I am writing this from Portugal, just outside Sintra for now, with the Calipo residency and the marble country of the Alentejo still ahead of me.

According to my astrological birth chart, I am quite literally sitting at the point of highest alignment on my Venus line. Venus: the planet of love. And I have to say, since arriving in Portugal, I have been feeling the love. In the generosity of my host; Sarah ( you can follow her on instagram here), in the serendipity of how this invitation came about, and in the sense that everything I have planted this year is beginning, quietly, to flower.

It feels like the perfect moment to pause, take stock and look back at the year so far, the challenges and the blessings both, because there have been plenty of each. Reflecting as I prepare to head to the iconic Pena Palace, the incredible coloured castle crowning the hills of Sintra, I can’t believe I am about to experience it in the real! A day of wonder before I travel on to the residency, keep an eye on my social media stories for real time sharing, I will also be making some of my daily travel studies available for purchase!

A dream on New Year’s Eve

This year began, as the best things in my practice often do, with a dream. On New Year’s Eve I dreamt a series of images so vivid and so compelling that they have since influenced a new body of figurative / geometric work. After decades of pure architecture and geometry, letting the figure back in has felt like something of a full circle moment. It feels like a kind of softening, a surrender, the work being less rigid and controlled than it has been, perhaps mirroring this phase of my life. More on this series soon; it is close to my heart and I am looking forward to sharing. Please let me know if you would like to see a sneak peek.

Stone

Alongside the paintings, stone has continued to claim more and more of my practice. There is something in carving that painting cannot give me: the resistance of the material, the slowness, the sense of working with deep time rather than against it. My maiden name, Mellor, traces back to a Lancashire village meaning “the bare hill,” home to an ancient quarry. So in a way stone feels less like a new direction and more like remembering something my ancestors already knew.

Which is part of what makes this trip so extraordinary, the Country is home to so many significant sacred stone sites, something I am also going to be seeing in the next few days as I travel to Vila Viçosa as a guest of Calipo for my residency, it sits in the heart of Portugal’s marble country, where quarrying has continued since Roman times. To carve stone there, to be mentored by someone experienced in this material, it is such a privilege and I do not take it lightly.

An invitation: ONIRA

While I am here, my work will be part of the ONIRA Group show and festival taking place on 23 - 26 July, and I would love you to know that this event is open to everyone. If you are in Portugal, or anywhere in Europe and tempted by creative summer weekend, please come. Truly. Come say hello and join in the magic of this experience.

The ones that got away

I want to be honest about this year, not just curate the highlights. I have pursued many opportunities in 2026 that came to nothing. Grants I did not receive, proposals that went quiet, doors that stayed shut. Sales that feel through. Anyone who lives a creative life knows this arithmetic: for every yes, there are many, many nos, and each one costs something to write, to hope for, to release.

But I have been at this long enough to know that the nos are compost. To try to not be too invested or get to disappointed. They break down into the soil that feeds the next season. This year has proven it over and over. Some of the most beautiful things on this list arrived through the exact channels the rejections cleared.

Navigating a changing art world (from a small country town)

I do all I do while parenting, and while living regionally in the Southern Grampians, this remains both my greatest challenge and my deepest blessing. I often feel very far from my “love” line. The world is changing quickly, and for artists the ground moves almost daily. Living rurally means every opportunity involves distance: airports, hours in the car, logistics upon logistics. But it also means I make my work surrounded by a particular kind of serenity, the mountains and big skies are my companions there. I have no idea what lies ahead, but for a long time now, the division between home and away has been my life.

What’s coming up

There is a lot to look forward to in the second half of the year and beyond:

• A new series launching on Rise Art. My second release with the iconic London-based art platform, coming soon.

• A finalist announcement. I have been selected as a finalist in a very popular international art prize. I can’t say much yet, but watch this space; there is more to come in the next week or two.

• My first retrospective. Thirty years of practice gathered in one place, at Horsham Regional Art Gallery, now scheduled for November 2027. Still pinching myself about this one.

• For my Australian friends: Port Fairy Literary Weekend 11- 13 of September. Put it on your calendar! I will be participating in several events with my new book, POETRY BURIED IN GEOMETRY. I would love to see familiar faces there.

• Hong Kong in March. I will be back for Hong Kong Art Fair season, continuing a relationship with that city that now spans nearly a decade.

Thank you for being here, I would love to hear from you..comments and questions are always welcome ..

Until next time..

Love and Light .. (for real)

Jasmine X

Portugal, July 2026