Artwork, Artist, Poets
1. The Fruit Monkeys by Greg Barr – Max Merckenschlager, Amanda Joy
2. The Eagle by Dianne Cook – Ella Harrison, Julienne Lee Juschke
3. Galah by Aimee Dickson – Christopher Kennedy, Scott-Patrick Mitchell
4. Community Ties by Joni Barlow – Veronica Lake, Jan Napier
5. Spring Feelings by Katrina Barber – Val Neubecker, Deanne Leber
6. Autumn in Greeenough by Wendy Knapp – Colleen O’Grady, Shey Marque
7. The Fox and Hound Go Out One Day by Rebecca Johnston – J.R.Poulter, Virginia O’Keeffe
8. untitled artwork by David Brandstater – Jacqui Merckenschlager, Ron Okely
9. Flowers by Jeremy Gowing – Max Merckenschlager, Allan Padgett
10. untitled artwork by Clinton Carter – Chris Palazzolo, Scott-Patrick Mitchell
11. untitled artwork by Bonnie Wilkinson – Jan Napier, Yvonne G Patterson
12. untitled artwork by Steve Pearton – Val Neubecker, Glen Phillips
13. Cherry Blossom by Kelly Blanch – Virginia O’Keeffe, Keren Gila Raiter
14. Telletubbies by Maeve Morrow – Ron Okely, Peter Rondel
15. The Slide by Patrick Dumble – Zan Ross, Allan Padgett
16. About Me by Justin Holland– Chris Palazzolo, Barry Sanbrook
17. Alldoneup by Carolyn Shervill – Maureen Sexton, Glen Phillips
18. Kangaroo by Malcolm Burgess – Jonah Tan, Keren Gila Raiter
19. untitled artwork by Sandra Von Tilburg – Leonard James, Peter Rondel
20. This is Me by Karen Shao – Tineke Van der Eecken, Zan Ross
21. Boat by Radko Medin – Rose van Son, Maree Dawes
22. untitled artwork by Aaron Mead – Maureen Sexton, Sarah Afentopoulos
23. Pig byJames Jolie Tineke Van der Eecken, Alistair P D Bain
24. Michael by Tyler Cullen – Rose van Son , Sunny Blundell-Wignall
25. Horse Riding by Nick Cullen Gary Colombo De Piazzi, Andrew Burke
26. untitled artwork by Elinor Doddrell Margaret Ferrell, Graeme Butler
27. Fishing Jetty by Grace Panaia – Kevin Gillam, Coral Carter
28. Circles by Joel Grant – Liana Joy Christensen, Fran Graham
29. untitled artwork by Lana Davie – Sue Clennell, Mike Greenacre
30. Blue by Andrew Murray – Coral Carter, Adi Cohen
31. Blue Mountains by Jason Whittington – Jane Davies, Sunny Blundell-Wignall
32. The Sea by Colette Deavin – Maree Dawes, Nathan Hondros
33. Clock by Peter Guhl – Gary Colombo De Piazzi, Peter W. Jeffery OAM
34. Home Ground by Ben Chapman – Amanda Joy, Brigita Ferencak
35. The Hills by Marianne Percudani – Julienne Lee Juschke, Margaret Ferrell
36. My Dad by Janelle MacMahon – Sally Gaunt, Christopher Kennedy
37. Cougar by Lindy Johnson – Kevin Gillam, Veronica Lake
38. Scooby Doo by Vickie Lee Devenish – Fran Graham, Deanne Leber
39. Love Hearts and Flowers by Janine Noonan – Mike Greenacre, Shey Marque
40. Fluffy Clouds by John Verjans– – Ella Harrison, J.R.Poulter
41. Stick Figures by Kevin Doung – Jacqui Merckenschlager, Ann Harrison NSC
42. Circles by Hannah Schneider – Liana Joy Christensen, Nathan Hondros
43. untitled artwork by Lisa Joyce – Sue Clennell, Peter W. Jeffery OAM
- The Fruit Monkeys
by Greg Barr
1300 x 76 cm Acrylic
The Doge’s Palace
Lovers kissing as they float and pass
our sunset Bridge Of Sighs.
