Settling into Sydney life

In some kind of order, here's 3 photos of Sydney including Freshwater Beach and one with Queenscliff with Manly Beach in the background--one of my favourite swimming spots!  The second last is a painting I did of the poinciana trees hanging over the road in Buderim, Queensland, when I first arrived here in November.  The last one is, as seasoned travellers will already recognize, Venice--a painting with ink that I did at the course last week.  

I've been really enjoying Sydney over the years that I've been coming to Australia and now I've got a good amount of time in January to enjoy some of the wonderful Sydney Festival activities.  

On Friday night we saw Circus Oz which is a wonderful Australian version of Cirque du Soleil, and last night after a bit of thunder, lightning, rain, wind and hail we sat at the Domaine and watched the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as the heat wave passed by.  For the next few days there's showers and storms and not much sun predicted so that'll be good for my painting time! 

I'm also planning a trip to Canberra to see the Impressionist Exhibition from the Musee d'Orsay so that might be as quickly as this weekend.  The National Gallery is the only place in Australia hosting this tour so I'm really looking forward to seeing some originals of my favourite artists like Monet, Degas, Renoir and van Gogh.  All that & catching up with some British cousins who have flown in for a 6 week vacation with their daughter's family on the beautiful Central Coast, one hour north of Sydney.  And not to forget some visits to my wonderful friend Skye who lives at Terrigal & will keep some time open for me while she's impatiently awaiting her new baby in February.  And celebrating another birthday later in the week!

Tuesday (Australia Day) I celebrate the 2nd anniversary of becoming an Australian.  I was sworn in on a warm morning in Melbourne and remember it very well--thinking, can I be loyal and swear allegiance to 2 countries, and what does that mean about my birthplace, Canada, if I do so?  And I am still in awe of the privilege of being a citizen of the two best countries in the world!  There's no conflict in my mind or heart about it at all!

That's all the news for now, I'll see you again when I have more to say!

"The Road'...trip

No, it wasn't anything like that!!  Really!!  (For 

those who have, like I, just seen the grim movie "The Road" at the Open Air Cinema on Sydney Harbour, or elsewhere!)

My trip to Bellingen was wonderful, the course was great, & I was happy to have completed almost 15 paintings during the week, with inspiration for more.   Camp Creative, as the arts week is called, is an annual event sponsored by some very talented people in their own rights--patrons include classical pianist David Helfgott (whose life was the inspiration for  the movie "Shine" about 20 years ago) & best-selling author Bryce Courtenay.  I was privileged this week to see & hear both of them on 2 occasions during the week and was blown away by both of them.

The photos above are, in order, a post-card sized painting I did last year of  The Promised Land, a lovely area with a beautiful creek (Never-Never Creek, I believe it's called) running through it, near Bellingen, then a couple of Australian scenes I painted at the class, followed by a lovely green frog that is resident in my cousins'  power box on Mitchell Island, and a view of the Bellinger River towards Bellingen.  New South Wales is very  green and lush this year, at least the coastal areas, and it's a joy to drive through.  Even with my rose-tinted sunglasses, which tone down the green and enhance the reds, it's stunningly beautiful right now.

Many of the paintings we did this week were of European cities--Paris, Venice, Rome and a town in Scotland--which was an interesting and classy way to teach us and good preparation for my next trip to Europe.  Maybe I'll be showing my paintings in Paris some day.  I certainly plan to spend some time in Italy when my Sydney friend Di rents a villa in Tuscany there for 6 months sometime in the near future!

But, back to Australia--let's stay in the present moment for a while, shall we?  Well, a bit more of the past first--as on the way back here I stopped in at Umina Beach to see my cousin's husband there playing with his band, Stonefish, at the Patonga pub on Saturday night.  Were they ever amazing--so professional & great music!  They had all the crowd dancing until almost closing time with their 3 encores and the blend of covers from the 60s to 90s--rock, blues and funk.  I'm hoping to see them again before I leave--I think they have a gig at the Ocean Beach pub in Umina late February so will try to work that into my schedule.  I have really enjoyed all the talented musicians I've seen in the family over the last 12 months and am wondering how to start up with an instrument again myself.  They all have such fun playing together--Canada, US, Melbourne and the Central Coast.  Hmmm, food for further development.

Now I'm back in Sydney and intending to get back into some routine for a few weeks at least--including swimming, painting, writing and blogging--depending on what the weather brings each day.  So, since today is an absolutely gorgeous Sydney day & it's after 3 pm, I think I might head off to the beach to renew my acquaintance.  See you soon!

A Magic Fairy Garden, among other things!

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!

Starting the New Year off with a bang!

What a great way to start the year--New Year's Eve at Bradley's Head on Sydney Harbour, from noon until 1 am.  An all-day picnic, swim in the harbour (no sharks, lots & LOTS of boats--see the photo of my little beach below!) & amazing fireworks to end the event.  

One of the highlights was an 11:45 pm procession of fairy kayaks--kayaks covered with fairy lights and circulating just below us in the harbour.  Absolutely beautiful and sorry I didn't capture them with my camera.  Fantastic Sydney friends who always know the best places to enjoy this beautiful city!

