the Lookout and the Daydreamer

Daydreamer
detail
Jo-Ann Hunt

Two little tackers......one with her bucket and faraway look......






Daydreamer
detail
Jo-ann Hunt



Daydreamer
Jo-Ann Hunt©
'The Child Within - Summer' Series
H122x41cm
H48x16ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2010
sold

and one little nipper.....this time correct cap colours!

not that such a little guy would be a real Life-Saver....

but you've got to give me some artistic licence!

The Lookout
Jo-Ann Hunt©
'The Child Within-Summer' Series
h122x41cm
H48x16ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2011
sold

                                                              Jo   x



ps: Fairhaven SLSC have launched a program to rebuild their clubhouse.
.....their 'Save our Club' campaign needs $ $ $ to replace their clubhouse after recent storms badly eroded the dunes and the 1960's building.
.....help out if you can! ....that beach needs the SLSC!









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Xmas ham



christmas snow dome



ham

turkey breast and cranberry sauce

prawns and rice-noodle salad

whole baked snapper and sweet potatoes

green bean salad

baby-leaves garden salad

cream-baked potatoes

mango and pistacchio icecream

hot chocolate-croissant pudding

flamed Xmas plum pudding

brandy custard

miniature plum puddings

chocolate cupcakes

xmas mince tarts

Xmas food.....

.....way too much food!

and too much Xmas ham.......

even a dog can have too much ham.

but you can always find somewhere to keep it.

somewhere safe....deep and muddy.

buried Xmas ham..... the perfect snack for another day!

I hope your Christmas table was full and noisy,

and you kept your whiskers clean!

Merry Christmas 2011!

               
                                                                                           Jo  x

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Weekend Warriors

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Weekend Warriors
detail
Jo-Ann Hunt

It's just a tribe.

any tribe of kids.

it could be a family tribe......it could be the tribe of kids from the end of the street,

.......or the tribe from the caravan park.

Weekend Warriors
detail
Jo-Ann Hunt

.......perhaps it's the younger brothers and sisters of the Nippers at the local Surf Club.

Weekend Warriors
detail
Jo-Ann Hunt

.......or at the Yacht Club.

.......it's just a tribe.

                                          ......a Summer Tribe!

Weekend Warriors
Jo-Ann Hunt
'The Child Within - Summer' Series
H122x122cm
H48x48ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2011
 xxxx

                              Jo  x
















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Artist Statement... 'The Child Within' Series

 

'painting the essence of childhood'

I want to capture the essence of the ‘Wonder –Years’ …. those energetic, optimistic, invincible,  fearless years......

the gangly, awkward, all arms-and-elbows years.

I want these paintings to be of today’s children, but to stir memories of our own childhood… that lovely limbo-land between innocence and awakening to the realities of the world…a snapshot of childhood caught between innocence and independence.

This Series is painted with one foot in the present, and one in the past!

I believe art should enrich our lives, enhance our wellbeing, our homes, and our visual awareness.

In the past few years my work has moved away from traditional realism, to a more personal, stylized interpretative art.

People often tell me that my paintings “make them feel good”. I think that is because I can only paint that which makes me feel good, that which gives me pleasure......to be painting is to be in my 'happy place' 

And I think it is this shared response to a happy memory that connects.

I want people to enjoy living with my art.

I believe art should be felt, as well as viewed!

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a new 'Series' begins....

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work in progress
Jo-ann Hunt
The Child Within - Summer Series

These are the four 'Little Tackers' that started this 'Series' of paintings.

they almost painted themselves!

it was as if an unconscious force was guiding my hand as the paint leapt off the brush onto the canvas!

I think because I'd suspended the logical, over-thinking, analytical part of my brain, and was just painting 'for the heck of it', because I placed no expectation on myself that these paintings would 'work', or that they'd ever be seen by another soul outside my studio walls, I just relaxed and had fun with them.

they came out of my subconscious....no photos, no sketches, just four blank canvases and a wild woman slapping on paint!

I remember the day so clearly...

it was a wintery Sunday in late July, 2010,

all was quiet in the butcher shop below the studio, the weather was quite bleak but it was as if the sun was shining inside my little room,

and I could smell the scent of salt-water and the squark of seagulls was the only chatter in my head.

.....imagination is a wonderful thing.

.....and memories are priceless.

combined ..... this is the end result.

work in progress
Jo-Ann Hunt

the Starfish boy went through a few changes..... although in hindsight, I do like the hyacinth-blue flippers and star-fish and roughly painted sky.....too late!.....

I struggled with painting the starfish!

it either looked like a 'Northern Pacific Seastar' starfish....feral and a blight on our bay....not nice!

.... or a cow's udder! 

so I got rid of  it and this Little Tacker took on Seal Rescue!





Nature Boy
Jo-Ann Hunt
'The Child Within - Summer' Series
H122x41cm
H48x16ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2010
sold




little-miss-in-pink took 12 months to complete!

....got new togs....

and joined the nippers....

Time to Go
Jo-Ann Hunt
'The Child Within -Summer' Series
H122x41cm
H48x16ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2011
xxxx





works in progress
Jo-ann Hunt

Mr Grumpy, on the left, is still incomplete.

I don't want to complete him.

....he stands beside me in my studio to remind me to 'stay loose!'

....to remind me of the fast-flowing paint on that day...

he is my muse!

Between the Flags
detail
Jo-Ann Hunt

 the Little Nipper on the right, with his red and yellow cap.... not the four-panel cap of the SLSC...

 (see...no  sketches, no thinking, brain in neutral!)

he ended like this....