Distant dogs and muffled words,
the violet evening skies.
Hear no/speak no/see no thoughts
as Venice drifts away.
We’ll languish life in dungeon cells
forever and a day.
Max Merckenschlager
The Fruit Monkeys
Ten chubby monkeys drum the plums
strut the glut, leave stacks of crazy tracks
through the hot pink, little scats that stink
they dream in green and paint the shed in red
berries, cos they’re drunk on the funk
of juiced fruit and they never, never EVER
walk straight!
Amanda Joy
2. The Eagle
by Dianne Cook
46 x 35 cm Water colour
The hunter’s claws
Are rounded in grace
To embrace
The brightest and lightest
Victorious freedom
Of the one above
In a deep blue
Zestful day.
Ella Harrison
Give Art A Go
Art has been known to provide UPLIFT
And everyone needs voice and expression
Art could be what lifts you up
What makes your gloomy heart SOAR
Stretch out your wings
START
Be curious and have a go at art
Julienne Lee Juschke
3. Galah
by Aimee Dickson
42 x 30 cm Acrylic
Artists Friends
This galah is an artist’s friend;
with bright colours, a strange nose
and one eye.
Unconstrained in two dimensions –
things just seem to have dropped off.
Making me wonder what is at my feet,
(please check for a third dimension
under your shoe before you leave).
Christopher Kennedy
galah
dust plumage with borrowed sunset blush
how the world levitates across the
musical staves of wires, telegraphic,
& yet you still can’t sing: there is no need
when your feathers descend like dusk
barrelling cars home to familial love
& your name tells of joy that only wings
can bring: you add your body to heaven
as if it were a hymn & we listen. we listen.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
4. Community Ties
by Joni Barlow
40 x 30 cm Acrylic
Asylum
Away we sailed,
in our ship of green
finding refuge from the world.
In our haven we are united,
hands fused in friendship
dancing our joy together.
Our laughter rings out;
bigotry free, drifting through air
keeping our vessel afloat.
Veronica Lake
Tomorrow’s Song
Hand linked, rain bow children dance
and chant, all tongues become one,
the breathing trees and glitter seas
of tomorrows storied in love
cupped above. Shadows too melt
and pool honest as wishes.
Jan Napier
5. Spring Feelings
by Katrina Barber
40 x 30 cm Ink & pastel on wood
Spring
a searing flame…
a deep breath…
molten silica swells…
colours of the season
shimmer through
the glassblower’s
work of art.
Val Neubecker
Pushing soft words
Through hard veins
Each thought a seed
Aspiring to spring
These soft leaves
Curl on the page
Make new words
Become fragrant hieroglyphics
Stamped onto petals
Whisper stories from vases
Deanne Leber
6. Autumn in Greeenough
by Wendy Knapp
28 x 38 cm. Pastel on paper
Greenough
Autumn shades evident, Wendy has them pat,
Sandy soil in diffusion, but a clear sandy track,
Tracks of the early settlers seem embedded in the sand,
Telling of hardship, beauty, a painting, a life grand,
But not quite, the beautiful patterns have a story to tell,
A Greenough painting hidden, like water down a well
Redness of the soil, groups of beautiful trees,
Empty are the buildings, and trees to their knees.
Wendy has captured a mood, a life, a story past
Days of work and trial, left a legacy to last.
Colleen O’Grady
Letting Go
You squat at the edge of the river, fingertips poking out from the sleeve of an oversized jumper—its belly-full of liquid amber leaves. Teenagers bounce each other off the seesaw, a car horn loose on the bridge, the rolled-up jean cuffs damp against my legs. Talk of the guy we tipped out of a canoe by accident. My dog swims out too far and returns with a bouquet between her lips, a remnant of last summer’s algal bloom. You climb a tree, release all of autumn upon me.
