Helicopters were firebombing today. “Bombs away” and the mountains were ablaze.
Quite mesmerising watching that curling smoke.
Orange flames snaked their way downwards. In the twilight the mountains glowed a gorgeous orange against the darkening sky. No camera for that one sorry, but you can imagine how lovely it looked.
Busy, busy again, a longer post tomorrow I promise. I have to find my mortar & pestle - an email from Uni requesting I bring one next week, very exciting.
Today I kicked the cat off my big carved camphorwood chest in my bedroom. Jez wanted a jumper to go to the skate park. Up until today it hasn’t been remotely chilly enough to fish a jumper out of storage.
Jumper duly delivered I continued fossiking through the contents of the chest. Found some clothes from the 80′s that I not only painted, but wore everywhere. 1985 was a good year for Fantasy Novels I’m thinking. I read ‘em all!
This was the front of my dress. I even attached emerald green gems for the Dragon’s eyes.
And the back.
I had BIG permed hair, and loooong dangly earrings at the time. I’m glad I kept this dress and the other top, if only to prove how bad the fashions were in the 80′s!
But the REAL treasures I found at the bottom of the chest were:
a very old, very heavy, silk kimono that belonged to my mother. Last worn at a Murder Mystery Party set in ancient Asian times, I had completely forgotten about it. I’ve dug a timber curtain rod out of the garage and it’s going on the wall as soon as the Man comes back in from his run.
A very old embroidered silk baby sling that my mother was carried in, and in turn carried me in. Once ironed, it’s going to grace our red chaise.
What beautiful, wonderful treasure!
Makes spiders seem almost cuddly.
On Sunday the cat spent several hours looking up into the tree outside my studio. I went to investigate and found this.
When I showed my neighbour, he said ‘that’s only a baby python, I’ve got skins in the trees 4 mtrs long”. Very reassuring.
Not sure if I’ve shown you the photos he took recently of the python in the trees which overhang our yard.
I received a reply by email from the Tropical Zoo about this snake (see end of post).
Well today I saw a snake that was not a python, a couple of metres from my car in the overhanging tree. Maybe the warmth of the car engine attracted him (it was pretty cold this morning for the Tropics).
When I sent off an email with photos to the Tropical Night Zoo, they kindly sent back this reply:
“These are all Common Green Tree snakes, nothing to worry about unless you happen to be a frog! Their diet is approx 90% frogs.
They won’t eat caged birds and your other pets don’t have to sleep with one eye open.”
He was happy to have his photo taken, but watched every move I made. He’s gone now, I don’t know where. The manhole cover is off the ceiling now. I still don’t know what’s up there, unless I get up and crawl about with a torch. After the Zoo Man’s email (below), I don’t think that’s going to happen:
“This one is an Amethystine Python commonly called a scrub python or “Scrubby”. They are
You should lock up wee dogs and cats while they are around as these snakes find them very tasty. Hopefully they will take out your bandicoots.
UPDATE:
Since this post we have been inundated with pythons, stalking, catching and eating creatures right before our eyes! To see click on the posts below:
“Do I prefer pesky pythons, or slithery snakes”
That crazy Sunbird is at it again. She is obsessed with singing, and now dancing with her reflection. Over coffee yesterday with our neighbour, he told us that she has ruined the rubber strips on his car windows, where she will sit for hours with her reflection as companion.
If she can also see herself in the wing mirror as well as the window, she goes into raptures.
Today she was dancing, which was something new.
She doesn’t seem to mind if you watch her either.
An OCD Sunbird for sure. Who leaves a trail of poop wherever she dances.
Another yellow guest is raking in the native bees on our front deck.
I try and save them, but they constantly hurl themselves into the sticky web. Every little white blob in the web was a hapless tiny native bee. How many bees can one Northern Jewelled Spider eat?
He is so shiny and stripey, just like an enamelled brooch sitting in the middle of a perfectly shaped web.
