Number 8 Wire

What have Number 8 wire and Open Source Software got in common? Find out from New Zealand's eloquent Minister for Information Technology.

Flash glasses

My project paintings are finally finished, or at least I think so. I have painted a series of self portraits. I put my specs on in this painting, bought in Sydney in June.

I am enjoying the freedom of acrylics ... so much easier than watercolour. But watercolour has its own charm.

Modaks portraits

Painting people while sipping a long coffee is a pastime I particularly enjoy. I have been painting at Modaks this past year and today I hung the portraits. They look great along their long wall and people are having fun identifying themselves and their friends.

Dunedin goes international

Air New Zealand has announced they are going to fly international flights to Dunedin under their own flag from March 2008 instead of under the FreedomAir banner, an airline not sold through travel agents. So Dunedin will be on the international radar.

Muppet sings Yellow

I don't know ... I just like it...

Signs and symbols

Rita Angus held a cigarette as a sign of her independence in 1936. I wasn't sure what my image should hold. Things that signify women's independence? Ummm. Birth control devices? In 1923 Gerda Overbeck drew a woman buying a contraceptive douche over the shop counter. She called it 'Prostitute'. A pretty amazing picture when you think of it. When I suggested holding condoms Greta was amused and suggested something more personal.

I had almost finished my painting and still I couldn't decide. Then I told the story of the greenstone Koru to Alison and she said 'well you could use the Koru in your painting'.
The Koru. Perfect, just what I was after. Thank you ladies.

Long evenings

Daylight saving began last Sunday so we now have long evenings. I have been painting inside all day so I went for a walk this evening up the hill. It was clear and calm, the birds were singing and every now and again the sweet fragrance from one of the many flowering plants wafted by. The sun set as I was coming back down the hill at 7:45.

Rita and her cigarette

I am reading about New Zealand artists and have decided to paint a self portrait with a nod to the Self Portrait painted by Rita Angus in 1936-37 when she was 28. (Copy below - official copy can be found on Auckland Gallery website)

The painting is hanging in the Dunedin Art Gallery at the moment. I find it both compelling and repelling. The cigarette is said to be a symbol of women's independence. I have not quite decided what symbol might be appropriate for my painting.

A gift of greenstone

When I arrived in New Zealand, I bought a little ponamu (greenstone) Koru in Greymouth to signify new beginnings. I like it a lot it but somehow whenever I wore it I felt there was something wrong. The Maori Elder who helped me with my identity project last term told me that greenstone should only be worn if it is a gift and that my koru had been telling me that.

Today I received a gift ... some very cute earrings from friends at school made of greenstone, paua and silver. I have worn them since I got them and this time I feel delighted and comfortable.

Techie shopping

>>at the tuv shop.
Something to smile about. (Thanks Pia!)

Springtime in Dunedin

Spring has sprung. Blossom petals waft down onto the Leith River and students stop for a minute to look as they hurry between classes.

Sculpture workshop

I am learning sculpture techniques by making kiwis ... first a model in cardboard. It had to be at least one meter long and not use glue or other sticking/stapling mechanism.

Then a metal kiwi ...

Then a wooden kiwi...

Ceramic magic

Music again. Music of course.

Yesterday we unloaded the kiln. The good, the bad and the ugly. The ceramics that had been given up as failures were often the ones with that 'zing'. The magic of ceramics is a magic difficult to control. A bit like watercolours really.

Up and down again

Yesterday was 22C and out came the T-shirts. Today is 7C and there was snow on the hills when we woke this morning.

Transformation

Ceramics is magic. Just a bit of heat and smoke is all it takes to transform this:

To this:

Late winter blue skies

Today dawned clear and blue. I haven't painted outside since autumn but the day was too nice to waste so I took myself up the High Road on Otago Peninsula.

The view over the morning harbour was stunning.

By the time I left the mists had risen and the view was crisper.

Prunus

Spring is arriving. The Prunus beside the ceramics studio is in flower. Yaaaay!

Ceramics

I have never had much of a feel for ceramics and I found the first week in the ceramics workshop rather underwhelming. Slowly though, I realised that you need to develop an eye to appreciate ceramics.

Then yesterday, when we got our first work out of the kiln, I suddenly understood ceramics-enthusiasts. Magically, our mundane pots were transformed into works of art, with crackled pinkish glaze with green and reddish tinges.

These pots were produced with a Raku firing, a Japanese method. It is like an alchemists laboratory with lots of smoke and fire and it turns exposed clay black.

Boots

I have progressed to the ceramics workshop .... from digital art to ceramics, it is quite a jump. We are having a cold snap and the ceramics workshop is not well heated so I have taken to wearing my hiking boots to class. Like everything else in the workshop they get their share of mud spatters. Today I noticed a lot of hiking boots in Queen Street. Sensible footwear for Dunedin in August.

Bubbles

This is a little bit of a poster I made with photoshop on the way to making a movie. In my movie the bubbles float over the Otago landscape.