I’m back! There is lots happening this year.

I’m back in the studio tomorrow for my first full day since taking my annual break at the end of December, and I can’t wait!

So much has happened since my last post back in October (I know. I plan to blog more this year to share more behind the scenes). The break has been really good. There’s been lots of creative goings on, and lots coming up which I’m excited to share more about soon.


While on my break I have been working on two major pieces. Trying to get them finished off.
Here is a little peek at one I have recently finished which is a portrait of the amazing Sarah Andrews, above, who I have also painted another portrait of last year (see the last post for the story of that).

The other one is a huge landscape of a favourite place. I started it back in October, actually on my Dads birthday, and I’ve been going backwards and forwards to it since then while I was in the thick of Christmas orders. I’ll show you it as soon as I have finished the last few details on it.


This portrait above has been long in my head, and I was so so happy with how he turned out. Called “Jock Hawthorne”, it was a little hint to my family and also Mics. This is actually Mic and I aged him. I love it so much, and he now lives with his lovely new owner. I was sad to see him go, but so happy for the new collector.

One thing I have been really looking forward to is the launch of my new online store which will be just dedicated to my artwork. I will have originals, fine art prints, prints, and I’m hoping to have tutorials as well. My current online store, Marley & Lockyer will stay as is. It will be all about my ceramic works. I will have some limited edition pieces coming out in ceramics throughout the year too. I am just moving my art to have its own space, under my name. Please let me know if there is any of my works you would like to see as prints. Or, if you have any tutorials you would like to see from me. I would love to hear. As soon as the new site launches, I will let you know.

One thing I will be working on is getting back to doing a weekly newsletter again as well as making time to update my blog. I am not going to be blogging everyday, but I will be making an effort to show up once a week to put what I’ve been up to, what’s going on, and what’s coming in the studio. If you’re keen, you can sign up to my newsletter on my main website page HERE.

I will be doing somethings differently with the main store this year too. I am going back to store updates. These won’t happen weekly. It might be once every 6 weeks, maybe more. I will spend the time between each update making new pieces to release. They will be limited, and once they have sold out, that will be it. I may not make them ever again. There will be a limited range in my store between updates too.

It will keep it all fresh for me, and I am seriously excited to be returning to this way.
So, let me know if you have any questions, or requests. I hope this new year is a brilliant one for you!

♥️ Ness xx

A huge announcement

A little while ago I announced on my social pages that I was going to be entering The Archibald Prize for 2024. This is HUGE for me. It is Australia’s most prestigious portrait prize, and each year thousands of people enter, but only 30 to 50 are chosen as finalists.
I have wanted to do this since I was about 12 years old, but never thought I was good enough to enter. My Mum and Dad would always encourage me to do it, but you know when you are so sure you’re no good at something so you just put it out of your head? Well, that has been me pretty much all my life.

My last conversation with my dear Dad before he passed away in January this year was him encouraging me to do this. I wish I didn’t leave it until now though.
It’s just been the last year and a bit where I have started to trickle out my talents to do with art – which have always been my first passion creatively. A long, deep love affair with drawing and painting that I tucked away in secret because I was told at school by one teacher that how I made art was wrong.

He crushed my spirit, and I believed him…I wish I hadn’t have taken it to heart so much then. I had won many awards, was top of the class and in the top percentile in Australia for art at the time, but his words held me back.
No more! I have realised over the past few years that I AM good enough to have a try at this! I don’t need to compare myself to anyone, or listen to heart what anyone has to say. As long as I love what I am making, and the person I am creating it for (if it is a commission), then that’s all that matters really.

I’ve really been putting more and more of my art out there, (this drawing is currently in progress) and if you follow on Instagram, you would have no doubt seen the behind the scenes of paintings and drawings and know how much art means to me. I’ve been a creative for as long as I could hold a crayon! I don’t have a set “style”. I just LOVE MAKING ART! Realism, hyper realism, Surrealism, Impressionism, the work of the Renaissance era, old Dutch Masters…..so much more. So, I don’t want to get pigeonholed into one particular style. I just want to create like I always have.

This is a little video documentary on the journey of the painting, the subject – Sarah Andrews, and the final work, all shot by the amazingly talented Jeremy Plaisance. He travels the world taking photos and videos for big corporations and for creatives like me. I was so honoured to have him capture this truly important part of my art journey, and I’ll forever be grateful.