Underneath he wears polka dots.
I am not a fan of spiders, but there is something quite mesmerizing watching this one go about his day. He’s never in a hurry, ambling slowly over to the latest bee, injecting it with something horrid, then going back into the middle of the web for a snooze. He’s about the size of a 5 cent piece now, and will get to about 20c worth. If he lasts that long. He has precariously built his web right alongside some huge hairy monster who’s web is well over a metre wide. This little jewel may well be dinner for his neighbour some night soon…..
Opening night. “Get there on the dot at 7.30pm” I was told by someone from Kickarts. Pick up interstate visitors, rush rush rush, get there by 7.30 only to be told “It’s all over” by a little boy at the door. What the??
6pm was the start time. 7pm was the live dance performance in the exhibition space.
Damn.
Still, a glass of bubbly, and a chat to the artists soon revived the spirits.
Friends since we were just wee things, we stand in front of the suitcase cavern I helped construct.
There have been some tweaking to the interior. They are real shed python skins from the artists’s Tablelands property. Big Mamas by the girth of them.
The central Museum Display case has had some small interior changes as well.
Bugs and bones fascinate me as well. If you get a chance, get along to see this absorbing installation.
I was also honoured to be asked to submit a piece for a forthcoming exhibition entitled “BIG”. Problem is, deadline for submissions is the 7th of next month. I should be saying “No Problem!”, right?
The babies were a hit with our visitors as well. The youngest asked me “Can you eat them?” He even licked them to make sure. How cute is that.
After a whirlwind few days our visitors have headed back south. For many years all of our visitors came like “Wise Men from the East”. It’s hard getting used to thinking “from the south” now. Saying goodbye to dear friends is so hard.
Time, why does it speed by so fast these days?
Made it by the skin of my teeth again! So much going on right now- including the exhibition Official Opening at Kickarts tonight. I can feel the butterflies already – I’ll be right once I have a glass of bubbles in my hand.
My submission this week to Illustration Friday was inspired by a couple of things that sit in my Naturalist’s Collection, and also by the memories of giving birth. “Enough already!” went hand in hand with all that pushing!
The nest is from our old hibiscus tree in Perth, sadly fallen to the ground when we did a hard prune back. The Emu egg is from a Royal Show exhibitor who runs an emu farm. Imagine the size of the basket used to collect the eggs on that farm!
On Saturday night we were privileged to be asked to have “Dinner on the house” at a brand new Cairns fine dining restaurant. It hasn’t opened to the public yet, so we were the first to sit at the tables, read the menus and soak up the sumptuous atmosphere.
We had a table by the new gardens and waterfall pool, all beautifully lit with inground uplights. But the most beautiful light was rising a huge golden yellow behind the pyramid of Earl Hill in the distance. I did take several photos, but as I had the antique 2megapixel camera, they are hardly worth even mentioning, let alone showing you. The other diners around us “oohed and ahhed” and all had their camers out. The glowing Full Moon cast a very special ambience that not even the brand new designer furnishings could match.
The menu was rather special as well, such choices! For starters Plump Oysters of course.
Two shot glasses, one of lime juice, the other chilli.
For mains did I go with the eye fillet of Wagyu Beef or Wild Barramundi? I’d never had wild barra before, too tempting!
It was crusted with a fine layer of crunchy toasted sesame seeds – just delicious!
For sweeties (for me the most important part of the meal), I chose the mango cheescake covered in crushed berries. Heaven in a ramekin. So good there wasn’t even time for a photo to be taken. It demanded immediate eating!
Later we walked back to the car under the light of that lovely moon. It was such a balmy summer-like evening. The palm trees overhead cast wavy lines over everything, even way too full bellies! A delicious night.
PS. I’ve just come from another gorgeous dinner on the beachfront (interstate visitors provide a good excuse to eat out). First time I’ve forgotten to take the camera. I tried a whole roast Flounder tonight, another fish to cross off the list. PLUS a sampling of 3 decadent deserts. I’ll have to start exercising again at this rate….
