Monday, September 12, 2011

First Prize ....and there's more...

Hooray... the 'art account' is looking much healthier these days.  Just won a $200 1st Prize for Drawing in the Noosa Show.

"Rainforest"... charcoal
.....AND.. have done a replacement painting for my 'A Carpet Of Purple' which was sold at the COMA exhibition at the Maleny Library.  That exhibition has moved on to the UpFront Club for a month, with my new painting.

"Cactus Flower"... acrylic, with digital image on fabric collage.
This was based on the imported weed, Prickly Pear.

Prickly pear is in our history books as one of the most invasive weeds ever imported into Australia. Special acts of Parliament were passed to enforce control measures in an attempt to halt its spread through Queensland and New South Wales.  

Prickly pear first came to New South Wales with the First Fleet. It was to be used to establish a cochineal dye Industry.  What a disaster!

Acknowledged as one of the greatest biological invasions of modern times, the introduction and subsequent spread of prickly pear into Queensland and New South Wales had infested millions of hectares of rural land by the 1920s, rendering it useless for agriculture. Prickly pear proved so difficult and costly to control by chemical and mechanical means that enormous areas were simply abandoned by their owners.
The eventual control of this pest, mainly by one insect and in the space of a few short years, is an amazing story, which has encouraged further, successful developments in the field of biological pest control.

Interesting yarn...AND true!!

8 comments:

  1. Congrats on the sale,, thats always a good thing, and I never knew this about the prickly pear. Its a beautiful painting,,

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  2. Congrats on the win for 1st Prize Drawing - well done! love both the picts - cheers!

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  3. JM-well done on the prize front; and am looking forward to seeing the new work in the flesh as we hang it tomorrow. Cheers. B

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  4. Jo, Congrats on your first Prize!! I love both pieces.

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  5. congrats on your success, Jo; so well deserved for your wonderful work!

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  6. Congrats on the win for 1st Prize drawing! You desere it! Your paintings are amazing!

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  7. Congratulations Jo. What wonderful news for you.

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  8. You are a prize dear Jo!

    Congratulations and I found reading about the Prickly Pear fascinating too!

    our youngest son feel palms down into a patch here in Virginia, USA when he was a tyke...we had to call the doctor...they suggested putting white school glue on his hands and peeling off the prickers...poor fella

    luckily the PP doesn't spread here as violently as it does for you...that patch is history now...it had to go ;)
    oxo

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