Cosmic Prawn – Spirit of the Tea Club Nowra 2026

Tori Higgins, Rosemary Cochrane and I painted a mural panel for the Tea Club in Nowra as a part of the Regnite Nowra CBD Art Walk funded by NSW Government’s Uptown Accelerator Program. We painted the initial coat together in the Vincentia Connections Community Hub during the second week of the April school holidays and had lots of visits from interested community members. We even had enquiries about future mural commissions! I completed the final coats in my studio yesterday. The Cosmic Prawn character featured as the spirit of the Tea Club is a Surrealistic portrait of a local percussionist Stan, known by locals as Cosmic. Cosmic is a colourful character who has been painted by other local artists (including Bob Dixon and Helen Nugent). Consultation with original creator of the Tea Club Ross Longfield revealed Cosmic as an enthusiastic regular performer at the Tea Club when it began. Cosmic has become a fatherly figure for me as a drumming mentor since the passing of my father who taught me to play drums. Cosmic wanted to be painted in a non-serious surrealistic way to reflect his personality. Rosemary painted tea plants that feature on the menu at the Tea Club, while Tori has painted the sky, mountain and ghost moths fluttering upwards.

Cosmic Prawn – Spirit of the Tea Club 2026 Exterior House Paint on Marine Ply 81 x 122 cm The Tea Club Nowra

Female Wet Specimen 2007 UNSW 2026

On Tuesday 21st I completed a digital collage of aquarelle drawings I had created when an artist invited other artists to the bowels of the UNSW where surgeons trained on human bodies donated to science. There was a strange humour in the department, no doubt to deal with the obvious horror of dealing with human body parts. It was expressed by a head that had been ‘carried’ around the department for a while referred to as the ‘basket case’ as two holes had been cut in either side of the skull to enable it to be carried like a basket. They began the drawing session by bringing out female body parts (one assumes from the same person) incrementally to draw starting with arms, then legs, then torso and head. I think the torso was the most confronting. My collage reflects the dismemberment and the scientific culture our bodies are subjected to. The work will be exhibited on from the 2nd – 12th July at Tiliqua Tiliqua 257 Enmore Rd, Enmore in a show called Paper, Rock, Scissors.

Human Wet Specimen 2007 UNSW 2026 Digital Collage 42 x 59.4 cm $499 unframed