My Mother's Dreaming

When jensphotos came visiting recently she brought with her a most special gift - an original piece of traditional art called My Mother's Dreaming. We have just had it framed and now it hangs mesmerisingly above the wood burner in the sitting room. It is a beautiful piece of work, a riot of strong shapes and vibrant colours. It was painted in 2016 by  Betty Mbitjana who lives in the Atnwengerrp area, about 250 miles from Alice Springs. She is involved in a painting movement called Utopia and now paints her own dreamings given to her by her grandmother and mother who passed away in 2005. Like her mother, Minnie Pwerle, she paints the dreamings, bush berry, bush plum and Awelye. I had to look up what this meant - this is the Awelye :


The Awelye ceremony is the way women would show their respect to their ancestors and country through dance. Betty depicts this in her paintings by showing the designs women would paint on their bodies and also the designs left in the sand when the women’s ceremonies were completed. These tracks are actually painted on the women’s bodies prior to the ceremonies being performed and Betty now transfers these designs to canvas in her paintings which are colourful, vibrant and highly sort after in the Aboriginal art community. These designs used by Betty, her mother, Minnie Pwerle (dec.) and her aunts have been handed down for many generations, and only the Pwerle or Kemarre owners can paint them.



A priceless and wonderful gift. Thank you so much Jenny.


A lovely day - much gardening accompanied by my ginger helper!  Storm Callum is due in around midnight so definitely the calm before.... And I have just managed a swim! Yikes! it was fresh and my toes are only justy defrosting but it was rather good. Inspired by a book I have just read about a young woman who decides to swim every day for a year in a different lake around Berlin. I had no idea there were so many lakes but there are. Anyway, she did it - in the winter taking a small hammer to break the ice! Apparently the water is only classified as cold once it gets to 4C or less. Dunmanus bay is currently a balmy 13,5!