Brr… sooooo cold! I can’t stop drinking tea because I need it to keep warm. I haven’t been able to go to the store to get a heater or extra sweaters because I don’t have a car here and I hate asking for rides. It’s cold here in Australia right now, and they don’t have indoor heating. I’ve been told that it’s as cold as it gets here right now and I haven’t seen ice crystals anywhere so I guess it’s not cold like back home, but a heater would be nice.

Besides being cold, I’ve been having a pretty good time. I’m finally able to work in the studio and the space they gave me is huge! I have two big sets of shelves and a cupboard with lock latches on it to keep things in. I am adapting to using an electric wheel– something I’ve dreaded for a while now. I did ask if they had any kick wheels available. It’s an old school electric wheel, though, so I feel like it’s easier to control than the ones in the studio back home. I’m exploring my sculptural side a bit this semester. I want to sculpt a few orchids and right now I’m working on this gigantic (for me) tree stump project as part of an assignment. The plan is to use it as a hollow space and build little shelves inside to hide cups in. The idea is supposed to go along with archaeology, and I’m also continuing the orchid theme– part of our assignment is supposed to be bronze-cast, but we will be given a limited amount of bronze to work with and anything I design is supposed to be 4mm or thicker. I want to make bronze orchid leaves or fern fronds to arrange on the trunk somehow. I started the trunk yesterday, but it’s impossible to make much progress because it isn’t drying out enough to have structural support so I can keep adding coils. I’ve never been great at coil building, but it seems like the most logical approach.

I’m taking print making here this semester! I’m pretty excited, obviously. I think it will be cool to take the class here because it’s a small class so I might be able to learn more. Also, availability was an issue for getting into the class back home. We are starting by doing Lino block prints… so get ready to start seeing my drawings transformed into prints!

I took this photo at the beach last week. It’s beautiful and green, but the nights get cold. This is what they consider to be winter here… 😀