It's up up and away again for me to Japan- leaving 4th of September via Melbourne for a new artistic adventure bundle! I am thrilled to be artist in residence at MeiPAM Gallery in Shodoshima for two months and soo excited to see what is in this next bag of tricks.

Thank you very much to all that attended and contributed to my solo show at In Good Company- such a wonderful successful experience to wrap up my investigative art trip around Japan in March to June. As outlined in my objectives before leaving 'ta da!' here's the fruits of my labour- and mighty tasty interesting produce they are! Get thee to the 'In Good Company' page to view.

In Good Company are an incredible creative team offering great opportunities for innovative brains in Welly- pop on down if you haven't already and get immersed in a hive of talent. But before I do just this again in the Asian isles, I needed to take something I had my eye on for a closer inspection...

⁀⊙﹏☉⁀ (̃⊙.o ⊙.◎) ❤ (̃⊙.o ⊙.◎) ⁀⊙﹏☉⁀

The MV has always intrigued and tickled my fancy- beautiful lines, immaculate finishing and some s.e.r.i.o.u.s power and specs. So not one to sit on my laurels I picked through the snow/ heavy rain and high winds of Wellington winter and placed an educated guess (with fingers xd!) on Saturday the 22nd to ride her with my favourite riders over the Rimutakas to Martinborough for lunch and back. The 'Saturday run' to Welly moto's, and where I cut my teeth learning how to ride as I grew up between the Wairarapa and Wellington.

The Rimutaka Hill road is a motorcyclist's dream- technical, complex and ever changing in conditions. It's appeal is often tinged with tragedy and is classified as one of the most dangerous roads in New Zealand.

An arctic southerly and crisp early morning with clear skies- I'm in my element- layer up the cashmere and get the leathers on.. I was grinning from ear to ear... and still am!

The Brutale is anything but.. more like a cat on a hot tin roof! Super responsive and not engineered for around town it's on the open road and speedy cornering that she really comes into her own. The power band sitting in snugly and with a truly cheek flushing purr at 5-6,000 rpm. Being nimble and light makes manoeuvring easy and fun- although not quite as responsive to weighting the foot pegs as the Triumph. Braking: amazing, controls and positioning: compact, comfortable and easily informative. Show me another sports bike that can make a brown seat look smoking?! Only a couple of (omg- so minimal) things of note- the travel from 1st to 2nd is long, and the surging in lower gears around town- well you get used to it super quick and lets be honest- what are you still doing in town?!

I took the new Ducati Monster for a two day adventure out to the Izu Peninsular in Japan three months ago and weeeelllllll enjoyed it- you can read about the adventure HERE . Infamously comparing this and the Triumph Street III to ladies on a night out- so keeping with tradition: If Miss Agusta joined the team- gawdblimmmmey. She's Italian, all performance with no bluff.. and just as likely to slap and kiss you... ;) x