So what do I have to show for a week’s intensive tuition? Raised blood pressure I’m sure! Cursing fickle feathers and my own inadequacies went hand in hand with my small successes. I completed some new pieces, as well as administering plastic surgery to 2 paintings from last year.
I used the photo below for reference. Now that it’s Dry Season, our resident pair of Forest Kingfishers patrol our yard for breakfast.
The next painting was also from photos taken in the yard. I can’t tell male from female.
I’ll going to paint in a few water droplets on the front kingfisher. Haven’t tried that before so will study up first.
A “28″ parrot from WA, so called for it’s screeching “28! 28!”
So where to from here? For all the agony, stress and heart palpitations painting gives me, it is a compulsion to finish once I start. Hence, over the years I have learnt not to start!
How to swap Procrastination with Motivation? Anyone have any suggestions?
Last day, Friday. What a wonderful week of observing and absorbing, learning and trying, becoming full to overflowing with inspiration and enthusiam.
Many chose to spend the better part of the day wandering through the Tanks, looking at what all the other groups have been creating.
This is Mike, he was tutoring big brush watercolours, concentrating on flowers and cyrstal.
He wore the most fabulous shirts and cowboy boots each day. You could hear the “clip clop” of those Texan boots a mile off.
The beginning of his gorgeously coloured piece.
Finished demo.
Mike is also an accomplished bird and water artist. This is a full size sheet painting. Big. Scary big.
This is the wall where he and his students displayed their finished work. I think I’ll be signing up for his class next year. After straining over miniscule paintings using brushes only a few hairs wide, I’m needing something big & loose!
This is Naomi, she is in my photography class at Uni. She is trying oil painting for thr first time. The subject matter was a still life I put together for photography last semester – my chillies, boar jawbone, cocky feathers, split nautilus shell etc.
This is Helen, with her oil on paper Bromeliad painting. The photo does not do it justice.
Other beautiful broms were painted.
I think this was done by Clare. You can almost dip your fingers into that pooled water.
The exhibition was smoothed along with glasses of good wine and plenty of delicious foods.
The following are some of Paul’s work.
He is just so quick, it’s sickening.
I asked on the last day if he could do a demo showing outstretched wings. He bashed these quackers out in next to no time at all. Maybe an hour and a half? 30 years of experience certainly makes a difference. I agonise over a single feather for hours.
A kooka appeared before our very eyes like magic. He is a true talent.
No more room in this post – I’ll sort out my paintings and put them up in another post, as far away from Paul’s painting s as possible!
“What a gorgeous place this is!” say all the visitors to The Tanks. I uttered the very same words last year at my first ArtEscape. As part of the Botanical Gardens complex, the old WWII Tanks serve a much more peaceful purpose than their intended use.
Set into the rainforest at the foot of Mount Whitfield, it is a tranquil getaway so conducive to creating works of beauty.
A giant Quandong tree grows just outside Tank 2. Favourite food of the shy Cassowary.
Heliconias hang like giant necklaces.
Red Gate Hill was once again the setting for the 100+ group photo. Hopefully photos (on DVD with soundtrack!) ready in a couple of weeks.
There was a kookaburra sitting atop the gate watching proceedings. By the time I got my camera, he’d moved on into the canopy.
Every seat in the parklands is not your average seat. They are all works of art in themselves.
Even the rocks are decorated.
This Northern Jewelled Spider was busy spinning and weaving. I could watch spiders at work for hours.
No time for that though. A quick stretch of the legs with the camera and then it’s back to work. There’s painting to be done!
Cindy Lane
A happy artist living by the beautiful beach in Western Australia, I teach weekly Perth art classes in pastels, acyrlics, watercolours & calligraphy.Next pastel workshop Saturday February 18
Enrolments now being taken for weekly classes in painting & pastels beginning February 6.Beginners to advanced most welcome!
