STK and JBT hit Winnipeg in a flurry of goodness!

I know I can win you all over with the following statement: I love Canadians!

But seriously, I do! I'm so proud to announce that Chelsea rocked it with John Butler Trio in Winnipeg, raising an outstanding $1110 for Save the Kimberley!

Thank you to the Trio and Chelsea for braving the snow and sharing a beautiful night of music, respect and power with crowd there in Winnipeg.

Next stop for STK guitar project Calgary! Let there be a stampede for the raffle tickets! Big ups Canada! You're all deadly as eh!

O Canada! Deadly as Eh!

We've sent out a call to arms for our fellow eco-warriors over in Canada! We're taking the Save the Kimberley guitar project on the road as we follow John Butler Trio on their Canadian leg of their world tour. With the support of John Butler Trio, crew and management, the Save the Kimberley message will be shared with Canadian audiences.

So it is here where I am most delighted to introduce you to one of our Canadian representatives: Chelsea French.

Chelsea has been putting her talents and creativity to good use painting guitars to be raffled at the Winnipeg show (November 24)/ She has teamed up with Mark Johnston, and together they have produced these beautiful guitars! It just blows my mind the amazing work they have done! It's such a blessing to know there are people in all corners of the world willing to put in the work, spread the word, and stand up for what is right!

"when one love's the movement, we're all included"

Big ups to you Canada! Look, Listen, Choose, Act!

Explorer you tell yourself this is not what you came for

This land like a mirror turns you inward

And you become a forest in a furtive lake;

The dark pines of your mind reach downward,

You dream in the green of your time,

Your memory is a row of sinking pines.

Explorer, you tell yourself this is not what you came for

Although it is good here, and green;

You had meant to move with a kind of largeness,

You had planned a heavy grace, an anguished dream.

But the dark pines of your mind dip deeper

And you are sinking, sinking, sleeper

In an elementary world;

There is something down there and you want it told.

— Gwendolyn MacEwen "Dark Pines Under Water," The Shadow Maker (1972)

From chaos in our lives comes another order - a para-order

"From chaos in our lives comes another order - a para-order

this is actually more real than the order we feel guilty about giving up

- the one we feel we should conform to -

because it is informed by chaos" Joel Faflak

Save the Kimberley Guitar Project (update)

As promised, here are some images of John Butler Trio and Blue King Brown with the guitars painted for the Save the Kimberley cause. In total we have raised $2300 for the cause and had thousands of petitions signed urging our government to heed and respect the wishes of the custodians of the Kimberley Country and to respect the culture and the land. For more information and to support the cause please visit www.savethekimberley.com

A big thank you again to Macron Music for their generous donation of the guitars for this project. Thank you to John Butler Trio, Blue King Brown and their crew and management for their continued support. Thank you to the Save the Kimberley crew and mob for their persistent passion and drive. And an amazingly huge thank you to my wonderful team: Julie Lowe, Jason Weeks, Anita Tassone, Vanessa Young, Wazza Jones and Jennifer Rose. What a deadly as team eh!

We are excited to announce the next stop for the Save the Kimberley guitar project is the Canadian leg of the JBT tour. Following this; Festival of the Sun (Port Macquarie), Peats Ridge Music Festival (Central Coast - supporting The Thin Green Line) and drumroll please..... Big Day Out 2011!

amorphisms and aphorisms

These are some works from late last year. I call them amorphisms because they can take any shape, or direction, and their form is arbitrary. I love working with the ink and the line, and sometimes the lines become a combination of these amorphisms, figures, and text. The text is usually appropriated from music or literature, and stands as a sort or aphorism, capturing a moment or thought or desire.

Summer is coming

Well, with summer on the way, the music festival season has kicked off.

It was good to get away this weekend with Jules and chill out at Stonefest in Canberra. Jules and I are just warming up for the season and the Circle of One Guitar Project is about to launch. We have confirmed the projects involvement at Festival of the Sun in Port Macquarie and the Peats Ridge Music Festival on the Central Coast. Our plans continue to evolve with the support of Save the Kimberley and artists including John Butler Trio, Blue King Brown, Mama Kin, Xavier Rudd and Dallas Frasca.

I will post some of the guitar designs as they all come together. This is just a quick one to say "summer is coming, it's time to smile" :)