Mentoring and Working

 I have joined Mastrius as a Mentor. It is a Canadian organisation that saw that mentorship was an important element of developing your artistic practice and voice ( in all arts practice) and yet there is very few opportunities to find a mentor- I certainly craved one in the earlier days of my practice, but having someone willing to guide and provide active support was very illusive. So when Mastrius approached me to become a mentor I was intrigued and after meetings with the organisers I decided that I did have something to offer and that  it offered an opportunity for interested textile enthusiasts in particular to have some help to develop their practice as well as foster a community.

You can find my profile at the link below

https://mentors.mastrius.com/product/918/DijanneCevaalMentorshipMG1067/profile

Mentoring happens in small groups , once a month  with a 2 hour interactive session.

✨ If you’re new to Mastrius Mentorship, enjoy 50% off your first two months — plenty of time to meet your mentor (me!), settle into your group, and start feeling real momentum.
Use coupon code 2for50 at checkout.

My group starts on 22 June 2026 and I am really looking forward to seeing how this develops.

One element I intend to focus on is developing a body of work embedded in a narrative process- ie telling a story with your work and that is exactly what I have been doing with  the new sentinelles I have created  for the  group exhibition of Gathered Threads exhibition at the Latrobe Regional Gallery which opens on 20 June.




Somehow this sentinelle project has grown to include elements of the Australian bush, the grasses, the trees (eucalyptus) and the fungi that connects everything under the ground. Initially I was only going to make 10 or so kangaroo grass sentinelles but then the idea grew to include other elements of the bush I encounter on my regular walks in a bushland reserve close to me home- and then the idea grew bigger still to become 31 sentinelles, all hand printed, hand coloured and three that would be embroidered and would be the leaders for the troupe. The embroidery is  quite a task as each sentinelle measure 75-78 cms in height ( half human size). In a way the space where they will be shown influenced this decision as the ceilings soar to 6 metres allowing a vertical installation without taking up commensurate wall or floor space- but I did always imagine a troupe of them to embed the sense of being in the presence of the bush. I am also working on a large hand made book to capture the feel of the bush and its voice as I walk, as sometimes when I walk I lose all sense of self and somehow feel surrounded and in wonder. The book won't be part of this exhibition but I do hope to have it done in the next few months and to have it for my exhibition at The Sydney Street Gallery in Marrickville ( Sydney) in September of this year



I have also been reading a lot around the subject of "nature" in how to engage in something that might offer another way of looking and engaging  the imagination and have stumbled across the work of ecologist and philosopher Matthijs Schouten  ( former lecturer at Wagening University and the university has structured a course inspired by his teachings) and in particular his book "Anders Kijken" which is only available in Dutch ( and then I had to get a friend from the Netherlnads to buy it for me and send it to Australia). It is the first time in a long time where I am underlining things as I read and commenting in the margins- there is hope in what he writes and that is of itself entirely to do with immersion in nature in a myriad of ways and taking time to be still. There is so much food for thought.

The 31 Sentinelles are all but finished and a life size one will also be made for an outdoor installation at the courtyard at the Latrobe Regional Gallery. It will be made from fabric and the back  will be ecoprinted  wool. How it will fare in the outside weather will remain to be seen, but textile is remarkably durable so we will see.

Walking and Working

 I try to walk regularly in the Crinigan Bushland Reserve which is close to where I live. I did get very lax with walking late last year and until this month as I have struggled a little with mental health issues and suddenly I was not interested in doing anything much despite the fact that I have a plate full of things that must get done one way or another.

I have been working on a series of sentinelles that will be exhibited  as part of  Gathered Threads, which will this year be shown at the Latrobe Regional Gallery for their winter season and the Opening is 20 June 2026. I am revisiting the sentinelles as in a sense they are my voice in the wilderness- and the world does seem like an alien inhospitable place at present and  the only thing that seems to calm the restless disorientation I feel is to walk , and yet knowing this, I can't make myself walk every day- it's that loopy circle that jus goes round and round. That said I have been out more this month and every time I do walk I feel a little calmer for a short while.

 I have envisaged these sentinelles as being a troupe of wanderers singing and telling stories of the bush I have encountered on my morning walks- things noticed and somehow intrinsic to the Australian bush. I have yet to add botanical inks to add colour but I feel a little less anxious now that I have carved the linocut for the third Sentinelle and printed it. I always envisaged there would be three figures alerting to three different levels of the bush- the eucalypts/canopy, the kangaroo grass/ the understory and fungi at the earth level. I could make many more but I don't have the time. They are 75 cm high and will be suspended  with twine so hopefully creating the feeling of them floating and some at eye level. 

