Vincent again

The FaHCSIA bus driver gave me his ticket to the last day of the Masters In Paris Exhibiton at the National Gallery of Australia. I have been 3 times already. This is the last day of the exibition in Australia and the gallery has been open for 36 hours straight to process all the tickets. I popped in at 6:15am thinking Id stand in front of Stary Night the whole time, but I asked if I could get a headset that had an audio guide and they said yes. It was ok, rather boring full of facts and figures and then I decided to go back and get the kids version of the tour. Im glad I did because it was so upbeat and whimsical. I did however learn 2 major lessons, first, when you paint a painting you should consider what the room will be like where it will finally rest or what it is used for, ie bedroom = softer colours and second, when you paint two contrasting colours of dots together the brain gets confused and makes its own colour up. The kids tour was more about the heart and thats what the expressionist were on about. Go figure.... I spent about 1/2hour in the kids activity room where I shot these piccys. It was charming. Oh, and the eye candy wasnt bad either.

Galong Art

Galong, Art For The Soul Retreat

I went to Galong on Friday for this retreat and had a wonderful time being spiritual and artistic as well as athletic. I was staying at the Hermitage (away from everyone else) due to the nightmares. It was a self contained although old building very quaint and comfortable. I think Ive put on 4Kg with all the yummy food they provided, so on rations now and back into the gym tomorrow. The nun who took the retreat is sister Helen Barnes and she has just published a book. It started off really slow for me as I knew the techniques she was using from art therapy. Such as painting on a piece of paper with clear water. But then on Saturday afternoon she took it up a notch by bringing mirrors for us to do a self portrait. The confronting thing for me was the size of the paper she wanted us to do it on and as I am more interested in miniatures I really had to cut loose from old habits. Then in the evening she gave us clay to mold with our eyes closed and then we talked about the shapes. It took me back to childhood making mud pies and was very soothing and if I had to sum it up in one word I would have to choose "organic". Today we had to interpret the gospel ready in visuals. It the one where Jesus comes into the room and says "Peace be with you" while Thomas doubts him. Its the yellow base picture her. I had alot of fun on this day and it only cost $280 for the 3 days. All food, accommodation and art gear included. http://www.stclement.com.au/PDFs/St%20Clements%202010.pdf

Interview with Sr Helen Barnes http://spiritoflife.davidmcl.id.au/SOLep109.html

Marees Retirement

Friday was Marees last day at work. Shes 57 now and I think shes put in a great effort. I bawled so many times at the love that was there in that room. She was quite the star and the golden haired girl. Here are some piccys of the day.

Paper Love

....something about that broken package, in the way carton is torn, sort of invites you to come in..

"PACKAGE is a stack of 2.000 DIN A4 sheets of plain white paper wrapped in pink craft paper. A quote by Charles Eames, taken from the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures in 1971, is printed on the face of the package."What you do really with paper can never quite come up to with what the paper offers. It's something about that broken package, in the way carton is torn, sort of invites you to come in. There's something about taking out that first sheet, that sort of changes that thing." The work was submitted to a charity auction held by Miami design store Luminaire in December 2008. Proceeds from the auction were donated to the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.

I love this kind of analysis. It reminds me of when Simmone and I were kids and she did tiny tears in the gifts under the tree or cut loose and opened it and rewrapped it. How she used to valve bounce when I mentioned words like "expert rewrapper"....

Chayni Henry Rocks

http://artpost.abc.net.au/_Chayni-Henry/video/356950/50484.html

Drawing At The Portrait Gallery

Had a lovely time sketching this fella who played so beautifully for us artists. Also saw the most awesome video portrait of Cate Blanchett. It was whimsical, deep, playful and very easy on the eye. Her deep voice so calming. And sold a hairclip and a packet of haikus today as well. Feeling pretty good. Praise Godde!

More Sorting

Today I have excelled myself in tidying out my fabric and craft stash, the shed is sorted and things hung up. A few more bits and pieces to tidy tomorrow and the job is done. I will be able to find anything I want from now on. Felt so buggered I decided to get a massage at the shopping centre in Woden and man, they really know what they are doing. It released a whole lot of memories Id been hanging on to, most probably about all the clearing out I'm doing. Bring on 50, I know its gunna be good!

And I saw this gorgeous creature in a field looking so peaceful....

Tosser

Today I tossed out a whole suitcase full paperwork about the stalking and the property settlement. Feeling pretty good now. I actually let out a sign when I threw it into the skip bin. Nothing like Easter for a good Resurrection.

Speaking of Resurrection, here are my lovely new bamboo knitting needles that dad and the Crofts gave me for my birthday. Hopefully there will be a number of new "garments" arising soon.

Fat Lady SMACK DOWN

Man... this is a good way to start Easter. I finished work early today at 3 so went on a shopping spree and about 5pm I decided Id get a feed of curry and rice and wandered over to this bench thing with fixed stools. I had my new linen pants on and they were a bit slippery. As I sat down my bum slipped to the back of the stool as I tried to put my feet up on the rest that wasn't there. I fell straight back and I heard this funny sound like a belly flop smacking really hard on the water and realized it was me, legs up in the air, flat on my back, unhurt but a bit dazed. This gorgeous young girl was sitting about 3 seats down from me and come to my rescue. Once we realized I was OK then came the act of trying to get up. Her being about 6 stone meant there was no possibility of using her as leverage. I past her my bag and said I just need to get on all 4s then I can get up. Once up she handed my bag to me and I said sorry about all that and she said " totally understand, these things happen to everyone" I said "well yeah but its usually only when alcohol is involved. " oh, yes that's happened to me too" and we laughed. I turned my attention to the job at hand (eating) and was watching this bloke who had seen the whole thing from a distance of about 10 metres. He must of seen me sit down, then disappear, then perched back on my stool, but he didn't miss a beat just keep eating coz I remember I was looking at him before the smack down. While assessing him I heard the little girl next to me sobbing and I thought poor little bugger I wonder whats wrong with her. Any way it was getting louder and turned to look at her, just as she roared laughin and took off running and holding her belly. Godde I cant stop laughing at this episode. I'm so glad that girl laughed because that's what I would have done. And thats what I'm doing now.