Shey Marque
7. The Fox and Hound Go Out One Day
by Rebecca Johnston
53 x 43 cm. Gouache
The Fox and Hound
Went out one day,
To have a bit of fun,
A play!
Who did they meet
Along the way?
A naturalist, who’d this
To say,
“A Fox and Hound together, no way!
I’m seeing things! Throw these glasses away!”
J.R.Poulter
Together they chased the hare, I’ll be the winner barked
the fox but the hound he saw the snare, we’ll dodge that
nasty wire he woofed and threw his tail in the air to wag
them on. The moon shone blue, the fox he flew, the hound
yapped at his heels, and away they raced at a lunatic
pace through the scrub, the wattle and prickly pear, which
bit. They saw the hare on the ridge ahead, it
scrambled down a burrow; the hound and fox
collapsed in a tangled heap while their tongues
lapped the sweet night air.
Virginia O’Keeffe
8. untitled artwork
by David Brandstater
25 x 25 cm Acrylic
Intruder
Yellow has landed
In a Monet pond
Of bright algal blooms.
They circle this
Astounding intruder,
Sussing it out.
Jacqui Merckenschlager
Mellow Yellow
I’m glad you could come
to watch the sun
go down upon the ocean
As evening draws near
cool breezes appear
prap’s a moonbeam
to add to your dreaming
Ron Okely
9. Flowers
by Jeremy Gowing
21 x 30 cm Acrylic
Sundew Syrup
Beware the glistening trap!
Sundew syrup ‘Les malveillant’
beckons and siren calls
coax lacewings and other
Lepidoptera to their sticky
end. (Exterminate! exterminate!)
Max Merckenschlager
Flowers
in trembling jarrah woodland on a jaunty day
he spies entrapment; a cluster of drosera
sheltering just off his path, traps for the
unwary. these innocent, pretty creatures
lure, attract, entice: and then they do their
form of pouncing. sticky beads shining
at tips of arching tiny hairs stick, clasp
and hold all wandering, holding dinner close
and tight – feeling, secreting, absorbing
Allan Padgett
10. untitled artwork
by Clinton Carter
36 x 48 cm Acrylic
A dream is a hole in the face
and through it we will go
down tracks in wind and dark
to the spray of breakers
pounding an invisible beach. Enter with me
and watch me bleed
in the velvet substance of sleep.
Chris Palazzolo
fight
this anger of which you speak, how it rabids
your mouth red & i listen because i have
tethered myself to you, even if we are both
turning blue. permanence is a myth we
tell ourselves because to endure is to build
something. but one day i know i will turn
away, just as the viewer will turn from this
painting. your bile will stain your mouth vile
as if the words of a poem, aching with exile.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
11. untitled artwork
by Bonnie Wilkinson
29 x 21 cm Acrylic
Semiramis
Though cohorts and horses sleep ‘neath time’s sand
in Assyria most ancient of lands,
the gods and the temples have vanished away
and in Ashur’s streets only jackal pups play,
chiselled deep in a cliff side of ochre stone
a warrior queen her name long unknown
looks over a realm now lost without trace.
‘Tis told more than rain wets that royal face.
Jan Napier
Here I am
like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis
she stretches, shedding her cocoon of sleep
where secret dreams cradled her within their arms
brilliant waterfalls of rainbows braid her flowing hair
yellow rays of sunlight sweep night’s sleep away
searching eyes look out, into this waking day
greeting it, her violet lips will say:
‘here I am, emerging from my chrysalis
I’m someone you have not yet fully met
and yet, perhaps, a new friend you may be’
Yvonne G Patterson
12. untitled artwork
by Steve Pearton
25 x 32 cm, Acrylic
Support Act for Eric
They were there in the new Optus Stadium
while their daughter was dancing below
but with this sort of view
who could tell who was who
as they sat in the very top row?
