melissabanks_maker | Public figure
melissabanks_maker
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25.01.2022 To be honest, this feels very ‘sorry I’m so late to the party' but Happy New Year!... Just 3 little words but I mean them with all my being. I truly wish you joy, adventure and growth in this 2021 season. 2020 was a lot of things. [inset your list of both personal and more globally shared experiences here]. Yet, standing here in 2021, with the glory that is hindsight, was it also not an opportunity to slow, evaluate and reprioritise? 2020 uncovered some golden gems for me: I like slow mornings with my boys without the pressure of the morning rush. Home is a beautiful fulfilling space that, with support, can be the balm I need it to be. My creativity is absolute; when neglected, disregarded, or pacified with non life-value-giving making my creativity is still ready and waiting to serve me when I call upon her in honesty. I can do hard things, delegate when I need to & make good, honest, resonate work. All of these are pieces of 2020 that I will carry with me into 2021. No way can I write off the whole 2020 year to ‘junk’. My studio called all throughout the festive season and whilst I'm only just stepping back into my creative space now I have a buzz that I'm excited to dig into. Including scheduled time for exploration play. SO important! The first half of January has been about big picture planning and now it's time to return to the brushes . So, how have you warmed up your creativity/ life-value-giving practices this year? Big love to you, MBx
24.01.2022 I can totally quote myself... yes? In this wide and rich place that is Instagram, I've started doing 'Noon on Tuesday' live studio chats. Perhaps an un-algorithm friendly time to go live, but I'm not here for IG. I'm here for you and me .... & if Noon on Tuesday is good enough for Sheryl Crow it's good enough (well, quite perfect TBH) for me. In my chats last week, this not-new-to-the-world gem popped out and really resonated with me. Staying in the familiar and safety of our comfort zones doesn't give growth an opportunity. Growth thrives just over the horizon, in the space of the unknown. Are you growing this year? See you there! Going live at Noon again today (just over my comfort zone horizon) Currently brewing up some more gems about creating space for daily mindful moments. Big love to you, MBx
23.01.2022 I like to bask in the end of a process. Soak in the good work. I miss the gold that the aftershock brings if I move on too quickly. I take a moment to welcome pride for smashing through initial blank canvas hesitation. ... I high five myself for wading through the murky middle, trusting the process and knowing the other side was coming. I unpack the moments of the process-that-was that were not so successful and store away the moments that were so they can be tested and strengthened next time. In there beginning there is you, your mind, your hands, the page. At the end there is you, your mind, your hands, the page & in the middle was ALL the good stuff, tangible and intangible, that art-making process is made of. Don't forget to collect your gold before you move on. Just sayin' Big Love, MBx Visit this trio in the flesh @frankstonmade or on my website, link in my bio xox Hello Noon A Hinterland Breath Golden Hour
21.01.2022 At the the time it didn't seem like there was anything particularly special about the evening that inspired this painting. "Follow me, Finding Sea." I don't like to say too much about the places that inspire my work because ... I hope they're universal shores that you may have walked before....... But this one WAS inspired by the feeling that lingered after a true life evening. Westernport Bay. Winter. A still evening. Moving into dusk. Watching the light of the setting sun cast a pink, then purple, then grey haze over the landscape. The sun lashing the clouds one last time in golden magenta before dark. A kiss with a new day promise. On the marshy beaches that Westernport Bay boasts rugged up with our boys, Alex, my dad and me watching a boat navigate it's way through Westernport Bay waters. It was June. I know this even without checking the meta data on the photos I took because we were there without mum. She was still in hospital after a car accident at the end of May and we were there soaking in the stillness, the calm, leaning into the carefree joy of two little folk just thrilled to be at the beach. Grateful, so grateful The colours and feelings I felt are still with me. Gratitude for the beauty in the day that was and the promise of the new day brewing. So.... yes there wasn't anything particularly eventful about this June 2020 evening.... Just a moment in time when the ordinary became extraordinary and rippled into my studio and my paintings. "Follow Me, Finding Sea." From the 'I've walked these shores before collection' Available on my website now. Link in bio. Much love, MBx
20.01.2022 I shared this piece, Ocean Back Beach Beauty, in my stories yesterday and a beautiful friend sent me a message to say that she loved the sky Thank you, Sally x And although I’m biased, I do agree ... For me, the sky here, in the dawning light, is still willing itself to sleep. To bask in that moment between asleep and consciousness. When possbilities are limitless. And I don’t blame her! This is the time that ‘pings’ come to me too. Early morning ideas, projects, new ways to do ordinary things. But there is no stopping time. The sun breaking the horizon has other ideas and lights the clouds in ALL the colours, despite the sky’s protests. Still, calm, quiet, warm, fresh. Blue, pink, white, green, grey. Salty, brackish, sand, rough, rock, smooth. Overcast, windy, cold, loud. Ours, mine, peace, grounded, magic. Home. I’ve walked these shores before. Ocean Back Beach Beauty
