Dawn with a cruise ship, 2 April 2020

On the horizon the great ships hover near Wollongong, lit up at night like palaces. Curtains set the stage for the drama happening on board as Covid 19 strikes. The sun rises in a spectrum of colours leading to a rainy day. Going back to Aristotle, I remembered he thought the purpose of art was to instil pity and terror in the viewer, who would then experience catharsis. At the top of his list of virtues was courage, followed by self control and generosity.

He might approve of the NSW government who will allow the sick to be taken off the ships and cared for in local hospitals. 

Diana Wood Conroy 'Dawn with a cruise ship', watercolour on Arches paper, 15 x 21 cm, 2 April 2020

Garden flowers with cosmos, 1 April 2020

A wet day. Police are moving on even a woman sitting alone in the park. People are adopting animals to have more company at home. The tall cosmos plant grows beside the chicken yard. Sufi the white hen who has survived all the other chickens by being quiet and retiring, is trying to crow. Since the bully, the Rhode Island Red hen died she has been happily solitary, although she seems to have conversations with the water dragon who likes to sit fairly close beside her, as well as crested pigeons. The mixed grain and the kitchen scraps we give her seem to keep a whole ecology going.

Diana Wood Conroy 'Garden flowers with cosmos' Watercolour on Arches paper 15 x 21cm

Wild flowers and pomegranate March 31st, 2020

The restrictions on moving around grow more severe. Friends across the world are in isolation, in Cyprus, in the UK and USA. A walk down the road results in a bunch of wildflowers - the turpentine trees are flowering. Here is Constance Sitwell (1888 - 1974) on flowers:"There is the homely flower one has passed a thousand times, dully, blindly, unaware. Take it and look at it ... and one shrinks back at the incredible beauty revealed, the unbelievable creation, the glistening shining petals , petals dusted over with silver and gold, the living bloom of them; the whole perfection of the form."

Diana Wood Conroy 'Wildflowers and pomegranate', watercolour on Arches paper 15 x 21 cm 31 March 2020

Artemis on my table March 30 2020

While the media is full of warnings the suburb is quiet. Two widely separated people jogged down the empty road and cloudy winds blew over the forests of the escarpment. Today I heard whip birds and saw a Lewin honeyeater. A dear artist gave me the figurine of Artemis with a deer after she had been artist-in-residence in Athens, as Artemis was called Diana in Roman times. She was a deity whose cult went back to the civilisations of Babylon and Sumeria. Artemis was associated with mountains and forests, wild animals, nymphs of the wild, and childbirth, as well as the moon. Her image as Potnia Theron, mistress of wild animals, appears in Homer.  If you wanted to placate her you might dedicate a garment dyed with yellow crocus to her sanctuary.

Diana Wood Conroy, "Artemis on my table" watercolour on Arches paper, 15 x 21 cm, 30 March 2020

Dark cloud with a curtain and a glass of water March 29 2020

Rain in the night and layers of heaped cloud over a silvery sea. The cockatoos, peewits and king parrots are not observing social distancing but get as close as possible. Today is the Sunday of St John Climacus who lived in the monastery of St Catherine on the Sinai Peninsula in the seventh century, a time of disasters and battles with Moslem armies across the Mediterranean.   He famously wrote about prayer. 'Prayer is the mother and daughter of tears. it is an expiation of sin, a bridge over temptation, a barrier against affliction. It wipes out conflict, is the work of angels, a future gladness, a wellspring of virtues, a source of grace, hidden progress, food for the soul, an illumination of the mind, an axe against despair, a proof of hope, sorrow done away with..'    Something to consider...

Diana Wood Conroy, ‘Dark cloud with a curtain and a glass of water’, watercolour on Arches paper 15 x 21 cm, 29 March 2020