For many years I have considered myself a painter, yet for the past year I have been exploring other art forms which have been incredibly stimulating. This week I have been doing installation works with torn strips of material and wool; first in my back yard then at the community garden.
I started on this tree branch on Tuesday.
The next day I worked on another tree and used strings of wool
I think you all need to join my tea party
I love being an artist!!!
Last week I spent time painting at all of my community spaces.
I was thinking before last week how I was craving to do some art. I’m so glad that craving was satisfied.
On Tuesday I got to fancy up some tires.
On Wednesday I got to paint at the servo with others
And on Sunday at church 
I got to do some Jackson Pollock style artworks with the teenagers
The red radio that is on the top shelf belonged to my paternal Grandma and the canister’s that are below were bought at a garage sale for $3 and they remind me of my maternal Grandmother (Granny).
Both of my Grandmothers have passed away and they have left some great memories behind. Both Grandma’s were creative and I’m sure they have passed their talents to us.
My paternal Grandma, Thelma, was an artist and writer. Just recently I saw one of her paintings still on the wall at the primary school in Minnamurra. Even more recently, one of my cousins told me that she used to make teepee’s (is that where I got it from?). My Grandma taught me how to knit and for my son, knitted that very last piece before she passed away. Grandma pursued many different creative activities and seemed to really enjoy doing so.
My maternal Grandmother, Granny Rita, was hilarious and quick-witted. She was in the army at war-time and taught us many army ditties. She too was a bit of a writer and would write little poems in cards for birthdays. They were always funny ditties. Granny had bad arthritis but only complained when it was about to rain “Arthur’s playing up, think it’s going to rain”. She was also an avid reader like myself and we kind of had our own little book club as we would talk about what we were reading.
When I partake in painting its normally to do with me facing a canvas and painting smallish pictures, however this week I have painted things in a different style.
On Tuesday one of the community gardeners retrieved some old tires and left over paint so I can start to add colour to the place.
This is me having a blast with the paint and tires. I can’t wait to add the colour.
The next day which was Wednesday I went to the Queen Street Servo to commence with the arty part of the project. This is the fellow artist who is working on the project and her kids. The kids came up with some of the design!!!
This is me in a selfy in front of my work
This work was inspired by this little wonder climbing through the brick work
I can’t wait to add colour
So Today is Thursday and a special day for Aussies as we remember our diggers on ANZAC Day and it also happens to be a public holiday, therefore at noon a bunch of us from church went to paint the children’s church walls. Colour was added to our lives today
Three days in a row doing communal painting!!
I love it and I can’t wait to continue with the projects.
I love painting 🙂
I especially love painting if it can change the feeling of a place and makes an impact within the community. Art belongs to the community and should be shared and not reduced to ridicule.
This kind of stuff makes me feel alive!!
Your home town is not necessarily the place where you belong.
This is a little bit sad for me, however I have come to accept this and I embrace the place where I do belong. I really wish to not offend anyone, as my home town holds so many lovely memories and when I need to go somewhere pleasant that’s where I head.
Today I realised that I don’t belong where I was and moving was for us the best thing that could have happened. A few years back, due to circumstances out of our control we ended up moving to Shelharbour City.
Since I have been here I have had the time of my life, in spite of suffering depression and anxiety. I am so glad that I decided to take my son to the local community garden as its been one of the biggest blessing to have come in my life. This has been a place where I have been able to heal from grief, to pick up my paint brushes again, to be creative, make new friends, feel a part of the community, to reconnect with nature and to learn many new skills.
In fact one of my new skills is to make little movies, here is a montage of my experience at the garden
Another thing that I admire about this city is, when I took my soon to the 2528 project where free activities are available for the local kids. What impressed me the most, was when asking about the near by school that had closed down and I was delighted to be informed that it was reopened by a community of people who care for their children. I could hear the dignity and fight in their voices and I thought to my self “this is the type of people who I what to be around and these are the types of conversations I like to have”
Sorry, I don’t give a crap about your kitchen reno or how big your house is or if you even own it!!!!!!!
Being exposed to the 2528 project had me meet a lovely chap by the name of Brian, who made me glance over the road to a discarded servo and suggested that it would make a very good community art space. Once again, this is the type of conversations that get me excited and make me feel alive. As a result, I’ve been involved with the Queen Street Servo Project.
As I have been out volunteering in this city, I have never felt so valued before as I have now. I remember when I first took my paints to the garden, one of the members said that they felt privileged that I had chosen the garden as a painting space. This took me by surprise as I’d never really had this before and I can say that the sentiment was echoed by all who attend making me feel like we were family. Everywhere that I go here and put my hand to the plough it is welcomed with honour, rather than the usual statements such as the messy mum, weird, unusual and unconventional. All those statements are good but I am more than that and being embraced by this city has proven it.
