2018 Creative Connections Exhibition

Exhibitors:

1 Study of Flowers Artist: Candice Raphael. Poets: Coral Carter, Max Merckenschlager

2 Pippa on Paper Artist: Rebecca Johnston. Poets: Liana Joy Christensen, Deb Micallef

3 Untitled Artist: Katrina Barber. Poets: Scott-Patrick Mitchell, Max Merckenschlager

4 Water Lilies Artist: Hannah Valenti. Poets: Sue Clennell, Val Neubecker

5 Untitled Artist: Jeremy Gowing. Poets: Sunny Blundell-Wignall, Jan Napier

6 Untitled Artist: Clinton Carter. Poets: Maree Dawes, Colleen O’Grady

7 Untitled Artist: Bonnie Wilkinson. Poets: Gary Colombo De Piazzi, Virginia O’Keefe

8 Untitled Artist: Steve Pearton. Poets: Brigita Ferencak, Ron Okely

9 Untitled Artist: Greg Barr. Poets: Margaret Ferrell, Allan Padgett

10 Liquorice Allsort Artist: Janine Noonan. Poets: Sally Gaunt, Chris Palazzolo

11 Untitled Artist: Michael Barker. Poets: Jonah Tan, Glen Phillips

12 Ink on Paper with Daisy Artist: Lisa Joyce. Poets: Fran Graham, Keren Gila-Raiter

13 Untitled Artist: Delores Purdie. Poets: Mike Greenacre, Peter Rondel

14 Untitled Artist: Stephen Franklin. Poets: Yael Harris, Zan Ross

15 Untitled Artist: Gillian Deague. Poets: Ann Harrison, Maureen Sexton

16 As We Are Artist: Cathy White. Poets: Nathan Hondros, Mitchell Thompson

17 Untitled Artist: Sladjana Mijailovic. Poets: Peter Jeffery, Rose van Son

18 Untitled Artist: Kristen Cameron. Poets: Sarah Afentopoulos, Amanda Joy

19 Untitled Artist: Valda Petersen. Poets: Alistair Bain, Julienne Juschke

20 Untitled Artist: David Brandstater. Poets: Sunny Blundell-Wignall, Christopher Kennedy

21 Untitled Artist: Michael Frith. Poets: Andrew Burke, Veronica Lake

22 Untitled Artist: Karen Forbes-Smit. Poets: Graeme Butler, Deanne Leber

23 Untitled Artist: Kaley Golding. Poets: Coral Carter, Meryl Manoy

24 Untitled Artist: Justin Carter. Poets: Liana Joy Christensen, Shey Marque

25 Untitled Artist: David Wilson. Poets: Jacqui Merckenschlager, Jennifer McRae-Poulter

26 Untitled Artist: Kaye Howell. Poets: Sue Clennell, Jacqui Merckenschlager

27 Untitled Artist: Nathan Palmer. Poets: Veronica Lake, Rose van Son

28 Untitled Artist: Sam Huntsman. Poets: Maree Dawes, Mitchell Thompson

29 Untitled Artist: Cameron Dermer. Poets: Gary Colombo De Piazzi, Maureen Sexton

30 Untitled Artist: Jacob Nuich. Poets: Brigita Ferencak, Zan Ross

31 Untitled Artist: Stephen Pratt. Poets: Margaret Ferrell, Peter Rondel

32 Untitled Artist: Michael Chandler. Poets: Sally Gaunt, Keren Gila-Raiter

33 Untitled Artist: Ricky Sullivan. Poets: Kevin Gillam, Chris Palazzolo

34 Grace Kelly Artist: Tony Stanisheff. Poets: Fran Graham, Glen Phillips

35 Fog Artist: Colette Deavin. Poets: Mike Greenacre, Allan Padgett

36 Big Night Out Artist: Jason Whittington. Poets: Yael Harris, Ron Okely

37 Fireworks Artist: Janelle MacMahon. Poets: Ann Harrison, Virginia O’Keefe

38 Untitled Artist: Andrew Murray. Poets: Nathan Hondros, Colleen O’Grady

39 Untitled Artist: Lana Davie. Poets: Peter Jeffery, Jan Napier

40 Tassie Artist: Marianne Percudani. Poets: Amanda Joy, Max Merckenschlager

41 Moon on the Water Artist: Grace Panaia. Poets: Julienne Juschke, Scott-Patrick Mitchell

42 Untitled Artist: Joel Grant. Poets: Christopher Kennedy, Deb Micallef

43 Untitled Artist: Lindy Johnson. Poets: Jane Davis, Val Neubecker

44 Untitled Artist: Elinor Doddrell. Poets: Liana Joy Christensen, Deanne Leber

45 Busselton Jetty Artist: Andre Mooibrek. Poets: Sue Clennell, Meryl Manoy

46 Garden of Letters Artist: Bridie Hay. Poets: Kevin Gillam, Shey Marque

47 A Rainbow of colours Artist: Natalie Green. Poets: Amanda Joy, Jennifer McRae-Poulter

48 Orange Artist: Rebecca Lambert. Poets: Veronica Lake, Jacqui Merckenschlager

49 Boy George Artist: Sarah Fogg. Poets: Sarah Afentopoulos, Allan Padgett

50 Untitled Artist: Daniel Bishop. Poets: Alistair Bain, Ron Okely

51 Untitled Artist: Julian Skewes. Poets: Sunny Blundell-Wignall, Chris Palazzolo

52 Untitled Artist: Kelly Thompson. Poets: Andrew Burke, Peter Rondel

