REN IN OSAKA

GREAT ARTICLE IN A GLOSSY BIKE MAGAZINE in japan on the kombi ute rene's restored to use as his work vehicle

NEW YEAR'S EVE

A QUIET ONE  -  i've been playing with new ideas from some dress prints, cutting paper and reworking the plates - tomorrow i'll do some printing before it gets too hot

It's hot hot hot, 40 deg yesterday and today but the cooler seems to keep things liveable.  the birds are really enjoying the birdbath

TRAVELLING HOME

ON SUNDAY it was goodbye to sandra and patrick's lovely home after a hot and lazy christmas day with sunny,  lots of prawns and oysters, champagne, a chat to rene in osaka (cut off after 10 minutes, thank you viber)  The fires down on the ocean road raged through wye river and burned 116 homes, thank god no-one was killed.

Down to Torquay with sunny today to see jenny and freddie




i think sandra and patrick's bougainvillea
rivals my crazy one that's grown half way up the huge box tree 

A BEAUTIFUL 
SUNNY DAY 
to hit the road, bluey
was happy to be
on the move again 












we did a nostalgic drive round geelong, checked out the new library with it's amazing view of the city and the bay, the wonderfully restored bow truss (?) building in mercer st, eastern beach with its ferris wheel, a visit to susan and sean, ran into old friend gary and had a tour of his great little cottage, then onto jenny and freddy for a fun night of fish n chips with family and friends, a late and noisy night  of scrabble, music and laughter :0)

it'll be great to see susan
and sean's townhouse as
it transforms, hopefully
this year














a wander along the front beach

the beach was absolutely packed with holidaymakers

MONDAY - another gorgeous
day, we had a good walk along
the creek, such a pretty spot
and so well developed by the
council, with wooden 
platforms that were all being
used by people fishing,
the little bridge which made it
possible for sunny and i to
walk up to jen and robs to
see em on her birthday and to
meet darling little baby max

                                             what a little cherub

shenanigans under
the table with jake
and little ned (?)

IT WAS ONLY A SHORT VISIT then on the road again to the grampians to see helen and don.  lovely surprise - nephew chris was there and we had a good catchup - he's such a lovely guy, it's a shame we don't see more of each other

sisters selfie :0)

Yesterday was the long drive home on a very sunny day, hot up here but clear and fine, a beautiful sunset over the murray to welcome me home.  hoses are on now - the garden's looking pretty dry but it'll be fine. time to start the new year

CHRISTMAS MOON

THE FULL MOON was beautiful as always, harder to find a place to photograph it in the suburbs.

on our walk after dinner sunny and i thought it
was pretty funny to see this blow up santa that
looks very much like my friend steve in wentworth

CHRISTMAS TODAY

OFF TO SUNNY'S for christmas lunch, seafood and salad and champers on a hot windy day.  we were going to the park but i'm not sure we will. it sounds pretty blustery out there

later . . . we had lunch here at sandra and patrick's, this great little solid brick building keeps the weather out and we spent a very lazy laid back day, lots of eating and sleeping, a call from rene (cut off after 10 minutes, damn viber), a walk and some xmas movies.   nice :0)

         terrible fires at lorne and wye river, 50 homes burned, hopefully now it's raining (boxing day) they'll get on top of them

A FEW DAYS IN NORTHCOTE

I'VE had a few low key days, welcome after so much socialising. i've managed to see almost everyone i wanted to see, a visit to Australian Galleries to show Stuart Purves my swan pics, that was a good thing for me to do.  a visit to two publishers about current projects, picked up some nice new art supplies.
No photos, the camera's had a little holiday :0)  Been to a couple of movies, Youth (excellent) and Mississippi Grind, also good and always great to see Ben Mendelsohn in anything.
It's good to be in the same place for a number of days, i feel like i've almost been living out of the car for two weeks.

interesting pic of rene on the train with cal, drunk guy in the background

HOORAY! BACK ON THE NET

LAST SUNDAY, a lovely christmas picnic at denise's, i stayed two nights

MONDAY - a productive day,  anne and i finally finished the little books

 we made after george

 matoulis's bookbinding workshop about

 12 years ago!

                       DA DAA!!

    always great to spend time with the lamberts  :0)

   

   then i got thrashed at scrabble!

OUT ON ANNE'S VERANDAH WHILE WE PLAYED . . .

 
    SUNRISE NEXT DAY AT 6.30


We spent a morning opshopping in anglesea then i headed down to queenscliff to check out the new gallery that soula and theo mantalvanos have opened in an old church, it's a lovely building and they've done it beautifully.




A visit to janet and bevan in pt lonsdale then in for a night with gail at torquay, our traditional fish n chips and scrabble night and a walk on the beach next morning on a gorgeous day - very hot later on and the beginning of a four day heat wave

                                dogs on the beach always look so happy

then i headed into geelong,
more christmassing, this time with my sisters and partners at little creatures brewery, a fabulous use of the old classweave (?) factory down on swanston street.  a lovely night, no pics - i decided to make it a camera free zone :0) so much socialising and photographing this past week, it was nice to just sit and talk

i did take a phone pic of the town hall - we drove past on the way home and checked out the xmas projections on the facade, it looked good

FRIDAY MORNING, Corio Bay was a perfect mirror

it's getting hotter, this morning was already pretty hot when i drove
up to melbourne, forecast says 38.

UP TO MELBOURNE on friday, I installed myself at vicki's in south melbourne, a haven for three days, then i'll be over in northcote for a week.  It was great to visit penny byrne in her great studio, apartment/workshop in thornbury.  a great space with some really fascinating conservation work in progress, three totally different jobs on the go

                                                 the mesmerising otto  :0)

we went next door to a coffee shop that also houses an amazing collection of taxidermy, not my favorite thing but these were so beautifully done they were almost artworks

                                this one's real, a giant tree frog 
                                         looking like a ceramic

visited australian galleries with my swan prints today, a first for me and i'm very pleased i did it, i've never actually taken my artwork into a gallery before,  too scary but stuart's a lovely man and he was very welcoming.

MET UP with robin cowcher and leigh hobbs to see the myer xmas windows, robin's book 'lost dog' was used as the subject for the beautiful recreations of '50's melbourne.  sandra and patrick (whose house i'm in right now) both worked on the project

                                   bourke street decorations look great

    Robin looking understandingly delighted with the gorgeous work

                            leigh channels his inner kid (never too far from the surface)

                      Manchester Unity building lit up


EARLY SATURDAY MORNING AT ALBERT PARK

Caught up with myself a bit at vicki's and we caught up with each other while she got ready to fly to mexico city.  about to arrive there about now i think.  south melbourne's always a nice place to be, we went to sth melb market, joined the locals in a back lane christmas party where santa arrived, generally just tried to chill out in the hot hot weather

NOW I'M IN NORTHCOTE for a week of work and christmas with sunny