Agnes and Ecstasy

April 2008

Like all places in Queensland this year, Agnes Water 1770 didn't have a Summer. And now we have slid right into Autumn with clear blue skies, temperatures steady between 27 and 30C but of course Those Winds haven't totally gone yet. But hey, you wouldn't want to live anywhere else! Who needs infrastructure when you can have a posse of gentle wallabies mowing the lawn for you.

Tourist season here caused hardly a stir due to the weather but excitement is building as we draw closer to The Big Annual Event for our village aka 1770 Festival, 23rd, 24th & 25th May. Most little places similar to ours have to 'invent' a central theme such as Big Banana, Line Dancing Capital, Pet Rock Birth Place but we received ours per the good offices of Lieutenant James Cook in the year of our Lord 1770. His stockinged feet graced our shores and gave birth (arguably the longest gestation period on record?) to the 1770 Festival.

I am particularly excited because I found out that the Festival Art Exhibition this year is being organised and directed totally professionally, unlike my last report on the matter, and this year has attracted entries from far and wide across the State and even interstate. Plus there are very respectable prizes! Of course, the small minded person that hides deep in my heart feels that regional art exhibitions should only be open to regional artists in order to foster regional art. But the big hearted Me smacks those myopic thoughts down.

So for many months I have been busy creating pieces to enter into the 1770 Art Festival and it is such a joy to have brush in hand again after decades of absence. In 1984 I returned home from Europe after a classical masters study tour with my sister and barely squeezed a tube of oil due to a series of work, study and family commitments. But oh boy! once the Muse over took me there has been no stopping. Housework? What's that. Thankfully my darling Tom is the best critic and greatest encourager a painter could have .

Please visit the on-line Gallery when you have time; I am hoping as time progresses to showcase the work of other fine local artists as there is quite a coterie of talent lurking among the sand dunes and in the forest here.