53 The Flower Artist: Rhiannon Burns. Poets: Graeme Butler, Rose van Son

54 Busy Fish Artist: Aimee Dickson. Poets: Maree Dawes, Deanne Leber

1 Study of Flowers Artist: Candice Raphael

40 x 20 cm watercolour and pencil

flowers fade
but I remain
said the vase
to companions
an ornamental dog
upraised paw broken tail
collection of tied love letters
quiet under dust
tossed car keys on the shelf

petals fall—clock ticks

Coral Carter

Study of Flowers

Hide your feathery-fine display,
my proud and lyrical lyrebird!
Your shimmering act is sadly lost
behind that riotous eruption of flora
and mesmerising, pulsing
bubbles of pottery.

Max Merckenschlager

2 Pippa on Paper Artist: Rebecca Johnston

10 x10 cm coloured pencil

Pippa, Piet & Pablo

How much is that
Trickster in the window
shape-shifting through
rectilinear Mondrian
frames shaking off the
Cubist Blues
as Rose bleeds
hope into her eyes?

Liana Joy Christensen

My Sister’s Dog Pippa

My sister has a dog call Pippa
Not a paper dog or one made of ceramics
But a spoilt, cheeky, white mutt with black spots
And a disposition and propensity for mischief.

My sister’s dog Pippa
Sleeps on the bed with her adoring human slaves
And lesser minions (a dog, Randy and cats, Pixie and Kayla)
Pippa rules the house with a firm paw

And is not averse to sticking her cold nose in warm places…

Deb Micallef

3 Untitled Artist: Katrina Barber

40 x 30 cm acrylic

Colour flows
with generosity,
paint sings technique,
an artist animates vision –
imagination soars.

This time wizard and tree
meld –
their alliance ingenious,
nature dances
jubilant.

Margaret Ferrell

Lake Hillier

for Flinders, a small lake of a rose colour
became a replenishing stockpile of salt,
how water resembles skin, shivering,
sweating, changing colour beneath the
sun. in art, they say you can paint any
thing hot pink & it immediately becomes
postmodern, but for nature such a hue
imbues nurture, love, the unconditional
heralding. for the lake, it is all of this:
shimmering, aqueous, between states.

Scott-Patrick Mitchell

4 Water Lilies Artist: Hannah Valenti

27 x18 cm watercolour

Forget Me Nots

I bought my mother
an ornament of an elephant.
The next day it wasn’t there.
‘Did she forget where it was?’
asked a friend, which was a joke
about elephants and never
forgetting.
I should have given her
these flowers instead!

Sue Clennell

Blue

a cobalt watercourse
seeps through cumulus puffs
reaching out
seeking petals and stamens
to imbue
with blue

and now
these sapphired seven
float on their heavenly way.

Val Neubecker

5 Untitled Artist: Jeremy Gowing

29 x 29 cm collage

Solstice

Solstice is almost upon us brood sire.
Aliens sail a silver ship on the scribbly sea,
a holographic shark follows. Yearning bubble crews
turn on turbo burners, journey at last to far off
homes, skrimsl shrinks from abyss, comes up to stretch
his long neck, and aurum trees flicker in green winds.

Eggling yes. And warm in hegra wool cocoons
must we be long before is risen the fire star.
So waxing poetic cease and weaving get!

Jan Napier

Frontier

this wetness on my face,
this drip
of a new world, not even
clouds, the colour of eruption
imprint imprint
crack fissure
breath excreta.
how many big bangs—
how many campfires
on this damp stretch of coast

Sunny Blundell-Wignall

6 Untitled Artist: Clint Carter

19 x 28 cm posca over acrylic

Ningaloo Stingers

jellyfish pulse
golden treats for turtles

they shimmer
at edge of vision
tracings on blue

danger in unseen
Irukandji.

Maree Dawes

A fascinating painting of perhaps ocean wide
Or maybe it’s the sky with a cloud on the side
Clint has painted something that enthrals
With swirling lines that could be balls
And an interesting shape could be a jet
Teases the eye but doesn’t cause a fret
Using water colour, a freedom of skill
Pleasing the Garvey Park group with a thrill

Colleen O’Grady

7 Untitled Artist: Bonnie Wilkinson

20 x 29 cm oil pastel

Coming together,
I am the heart
within the flower
and friends are
my stars.
Together, we talk,
together, we laugh
framed in a dream.

