Artistic Journey
Tag: Art
A Quick Escape…to Millthorpe in country NSW!
Last weekend my Wife and I went up into the country to stay at place we have been to many times over the years, Millthorpe, NSW, Australia. Millthorpe is about a 3 1/2 hour drive over the Blue Mountains, North-West from where we live, which is 60 kilometres / 37 miles South-West of Sydney.
We have been up there many times as Diane and her Husband, David were school friends of my Wife, Susan. They have 6 boys who are all adults now with only a couple living at home.
Pretty much all of the family came home that weekend as Sean (their second child) and his Wife, Emily were holding a 1st Birthday party for their first child, Nyssa, on Saturday afternoon in Bathurst about 20 minutes drive from Millthorpe.
The party was great and we dinner back at Millthorpe that night.
Millthorpe is a quiet little town of about 1,253 people, and is a Heritage-listed village. I’ll post a link below so you see more about this town if you are interested.
This time we stayed at the Rosebank Guest House. Normally, we would stay with David and Diane however they had a houseful this weekend.
Rosebank is a old Bank building with 4.5metres / 15feet ceilings and is run by a local Artist, Jenny Beach and her husband. We were the only guests staying that night so it was very quiet. They have an Art Supplies sale section within the guest house which is ‘indeed heaven’ for guests like me.
The guest house is beautifully furnished and has Art from Jenny and other local Artists lining the walls of every room.
Jenny (we didn’t get to meet her husband that weekend), was the perfect host, the accomodation was wonderful, and yes you guessed it, I bought some Art supplies. 🙂
On Sunday morning, I did a 1/2 hour walk around town mainly taking some reference photos for future sketches.
On the way home we stopped at Govett’s Leap in the Blue Mountains (the subject of my next post), and then a late lunch at a restaurant called, “The Bunker” at Springwood in the Lower Blue Mountains.
All-in-all another great little escape filled with good cheer, family, friends, Art and relaxation.
We are looking forward to our next escape!
Till next time!
Written & Photographed by David Johnson
30 June 2023
Click on the link (Home) to find out more about Millthorpe.
Art Journaling Australia
Recently, a great friend and business owner I know (who is an Artist, Art Teacher and Art Therapist), Sharon Veness, set up a Facebook group called ‘Art Journaling Australia.’
I’ve been doing sketches for a few years now and have read about Art Journaling before, however I’ve not really had a consistent practice for it. This past week, I’ve joined Sharon’s new Facebook group and am enjoying the process.
Some of my Art Journaling will never see the light of day as it is quite personal however, some is less personal and I have been happy to share it in the group.
Here a couple of examples:
I’m really enjoying this process. It’s another way for me to communicate/express how I feel about things in my life and as I view the world on a daily basis.
If you are interested in checking out the Facebook link, here it is:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/635381875168842
Happy Art Journaling! 🙂
Written by David Johnson
17 June 2023
Art Is…
From The Eyes Outward to The Eyes Inward
Last night I delivered a presentation at Macarthur Photographic Society, where I was a member from 1986 – 2014.
As I have for the past few years focused my attention on Painting and Sketching, I was asked if I could deliver a presentation on the similarities and differences between Photography and Painting.
As a foundation for the discussion take was to take place in the second half of the presentation – (after intermission) on the similarities and differences, I spoke about my journey in Photography, and showed some images across Slides, (Film) Monochrome and D
I then explained, ‘why I changed from Photography to Painting’ a few years back, which involved several reasons. (I will post about this at a later date). Following the reasons, I showed examples of my Paintings, two Oil and one Watercolour Line & Wash.
After intermission, I moved onto the similarities, and then the differences between Photography & Painting which brought interesting discussion. Again, I will post about these in a separate post.
I finished the presentation talking about future projects in both Painting and Photography.
As I was compiling the presentation I learnt a lot! It is a fascinating subject and I’m sure I will modify it as time goes on.
Written by David Johnson
25 May 2023
Art After Dark
Last night, I attended ‘Art After Dark’ at a local, small Art Gallery, called ‘The Alan Baker Gallery’ in Camden, N.S.S. Australia. It’s about 3 minutes drive from where i live.
This was the third (and last for now) such event held there. I couldn’t attend the first one due to illness, and the second due to a prior engagement so I was pleased to be able to attend last night.
It was an intimate gathering, featuring a local musician Ria Brcic who provided a beautiful voice accompanied by an Acoustic Guitar in the background, whilst Artists’ demonstrations like live portrait painting carried on through the night.
There were also local Artists on display such as, Verena Heirich with her exquisite wearable art and Natalie with her ‘Creations Couture, both of which added a special flavour to the event.
The event ran from 6pm – 8pm and I enjoyed it immensely. Apart from seeing the creations of local Artists, it was a great chance to mingle, chat and share artistic experiences.
Looking forward to the next local Art event!
