Lost Aussie on the loose

Is It Any Good?

For many of us who potter happily amongst our paints, papers (or pixels) creating works of ART? ....there often comes the point where you want to know if what you create is any GOOD!
And how might that be determined?  Is it just the approbation of your family and friends, is it when you successfully get a piece published in a magazine or is it when your artwork is accepted into a gallery exhibition?
I don't know and I suspect for each and every artist the yardstick of approval is different.

In my case I am tickled to death to have had a number of pieces accepted into different gallery shows over the last 8 months, both locally on Long Island, in Brooklyn and also across the way in California.

For me, the acceptance of my artwork into shows, juried by people who know me not at all, is a particularly important tick in the right box!

That's not to say that the 'scrunched husband face' test does not remain a valid personal indicator of whether or not a piece is any good but sometimes it's nice to know that others who are not near and dear and hold no personal bias share the same opinion about what you do!

Just my thoughts on a quiet sunny morning before I head to the beach......

And if you are so inclined, feel free to comment and share your thoughts on 'validation' and where it comes from for you!

The Firelight Series - inspired by the recent bushfires in Australia is due to hang as part of an exhibition in May at the Long Island Art League.

Eye Spy - by the River

Cruising round the river on Sunday I spotted the red bills of some lovely Black Swans.....hauled on the brakes, parked the "O"mobile and grabbed the camera.
To my surprise and delight, not only did I capture some pics of the adult swans but their fluffy gray babies as well.  Mom and Dad were very proud parents, chaperoning their charges around the little lake and quaking out instructions when they got too close to the tourists.

Finding pictures of wonderful flora and fauna is never too hard in this part of the world!

My Downunder Wonders

I checked out the weather map of the world a minute ago and smiled a big smile as I contemplate my day of 34C with clear blue sunny skies and not the 10C wet and rainy day they are going to have in New York.

I have slipped back into my ritual of daily walks on the beach, my freckles have all started to pop out and I am enjoying the breath of fresh air from the Indian Ocean and time spent with my sons.
I feel very blessed that they are stil content to spend hours chatting with me, even if it is in between mouthfuls of pie, or the next great shot with 'their camera'....connecting with teenagers is a precious thing!

More Things in the Sand!

Here are a few more pics of the weird and wonderful things that were to be found on the beach yesterday... including a very realistic watch, pencil ready to point, plug for the bath...or even the sea, it was big enough, a gaudy but great ATV, Emus made from tyres and just what you would expect....some "Life Savers"!

...and there were many many more!....all incredibly clever don't you think?

Something In The Sand

There is this whole collection of fantastic sculptures which have been embedded in the sand down at Cottesloe Beach, as part of an extraordinary outdoor exhibition, and son David has been at me for the last few days to get down there and take some pictures.  He has already been with his Digital Photography class at school but wanted to get a few more shots in to complete his class compositions.

I guess there are about 30 or so pieces, all very different in their shape, form and expression and just kind of hanging around on the beach...or partially buried as the case may be...

For now you will have to be content with a snap of just one.  I have a few more to show you but my eyes are closing and 6am wake-up is not too far off.........yes, I have a totally different schedule when I am here and I find I need my 7hrs sleep!

Unless the day gets in the way, I will post some more pics of the Beach art tomorrow...it's really quite amazing!

Home Again, Home Again - Jiggety Jigg!

 ....I wish it was just a jiggety jig...for it doesn't really seem to matter how many times I make the trek home, the trip never gets any shorter (well why would it?) or too much easier.

Anyway after 3 good hours of Horizontal sleep (with no bumps) I was up and zooming down the freeway to see the boys and we have had a wonderful weekend of catching up on love, hugs, stories and HOMEWORK!  LOL...

Not often that Moms or Mums are thrilled at the thought of that, or laundry, but I guess I make the exception.

Of course I've managed to get down to the beach a couple of times already.  The weather is just balmy....28C, blue, blue skies and now that #2 Son David is as much in love with his camera as I am, picture hunting just became twice as much fun as ever!
Even #1 Son, James has wrested an older camera off me this time, so maybe we will see some pics from him too!

So here are a few snaps from the past few days....Leaves, trees, beaches and the most gorgeous little shell that was just waiting for me on my walk this afternoon......

Busy Daze

As always, before I head off to Australia, the pace of life seems to pick up, lots of things need to be attended to RIGHT NOW, I get creative urges and want to spend hours/days in the Studio and then there is the matter of preempting the calendar to make sure I have not missed anything that needs to be done while I am away as well as shore up the domestic front...and let's not even talk about my Garden!

Anyway, careless of my growing list of TO DO's I spent Friday in the City attending a Photoshop Seminar with Ben Willmore. I would not say it was an earthshattering day but I did garner a few tips on using CS4 and they were duly tucked into my notebook for future reference.