12.01.2022 A celebration of working from home in a new creative venture with my beautiful boys as my studio hands in a year that we didn't expect. And I loved it!! (The work I created, the time with my boys, and this community. Not the 2020 cray cray..)... Thank you for being here, supporting me and bringing my artwork into your homes Big big love to you. MBx
11.01.2022 Say hello to my festive season earworm "Chestnuts roasting... on the barbecue, my wicked sunburn,... white beach sand, the car seatbelt buckle, the footpath, the bitumen road between the present moment and cookies and cream icecream in a waffle cone, my tin roof, the vinal seats of my primary school mascot bus, Bessie..." So, so many options for chestnut roasting here in our sunny Southern Hemisphere summer Christmas. Please just let there be NO Open Fires this season. And.... everybody touch wood with me . Anything to add to the 'hot enough to roast' list?? Big love to you. MBx
11.01.2022 You know Dasher & Dancer & Prancer & Vixen, Comet & Cupid & Donna & .... Gertie.. Christmas carols, songs & themed light reading literature are on high rotation here . And I love it! ... ...Even if my favourites aren't always on the priority list of the little folk I live with. (White Christmas, Chestnuts Roasting, Last Christmas, Grown up Christams List, The Vika and Linda rendition of Silent Night from the '95 Myers Carol album, Happy Christmas (war is over), Do they know its Christmas, & all the orchestral traditional carols that take me straight back to my choir days in the late 90's early 00's) We are absolutely a household of making up new lyrics to songs (even if we do know what the real lyrics are... but even better when only the tune is familiar!) And now Theo, who's almost 2, is also in on the act. Though he's only interested in changing the words to Nana, Poppa, Gg or Bb.... and Ba Ba Black sheep is his earworm . But it's oh so cute! . Any fave carols or Christmas books on high rotation at your place? Although it's been said, many times many ways, happy Sunday to you . MBx Gertie - Ahead of my 2021 release of limited edition prints from my Natives Mini Melon collection of 2019, I have 4 unframed vertical artist proofs in my studio available for local pick up in time for Christmas. 210 x 300mm unframed Calli. 300 x 420mm unframed Calli. 300 x 420mm unframed Gertie (above). 420 x 590 unframed Bert. Please DM me for deatils x
10.01.2022 I had a chat with Ash & CJ from the 'What is Family' podcast recently Ash & CJ have launched their 'What is Family' podcast asking mumma's this question: How do you find your 'me time' as a busy mum to not only survive but thrive? My very first podcast interview and such a buzz! ... One of those chats that felt on point and in flow. Just a quickie too, so perfect for you to pop in your ears when you have 17 minutes. I'm not at all afraid to say it was a beautifully proud moment for me Check out the podcast link in my bio & tune into my take on this seemingly simple question. A question with a ripple effect greater than one person. I know Ash and CJ @thelilmoments_ will love and appreciate all the follow/subscribe love you send their way too Would you have answered this questions differently? With ALL the things YOU do, carry, your mental load and lists upon lists, how do YOU carve out and create your me time? Big love and calm time to you, MBx
10.01.2022 Soaking in Autumn bliss with my boys over the weekend Cooler sunshine and intensified colour. My favourite season for all the reasons xo
05.01.2022 A Hinterland Breath. A walk amongst trees upon dusk. A glimmer of gold. A seagull a little lost. A bay view glimpse from the shelter of a Gum canopy.... There are more ways than just sand between your toes to enjoy the beaches of our coastal home. Beach up close and personal? Or from a under Hinterland Gum canopy? 'A Hinter Land Breath' From the 'I've walked these shores before,' collection. Available on my website, or DM me for more information. 'I've walked these shores before,' A grateful appreciationforthe beautiful and many beaches of my coastal home and the lasting internal shifts that immersion in these places leave behind. Big love to you MBx
01.01.2022 Did you know I go live on Instagram each Tuesday at Noon? A chance for me to share with you what I'm working on and what's on my mind. The stars this week didn't quite allign though, so in lieu of my live at Noon on Tuesday studio chats, I'm opening my studio door and sharing (more than a) peak into my painting and thought process. ... Welcome xox let me indulge us both and share with you how I create the 'protolandscapes', the first stage and at the heart of my painting process. Just me, you, a sheet of glass, pigment, water, spontaneity, possibility... 2 energetic little folk, 2 minature dachshunds, a rainy day and just enough time to flow. A young star in its early stages of gathering mass is called a protostar. What do you think of my term protolandscape, a work in the process of gathering mass and layers and inspiration, to describe this stage of my process? (I love it!) Also, I'd love to know if you've virtually stopped in and witnessed my flow. Let me know in the comments. It's such a gift to have the tech and space to let you in behind the scenes. Big love MBx
