JUNE

I find myself one month into a three month residential studio stint here at the excellent Gunnery Studio complex in Woolloomooloo Sydney. A dozen large paintings were begun last summer in the Antarctic studio at Davis station and here I hope to complete them surrounded by this vibrant city rather than a rocky outcrop and a massive icecap. All goes well in the studio but I unfortunately have not managed to use much of Sydney which is a fine city. It is winter here which means it is sunny and not very cold at all! Most of June was +20 C with beautiful dry days.

I prepare for exhibitions in Brisbane (September) and Melbourne (November) as well as a small group show on a Russian icebreaker somewhere in the icy Southern Ocean at the end of the year. It looks like I shall be located on the east coast of Australia for 2003 which I cannot complain about at all.

Each evening at dusk I watch thousands of fruit bats fly over the nearby park simultaneously I hear a few emergency sirens rushing to the aid of someone in need. It's a busy excitable city of over four million people so someone is often in trouble...to balance this thought, you can always find someone else gushing joy and celebrating life occasionally with a lychee, vodka and basil cocktail in their hands.