Sunday, January 31, 2010
Antipodean houses ...
These houses are .... guess where...
The first, third and last are in Dunedin's North East Valley. The second is in Melbourne's Brunswick.
The first, third and last are in Dunedin's North East Valley. The second is in Melbourne's Brunswick.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Sulphur crested cockatoos
Cockatoos are wonderful to draw, especially when they are tame and sit around on balcony furniture like model subjects. 
I have just put a series of cockatoo drawings online
at artsmitten.com
I have just put a series of cockatoo drawings onlineat artsmitten.com
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Ceres .... art and nature
I just discovered what must be the best use of land under high tension wires that I have ever seen. Ceres is a community based garden in Melbourne's Brunswick, a garden with a difference. Amongst the vegetable gardens and fruit trees there is a lily pond.
Walk a little further and you see whimsical sculptures with chooks scratching around them.
A notice on a fence describes the work involved with the free range chickens and invites people to take part. 
There is a green technology workshop, a solar paneled ablutions block, various descriptive projects that show you how water and electricity is used, a bicycle shop and a cafe selling local organic products that is very hard to walk past. Beside the cafe is a big "350" sign made of cut-outs. It is a sign that unites people around the world who are fighting to make our governments commit to 350 ppm CO2 in the atmosphere 
Walk a little further and you see whimsical sculptures with chooks scratching around them. 
A notice on a fence describes the work involved with the free range chickens and invites people to take part. 
There is a green technology workshop, a solar paneled ablutions block, various descriptive projects that show you how water and electricity is used, a bicycle shop and a cafe selling local organic products that is very hard to walk past. Beside the cafe is a big "350" sign made of cut-outs. It is a sign that unites people around the world who are fighting to make our governments commit to 350 ppm CO2 in the atmosphere 
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Yarra swim
The Yarra River runs from wooded hills in the east through Melbourne to the sea. 
Only about 40 minutes East of the center of Melbourne you can swim in the Yarra and feel as if you are a thousand miles from anywhere.
Only about 40 minutes East of the center of Melbourne you can swim in the Yarra and feel as if you are a thousand miles from anywhere.
On the road: colours and varnish
It takes about 7 hours to travel from Sydney to Albury by car and longer if you make a detour to Canberra to see the Masterpieces from Paris exhibition at the National Gallery, an exhibition of paintings from the Musée d'Orsay, Paris. What surprised me about some of the paintings were the unreal very shiny varnished surfaces.
The colours in Vincent VAN GOGH's Starry night [La nuit étoilée] 1888 above (picture from the NGA website)were not dissimmilar to those out the window of the car to the south of Canberra on the way to Albury.
The colours in Vincent VAN GOGH's Starry night [La nuit étoilée] 1888 above (picture from the NGA website)were not dissimmilar to those out the window of the car to the south of Canberra on the way to Albury.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Maribor Music
Finally, finally. It took a while, but now many of the drawings and paintings I made at the wonderful Maribor (Slovenia) Music Festival in September are online in a gallery at www.artsmitten.com.
The artists above are Melvin Tan and Klemen Hvala.
The artists above are Melvin Tan and Klemen Hvala.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Friday, January 01, 2010
Sydney's Blue Fireworks
Happy New Year! Sydney's Fireworks were blue this year (well, amongst other colours).
Blue is sexy according to the organisers, even if it is one of the hardest colours to recreate in pyrotechnics.
I spent my New Year's Eve making blue fireworks cards and postcards (click on the blue links to see them.)
Blue is sexy according to the organisers, even if it is one of the hardest colours to recreate in pyrotechnics.
I spent my New Year's Eve making blue fireworks cards and postcards (click on the blue links to see them.)