Val Neubecker
Blue Viral Infections
Under the ’scope, there I saw it all:
they were coming for me now
with the first of the winter rainfall,
these blue armies, knowing how
to enter nose and throat, set aside
my poor defences. What could I do
when they leaped off the glass slide
and attacked? To sneeze a-choo!
That’d not be enough to turn aside
such a crew. Call a doctor and hide?
Glen Phillips
13. Cherry Blossom
by Kelly Blanch
51 x 41 cm. Acrylic
Cherry Bloom
Deep in the valley the cherries grow,
raising their branches to the moon.
As frosts cloak the ground beneath their feet
to the deep black night they croon.
‘Oh who will pick our blood red lapins
or savour these sweet stella orbs?
Eighty years have fled since our
roots went down, and still we give
our flesh to you.”
Virginia O’Keeffe
When the world grows dark
When the world grows dark
Trees become silhouettes of themselves
only their flowers glowing red on their edges
Hills turn velvety
The sky takes on a peachy incandescence
This is the time for the dandelions to close for the night
The stars to start peeking through the sky’s curtain
The bats to fly and forage
For us to reach into the darkness within.
Keren Gila Raiter
14. Telletubbies
by Maeve Morrow
60 x 60 cm Poska pen
Teletubbies
Aand – GO!
lean to the left
take hold of the one in front
keep in close
your colours will sparkle
I made you round
to go around
that’s fine
I will put you in my book
Ron Okely
I write my day upon a darkened sky
then punctuate in neon signs
so the world will know
these words are mine
Peter Rondel
15. The Slide
by Patrick Dumble
61 x 61 cm Acrylic on canvas
It’s not a slide down and out
of frame. Just feel
the way it flows, yellow;
the way it steps, blue;
the way it sways, green;
smeared black; layer cake pink —
it slides, opening canvas with
my tools, these fingertips.
Zan Ross
The Slide
as your painting fingers drag and splay
laid spurts and splobs of tube-fed paint
across and under and over this blue-
green coral canvas – shaped and held like
an alternate universe of longing –
your triumphant thought and feeling
coalesce and express your love for
life and shape and colour. thinking
aloud was never this much fun!
Allan Padgett
16. About Me
by Justin Holland
60 x 90 cm Collage on canvas
It’s mine, all mine!
Yes, even that quokka too.
And no, I won’t get him
laser tagged. So there!
Chris Palazzolo
About Him
The essence of a man
His spirit soaring like an eagle
In a collage of dreams
And attainment
Mastered by few
Barry Sanbrook
17. Alldoneup
by Carolyn Shervill
27 x 20 cm Mixed media
Couture on the Catwalk
coming up on the catwalk
we have ‘a coat of buttons’
created by haute couture
designer Carolyn Shervill
for the kitty who has everything
perfect for a day in the garden
Maureen Sexton
Catseyes
Does the cat have the buttons
or the buttons have the cat?
Button up and think about that!
Our cats seemed great thinkers—
whether they watched with one eye
a fly at the window buzz by;
or out in the garden sitting there
on the fence with eyes bright
as buttons for birds in flight.
Glen Phillips
18. Kangaroo
by Malcolm Burgess
45 x 53 cm Mixed Media
patchwork mosaic
lost in imagination
hop, hop kangaroo
Jonah Tan
Looking at you
I am sharp tail, fixed eyes
Green mouth slightly agape
Geometric shapes, bold colours
I have it all in me.
I am looking at you
Ears perked, listening
Ready to bound into the next adventure
Coming?
Keren Gila Raiter
19. untitled artwork
by Sandra Von Tilburg
52 x 41 cm. Acrylic
Atlantis Was Never Lost
The rhythm of patience: attuned to embrace
each animal as kin. A sponge of languid strokes,
draping verticals and washing landscapes. Above
a sea, Charybdis and Scylla dance in eternal now;
here, there, where they always are. Clouds kick
over Siren cleft, roll dawns into dusk, refracting
melody of imagination, wonder. A span reaching
for partners between empathy and friendship.
