memory museum

There was an attractive small museum I went to in
Germany ~ Augsberg? ~ with the bronze horse head;
makes me remember the different horses we had as
kids, or later. We each developed incredibly strong
bonds with our own horses. We could ride all day
without seeing a fence.

Equine therapy is an interesting development.
look at how this great horse bounces!

wave print

Compared to how long it originally took to make
a transfer print from many pieces, fixing this one digitally
was a breeze. Even so I'm wishing for a few more skills
on the computer, not involving code or anything too
challenging. Perhaps Flash? Any suggestions?
Available as a print, email for details.

classic footage!!

water's edge

Scanned these prints together, which means they are several
years old, but still around Byron Bay.
Looks like every 2 days is the current posting pattern.
maybe less..

interesting combinations
changethethought

japanese book

Two more spreads, vintage & subject unknown.
Any clues? Click on image to enlarge.

Aren't they marvellous souvenirs, also light as feathers.

Can't recall how I came across the pinscreen works
of A Alexeieff & C Parker, fascinating how many ways
we can find to be creative, isn't it?

handprinted

Brought back two small handprinted books from Kyoto
in 1982, have never found out the story..

I just really like the way the figures flow, how the
script is an integral part of the design, & also
the way the rice paper has been handled many times.
2 more spreads in next post.

Gordon Parks

lures

Not sure if these are all the same cycads, lower right
is the most recent shot, looking a bit pale. I suppose they
must have been very attractive to now extinct species.
My garden can't quite understand the weather. There are
freesias coming again (usually spring), the frangipanni are
losing leaves (late autumn), & nasturtium seeds are
sprouting (winter). Then there's a hot day & they all
get confused, I think.

love it: guerrilla gardening

growing

A lot of trees have grown coats of moss, lichens & other
strange forms in the prolonged wet weather.
Begonias right come from the rainforest originally, I think.
A friend told me that research into fruit bats shows they
can fly 100's of km, to arrive just as certain trees come
into flower/fruit. Pelicans also fly, much further, to
coincide with the Barcoo River & Coopers Creek flowing into
Lake Eyre, (occasionally) & the extraordinary numbers
of fish that are also suddenly there. How do they know?

some before & after photos in Brisbane

other days

I haven't been to the beach for a couple of weeks, but
found a small stash of beach prints, they go together
I think. The sea grass was heavy enough to be an anchor.

Have made them larger than usual as I now have a much
faster internet connection - does it take too long at
your end?

Love these photos of wrecked spaces

maya

This sketch book, from the mid 80's, was partly from museums
the rest from other sources, also with the aim to have
multiple (portable) references while travelling.

Here's one I used:
a woman carrying a baby on her head.
The painting right is in Burning Questions, it was initially
inspired by the old story of the teacher who asks his
student to first fetch him a glass of water
before he gives him an explanation of maya.
I think the flooded river is all too real for many

in Brisbane & other parts of Queensland,

this year.

farshidmesghali

early

Some of my earlier drawing books have
pages like this, it looks like they're from
Greek pots or reliefs ~ I don't remember ~ I often
made drawings from library books etc, without much
agenda, just the pleasure of drawing. These days I prefer
to use a brush when drawing, & take more care with
archival paper & 'permanent' media etc.
I wonder why?
..there's too much already, no?

R B Kitaj on painting

references

Some scanned pages of a small concertina style
drawing book. Drawing figures from some ballet books
was an easy way to carry reference for new paintings,

even though I didn't know yet what I'd
paint, nor that I'd be in San Cristobal de las Casas
for 2 years.
By the time it was drawn again, in another context,
they all looked completely different.

a new look at souvenirs: Walter Martin & Paloma Munoz

colour

One is in India, the rest in Mexico or Guatemala

From the early '70's I've taken lots of doors, windows &
old walls. I always wanted to find them open, &
photograph that, but it rarely happened, perhaps because
so many people were looking for work, or to sell something.
Jeffrey Becom has quite similar results
(probably more professional) as do many others, surely
~ the subject dictates the composition, more or less.
This, however - is it more than a co-incidence?

Gauguin: Since colour itself is mysterious in the sensation
that it gives, we can logically enjoy it mysteriously..
.. as a source of.. sensations proceeding from it's own nature,
from it's inner, mysterious, enigmatic force.

wel come

Am happy to have heard from some old friends in India,
thought we'd lost touch.They were incredibly welcoming
when I first arrived there. Then I went to Dalhousie at their
suggestion. I stayed there on & off for years, in the 1970's
a very big influence in my painting, & every thing.

Tadanori Yokoo

patterns

Am engrossed in new work, not actually going to the beach,
took these a while back.

designobserver has an interesting piece on the unfolding
design for the cover of Marian Bantjes book (I want it).

sunshine

We remembered today when the sun came out
what hot feels like.

Far away in freezing New York there's a big exhibition
on the world of Kubilai Khan, great site too.

happy 2011 !

In Turkey I was seeing the vast landscape, & feeling quite small
in it; later, on the screen, I saw how someone here
had used stones to make a message on the hill,
or perhaps their name, then most had been scattered.
It now reads 'I am'.
~~ aiming for less I in the am ~~

arcane information : hittite scripts