Thoughts about reels, bucket list items and renovations.

by Ness Lockyer

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how I’m a little over making reels on Instagram. I know I’m not the only one as I recently put up a poll on my feed and asked this very question and it was 100% that yes you all are feeling the same.
So, it got me thinking to back when I loved Instagram…when it was still photos just posted as the day happened. I loved that so much. It didn’t take hours of filming b roll footage or main footage that you then had to edit and cobble together to try and make a decent looking video -then there is trying to find the right music….you know what I mean!

My thoughts since that poll and post are that I am just going to start posting what I want, when I want – which will mainly be still photos and carousel photos with the occasional reel. More importantly though, I am going to be putting most of my effort into this here blog, and my newsletter. I’ve been thinking a lot about this. With social media you don’t actually own the content you create over there. It can be taken in an instant…whereas my website is solely my content. I like that idea. Social media can vanish in an instant, yet I have had this blog going since around 2007/08 from memory. It’s just always here.

I have been busy in the studio, as always, working on some new items – jugs, mugs, plates, designs in general and trying some new techniques. I did happen to launch some new mugs recently which have been received so well. This week is all about getting those new pre orders made up.
My first entry into The Archibald Prize (see first photo) was picked up by the art couriers last week to be transported up to the NSW Art Gallery to be judged for consideration as a finalist in this years prize. It is extremely hard to get picked as a finalist, but this is one of the main art bucket list items I have had since I was small- to enter this prize. Even if I do not get selected, I have achieved this goal, and, I will keep on doing it each year. I am extremely proud of this piece, and it holds so many emotions in it. It is truly one of my favourite pieces I have created.
Keep your fingers crossed for me! I won’t find out if I have been successful until late May…nerve wracking!

We have been cracking on with the farmhouse renovations, and currently we are in the middle of the laundry -which has been a bit of a nightmare to be honest. We have the new ceiling and walls all up, primer coat is on and it has all bee re-wired and re-plumbed after we found some questionable home done DIY plumbing and wiring jobs. It’s all safe and to spec now, thankfully. There is the old shop counter we are installing as our laundry sink/storage piece to be fitted as well as the flooring and then it will be finished.
We have also had the new roof and veranda roof put on, which has made a massive difference to the facade of the beautiful old farmhouse. I’ll show you it all once we have it finished.

We have completed our new hallway (above) as well as the front bedroom, driveway, and front farm fencing, so we have been quite busy. I’ll do a separate post soon with some before and after for you….the before is really bad.
It’s so nice now to wake up in the morning to the stunning light that floods the new hallway as well as walking into this from outside through the main entry here. I am currently looking at some beautiful runners for the floor to just finish off the space.

Anyway, that’s the thoughts for the moment. I would love to hear how you are going with the upkeep of making video content for social media, and if you miss still photos as much as I do.
~ Ness x

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Eat. Make Art. Sleep. Repeat…

by Ness Lockyer

Eat, make art, sleep, repeat.

This has been life lately, and I am loving it! Throw in some renovations (more about that in a separate post) and life has been full.

“Aurora” fine art Gicleé print

In among all of these goings on, I finally launched my online art store, Ness Lockyer. If feels good to have a space just for my art originals, fine art prints and the like that is separate from Marley & Lockyer. I imagine at some point I will bring it all together in a new format, but for now it is nice to have a dedicated space for art and one for homewares.
Above is one of my fine art prints from an original I painted called “Aurora”. I love this piece so much, and the print picks up all the little details of the painting and canvas too.

I have been making so many new things, and have finally found a way to get my botanic drawings onto my stoneware in a much better way…I have been trying to get this right for a long time now. Frustration set in, and I left it until recently when I thought a different approach might work – sure did! So, I made some new plates, and little banners. I love that I can get more detail and depth onto the clay surface this way.

The piece I painted up for Petite Chateu

In other news, Karen from French Consul has been restoring a gorgeous old sandstone cottage with her Husband in Oatlands, and asked if I would recreate and old advertisement from the original owner of the cottage, who was a Tailor, on these stunning old drawers….of course I jumped at that opportunity as you know how much I love old typography and calligraphy, and words on furniture is SO up my alley! I painted it in old gold so on certain angles it is bright, and some angles it will appear dull. It turned out so well.
The restoration of the cottage was picked up by Grand Designs Transformations, and Karen even wrote a book about the process where you can see these drawers in situ at Petite Chateu. This photo above is in our house, where I had to keep it totally secret for nearly 2 years! Mic had adopted the piece and was hoping Karen had forgotten all about it!

Recently, I finished this piece which may seem weird, but bear with me….

When I was small, I got Tonsillitis and middle ear infections a lot (learned as an adult that was my dairy and egg intolerance playing havoc), and I used to suffer with very high temperatures. When I had those high temps, I would have these hallucination/dreams where there was a man at the end of the hallway, standing in front of my bedroom door with a paper bag on his head (it was always the same nightmare) with his long bony fingers, and usually with a big coat on. I could never get to my room. I would wake up screaming – he was horrible!
It is called “The Man At The End Of The Hallway”.

Only one time did I ever see his face, and I drew him straight away and have never dreamt of him since getting his image onto paper. Weird, hey? I can’t look at that drawing, and I won’t ever get rid of it either…you know, just in case.

So this is me as a small child, going to my bedroom, and the man with the paper bag hiding behind the door. It represents the innocence of a child and how nightmares can play havoc in a young mind. It might seem odd, but I have always loved Surrealism, and dreams (I used to keep a dream journal when I was a teen), so to those who know me and my work over the years since I was small, this doesn’t seem odd at all. I’ve always had a very vivid imagination.

It’s amazing to me still to this day, that getting his horrible face down on paper has stopped me ever dreaming of him again. It’s so true that art can heal your soul. It’s definitely helped me make sense of things through my life, that’s for sure!

in the car on the way to the framers

A little update on my Archibald entry for this year….

I took her down to be framed yesterday, and I was a bit worried about leaving this piece there. It’s such a hugely important piece for me, and if anything were to happen to it, I’m not sure how I’d cope! Anyway, I walked away with the hopes the framing is finished quickly so I can bring it back home ready for the journey to Sydney with the art couriers (that’s going to be a scary day!). It’s all happening now. If you want to see the varnishing process, and how it brings the colours to life, you can find the videos in my art II highlights in Instagram.

So, that’s mostly what’s been going on. We are cracking on with our renovations too, so I’ll show you some of that in the next post to come. In the meantime, I’d love to know what you think about the new art store, and if there is anything you would like to see of mine as a print, please let me know.

~ Ness xx

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

by Ness Lockyer

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.

My studio

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

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A huge announcement

by Ness Lockyer

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.

Hyper realistic drawing in process by Ness Lockyer
Original art in progress by Ness Lockyer

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

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A Beautiful Visit To Captains Rest

by Ness Lockyer

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

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