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

THE PAST WEEK

superb autumn        

finally i'm home after a week away, recapping the week here

the weather has been amazing – it’s nearly winter but the indian summer we’re enjoying is warm and still and the river looks like a mirror.  add to that a huge full moon in clear skies at night and its pretty gorgeous

Helen and don came to stay on tuesday night on their way to broken hill,  roast lamb, apple pie and scrabble, lots of sitting out on the grass and looking at the water and the pelicans.

wednesday – work and julie is back from her six weeks away.  i had lunch with donnie and worked late, drove home with the full moon by my side.

EARLY THURSDAY

i hit the road at 8.30 and it was a full day drive to chrissie’s in northcote.  i was so tired,and yesterday was more of the same, driving all over melbourne picking things up, buying art supplies. the car is packed to the rafters.

THE DRIVE
out of mildura
- the grapevines
are looking
gorgeous, golden
and glowing in
the early morning
light

 the moon coming up

in northcote taken

in sunny's lovely

quiet street

selfie with chris

i now have sunny’s bike to ride – nice thick tyres, it’ll be good on the rough wenty road near my place

FRIDAY NIGHT i met up with martin, jackie and susan baran at enoteca for a drink. they’re all great, lovely to see them and to chance being in town at the same time as susan.

then sunny and i share a doz oysters at the good old panama dining room before driving down to torquay

I LOVE this light at panama

- a laundry basket hung

with rubber gloves,  mad

SATURDAY, up early for a walk with sunny  

passed this lovely tame king parrot on the path to the beach

barbie with friends this arvo.  beautiful autumn weather again, it’s warm and mild, we all sat outside till the mozzie’s arrived, jenny, freddie, jen and rob, gail, sunny and me.

 

SUNDAY.  another morning walk, sunny did a long run in training for a half marathon, then we all met at the RACV club and enjoyed a swim and a long hot spa.  another lazy day of reading, eating out the back, rearranging gails kitchen cupboards then denise arrived to cook a lamb roast and we had another scrabble game.  a nice weekend of chilling out in good company :0)

terrible photo - good hug  :0)

 driving home on monday, i stopped in ballarat and visited the ballarat art gallery and the Museum of australian democracy where i saw the eureka flag - impressive - and an exhibition about the making of the Dr Blake Mysteries, all shot on location there.  got close and personal with the good doctor himself :0)

ran into deborah klein in the op shop in ballarat so we caught up over a coffee. a surprise and delight to see her.

l

drove on the

the grampians in the afternoon -the car is     packed with op shop stuff - i'm out of control

beautiful mountain ducks near helen and don's in the grampians

brekky in

bed at helen

and don's

another good 

stay, scrabble

and roast :0)

then the drive 

home 

yesterday

look at that colour - i must be home