Just a quick post before I head off to Bellingen for Camp Creative, a summer arts school, where I'll spend the next week painting away, creating mood with watercolour. Thought you might enjoy some of the fairy sightings that greeted me when I finally arrived in Sydney--a magical place for most.
And the first photo is just a joke, of course, although I have been swimming in both Sydney Harbour (outside any nets) & on the Northern Beaches--my favourite ocean beaches, with names like Curl Curl, Dee Why (who invented that name? I haven't found the story out yet), Freshwater (otherwise affectionately nicknamed "Freshie", or called Harbord), and of course the famous Manly and Shelly Beach. There are many Shelly Beaches along the Australian coast & when I finally asked "who's the "Shelly" that so many beaches are named after?", was informed, after some sideways looks, that they are beaches with a shell base, instead of sand.
I had totally forgotten that the Aussies are great for calling things as they see them, eg, "Toilets" not the poncy "washrooms" or "restrooms" as we North Americans are fond of saying, as well as various kinds of gum according to their bark: red, white, blue, ghost, spotted, paperbark, blood (for the red blood-like sap that weeps out from wounds in the bark), and squiggly-bark (for the squiggles made by some kind of worm trapped under the bark which show when the bark is shed annually.)
You might wonder what this all has to do with art so I'll loosely say that I have full intentions of painting lots of these specimens very soon! I have some more photo reference material for an upcoming lighthouse series of paintings, including the lovely and historic lighthouse at the South Head where we walked and swam yesterday.
So, onward & northward I head tomorrow. Hope your year has started off well and I'll fill you in on my travels when I return to Sydney in 10 days!
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