Dear Stacey, (29 Jan 26)
Photo by Jessica Tremp (my messy studio as captured by Jess for my group show in March at FLG)
Dear Stacey,
I just wrote a whole letter and then it didn’t save because I got distracted by family needs… trying to write this on the last day of the big kid’s school holidays! The little one is in care today and my brain is settling somewhat into a calm that I have not known these last 6-7 weeks over the summer break! I’m on my 3rd coffee and I’m happy as a clam!
I couldn’t write over summer after I fractured my ring finger on my dominant hand and suffering from tennis elbow on the same arm (not from playing tennis and never is apparently!). I have not been able to knit, write, type, garden, paint or draw. It is the longest time I have not done any of my creative pursuits and I am feeling it mentally. I was able to sew on the machine and applique a bit but in patches and reading… I read A LOT. So we will call this a research period… although somehow I was still able to do housework and mind kids because even when Mum is injured she is still needed all the time!!
It was a hard summer for the above reasons and also because the weather was HOT. Hottest on record on some days and one of the only “catastrophic” days I’ve ever experienced which evacuated us to Melbourne from our beach holiday week. I know you know all about it because you were in the neighboring town! And while we live in the bush in the Macedon Ranges, I felt relieved to come home to relative safety here. I just had to pretend that we were on a road trip during that week going up and back from the beach to Melbourne. B took our eldest to Sydney on the hottest day leaving at 3.30am to avoid the road closures and increased wind of that day. A had a sports competition up there which left me with the girls and the trickiness of juggling kids and things with one arm out of action!
I got into running over the holidays until it got too hot and now I am dreading getting out there again! I needed to do something to calm my racing mind. My neurotype requires my hands to be busy and if they are not I need to burn that cortisol somehow!
I am excited to get back into work this term now that the kids are going back to school and kinder. I have a solo show to start tightening my random, many faceted works into. It’s not until 2027 so I have plenty of time. In the meantime, I have a collaboration to resolve with a designer, some classes to plan and I want to start a Patreon. It is such a juggle being an artist isn’t it?! It’s never just a linear path. There are so many things to consider and especially when the art market is flat as it has been it is important to branch out.
I also want to concentrate on some more textile painted works this year. I took a few to get framed this morning at The Alchemist in Kyneton where Bonnie will work her magic floating the painting-weavings in a box frame. I can’t wait to see them.
Hoping 2026 is a productive and fruitful year. What is in store for you? What are you reading at the moment? I know you are preparing for a solo show too. How is it going?
Look forward to catching up soon!
Love Lizzie x
*The only 4 photos I took on my camera all summer! The book of poetry you gave me for Christmas is a highlight!