Art and Abart

Sunset today Who can resist them, beautiful sunsets? The sunset this evening was a stunner, with the gods shining a red torch on the u...

Those with more education vote to stay (Guardian newspaper) The Scots have a very long tradition of respect for education, believing tha...

They Brexited and everyone seems to be in a state of shock, though I don't know why. It seems to me that the British people have been sk...

The woman in the seat next to me at the Australia Piano Quartet concert at the Sydney Opera House Utzon Room yesterday was reduced to tear...

Lang Lang at the Sydney Opera House last night (Photo by Christie Brewster from SSO Facebook page) I saw virtuoso pianist Lang Lang play...

"Don't throw it away before you need to, you just create more landfill," said the technician when I told him my heat pump was ...

I am a sucker for Ikea build-it-yourself furniture. My favorite toy as a child was a Meccano set and Ikea is Meccano for adults. I doubt I w...

The Australian Chamber Orchestra is a phenomenon. Last week I saw them play a concert of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven 's Grosse Fuge ...

When I was in Paris last year one of the few things I bought was some tea from the Dammann Tea shop.  It was labeled Earl Grey Yin  Zhen I ...

Back to things more prosaic -  in this case, guttering. The gutters on this old house were long past their replace-date and when they were r...

Kurtis: acrylic on canvas 100 x 70 cm My portrait of eleven year old Kurtis is finished. It is a large work (though not ginormous) but ...

Last week when I heard the Katie Noonen singing with the Brodsky Quartet (broadcast from Brisbane by ABC ClassicFM) I was sorry I hadn't...

When I saw that the Omega Ensemble had put Wagner's Tristan and Isolde Vorspiel and Lebenstod at the beginning of their concert program...

Captain Cook .  St Kilda Park, Melbourne. If you stand on a pedestal, sooner or later this is what will happen to you. You'd loo...

There are two ways to get to Melbourne airport from the city. You can take the speedy private Skybus for $18 or you can take public transpo...

Before the show Level 1 stairwell Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne is worth visiting even if you are not going  to a show. It...

Melbourne- you feel as if you are in concrete jungle, but cross the road and suddenly you are in an oasis winding along the Yarra river. ...

Rebecca Chan  is a remarkable musician whom I had heard as part of the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) which she was a member of for fi...

St Kilda Beach Park There was a cold wind blowing on the St Kilda Beach this evening, a wind that is obviously a fixture as the trees in...

Melbourne is more relaxed than Sydney and it has a network of interesting inner city laneways  lined with shops who take the art of window ...