fiveandtwo

Should I Stay Or Should I Go

Yes, long time no blog post.

I've been painting. I've had some real breakthroughs that will start a solid body of work, so I need to keep working to maintain the momentum.

 

This is the beginning of a series based on parts of structures such as bridges. I have started using a new (to me), limited range of colours. I've always used a bare minimum of colours, but now they're much more subdued. Intensity and depth are very important to me now (gosh, that sounds something like, "What I Want in a Man Now", or some such thing from a magazine *cough*).

We're just back from a day trip to Melbourne (8 hour round trip) taking my darling eldest child to the airport. As I write this she's winging her way to London, with side trips to Germany and Ireland.

I miss her already.

She's been overseas before, she studied German language all through high school and went to Germany, Austria and Czech. Republic with school in year ten. Linsey is also very much an organised forward planner, and she's staying at my brother's apartment inner city London, although he won't be there regularly, he's meeting the girl at Heathrow in about 20 hours time (insert parental sigh of relief).

How good to have free accommodation in central London for a month. I think my brother is going to Germany and Bulgaria for part of the time because he's single and has no experience of teenagers at all! It's a bit scary probably.

I do think Linsey and her uncle will enjoy each other's company.

This is my first year of having an adult child. I guess I'll become accustomed to it.

But...back to the post title...I think it's time to close this blog. What's a blog if you don't post regularly? It serves small purpose to me, and is boring to all others.

So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish.

With apologies to Douglas Adams.

Paintings and House Renovation

Some artwork from TAFE.

 

Photo a bit skewed. Set work - make a collage appropriating bits and pieces from other artist's work, photocopy it B&W, do colour studies, tonal drawing using charcoal and then a painting on canvas (which this is). A very interesting process which I'll return to in due course.

 

A portrait (next set work) of Linsey, Giles and Leah from a photo taken about eleven years ago. Hmm...it's quite a good likeness...doesn't capture anything of their personalities, except maybe Leah's cheekiness...paint handling is too heavy for a portrait of children...the colours are wrong...they look rather sinister. As you can tell I'm not happy with this one!

So, I tried another.

 

This one's of Leah. The poor girl is only fourteen, but in this painting she looks so  much older! I was using a technique that I used with good effect many years ago, borrowed from American painter Alice Neel. Sketch in the outline using thinned ultramarine blue paint. It's a very good likeness, however.

 

A lousy photo of the most recent set work - landscape. It's been something of a breakthrough for me, at long last. It's the change of palette, the colours I used. It's a view from the top of Mt Blowhard, near Omeo. I took loads of photos from there on the Sunday of Queen's Birthday weekend. We stayed in Omeo that weekend. Clare and Ally were mightily disappointed it started snowing the day after we came home.

You know, everyone should have immediate family with holiday houses. We stayed in my hubby's brother's house at Omeo.

Major works in progress on the house: recladding. Rotten weatherboards going. Insulation followed by corrugated iron happening.

 

 Back of house (south).

 

Western side.

 

 

Back and forth views of Eastern side of the house.

Not yet done: the Northern side, the front of the house. Architraves around the windows and doors are yet to happen. I think the husband is hoping I'll forget about this detail. Noo-oo-oo. Architraves are a "finishing off" thing. The difference between a shed and a house.

I must also add that insulating the walls has made a significant difference to household comfort. Really and truly. The cold, howling wind of the last few days, which once penetrated every crack and crevice of weatherboard walls, made minimal impact with an insulated wall. I think we could've clad with anything, it's the insulation that's made the difference.

If you're re-cladding, building an extension or building a new house - wall insulation is well worth it.

Winter Greens

How I love them. Well, those green, leafy vegetables, I love them all year round, but there's not a lot of other stuff in the garden at this time of year because I don't have room for the lovely winter root crops, and we've eaten the leeks that survived the dog's excavations.

 

In that bunch are mizuna, mibuna, beetroot leaves, mustard, two kinds of kale and parsley. All of that went into a chinese-style soup with chicken, spring onion, garlic and ginger, coriander leaves and the last of the very sad-looking basil. With a pot of rice on the side to add as desired. A number of our household are a bit viral at the moment so a restorative soup was necessary.

