Brook Book

My 2024 project is a tribute to Kedron Brook which has been my enduring connection to nature since moving to the Grange in 1992.

BrookBook will be a collection of writing, nature art, sketches, photography and community collaboration.

For more than 30 years I have been wondering up and down along the banks of Kedron Brook and the surrounding suburbs.

In that time I have seen the Grange Forest Park flourish, watched in awe when the Brook flooded and felt unsettled when the waterline diminished during drought.

So many poignant memories of adventures with my daughters - picnics, exploring the forest and waterways, catching gudgeons, and spying on nature.

Hours and hours of walking alone and with friends as a young uncertain woman wrestling with the societal expectations of the roles of mother and wife to now as a more confident older woman.

Kedron Brook has been a refuge, a teacher and a place of solace. It was a constant source of inspiration in my six years of attending the Brisbane Institute of Art . This inspiration led to the ideation of Mindsettle which was launched when I turned 50.

2024 may be the last year that I live in close proximity to the Brook so this Brook Book will be a reflection on the way it has enabled my connection to creative flow, calm, and my mental and physical fitness.

You can follow this work/play in progress on Instagram @BrookB00K

Thank You,

Lisa

Turtle Swamp

So happy to make it to the August Mudlines gathering on Canaipa, Russell Island. Travel on the ferry passed swiftly with Jo and I discussing strategies for the future of Lines in the Sand - reiterating the necessity of the slow and steady pace. On Canaipa we explored the Binging Trail which has stands of Banksia, Paperbark, Eucalyptus and a large stand of Casuarina. The idea behind the gatherings is to wander in nature and then use the wonders of nature to create.

Sharon talked about how much easier it was for her to be immediately inspired to make Nature Art than it is to contemplate new work in the studio. Watching her you can see it's true, Sharon found a gully full of potential - converting a discarded lawn mower into a shaggy sculpture with the addition of pine leaves, then creating a spiral on the forest floor by lumping the pines leaves and back-filling with gorgeous yellow ochre soil.

The rest of us painted, photographed and worked some sticks into sculptural forms hugging the landscape. I found a quiet place to study the casuarina forest floor strewn with needles, up to ten centimetres deep. The dashing of lines on the page settled into a meditative rhythm as I added layers of colour.

On the way back to the ferry we went to the Island Made exhibition. Trisha Dobson and Maria Cleary have put together this exhibition of exceptional things for ordinary use. Each artist is celebrated with a display of their work, handsomely highlighted with black and white portraits by Jo-Anne Driessens.

Mudlines helps us to articulate the offer of Nature Art Connect into an intimate, site specific discovery of nature art and the Southern Moreton Bay Islands.

littoral

Sharon invited me over to her island on Thursday. Instead of making our usual Lines in the Sand on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island), she encouraged us to explore Mudlines in the Mangroves of Russell Island. Also known by the Aboriginal name of Canaipa (rhymes with sniper, which is apt as it means land of the pointed spear), it is a fifteen minute sojourn on a cat from the mainland. Six of us have shirked our usual routine to find artful meaning in the littoral.

When we get to the site and wander down to the shoreline I can see across the Canaipa Passage to the western shore of Minjerribah. I have never seen this side of the island, a line of trees descends into small sandstone cliffs that descend into the sea. The mangroves are alive with bird-call - small honey eaters dart through the branches while ibises honk in the sky. We wander round stumbling as we get used to the suck of the mud as we walk. Abandoned boats are being reclaimed by nature, exposing old copper nails greened by the elements.

I settle away from the group under the spreading boughs of a mangrove, it's soothing looking up into the branches. I settle to sketch the scene, tucked into the curving trunk. When returning to base-camp I find Sharon experimenting with the idea of scale. Using the grassy marshland as a canvas, she is arranging fallen branches which to my eye looks to be a dragon rising from the ground.

Island time ends I'm dropped back to the jetty to catch my boat back to my usual regime. This seven hour adventure has given me the fabulous illusion of a much longer break. The winter sunshine, the listening to juicy art-talk, the travelling across the bay and the sanctuary of the natural environment have nourished my being. Days later, idly scratching at my midge bites I'm remind that I'm itching to get back out into nature - littoral or literal.

littoral |ˈlɪt(ə)r(ə)l|
adjective
relating to or situated on the shore of the sea or a lake: the littoral states of the Indian Ocean.
• Ecology relating to or denoting the zone of the seashore between high- and low-water marks, or the zone near a lake shore with rooted vegetation: limpets and other littoral molluscs.
noun
a region lying along a shore: irrigated regions of the Mediterranean littoral.
• Ecology the littoral zone.