My studio at this residency in Camac, Marnay-sur-Seine has been packed up and I have gone (nearly).  I hear there’s two writers, a dancer and a visual artists who have moved in.  I think they too will be stamped.  I certainly have been. I am sure to carry with me many experiences like the rush of the launch of the pigeons from the tower above, the bells chiming on the hour and half, the slow whoop of the swans as they fly by my window, the amazing food and good wine too, the earie closeness of the nuclear power plant, the what must be 400 year old oaks up the hill, the spiral stairs up three floor climbed daily, the shooters presence, the marks left from centuries gone, the immenseness of my studio and amazing side tower, the journeying with the wonderful group of artists from all corners of the globe and the locals too, who so warmly welcomed us to the fold, but most of all I think thanks to this time, this place and these people, I will take with me the sense that I really have been in the present. 
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And very much in the present is the work of Sandra Lapage and Carlos Pileggi  They held us all close with warmth and laughter and such delicious food cooked.  Check out their work and their collaborations too.  Last year when last here they shared the studio I was in they created a labyrinth of beauty and awe with delicacy and punch too.  You can spy just a little of their work here … http://eclusecamac.tumblr.com/      http://cargocollective.com/pulga      http://cargocollective.com/sandralapage    

​This project was assisted by a grant from Create NSW, an agency of the New South Wales Government and supported by the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian State and Territory Governments. The program is administered by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA). This project was assisted by a subvention through the CAMAC – Ténot Fondation.

The end is near for this residency and oil painting portraiture has taken over, with a little still life branch touch up and a moment with the crow head piece owned by Mathilde, our Marnay-sur-Seine neighbour.  Materialised from those in front of me are portraits now on my easel and hanging on the line.  Thank you Charlet, Carlos, Sandra, Augustine, Mathilde and Jakub for letting me in a little into your worlds.  It was a great pleasure for me to have you sit (and stand!) – thanks for those amazing moments. And with these portraits it seems like I have just blinked my eyes and time has evaporated. So time to leave you with another wonder, one of the artists that I have shared this time with. Do have a look at the work of Charlet Gehrmann here https://www.volksstimme.de/lokal/gardelegen/20150909/ausstellung-kunst-gehoert-in-ein-krankenhaus. She is from Germany and her drawings are a delicate discovery in the beauty of form and line, where myths, and people, plants and animals and the landscape all morph together into mystery.  

​This project was assisted by a grant from Create NSW, an agency of the New South Wales Government and supported by the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian State and Territory Governments. The program is administered by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA). This project was assisted by a subvention through the CAMAC – Ténot Fondation.

​It’s well past half way and we are starting to think about our open studios around the corner. Armelle, my Parisian friend is coming to stay to celebrate this opening with us and spend some time together, good good.  And the richness with the mix of artist’s here at the residency has continued. A side project of portraiture has started.  My vaulted ceiling studio on the top floor, three stories up in the old 16 Century Abbey here at Camac has a side small round space in the tower which was calling out for something more.  More than the dead pigeon on the window sill, so, I set aside my still life oil painting practice for moments here and there and with the old literary cards from the shared space below, I have been caught in time with these people creating some small portraits of them and me too.  Looking at them now there must be over 40 quick studies.  In a few, I think, where did that line come from? And I remind myself when in the process to just go with it, whatever comes – it is just a conversation.  From this dalliance also came a shared portraiture party one night.  After dinner when I started with a portrait of Augustine from Pakistan, who’s staying in the other residency up the road – (and as an aside, has work full of courage and power http://www.asianchristianart.org/feature_arfan_words.htm), only seconds passed when more caught the bug and Augustine was now sitting for three, and then the literary cards we passed up and down the table with the frenzy of each drawing each other.  Some laughs were had and in the mix, we saw our youth and age too.

And more sharing of work with presentations each night has continued.  To give you a little taste of another gem here, head to http://www.moonassi.com/ and you will meet some of Daehyun Kim’s poignant beings.  He’s from South Korea, treasured by the New York Times and works magic and awe with feelings. And of the people here, I have also been looking at some of the work of artists who have come before me to this place.  Both those who have come for an artist residency and those who were here before.  The jazz artists who once dwarfed these nooks and crannies, come to my ears, for in this place’s history it was once a humming radio studio too.  With the main house host to amazing musicians of the 60’s with French notables such as Duke Ellington and Johnny Hallyday.  
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Our open studio’s are on Friday 24 November from 6:30 to 8:30 at Camac, Marnay-sur-Seine.  Do come.…

​This project was assisted by a grant from Create NSW, an agency of the New South Wales Government and supported by the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian State and Territory Governments. The program is administered by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA). This project was assisted by a subvention through the CAMAC – Ténot Fondation.

