Lifeline Bookfest – Brisbane 16-24 January 2010

The January Lifeline Bookfest is on again this year at the Brisbane Convention Centre – for all thos around Brisbane at this time. An amazing amount of second hand books, cd’s etc.

Going a bit ‘cuckoo’ with the local ‘War of the Cuckoos’

Happy New Year! Yes this is finally a new post for 2010!

I have been having camera and computer problems which is most annoying however I managed to get some photos of recent ‘visitors’ to our neighbourhood. Both these birds are cuckoos – a parasitic bird that does not build its own nest or raise its own young. The female lays its eggs  in the nests of other smaller birds like the Magpie-lark. The young cuckoo then either kicks out the other eggs/baby birds or the smaller young die from starvation as the much bigger cuckoo is first to take all the food. These two species – the Common Koel and Channel billed Cuckoo migrate from the New Guinea region in about September/October and return North about March.

Since before Christmas we have the almost continual call of the Common Koel Eudynamys scolopacea - or ’stormbird’ in the large figtrees close by. It has been most elusive to photograph (besides the cantakerous camera that I need to send away to get fixed – I am not looking forward to this as you can imagine something that HAS to be photographed will most certainly happen whilst it is away…sigh…) but I managed this afternoon to get some photos.

This is a male Common Koel – they are all black with a distinctive red eye. The second photo shows it making its distinctive call. I have always loved their calls and don’t really mind it going all day and night. My dad tells me they have really lovely soft pink eggs that are speckled. The male Common Koel’s role is to annoy the birds in the area of a nest and when he has distracted the other birds and drawn them away, the female flies in and lays her eggs into the foster parent’s nest.

…he also has some impressive striped tail feathers as you can see…

As well as this we have had a visiting Channel Billed Cuckoo -Scythrops novaehollandiae - unlike the lovely storm bird call, the channel billed cuckoo  screeches and their fighting at night has often woken me up. This particular cuckoo came screeching in yesterday dive bombing the Common Koel until it chased it off.

The photos are a little grainy as it was at the top of a huge old fig tree. These birds are very big and impressive with their toucan-like beaks. It must have felt very proud surveying those below – and the much smaller birds around it after it’s victory over the Koel! It then proceeded to preen and intermittently screech seeming most proud of itself!

It also has some lovely tail feathers.

A closer look at a channel billed cuckoo.

SALE ON WILDFLOWER CARDS FOR CHRISTMAS!

I have decided to put my wildflower cards on sale for Christmas. I have now sold out of the older cards but am putting the set of 6 cards above on sale for $5 a set. For larger images click here. Orders can be made from my website found here.

Home again and ‘Oh My Stars’

I am home after over a week away helping family – a busy but nice week. Back carving, drawing and designing – oh and re-arranging furniture/workspaces.

I enjoyed this on Good News Week last night – great song and great musicians/singers.

Eat Chocolate and Cry – Australian Flute Music – CD Cover

One of my designs – Paperbark – was recently used on the cover for a new CD by musicians Christine Draeger, Lamorna Nightingale and Jocelyn Edey-Fazzone. It is called Eat Chocolate and Cry – Australian Flute Music 199-2009 featuring Australian contemporary composers.  As part of the HSC Music course students must study this content and so this CD is designed a a resource as well as for highlighting contemporary composers and musicians.

The CD was launched at the Australian Music Centre in The Rocks Sydney at the end of September – more information about the cd can be found here.

Apart from all of that I do like the concept of listening to beautiful music, eating chocolate and crying!!

Kookaburra Illustration Drawing

I have just finished this drawing of a Kookaburra.

Again it is drawn using light washed of watercolour and many many dots made with a fine nib rotring pen.

It is a drawing I started last year and is part of my mission to complete unfinished projects.

I am still carving one of the unfinished projects in my linocut work but am still keeping it low profile until it is completed. But it is exciting and I am hoping to get it completed in the next couple of weeks.

I am also designing a few new things. I have to take regular breaks from carving lino and so am mixing it up a bit with the illustration work, new designs for linocuts, some extension design work in relation to more commercial projects like cards  and drawing. It sort of suits me to work this way in many respects I just need to be careful to aim to complete work as well as look at all the new possibilities!!

Waratah Illustration – just finished!

I have just finished this illustration of a Waratah – Telopia speciosissima. I know back to waratahs again! But the two local plants have put on a real show again this spring and I just couldn’t resist.

In this particular illustration I have used a very light wash of watercolour and use fine dots (many many many fine dots) with a Rotring pen to build up the image.

For those that may be interested in papers I have used an antique white rag based acid free watercolour paper. I like this paper with its slightly rough texture – it is cold pressed watercolour paper and so has a ‘bite’ on its surface. The hot pressed papers I mainly use for the linocuts has a smooth surface.

On the RSI/arm/shoulder/neck pain front – I am carving lino again but the advice from the physio is ‘pace yourself’ which is incredibly frustrating but I guess not as frustrating as 2 months without carving and not doing much else. Just need to keep up the exercises, pilates, anti-inflammatory meds, posture correction and warm wheat bags!! But still some progress forward is something to be grateful for.

Now onto a bit of carving this afternoon I think….can’t say what yet…but it is getting there albeit slowly….

Update to website – Tawny Frogmouth Linocut

I have finally started to get back to work – although slowly – and have just updated my website with the final version of the ‘Tawny Expressions’ linocut which I have called ‘Evry Move You Make…Watching YOU’.

The local ‘tawnies’ as they are affectionately known are back of an evening hunting under the street lights and sending out their thrumming oom-oom. Each year I hope they will find the trees in our yard to nest in but so far no such luck! But I look forward to thei summertime visits and hopefully they will bring a young one or two around again for a visit.

Still here…

Yes I am still here…I haven’t actually fallen off the face of the planet…well not yet at least!!

I have been busy with some family/life matters for the past few weeks which has put the artwork on the back burner…again…
I have struggled with issues around neck/shoulder RSI type things for a while now and this has been flaring up in recent weeks. It doesn’t help that my work involves lots of looking down so my posture needs severe attention as well!

I have completed one major project recently – well almost – and will post about that when it is finalised. I am also hoping to finish another major linocut project over the next few weeks if I can get my neck etc to co-operate!

In the meantime I have started back on some botanical illustration work as a break from carving and printing and will post about that asap!

It doesn’t help now that I currently have all my children at home, they have managed to use ALL the broadband allowance for the past month up and we are currently on dial up speed – not impressed. However, I am still stubbornly refusing to purchase extra in the valiant hope that they will all learn…maybe…to curb their usage. So uploading images is pretty slow but just a couple more days!

Visual Arts Teaching – Textbook and Curriculum Resource

Last year I was contacted by Lynda Kuntyj and asked to contribute to a resource textbook to help support the new Western Australian Visual Arts Curriculum for Primary/Secondary students.

I am very interested in promoting the visual arts and in teaching/tutoring, having a degree in art education. After speaking to Lynda, who is obviously passionate about teaching, I contributed some of my images, working arts practice methodology and tutorial text.

Impact Publishing released this book early this year and you can find out more about this book here. There is a pdf file with sample pages from this book that you can download – this includes 2 of the pages with some of the information that I contributed.

This is one of the textbooks from of a series of three. They all look quite helpful as resources for art teachers and students even though it is the WA syllabus the information looks like it would be useful generally.