Gary Colombo De Piazzi

Sun Myth

Once long ago when the world was early
and the sky was a duck’s egg blue,
the sun wafted down looking for a frolic.
She cloaked herself in the yellow of wattles,
then stole the heart of the sky.
A phalanx of stars pulled her home
but, at twilight on the horizon,
you may see her journeying onward
surrounded by shimmers of love.

Virginia O’Keeffe

8 Untitled Artist: Steven Pearton

20 x 29 cm collage

Each of us has a place
We play and we mingle
We move with each other
-We fight –
We join and we part.
Committing and Longing
Life is…
Like a game of chess.

Brigita Ferencak, The Wandering Gypsy

I’m glad you are coming to the farm Peter
I’ve collected some of my precious things
sorted them to show you
When I came to the city
Mum took me up to the Art Gallery
the one with the garden on top of the car park
I loved those little fences around the trees
so bright with things you wouldn’t expect
polished stones, bright chips of china
really bright, just like home

Ron Okely

9 Untitled Artist: Greg Barr

41 x 56 cm mixed media

A new constellation?
I look up
into a moody sky –
see stars of lively colours
uniquely shaped. Transfixed,
I watch this star-drift of shining
and then – epiphany.

Not of our time,
but the Dreamtime.

Margaret Ferrell

Dancing Rings

as your painting hand steers
and curves its way to circles
of mesmerising precision, placement
and form, eyes are awed
and moods enhanced
by shivers of dazzling
rings, a bit like
the ‘o’ in alphabet soup –
but twice as tasty
and ten times sweeter

Allan Padgett

10 Liquorice Allsort Artist: Janine Noonan

30 x 42 cm acrylic

Liquorice Allsort

Liquorice Allsorts,
Fantales, Candy Crunch,
Jaffas rattle the wood floor
of the cinema.
Kisses in the back row
of the Saturday matinee:
“Blue Hawaii”.

Sally Gaunt

Leverage Allsort

I’ll be your friend
if you give me some of those
my playground rate is very fair
Your safety I will tend
line the bullies up in rows
a prosperous venture we will share!

Chris Palazzolo

11 Untitled Artist: Michael Barker

32 x 41 cm acrylic

Yellow And Green ‘C’ Dream

It seemed a green dream—
at least with a yellow cat
lassoing the letter ‘C’.

I walked around it and sat
down. Thought about it some. Oh
what a dream it must have been!

Isn’t that what art is all about?
But that yellow cat—first I’ve seen.

Glen Phillips

Watching wistfully
A sea of celestials
Gazing into space
A beautiful sight

Jonah Tan

12 Ink on Paper with Daisy Artist: Lisa Joyce

30 x 30 cm watercolour and ink

Ink On Paper With Daisy

From the purple glow behind the mask
a face steadily appears
innocent eyes, messy hair
courage pumping from his heart.
He begins to purr
it is his instinct.
He embraces the joy in this art
fluffs up his coppery mane
inhales the fragrance of the air
still searching for the daisy.

Fran Graham

Will you climb mountains?
scale jagged cliffs
peer into the chaos of what life serves
find those eyes
black as the darkness from which we emerge
find that cheeky smile, two front teeth,
scruffy hair
orange aura
through misty blue fog
and will you smile back?

Keren Gila Raiter

13 Untitled Artist: Delores Purdie

22 x 30 cm acrylic and ink on paper

Tropical Fish

Splashes of vibrant colour
dazzle our eyes
in the frenzy of feeding time.
The artist leads us
through multi-coloured
reefs and different species
that shape this under-water
beauty once hidden or
camouflaged for all to see.
Mike Greenacre

St George and the Dragon

The dragon breathes impatiently
annoyed by what he sees.
His fiery breath is frightening
as he sets fire to the trees.

A knight will come to quell the fire
and slay that beast of course,
He is St George from Camelot
and he rides a big white horse

Peter Rondel

14 Untitled Artist: Stephen Franklin

30 x 30 cm acrylic on paper

I’m having a blast
In a colour celebration
I jump with my paints
I dance like the flames
Of my reds
I cry like the blues
Of my pains
I shine like exciting ideas
In my brain.

Ella Harrison

A leap of flame, scarlet/umber
freedom knife-edge variation,
almost jazz blue arms, leg ex-
tension push out, past and we
fly …

Zan Ross

15 Untitled Artist: Gillian Deague

30 x 30 cm watercolour on paper

Hell laid bare,
Scorching red, orange, yellow.
An apocalypse.
Animals flee this consuming rage,
but trapped.
This unfettered monster devouring, burning
and leaving only
the skeletons of memories.