A week of paintings has materialised.  This week has also seen me held by the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries at the Musee du Moyen Age (a 15th Century marvel curated in fine form) and back at Deyrolles in Paris – and as a result a squirrel this time is now inhabiting my studio, along with the pigeon hanging on in death and the time ravaged mistletoe resembling petrified antlers collected from my bike ride up the road.  Some old luggage has been collected too - I could not help myself – discovered in the depths of the shared space.  I wonder how long it has been here and who travelled with it. I’m building up to paint these beauties. 
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With helmets absent and with what can only be described as an air raid siren shouting out from the depths of its lungs, life is as I am finding it.  Just routine in these parts.  Everyone knows the once a month midday Wednesday test siren – I’m not sure I would get used to it. And many discussions of this and more were had with locals at the party we artists were so generously and warmly invited to.  So wonderful to meet these beautiful people from these parts and hear their stories of generations here and of protest from 1978 of the forthcoming nuclear plant – they clearly lost, but they describe a more recent win regarding an ethanol industry proposed development. And, interesting to meet the new comers too, who see the benefits of this place, an artist enclave with quietness and affordable living.  And then the hourly and half hourly bells continue to ring with their routine and give me a consciousness of sharing time somehow with those who have been here before me. 

Like so many little towns across France there is an amazing recorded history here of over 1000 years of much endurance. Of restoration and destruction, there’s the remnants of the gallows corner ‘Place due Poneau’ from the 9th Century, the destruction of half the church in the 16th Century during the religious wars and the subsequent re-building with a bell tower, of the confiscation of ritual objects and the sending of the bells to the foundry with the onset of the French Revolution in 1793, of Austrian soldiers setting fire to the houses of Marnay-sur-Seine in 1814 and of the destruction of the bridge twice in WWII.   I came across these morsels in the church across the road so generously opened by the Town Maire’s Office, for otherwise the church is now locked up.  And in the church, I spy some remnants of frescos on the archways that are so unusual to my eye, they remind me of Leunig’s Mr Curly. I am captivated.  And too I am captivated by the work happening right now with this bunch of artists at this residency.

Each night we come together and share a truly amazing three course dinner (thank you Sandra and Carlos!) and then we become engrossed in the work of one of us with a presentation and studio visit.  To share with you a little of just one of my fellow residents, from the studio next door (pictured above), head here to see some of the work of jakub tomáš https://www.works.io/jakub-tomas . He is from the Czech Republic and is working in a way that peaks my interest.  In my last research project at ANU I was looking at the work of Masaya Chiba, Marian Drew and Amanda Marburg.  They all blur the boundaries between sculpture, instillation and painting utilsing 3 D sculptural elements that they have created with modelling, collage and or sculpture to inform their 2 D work.  And I too have sculpted and cast and built models to install and paint from.  I like that in Jakubs work that in playing with reality he paradoxically leaves me with a feeling of unreality.

This project was assisted by a grant from Create NSW, an agency of the New South Wales Government and supported by the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian State and Territory Governments. The program is administered by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA). This project was assisted by a subvention through the CAMAC – Ténot Fondation.

The beginning of a new body of work is unfolding - my Camac residency at Marnay-sur-Seine, France has commenced.  My brain is abuzz and I have some time for my focus.  This is good.  I have wandered this beautiful small village rich in history – only around 250 people live here – not dissimilar to home – with no school, no pub and no shop – but here there is a church dating from the 12 Century and a cemetery too.   I have pondered and gathered some thoughts by the Seine on the river’s edge and at my window too, watching the mistletoe and the bird life abound.  And definitely too, I have contemplated the scene around the corner stretching to a neighbouring town of the white plume billowing forth from the nuclear power plant.  It is a strange, saturating and ominous feeling to be so close.  And I am reminded that the French are never too far from one with the apparent 58 scattered across their lands. Maybe I will gain some understanding of how the people who live nearby process it?  More than my initial reaction of perusing evacuation procedures. No doubt this experience will be etched into my being and like the river and surrounding environment, the people, and the history, it will instigate some more research and become part of the patchwork that influences my work.
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Connection is happening with the group of artists I will spend time with this month of November – helped by the wine of course over dinner each night.  Some treats of studio visits with the other artists have already started, and I am excited to be working just a studio away from this bunch – there’s some very fascinating work happening here and some hearty characters too.  The studios are terrific, spread across the walled compound.  Mine is large, with a vaulted roof, on the top floor of the 16 Century Abbey. This month, camac has a mixed bunch of visual artists and a writer too from eight countries spread across five continents around the world.  There is a couple from Mexico, Ana and Christian, and another couple from Brazil, Sandra and Carlos on a return visit here, two Germans not together, Charlotte and Daniella who is also returning to camac to work with a school’s project, Jakub from the Czech Republic and Daehyun from South Korea, both already here from last month, Katherine the writer from the United States, and Augustine from Pakistan, also a returning artist who is based up the road in the Botanic Gardens. 

And of my work I am painting with oils on un-stretched linen in the day and at night in the still life genre, right now of some birds, some branches and some shadows too.  My feathered accompanies are a Eurasian Magpie Pica pica or ‘Pie’ as I was introduced to her, who travelled with me on the train, rented from Deyrolles Taxidermy establishment in Paris, (a cabinet of curiosities time travelling experience in itself) and the pigeon found under the bridge – freshly dead (and definitely in the present), possibly left by the resident peregrine falcon or one of the many cats of these parts.  It’s good to have started.

This project was assisted by a grant from Create NSW, an agency of the New South Wales Government and supported by the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian State and Territory Governments. The program is administered by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA). This project was assisted by a subvention through the CAMAC – Ténot Fondation.