This morning i watched a huge ginger tabby cat prowl through the jungle beneath my bedroom window. A strange sight in a land of dogs, watch out birds! I had a rare moment of peace as Sailor and Kade were gone to school and work respectively and Iggy was sleeping in peacefully.  I had a gorgeous half hour of morning-time on my own ... lucky me. This so never happens that I relish the times it does. And Sailor went in for one of his mammoth sleeps last night which is a product of too many nights refusing to go to sleep and early mornings at school, eventually it all catches up with him and he passes out at 530 and sleeps through to morning. The peace that brings in the evening is also a wonderful thing

Gulumbu's first proof ... more stars been added ... ain't it pretty tho

Work has been super busy all week, there are so many things going on in the printspace, Dhapanbal and Bulmirri won a poster art prize for the Centenary of NT Women and got flown to Darwin last night and put up in a fancy hotel with Gulumbu their aunty, LUCKY, and there is a show in may for some youth portraits done last year so I have been busy collecting the selected work to send and trying to find funding to send some of the youth for the opening. Also brewing in the pipeworks was the possibility of appearing at the Melbourne Art Fair doing demonstrations on printing (!!!) We have roped in the renowned Basil Hall to accompany us so it is now confirmed that in May the print space ladies and me are off to Melbourne YIPEE.  Further in the year we have a print conference that we are going to speak at ( i say WE but really i don't mean ME, i mean other more knowledgable staff!) There is a great lady called Denise Salvotas who is conducting her PhD on the Yirrkala PrintSpace and so she is going to talk along with Aruleun (one of the knowledgable staff).  Thats in melbourne too! We also got approved a grant to host another youth workshop, a show for printers under thirty and another show in Dawin in August... and the offers keep on coming.  Not to mention three new linocuts waiting to be printed as we wait on ink from down south - some exciting stuff. I sure do got my work cut out for me ...

Nyapanyapa's latest linocut..proof

Barrupu's latest linocut..proof

Dhapanbal's latest linocut ... proof

more proofing -Dhapnabal, Bulmirri, Ruby and Barrata's work 

Finally the sun is shining here today after one week of rain - i have been doing some more unpacking and discovering a variety of mouldy clothes and shoes. yeesh... however the house is looking good, I have had to curb Kade's Nhulunbuy Notice Board habit after been sent to town to look at yet another hideous dining table. I am unsure at this point whether to just accept that all the furniture for sale is going to be hideous or keep on holding out for the chance a killer piece turns up...?  hmmm

Other news- Kade is off to Sydney on March 15th for an exhibition opening at Annandale Galleries, he is going with Big Boss Man Djambawa Marawili so the pressure is on! He has been worrying about his outfit but did get a great man-bag satchel off ebay yesterday so at least he'll be accessorised well... any sydney folk - go along!

Jane, Rosie and I bravely went to yoga on wednesday night where we did warrior pose and standing dog pose. ha!  Felt great tho.

iggy and me on the walk back from daycare - he is settled in there pretty well

and

 courtyard at the arts centre -where the ladies sit and paint or make lino

where iggy splashes in the rock pool

 sailor in the printspace 

(he comes there everyday after school and complains about how hungry he is)

iggy in the printspace

 ranydjupi's quail linocut - another proof ... sweet-ness

(there seems to be alot of purple going on - rest assured, that is NOT the case, just the colour on hand for testing!!)

So tomorrow is the weekend, we have plans to go to oyster bay with watjumi and the afro sisters on sunday if the weather is good and a BBQ at will's on saturday night. Today i am off to complain about my stupid liquor licence, I am certain there has been some mistake!