The last 3 weeks

It feels like I've been a long time on the road! My friend Laurie flew into Sydney on February 9 and we spent a few days exploring my favourite spots, then headed to the Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves (first photo) for 4 days. Returning to Sydney overnight, we then packed up the car and headed south...front wheels complaining all the way. I had the car looked at quickly before we left Sydney and the mechanic said we could make it all the way to Melbourne but drive carefullly, especially around corners, as the front rod and bearing was worn. So, we started on the way--Bundeena, Kiama (the lighthouse photo), Jervis Bay where we saw dolphins and kayaked, South Durras near Bateman's Bay where we again saw dolphins and kayaked, and Narooma where we saw a huge fur seal and Australia Rock (can you tell which photo that is?) By the time we got to Merimbula I was getting worried about the car but couldn't find anyone to look at it again quickly so we cautiously pushed on to Lakes Entrance (calmest waters at the Entrance I've ever seen--there's another photo!) and Melbourne without going off the road too far. It was a little disappointing as I'd hoped to show Laurie a few more spots.

As it turned out we made it safely into Melbourne (and little Molly Mazda into the shop) just in time to unpack, sleep and get up early for flights out the next day. Laurie went to Sydney and a cousin and I flew to Adelaide to explore South Australia for a week and see some other cousins there. We got in early and rented a car, stopping at Glenelg Beach, one of the prestigious Adelaide beach suburbs, on the way south to the Fleurieu Peninsula.

Port Elliot is absolutely gorgeous and we spent two nights there. Horseshoe Bay (not the one in Vancouver!) is beautiful and there are so many lovely historic bluestone and limestone buildings from the 1800s there. I always enjoy it--the sea is the most gorgeous colour. I did a couple of sketches there so might use them for further inspiration.

Then we went to another historic South Australian town, Gawler, between Adelaide and the Barossa Valley. Caught up with another cousin for a bbq, he lives at Maslin Beach which was the first nude beach declared in Australia. I brought my swimmers (as they call bathing suits down here) but we didn't go to the beach!

The next day was a trip to 3 wineries in the Barossa (and affiliated tastings, of course!) and a bit of a drive round the area. I love all the beautiful big gum trees around Adelaide. It's so dry there I can't believe the trees grow so big, but they do. The ground is mostly bare of grass in lots of spots, but the trees shade it nicely and we really lucked out on the weather--it wasn't too hot or cold and the breezes, especially the sea breezes, were just right. It can easily reach 35 or 40 degrees in the area this time of year, so I was happy to have it easy.

And now, I'm back in Melbourne, happy to be in one spot for almost 2 weeks until I return. There's lots of cousins, an aunt and uncle to catch up with, and my job is to organize my papers and possessions and Molly (Mazda) as to what to leave and what to pack to return home with. I'd also like to get a bit of painting in!! I've been quite slack, so much time on the road seems to slide by without a painting day. I do have a commitment to sketch a cousin's new baby before I leave, and spend another day painting with another one.

My days here are winding down and I can hardly wait to get home! And to see my husband again! I really missed him the last 2 weeks on the road, and it was great to talk to him on the phone after the Canadian hockey team won the Olympic gold! I thought of Vancouver a lot as we caught glimpses of the Games on TV while travelling. It was a very exciting period for Canada, and despite the tragic start it all seemed to flow smoothly afterwards.

I'll see about getting another post and some more photos before I leave, now that I have access to a computer and time. Hope you like this little travel journal!

Last week in Sydney

Sorry, haven't taken many photos this last week.  However I still have had lots of fun!  How could you not, in beautiful weather in gorgeous Sydney...when you're on the countdown for how many days you actually have left before heading south!

After a very rainy week I had a last visit with British cousins on the Central Coast (including seeing the Australian Watercolour Institute show at the Gosford Regional Art Gallery--which was excellent.  I guess I should be acting on joining that Institute plus their equivalent in Canada--if I'm serious about being a world-class artist it would be a smart move to have juried membership in two countries now wouldn't it?)