Why am I talking about winter greens when I'm "letting loose/finding myself at TAFE"? Well, I had high expectations of extending myself and "pushing the envelope" as it's said. I was pleased with some of my studies, and with the first painting. Portraiture was my downfall. I can get a good likeness for sure, but the purpose of portraiture (as far as I'm concerned) is to capture something of the person, something that is essentially that person. I even did a second portrait to try and resolve this issue...still not good.

However, I think I've made a small breakthrough this week. Not with portraiture (I'm on to the next brief) but with landscape. A pallette of colours I haven't used before, and the influence of  American Georgia O'Keefe, New Zealander Colin McCahon and Australian Rick Amor.

It's a big relief to have made this step.

What I've Been Doing.

This photo is descriptive of (some) of the stuff I've been doing lately.

 

Washing drying on the clotheshorse - the eternal winter shuffle. Arty stuff, a blue ground on my canvas.

Two loaves of bread cooling, only done a couple of times a week now. You do have to be home to do the at home casserole, soup, stew. What experiences have you had with slow cookers and pressure cookers? I've considered buying both, but not sure either would replace a slow cooked dish in a cast iron pot.

Indeed.

Soaking my bread in the soup is an eating soup finale.

I'm Still Here...

Yes, still here, but completely out of the routine of blogging. For me, it does need to be slotted in, in some organised way. Spontaneous blogging is a rarity around here! I guess this is true for most people.

My routine has had a big shakeup (it happens every so often).

After a nearly twenty year hiatus I've returned to "formal" art study - Diploma of Visual Arts at East Gippsland TAFE. With a view to eventually gaining a degree in Fine Art, probably from Monash Churchill. The closest uni. to where I live but still a 2 hour drive away!

I've always wanted a tertiary qualification. I rejected a science degree at the beginning of 1982. I'm interested in many aspects of the sciences but Pure Applied Chemistry? What was I thinking.

Family consensus was "artists never make money", therefore studying art was a really bad option. Making lots of money is better than doing what you enjoy?

 

I'm only doing three subjects - painting, drawing and theory - which occupies two days, but it's anough to throw me out of whack!

Thank goodness paid work is usually only one day per week.

It's very motivating being at TAFE. I didn't realise how bored I was. Of course, I had plenty to do with household/kid/husband stuff, and loads of projects in the offing. I think it's been the exchange of ideas that's been missing. Talking with like-minded people, talking books, art, reasons, ideas. Talking about what you're working on, why you're doing it.

Discovering blogland filled part of the gap here. Nothing beats face-to-face interaction though. It sounds lame but I think that stumbling on blogland a couple of years ago prevented me from going completely barmy.

 

I've come into contact with wonderfully creative, articulate and interesting women. I've even met some of them in real life!

So, I've done no crafting except make a paint brush roll.

It's based on the tool roll in this book.

  

I'm a fan of Lotta Jansdotter's style, I have two other books of hers. The printing one, and a Japanese one. I see she has a making-things-for- babies book out.

 

Pics of paintings - TAFE stuff I've been working on.

So, I'm working on slotting the blog posts. You'll probably be subjected to WIPs of TAFE assignments rather than craft/garden/op-shoppy things. You have ben warned...

New Bike, New Shoes.

But first, some more broken china. When we did some renovating of the back of our house a few years ago a tile was broken up for which we had no replacement. This bodgy-looking gap annoyed me

When I'd finished the kitchen hearth, I made a new "tile". I'm most pleased with it. Behold:

 

And now, the new bike:

I had a bike (which I used as a trade-in). It was a good bike but no amount of adjustment - seat up, seat down - stopped my knees killing me every time I rode it. I took this Gofa for a test ride, knees...doing fine. And it's been a splendid ride ever since. The kids laugh at my granny basket on the back, but hey, it holds quite a lot!  I had the basket transferred from my old bike. The Gofa comes with a handlebar basket, but I like the rear one best.

It takes about 20-30 minutes a round trip down town for milk, bread, return library books - general running of errands. I'm working on fitting my routine around cycling to get places. It's also a quick ride to work, and then down to do the banking and what have you.

Having a car is so convenient. I am aiming to reduce my use of it. I have got Clare and Ally scootering to school, not very keenly however, I have to bully them into it! Heh, and I'm sure they fight on the way. But I'm not driving them every day, that's got to be good.

