Dear Stacey, (15 July ‘26)
The Studio Table Arrangement - constantly being edited things in and out.
I’m in the studio at the end of a long day (starting at 5am with the World Cup because my eldest is completely hooked on soccer- both watching and playing). While I admit I didn’t get up at exactly 5am my mind began making lists for the day then and I was up not long after. I have been trying to tick off things from my long list of “to do’s” because I have been away and before that was so crook that the thought of doing anything of much importance was so overwhelming. I have felt a lot of frustration lately not being able to get into the studio, which is always the way for me when school holidays strike, and like you, it’s been cold and the motivation is low. My mind is always ticking over with ideas and images - and I know those times of rest are important for both the body and brain but it is very counter to my nature! I know I have said this before!
I have been working on a series of smaller works lately. It is a bit dictated by the quieter art market but mostly by the fact I can’t afford to buy large scale canvas (for which I just got a day job to help with such matters). It all has a flow on effect doesn't it?! If the works don’t sell then the framer and stretchers don’t get their work and the galleries close their doors… I feel very much a cog in a bigger capitalist machine sometimes and it never feels more apparent than when the machine slows down. And because I will never stop making, I just adapt without even thinking about it until I reflect on it here, and my making has become smaller and more intimate. And I am actually OK with it, because it means I am approaching compositions differently than if they were wide expanses of canvas. The compositions become tighter and more bitty (is that even a term?!) What I am trying to say is the marks become more pointillist in nature or more fractured. I keep thinking of the word “fractals” and “fractures” and while those words might have a negative connotation I am really looking at them as a lens in which to depict a scene and also in a “light” sense. Did you ever have one of those kaleidoscopes?! My Grandpa made one and it is in my studio and I find it so relaxing to just stare through the viewfinder and watch the coloured glass tip and move and create endlessly changing patterns. Gosh I am not feeling articulate today- my words are also a bit fractured perhaps. I made a list in my journal of what the works are and maybe it’s easier just to give you the list!
Day Dreaming
Fractals
Play
Curiosity
Weather
Fog
Colour broken down
Shafts of sunlight
Mark making
Music scores
Quietness
Shells
Seed pods
Ceramics
Books
Longing
Nostalgia
So that’s what I am trying to conjure with the works. Maybe?!
Studio Bookshelf
I have been busting to knit today too and there is so much guilt I feel about being in my studio while I can hear my kids in the house playing, talking, fighting and so I definitely don’t dare to knit because it feels too indulgent. Aren’t we strange creatures that we carve boundaries for ourselves. I was listening to something somewhere recently (??) where they were saying more or less “we wouldn’t berate our children for wanting to have a moments rest, yet we don’t allow it for ourselves” and same goes for praise or acknowledgement of achievements. I am very hard on myself and I think you are too sometimes. But here I am celebrating our wins, the beautiful works you are making and that I am slowly making! The drawings in the journals and just in general showing up to the studio every day or as often as we are able.
I did well today, I got some jobs done that I have been putting off for ages, one being cataloguing a small collection of watercolours and oil pastel drawings for my gallery to sell. I have been meaning to get to it since May and now it is halfway through July. But I did it! I will pop a few in this letter for you to enjoy!
“Ode To Hilma with Hydrangea and Shells” 2024, watercolour and pencil on paper, 56 × 76cm
I got a beautiful book in the mail this week that I ordered myself for my birthday recently! It is a book of Artist’s Letters compiled by Michael Bird who wrote that lovely book on the St Ives artists that we love! I really look forward to reading it more and discussing with you soon!!
I am so excited for the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show this weekend and I can’t wait to see you there too! Going to be very restrained this year as I need nothing but always so lovely to see woolly friends, pat some sheep and just generally be immersed in all things textiles and wool!
Sending you lots of love and best wishes as you prepare for your next exhibition which is looking so wonderful I can already tell! I feel so privileged to follow along with another artist’s journey and have you as a friend.
Love Lizzie x
Studio Wall
Little E’s painting that she insisted had to be hung in my studio
Fresh Palette
“Hydrangea Head Like the Whole World” 2022, watercolour and pencil on paper, 38 × 56cm
Artist Letters, Leonardo Da Vinci to David Hockney, Michael Bird
Knitting in the Studio
“Seafoam” 2026, watercolour and pencil on paper, 56 × 76cm
Palette and Oil sticks