I just came back from 5 days at the New Norcia Benedictibe Monastry guesthouse retreat. To say it did me good is an understatement. Rather than go into the personal stuff I want to share some photographs I took while on my daily wonderings. I will probably use some of them within my paintings this year, as the place felt so familiar. So many of the textures and shapes made sense and felt very healing. So - they are going into a painting for sure.
I did not photograph this magpie who I befriended, however, I took a pretty good sketch as he wouldnt leave my table. This time of year New Norcia is rather hot, which means its quiet and peaceful, but I still found it a wonderful experience. Many of my favourite images are of old farming equipment, as I love the shapes and colours of the tools we used before everything got manufactured to fall apart after a month. One could say the same thing for the traditional quiet rythms of the Benedictine monks.