The Bremer River, One Day before the Flood.

I have finally managed to find the connecting cable to enable me to down load some pictures of the Bremer River, Ipswich, Australia.  I took these photos with my cell phone, just twenty four hours before the river really started to flood.

If you look at my photo in blog titled "Ipswich Bridge, Queensland Australia", showing the normal river level, you can see the difference and how much the flood water level has risen.  I would estimate some fifteen feet above the normal levels. 

When the flood was at its peak the bridge was only about five to six feet above the water levels!

This second photo shows just how close the water is to the road, and I am sure that the road was closed some hours after these photos were taken. The blue Ford in the distance is my car. People were stopping to take photos, as I was only one of a dozen or so folk looking at the river in morbid fascination.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

This is a photograph (flood effected), and maybe the only one that survived in this family photo album effected by the flood.  I have the cap on and my brother and I are looking out the door or window of a Sydney Manly Ferry...hopefully to see a better day!  I think that this photo was taken on a ferry. Sydney harbour had many ferries and they were a joy to travel on, just for fun or to go to visit Manly.  One would also catch a ferry to go to the Zoo, and that was a gread day out for children. 

This week was the week we finally obtained a quote from the builder / insurance company to give us a quote on the restoration of our home, back from the floods. 

The whole of our area was flooded on January 11, 2011.  We have lived in a rental for the last four months.  So many houses in our area and town have been effected the claim process has been so slow!!  I heard that someone who worked in the insurance company that covers our home, say that only to date, completed 75% of the massive amount of claims that are on the "books" have been processed. 

So we are still better off than many folk!

Judging Art Work is a Crap Shoot?

David Slonim said, "The judging of art shows is a crap shoot".

I am really just starting out on the journey of art.  I have been advised by the Art Tutor (I bought 10 instructional DVDs when I commence to paint), and a subsequent portrait workshop that I attended, NOT to be bothered with going into art competitions.  WHY?

Judging art shows must be very hard. I would not submit an artwork to a show unless I did my homework.

1.  Who is judging the art show?
2.  What does the CV of the judge/s look like?
3.  Can you look at any prizes / medals artworks that the judge/s have awarded?
4.  Run your own artwork through a self judgement check list!

I have seen some major art prizes of some $20,000.00 awarded in the last few months that really were way up on the YUK scale.  I assume that the judges gave them 1 ST prize as their artwork was totally unsaleable!

Any Comments?

Starry Starry Night...A Tribute to Van Gogh

I painted this as a copy of Van Gogh's "The Starry Night".  I was a little hesitant to put this painting up on my blog, but finally thought I might as well explain how and why my copy turned out to be a little different from Van Gogh's.

While I was painting this picture, I imagined that the dark mountain on the left became, in my mind a Dark (Earth) Force coming up from the ground and spreading across the night sky. The Church in the village is a ray of light, and hope - that the dark forces of the night will not take over. 

The stars at night also shine, and counter the forces of darkness. The Moon too has an influence on the creatures of the night. 

I hope that you like my take on Van Gogh's masterpiece.

Spooky Bat

Spooky Bat...this painting was done in oils, which makes it one of my older art works, but as I am still flood affected, (see some of my prior blogs) and have not put paint to canvas in the last four months, I am putting some of my 'old' art works on this blog...not that this art work is really old!

This bat is the only one in Australia that is carnivorous, and for that reason alone I just had to paint it.  (I am an old fan of vampire movies, so a bat that eats flesh is kinda spooky!)

There is no rabies in Australia, so one does not have to be scared of bats or any other non venomous animal biting you.  Of course Australia has most of the venomous snakes in the world so we make up for not having rabies in the animal population. (Grin!)

The Babies of Walloon

 The Babies of Walloon

This is a good picture of local public art. 

Walloon is a town of some 1500 people just down the road from Rosewood where my wife Jo and I are currently staying.  We drive some 10 – 12 miles to get back to our real residence (which is still flood affected), and often drive past the park where these statues are...

The two little girls drowned in a billabong or pond in the early 1890’s and a famous Australian writer called Henry Lawson wrote a poem about them and the pioneering families that help make Australia great. 

This plaque is situated at the back of the park with the statures of the babies about 50 yards away.  Henry Lawson wrote many stories about the early Australian life in the Bush.  I have often laughed at some of his funny stories and most Australians have read some of his work at some stage of their lives.

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Here is the poem written by Henry Lawson in 1891

He was  lengthsman on the railway, and his station scarce deserved
That “pre-eminence in sorrow” of the Majesty he served,
But as dear to him and precious were the gifts reclaimed so soon—
Were the workman’s little daughters who were buried near Walloon.

Speak their names in tones that linger, just as though you held them dear;
There are eyes to which the mention of those names will bring a tear.
Little Kate and Bridget, straying in an autumn afternoon,
Were attracted by the lilies in the water of Walloon.

All is dark to us. The angels sing perhaps in Paradise
Of the younger sister’s danger, and the elder’s sacrifice;
But the facts were hidden from us, when the soft light from the moon
Glistened on the water-lilies o’er the Babies at Walloon.

Ah! the children love the lilies, while we elders are inclined
To the flowers that have poison for the body and the mind.
Better for the “strongly human” to have done with life as soon,
Better perish for a lily like the Babies of Walloon.

For they gather flowers early on the river far away,
Where the everlasting lilies keep their purity for aye,
And while summer brings our lilies to the run and the lagoon
May our children keep the legend of the Babies of Walloon.

Picture yourself on a boat... artwork inspired by Beatle's old song.

This is an "early artwork" of mine.  I was really hesitant to post this painting online as this painting was done only a month or so after I commenced to paint.

I was challenging myself to paint scenes from the old Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.  I completed about three paintings including one of Lucy in the Sky, but the painting of Lucy looked more like Mary Poppins... so that painting will never see the light of day!

I think that using a song to suggest scenes to paint is a good way to start a series of paintings especially if you are really learning and the final art work is not really for show or sale.

As you will know (if you have read some of my latest blogs), that I have had a couple of months of not painting due to the fact that our house was flooded and I have been so busy  trying to get some order back into our lives.

I hope to be painting at least one artwork a week real soon.