They can ride their bikes. I did extensive bike training (with the kill-your-knees bike even) with Clare and Ally, but they prefer their scooters, a Christmas present.

The shoes. I've been lusting after a pair of these for some time. In a weak moment, I bought them.

 

I love them. I am wearing them now with dirty gardening feet, and with my ugly veins and I still love them. I'm ok with fat-lady-on-bike too. Amazing.

Good Stuff

A really treasured friend up in Sydney sent me a parcel.

When I saw what was in it...my heart skipped a beat, possibly more. Vintage patterns, buttons, an unusually shaped embroidery hoop...

 

 

 

Very special. Thanks to my buddy, we go back years - we started school together as five-year-olds at Katherine Area School.

Haven't posted any op-shop stuff for some time. I go every week, but haven't been in the mode of photographing and uploading the finds. Op-shopping is a hit-and-miss endeavour, as you know, mostly it's been more miss than hit lately. However, I found these nice little pictures of French cathedrals today.

 

And  some vintage haberdashery.

 

Some applique patches. I think that all the dog patches would look pretty cute all together on a t-shirt.

I know there's one too many alls in the above sentence but if I try to delete one Typepad goes whacko and "freezes" and I have to turn the computer off to resolve it.  So the extra one remains.

I hope you all from Victoria, NSW and South Australia have survived the tremendous heat. Yesterday, and last night were particularly ghastly. We have a smoke haze which can only be from the frightening bushfires many kilometres away. So many lives lost, so many homes...and North Queensland is inundated. Such extremes - searing heat and bushfires out of control, torrential rain and flooding.

Hang in there people.

Plum Syrup

I want to make more of this splendid elixir, but I've run out of bottles. I have more plums, just not enough containers! Op-shops have nothing at this time of year because, it seems, everyone is preserving. I don't even have the freezer room to bung in some plums to be dealt with later.

 

I got these bottles at a garage sale, they have a rubber gasket in the lid. I thought I'd try them to see if they're good for preserving for a couple of months. This syrup is seriously good on pancakes and ice cream. Haven't tried it, but I reckon a splodge in a glass of cold soda water would be very nice.

I used the instructions in A Year in a Bottle by Sally Wise - general instructions on page 33, and then I used the recipe for Strawberry Syrup on page 129, substituting plums for strawberries.

In the background is plum sauce. I've also made beetroot relish. And, for a change of colour, apricot jam. Relish is excellent for having with curries, particularly dhal. I won't pretend my kids love dhal, or other Indian vegetarian dishes. But I do, and since I'm the cook this kind of food remains regularly on the menu. That's my standard response to complaints: "Well, you can cook what you like - be my guest, let me know what you need for cooking before I go shopping".

I'm going to make raspberry jam, my local orchard - how good to have an orchard about six blocks from your house! - now has raspberries (I have been buying a kilo a week anyway, to eat) and 1kg buckets for jam-making, for $10. This orchard at the moment has raspberries, peaches, plums, sweetcorn, eggs and, of course , apples. At the moment Gravenstein and Early Gold varieties, next week the picking of the Galas begins...and so on until about June/July.  I feel most fortunate to have this place so close by - so I buy all those particular fruit etc from them. Got to keep them going!

Reading Round-Up

Reviewing my reading of last year I see that non-fiction has been the number-one-player. But, you know, I really enjoy fiction.

This year, I'll read more fiction.

Much of my non-fiction reading has been influenced by Sharon Astyk's  blog. Sharon's book "Depletion and Abundance" ecapsulates many of her blog posts. The book is excellent for those interested in peak oil, sustainability (environmental, household, global). I really enjoyed it - I'm reading it a second time!

Reading Sharon's blog has introduced me to other authors: Dmitry Orlov Reinventing Collapse (he's a good writer, it's engaging and funny), Alisa Smith & JB Mackinnon The 100 Mile Diet (I really enjoyed this, for the food seeking, their far-off house in the woods, and certain insights from Alisa that resonated with me), Michael Pollan The Omnivore's Dilemma and  In Defense of Food,  Rebecca Huntley Eating Between the Lines: Food and Equality in Australia, John Michael Greer The Long Descent.