What is even more special about living here is that I have been nominated twice for The Good Neighbour Award 2013 and if I had been still living in my home town I would never have experienced this. This is why I say that I belong here, as I feel that my gifts and talents have been embraced and appreciated. I feel that I have grown in confidence and I want to do even more for this community that has embraced me.
This is what makes a place rich, when they invest in the people rather than the image.
There’s a whole lot of colour going on here!!
This is my artistic response to Ezekiel 47
For some time now I have had a strong desire to paint a river and when I pray for my city it’s the image that I am always seeing.
In Ezekiel 47 it talks about the river that comes from the threshold of the temple where it flows out to the land. The river becomes too deep that Ezekiel can not cross and when he is brought to the bank of the river he sees the trees that bring life and healing.
This is a vision of hope and the abundance of God, let’s go jump in the river!!!
About two years ago I was sitting in our new church building
and I believe this is what God told me;
That the church was like a tree-house and the land was his. That he was my Heavenly Father and I was to go and play.
At the time I thought “aww that’s nice” but I did not recognize the significance of this until just recently. For the past year I have been dealing with depression due to many stresses of life that have had me feeling like there was no hope and nothing will ever change in our lives. Praise God that for the past six months I’ve been coming out of it with an abundance of joy!!
So what happened???? I went to the Doctor and got some happy pills 🙂
Not just that alone, as I still had my faith in spite of feeling lost, one of the scriptures that kept me going was this Habakkuk 3:17 I posted it on our fridge to remind me that everything will be okay.
The other thing that has helped, has been my garden adventures. I have never felt so creative in all of my life and I am having the best fun ever. God showed me that the first dwelling place that he made for humans was a garden. It came as such a revelation as I continued to enjoy the space at the community garden. Being out in nature in the sunshine with other people is so good for emotional well-being that I totally recommend anyone who is suffering depression to just go and be a part of a community garden, even if you just sit for a while.
So I sat for a while and then I started to get creative, here are some of my adventures
What have I been up to??
I have been playing.
This then brings me back to my vision that I had nearly two years ago when God told me to go play!!!!
I have and through this experience I am learning what being childlike is all about. I am learning that as adults we can still play and the things that get us down in this world should not be taking so much of our valuable time. I am learning that God really does desire to be our Heavenly Father. I am learning to receive and not be so stoic in life. I am learning to just be me.
Yesterday was great!! I felt like a had one big shot of serotonin which flooded me with happiness. Once again I took my Arty stuff to the Garden where I then proceeded to work on some paintings. I’m telling you, there is something extremely pleasant in partaking in this activity!!
Notice the seat that the painting is resting on? It’s made from recyclable materials such as old tires, brick rubble that’s been used as fill and reused timber to create the seating. It has been made in the shape of a crescent and when I sit in the middle of it I feel like I’m the recipient of a big hug!!!…..That’s special 🙂
It makes me think of God the Father and why Jesus came so that we too can know the Father like Jesus. It reminds me that no matter what I do or don’t do I can’t make God love me any more then he already does.
After having a lovely time painting my own thing, then came the second stage of happy happy joy feelings. It was now time for me to pick up my son from school and other kids to be at the garden where I was able to facilitate an art session with the kids!!
It’s so good to see kids keen to be creative
I love how this little one began to mosaic bits of cardboard onto a bigger piece of cardboard. She spent a lot of time creating and inventing with just things that we consider rubbish.
I love the passion in this work
I’ve discovered that a community garden isn’t just for gardening. What ever your gift is use it and contribute to the diversity and pleasure of the place. When you reach out with your gift the enjoyment of your passion increases and more ideas start to flow. What I find so interesting is that I started going to the garden for my son’s benefit but now it’s me who is getting the biggest benefits of all.
I encourage anyone if it’s possible, to join a community garden, get out in the sunshine, contribute your gift and get to know your neighbours 🙂
Today I had a great time painting at Kiama in the Pavilion. What I enjoyed the most was when people stopped and I could explain the process of creativity. I could spend the rest of my life painting for an audience!!!
Today I worked on a series of six paintings that were inspired from a painting that I did while at the garden last week. The picture below is a close up of one of the paintings that I did.
This is a drawing that I did inspired by the above photo.
From this process I then have painted six paintings. Sorry the picture isn’t so clear but you get the idea.
Here are some close-ups of today’s work
I felt so good that I didn’t want to stop but I couldn’t leave my little boy at school. It’s a good thing that I have an extra day as I am scheduled in again tomorrow and I know it will be a great day of painting.
Tamar's art lounge 