If you don’t know how Sarah Andrews is, she is an amazingly talented woman. Not only is she a wonderful person and friend, but a scientist, Author, the brains behind The Hosting Masterclass, a Captain, and owner of Captains Rest – one of the most photographed Air BnB’s in the world. I am so blessed that she agreed to be my muse for this piece. I hope you take a look at the video, and give Jeremy some love, and I would love to hear what you think.
~ Ness x

A Beautiful Visit To Captains Rest

Recently Mic and I had the opportunity to stay here at Captains Rest. If you have no idea about this place, you should definitely look it up. It is one of the most photographed air bnb in the world! …and for good reason.

From the minute we walked in the door we were smitten – deciding then and there that this is something we could live in. We were both saying that when we are a bit older, this would be the perfect size for us. We would have a second room if we were to live in it.

When we arrived the misty clouds rolled in, and I had hoped we would get some form of rain while we were there and it didn’t disappoint with all seasons! After a bit of drizzle on our opening of the door we were greeted with a beautiful rainbow, then the sun for a while, then the fog rolled in to create the atmosphere I had hoped for. This is a place you can totally hunker down in. Switch off from the world. I was saying to Mic if you were writing a book, trying to get a project finished or something along those lines, Captains Rest would be the place to do it.

Everything here has been thought out, and presented beautifully by Sarah Andrews who is the creator of this magical place. The finest linen sheets, thick fluffy towels, Le Cruset cookware, and beautiful decorative pieces throughout.
Sarah is also the creator of The Hosting Masterclass that teaches you how to turn your own air bnb into a total experience, not just somewhere to stay the night. I highly recommend you check it out as it doesn’t just cover hosting, but can help with businesses and homes too. She is very clever having just released her second book- “The Poetry Of Spaces”. This is after her brilliant first book – “Principles Of Style”. I have this one, and it is one of my favorites. I’m looking forward to the new book coming out too.

While we were here I delivered the dinner set that I had made for Captains Rest, and Sarah. A while ago Sarah contacted me to make something for this beautiful place. Obviously I jumped at the opportunity!
I was given a few inspiration ideas and then left to create. This is such an honour as a creative when someone has total trust in your abilities and style that they just let you get on with it. Well, I had a ball making these. Each one is completely handmade with hand drawn and painted details- ships in stormy seas and a merman watching on at the bottom. Of course Captains Rest had to be on them too. I made dinner plates, side plates, Everything Bowls and mugs.

The mugs have a little shield with C.R (for Captains Rest) on the front. The beautiful oatmeal stoneware is revealed with the shield and the letters are in our white glaze. I love them so much!

I can highly recommend checking Captains Rest out. There’s no real words to explain the magic that it is.

~Ness x

My studio makeover. A little tour.

I am so happy to be able to show you some shots off my new revamped studio. You might remember that I had Leanne Ford do a consultation with me to help me redesign the furniture placement and make some tweaks to get it back to my creative space. She was brilliant! This was all done for the cost of a few lights, tin of paint and lots of elbow grease.

These tables I already had. They are sturdy, heavy and work perfectly well. So, a fresh coat of white paint and a move to a completely different area, and they seem all new and fresh. I also gave this wall (and another wall) a textured finished which I then washed in white. The metal brand sign was made locally for me for the pop up store I had in 2019/20. The linen pendant came from Ecoco. Everything else I already had.

The split system needed to stay. I don’t mind it as it’s a necessary evil here in Tasmania with our cold winters and hot summers. I did look into maybe spray painting it white, but that’s waaaaaaay down the line of things that need doing around the farm 😂 At the back wall there, are two weird little windows that sit really awkwardly with the outside wall, so Leanne just told me to paint them. I’m using them as a place to make a little inspiration board with some favourite quotes and some of my sketches.

This post here is the first thing you see when you walk into the studio. It’s structural, so couldn’t be moved. The opposite side has long been a chalkboard, but I’ve painted the whole thing so now I have a multi sided place to scribble quotes that resonate at any one time. This one I found in the current (2nd issue) of Feel Free Magazine. A new favourite of mine.

My sink was supposed to get a white paint finish too, but I just can’t bring myself to paint it. My dear Mum and Dad made this for me. Mum designed it, Dad built it, then Mum painted it. Now that they are no longer here, I just can’t change it.

I did add my new drawing I finished a few days ago to the left here. I’m pretty happy with how it looks.