Then on Tuesday morning I picked up an old friend (and coach) from Vancouver & we set out to enjoy some of my favourite spots around--Camp Cove, South Head Lighthouse and then when she crashed (as you do, after that long flight) I joined friends for this year's last Open Air Cinema on Sydney Harbour for "Bright Star" which was a fantastic movie about the poet Keats.  Yesterday we got up, headed for Manly and walked the promenade there down to Shelly Beach and had a snorkle, lunch at the place that Nicole Kidman got married to Keith Urban, and drove up the Northern Beaches to Whale Beach for a splendid birthday dinner for another friend.  And today, my first kayak on Sydney's Middle Harbour with a lesson from Laurie who is an experienced sea kayaker who does 10 day wilderness trips kayaking every year, from Mexico to the West Coast of Vancouver Island.  Fantastic, and we're intending to do it again tomorrow morning, along with a walk along Sydney Harbour and hopefully another swim in the ocean to round off the day!

Needless to say I've been too busy to paint or even sketch, except for one day when I practised my ink and watercolour technique which has created some lovely gum trees, on producing rocks.  I might need a little more practise, however the initial results were quite pleasing.

And we'll need to get packed up in 2 days to head for the Blue Mountains for a 4 day stay, before returning to Sydney and organizing all of our possessions for the journey south to Melbourne.  I can feel the time ebbing away here and want to make the most of it.

That said, I might not be posting for a couple of weeks because of all the travels but stay tuned for more adventures!  (Hopefully there won't be any shark incidents but we are wanting to see dolphins while kayaking in Jervis Bay on the way down the coast!)

Enjoy whatever you're doing in life--until we meet again!

French Masterpieces in the National Gallery, Canberra

It's been a while since my last post and that's because I took a couple of side trips over the last two weeks.  As well as visiting Taronga Zoo and sketching the giraffes with their gorgeous view of Sydney Harbour, I spent two days in Canberra with my wonderful Sydney hostess Di having a fantastic time (as usual with her--she spots fairies everywhere!).  

We stopped in the Southern Highland town of Mittagong for lunch and art-viewing at the Sturt Gallery, then noticed, upon arrival in Canberra, a 6 pm jazz concert in the National Botanic Gardens which we were just in time for!  No worries about being early to find parking or a spot on the lawn in Canberra, we just rocked up, past the giant kangaroos on the lawn, and found thousands of happy families enjoying the evening.  Some of the little girls were dressed up with fairy wings and flowing skirts so I spent most of the concert trying to quickly sketch them as they ran by playing.  Fairies don't stay still very long, that's for sure!  It was quite magical, with all the gum trees, people picnicking on the lawns, music floating through the air, as dusk approached.

What to do after that but find dinner and I was delighted to finally find an outstanding Szechuan restaurant that served their special spicy green beans in Australia.  Of course, you have to go to Canberra to get them!!  

And the next day, the exhibition of mostly French impressionists & post-impressionists from the Musee d'Orsay in Paris was stunning.  One Degas, 2 Monets, 5 Van Goghs including the spectacular Starry Night painting which I've never seen before, and lots of Cezanne, Pisarro, Bonnard, and many other lesser known (to me) artists showing the change of painting over a few decades.  Every time I walked by Starry Night I almost cried, it was so beautiful and sparkling with colour, even after 120 years.  We spent the whole day in the National Gallery, although we had a quick tour of the National Portrait Gallery on the way out.  I suppose Ottawa and its museums and galleries must be a lot like Canberra so I suppose I should put that on my bucket list too so I can compare.  And maybe some day I'll have my paintings exhibited in both of those places....dreaming a little bit there!

Back to Sydney (emu spotting en route, by the way!) where yesterday we went to see the Australian ex-pat artist Rupert C. W. Bunny, who was the first and best-known in Paris of any Australian artist during the late 1800s and early 1900s.  Lovely light and beautiful women wearing flowing clothing, as well as reflections of la Belle Epoque life of Paris, filled his work. Well curated and worth seeing!

I'm now getting ready for a Vancouver friend to arrive next week--we'll spend some time together hiking and kayaking around the Sydney and Blue Mountains area before taking the beautiful coastal route down towards Melbourne.  Can I fit some painting in?  So much to do, so little time!!

Next posting I'll put some photos up, I promise!

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!