Ann Harrison NSC

ribbons blow
in the Autumn wind
swirling, twirling
in flashes of red and gold
like fallen leaves
churning, turning
a stirring dance
of street colour

Maureen Sexton

16 As We Are Artist: Cathy White

30 x 42 cm watercolour on paper

As We Are

like the starting gun for running paint
the collision of all direction at once
a white distance to fall

a road travelled by ink that never arrives
the impression left once brush leaves surface

like a boundary of four lines in two dimensions
then every hard distance
then a bright version of us both strung from the wall

colour and light at last

Nathan Hondros

Ecotone

Designer splash of storm dissolves a rain into
the silken tops of trees, branches funnel down
to serve liquescent at its bulbous root: the seed
each old frame sews beneath Spring’s masque,
drinks to flower with open face, receive light,
to catch in whispers of a knowing wind – that
same stroke which sails from turquoise to azure
(with a rhythm that sways all waves to swollen
frenzy) is that same brush which fells both cloud
and leaf to fall upon a timeless canvas. Ecotone.

Leonard James

17 Untitled Artist: Sladjana Mijailovic

30 x 40 cm ink on canvas

Sladjana, your mouth held brush
Of four years application, renders
Endless meetings, conversations, rendezvous
Under and over the sub-tracks
Of streets, railways, piazzas , malls–
In short – our city Perth, all in all.
You have skeined rainbow-wool strands,
Meshing all our moments together,
In ‘As we are!’ Display and pop ups,
Sweet as endless lollipops in our mouths.

Peter Jeffery

Pop Up

Such woven threads you weave
& in those threads a garden grows
soil a garden needs to show its best–
poppies, daffodils, roses, too

Herringbone matched–
you hold your brush and I
hold my pen steady now, know
friendship lasts when Spring is here

Rose van Son

18 Untitled Artist: Kristen Cameron

18 x 27 cm ink and pastel on paper

Landslide

first ones cutting stone
sunlit in the new valley
gift of the monsoon

Sarah Afentopoulos

Her fingers part the silken grass
she crouches low, close
to the earth, high on the hill
Below, framed by her
gentle hands, the lake
shimmers a blue back
at the sky

Amanda Joy

19 Untitled Artist: Valda Petersen

18 x 26 cm watercolour on paper

Ancient Presence

After the squall, raging,
blue day forced apart
the gunmetal clouds
and Roy G. Biv strode across
the sky, one foot planted
behind the new, wet houses,
one foot disappearing, merged
among the trees where the road
bent as if to reveal
a timeless ancient presence.

Alistair P D Bain

The Walk

My walk is my gym; the morning is cool
My lawn needs a trim; the gutters are full
I stride out my walk; brace against cold
The cockatoo squawk; will never get old
My thoughts fly away; ’til a change in the sky
A brilliant display; that captures my eye
“It’s a rainbow…see?!” (search for someone to tell)
Infectious esprit; I feel compelled
No ‘ne to ignite; oh never mind
A treasured sight; my walk: sublime

Julienne Juschke

20 Untitled Artist: David Brandstater

29 x 37 cm acrylic and crayon on paper

People Walking

It’s like a crowd of happiness;
a family moving through the streets.
A small child looks from the crowd
laughing in its security.
Everyone laughs and plays
the sun shines and the group
moves on.

Christopher Kennedy

At The Salvage Yard

segments
of an RAAF runway,
its rusted outlines
perched against the fence

heart beaten
floating, morphed into wings—
a fulsome throb.
I want to land in this good place

Sunny Blundell-Wignall

21 Untitled Artist: Michael Frith

60 x 42 cm acrylic on paper

She sings the blues with her blazing hair
Cascading on to her guitar and mic.
He sits with his hot love in the front row
Moaning to himself ‘oh my love, my love’.

Andrew Burke

Virago

She’s a woman of fire,
flickering fierce and defiant,
challenging all the rules.
She flames her own way,
stepping out fervent, head aloof.
Proximity spells danger.
Her heat is intense.
Come too close,
you may well be burned,
charred to a crisp.

Veronica Lake

22 Untitled Artist: Karen Forbes-Smith

30 x 31 cm mixed media on canvas

Gathering together
Making a happy hullaballoo,
A small bunch of friends
Of different shades and hue,
All celebrating the happiness
They find in their friendship true.

Graeme Butler

on the platform
voices push buttons
scale escalators
nudge peak hour bones
eyes down, phones out

I wish I could just up and away
over the trains, across Yagan Square
head towards the Quay
eat hot chips with too much salt
eyes up, phones away

Deanne Leber

23 Untitled Artist: Kaley Golding

18 x 47 cm acrylic on board

rain glazes
the road black
captures red
cautions yellow
frees green
dissolves arrows and stripes
into winter abstraction

Coral Carter

Welcome Kaley on your debut to Creative Connections.
Your vivid painting reminds me of an internal inspection.
Bacteria both bad and good inhabit our bodies,
but how to differentiate the “baddies” from the “goodies”?
The red and neutral colours outnumber all the green,
so obviously this blood picture shows its very clean.
Thanks Kaley for this view under the microscope,
with less of the green “baddies” I’m sure we all can cope.

