WHACKO - A GREAT WEEK IN TASSIE

thursday june 5

i stayed at donnie’s last night after the launch of the mildura living magazine. my article on sonja looked good, six pages with lots of pics, three of them mine with no acknowledgement and they managed to spell my name wrong on the byline!  although up the back on the social pages all the pics and info about my wentworth exhibition, they managed to get it right every time  :0\

It's great to have a first article published and lucky i had such a wonderful subject, the lovely sonja, with a big story to tell

the flights were fine, i’ve never seen such a thick cushiony sky full of cloud,  nonstop from mildura to melbourne.   i was feeling so relaxed about the trip i almost forgot to check in to my second flight. thank god the girl at the gate desk just printed a boarding pass out for me otherwise i wouldn’t have had time to get on the plane.

the TSO (tasmanian symphony orchestra) had a cab waiting so i went straight in to the rehearsal space, left my luggage and strolled over the road to lovely victoria dock to have lunch in the sun.  oysters and trevally with a champagne looking out onto the prettiest boats and old sandstone buildings.

 THE SEAGULLS ATE MY OYSTERS! i sat down at muirs lovely outdoor seafood restaurant and ordered oysters and trevalli.  when  i went inside to grab a shopping bag i’d left at the counter i returned to a plate of empty shells and i hadn’t even eaten one!   the lovely girls inside gave me another plateful  :0) 

then i headed back into the concert hall  and sat listening to magnificent music from swan lake and the peasant prince all afternoon.  it’s a wonderful orchestra

the concert hall in hobart - locally known as 'the tank'

benjamin northey takes off

actor andrew casey reads the text

                    

   this gorgeous

boy was being

naughty in the

back row with

his friend, they

were passing

a phone back

and forth and

laughing a lot

- very serious

in the 

performance 

though

the foyer

Kathryn joined me later in the day - i stayed with her
for a few nights, great to have time to catch up

Kathryn picked me up at 5 and we headed home to unpack and freshen up then we walked down to the waterfront to meet my printmaking hero barbie kjar – such wonderful images she creates.  nothing like i’d imagined her, in fact the complete opposite physically to the very dark strong featured women she depicts in her powerful work.  and damn it, i forgot to get a photo.

then home for dinner by the fire, a good end to a busy day full of travel and music.

FRIDAY  a busy day    first a trip to the radio station for an interview on Edge radio then into the concert hall at 9.30 to meet one of the schools before the first performance. they didn’t make it in time though so we went in for the concert.

KIDS KIDS KIDS  two packed performances in the morning and a sold out family concert at six - it was terrific

katy abbott

the composer explained

to the kids the whole

process of creating 

the score to the peasant

prince and demonstrated

with sections of the

orchestra.  the whole

thing was great

book signings - boxes of books were sold,  i was sitting there for half an hour before the evening performance and maybe 3/4 hour afterwards, a really wonderful experience in every way. the people who organised it all were lovely too.

the evening performance was introduced by christopher lawrence from radio national - we had a brief Q & A afterwards

 it was just wonderful, the combination of the words, images and music for the Peasant Prince part of the programme works so well and ben northey is such a lovely relaxed guy -  great at conducting and talking to the kids in a really personal way.  the music was introduced by composer katy abbott who explained her process of working out the various themes of the story and having the orchestra play them, different instruments demonstrating the same theme, violin, glockenspiel, horns, flute . . .   and my images were on a huge screen suspended above the orchestra.   the theatre was packed for the two school daytime concerts and one evening family performance, it was a great day full of energy and beautiful music.

Kathryn came to the evening concert, and katy abbott's ’s family flew down from melbourne. they must have been so proud of her, what a talent.

After the concert it was back to the waterfront to have dinner, we ended up outside at an italian restaurant called Moldino’s   - and had the best spaghetti marinara i’ve ever had.  the seafood here is spectacular.

SATURDAY   we headed down to the salamanca markets and spent a couple of hours there.  fabulous fresh vegetables at the hmong stalls and lots of interesting clothes.  then i caught the ferry to MONA and kathryn met me there in the car

a rainbow on arrival 

so much to see and what an amazing building  -  what an amazing vision

what a place, i was dead tired by this time and the 99 steps up from the ferry seemed like a kilometre but it was worth it. even without the fantastic artworks  the building alone is worth the visit and the location is perfect.  what a vision that david walsh had. i’m lucky that kathryn has worked at mona a lot so she really knew her way around. 

Dinner at home in front of the fire, i cooked an asian soup full of vegies from the market and we watched Children of a Lesser God – beautiful young william hurt, what a wonderful film that is.

