painting at tafe

I have started doing an evening art course at tafe  with Veronica O'Leary  teaching (this link shows two of Veronica's paintings if you scoll down).  I did a similar course with Veronica 2 years ago and it was great fun and Veronica is a wonderful teacher.  When i turned up to the class last week we were given a painting by Matisse to use in our first activity so you can imagine my excitement - it already matches my new blog banner!!!  i haven't got far with it yet but want to share some of my favourite Matisse images.

 

COLOUR COLOUR COLOUR........

op shop books

I have had a wonderful time scouting the local op shops while I've been on holidays and mostly scoring books. 
I always plan to cut them up and sometimes I do but i must confess i've become a bit of a book horder and I've got a feeling these new additions will not be made into anything in the near future.

Check out this wonderful old collection of encyclopedias.(sorry about the photo) Now i know they are a dime a dozen but these are a real treasure - 1934 - The Modern World Encyclopoaedia - 8 volumnes -
with some really fabulous line drawers scattered throughout.

They remind me of the projects we use to do in primary school - something I use to love doing.  Not much 'higher order thinking' (one of the buzz phrases in educational circles at the moment) but lots of fun and I suspect a fair bit of learning was accidentally happening....I can feel a project coming on!!! could be a great idea for a book without actually cutting them up.  some of you might remember when photocopiers first made their way to school libraries and some (kind) teacher use to photocopy pictures for our projects, they were shiney and the paper slippery  and when coloured with  textas glowed like some dead sea creature...weren't they great!!.

Another book I found today at the Salvos in Bega was a copy of Mother Gooses Nursery Rhymes.  some of them are a real laugh, mainly because of their political incorrectness. Thank god for mother goose, although I don't think youll find too many parents, now days, reading the following to their little darlings. ....tut, tut, tut.

some I had read before,although i don't remember the second stanza of Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater......

but others were new to me....

and....

and i dare anyone of you to explain that a Dick Redcap is actually a riddle

 ....and keep a straight face

Happy mother goosing till next time....there are plenty more!!!

snow???schmow

The snow was virtually non existent.  i don't know why but i expected to drive into a snow covered landscape of chalets and pine trees glistening with white awnings and snow covered branches.  i now know that i was being very naive - apparently snow very rarely settles on the ground in jindabyne let alone creates the snowland scenes of christmas cards that i was so anticipating.   anyway it was good to catch up with louie and have a look around jindabyne. 

It wasn't what i expected at all.  i hadn't thought about what a young town it is - both in terms of population and physical existence. and it does really show.  i stopped counting both the number of pubs and the number of ski clothing shops. the place must be so different in summer, i couldn't help but think those shops must close down.  i suppose it is a little bit like tathra but in reverse, we get an influx of tourists for the summer months but we only have one pub and zero clothing shops even then. 

but apart from the number of pubs and clothing shops  what really bothered me was the lack of anything else. i'm sure if i'd  had longer to explore i might have found an op shop, or a wool/textiles shop or a cute little gallery hiding ashamedly in a back street somewhere. but the few hours i had to entertain myself (while the boys were doing car stuff) i couldn't find anything.... except there was a fabulous book shop (and one shouldn't complain as long as there is a bookshop)

and i could of spent a fortune....especially since it had a great kids section full of wonderful picture books (for me of course)...however i did refrain and only bought two books - 

Taller When Prone  by Les Murray

and

Gravel by Peter Goldsworthy

We have a bookshop down home, and it a particularly good shop too, but contemporay poetry collections and short stories are not usually on the shelves for browsing. so it was wonderful just to pick these books up and  flick through. 

.....and to read anything by mr murray is a delight.... and this collection has a number of little descriptions that vividly highlight his lucid perceptions..... such as this one;

Croc

This police car with a checkered seam

of blue and white teeth along its side

lies in cover like a long-jawed

flat dog beside the traffic stream.

I have only read one of Goldsworthy's stories, Shooting the Dog, but if that is anything to go by i can't wait to read the rest......

but for now ........

 back home and still 10 days of holidays.....off to the studio....lucky, lucky me.

off to the snow

we only live 2 hours from the snow but i very rarely visit. but today we (bill and me) are going up to see louie who is working there for the winter. i am as excited as a kid at christmas.  i hope it's snowing!! at the moment it's raining here so that might  a bad sign.  maybe its a good sign.  i know nothing about snow. 
anyway off to rug up in long johns, scarf and beanie and head off to a white fairy land.