Atlas ― at the barren edge of time, holds up the
jagged weight of ecotone to the light of a new day.
Leonard James
I saw the ocean sweep the land
to clean the rocks
and wash the sand
Yet in that moment
such sadness rose
as I heard a lonely seagull cry
When those plastic bottles
came drifting by.
Peter Rondel
20. This is Me
by Karen Shao
40 x 40 cm Collage
The Bride and the Moon
Who am I not myself
human crucible lined
with feathers and outer shell.
Damp, this garden of
Eden, heaven – haven,
thoughts in shadow.
See me for who I am:
bride of the Sun
hand-holding the Moon.
Tineke Van der Eecken
This is ME, a happy emoji down to the heart.
This is me, every inch of my art.
The balance, the focus, I before I begin —
colours and shapes laid out by kin.
Then I fly, use my mind — I feel
the joy that comes behind. This is ME!!
I am my art. Come closer, closer —
see my heart.
Zan Ross
21. Boat
by Radko Medin
51 x 41 cm Poska pen
Life’s Pleasures
A voyage here–
we travel: a smile
a grin, bare
our hearts
to the sun.
Life’s pleasures
ride the spectacle
of our lives
Rose van Son
boat in universe
cloudscapes, birds. waves slap and toss
colours light music.
Maree Dawes
22. untitled artwork
by Aaron Mead
42 x 42 cm Mixed media
In the greenest paddocks
and sploshiest mud
we dream of being heroes.
We are Trojan horses
hiding brave soldiers
who will rescue our
beautiful queen
until we are distracted
by the sweet perfume
of meadow flowers …
Maureen Sexton
morning feed
first light
chartreuse morning
from kelly, moss and sea
through bottle, jade and verdigris
they come
Sarah Afentopoulos
23. Pig
by James Jolie
12 x 12 x 9 cm Ceramic sculpture
Piglet likes truffle
Sawdust smell of honey,
apple core and sauerkraut
last week’s chops dead
coriander and boiled potatoes.
Lacerations of dinner
party in style.
Piglet-doll this belly
massage oil and beer.
Truffles await.
Tineke Van der Eecken
Pig
Handle the back, rump and flanks:
rough, wiry skin, a rough, pejorative
reputation, the most abusive
trinity of letters
in the language. Yet here
the lustrous creature stands,
on bevelled pedestal,
shining, unaware, elegant and
poised in praise of realities
wise humans cannot see.
Alistair P D Bain
24. Michael
by Tyler Cullen
14 x 14 cm Ceramic tile
Where Michael lives…
So many steps
to the centre
where Michael lives
a chequer-board ocean
surrounds him
cools him, the prize histhis hot summer’s day.
Rose van Son
Me and the game
Inside the game is the game
Inside me is a map of me
I am smooth, like wet clay
I harden in places
I get used to it
I love the game and the fire I feel
Red bird in a sky full of letters
Criss crossed, fast and free
When I play this game, something big happens
Something big happens when I turn into me.
Sunny Blundell-Wignall
25. Horse Riding
by Nick Cullen
13 x 19 cm Ceramic tile
High noon and the sun
bends me to the clip clop
echo on the screen.
Out west riding, homesteading
in Red Dead Redemption make believe
where riding can fill a day
and the world is as real
as you want it to be.
Gary Colombo De Piazzi
Giddy-Up
This poem snorts and whinnies
In the starting box. (I’d rather be soaking up
The sunshine in that clear blue sky!)
And now they’re off …
I’m riding with my brother
Racing to the finish line –
Giddy-up, giddy-up!
It’s all fun in a day, a play
in a day, Horsing around …
Giddy-up a dingdong! Giddy-up!
