Boxing Day

Boxing Day. The day to wake up late, snooze on the sofa, recover from the rigors of the day before, dream about the days to come.

Dancing Violins to Make You Smile

Seasons Greetings! A bit of whimsy make you smile in this, our turbulent 2011/12.

The English Oak table

My big old English Oak (no longer available according to the repairman) table was damaged on the way across the Tasman and was so wonky I was afraid it might collapse on whoever leaned on it. Three weeks ago the specialist repairman picked it up and today it returned, solid as a rock.

English Oak table, 25 years old and as good as new.

I had become used to the scratches on the tabletop but it has been revarnished, so I will have to start taking care of it again. I made a set of batik chair covers to protect the chairs (re-upholstered in Dunedin) from the sticky finges of small guests.

Glass and Gandhi

Today I saw Philip Glass's opera Satyagraha about Gandi's life in South Africa, the latest of the New York Metropolitan Opera productions.  (If you are an opera fan and have not yet discovered the Opera in HD series being played at movie houses all over the world two weeks after opening night, you are missing something very special.)

Satyagraha reminded me of Wagner's operas because it plays on two levels at once. The words sung by Gandi and other characters in the opera are all discourses from the Indian philosophical text the Bhagavad Gita and are sung in Sanscrit. (Surtitles translate the essentials). The story is told in action and improvisational puppetry, performed in this instance by the wondrous The Skills Ensemble.

Satyagraha: Photo form the Metropolitan Opera Website

Sanscrit text and puppetry action sounds weird but it works. The weaving of philosophical questions through the action turns out to the intellectually and emotionally very satisfying. The music is both meditative and thrilling. If you have a chance, go and see it.

Review by Opera and Medicine 
Review by Jeffrey Johnson

Moon eclipse

I saw the moon eclipse last night. The moon was reddish as predicted and very eerie. It was unearthly in a strange way and I am glad I woke and saw it. A reminder of how small and insignificant we are. Judging by the news of squabbling at the climate summit in Durban, we are not only insignificant but not clever enough to save what we have from ourselves.

Moon eclipse begins, but my little digital camera did not capture the red tinge and eerie feel of the moon, let alone all the bright stars around it.

NASA has a great little video of what I saw.

Ceramic Violin Wall Plaque

There is something charming about ceramics that is hard to put your finger on. Is it because we know they are made from clay, or is it the colours? I am not sure. This 'ceramic violin' piece was made in 2010

Fly screens

In March when I painted the peeling window frames I took off the fly screens and put them in the garage to paint later.  I found them again the other day waiting patiently in the corner, so out came the paint pot. I finished the job today and screwed them back into place.

La Nina is bringing Sydney lots of showers and very cool weather, but hopefully summer will eventually turn up and I will need these screens.

Christmas Lights

If you need a little pre-Christmas cheer you should come to my house at dusk. You can't help but be impressed by the lights on the house across the road. As dusk turns to dark Christmas carols flood the street, lights twinkle and cars drive by slow motion, or stop to watch.

The proud owner tells me that buses will be driving by to have a look as well.

Sydney ...

I love Sydney and as I sort through my Sydney paintings I find I have a lot of the Sydney Opera House, a building which has an aura about it not unlike that of Uluru.  Perhaps others like this building as much as I do, and for them I have a Christmas special this year

Sydney Opera House (2008)

Garage shelves

At last, 7 months after moving, I am screwing together my Ikea shelf. It is probably the tenth time this shelf has been dismantled then reassembled. One of the wood props is a little bent and it is a fiddle to assemble. The ants had been busy in the corner of the garage. The planks propped there were covered in ant eggs, so I took them outside and lay them on the grass while the ants scurried around rescuing their eggs.

After assembling the shelf I realised I had measured the garage corner incorrectly and the shelf doesn't fit. So I have stopped for a cuppa while I figure out whether to put it somewhere else or if I should bite the bullet, unscrew it and start again.

Later: I unscrewed my shelf then screwed it together again in the smaller configuration but it still didn't fit. But it fits sideways and that is perhaps better as I will be able to check it for ant activity. Ants are very active in Australia. When I first arrived here I put some boxed ceramics in the garage. A couple of weeks later when I unpacked them they were full of ants eggs. Luckily I had stored ceramics and not paintings in the boxes.

