Natural Elements

There's just the teensiest empty space in my daily life, because I'm not posting every day. Jeez, I just can't make up my mind on this one, can I!! BUT...as it says above, the only rule here is that there are no rules. So, I can bloody do as I like!

Anyway, I came across this little 'theme', on a new blog I was led to, The Glass Doorknob. She has a l-o-n-g list of other blogs that also reflected on the four natural elements of fire, water, earth and wind.

So, tomorrow I'll post a photo of my first element, taken in my handkerchief-sized backyard.

Lunar Eclipse

If you live in our wide brown land, I hope you were able to watch last night's total eclipse of the moon. It was called a 'Blood Moon', because at its maximum effect, the eclipse gave the moon a russet colour.Initially, we had a cover of light cloud here, but as the moon rose, and the eclipse began, the cloud did the right thing, and buggered off somewhere else! Up and down my street, people would come outside every 10-15 minutes and see what it was up to. Conveniently, it occurred between about 7pm and 9.30-ish, and so meant many more people saw it.

The photo above was taken in Brisbane by Beau Chenery. If you are interested in more images, my Local ABC has a page of links and information, including a time lapse movie.

SUNSHINE

One whole day of sunshine.Yes.I can't believe I'm rejoicing but...we've had one whole,complete day without rain. So, now we start to dry things out, wash the mildew off the walls, and cut back the trees and shrubs that Nature has done a rough pruning job on, during last week's wild weather.

Between having a friend stay ( which I LOVE happening), life-in-general catching up and almost terminal exhaustion, Blogger has been very much neglected. Most people I know like their routines ,well, to some extent at least. However this little black duck likes her's more than most, and when routine goes out the window....I'll spare you the details.

Hopefully, this week will be slower, more ordered even, and I can dip my toe back into the blogging and artistic oceans.

Wild Weather NO.2

There's a bumper sticker that says "Respect the ocean", or something like that. I took these photos at Snapper Rocks yesterday, marvelling at the power of the ocean and the stupidity of brainless blokes.



Cheers mate!

This final photo captures the beautiful colours, in the sea and the sky, looking north from Snapper( one of the world's top 10 surfing breaks when it's pumping).

Wild Weather

Jamaica and Mexico are having Hurricane Dean pass through, but this nameless intense low pressure system is causing havoc on the NSW north coast. Gale force winds and heavy rain have made it a good day to be inside!This is the view out my front window, as the palms copped a battering.The seas are pretty huge apparently, but I haven't ventured out.However, you can easily hear the roaring of the ocean above the wind.

It was quite late, yesterday arvo, when Steve, my neighbour from over the back fence, called out to me. I'd been aware that he'd been using lots of 'toys' in his back yard nearly all day....mower, whipper-snipper, chain saw. He apologised for the fact that his yard had been invading mine, in the guise of passionfruit vine, alamanda and some other thriving vine or creeper. I am ashamed and embarrassed to say I hadn't even noticed that they had taken possession of the back fence and the roofs of my pergola and shed!! So, it goes without saying that I also hadn't noticed that he had removed this jungle whilst playing with said power toys!

After he'd basked for a while in the glow of my grateful thanks and mutterings about the great job he'd done, he said something along the lines of " Oh, I love your eclectic taste in music".

Now, I proudly admit I've always had a fiercesome and well-deserved reputation for "sharing' my music with anyone living within a two kilometre radius of my place. But I don't really know Steve all that well and, frankly, I wondered if he was having a go at me! That got me thinking as to what I'd just been listening to.Then I realised.....it was my Most Best Favourite piece of music, OF ALL TIME and FOREVER. Something I've listened to, heard and seen in performance loads of times, but which still completely reduces me to a sobbing, heaving wreck with an breaking heart on each and every occasion. Perhaps it would also be close to the top of most people's most loathed music, and no doubt has caused many of my neighbours over the years to slam shut all doors and windows, and insert industrial-strength ear-plugs.

It's the Liebastood sung by Isolde in the final minutes of Richard Wagner's opera, "Tristan und Isolde". As she is dying, she sings over the body of her dead lover, Tristan.( That's the loving couple in healthier times in the title picture.) Yes, yes, I know, not everyone's musical cup of tea. But it is mine.

So, it then got me to wondering what is your special piece of music or song, that always has an extraordinary effect on you, that provokes that "tingle factor" each time you hear it?

ORANGE Tangent

After having not really made much jewellery in the last few weeks, I thought I'd put up here what I've made in last 2 days, in between severely cutting back my biggest wattle tree and an out-of-control grevillea! You may observe I've gone off on a bit of a colour tangent!

Firstly a necklace with two pairs of co-ordinating earrings.



Next is another charm bracelet ( I LOVE making them) and two pairs of earrings.


If only I had the confidence to try and sell some of my jewellery....sigh.

Bundaberg Pubs No. 3

For the time being,this is my last Bundy pub, and in the same "grand" style as the previous two. Not all pubs in Bundy are in this style and later on, I'll post others that are very different.

But this, the appropriately-named Grand Hotel, is on the corner of Bourbong and Targo Streets. It was begun in 1884 and opened in 1885., although work on the building continued again in 1893.


These two photos (above and below) , from "The Queenslander", were taken in 1907. The photo below shows the dining room, set for dinner.

An article on the Grand Hotel, written in 1894, describes it as being one of the finest in the land.

"think of the joy of a dolce far niente on a verandah over 12 feet wide, and of the sweetness of slumber in rooms where the minor details of comfort are studied - as they should be. In all things the comfort of the guest is the first consideration."

[Queenslander, 23/6/1894]

This information came from the Queensland State Library.

Recent work

I thought it was time to upload a selection of what I've made lately, and to have a little break from the Bundy photos. These are all Artist Trading Cards , known as ATCs, which you make and then swap with people from all over the world. It is HIGHLY addictive, believe me!

The two above were for swaps in the ATCoZ group, a penguin swap and Famous People. Of the next two, the first one was made for the My Corner of the World swap.

As in all areas of creative work, for the work to be 'authentic', the creator needs to invest something of themselves in the piece. In ATCs, as in most crafts and styles of art, there are fashions, styles and fads, and these are very hard to avoid, as the influences are everywhere. However, for me, there is absolutely no satisfaction or release in the creation of the work , if I haven't invested something of my own heart and mind.


The next two were also done as part of swaps, the first was an In Love swap and the second was an international money swap ATCoZ players did with artists from the Netherlands.

The last two were experiments with backgrounds. In the case of swaps, multiple cards need to be made, mostly three, but sometimes nine, and once, I had to make 12 cards! They are supposed to be roughly identical, but it is something I struggle with, as the creation of multiples doesn't sit comfortably with me at all. I really like to make one-offs, though I guess I find a compromise with doing variations on a theme.

Bundaberg Pubs no. 2

This is the Old Bundy Tavern on the corner of Quay and Tantitha Streets, opposite the Burnett River. The original pub, the Customs House Hotel, was built in 1870, but destroyed by fire in 1915. A new pub was built in 1917 and was called the Hotel Bundaberg. The photo below is of the function room ( date unknown).

The name was changed to the Old Bundy Tavern in 1991.

Bundaberg Pubs no. 1

I've just returned from visiting the Queensland branch of my family, in Bundaberg. Bundy is probably most famous for its rum and its ginger beer. Each is wonderful on its own, but mix them together and you have a 'Dark and Stormy'. Quite an apt name for the impact Bundy rum can have on some drinkers!

For the next few days, I'll post pictures of some of the more 'picturesque' watering holes in Bundy. Today, the Club Hotel, built in 1890., on the corner of Bourbong and Tantitha Streets, Bundaberg.