Today I’m showcasing, ‘Refined By The Sea’ which is operated by Stephanie Thackray. Stephanie, like Helen and myself is a member of Red Point Artists Association in Port Kembla.
Stephanie is another member who displays her Art and Craft at the “Art & Craft On The Grass” which is held on the second Saturday of the month at Red Point Art, 100 Wentworth Street, Port Kembla, NSW, Australia.
Stephanie informed me that she spent five years collecting the raw materials that she then crafts into Jewellery (as displayed in the images below).
On a previous visit to “Art & Craft On The Grass” I purchased a set of earrings from Stephanie for my wife. She loves them!
If you would like to see more of Stephanie’s Art & Craft, her details are below.
Written by David Johnson
29 June 2021
*I receive no monetary benefit for promoting other Artists. I just love promoting creativity.
We have ventured up to Millthorpe a number of times since 1995 as it is the home of one of our great friend’s ‘the Dixons’, in fact Susan and Diane have been great friends since their school days.
This time, we were up there for the Wedding of their eldest son. I’m going to leave the wedding to another post, in fact, I will wait till the official Wedding photos arrive.
Millthorpe is a historical village classified by the National Trust and was originally called, ‘Spring Grove.’ More details about the name change and further detail about the town can be found in the link below.
Even though we have been going up there for a many years it is really only in the last two or three visits that I have actually been able to walk around the Town. Mostly, we have been up there for Family celebrations of one type or another.
A rather strange thing happened this time…My DSLR did not come out of the bag. Instead, armed with a small sketchbook, three pigment liners and just my phone camera, I took the chance to do some rough sketches and took many reference photos.
Millthorpe’s buildings are older ones and have a lot of character and I seem to love sketching and painting architecture. I’ve come back with quite a few ideas for sketches/paintings and the camera phone is good enough for reference photos for the moment.
As with any town there are a few Churches as well. I can see myself tackling these types of buildings as well.
I didn’t get a chance to go into the Museum this time around but was delighted to see some Art forms and industrial machinery on the outside.
The weather this time was beautiful and sunny on the Friday and Monday, however, Saturday and Sunday were very cold with single digit temperatures in Celsius.
Usually, we stay with the Dixons, however this time they had a full house so we stayed at a local Air BnB, ‘Millthorpe on Morley.’ It was the first time staying via Air BnB and it was extremely comfortable and very friendly.
The view from the front verandah below (where I was able to sit and journal) on the Saturday morning was very beautiful.
As always, I look forward to our next visit to Millthorpe!
On 26 January 2019, I decided to do a Watercolour Sketch a Day.
This is the second article devoted to this. Today is Day 37 and I am happy to report that I have not missed a single day thus far.
Am having a lot of fun and hopefully learning a bit more each day and am challenging myself to often go beyond the subjects that I was sketching/painting in Watercolour initially.
I am using Winsor & Newton Cotman Half-Pan paints in a Moleskine Watercolour Journal.
Here are a selection from Day 19 to Day 33 here.
Still so much to learn, Am looking forward to attempting different subjects as time goes by.
Last month, I had the pleasure of judging the images at Ingleburn Photography Club.
Ingleburn Photography Club is located SW of Sydney, nestled between Liverpool and Campbelltown and was formed on March 12, 2015.
Meetings are held at:
Ingleburn R.S.L. Club, 70 Chester Road, Ingleburn
3rd Thursday of each month (excepting December) at 7.15pm for a 7.30pm start.
They have approx. 30 members and unlike some photographic clubs/societies, they have opted for digital images only.
I had been to the club once before to judge and upon being invited again, I eagerly awaited receiving the images from the President, John Alessi. I was pleased to receive the 61 entries for an Open Competition.
The first two images below are two of the images that received Merits on the night. The third image was judged by me as the Image of the Night. Congratulations to all those who received an award.
As with my last visit, I was impressed by the members’ professional approach to their images; the varied subject matter and the skill with which they communicate with their Art. They are also eager to share their skills with newer members and go on some very interesting field trips as well.
A great club doesn’t only exist because of the images they produce. Having been a member of two clubs/photo societies for a total of 30 years, it is the camaraderie of the members of the organisation that can make or break a club.
If you are looking for a club that is prepared to help those who are new to photography; whose members are willing to push their own creative boundaries and who are a great bunch of people to be around, pop in for a visit.
Visitors are always welcome! Contact the Club via the Facebook link below.
Last month, my wife, Susan and I decided to take a short, 5-day break from our small business and head up to Millthorpe and Wyangala Waters State Park in country NSW, Australia.
They are both inside 4 1/2 hours drive from where we live. On the way, we stopped for a picnic lunch in a little town called Boorowa.
‘Boorowa’ (originally called ‘Burrowa) is an Aboriginal word meaning ’Turkey’ and it purportedly comes from the Wiradjuri tribe. It has a population of 1,694 (@ Census 2016) is a tidy, friendly little town with a lovely picnic spot beside a small river.
As I like to do, I had a chat with a couple of the locals and took a wander around the streets. One store we went into was a second-hand bookstore that was connected to an Op-Shop (charity store). The lady there told me that in the space of 12 months that (from sales), they were able to donate $26,000.00 to 10 charities in the area. Pretty impressive from such a small town.
It was a very hot day so in terms of ‘optimum photographic light’ the light was quite harsh so I took a few images on my phone and only a couple on my DSLR. There were a couple of buildings that I wanted to sketch/paint later so I took a few reference photos of them.
We enjoyed our brief stay in Boorowa. A picnic by the river and some time spent in a small country town is the perfect way to recharge when on a driving holiday.
For further information on Boorowa, visit the link below.
Poetry and Prose by #1 Amazon Bestselling Author of Nature Speaks of Love and Sorrow, Co-Author of #1 Amazon Bestseller, Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women, and Jan/Feb 2022 Spillwords Press Author of the Month
Communicating Creatively 