Campaspe Artists Studio Trail

Retirement arrived in 2024, then a search through old boxes found what was left of my Derwents, old sketchbooks, and unframed artwork from the 1980s. That’s when it all started.

Now I had time, I joined Murray Ross’s art group in Tongala. Not just small amounts of time – there are blocks of 3 hours, all afternoon, any evening. I love this thing called retirement.

I must admit to being rusty and in need of considerable practice. Gone are the days when the rate of difficulty within a drawing was ignored. Perhaps I should forget about realistic drawing for the moment, and concentrate on impressionistic use of colour. Perseverance, I suspect, is the key.

Now I’m back in Tongala in Murray’s group where some of the faces are new, but there are a couple of familiar faces too. We work at our own pace in our own choice of medium, using leisure time creatively. This time around I’ve chosen to use coloured card or paper as a basis to draw on. Infusing the background colour with the created artwork adds an extra dimension of interest. White paper has been discarded in favour of a subtle hue of background colour that blends and hopefully enhances.

My surrounds are inspiration: the bush, bird life, native garden and wildflowers are all subjects I like to include in a drawing. Working from photographs is great if you are time poor or need to travel, but there’s nothing better than sitting out in the bush with a board, paper and pencils, and drawing what you see.