some more of JADA

..a few more photos from the Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award,  2010,  Grafton Regional Gallery.
Once again apologies for not acknowledging artists and for the reflections on the glass.



Wonderful Artists working with muted tones

I always go back to the muted, minimal tones in what I create and what I enjoy - especialy when life is getting a little bit crazy.
Only 6 sleeps now until I fly to the UK and then to Morocco, Portugal and Spain for a great holiday with my 22 year old daughter who is currently living in the UK.
My ankle is healing beautifully thanks to physio, acupuncture, arnica, hot and cold packs, homeopathic drops, and lots of positive thinking.
I was thrilled to get a wonderful surprise in the mail yesterday - some beautiful painting/collages by Leslie Avon Miller - an artist whose work I admire greatly.

'Courage Kindled'

 

'Collage no 6'

Another artist who creates beautiful, sensitive monotoned collage works is Donna Watson. I am fortunate to own this piece.

'Collage E'

...and I love this tiny 'print' by Janet Jones.

This very evocative print  is by Kevin Oxley. Kevin is a local artist while Leslie, Donna and Janet are from the USA .

Another print I have waiting for a frame is this one I bought in Darwin a few years ago - produced at one of the indigenous desert communities specialising in print making.

I will have them all framed when I return from my trip.

'Between the Lines'

We have a local COMA exhibition coming up [while I am away] so I have completed my work well ahead of time- which must be a first for me!
The exhibition is 'Between the Lines', based on books we have recently read. It will be shown in our fabulous local 'Rosettas' bookshop.
The 'girls' in my family and I have been reading 'The Fifth Agreement' - ...a practical guide to Self Mastery, by Don Miguel Ruiz, based on Toltec wisdom. This is my literal 'Between the Lines' response.

 

I have stretched hand made black paper over the back of a small frame [15cm x 15cm] and stacked old book pages end on into the space.



A Spanner in the Works

I won't be walking for a while,

 this week will be 'a physio a day' instead of 'a walk a day',

I fell over yesterday on an uneven surface and badly sprained my ankle.

I managed to capture this image before my fall.

This is for you, Eric - isn't this the most beautiful colour? It is a patch of spray paint on the bitumen footpath near the local showgrounds.

I leave for the UK on 19th April, so hope my ankle is better by then.

more JADA

 ...this one is for you, Ralf - I notice that you have tiny architectural style figures in some of your paintings...

...all done with a 'biro'...crazy, but great result...

HELLO SCALES

...are you my friend tonight?

Oh, it appears that I have lost about 1kg this week.

...not bad I guess...

Keep going, lovey!!!

JADA

[Jacaranda Drawing Award] - Annual Grafton Regional Gallery award, now showing at the University of the Sunshine Coast Gallery.
Christine and I went to check out the show today. I really enjoyed it - I love drawing - love linear elements in all things.
Sorry, but I accidently left the catalogue with a  friend - yes, Ken, it's on your kitchen bench- so I can't post the names of the artists. I will fill them in when I get a chance. These are a few of my favourites:

...this one is by Miles Hall - a local/Brisbane artist...

charcoal and acrylic paint, 

...love this one, lots of 'painting' in it, I think it represented the tsunami chaos, - sad but beautiful,

...strong, dynamic, charcoal,

 

...exquisite - charcoal again, 

...and this is by Kevin Oxley - a VERY talented local artist...

Don't you just love the fact that we are now allowed to take piccies in galleries? 

It was very interesting that the 'drawing' exhibition allowed for such a cross section of media - there really was a lot of what I would call 'painting' involved - must look up the exhibition criteria

 - where do you draw the line [excuse the pun]-

and yes,

I did go for a brisk half hour walk [without the camera],

I thought I had enough piccies to post for one day.

More of the exhibition tomorrow.

Acupuncture

It's a nice little walk to where I have my weekly acupuncture and deep tissue massage sessions.

I love it ...

...feels like all the cells in my body are being realigned to healthier pathways.

