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

See Change School Holiday Lantern workshop

Brad and Steve at the Men’s Shed helped me organise and run a lantern making and decorating workshop to encourage children to attend the See of Light lantern parade on for See Change 2016. Ladies from the Holiday care program worked with me to engage children in three activities: Organic cane lantern in a moon like shape, painting a readymade lantern with fabric paint, and bamboo box lanterns. It was a lively time with 23 primary school children of all ages involved in all types of problem solving and expressive activities like stripping bamboo poles, and cutting and joining materials with masking tape into 3D shapes. Covering shapes with baking paper was particularly daunting at times, while the fabric painting was pure painterly joy for all the kids, especially those who had first go at the paint tubes! The adult operated glue guns for a few tricky bits proved to be absorbing for the high energy roamers eager to experience new things. PHEW! Can’t wait for the next one in which children are painting 8″x8″ entries for the ‘Spaces, Places and Faces’ See Change competition. We may also have time to design some See Change festival posters for another competition.

Shroud Site visit, Studio work and Eliza’s Mural Project

Yewande and I walked to the shroud site yesterday and saw the stingray very dried and the kangaroo losing fur now and internal liquids. In the studio I have been stitching canvas soaked in eucalyptus and wattle leaves to the back of the woodducks shroud to fill the holes in the body stain. I have also been working in ochre on ‘Nebachudanezar making a Cloud (after Boyd)’. Today I began working on the Woollamia Rosella shroud using oils and find the fumes a shock after using ochres. Yesterday I also began a mural project with local school student Eliza. The design and painting method were all her idea and its looking good!