Written by David Johnson
29 April 2023
“Artist’s In Action”
Last Sunday, I was one of 30 ‘Creative’s’ that assembled down at the Camden Civic Centre to display our creativity. All manner of arts and crafts were on display.
There were:
- Painters
- Sketchers/Drawers
- Mixed Media
- Photographers
- Japanese Martial Arts
- Floral creations
- Chinese Brushwork
- Charcoal
- Pastel
- Bonzai
- Ballerinas
- Couture
- Live Demonstrations
- Talks
- Kids Competition
- and more!
Ho Yee Wong (Jo), the President of the Macarthur Art Group (of which I am a member), asked me if I would promote my ‘Everyday Art Practice’ aka my ‘Watercolour Sketch a Day’? I said I would be glad to.
We were there for 8 hours (and open to the public for 6), and I completed a couple of Watercolour Sketches whilst chatting to interested onlookers.
I asked them whether they practised any form of art and/or craft and often, they would say that ‘they didn’t have time’, or ‘they were not talented enoough.’
Wanting to help them, I advised them that I wasn’t very good drawing as a child, or even up until into my 50’s( all true), however, it is a skill that can be learnt. As far as ‘time’ goes, most people have a certain amount of time that is wasted during our days.
We stand in queue’s or sit at the Mall eating lunch or having a cuppa. There are miniature sketchbooks available and you only need one pen. Instead of pulling out your mobile phone, use your sketchbook. You don’t even have to show it to anybody, it can just be your personal hobby.
The simple of act of sketching takes your mind off other things. It can be the ‘mental break’ that you need when you are trying to solve a problem, when you are stressed out or when you are bored.
You have time…
You can learn skills…
What are you waiting for?
Pick up that pen and sketchbook today! 🙂
Written by David Johnson
25 March 2023
The Organic Artist
Last weekend on our anniversary celebration, I picked a book at a store in Berrima, N.S.W. called, ‘Six Impossible Things. Last year, I purchased a double-glass inkwell at the store and was delighted to see that they had moved to bigger premises.
Erica owns the store and is very helpful. I picked up a Postal dip pen nib and the book below.
The book seemed way too interesting to leave on the shelf. A few weeks back I was talking to a gallery director in Camden and he gave me a reed and showed me how to cut it so it could be used as a dip pen. Looking at my attempt I think I have more practice ahead of me. Oh well, something is worth doing badly until one becomes better at it.
In my limited look at the book since it appears to go a lot deeper into the technical details of creating such tools. I’m looking forward to exploring it more and having some more Arty fun!
Written by David Johnson
29 November 2022
Berkeleouw’s Book Barn Treasure
As part of celebrating the anniversary of the very first time we went out to dinner (19 November 1994), we always pay a visit for a couple of hours to Berkeleouw’s Book Barn at Berrima.
Susan and I are bookworms and there is nothing better for bookworms than visiting a bookshop. Although the Book Barn has some new books, it predominantly has used books, which is part of what keeps us coming back.
This visit saw me purchase the following books:
I always seem to come away with at least one Poetry book, and in the last few years the Poetry books have outnumbered the Art-related books, but not this year.
The two Chinese Art-related books jumped out at me as next weekend, I am attending a workshop that is being run by Jo Wong Artist, who is also the new President of the Macarthur Art Group that will be joining shortly.
‘Poetry Now’ is actually a book of Poems where the authors were born within the first 30-40 years of the 20th Century and /Great Artists Explained’ was simply too good a book to leave on the shelf!
I look forward in the coming weeks to grab a cuppa and sit down and investigate all these books more.
Written by David Johnson
27 November 2022
A Day To Relax…
Today, Susan and I went down to Berrima, which is about 1 hour’s drive South of where we live, to celebrate 28 years since we went out to dinner for the first time way back on 19 November 1994. We were a week late in celebrating as we were moving house last week.
After all that has been happening in the last 4-5 months, it was delightful to get away for the day and relax.
As is normal, the first stop is Berkeleouw’s Book Barn which houses approximately 100,000 books. It used to be, however, the help the business survive, they kept a reduced amount of books and added Wedding Receptions, a cafe/restaurant, accommodation, and wine tasting to the business.
We spent just under two hours there and (in a separate post) I’ll talk about the books I purchased.
After Berkeleouws, we had a delicious lunch at Josh’s Cafe and Restaurant which is located in the actual town of Berrima. We have been eating there for many years and are always delighted with the food, service, and atmosphere.
From there, we ventured into a few shops (as we normally do), including ‘Mrs. OldBucks’ (jams, sauces, honey, teas, etc), ‘Six Impossible Things’ (various boutique items including writing materials, dip pens, ink, journals, books, and other tourist-inspired goodies). Our last stop was ‘Sticky Beaks Vintage Emporium which consists of a number of smaller antique sellers within a larger shop.
All-in-all a very relaxing day that helped us celebrate one of the most special days in our lives!
Looking forward to next year’s celebration!
Written by David Johnson
26 November 2022
Communicating Creatively 