Meryl Manoy

24 Untitled Artist: Justin Carter

35 x 25 cm pencil on board

Utopia Is Not All It’s Cracked Up To Be

Oh you worshippers of perfection,
Repent!
Oxamorph comes bearing the axe
Of reality
He’s spitting chips
He’s splitting atoms
You will not survive this
Unchanged.

Liana Joy Christensen

Rules For Hitch-Hiking To Utopia

Make sure to walk along an alien freeway
most humans won’t know the way

Don’t go too close to the traffic, unless
you’re very hairy or wear body armour

Carry some protection behind your back
but try not to make the axe too obvious

how positive body language, above all
keep your spirits up and sing, like a siren

Shey Marque

25 Untitled Artist: David Wilson

30 x 42 cm acrylic and ink on paper

King Parrots

King Parrots of the Pilliga,
flaming red and frightened,
escape the inferno,
eke out an existence
in Kenebri and Bugaldie,
Baradine and Boggabri,
destroying back-yard fruits,
annoying their hosts,
returning again as the Pilliga
rises from the ashes.

Jacqui Merckenschlager

Wild and Glorious!

The forest in rain,
Reaching, growing,
overflowing,
Colours running,
Lively, stunning!
Pour, splash, flick, dash!
Again, again!

What an awesome,
Gorgeous mess
Of seething life
And loveliness!

J.R. Poulter

26 Untitled Artist: Kaye Howell

28 x 40 cm ink on paper

Woman, your mango wings
stand out against the sunlight.
Spinner of gold,
toffee honey syrup.
Buttercup reflecting
under your chin.

Sue Clennell

Mushroom Gathering

Fog folds the valley in melancholy.
Girl with a basket watches her feet
for moon-faced fungi, lifting
leaf litter pathways.

Here comes the sun,
painting grey cliffs golden.
Her spirit floats
on glowing butterfly wings.

Jacqui Merckenschlager

27 Untitled Artist: Nathan Palmer

27 x 39 cm acrylic and ink on paper

Holoplankton

Corner stone of life;
floating free, all together,
drifting across endless seas.
The current takes them where it must
a collective body of diversity.
Overlooked, understated,
scrabbling tendrils tremble,
wave frantic, affirming existence.
Always reaching for the sun.
Feeding the world.

Veronica Lake

Horizon

Family visits–
we walk, hold hands
take gentle steps, your house to mine
this inky sea our home

Listen, you say, toes in sand –
hear the Indian Ocean’s roar!

Rose van Son

28 Untitled Artist: Sam Huntsman

30 x 42 cm crayon and acrylic on paper

Misery Beach Shallows

Diving in seaweed dragged by tides
looking for leafy dragons
imagining their flattened appendages
and fluted snouts

searching through brown, green and red
no sea dragons
but seaweed curling
between gold brown rocks
becomes serpentine.

Maree Dawes

Nature is an artist, deliberately detailed.
Invokes in dot, spiral, and symmetry of
quiet attention and adrenal cacophony.
Why dream sensation, transforms how
potential presents manifest, universal
compass, rhythm of tension to release.
Whispers swim on air, as hummingbird
instinct plucks its inspiration from flower,
to muse impressionist light upon perfection.
Framed in perspective, and left untitled.

Leonard James

29 Untitled Artist: Cameron Dermer

30 x 42 cm pen, ink and acrylic on paper

Hands set to the task
of shaping the likeness
of comfort.
How the eyes and mouth
form around a faint smile
snapped to the image
of a cuddled friend.

Gary Colombo De Piazzi

We could make a film
and call it ‘Finding Elmo’
He might be flying a kite,
maybe saving Christmas,
laughing with Mary Poppins,
or looking for his blanket.
We could go on an
action packed adventure
of magic and mystery!

Maureen Sexton

30 Untitled Artist: Jacob Nuich

28 x 38 cm oil, pastel and ink on paper

Bamboo

Slender and Strong
Its fingers stretched towards the Heavens
It bends but does not waver.
Growing with Grace –
A Shelter to the Seekers.
When snow falls silently
Memories rest under the blanket of Forgiveness.
Taken care of,
metamorphosed.

Brigita Ferencak, The Wandering Gypsy

I am almost vanished-blue lake
weeds rise fish tails flinch just
beyond reach/sound though
the sun drops past my skin, to
these scratched deletions.

Zan Ross

31 Untitled Artist: Stephen Pratt

28 x 39 cm ink on paper

Walking through
a rainbow cascade.
This blue that is me
itches to pull the red
yellow and green together.
Swamp the shadow trace
that clings.

