Here in Perth Western Australia on the first visit for a year, I found this piece of my work had been hung on a wallof one of the bedrooms by the house sitters –  who are not here at present – they like to move things around, and must have found this one behind a door …. anyway I don’t think I have ever taken a photo of it, not recently anyway, and had pretty well forgotten it.   Now there are some design shortcomings, I am the first to acknowledge – it was a while ago!!!    hgowever, it represents a slice-through view of one of the many open cut gold mines in and around Kalgoorlie Western Australia.  It’s done in paint plus stitch – long stem stitches and some small very tiny stitches in thin thread right up on the horizon there representing trees and the odd mining headframe.   It was my (unsuccessful) entry in the City of Kalgoorlie Art Prize exhibition of that year, but I don’t recall exhibiting it after that. 

Apart from my pleasure at seeing it again, what I do think is interesting  is that it clearly and graphically shows my interest in and inspiration from man-altered landscape structures and textures.  Colourwise the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia is generally clear strong blue skies over red-brown rocks and soil – all in all typical of Outback Australia.  My interpretive, creative embroideries of the time often included paint+stitch.  The lines though, also have since and for a long time appeared in my quilted textile art.  Pardon a pun here, but there’s a line of continuity  between my early works and recent work.  I just thought some might be interested!

And apart from the amazingly close national election from which almost 2 weeks later a clear winner has not yet emerged, and may not; it has been a joy to listen to Australian voices all around.   The other day I overheard a gaggle of women (my husband would say ‘old chooks’ )  chatting over coffee in the morning sun.  Referring to the offsprings of  who knows – grandkids perhaps – one of them said to the others “… they all managed to have one of each, so they got their bookends”    Good grief !!!!  A foreign visitor would probably not realise this puzzling expression means  parents who produced a boy and a girl – “bookends” – often also referred to as  ‘the pigeon pair’.   I nearly choked on my coffee and it kept me smiling all day.