Andrew Burke
26. untitled artwork
by Elinor Doddrell
19 x 36 cm Acrylic
Blue Butterflies
After dipping into
Monet’s cornflowers,
they idle on a fence:
palette of summer sky blue,
inky sea blue
blue of lapis lazuli.
Elinor, your deliberate
brushstrokes evoke the calm
of blue butterflies.
Margaret Ferrell
Structuring Depicted
A picture of a moment in time
where solid black shapes sink
into the picture’s hidden ground.
In streams and splodges
purple and blue
define the surface on
which they sometimes run.
On which they sometimes pool.
Graeme Butler
27. Fishing Jetty
by Grace Panaia
35 x 23 cm Watercolour
twin religions
the jetty nudges forward,
suggests to seething
masses of pink and blue
to try stillness,
embrace the twin religions
of blunt and mute
Kevin Gillam
fishing jetty
its arthritic finger points to the horizon
where container ships drop
over the edge of the world
where skiffs like lost butterflies skirt wave tops
and kite surfers flip through the elements
on the jetty
fish scales like a scatter of silver coins
each one holds a rainbow
Coral Carter
28. Circles
by Joel Grant
30 x 26 cm Mixed Media on card
Music Theory
String’s the thing
that vibrates in the vortex
Quartets of quavers whirl
Fling rainbow nebulae
Call us forth from
Black holes of oblivion
Back to the aquamarine
Planet where it can
Sing us once more in to being
Liana Joy Christensen
Circles
A ball of orange wool
unravels against a turquoise sky
launched by the artist
searching for meaning in the round.
His circular passion
chalks up laps
in an uninhibited orbit
turning, revolving
lost in the freeflow
of his creative hand.
Fran Graham
29. untitled artwork
by Lana Davie
21 x 34 cm Acrylic
Autumn
The trees are like brides
with golden veils.
The remaining leaves wink
mischievously,
soon to join their fellows
on the ground.
Sue Clennell
Through The Rainbow
“Fly away with me!”
I hear you sing, through
your coloured brushstrokes
“To the land of fun and happiness”
where I see your face
just peeking out in joy
through the rainbow, spinning
your multi-layered world
with laughter and love.
Mike Greenacre
30. Blue
by Andrew Murray
26 x 44 cm Acrylic
blue
out in sky ocean
I am emptied
my beat slows
I am cleansed
baptised in blue
I am origami unfolded
light blooms
into blue on blue
into blue bluer bluest
blue
Coral Carter
Blue like the sky and the sea
A blue house and a blue man peering out the window
A blue bird flying to a backdrop of gliding blue clouds
Blue lamps lighting the streets blue
Blue
in its magnificent bold presence
Is not shy nor rude
Blue sings a deep hum
The one you want to be caressed in
Adi Cohen
31. Blue Mountains
by Jason Whittington
30 x 41 cm Mixed media
Them Blues
Today the blues set in
A cloud over brightness
A heavy heart blanket
A lonely witness
Then rose the pouring of emotion
Then a creative explosion
Today the light snuck in
A warmth growing to great scope
A frenzy of insistent brightness
Delivered welcomed hope
Jane Davies
For Jason
I am not afraid of going to the depths,
there are colours there too
so varied and shooting:
blues so dense that a tigerish orange
tails the eye, a foreground so bristling
that cramped horizon pulls me to flight.
I’m not shy of the pit in each stroke
or sensation, in every way and direction,
all is creative.
Sunny Blundell-Wignall
32. The Sea
by Colette Deavin
31 x 45 cm Acrylic
still day summer’s ebb
salmon flick in blue shallows
in dark water fins.
Maree Dawes
The Sea
Ithaca is beyond the canvas somewhere where how many
blue roads cross beneath purple paint where so many sit
on the ocean’s edge and walk to the waterline where
waves conclude their supernatural march from me to you
at that still point where travellers give up the ghost as light
dies peering out into the machine of sea and swell
am I home on the back beach in the hot sand?