Jacarandas at Patonga

Last Tuesday I joined my local 'paint out' group despite cloudy skies as it was the first Tuesday since I moved here that I have had time to join them. The group painted at Jacaranda Avenue in Patonga (NSW).

Watercolour: Jacaranda tree in Patonga

The ground under the trees was carpeted in purple, so by next week this view will be green/green instead of purple/green. Jacarandas might be pretty, but they don't provide any food for local birds so I wont be planting them in my garden.

Ducks in Woy Woy

Ducks are some of my favorite creatures. Their body construction makes it almost impossible for them to hurt anyone (try pecking with a duck-bill, or punching with a flipper) but  ...

their mothering skills leave a lot to be desired. Ducklings seem to survive more by luck than good management.

This mother duck took her eleven very little ducklings on sightseeing tour through the back streets of Woy Woy.

Wagner homage in the garden

In among the Agapanthas and palm trees sits my largest ceramic piece: Homage to the Music of Richard Wagner

What people have said about Wagner's music and what Wagner said about himself,  are inscribed along its belly.

Would Wagner be surprised that a ceramic piece called Homage to the Music of Richard Wagner sits in an Australian garden? Oh no, I don't think so. He would probably regard it is only fitting.

Garden dancers

A little bit of fun from the ceramics workshop.
These dancers ....

now dance on the old BBQ in the garden.

Our throw-away society

The knob on my coffee machine got so tight it now needs a spanner to turn it. The place I bought the machine has closed down so I rang the makers (Sunbeam) to ask where I could take it to get fixed. They gave me the address and told me to take the original receipt.

Coffee machine, spanner and small ceramic music bowl made at NAS last year.

"That's all okay, " said the man behind the counter after he had had a look at the receipt. "You can take it home again."
"But the knob doesn't work."
" Oh you'll get another sent to you within a week or so."

 Addendum: the new machine arrived today (14 Nov) - a newer and much flasher model. Ah, but will it make better coffee?

Sunbeam coffee machines : Old Model 1400C on the left and new model 4820 on the right (with functioning knob).

Little fridge, big fridge

Is a barfridge big enough? My experiement started yesterday when I bought a bar fridge from Aldi. Everything that was in the old 1978 brummer fits in, but I am not sure the little fridge will be big enough when guests are in the house. Still, if I never try I'll never know.

Little bar-fridge with big old 1978 model (which has a painting by Sam Sharpe of  Dunedin propped on top).

Engobe Pot

My experience is that it takes time to evaluate your own works of art. Some paintings I've liked on completion remain my favorites, others get turned to the wall. It can work the other way as well.

I didn't like this little pot, an experiment with engobes, when I took it out of the kiln in Dunedin but now I find it rather cute. It is easier to evaluate others work and my teacher Jim liked this pot from the start. (That touch of green engobe was his stain.)

The Love of the Nightingale

Richard Mill's (pic below) opera The Love of the Nightingale was well worth going to the opera to see. It re-told a Greek myth, was very violent but also thought provoking. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. What had I been expecting I wonder?

Richard Mills

Tomorrow, Tuesday, I am looking forward to seeing Richard Mills conducting his own opera The Love of the Nightingale at the Sydney Opera House. It has got great reviews.

Richard Mills, sketched on 25 October at a 'Ring Cycle 2013'  function in Sydney.

Native Australian Plants

My long term project is to transform my front garden into a more useful space and today at the Woytopia Festival I joined the initiative to bring small birds back into the garden. In return I was given two native plants, a native Geranium and a Lomandra, a long leafed plant that has big spiky flowers the birds love.  Then I bought a rosemary plant to add some scent.

From left: ceramics made in Dunedin, then Geranium, Lomandra, and Rosemary 

What the tags say:
Pelargonium australe, Wild Geranium soft hairy sprawling perennial, tolerant of coastal conditions and sandy soils. Mauve flower heads appear Nov - May.
Lomandra longifolia, perennial to 1m. Glossy mid green foliage. Tolerant of sandy spoils. Full sun to part shade, well drained soils, benefits from extra water and fertiliser.
Rosemary: doesn't have a tag but my mother recommends that plants with sweet smelling leaves be planted near paths so you can touch the leaves as you pass and take the scent with you.