Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri

The painting , above, was made by Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri in 1977. The photo of it comes from Racism No Way.

On Monday night, at the Sotherby's auction, this picture , Warlugalong 1977, set a new world record for the sale of Australian indigenous art, when it was sold for $AUS2.4million.

Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri started painting in the early 1970s and was part of the Papunya Tula movement, initiated by Geoffrey Barden when he went to teach at Papunya , a small Aboriginal community west of Alice Springs.

You might like to read a bit more about it here.

Trying Something New

One of the Seven Deadly Sins is ENVY and yes, OK, I'll own up to it here, for all to see. I am so-o envious of those clever clogs of bloggers who are able to include links to other sites in their text.
I have tried before and just made a mess of it. BUT...today's the day to try again.... and if I've succeeded, you will be able to click on 'Seven Deadly Sins' above, in the pink writing, and go to the Wikipedia entry. Go on...please give it a try.

YES!!! It works!

Now , my reason for persevering this wet Sunday morning, is because I wanted to put in a link to this fabulous panorama picture, which follows up my Apollo 11 post.

Do You Remember?

Do you remember where you were 38 years ago, on the 21st of July 1969 , if you were in Australia, or 20th July 1969, the official recorded date?
Where were you when Aldrin and Armstrong walked on the Moon?
I was in 5th year high school, and we all went to the assembly hall, all 900 of us or however many there were. They scattered all the TVs the school owned throughout the hall and we sat, in our formal rows of chairs, rivetted to the flickering grey images... of a man climbing down a ladder, stepping on the Moon's surface....the MOON'S surface...and speaking those famous words we all remember, if we were there.



I also clearly remember that night, as I put the garbage bin out onto the footpath for collection early next morning, looking up at the luminous Moon in the night sky, and marvelling to myself ..." Wow, there're human beings up there...NOW... people.. up there, on the Moon!"
So...do you remember where you were?

New Jewellery

Eventually I'd like to use pieces of my beach glass in the jewellery I'm making, but the main obstacle is finding a way to drill through the glass shards. Drilling is the obvious technique, but I've been told it's not as simple as that.
Meanwhile, here are a few more bits'n'pieces I've made over the last 2-3 weeks. Above is a copper charm bracelet with matching earrings, and below, 2 necklaces with matching earrings.

Beach Glass

Sometimes known as sea glass, beach glass collecting has been a past-time of mine for about 12 years. Beach glass is a shard of glass that has been naturally tumbled by the action of the waves, rolling the glass against the sand or rocks. When they are wet, and in the early morning or late afternoon sun, they really do resemble jewels. At the moment , I don't do anything with them, apart from have dishes and bowls of beach glass around my place.
However, a whole new world has been opened up to me by a chance visit to a fellow Blogger's site. HA....but you'll have to wait! I took both of these photos down on Caba beach a year or so ago.

New ATCs

Maybe it was time for me to upload a few of the new ATCs I have been making for swaps or just to add to my collection. A lot of what I make are a bit...well, 'dark', probably is an apt description and I have spared you those.

90th Anniversary Commemorations

Today commemorates the 90th anniversary of the 3rd Battle of Ypres, otherwise known as the Battle of Passchendaele, in Belgium in 1917. My grandfather fought here and you can read my post about him in my archives, dated 25th April.
The two main war cemeteries and memorials are those at Menin Gate above, in the Belgian town of Ypres,where the names of nearly 55,000 Allied soldiers whose graves are unknown are inscribed, and below the incredible moving and sobering Tyn Cot memorial. I visited Tyn Cot in 1985, on a beautiful summer's day, with the perfume of roses, planted at each of the headstones, filling the sweet air. On the panels of the wall of the memorial, are inscribed the names of 35,000 UK and Commonwealth soldiers who have no known grave.

If you're interested in knowing more, have a look at Passchaendale Remembered
or the Australian War Memorial

A Beautiful Hand-made Gift

This beautiful hand-made quilt was a birthday present from my sister, Rob. It sits on the back of my favourite lounge-chair, and the subject is one that's close to heart...cats! It measures 70cm by 55 cm. Here are close-ups of 2 panels.



Thank you again Rob....I really appreciate how much of your very precious time you put into it.

Visitors are gone, but the cold is back...seems to be the same with others... this cold-lurgy-thing won't go away!

However, after much agonising, I have decided that my blog will no longer be a (nearly) daily one. I suppose I was feeling a bit of pressure in trying to post something worthwhile each day, and that realisation didn't sit comfortably at all.

So...what now? One Rule Is No Rule will be occasional posts from now on... once or twice a week, maybe more frequently. Who knows?? Thanks to those of you who had read the blog daily, or taken the time to leave messages, and I hope you'll all come back now and then.

By the way, that's the beautifully fragrant wattle in my front yard, bursting into flower, above.