across
unending plains to far horizons
connecting layer upon layer of history.
Linked chains of creation and destruction
dizzying moments and bursts of energy
create the never-ending cycle of being.
Jacqui Merckenschlager
______________________________________________________________
56 Josh Harper Untitled
51 x 61 Acrylic on paper
Manchurian Fan
I kept your blue fan, dearest wǒ xiǎng nǐ
although it has faded and frayed.
The Ballarat goldfields are hostile;
I fear that I’ll never strike
riches required to win your hand.
Max Merckenschlager
“wǒ xiǎng nǐ” means “I miss you”
_______________________________
Framed, you give to me
a prize, notes to keep
silent words
shout news of day
& in between
cotton threads
held close, edge to edge–
the sky, the water blue
the light
shimmers through.
Rose van Son
______________________________________________________________
57 Greg Barr Untitled
55 x 72 Acrylic on board
Boodjar
Gossamer threads connect past, present and future
like scars
Memories, knowledge and Truth, respect and care for
Ngulla boodjar, Our Land
perpetuated in the hearts and minds of the story tellers
Kept alive in the telling and retelling
Country is everything
Deb Micallef
_______________________________
Facets or/and Two Faces of Didge Rumble Rising
sing this
darkskinned land
walk lines
of historied face
in lowered glance
the closed eye
shadow dreaming
then meet me in the almost-
treeline that caps
downward split-wood slope
Sandie Walker
______________________________________________________________
58 Michael Frith Untitled
102 x 76 Acrylic on board
Red and yellow
clamour in descent.
Each letter as bold
as the colour it holds.
Each stroke commanding
in a world gone silent.
My dog, Rusty
there to hold it real.
Gary Colombo De Piazzi
_______________________________
Equation of Explanation
the words for this are in your
paintbox, a synaesthesia of
how colours are just words
– not nouns, but verbs –
yet to say them gives them
meaning that spells out the
molecular breathing into a
brave new world
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
______________________________________________________________
59 Justin Carter JC’s First Mushroom
38 x 56 Pencil & watercolour on paper
Mushroom-man
descendant of benign E.T.,
friend of Dr Who –
empathy your heritage.
Have you come to trump
attempts
to heal our world?
Margaret Ferrell
_______________________________
First Mushroom
What’s happened to this fun guy?
He’s looking a bit glum.
Some eldritch witch waved her wand
and filled his tum with rum.
His hat has wings! His face is blue!
He’s quite sure he’s the first mushroom
that this has happened to!
Jan Napier