I don’t recall there’s nothing here, just the luminescent
disturbance on the surface the unmoved mover
the rise and then the fall
Nathan Hondros
33. Clock
by Peter Guhl
16 x 35 cm Acrylic
Time is a wave
crimson to marine
shifting across the canvas
in bold strokes, splashed
dragged in increments like
a second hand sweeping,
the sea surging around
an island.
Gary Colombo De Piazzi
Clock
Peter, from morn to night your layers are a human clock.
From shifting black of intense night,
Through dawn breaking fading grey and rising sun
to intense blue of lunchtime noon and dog barking dusk,
Until the exploding rainbow of evening sunset
Draws family in to supper and tv news and drowsy rosy fire,
To burrowing in doonahs and dreams all silvered stars and sparklers.
But Peter, think of the cats that sleep all day and go feral at night.
How they order time in that lack of light, hunting by ear of owl hoot
And glimmer of moon to slink home and curl by morning milk bowl.
Peter W. Jeffery OAM
34. Home Ground
by Ben Chapman
30 x 33 cm Acrylic
Home Ground
Eagles’ eye dream of a field
iris blue, pooled as water
as air, as earth, as encompassed
on a white page, stippled in gold
Quiet play of colour, stroke
to fluid stroke, like toes or
fingers trailed along any
open surface
Amanda Joy
Oceanic
Endless
Ripples under the surface
A school of fish whizzes past
Their ambition unbeknown
Glorious Individuals
Highlighting their inner order
Brigita Ferencak
“The Wandering Gypsy”
35. The Hills
by Marianne Percudani
39 x 49 cm Acrylic
The Hills
Wide open spaces through springtime air
Relaxed on the train. We’re getting there
Clear blue sky as we transfer to car
Not far now
The hills come near
Riding bare-back
Horse splashes the stream
Let’s break out the esky
Let’s eat ice cream
Julienne Lee Juschke
The Hills
lose their loneliness –
are alive with unrestrained colour:
vermilion, yellow, green – exult in change.
Sun reigns in the role of magician.
Inquisitive creatures
venture out from darkness
to find the waterfall flooded with sparkle –
a triumph for Marianne’s sense of
the surreal.
Margaret Ferrell
36. My Dad
by Janelle MacMahon
52 x 40 cm Watercolour
My Dad
My Dad was a sad Dad
not a bad Dad
All the women
in his life from sister to wife
and even little moi
told him what a loser
he was –
He still had to go out to work!
Sorry Dad!
Sally Gaunt
Dad
Through the window
I saw this painting in my vigil.
Dad? Father? What are you?
And the painting said
there are many colours to every man,
it said;
don’t give up on what you can’t see.
Christopher Kennedy
37. Cougar
by Lindy Johnson
51 x 41 cm Acrylic
on the prowl
she’s an elderly emu
but lives like a cat.
and with fluorescent
purple feathers and
a tulip in her beak
she’s ready for a big
night of clubbing,
a night on the prowl
Kevin Gillam
Lavinia
Lavinia is chic, with plenty of style,
eyes gleam intelligence, brimful of guile.
She likes a fandango, rose held by beak
with hair audacious, swirled to a peak
she has colour and verve to match her charm
her fluttering lashes work to disarm
all who doubt her, or envy such glamour,
cannot condone her sassy behaviour.
Enchanting us with her dazzle and grace
Lavinia’s allure we all can embrace.
Veronica Lake
38. Scooby Doo
by Vickie Lee Devenish
29 x 21 cm Poska pen
Scooby Doo
He’s a hyperactive canine who
hides his secrets in bark lines.
He shouts the mysteries
of a dog’s life
but beneath his bark
he is fun-loving
on a mission
rushing in like ocean waves
to drown you
in affection.
