NOW Contemporary 
Shoalhaven art prize - Jervis Bay & Basin Arts
The second showing of the only contemporary art prize in the Shoalhaven looked really special; the overall quality of the 2015 entries was vastly superior to the first iteration held in 2013. Admittedly there was a lack of video, photography or other new media but I should think that will sort its self out as the prize grows in reputation.

There were nearly twenty seven finalists out of nearly seventy entries, as noted all of quite high artistic merit. I thought that the judges’ decisions were exactly right and only the Jervis Bay & Basin Member prize winner would have had some competition to take the winning spot.

The winner of the main prize was Ulan Murray for his copper and steel sculpture, Equilibrium, a beautifully realized work that has immediate eye appeal and seems to be a popular choice, My only reservation was that I do not think that the work would stand frequent exposure, it has visual qualities that charm and delight when first encountered but suspect that this would diminish somewhat if you lived with it day to day. Fiona Ryan received a well deserved Highly Commended award for her abstract painting Flare.

The Emerging Artist Prize went to Judy Panucci for her drawing / painting Nature of Memory, a great rendering of what could be a ‘working’ drawing of a found stone, including completed drawings, uncompleted sketches, smudges, splashes and drips of ink; a work full of interest that sets the mind speculating.

Jervis Bay and Basin Arts set up and manage NOW Contemporary and have a member prize which went to Fran Clifton for Mangrove Reverie, a complex work of etching over gouache and further work with charcoal and other media.
The sponsors of this prize are Edminston Jones, architects in Nowra, Wray Owen Funeral Director, PepperPot marketing, Worrowing retreat, webics, holly hill graphics and Shoalhaven Arts Centre.

Archie Distilling Co
Tour & DYI Gin Blending 
Sydney once had a thriving distilling industry, at least until 1853, but now, in 2015, the newest distilling company, Archie Rose, has opened; and as a part of the celebrations some tours were offered along with a chance to blend your very own brand of gin. 
My sister, Lenore, and I each started the blending with a couple of bottles of base spirit and eight botanicals; using your nose and tasting as you went (if you were game and were not driving), you developed your own blend, using a syringe, drop by drop and ml by ml. 
The first one I did was deemed very good by the Archie Rose team ( more by luck than good management), the second a total disaster, too much ginger so they kindly let me have another go and this 3rd attempt was also a success, and now at least did have some knowledge behind the mix.
 Botanicals                                                       Blend 1                      Blend 2                Blend 3
                                                                  200 ml base spirit     200 ml base spirit    200 ml base spirit
Juniper  - dry - strong pine aroma                  1 ml                             2 ml                       2 ml
Angelica root - earthy flavour                          1 ml                             1 ml                       1ml
Lemon Myrtle - lemon drops                          .05 ml                          .1 ml                       .1 ml
Blood Lime - fruit tingles                                 2 ml                             3 ml                        3 ml
Cassia Bark - spice cinnamon                           nil                                  nil                          nil
Fresh Ginger     binds other flavours                 2 ml                             2 ml                    .15 ml
Dorrigo Pepperleaf - herbal pepper                   1 ml                              nil                          nil
River Mint - clean fresh vibrant                         2 ml                             3 ml                       3 ml

If you ever get the chance this was a great night out and a real learning experience. Or you can just go to Archie Rose and do a a gin flight - either a world flight or an Australian Gin flight. 
(see:  www.archierose.com.au )