Posts

Grant Hudson – West Coast New Zealand Watercolourist

West Coast watercolour by Grant Hudson

Grant Hudson, a New Zealand ceramic artist based near Barrytown on the South Island’s West Coast has established himself as a watercolourist. In the late 1960’s, in New Zealand, Grant Hudson had the good fortune to find himself tucked under the wing of first one, and then another motivated female ceramicist. Ceramics as a First […]

The Learning Editor

Example lighter boating column for Whangarei Leader

When I arrived in Whangarei in August 1992 on a dismasted yacht, I decided that having suffered many mishaps on the boat, each one more severe than the last, that after a dismasting the next event would likely not be survivable, and I left the boat. I took a job near the Town Basin in […]

Valuable Toastmaster Skills

Theresa Sjoquist in full flight early in her Toastmaster's experience

A few years ago, I realised that the biography I had written about Yvonne Rust, QSM (Yvonne Rust: Maverick Spirit – David Ling, 2011) would eventually be published, and that, logically, it would be launched and I would be required to speak at that launch. I was  concerned about the prospect of having to speak one day […]

Michael Ayling – Contemporary New Zealand Jeweller

God Mask 1 by Michael Ayling - Photo Theresa Sjoquist

Michael Ayling is a contemporary jeweller based in Whangarei, New Zealand. His designs challenge some people but his workmanship is exquisite. Michael Ayling is a contemporary jeweller who sees himself as an artist-craftsman in that he handmakes his own designs. A perfectionist by nature, his workmanship is both precise and fastidious and he isn’t satisfied […]

Review – This Way Up by Rhett Brown

This Way Up by Rhett Brown

Actually this is not a review of  This Way Up by Rhett Brown since I am prone to bias because I had a hand in the very early editing stages of the book. The purpose of this blog then is to encourage you to read the very raw and vulnerable account of a man in his […]