The Best Gardening Book 2008 goes to One Magic Square by Lolo Houbein. This has to be one of the best Australian gardening books published for a long time. It makes gardening achievable for the beginner and the space, and time, constrained. One square metre is the beginning, you can advance to as many square metres as you desire (or can manage).It's very accessible, plans for the plots, tips and tricks, towards food self-sufficiency, information on food plants, I've used many ideas from this book.

 The revised edition of Jackie French's The Wilderness Garden was also a highlight. I hope this has introduced a new generation of gardeners to Jackie's easygoing Australian gardening philosophy. This lady has enormously influenced me. I think my garden would be much less productive without her ideas.

Biography has featured strongly in 2008. Siobhan O'Brien's A Life By Design (bio. of Florence Broadhurst), The Dressmaker's Daughter autobiography of Kate Llewellyn, Caroline Knapp's Drinking: A Love Story, Valerie Grove's Laurie Lee: A Well-Loved Stranger - can't now reconcile the man with his lyrical writing. Two Women by Laurie Lee was lovely...but, after reading the bio. I 'm cool towards this man.

Fiction. Adult fiction first. I read young adult fiction and magazines when I can't concentrate on anything.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy - bleak, but I like bleak. Tim Winton's Breathe, sigh...he writes so beautifully, this is not a favourite though. I'm not really interested in surfing. However, I imagine an immense sense of freedom out there on the board. Giles surfs whenever he can...if only I could get him to read as well. I think he'd like Breathe.

Helen Garner is one of my favourite authors, from waaay back when I wanted a Monkey Grip lifestyle. I was seventeen and wanted to, um, experience life. Ah, but I was already kind of bound up. Anyway, The Spare Room certainly lived up to my expectations.

Linsey and I went to see Rosalie Gascoigne and Rennie Ellis at the Ian Potter Centre last Sunday (day trip for me, she was going to the Big Day Out the following day). Rennie Ellis made a lovely portrait of Helen Garner (about 1975, I think). And Rosalie Gascoigne is pretty much my favourite artist right now. Not least because she didn't really get going until she was in her fifties. However, she did "make things" and practice Ikebana flower arranging (very sculptural) for years before.

So, back to books. Loved Bel Canto (Ann Patchett). Recommendation courtesy of suse. In my fiction endeavours I want to read more of Ann Patchett's work.

Did you read Year of Wonders? I really enjoyed it. Geraldine Brooks' second book March, a good read too. Now, this year, I want to read The People of the Book.

A splendid laugh/cry book was Debra Adelaide's The Household Guide To Dying. I read it on the train on my first Bendigo trip - I did laugh, and I shed quiet tears, some parts were achingly sad.

I'm not sure where Into the Wild (John Krakauer, oh did you read Into Thin Air, that was chilling) slots in, it's kind of fiction , but based on a true story. The author's current form of writing, actually. I'm glad Krakauer acknowledged his character had some skill in wilderness survival (as well as shortcomings, often deliberate, eg: not taking any maps). The film isn't really like the book.

Young adult fiction now, for a tired adult mind.

Finding Grace by Alyssa Brugman. Feel good with a moral: caring for others means you can find yourself. I enjoyed it, and wanted to pass it on to Leah. It's not cool to read books in her peer group. Shit. She was an avid reader, once. It pains me because I think it's a very important form of information and escape.

Best Mate by Michael Morpurgo (I think it's been published with a different title recently). The main character is a greyhound...what can I say. I loved it.

Cruel Nest by Gary Crew. I'm a fan of Gary Crew. Are they really YA, or short adult novels? Complex and disturbing. I was really taken by The Blue Feather a couple of years ago.

Other books that don't fit into a particular catedory:

Those Tracks on My Face by Barbara Holborow - recollectins of well-known children's court magistrate. An op-shop buy that I found quite moving.

Trading in Memories: Travels Through a Scavenger's Favourite Places (Barbara Hodgson). An impulse buy online, I don't think I'd have bought it had I perused it in a proper bookshop. It was lovely, I liked her descriptions of fossicking in far away places - researching novels etc.. Well, it just didn't resonate.  Barbara's interest in old documents, photos and the like - yes, I can relate, but...