Unfortunately it was a sad ending to the year, with the passing of my mom's oldest sister, 92, on December 27.  I can count at least 8 friends and family and friends of family or family of friends (mostly parents) who passed in the last 6 months, and they are missed by all who knew them.  It makes you realize how precious time is with people, and not only older people, when there are so many losses in such a short time.  I hope 2010 will be better in that regard.  I suppose none of us are getting any younger and so in that sense we are all closer to death, or whatever world comes next, depending on your beliefs.  And in this westernized world we live in there is definitely a resistance to death, talking about death, thinking about death, preparing for death.  My aunt was definitely preparing the last while and had expressed her wishes in that regard.  And she held to them.  And for the family, although she didn't want a memorial, there was a party held in her honour yesterday which I missed, being overseas.  I hope it all went well and no ghosts showed up!

On the positive side of the ledger, I arrived in Sydney to a beautiful garden filled with fairies!!  I was so pleased to have finally found a magical place waiting for me!  There were even fairies waiting in the house for me, one of which was a wishing fairy, to make a wish on the full moon--which happened the night of my arrival.  Next post I'll have some photos for you of the garden, and now I've worked out my camera fireworks settings I can probably capture some of the fairy lights at night too!

As for today, I'm continuing my love affair with Sydney.  I've been to Barrenjoey lighthouse, had a swim at Palm Beach before a storm, a dip at Shelly Beach at the south end of Manly, and a walk at Curl Curl...and today it's heading to the Botanic Gardens for a walk and swim with friends.  Loving my life down under!  Stay tuned for more photos.  Too bad I can only post 5 at a time!

Some Christmas shots

The view from Manning Point cafe

Umina Beach, Lion Island, Barrenjoey Lighthouse in the distance

Boxing Day, looking at the dolphins

Christmas morning at the beach

I can't seem to get the captions quite lined up with the photos today, so hope you can work out which is which! They are almost all from around here except the one with the headlands in the photo, which was taken just north of Sydney. I've been really enjoying being back in New South Wales again. The water is lovely and cool and refreshing and the natives are just as friendly as they are everywhere else in the country. It just isn't quite as cool as Victoria (the southern state) or as warm & humid as Queensland (where the giant stick insect was found!)

Still no fairy sightings, although there have been emus, snakes, and dolphins in the last week. I didn't manage to get photos of any of those wonderful creatures, and haven't spotted a mermaid yet. There are lots of wonderful beach scenes, like the ones above on Christmas and Boxing Day. It's so great to have a nice relaxing Christmas in warm weather at the beach! Two years of snowy Canada in a row is enough for this refugee from the north.

I've started some more paintings in the last week or so and am looking forward to doing some more, leading into my week-long course in January. And right now, I'm charged with making a communal dinner in the beautiful house I'm staying at, owned by cousins and their friends, so I'd better get to the kitchen.

The year is ending soon!

It's been an amazing year, full of fun, fairies & magic. Not to mention a fair bit of art--both creating and viewing. I've worked with many mediums this year, from ink, silk, pottery, stone (tiling the ensuite shower is definitely a work of art!), photos and reproductions, to the last one, abstract watercolour on plastic paper with Greg Allen, a noted Melbourne watercolourist! It's been excellent to put out some more creative branches and fun to think about how that will continue in the next year. Might even think about some music--the cousins have inspired me with their playing, singing, and bands. Can I get back into the piano or is the guitar somehow easier?

It's also been a year of travel, exploring, and connnecting or re-connecting with family from 3 continents--some after almost 40 years! Very cool, and lots of wonderful memories, photos old and new, and old and new stories to enjoy and pass on to others. Sometimes I think one of my strongest roles is as a connection.

As I type this there are only 9 days left in the month, and I have hardly thought about next year at all, which was what this walkabout was supposed to be for. I am usually a very future-oriented person however at this point I'm not sure what I want to put in place for 2010...I do have a short (and general) list for my art, including getting a website developed, and I have a sense that there are other things which are more important in life--like enjoying family & friends and supporting others. I'm noticing how much distraction I put into my life, and how difficult it is to hold a focus most of the time. Perhaps it's just a stage...or perhaps life is one big distraction?

Anyway, I do want to wish you all a very merry Christmas, you loyal blog-readers (whoever you are!!) and I might possibly put in a short message before 2010, when I return to my favourite city Sydney for New Year's Eve fun!

photos and music

My Citizenship tree doing nicely

Dorothy (note the red slippers) & Toto in the land of Oz

Echidna (above) stick insect below

Welcome to Australia!

El Presidente heading to Golf

Bec and Seb at their gig in Newport

Watts boys jamming--part of 61 Trees out of Sacremento Ca

Well, I think I've found a better way. You tell me! Hope you enjoy the photos, not sure if the video will work well, and the sound...from my little camera! Anyway gives you a view of what I've been up to and will try to put more photos on soon.

Must run, the pool and beach are calling as is my painting!