Fran Graham
Absorbed in an abandoned theme park with quicksand
Sinking into the bean bag, cartoon eyes, wide
Dad, newspaper in hand, radio blaring sports
Gives me fifty cents for a feast of lollies
Pause at the monkey bars
Uncover mysteries
Up trees, in bushes, in shadows of haunted houses
Listen for my name being called from a distance
Scooby Doo and I chase each other home
Deanne Leber
39. Love Hearts and Flowers
by Janine Noonan
21 x 21 cm. Acrylic
Love Out Loud
We weave our way as explorers
along coloured paths, at first
looped and then zig-zagged
through gardens that speak in colours
with flowers blooming vivid
voices of orange, red, pink and blue
capturing the hearts of all who visit
from here or distant lands
and share their love out loud.
Mike Greenacre
Sunset Salad
At the café, you leant over the balcony to pick an angel’s trumpet and said, for you. You ordered herring bones, I wanted edible flowers. There was never any question about the calendula and nasturtium. We shared most of them, pressed a few into my diary. When our champagne glasses were empty, we cradled strawberries, cleaving little hearts in two to check for sharpness.
Shey Marque
40. Fluffy Clouds
by John Verjans
64 x 94 cm Acrylic
Fluffy clouds and
Dreams to pull off
During sunset
In stroke of luck
I won’t wear on
Your up-sets
Silence is the ally
Of my senses
I dropped my promise
And melted all my fences.
Ella Harrison
Wavering Clouds
Today the waves
Reflect the sky,
As they race down to shore!
The clouds behave
Like mimics, fly,
Dive and dip and soar!
I want to save
The way light plays, I
Think I’ll paint some more!
J.R.Poulter
41. Stick Figures
by Kevin Doung
80 x 62 cm Wood collage
Stick Figures
Tiny twigs nestle tightly
Within the wooden frame
Order created out of chaos.
A foundation layer for newly
Arrived forest fragments
Clustering comfortably
Like old friends chatting
Around the campfire.
Jacqui Merckenschlager
Dry sticks and shrivelled leaves
skeletons of nature
They lie like dross
in a back street.
We reminisce of a lush natural world
man petitions for rebirth of
natures fecundity.
Heed the warnings from an abandoned nest;
a footnote to disaster.
Ann Harrison NSC
42. Circles
by Hannah Schneider
30 x 42 cm Acrylic
Polka at the Culture Club
It’s no surprise this effervescent and artistic
resumé caught the attention of Boy George
who was later heard to remark:
“This runs rings around my old make-up artist
Each bubble is a champagne burst of colour
Perfect for a fashionable chameleon like me”.
Liana Joy Christensen
Circles
at times the room knows a pale blue moon-light keeping
open the red rims of bloodshot eyes stained yellow out of
fear from creeping sleep that will come in from the edges but
for now who cares what hour of day shoots through
here comes the next hour then another
here comes the peloton of hurried colour a thousand bicycle
wheels competing in the rain if we leave from this point
will we wind up here again? still awake
it’s a question of suns and spinning planets
brushes on the canvases that lurch across the night
Nathan Hondros
43. untitled artwork
by Lisa Joyce
30 x 21 cm Watercolour
At sunset cockatoos circle.
This is how it is,
this is what it means.
And while you attempt straight lines,
we know it’s better to go full circle.
Sue Clennell
Strokes on Silk Are ‘Paradise Enow’
To read the Eastern master’s soul, I study brush strokes on silk.
So too, I see the Paradise tree made by your unique stroke.
Paradise was seen as a garden where fruit endlessly blossoms
Providing eternal food for divine banquet, and so, to the side,
I see a giant strawberry gently falling and can barely surmise
All the fruits held in the criss – cross basket of the foliage.
And, I marvel at the hint of shadowy rain drifting down,
Through the silk, just as in so many Chinese scrolls,
The hermit scholar saint, saw, from his mountain hut
And meditating imagination, limitless universes.
Peter W. Jeffery OAM