Gary Colombo De Piazzi

Behind the Curtain

What hides beyond the curtain
where imagination gives birth
to secret thoughts?

Forgotten images drift past
as new ones take shape.

Such is the process of a creative mind
unhindered by convention.

Peter Rondel

32 Untitled Artist: Michael Chandler

28 x 39 cm ink on paper

It’s as though a hand of creation has streaked past
in its wake, a splash of lively figures
floating about in a breeze of animated chaos
coming to rest.

Observe the gentle moment
between being set free into a world of new colour
and discovering meaning within thyself.

Adi Cohen

Paw prints,

Hunter and hunted,
The moment when
Flight becomes Fight:
Blood in the Snow.

Sally Gaunt

33 Untitled Artist: Ricky Sullivan

60 x 30 cm mixed media on canvas

Primaries

blue and red, yes,
but where is yellow?
yet to come? but as

come hides inside chrome
and then huddles inside
length, yellow will

not be seen for it
rests in the spirit
well of the artist

Kevin Gillam

Open Heart

Even if I hide
my heart behind the incision
you can still see the blood
that goes in
and comes out.
How can I keep a secret
if I’m never not wide open?

Chris Palazzolo

34 Grace Kelly Artist: Tony Stanisheff

75 x 51 cm pastel on paper

Embrace Our Grace

Blue-eyes and lips twin red crescents showed
that time when you glanced from the window
of your daughter’s car, descending into
Monte Carlo by winding route. Place
you met your fate by the Mediterranean
there, our, Grace! Taken in its embrace

Glen Phillips

Grace Kelly

Gone from Hollywood
embraced far away
she becomes royal but stays famous.
Her reputation gains momentum
she is enigmatic, beautiful.
After death she lives on in photos
and paintings, her corn-coloured hair
drawn multi-faceted by Tony
etched in filaments of shadow and light
her beauty peaceful and undisturbed.

Fran Graham

35 Fog Artist: Colette Deavin

40 x 51 cm acrylic on canvas

Under Watchful Eyes

Stepping carefully through
the crowded streets
there are colours climbing
through each other,
from ground to sky.
Signs obscured in the
fog leaving thick outlines
while the children play
follow the leader
under parents’ watchful eyes.

Mike Greenacre

Fog

such striking violet lime and lemon
glowing from within
these shimmering humid clues
fuming unspoken memories
rodlike sentient beings
peering through a foggy brew
like reaching caterpillars
arcing toward their everlasting sun
as skyfallen blues and duskfed reds
fuse to winter darkened eve

Allan Padgett

36 Big Night Out Artist: Jason Whittington

51 x40 cm acrylic and crayon on canvas

Tonight, I’m going wild
Tonight, I hold nothing back
Tonight, I express, I create
Tonight, I let my hands lead the way
Tonight, I am free of constrains
Tonight, I follow my gut
Tonight, is a Big Night Out!

Ella Harrison

He looks back at his work
he’d really poured himself into it
selected carefully complimentary colours
fingers and knuckles
give the personal touch
it really had been
quite a fun night
now for the clean up
they can take away the paint
but they can’t take away the memory

Ron Okely

37 Fireworks Artist: Janelle MacMahon

40 x 51 cm acrylic on canvas

You know where you are right now
where you should be and you know what
you longed for was there in the black undergrowth

with the Jurassic memories we carry under foliage
fixed in our bones like birds wear feathers
waiting for us to discover their end was sure all along

what have we become but flightless birds
who know flight, who know the physics of thin air
who measure the distance to the ground with colour?

Nathan Hondros

Fireworks

In the mountains of Guangxi where houses of the Miao
cling to the cliffs and the travel paths are steep,
the dragons lie in wait for children,
their favourite snack to eat.
But monsters are afraid of red and very loud noises kill them dead
so when spring breaks out all the Miao gather round
and the hillsides echo to the glorious sound of
fireworks: spitting, hissing, blasting, exploding
flaring plumes of colour and driving those monsters
away!

Virginia O’Keeffe

38 Untitled Artist: Andrew Murray

40 x 51 cm acrylic on canvas

Fireworks

A festival.
Crafted fan shaped colours ignite the sky
like fireworks.
They pulsate to a rhythm, a dance,
their own cabaret.
Then they fall into a blue-black night
still holding their exquisiteness.