The Unthinkable by Amanda Ripley. Subtitled Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why. I bought this for my husband thinking it would be a magazine-style read (well suited to him), and it is, but quite a complex one. I found it really interesting, well researched, with a lovely human element.

Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping (Judith Levine). Professional middle-class couple, very well-off, examine wants vs. needs, and decide not to buy for a year.. Not a how-to guide by any means. Just try-hard rich people. Disappointing for me, fortunately a library book.

Barbara Kingsolver's High Tide in Tucson: Essays from Now or Never. More non-fiction from an author I enjoy and admire. This is an oldie, but a goodie. Goodness, is such a term still used?

 Two "health" books: The Big Fat Conspiracy by Melissa Sweet. A family health book, I like the author's surname! Second Good Health in the 21st Century by Dr Carol Hungerford. Found this one really interesting. So much so that I now take a multivitamin, a magnesium/selenium/zinc/chromium and a flaxseed oil omega 3,6,9 one each daily. The book is subtitled A Family Doctor's Unconventional Guide, and that it is. I doubt any of the doctors in this town would have the time for this approach, they are so strapped as it is. My original family GP, whom I had for all my babies, is too hard to get an appointmant with. Two months away? Doesn't work. Often it's three or four months. The GP I've been going to recently is now getting hard to visit - three weeks, six weeks? I find it really hard because my medical records are quite complex - it's a chore to go through it all with a new GP, as well as trying to forge a new relationship.

Now, Iv'e made inroads in the Read Fiction 2009 endeavour, thanks to the Bendigo trip and a train trip to Melbourne for Rosalie Gascoigne and Rennie Ellis, both on at Ian Potter now. You'll have to wait to hear of these excellent novels in 2010!

Hot Enough For Ya?

Yeah, we're sick, sick, sick of the blast furnace

Things we do to combat the heat:

First thing in the morning close all the windows and pull the curtains. When the sun goes down reverse the procedure and open everything up.

We're fortunate to have ceiling fans in most rooms. Wetting a lightweight cloth (eg. a sarong), draping it over oneself and lying under said fans works surprisingly well. So does dunking under the shower and standing under the fan (without drying off.first).

Swimming. We live only a few blocks from the outdoor pool, and there are some nice swimming spots along the Tambo River for young kids. My older kids, who can swim reasonably well, swim in the Mitchell River which is also only a few blocks from our house. It's deep though, too deep for novice swimmers.

 

At Bark Sheds on the Tambo River.

 

The dog doesn't mind a dip, but she has march fly phobia. Just some buzzing caused her to run to the car and try and launch herself in the (open) window to get away!

Note human feet in the background - that's the husband on his folding chair cooling his feet in the river. Another thing that's nice at home is to put your feet in a bucket of cool water.

I don't use the stove at all. We have a barbeque with a wok burner. You can't use both at once though! It's the burner OR the barby. The best precaution I took before this hot spell (hot spell? freakin' Hell's Gate) was to pick most of the lettuce crop, wash and dry it and put it in bags in the fridge. So, we've been having these salads...amazing what you can add, vary the dressing you make and Bob's your uncle: different salad every night! What I didn't pick of the lettuce crop has started bolting to seed and generally looks very sad.

The garden is surviving, mostly. A couple of pittosporum that hedge the driveway have very crispy leaves, not a good sign. I try and water the most vulnerable plants every night - vegies, things in pots, the portable garden which is in foam boxes. You know, if you hose your feet and legs as you water it's very cooling.

If you're a dog you dig monstrous bear pits all over the place, as the soil dries out and warms up, well, you just dig deeper...and deeper.

I've used some of the hot weather to make a prototype pair of pants - almost done. Here's a pic. of my sewing machine lurking in the gloom!

 

How about that sun trying to penetrate the double-layer roman blind (west facing window).

Here's the muslin nearly done. Then I am going to use it to make about four pairs of pants.

No "proper" sewing can be done - it's too damn hot to have an iron going. Why add to the furnace.

Oh yes, the muslin uses an old bed sheet from the op-shop. 

Thoroughly spoilt by a cooler start to summer, we are now copping it! Roll on the cool change (make it sooner, rather than later...please).