Something shifted in me today. I’ve felt something shift everyday since I arrived here. I knew I would come to this place and that it would be healing for me but I did not realise the beauty and sacredness of this place and that it would affect me so deeply. It’s absolutely beautiful. The spirit [...]

I feel so privileged to be working with these natural pigments of the earth. It feels right and the more I paint with these ochres the more I want to work with them. The colours are so rich and deep, vibrant and alive. And when I am painting it naturally gets all over my hands… [...]

I had my first workshop today – it was a stunning day! I woke up this morning after last night’s rain knowing that the land had had its cleansing and now it was time for the sun to shine again… And people came to share their stories about water… One woman paddled over on her [...]

10am Sat 28th May 2011 I’ve arrived at Boreen Point to feel the space I will be doing workshops in and I am taken back to my childhood where we had lakes all around us, the water lapping in and out, unlike the sea that is rugged and wild. This water, welcoming me, embracing me [...]

8.30am At midnight last night (Thurs 26th) after I had packed my bags, I had this overwhelming feeling…I realized that everything I had done in my life was bringing me to this next journey. It was a pretty big revelation for me. And as I sit here at the airport writing this, I look out [...]

I know you fallas know what I’m talking about! Trudy and I were talking about this concept of time today – geological time versus human time – and then there is Māori time! Most times you go to a hui and most times things run OVER time! I say most times because there are some [...]

I got lost today. It took me three hours to travel from Hamilton to Miranda – I actually ended up driving in a BIG circle! But it was interesting…I travelled to parts of the landscape I had never been to before. So as frustrated as I was driving round and round in circles it reminded [...]

I want to talk about this photo today. It reminds me of being “rough around the edges.” You know when you’re not exactly perfect and you are perceived to be less, but you have heaps of other amazing qualities and what you don’t have in intellect or education you make up for in life experience [...]

I’m on the road again soon, on a journey to another land, to experience the spirit of that land and to connect with the hearts and stories of those who will be there. I feel like I’ve been preparing for this journey for a long time. It’s going to be special, very healing for me, [...]

I was reminded today that it is really important to pay attention to our tamariki… Many of our tamariki are being let down by those who are supposed to be caring for them. And caring is not just about providing those basic needs of food, shelter and clothing. Caring is about nurturing, paying attention, taking [...]

I’ve always been fascinated by how peas grow all in a row in a pod! Nature is so intelligent and perfect. How do peas in a pod grow like that? They remind me of sacred things, protected, to be nurtured and cared for, held in a blanket of love… I think we all yearn to [...]

Our Māori language is so beautiful. It is conceptual and meaningful and every word tells a story. One word can mean many things and within all of those meanings, there is connection to the environment, to the land, to everything… When I started learning Māori full immersion, my life changed. I saw the world in [...]

I’m planning my last session with art students tomorrow and I’m thinking to myself, what is the most important thing that I would want to be sharing with them right now? What will have the most impact on their lives and creative careers from this moment forward? I came up with a few words… Being [...]

It’s been a while since I’ve painted a simple koru, so decided to paint one today… When I look back over the rocks I see a pattern; I have a rock that is quite lighthearted or maybe two and then I have another rock that is quite heavy in what I write about and that [...]

There’s a heap of political stuff happening at the moment. And I’ve seen some quite disturbing things lately… One of them is a page that has been created here on FB in opposition to a Māori MP and I’ve seen shocking comments in other forums to do with things relating to Māori. It has been [...]

The last two days, I’ve really tried to be present with everything I’ve been doing. When I’m cooking, I’m cooking, when I’m reading, I’m reading! I’m so used to multi-tasking, doing lots of things at once but I’ve realised that when I have more things to do than what multi-tasking allows me to do, it’s [...]

I watched a daddy long legs spider do something very interesting today. When I first saw it, I thought it was in a frenzy because it had been caught in a web of another spider but when I took a closer look, I realised it was spinning around in its web almost to the point [...]

I really thought I wasn’t going to be posting this rock today! I finished painting it around 6.30pm and then hullo – realised I had no natural light left for photos! So it was back to other options – tungsten light, light under the algae or light from the light box! So the light box [...]

We are a society of followers following the leader. There is so much potential out there, but most people will settle for just cruising along following others! I understand this because I’ve been there, but wouldn’t it be the coolest if everyone lived to their full potential and brought to fruition all those wonderful ideas [...]

I’ve always been of the mind that we shouldn’t shape artists, but rather, give them the tools to explore and find the artist within themselves. Miss 6 year old Teia, she draws these amazing pictures of people that have limbs that stretch all the way across the page or curl around to reach up to [...]

Yesterday I heard a version of the waiata ‘Totara Tree’ (composed by Wiremu Nia Nia) sung by the beautiful Maisey Rika. Here is a link to that version. http://bit.ly/mIC9zO I’m not normally in the habit of posting words by other people, but I wanted to share this waiata as it is everything I want to [...]

To make it right. One of our pahake told me, this is what ‘ka tika ra’ means… I understand fully how our tūpuna felt when their land, their foundation was taken from beneath them. Every time I return home to Taranaki, I feel that mamae still, I see it in the land and I see [...]

I was watching this koroua on Māori TV tonight and he was sharing his knowledge about how our people used to live. He talked about a special way of preserving kumara and in the end I figured out it was the same process (but done in a different way) of dehydrating food that we know [...]

I’ve been asked recently, “where do you find your inspiration to write and create everyday?” Well, I don’t think about it and just do! When painting these rocks, I don’t think about what I’m going to paint at all and just allow the brush to paint. I also randomly gather up a few colours from [...]

I’m amazed at all the wonderful comments that I get with the rocks each day and how profound they are! I was reminded of this today…sometimes I think my words and my paintings are quite subtle and not obvious as to what their meaning is and then next minute someone crops up with this meaningful [...]

When I went outside today to hang the washing out, the ground was still wet from recent rain and my first thought was to put my jandals on so my feet wouldn’t get wet. But then I thought nah, I’m gonna go in there and squish my feet around in the water and feel the [...]

I remember when I was living on the mountain in Taranaki, I had a pink bubble around my whare to give some healing, loving energy to the land and for protection. There were battles fought on the land, conflict, and people died on that very land where I was living and yet I felt such [...]

Life is so fluid sometimes isn’t it? – well my life is anyway! Probably because I allow it to be and I think this is important because we get stuck doing the same old same old without growing, exploring and learning! So today’s kōrero is about change. The different journeys we embark on, the people [...]

It’s the day after returning home from being on the road. Driving can take a lot out of you and I always need at least one day to recover from a big journey – most times two days are needed! So it’s been an “intermission” day – you know just like at the movies when [...]