Ann Harrison NSC

What a brilliant piece of work Andrew has painted
Bold are his strokes in getting his colours acquainted
What does it mean this blue of the sky
With a fiery sunset to tease the eye?
Chaos one would think but no, the black patches do tease
And a serenity is felt, and the dancing deer does appease
Beautiful work done with a swipe of his brush
An awesome design painting a scene that is lush
Thank you Andrew for the beautiful blue
With the fiery red to give such a hue

Colleen O’Grady

39 Untitled Artist: Lana Davie

51 x 40 cm acrylic on canvas

Lana, right round us, as we walk
Through Hyde Park, the leaves are falling,
Falling, falling, on the path, over the tree roots,
On the water, swirling down,
To the mud below, mulching back
To mud. But your shapes swirl
Fire bright , glints of gold , blue grabs of sky,
Smears of pink, endlessly swirling,
Joyously pumping ever brightness into our world.

Peter Jeffery

Nanna

I never knew my Nanna, and no photos
survived the fire. This rag rug, hessian backed,
soot stained, our only legacy. Mum points out
purple of a gown outgrown, blue cotton of nan’s
going to church frock, a snitch of ivory silk
from her wedding dress. There too, cuts of Pop’s
paint smutched overalls, stripey shirt the pup stole.

I picture Violet Florence on her old treadle,
needle darting, footplate rocking, see her busily
stitching together all the brights and darks of her days.

Jan Napier

40 Tassie Artist: Marianne Percudani

51 x 40 cm acrylic on canvas

Tassie

Boundless, the collared dog
in a field dabbed into blossoms
Tongue and tail stirring
the greening breeze

Amanda Joy

Tassie

My Tiger of Tasmania slid softly from the bay
and headed for eternity, unfathomed worlds away;
beyond Macquarie Harbour and its padlocked gates of Hell
he sliced a phosphorescent sea on breeze and gentle swell.
We changed for good his habitat of future without hope
where many sought salvation in a dance beneath the rope;
my Tiger of Tasmania, once striped across his back
is collared now on freedom’s shore and can’t retrace his tracks.

Max Merckenschlager

41 Moon on the Water Artist: Grace Panaia

51 x 40 cm acrylic on canvas

Gentleness
kindness
patience

Reflections on the water of our lives

Bigger than us
from a powerful source

Manifestations of LOVE

Julienne Juschke

my guardian, my luminous jewelled
fruit illuminating night: you make me
lycanthrope. i call out to you with the
fur & fangs of my throat. your beauty
teaches me how to howl, pulling tidal
affection to ebb & flow, retreat & grow.
static equation of satellite, you hold me
in your light, augment to lustre bright,
how a rock can become a liquid, how
an ocean’s reflection can darkness ignite.

Scott-Patrick Mitchell

42 Untitled Artist: Joel Grant

51 x 40 cm acrylic on canvas

Perhaps

What is it?
If the artist can’t title it,
how can I?
Perhaps it is phosphorescence sucking up the sun –
or a field of bunny rabbits in an island of green
in a purple psychedelic desert.
Perhaps a Monet ,with the carp drifting idyll under the lilies.
A field of poppies, a green extrusion.
If the artist will not name it I shall…
It shall be called……….Perhaps.

Christopher Kennedy

Everlastings

the eye of the storm
heavy rain overnight; wild
flowers in the spring

Deb Micallef

43 Untitled Artist: Lindy Johnson

51 x 40 cm acrylic on canvas

Meet Me Deep

Do we meet in shallow heart
Where life swirls, dips, surges
On the surface
And rages the waves of desire and pain
Or do we dive down
Into the depth of soul
To meet in
Tranquil, softly decorated ebb and flow
Meet me here
See me, know me truly, here.

Jane Davis

Poseidon

fish drift through dreamy waters
coral sighs with the gentle tide
seagrass leisurely sways
as sunset blushes through the glassy surface

the ocean smiles

Poseidon,
god of the sea, earthquakes, storms & horses,
is asleep.

Val Neubecker

44 Untitled Artist: Elinor Doddrell

35 x 41 cm acrylic on canvas

Still Life

If flowers escaped
from the stiff vases of
Old Dutch Masters
They would unwind and
go gliding off in just such
curlicues of colours

Uncontained, informal,
but still life

Liana Joy Christensen

I remove all outlines
a flurry of breaths
in every pore
pauses alphabets

a reunion of luminosity
the colours sigh

Deanne Leber

45 Busselton Jetty Artist: Andre Mooibrek

30 x 40 cm acrylic on canvas

A dolphin expecting a calf
swam towards my pregnant friend,
mother calling to mother
at Busselton.

Sue Clennell

Your Busselton Jetty, Andre is so realistic.
The detailed structure and its buildings,
the surrounding vivid land and sea-scape
so skilfully depicted.
I remember riding 2Ks on the train to the end –
the longest wooden structure in the southern hemisphere.
Now a heritage icon, I think the Bunbury Shire,
for exhibition purposes could be a likely buyer.