Between the Flags
Jo-Ann Hunt
'The Child Within -Summer' Series
H122x41cm
H48x16ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2010
sold

....it was a very productive day.

....and I had fun!

                                           Jo  x











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off up another rabbit hole!

Sometimes I feel like a rabbit racing up one hole, only to realize that I really want to go in a different direction.....
so I start tunnelling towards a new idea , only to find that once I'm halfway there, it's not quite right and I change direction again.


eventually, most times, I end up somewhere....
though not where I expected!


there's nothing like a surprize destination in life....
it's times like these I say "thankyou God, that I'm not stuck in any other job somewhere else!


there's a lot to be said for waking up, and never knowing whether you'll be happy with your day , or champing at the bit, ready to race
up another hole tomorrow!

Monday's Captain
detail
Jo-Ann Hunt

sometimes a new direction shows a lot of potential....

Monday's Captain
Jo-Ann Hunt
'The Child Within' Series
H122x41cm
H48x16ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2010
Sorrento SLSC cap colours
sold

what do you think?

                                                 Jo  x                                          

(copied from notes in my workbook...31-07-10)

                                                                                                                                                                  .

Miss January!



cover artwork by Jenny Riddle 'Hilltop'
Canterbury Art Exhibition
Calendar size H44x30cm
H17x12ins





Mates
Jo-Ann Hunt
calendar image size H20x20cm H8x8ins





I'm in print!

....as Miss January no less!

pity it's taken to this age to make it to page one!

....well page three actually.

....or maybe it's a good thing that it's taken this long to make it to page three!

anyway, the Canterbury Art Exhibition Calendar for 2012 is published, and I was delighted to find out I'd been selected to be in it.




Mates
Jo-Ann Hunt
'Small Works- Summer' Series
H30x30cm
H12x12ins
Acrylic on Canvas
2011
sold

 




you can read my comments on my painting 'Mates' here,

and my posts on the Canterbury Art Exhibition here and here.

Canterbury Art Exhibition Calendar 2012
back cover

today was a good day!

looking forward to January!


                                                           Jo x










                                                                                                                                                                   .

something new....



detail
Jo-Ann Hunt



A new series....

a new direction....

new ideas........lots and lots of new ideas!

here's a glimpse !



Between the Flags
detail
Jo-Ann Hunt



Goodbye tree

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So hot and humid today......
way too hot for my studio....
so I spent the day on the computer at home.
but at 5.30pm, watching a huge rainstorm heading our way on the weather radar on the net,
I stepped outside for a breather.
gale force winds swept in out of nowhere, snapping the 100year old tree in front of my house.....
crack..branches spinning like a propeller...split vertically through the trunk.

I was lucky I was not standing there.

I was lucky my car was parked in the driveway....
I thought the roof of my house was going to explode off!
I just stood paralysed as the tree cracked and fell.

....normally on hot days I park under under its shade.

and a couple of houses down,
another glorious tree snapped like a twig, barricading the road.

in the park, more damage.



the line of destruction...straight through to my house!


then as fast as it arrived, the sky lightened and the wind and turmoil was gone.

lots of excitement...
lots of state emergency workers with chainsaws and maniacal grins.

sad for my tree...it will have to be removed.
sad for me with nowhere shady to park! 

and sad for the possum that used it as a freeway link onto my roof, where he'd run thumping and jumping and galloping at 2am in the morning. heh,heh,heh! 


 there's always an upside!







                                     Jo  x










                                                                                                                                                                    .

Elevens

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                          today at 11:11.11.11.11

Remembrance Day marks the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice which ended the First World War (1914-1918)

Each year Australians observe one minute silence

at 11am on the 11th of November

in memory of those who died or suffered in all wars and armed conflicts.

The Shrine of Remembrance  and Eternal Flame 
Melbourne

A favourite memory from my schooldays is hearing the 'Last Post'

played over the loud speakers, as the whole school fell silent for 1 minute

at exactly 11am on the 11th of the 11th.

and knowing that at that exact, precise moment,  a single shaft of  light

was passing over a stone set into the floor of The Shrine in Melbourne ,

inscribed 'Greater Love Hath No Man',  with the beam of sunlight

illuminating the word 'love' at precisely 11am on the 11th of the 11th.

Every year, just once a year.

across the road from home, there is a park with a magnificent old pine tree

grown from a seed brought home by a soldier after the Battle of Lone Pine,

Gallipoli.

I'm always touched at the way humans refuse to lose the memory of the past,

and of humanities desire to honour the memory of those who are gone.

it's a beautiful, heroic, proud old tree.....

    ......it's a fitting tribute.

                                     It's a fine place to remember.....



                                                                    Jo x

11:11am  11-11-2011

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Vernazza floods

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One of the most special places on the planet is in trouble.


on October 25, 2011, many lives were lost when Vernazza and Monterosso and surrounding areas in the Cinque Terra were severely damaged by mudslide and flooding. 



from this....

to this........

you can find more information over here

and here.

....absolutely heartbreaking.....do what you can.




                                                     Jo   x





                                                                                                                                                            



                                                                                                                                                                 .





                                                                          

Vale Steve Jobs

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Steve Jobs

born 24 February 1955 died 05 October  2011

You've got to find what you love.

And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers....

the only way to do great work is to love what you do...

Keep looking.

Don't settle.



Jo-Ann Hunt






untitled
Jo-Ann Hunt
H 12.5x18cm
H 5x7ins
Oil on Canvas Panel
2011
xxxx







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