Artists Blog

Whenever I need a shot of colour inspiration I turn to the garden. Now that it’s cooler (meaning under 40C/104F!) I’m out there a whole lot more.

Blue Iris feeling fresh in the morning.

Candy Cane Frangipanis scent the air.

Looking down the throat of the Leopard spotted canna lily reminds me of the 1960’s show ”Time Tunnel”.

The hibiscus are madly flowering their heads off, and it’s magic watching them unfold right before your eyes in the morning - from tight bud to full flamboyant bloom in minutes.

Insects are out and about in the dawn light as well. Fly for breakfast anyone?

And of course the bees never stop.

Morning always reveals surprises.

Other winged creatures show up out front at first light.

Then stay for a seista on my front door mat. Gives the Postie a surprise sometimes!

Throughout the day more visitors come and go.

These long beaked Corellas can create carnage to a lawned area in mere minutes.

Watching the blue dragonflies hunt and dance can be quite hypnotic. They look you straight in the eye as well.

Now we have four turtle doves instead of two.

I can feel some botanical drawing/painting urges coming on…

For an exhibition late last year I decided to go BIG. Having only ever worked small, painting one sq metre canvases was quite a challenge. I scaled up my Red Girl and then painted her mirror image in blue.

I enjoyed the large scale format so much that I have quite a few canvases (much bigger ones even!), stacked against the wall awaiting their appointment with the big brushes. Quite ironic when I consider  I’m working on miniatures for admission to the Australian Miniature Society!

On a different subject altogether, we seem to be “blessed” with scaly visitors. Not the Pythons of the Far North this time, but something more sinister.

This is a Dugite (Pseudonaja affinis), which can grow up to 2m, and can be fatally venomous (they are of the Brown Snake family). I picked this fellow up out of the gutter, but he had already met an unfortunate end.

And no, those aren’t my hairy legs, they belong to Jez! I’ve buried the snake in the garden, and look forward to unearthing a nice clean specimen skeleton before winter.

Ever heard a motorbike changing gears? Lots of kids imitate this sound when they “ride” around on pretend motorbikes. Well, we’ve had a particular motorbike under our kitchen window for weeks. And now he has a friend. Firstly, click this motorbike-frog.mp3 to listen to our nightly song.

One morning I found our songster haveing a quick dip in the pool.

 Chlorine and frog skin is not a good mix (even the human touch is bad for them), so I fished him out and rinsed him off.

He was back in fine voice late that night.

Two night ago there was a different sounding song under the kitchen window. Something similar to this:spotted-thigh-frog.mp3

He (She?) certainly looked different to the Motorbike frog, but maybe just juvenile. Perhaps it is the Spotted Thigh Frog? (Any froggie experts out there?) At least they aren’t in my toilet at night (see  this post and this post for past scares in the “wee” hours)

Frogs in the garden are a good indicator of a healthy environment, so I’m happy that my “rev head” guests are here.

The  deadly Dugites are another matter entirely…..

I’ve been “sketching” with watercolours today. I pulled out my little field kit and BIG brush (my tiny 20/0 brushes were given a rest today) and laid down some wet, wet washes on unstretched paper. No planning or pre-drawing, just paint splashed straight down.

The only restriction was that the dimensions were under 10cmx10cm - Australian rules for miniature art. Painting done with 4 colours, then finished off with ink. A very loose style which I’m quite unfamiliar with, but which I found very enjoyable.

Digging through some old artwork I found another piece that I’d forgotten about.

This was from a Botanical Painting Weekend workshop through Uni Summer School - fabulous company and so, so inspiring. Maybe it’s time to get those teeny tiny brushes out again tomorrow!

On Sunday I joined the North Coast Art Club. These artists get together once a month to paint with each other in really relaxed, supportive atmosphere. You can’t get much more supportive than boxes of good chocolates and cups of tea!

Whilst at the Art Club I started my next painting, a miniature, with a familiar subject.

These Forest Kingfishers lived in my garden and the surrounding bush, and were more than happy to pose for photos.

I hope to finish him at home quite soon.

Do you remember the Mystery of the Fish Skull? (click here for original post) Well, scientists at a local University have deemed it a BATFISH, which I had taken underwater photos of at the Great Barrier Reef off Green Island. I still wouldn’t have guessed it.

Thanks to all who took the time to offer suggestions!

Thanks to all of you for your comments, they really mean a lot to me. I have been such a slacker with posting of late - lots of “Real World” goings-on PLUS fighting for the computer = not a lot of posting.

 Another soon-to-be-cyclone is brewing out in the Coral Sea. Bring on the Dry Season and soon!

I’ve been stewing on all the things I’ve got on my “To Do” list as well. I don’t physically have a written down list, just a mental note that seems to be growing by the hour! When did organising one’s life get so hard?

Still, whenever things seem to get overwhelming, a walk and sit outside brings everything back into focus. There are hundreds of butterflies around at the moment, on a manic mission to drink lots of sugar and mate. Not a bad lifestyle really.

This dusk shot of the brilliant blue Ulysses is a bit grainy, but the blue was just so intense in the evening light.

Pink pegs on the clothesline are a favourtie spot for these Eggfly butterflies, who are so often dancing duets in the air - circling round and around each other but never colliding.

I’m feeling a bit disillusioined with art at the moment. So many Galleries have closed down here in Cairns. Lots of artists have lost money and trust. The economic woes of the world has really hit hard in this tourist town - lots of businesses are really doing it tough. On a brighter note I have ben invited to “try out” for the Miniature Society - they have two judged intakes per year - the next being in April. I need to complete 6 pieces (no bigger then 10cm on the longer side) to be considered. I’ve only ever done the one miniature for the exhibition late last year.