I think my favourite one is the fungi sentinelle- and the " flower" shapes are not actually flowers but earth stars who are quite flower shaped when you really look at them. I have been intrigued by fungi since childhood and to me it seems such a magical largely unknown world that somehow connects us all in the great circle of  all life, not just human life. I encounter lots of different fungi in the  Bushland reserve and it varies from year to year. Anyway see what you think. They are still a work in progress and there will be an embroidered sentinelle for each design.

The fungi sentinelle is inspired by these fungi encounters:

Exhibition and Artist Residency; Matchbox Gallery, Yinnar

 Inkpot Alchemists are having an Exhibition and Artist residency at Matchbox Gallery   on Main Street Yinnar from 19 March 2026- 17 April 2026 with an Opening for the public on Sunday 22 March 2026 with light refreshments and discussion from noon- all welcome

We will be showing some of our Inkpot Alchemy work with the natural inks we make from botanical materials from the bush and our gardens. There will be an opportunity to come and sit and stitch if you are inclined ( I will make sure I have some stitching things available so you only need bring yourself and the inclination to stitch. 

There will be workshops;

For children on 4/5/6 April from 1-3 pm in the presence of a responsible adult please

Adult workshops 11 & 12 April from 1-4 pm  with a cost for materials of $10.

Please contact me if you are interested.

We had a lot of fun with the 3 day workshop we did at Cheryl's property at Tanjil South the previous two weekends and it gave us lots of insights into developing this kind of workshop further which includes immersing you in nature and hopefully recalibrating mind sets and opening new insights and discussion. I share some images from the workshop.

We were favoured by gorgeous weather which allowed us to do some consolidating of our thoughts under the shade of a wonderful blackwood- it was a little on the idyllic side. Julie Murray a friend of Cheryl's had led us through the lowland forested area to help raise our awareness of the type of plants occurring and the layers of discovery to be had.

I have been doing a lot of reading by writers of nature, but I think my favourite is by Annamaria Weldon and her book of essays, poetry and photographs entitled The Lake's Apprentice- her beautiful writing about Yalgorup National Park near Perth ( I see the book is on special for $10 which is a bargain!), I also love the Bruno Leti Workbook 15 from Readings which is also on special for $15 ( another absolute bargain). I think these two books ( though  Bruno's book is not exactly about nature all the time but it is some of the time, particularly in relation to River Redgums) really appeal to me as both  are migrants and have come to love certain places in Australia, much as I have. Bruno went to a very similar place in Australia as I did and at a similar age as a child as I did; I really feel an affinity with many things he tries to express even his recent work in relation to Italy- the place that was once home to him. I like these two books because they are both artistic responses to place and nature- very different but give lots of food for thought.

So please do come and join us at matchbox Gallery from Thursday next week.

Ink Making Workshop

 It is sometime since I have blogged and I am really not sure why I stopped, maybe I just needed a break after 20 years of blogging. I did think about setting up a Substack account, but my archive is here so it makes sense to continue here. And I must admit my mojo went missing somewhere in the latter part of 2025 and it was difficult to find enthusiasm.

So today we had a magical day exploring some remnant low land forest at Tanjil South on my friend Cheryl Cook's property. Within this small forest area which has been relatively untouched for many years there are  scented gums ( eucalypts) which have the most wonderful smell, manna gums, and box gums, as well as bursum, some blackwood ( and more varieties which I can't identify) grasses, mosses and lichens and most surprising of all reindeer lichen, something which usually only occurs in the Baw Baw Highlands ( snow line)

It has the most magical structure and is intricately entwined and holey, like lace. And that brings me to the workshop Cheryl, Julie and I will be teaching starting March1 and continuing 7-8 March. Julie is a field naturalist and will take participants through the fascinating piece of woodland and the surrounding grass lands, and we will collect some foliage and bark for the creating of inks. But we will look at the layers that make up the low land forest with a view to creating a creative response to the encounter and to give you tools to how you might do this yourself with your garden or other special place you may have.  It is about interacting with this wonderful piece of nature, of examining its layers and surprises and sourcing some small amounts of materials to make your own inks and printing ink ( which will be 7-8 March when we take you through ink making techniques, printing and creating your own response to the environment). Details and enquiry is through our website Inkpot Alchemy  just scroll down the page a little. The workshop is only with a small group and we have one place still available

These workshops are designed for you to look at nature with a different eye, and to create colour from a small amount of resource and to create art inspired by those interactions.

So much texture colours, even though we are at the height of summer, there is still plenty of things to encounter. 

Some work I have been creating in response to the low land forest and surrounding grassland- a sentinelle decorated with kangaroo grass which was growing in abundance prior to Christmas and coloured with ink made from scented gum and manna gum. These sentinelles are about 75 cm tall and are enmeshed in the landscape and looking out for the landscape. The sentinelle story continues and keep re-emerging in a different size and subject.