Il Viaggio a Reims in Sydney

Rossini's Il Viaggio a Reims is not your usual opera with a plot (however absurd) and beginning, middle and end. Instead it is a spoof on opera,  a very long (3 hour) sing with a great deal of repitition.   To the credit of Opera Australia and their collaborators (Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam Opera, Royal Danish Opera) the audience was entranced from beginning to end. Phenomenal singing and an ingenious staging. Bravo!

Teapot, little jug and Clivia flowers

Teapot, little jug and Clivia flowers

My teapot painting is finished. The teapot is a design called Amapola from the German porcelain firm Villeroy and Boch. It is about fifteen years old. I am not such fan of painted crockery but for some reason I never get tired of this design.

Addendum: I added a dropped flower for balance.

Painting domestic scenes

I have hardly posted here over the last two months because my energies have been directed toward finding somewhere permanent to live. More on that later. 

I am really missing a decent painting space, but while I wait for better I am alleviating  my property blues by  painting little domestic scenes.

Chalk drawing: teapot and milk jug

Teapot, milk jug and Clivia flowers on the easel

The teapot seems to be painting itself. It is very different from the last canvas of a vase with onions which sat on the easel and complained for such a long time. Each time I passed it I changed it, but in the end I took it off the easel and put it away, perhaps to just paint over it. It is so dark, perhaps reflecting the winter days that are now slowly receding.

Vase and onions