SUNDAY

slept in !    loved it     then we headed into hobart and had a good brekky in the salamanca area. we both signed some books in a lovely book shop then i caught the ferry to bruny and loved the trip, standing on the top deck of the ferry watching the sun set behind me

in fuller's lovely bookshop 

Kris and Ray live in the most magnificent place, sweeping views across the water to blue layers of mountains and a lovely community of people who seem to gravitate towards the cafe kris and ray have on the point.  a wonderful location and it feels so good. it’s been great to spend time there, eat ray’s fabulous food and just take in the atmosphere of where they’re living.

dinner with 
friends,  food
to die for

lots of different little animals in tassie - this little fella was in the chicken coop

MONDAY.   Another day in bruny, i could easily live here.  ray cooked the most delicious swiss brown mushrooms on his own sourdough toast for brekky and i had a pretty relaxed morning, time out with a movie and helping kris with her knitting while they did breakfast at the cafe.  i needed just to not talk to anyone for a couple of hours, these few days have been jam packed full and i’m overloaded. it was just a nice day at the restaurant, a walk along the beach below, i visited one of kris and ray’s friends then got the ferry back here to hobart.  So good to spend time with kris and ray and see the wonderful place they have here, the cafe, the island and the community

TUESDAY  i’m heading home today, it’ll be a day of flying and i’ll collapse when i get to wenty.

THE GARDEN

one perfect long stemmed late blooming rose
- it's perfume has filled my loungeroom :0)

the three tall stems in this pot are avocados grown
from pips, i'm planting them today after my
delivery of peastraw arrives. three big holes waiting

HMMM

MAKING A NECKLACE,   where to start?

FIRST DAY OF WINTER

A LOVELY DAY HERE  it rained during the night too so everything's damp and the garden is fresh and green.  
The monoprints are coming along beautifully, another one done.  So it was great to have art vault current resident ellie malin  www.elliemalin.com here for lunch.  ellie's work is lovely, made with tiny pieces of plywood rolled up in all sorts of yummy colours and carefully placed in patterns, then printed,  layers of them.  they've been applied to a range of clothing for Gorman stores. have a look at her site.
We've printed together often at the australian print workshop - we had lunch on the deck then went in to see mia (art vault) in roller derby training.  those girls have fun

mouthguards in all colours from black to white

A NICE DAMP DAY

OH  it's so nice when it rains - it feels like the day is just saying 'do whatever you like'.   :0)   so i had a saturday kind of saturday,   a ride down the street for the paper, caught up with helen healy who'd just been to rowing,  watched some telly -  the wonderful HBO series In Treatment with gabriel byrne, did a monoprint - a double  page of the book i'm working on, and enjoyed myself.

i'll do the gardening i intended to do tomorrow :0)

Helen and i at artback, in
black and white - we looked
a bit scary in colour

on the power lines outside the backpackers in wentworth

Marg whyte's window at Ruby's Cargo  - a shop full of
hand made goodies in wenty

the irrepressible marg herself - a champion of colour over
everything 

and the star of the day - rain and more rain     just lovely

ON THE COUCH

I HAD A BINGE TV DAY -  hardly ever done that before but i started watching In Treatment,  a series from HBO starring the wonderful gabriel byrne as a psychotherapist. each season follows each of five patients through their weekly therapy sessions for six episodes - it's riveting, all so believable and moving.

so today i'll do the monoprint i meant to do yesterday :0)













It's a great time of year here, mild weather, a bit of rain a few days ago, the pressure is off as far as watering goes.  i'm going to plant my three avocado trees today, they're thriving in the pot so hopefully they'll continue happily in the ground.

RAIN TODAY

THE RUN OF WARM WEATHER has come to an end,  not too harshly though,  lots of rain but it's still mild.
just a day of running around getting large things i need while i still have the car to carry them in.   some cans of paint to keep me busy over winter, and two long folding tables to use for workshops.
We had a thunderstorm and the dump of rain has drenched the garden again, just delightful.

the clouds have been wonderful

the circus has come to town, i love the tents 

SOME ART

SHARING some John Waterhouse, i love these for their sense of design and flowing shapes, and he paints women so beautifully

BUS TRAVEL

I'VE BEEN COMMUTING to mildura by bus until i can re-register my car, today hopefully.  the bus trip is terrific, no watching the speedo, worrying about cops hiding in bushes (they're vigilant out on the open roads),  great scenery, very comfy buses with big big windows and soft seats, lots of noise on board (no one looking at their phones) and the trip seems quick.  plus the bus stops and leaves from right outside the art vault.
 AND only $2.50 an all day ticket

yesterday morning, the western sky 






 Ellie Malin has arrived
to do a residency at
the art vault. i took 
her on a stroll around
the cbd on my lunch
hour.  we've printed
together at the print
workshop and i'll be
looking forward to her
putting her complex
woodblock prints 
together again. they're
like a jigsaw of colours

www.elliemalin.com

ellie couldn't resist buying a mahdi chandler scarf from the art vault
collection of beautiful hand-dyed scarves, constantly taunting me with
their amazing range of colours. this one's beautiful indigo dyed linen.

