Beautiful Bundanon

I had a wonderful day trip on Sunday, a drive in beautiful weather through stunning country (particularly going through the Moss Vale area which is always so green) to visit my sister at Bundanon. There was a long stretch of potholed gravel road to get there - and of course to get out again - but it was worth it. Even though it's actually pretty close to Nowra, a decent-sized town, the place has a remote feeling, ideal for getting away from it all for a few weeks to make new work without too much distraction.

The property belonged to Arthur and Yvonne Boyd from the late 1970s and it was gifted to the nation to be used for artist residencies and art education.

We took a tour of the original house (from the late 1860s) which is still occupied at times by family members. The parts of the house accessible to the public display many Arthur Boyd paintings and sculptures as well as work by many members of the Boyd family.

We also saw Arthur's studio, where some of his paintings are displayed, and his old jumper, crusty paint tubes and water jars have all been apparently left as-is since his death in 1999 - yet interestingly we were also told that his son still uses the studio to paint.

The tall thin window/door in the photo below was not an original design feature, apparently it came about out of necessity when a large commissioned painting turned out to be too big to remove from the studio.