Meryl Manoy

46 Garden of Letters Artist: Bridie Hay

51 x 61 cm acrylic on canvas

Smeared Sky

a wind scuffed lake in
hope of ocean? no? perhaps

a dwarf quarter-moon
on troubled sea? or

dissected j’s and i’s in
smeared sky? but yes,

the far more elegant
“Garden of Letters”

Kevin Gillam

Garden of Letters

It’s all in the dismantling
every leaf a piece of language
and the thing that remains
maybe you didn’t even know it was there
until the flesh falls away
skeletons like letters
waltzing against the night sky
sound of an old typewriter clacking

Shey Marque

47 A Rainbow of colours Artist: Natalie Green

61 x 61 cm acrylic on canvas

The Stencil

Blue tributary –
Each pucker and vein left
in the wet paint where
one surface was pressed
so gently, with love
and kind hands
against another

Amanda Joy

A Rainbow of Colours

Sea swirls the coasts of
The islands of sun,
Catches their colours,
Rolls them in one
Wave riding high,
Clean, clear in the light!
An ocean for palette,
An artist’s delight!

J.R. Poulter

48 Orange Artist: Rebecca Lambert

61 x 61 cm acrylic on canvas

Orange

Like a baby bird
excited by the warmth of Spring,
breaking free, shattering white shell,
exploding into an orange world.

Jacqui Merckenschlager

Contained Movement

There is a blast of colour
vibrating on paper.
A willy-willy, a whirligig,
whipped up under a desert sky
From desolation comes vibrancy.
Energy pulsates, spiralling
into swirling, twirling splendour.
Movement elusive as smoke,
drifting through desert air
on a chill winter morning.

Veronica Lake

49 Boy George Artist: Sarah Fogg

61 x 61 cm acrylic on canvas

Crying Game

Through the winter window the bare mulberry
memories of stained soles and a summer gone.
My father’s tears fall only in this darkness, deep
into the polyester pile of your favourite carpet.
His lost world turns nightly beneath the stylus
scratching a narrow path back to you.
The Crying Game repeats.
He sees me and whispers
Our boy.

Sarah Afentopoulos

Boy George

the night you met boy George
left lasting tactile memories
deeply etched into your painterly self
such expressive stare and gravitas
the almost crying game
such pink and wanting lips –
strings of wobbling thoughts
orbit his green-eyed gaze
like a galaxy awaiting discovery

Allan Padgett

50 Untitled Artist: Daniel Bishop

61 x 61 cm acrylic on canvas

Prehistoric

This prehistoric fish:
they’re built like that,
bedded down, mouth agape
in a perpetual yawn.
See, even the waves
curl round to blanket it!
Or so they say.

Alistair P D Bain

Nana

Nana’s asleep
in her big chair
I still love her
when she snores
Mum says
she belongs to the blue rinse brigade
that must be good
if she likes it
I wonder what that means

Ron Okely

51 Untitled Artist: Julian Skewes

61 x 61 cm mixed media and acrylic on canvas

Falstaff

Should you find yourself
in these woods after dark
don’t take another step
and definitely don’t peer –
lie on your belly
close your eyes tight
tell yourself ‘that’s a photogene
not a woodsprite!’

Chris Palazzolo

Colour Me In

do not stay
inside the Lines.
colour me inside Outside
colour me outside Inside.
Colour me in. Do not cross
out your mistakes
colour me in many colours,
I want Everything.
colour me In.

Sunny Blundell-Wignall

52 Untitled Artist: Kelly Thompson

6 x 61 cm acrylic on canvas

Sunshine

Sunshine paints flowers
Up and down the block.
It lights up the neighbourhood
Brighter than street lights,
Happy as spring has sprung.
Oh, Kelly, your colours
Dance around and around
High above the ground,
Born of the sun.

Andrew Burke

My Special Flower

It grew in some strange foreign land
where only phantoms walk
and while I slept in innocence
I heard that flower talk.

Within my dreams I wander there
where dreamers dare to go.
I visit places I invent
that only I could know.

Peter Rondel

53 The Flower Artist: Rhiannon Burns

61 x 61 cm acrylic on canvas

The secret passion of art
is to catch beauty as it flowers
cradled in coloured feelings
from out of which it appears
caught in luminous petal curves
in colours and shape
as entrancing as love.

Graeme Butler

Kaleidoscope

a flower blooms, turns life to joy
draws a spinning top’s crystal glow

What is a flower if not perfume?
–when light creeps in, this flower
folds tints all our dreams

Rose van Son

54 Busy Fish Artist: Aimee Dickson

53 x 42 cm pen, pencil and watercolour

Ellen Cove

Autumn swim across bay
cold ache in temples and ears
nothing but splash and breath
water empty, clear

then fish
bottom feeding, flicking sand
catching light

they startle
into silver blue-green vortex

Maree Dawes

keypad ripples beneath fingertips
pull and suck of letters
tiny fins swimming the surface

fractal pores dreaming the same day over
collide on the shore of the page
waves going in, and in, and in

undo this bouquet
tell it to relax
toes tasting the water

Deanne Leber

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