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Newsletter #15
Newsletter # 15
3.01.2026
Greetings friends, family, supporters, and patrons! Happy New Year!
Most of us are making resolutions for the future and reflecting on the year that was. It’s been a good year. I’m grateful. In recent months I have been tempted to dwell on the things I haven’t achieved or feel glum about good and bad habits not yet fully resolved. The “problem” is that I have been very busy with art installation, transportation, picture and mirror hanging. Which is a very good problem! I remind myself this is the fulfilment of hopes and plans to develop a business that supports my family and allows me to be self-employed and master of my own destiny. But the last 6 months have left me very little time for reading, writing, and artmaking. And so it is. Never perfect, but I’m grateful for progress and development in some directions, while making time for family, health, and sabbath rest. This year I have made sure that Sunday is a day without any work, including those never-ending jobs around the house. A day of physical and mental recharge that often includes a glorious afternoon nap. All of this busyness has meant delays in the production of…
My famous Hot sauce is now available! (Purchase here) The same 6 flavours will be available with very limited supply. I sell out every year so be sure to get your order in! The Chilli hut I built has meant a much greater yield of superhot chillies so I was able to brew 3 times as much Scorpion Sting.
Art Installation
I have heard a lot about businesses struggling in 2025, so I have been perplexed but grateful for the amount of work I have had this year. I now have 17 five star Google ratings and some lovely comments in the reviews. It started slow but got so busy by December that I was desperately looking forward to the Christmas break. I can see this being the backbone of my business endeavours, but I have plans for other business ventures which I will tell you about in a future newsletter.
Art Making
Although the song “Never Enough” from the Greatest Showman keeps playing in my head, I did make some art in 2024 - 25. I’m happy about that. Artmaking is a big deal for me. I love it, but I avoid it. Steven Pressfield talks about this idea, he calls it “Resistance”. It’s a confusing jumble of identity and expectation, high standards, important spiritual ideas and hard work. These things do battle with general tiredness, digital distractions, life balance, and the duties and obligations of having kids and a mortgage.
Survey. 2024, oil on board, 300 x 300mm. $400
This is actually a study for a work I’ve been making for 5 years… On its own, it shows an aerial view, a map view, a colonial view of Tauranga Moana with a grid structure carving up the land in much the same way settlers carved up sections and parcels for colonisation.
Pentagonal Meditation. 2024. Oil on paper on board. 272 x 258mm (image) 452 x 429 (incl frame) $400
More of an exercise or experiment than anything deeply meaningful. I started with a tessellating pentagonal pattern and then laid a five petal flower over the top. Nice.
Wairoa. 2025, oil on board, 350 x 600mm. $900
This painting is currently on display at 5th Avenue Family Practice along with some other spectacular local art. This work was an option for a commission painting I’m working on. I kayaked out the Wairoa river mouth into Tauranga Harbour and took a heap of photos. It has a weird geometric structure loosely based on illuminated manuscript page designs.
Exhibitions
I was lucky enough to be included in an impromptu exhibition hosted by Paul Darragh in an empty retail space in November. There was an impressive line-up of local artists with a mix of old and new work. It was a great looking show and great to connect with art buddies from around here. Here’s a link to the exhibition images. I also have “Wairoa” on display at 5th Ave Family Practice, a revolving exhibition of local artists curated by the very talented Liz Cooper.
Advent and Christmas Devotional
Joseph McAuley is the pastor of the church I attend and he has published a book! He is well known for his reflections on traditions of the Christian Liturgical Calendar and the highlight of the year is Advent, which although it is the end of our calendar year, it is the start of the Liturgical calendar. Advent is about joyful expectation, waiting for the birth of a new hope, a time of peace, love and generosity. Christmas Eve service at St Lukes Church Tauranga is always a treat. The lights are dimmed, carols are sung and the pews are full. Then Joseph tells a Christmas story. These are based on characters from the original Christmas story, but with a creative expansion to imagine some of the unwritten details. This book contains those stories plus devotional readings for all the days of Advent and Christmastide. It is an excellent book and one that I was proud to be involved with. I designed the star motif and the border design on the back cover. Purchase here for next years Advent.
On a personal note…
It’s been 17months since my last newsletter. I haven’t felt comfortable writing much about anything, let alone sharing it with the world. I had a season of retreat that wasn’t always positive. It was a season of being silent and invisible to the world. Some of that was grief, some of it was a rebellion against the vain, hideous beast that social media has developed into. Some of it was a lack of self-worth, wanting to fade away into insignificance. Some of it was a fascination with monastic anonymity, the idea of slowly serving, crafting, and praying without any fame or glory. Many famous orthodox icons are not signed and the artist is unknown. Fame and recognition wasn’t important.
The last half of 2024 was dominated by slowly watching my mum wither and die. Knowing the grief that was coming with the potential for despair and darkness, I avoided introspection, deep thought and meditation. The death of my Father in 2021 plunged me into a period of depression and self-loathing that ultimately resulted in some good resolutions and a greater compassion for people who are struggling. So, afraid of what I might find in darkness and silence, I avoided it. Sometimes with digital drugs of mindless, brain rotting entertainment media (which used to be “social” media), but I also re-read the Lord of the Rings as a way of occupying my mind with the most glorious story ever written. It was a beautiful healing balm and got me through a dark passage.
When I get to re-writing my goals I will remember to be kind to myself and imagine what my father might say about what I have achieved and where I might be heading. It’s never perfect, and the to-do list is always pressing, but we must reflect on all the blessings and abundance that surround us, the wonderful family and friends that support us, as well as all the small pleasures and basic accomplishments. Keep looking up.
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