WEEKEND AT HOME - BLISS

AFTER SIX DAYS away, most of that time driving, then days of work, appointments and trying to get the car registered,  two days at home tidying up after the painters - disarranged furniture and powdery dust through half the house - i spent yesterday and today doing artwork, deeply watering most of the garden, catching up with people down at artback, pottering in general.  it was just delightful

AFTER A WEEKEND of busy activity, what better than finishing the day with a pomegranate lime and soda outside as the sun goes down. it feels like summer here

WHOOPS

JUST REALISED my last blog post was sitting there for days unpublished. i've been neglecting my daily writing,  busy since i've been back.

Getting home late from the two day drive back up here i just dumped everything and went to bed. worked all day wednesday and thursday friday there've been painters here finishing the repairs to the ceiling where the rain came in.

Add caption

On Wednesday it was donnie's birthday lunch, a quick lunch because i was working. in the evening it was the opening of the new shows, so i worked late and didn't get home till after eight - the house strewn with all the things i'd bought back with me from my
trip to melbourne and torquay.  framed work, bags of op shop goodies, my unpacked luggage.   i just left it all and fell into bed









thursday friday there've been painters here finishing the repairs to the ceiling where the rain came in.  the assessor very kindly arranged for them to paint the whole kitchen and dining room ceilings, i meant to get a pic but i had too many other things to do.


i realised when i got home from my trip away that my rego had run out two days before. here in NSW you have to get a roadworthy every year, it's a very expensive process.  rego is over $300, a roadworthy i guess is about $120 and i don't know if i have to get anything done. 3rd party is over $450, and then there's my own insurance on top  $680 if i choose comprehensive.  AND you have to pay for your number plates every year - $50 for yucky yellow ones, $99 for black like mine (so i can still feel like a victorian :0)

so, yesterday i had to see a lawyer who's giving me free advice about my licence court case next wednesday,  and with my accountant who's organised a nice big tax refund for me (a surprise) and then an unexpected afternoon of work at the art vault.  other things to do too so i was running from one place to another all morning.

Car was in the shop early for it's RWC so i caught the bus for the first time. what a shame i didn't take the camera.  it was a whole new experience, all the noisy school kids on board, the driver yelling at them to shut up from time to time,  great new landscape to look at as we took a road i've never been on, and no having to watch my speed or find a park.  I really enjoyed it.
But at 5.30 as i went to get the bus home i remembered my car, i hadn't picked it up at 3
as i'd said i would.  I rang and the poor girl who answered was waiting with the key, and told me she should've finished at 4.30 as they always did on friday.  :0\     i'll have to buy her a gift of some kind.

sigh  -  i've been on the go non-stop for a week and a half, today at last i have saturday and sunday at home to finally put things away, rearrange the house which is a mess - the painters needed to move furniture and there are piles of framed photos, prints, ornaments, vases, computer stuff - all where they shouldn't be.

i've come home with two sample pots of paint in strong colours to try out, time to paint a couple of feature walls, a soft mid grey to go behind all my etchings and friend's work, and a red to go somewhere.   i've got a handful of colour swatches, fifties green, soft dull mauve, greentinged wheat colour,  now i just need the time.
the garden needs a weekend of watering, that'll be good to do,  and i'll get a monoprint done for the book, they're going really well.
just writing my thoughts here, clearing my head for a weekend of pottering and sorting.
now i'll see if i've got any photos to add. haven't taken many in the last few days.

a wall of rona greens 

- part of the art vault 'QUIRKY & CONTROVERSIAL' show in the main gallery

sonja and julie at the opening

Local artist and art teach chris fraser sold eleven of her drawings at the packed opening, it was  a buzzy night

dear robert and andrew at the bar

Mia has been bringing her pomegranates in, she has five trees groaning under the weight of these monster fruits - they're so dark and juicy i just cut them open and squeeze them into drinks and onto food or straight into my mouth!

compare -  mia's magnificent effort and my little babies. they're good to eat too though

 they are beautiful things

I took some bio shots of helen when i was there and

i like this one