You would have seen this hutch many times. Again, Mum designed it, and Dad built it. It’s come with me from our move from NSW to Tasmania in 2003, and to both homes since then. It’s a very loved piece. It’s now a place to hold some of my Marley & Lockyer stock, where I can rearrange it whenever I feel. I’ve also added another of my drawings to the left. One thing that Leanne said to me is that my artwork, in all its forms need to be the only decoration in this space. It’s actually been really lovely to have them out of my art cases.

Another piece that’s been with me for many years, is this old sideboard. I was going to get rid of it, but the storage is great…so, I painted the glass doors to kind of look like an old Art Stores advertising that you’d often see in windows back in the 1800s to the 1900s. I do have to glue the bottom piece back on though.

Next to that is my new painting area. I now never have to pack away whatever I’m working on. This means that whenever the urge to paint, or draw, arises, I can just sit down and continue. I love it!!

My throwing area is now permanently set up too. I did give my wheel a coat of white paint today. Second coat tomorrow. My slab roller also got painted white. It was the same blue all over as you see on the wheel. Much better now it’s white. I had originally meant to not have any window treatments up, but I love the cozy feel it brings. Also, in Summer the sun coming through the windows would cook you. Anyway, Kodah is happy with her spot in front of the windows. I think she feels snuggly under the roller.

The fireplace is mostly the same. Fresh coat of white paint, and now a little gallery of some of my high school drawings and a drawing of my son when he was a toddler that was in a gallery for a woman’s art show. Some fairy lights and always candles in the bottom (until my pot belly stove gets installed) and we are done.

My office area through the door is yet to be tidied as I was wrapping orders today, but it is now where all the order processing happens. It used to be in this main area, and having it all together has been so much better.
Out the back room, where the kilns are, is where all the buckets of glaze, blocks of clay, the kilns and drying racks are all kept. That is a harder space to paint because it’s always in use, so I’ll have to wait for our yearly break to get that done.

It’s so nice to be in here now painting, drawing, writing, sewing, and making ceramics. I’ll be sharing my space with Lady Jo this weekend for her “Real Reels” workshop. It will be such a lovely, creative catch up.
mid love to hear what you think about the makeover.
Ness x

A Church, A Workshop, and A Studio Redo

Well, here it is in all its cute glory….the Wee Church. I was so excited to see it come out of the kiln unscathed. It was a lot of work to get the structure right, and to get the drying time right – too quick and it would crack, but I managed to get it done thankfully! I will have a pre order available on these very soon. The pre orders will be done in small batches, just because of the amount of work that goes into each one.

The studio redo is in full swing. This wall here got a beautiful texture this week just gone, and it is now ready for the next stage. This is obviously the before, as I was moving things out so the wall could be done. The split system will be staying because let’s face it, I am in Tasmania and our winters can be quite cold, and our summer sun can be brutal.

Here is a little peek at the texture all in its lovely whitewashed glory. Once the space is completed I will show you a shot of the whole thing.
The old fluorescent lighting (which I’ve always hated) came down today, and replaced with some new down lights. I tend to only use the beautiful natural light that floods the space, but some days in the depths on winter lights are needed. I’m just thankful those ugly fluoro lights are history!

My big old double worktables will be on the move, and they are getting a fresh coat of paint. This little post wall is a structural piece that runs electrics through, so wasn’t on the plan to be moved. I love drawing on this wall, so it made sense to keep it. Fresh coat of chalkboard paint on both side will expand my doodling area.

There is a lot going on, and I can’t wait to get it finished. All of this has given me this amazing urge to create again. I had been in a nit of a funk with my Dads recent passing, so this has really helped me cope with it all. Art in any form is such a therapy session!

Once the studio is complete, I will be hosting a workshop in it for this beautiful human. If you don’t know of Lady Jo, she is a force of nature, completely brilliant, and is an amazing teacher of all things Reels. Check out her Instagram to see some of the amazing workshops for Reels she has already taught, including one at one of my favourite designers, Lynda Gardeners home!
I for one am so looking forward to this workshop as I really want to learn more about making reels and videos. It’s such a way forward for social media, and whether you like them or not, it’s something as a business owner or content creator that you definitely need to learn. So, I’m super excited about this workshop, and catching up with Jo.
Tickets were only launched this morning and you can purchase one here.

So, as you can see, the studio is in no shape to reveal just yet, but as Leanne Ford said to me recently “it has to get worse before it can get better”.

Talk soon ~ Ness x