My lovely colleague on The Great South East, Laurel Edwards, has
earned the in-house nickname
of ‘Craft Queen’. She usually
tackles the stories requiring creative aptitude
– cleverly turning her hand to everything from
glass bead making to home-made lingerie.
I confess that the right side of my brain is
not as easily engaged as Laurel’s but I have
had my moments of creative inspiration
and one of the most memorable was in the
company of a delightful lady by the name
of Giselle Luske.
German-born Giselle is a
vivacious brunette teaching art classes at her
home studio near Canungra. Art engaged her
from an early age – Giselle still treasures the
first box of oil paints given to her when she
was 12 years old.
After studying in Europe in
the 1960s, she resettled in Australia – finding a
piece of paradise in the Gold Coast hinterland
where she set up a gallery and studio.
Fronting up to Giselle’s creative drawing
class, I felt compelled to confess that art
has never been my strong suit. But Giselle
fervently believes the creative spark can be
ignited in anyone.
“Every person who can write their name
can draw,” she claims. “And even those whocan’t write their name can still draw!”
Giselle’s confidence in her ability to coax
out hidden talent is backed by some intriguing
methods. Drawing with your eyes closed is
one of them and, before you scoff, I have
to say the results were surprising. Instead of
a messy scribble on the paper, my ‘still life’
charcoal sketch of four glass bottles turned
out to be a pleasing abstract – certainly no
Picasso, but pretty satisfying nonetheless.
What may have helped was the specially composed,
inspirational music that provides a
soothing soundtrack to Giselle’s classes.
“The music triggers alpha brain waves. It’s
very powerful – if you listen to it for an hour,
you are totally in the zone,” she says.
Giselle encourages everyone to get into the‘zone’ of creative expression at some stage of
their life. And it’s never too late to make the
journey.
Giselle Luske’s Creative Art Classes are $25 for a 3 ½
hour session.
See www.gallerygiselle.com or call
0407 630 776.