Still not sure whether I’m up to the task - more stewing on the subject required!

Cyclone Hamish certainly knows how to stir it up, even if he can’t make up his mind where he’s headed.

Yesterday Clifton Beach had a foreboding feel hanging over it.

If you look very carefully on the horizon you can just make out the shape of something luxurious…

…with a much more mundane friend beside it. I wonder if that’s the vessel that lost those 33 containers of Ammonia Nitrate, with another 3 tonnes spilt on deck. But don’t panic, it won’t explode unless it comes into contact with heat or chlorine….

Whilst on the subject of all things awash, we were pelted with such heavy rain late yesterday that we had several creeks running all throughout the yard and patio. I stepped onto the paving that was submerged up to my ankles and a tiny frogged grabbed my foot as it sailed past. It was headed for the white water rapids at the BBQ, and then the waterfall down the side gate. I rescued him and a couple of buddies till conditions eased.

Not sure if they were happy being turfed out of the Frog Hilton later that night, but I’m sure they’d want to join the DEAFENING CHORUS of their bazillion mates in the creek out front!

A: The orthodontists’s quote this afternoon.

It’s around $6,000 to fill a teenager’s mouth with metal these days.

When we arrived home after the orthodontic shock, I noticed what seemed to be a patterned scarf near the back fence. It was under the Tree of Death, but as there were Peaceful Doves around it, I thought no way it could a Python. Again.

Wrong.

As I walked up to it I was able to see the final few gulps of wing feathers down it’s mouth.

How did he sneak up on a cocky during the day? They are usually nocturnal hunters. Cocky must’ve been really engrossed in something else.

The cat was freaking out, and performed 3 ft vertical jumps everytime it moved. The vets have warned about pets outside at night. Now I’ll have the joy of worrying during sunlight hours as well…

It wasn’t long before those final feathers were forced down that loooong throat.

Then lots of wriggling and stretching to force the whole “lump” further down it’s body. It almost looked as if the unfortunate bird was still alive in there.

 It then rested it’s head in the fork of The Tree of Death for a while. It’s tongue was flickering every time I moved. Try as I might, I couldn’t quite capture the split second it flickered.

This was the smallest of the 3 pythons that have had a cocky meal here. This one was around 2 metres, maybe a tad more. The next shot is of it making an exit, stage left, with it’s head already under the fence. It did get stuck around it’s middle, and wriggled and danced till it made it through. Then it was back to the bush to sleep it off for a few weeks.

I hope that this is the last Python saga I have to tell for a good while, although word must be spreading in the serpent world about the smorgasboard by the back fence…

To finish on a more cute’n'cuddly note, someone else was enjoying a meal this morning:

I seem to be overrun with snakes and spiders.

Some unexpected garden bounty over the weekend, pretty much all in miniature.

Salvaging my sweet potato vine from the marauding bandicoot brought this treasue to light.

Not more than a mouthful, so back into the soil he went. Something else that went into the soil was this little sweetie:

A gift from my neighbour, who has an extensive collection of bromeliads. This was just one of 2 crates of beautiful broms he gave me. The smell of this mini pineapple was just like an exotic cocktail. I almost pushed a straw into it.

An explosion of new mini critters in the garden - must be because of all the rain, and there has been a lot of it. This was one of the most inquisitive (and beautiful) jumping spiders I’ve ever encountered. He followed me all around the patio. Not bad for a fellow only a few mm long.

Not to be outdone with curiosity was this baby praying mantis. He turned his head to follow me about the palm tree trunk. He was about 20 mm long.

Oh for a macro lense….*sigh*

Male butterflies were quite aggresive in the backyard - chasing off any newcomers. The 2 species below have females which are very differently coloured.

The Eggfly below was almost luminescent in his purple blackness near dusk.

The Cairns birdwing below was one of the most erratic butterflies I’ve seen. It gave me a headache just trying to follow him. He was only still for a nano second. For every decent shot, there were a dozen blurry useless ones. Thank the lord we’re not using film anymore - it’d cost me a fortune!

I’ve a rather larger “friend” I met yesterday  in the bush that I’ll upload images of tomorrow….

Today the Governement sent in agents to launch a recon mission in my end of the street/creek and my yard. Their mission was to seek (and if necessary, destroy) a foreign invader - The Evil Electric Ant. 

In January, an infestation of these native South American Ants was discovered a few hundred metres away in the resort grounds across the bush from my house. They are not a friendly insect to stumble upon. These ants inject painful venom when they sting, they specifically attack the eyeballs of other animals, including pets, and can blind them. They attack birds and nestlings and farm scale insects. Bad for crops. All round nasty guys.

All week the DPI guys and girls have been laying baits to see if any had spread to our streeet and homes. Today was my turn.

That’s Steve checking bait traps on the banks of Deadman’s Gully. You can see the little pink ribbons where he laid traps inside my front fence.

About 2 dozen baits were laid around my yard, including the herb pots. The Electric ants are gourmets. They will only go for the expensive Don Sausage.

Steve checking the baits after an hour. He was such a knowledgable guy. We yakked for ages about the wonderful biodiversity of this area. He checked out a few insect species for me, as well as my tadpole ponds, which he’s hopeful are NOT canetoads.

This man has spent many years researching wild lion prides in South Africa. He says it’s was an amazing, sometimes heartbreaking, experience. To be checking for ants is quite a bit less stressful than facing a poacher with a semi-automatic machine gun!

We got the all clear - no baddies on our block.

Here is some info from their site:

The electric ant is golden brown in colour and 1 - 1.5mm in length

Overview

Description

Electric ants: