Dear Lizzie (21 March ‘26)

Lorne

Dear Lizzie

It’s a cloudy Saturday morning on the Surf Coast and what looked like a curtain of rain coming across the ocean is actually sunbeams. There is the most illuminated patch of light in the middle of the ocean from a tiny break in the clouds, it’s extraordinary. So bright and sparkly.

My phone wouldn’t charge this morning and I flew into the most embarrassing panic. I’m cut off from the world! I can’t promote my show! What if someone desperately needs me?? And then my phone charged and there was little communication from anywhere and I felt very foolish. I hate my phone. I’m in that very uncomfortable time when you finish a show, and the catalogue has gone out and you have no idea how it’s going but keep checking Instagram. It’s awful. I need to focus on sunbeams.

The Puppy Morris

Do you know Helene Schjerfbeck? I came across her work recently and then realised I have a book on female portraiture with one of her self-portraits on the cover. She was a Finnish -born painter who travelled to Paris to study in the late !800’s. Her still life paintings are so beautiful, so pared back, I absolutely love them. Anyway, the Great Women Artists Podcast interviews the curator of a recent exhibition at The Met. I think you would love her work too Lizzie, if you don’t already know her. When I hear the words “pared back”, I feel a bit validated, it’s so how I want to paint.

I’m puppy sitting. He’s taking up a lot of my time, reminding me why I didn’t paint when my girls were little. I really admire how disciplined you are, snatching moments of time and absolutely making the most of it. My daughter picked up Morris after work, but instead of heading out to my studio I poured a glass a wine and did some knitting and felt a bit guilty. Argh. We are so hard on ourselves.

The beach at Lorne

I’ve planted my winter veggies, leeks, beets, kale, basil, rainbow chard. Feels nice to tend the garden. I’m knitting (another)shawl, Stephen West’s Pierre Shawl, using three different skeins of wool I bought in Scotland. Oh, and I’m British now by the way, just had my passport approved, so expect a bit of an accent, seems so ridiculous to have to travel on a British passport just because my dad was born in Scotland. It’s also nice in a way. The first time I went to Scotland as an adult, I had such a physical reaction to the landscape as the tram headed through the countryside from the airport…my daughter asked if I was planning to cry the entire time. They were happy tears. Anyway, the shawl feels very special, I can’t wait to wrap myself in it.

Harvest starts at the end of the week, it’s a busy time of year but also incredibly satisfying. Out in the field I have a task, hour after hour the same thing, no anxiety or lack of confidence or decisions to make.

The clouds are parting, the sun is out, and the ocean is sparkling. Happy Saturday Lizzie.

X Stacey