Newsletter
20th September, 2025
From the Studio…
Greetings and welcome to the September edition of In the Studio, where I explore an artwork, report on some seasonal noticing and share some musings. Please feel free to share the link with anyone who you think might enjoy it.
And on to the news…
Five senses (with thanks to Martha)
Artwork in Focus
This month’s artwork in focus comes from an idea I had after using some journaling prompts from Martha Beck, sociologist, life-coach, author and host of the podcast The Gathering Room. In one particular exercise, Beck asks you to focus on each of the senses (Think of 3 things you like to see, 3 sounds you like to hear, 3 things you like to feel with your body, 3 things you like to taste, 3 things you like to smell). You then combine your responses into a scene to create your very own, personalized visualisation. I used my answers and made this grid painting - a collection of miniatures organized by each sense category. I do love a grid painting and how this structure can be used to organize and highlight a number of disparate elements, allowing the viewer to consider each element separately and as part of the whole. Now I just need to put it in a frame and hang it somewhere so I can use it to centre myself and slow down.
If you like grid paintings you may be interested in the Flower Grid artwork I painted when taking part in the October Florafest Instagram challenge. It is available in different sizes as a Limited Edition giclee print.
I have also created some special artworks as commissions using the grid format.
Season Noticing - Azaleas
So much to notice this month when Spring has sprung in Sydney.
This season I am noticing AZALEAS! I love watching each plant have their moment to shine and the azaleas are really enjoying the limelight right now.
At my childhood home, our driveway was edged with azaleas. For a good part of the year they were a pleasant if non-descript green bush, but in early spring they would be a vision of magenta blooms, stopping passer-bys in their tracks.
My current apartment block also features azaleas dotted around the communal garden and even, you guessed it, along the shared driveway. (Were these driveway bushes planted at a similar time? Was it the fashion? Who knows…) This long, narrow garden bed is currently a vivid wall of colour - that same childhood magenta as well as coral, white, mauve and baby pink.
I also remember, in the suburb where I grew up, a stretch of busy road tightly planted with azalea bushes. At this time of the year it was almost a pleasure to be caught in a traffic jam to have the excuse to pause and admire the flowers. Azaleas link my childhood home to my new home and provide a way of marking the season when the natural world is starting to explode again as the heat rises.
It gives me joy to see people taking time to stop and enjoy nature’s seasonal displays. Recently I was strolling in Sydney’s Royal Botanical Gardens with a friend. Countless visitors were crouching low, peering into the centres of cherry blossoms, or sniffing the scent of the wisteria, or exclaiming over the different types of irises. It is comforting to see that nature and the seasons can still hold such delight.
Until next time, I hope you are taking some time to enjoy the season in your part of the world.
xx Ella