What's been happening over the past two weeks? 

i hand-coloured this bathers print 'Esther's Sister' 




Survived some heavy seas down at the yacht club - fun!

Each month we celebrate birthday - sarah, stella and gael are august babies

we had our first knitters

group at the general store,

there have been two now

and i'm hoping it keeps

going - a nice social thing

to do. this is joy in her

amazing octopus hat

Karen greeting the morning with a few seagulls

I went for a walk up Ibbotson Street near my place and this beautiful group of red-browed finches turned up :0)

FINALLY!! I've got all my artwork up off the floor and onto the walls. the rooms seem so much more spacious now i can see to the skirting boards and it's lovely to be able to look at all the works again.

THIS SEAL HAS BEEN RESIDENT down near the yacht club for a few weeks now, recuperating from an injury.  I hope he's getting better, fishermen say he is, they keep an eye on him and he's swimming now

ANOTHER WALK down Ibbotson Street and this group of yellow-tailed black cockatoos was munching on pinecones.  there were several groups i couldn't see until they all flew off, must have been at least fifty of them - that beautiful slow flight and the unique sound of their calls, love em

SUNNY AND ETTA HAVE JUST GONE after two nights here.  we cooked, op shopped, etta discovered the joys of my hose fitting and spent a lot of time chasing sunny around the yard 😄  Lovely to just have time with them both, they came down to the beach this morning after my swim.  Jenny and freddie called in yesterday for lunch and chocolate cake for sunny's birthday.  they helped me start disassembling the plan drawers so i can rearrange the studio.  i need space if i want to hold classes and everything looks so different now that trent has come and put in the new glass doors and windows where the old metal garage doors were.

     The beginning of reorganising the space

PICS FROM THIS MONTHS SWIMS

AUGUST ALREADY

JULY was a bit of a down time for me, i often feel a bit glum in winter - all that grey.  but it was nice to get together with the girls for greek lunch at Mavs in Geelong.  We've decided to make it a monthly catch up which will be lovely.  i miss our old thursday night drinks and after living so far away for so long it's nice to be able to whip into town to see them all.

I've just been working on the house, repairing broken patches in the slate floor by filling them in with mosaic, mooching around and feeling like i'm not getting anything done.  but trent came round and is quoting on putting all the new windows in the studio, so i'll have a lightfilled space for the warmer weather :0).  I'm still dealing with a stiff neck and dodgy shoulderblade but i'm getting help and exercise.

the end of the month was the highlight - i went to melbourne on the portarlington ferry for the first time.  what a trip, leaving just on sunrise and arriving through docklands, seeing a whole new view of melbourne and so many buildings i haven't seen before. 

i saw three exhibitions - Spirit Rising, fabulous rooms of indigenous art installations upstairs in flinders st station.  the ballroom work was just stunning as was the space itself.  then across the road to ACMI for Goddess - glamour, power, rebellion  Fab costumes, photos, clips and information about the history of women and power in the film industry, then up to NGV to see Pierre Bonnard, rooms full of wonderful paintings, photos and prints slightly diminished by the very big design of the exhibition, advertised as a feature.  i thought it was unnecessary and distracted from the gentle nature of the works. on its own it was attractive but i didn't see the point of trying to complement Bonnard's work. 

ACMI - a beautiful

outfit worn by Tilda 

Swinton in

'Orlando'

- never seen it,

must watch

my favorite - Mae West's platforms, worn 
80 years before Lady Gaga, they added
to Mae's tiny 5' and were instrumental
in creating her famous sashaying walk

Pierre Bonnard show - also works by Vuillard and

other contemporaries including the Lumiere

brothers and their early photos and film

    the amazing ballroom installation, moving projections on an Uluru 

    colored termite mound shape, the cyclic seasons, growth, death . . .

    it was absorbing and wonderful

It was a full day, i also had a look inside st paul's cathedral and a sunny lunch at Time Out watching the people in fed square :0).     then a tram out to sunny's for an evening with family

NEXT DAY - a full day with sunny and etta, museum, pub lunch, 

time in the park.  just lovely