I am keeping the needles - never know when they may come in handy.

...and some interesting rusted machinery I spotted on the back of a trailer.

WALK TO THE LETTER BOX

...feeling a bit queezy today, so only got as far as the letterbox...

...this is my house and studio...

...the studio...

...and the underneath is ready to be built in when I run out of room upstairs.

Deadlines and Token Gestures

2 Deadlines Today...

achieved one,

the other was nearly ready [a book for an exhibition in Victoria, Australia],

...drat - they have taken the application form off the website - how rude - it wasn't due in till 4pm tomorrow - could have sent it express post!!!!!!

This is the second time in a week this has happened,

...the universe is trying to tell me something

 ...I'm not listening.

This is the book - nudes again...

...so my walk today was a 'Token Gesture' - 10 minutes around the corner to a meeting,

...managed to photograph some pretty flowers along the way.

Horizontals and Verticals

Sunday - need to visit a friend in Nambour hospital.
I know, I'll park at the bottom of the hill and walk up - STEEP HILL.
Come on legs, you can do it - getting ready for the medinas of Marrakesh and Casablanca - but oh, it is a VERY steep hill.
Come on, look at the scenery, find a theme for photos.
Ah - some interesting interplays of horizontals and verticals - OK... snap... snap...
linear elements in timber....

 

 

...and in the painted industrial architecture.



 

 

Hmmmm, not bad - only 1.4km return, but a good 15 mins each way and 6 decent photos. Thanks legs.

Now let me tell you a tale of TERRIBLE DRIVING.

On the way home, driving along our narrow mountainous roads, I was stuck behind a VERY BAD driver. I think this was the worst ever driver I have been stuck behind in my 40 years of driving - shouldn't have had a licence - from 30km to 60km in an 80km zone; weaving all over the road, often over double lines; inappropriate braking; just awful.

I was sure it was a little old man wearing a hat.

After about 10 frustrating and dangerous kilometers, the car pulled over [to let me pass?].

Oh no, not to let me pass - as I drove past and glared at the driver, I was SHOCKED to see a young woman, texting on her phone!!!!!!!

PLEASE DON'T DO THIS.



Coffee with the locals

Today's walk - a no brainer.
B&F are going away to Darwin and beyond for a month of 'work work' and I am leaving in 2 weeks for a 6 week OS trip [hence the walking] so we 4 musketeers [Ken Munsie being the other musketeer] had a last coffee together.
Nice walk - [10 mins to the coffee shop],
..not a lot of photographic inspiration to be found along this stretch,
here we are - Ken, Fiona, me and Barry - just finished our coffee at one of the 8 fabulous coffee shops in town.

One of the other coffee shops has a resident colony of water dragons - what a treat - some times up to 5 of 6 will be basking in the sun or whizzing aroung your feet as you have coffee.
This fella is fairly big and not at all scared.

Another creature is getting special attention at the moment here in South East Queensland - the 'diving beetle' - plague proportions after the very wet summer - they have a curious smell and kamakasi themselves on the windows at night - yuk.

I walked the long way home through the boardwalk rainforest [20mins], but the camera battery went dead, so no more piccies.

Oh well, tomorrow's another day.



A Walk a day and a Photo a Day

Arghhhh - I need to exercise - I have an excessively bad attitude when it comes to exercise.
OK - maybe I can make it a bit creative by taking a 'Photo a Day' as I do my 'Walk a Day'.
1st April - good day to start.
Go for a half hour walk near one of the galleries I have to go to today - good - new scenery.
Drat - [or maybe yeah - let off the hook] - it rained quite heavily all afternoon and I was running late anyway.
OK just do a brisk walk through the town as I need to stop at the Chemist anyway.
OK, nice brisk walk [it's a small town], stopping to take photos every few yards - maybe not so brisk after all.
Well, it was actually quite fun - I really LOOKED at stuff.
The exercise was OK too - my legs felt quite happy.
Couldn't limit myself to one photo of course, so here is a selection of 6.