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I am home from Australia and well into planning another trip next February. My New Zealand flax basket is now hung with the others and in time like them will turn a pale straw color. When I am with the basket makers of Australia I sit and quietly weave these pieces. It only takes two long flax leaves and a needle to strip them into course hair-like strands. Then cross several at right angles over several more near their centers. And with one folded strand begin the twining action that will hold them all in place. Flair and separate the bundles until there is only one to twine around each time. Add more if you want the basket bigger, Keep the open spacing as even as possible and enjoy the rhythm of the weave.

I am making watercolors from these beautiful colors of Australia. After this trip there will likely be close to two hundred recorded memories via color. These are near Bacchus Marsh in Victoria and when I use them later in my studio I will think of the basketmakers who shared this area with me.

I have noticed that in all the sketchbooks made for documenting my experiences and impressions of being here in Australia, almost every single one begins with a drawing of an Eucalyptus leaf.  To me it is the quintessential embodiment of the land down under. And they are so accessible. They are everywhere in all sizes and shapes. Those graceful lines that curve gently downward from such delicate stems that seem too thin to support them. Their colors range from the most dusty of grey greens to the palest of rose through all the shades of yellow ochres.

Some like these will have tiny dark spots ad some have perfect little round holes that pierce through the tough waxen leaf along either side of its center vein or on an edge looking like some small creature took a bite and said, “No, not this one.”

I would be happy doing nothing but spending my five weeks here just trying to capture their grace on the page. But there are students to meet and stories to hear and wine to drink. I will show you more drawings as I turn the pages and record the special things with pencil, brush and watercolors made from the land of here.