This is the linocut which won highly Commended at the Mosman Park Art Award.  The theme was Mosman Treasures –  between the river and the sea. Whenever I think of Mosman Park I think of the park on the hill (Jabe Dodd Park) with panoramic views of the river across to point Walter and the sand bar on the other side of the river.
So I went there, one weekend, took my husband and two daughters and a sketch book a pencil and a camera. The girls and I  sat and drew, it’s a beautiful spot and I got thinking about the importance of these public spaces in a suburban environment and the way they affect me, the quietness, the distance, and the way these spaces  bring you away from every day concerns and into the present.  That’s why I called the piece Thinking Differently in This Space.
The figure in this image has an arched shape window in her chest, with cloud floating seemingly through her. She is in the present, part of the landscape, connected to the space.
Its pretty large for a linocut 55 x 75cm and it took quite a while to carve the lino. This process of relief printing is very similar to the woodblocks prints of medieval times and I feel strangely connected to this history as I carve the lino in the same way others have carved wood for centuries.
Being chosen as highly commended was a happy surprise.