Art and Abart

School starts on Monday, National Art School in Sydney. New school, new life, same eyes.

There are a row of houses in Patonga whose only access is by boat. If you want this view... you have to be prepared to ladle water out of yo...

I am back from the Land of the Long White Cloud to the Land of Humid Februaries. My route was circuitous, Dunedin to Sydney via Brisbane as ...

This mirror was in the wonderful 'whiskey' building in Oamaru that went into receivership the week after my visit.

In Dunedin everyone thanks the bus drivers. The elderly, children in school uniforms, adolescents. Sometimes the bus driver thanks the passe...

Modaks has the world's best coffee: you get a good cup regardless of which staff member is making it. That is pretty special and the res...

Cats, Cafes and Landscapes. This sketch of the hills in NE Valley and other new drawings made around Dunedin are online at www.artsmitten.co...

Brighton Beach is just south of Dunedin. A southern Dunedin suburb. YouTube tells me this video is blocked from viewers in Germany because t...

The honeysuckle is taking over the house next door. It looks as if someone walked out one day and never returned. Honeysuckle tendrils reach...

Oamaru has a population of 20,700 and buildings to rival Berlin. Locally quarried limestone Oamaru Stone is known around New Zealand as a b...

The endless summer comes to an end. Yesterday felt like 28C. Today they forecast 17C but the thermometer said 12C.

This is Frankie. She lives in Melbourne. Purrs as she jumps uninvited onto your lap. Was rescued from the pet pound and has become her owner...

Dunedin is a university town and many houses in the northern end of town are student accommodation. The new year is about to start and stude...

Dunedin and nearby Port Chalmers are full of such wonderful art. How could I have forgotten? It is such a pleasure to be in a city where cit...

The Ralph Hotere park overlooking a milk blue Otago Harbour is a wonderful native garden. In it there are several different types of flax, a...

These houses are .... guess where... The first, third and last are in Dunedin's North East Valley. The second is in Melbourne's Brun...

Cockatoos are wonderful to draw, especially when they are tame and sit around on balcony furniture like model subjects. I have just put a se...

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 Mel...