Helen Hopcroft: artist-in-residence July 2013

Sophie at the beach, July 2013, photograph by Helen Hopcroft  

First of all, profound gratitude for letting me stay at Gunyah. Sometimes you don’t realise how stressed you are until a quiet space in your life comes along. As soon as I walked into this house, the weight began to lift.

In terms of work, my most productive time was at night, sitting by the fire, after my daughter (Sophie) went to sleep. I’ve been working on a novella and something about Gunyah brought a new clarity to this writing project. While there is still a lot of work to do, I have a clear sense of where it’s heading, which is invaluable. I’ve gone from having a mess of ideas to an organised narrative framework.

The sensual stuff:

~ Best fish and chips at ‘Hook n’ Cook’ run by local fisherman ‘Smasher’. I’m curious about how he got his moniker, but didn’t like to ask.

~ Happiest shop award goes to the Tea Gardens Ice Cream Shack. The tiramisu gelato is decent and the staff are sweet.

~ The Cornerstone Kitchen in Tea Gardens has a coffee/cake happy hour for $4, and I think it runs between 2-3pm, just when the blood sugar starts to tank. 

Helen Hopcroft, July 2013

To find out more about Helen's practice visit her website www.helenhopcroft.wordpress.com

Sophie in a tree, July 2013, photograph by Helen Hopcroft