Then I headed onto a Downtown location to catch a workshop all about paper painting, dyeing and waxing.  The highlight of the evening was the opportunity to meet up with Seth from the Altered Page.  He and I have corresponded since I came to New York but have never managed to get together until now.  It was fabulous to finally be able to put a face to the name and have a bit of fun at the same time!  Thanks Seth.

Then yesterday, my everloving and very indulgent DH agreed to a little road trip down to Delaware so that I could visit with a very good friend of mine.  She's been having a few struggles lately and I really wanted to SEE her before I left.  Happily we combined our visit with a side-trip to the Amish Country in PA and although the Peddlar guy we wanted to visit was closed, I still managed to give my camera some air and stock up on the famed candles from the big barn shope they have in Intercourse. (yes, that is the town's name!)

Other news is that my MACRO DAY pic was voted #2 for the week....wooohooooo

...and I have had another Digital Collage accepted for an exhibition entitled "Art & Science" to be held in California in June.... and they want to use my work as one of the "promo" pieces.... :-)))

Inbetween all of THAT I have spent the majority of the last 48hrs on the phone or glued to my text messages and emails as my Mother's husband has been taken severely ill in Australia and I am trying to monitor how all that goes, pull strings where I can and generally worry my head off!

Otherwise......all quiet on the North Eastern Front! Ha!

Old Field, LI

The thrall of Spring cleaning waned early and after our determined efforts on Saturday I figured that Sunday should be spent a little more pleasantly.  Just a shame that the weather gods did not look at the day in the same light.  However since the thermometer was in the 50's I managed to find at least 20 good reasons above freezing to be outdoors and exploring! 

For some reason I decided that a drive around the Island to find a good looking Lighthouse (to take pictures of) might be a good idea.
Research indicated that there are some 26 lighthouses on Long Island - promising!  Further research indicated that most of them are either inaccessible or closed to the public.....well boo hoo!
The closest one we could find that was viewable was in a little town about 20 miles away called Old Field.
Not really your statueqsue kind of lighthouse...more like some large light fixtures popped on top of a churchy/village hall building. 

Still it was fun to go exploring, walk along the beach and snap a few pics of the local scenery.
And sure as heck beat fossicking through boxes of books in the basement!

A Saturday that Was

I woke this morning to a much balmier Long Island and before too long the temps were in the 60's - oh so delightful that a few Spring chores beckoned.  Having DH captive and (all but electronically) removed from his corporate rat-race I decided it was time time to make the most of his appearance and get the garage cleaned and sorted.
All good and done by 4pm whence we turned ourselves towards the basement to make some headway on our stash of antique and junk books - this time (ahem) a little less success.

Nevertheless, by 5pm and feeling pretty pleased with ourselves we decided to go out for dinner, did a little research online, poured through our Zagat guides and made what we thought was going to be an informed decision!
We arrive at Panama Hatties (a highly rate local venue) promptly at 7:30pm only to be left milling like globs of I don't know what, by the front door while they rustle us up a table.  (and yes we had a booking)  Seat us at a table in front of a brick wall, sans art, sans light and pretty much sans everything.   Hmm...new table is requested.  We get shuffled back to the front entrance, wait, escorted to new table which has a grand view of the service alley way, and an even better view of the dirty carpet and hole in the table cloth.  I eye him, he eyes me and I grab my handbag and we head for the coat check.....
Oh you are leaving?  Why demands the Chef, who for some reason is in the foyer (clearly not cooking) "ummm oh well, it's sort of not really what we had expected"...
upon which he cries...to all who can hear..."Table Walkin'...." and thrusts our coats at us as fast as he can.

We then get into the car, and thanks to the marvels of cell phone technology and GPS, manage to get a 9:15pm booking at what had been the other restaurant of choice for the night.  We get there early, which is fine, and grab a drink in the bar.  If I tell you that I thought I had stepped into a bad episode of the "Sopranos" it would be no exaggeration.  Lots of large dudes with very odd accents, buzz hair cuts with 10% extra and big fat pinky rings....the women...hmm well how do I say this politely?  Um well, very particularly enhanced, either courtesy of the local plastics guy or a lot of Victoria Secret coupons...hard to tell which.....and I am sure they were all working for L'Oriewhatisitoutofthebottle?  But what would I know, I run on a treadmill and wash my hair in tapwater!

Pretty well 9:15 on the dot we get our table. Everyone is polite, nice and well mannered and all bodes well.........until the Caesar Salad comes out.
For anyone who knows me at all, I eat vegetables pretty much 6 days a week and on the 7th day I have Caesar Salad and Steak.  I love scallops, prawns, lobster, hate fish, love broccoli, tomatoes and many many other things....but I am a TOTAL expert on Caesar Salad and hate it when it comes out chopped with store bought dressing.
It's meant to be leaves of Cos Lettuce, dressing made with egg yolks, have anchovies, croutons and bacon.
Chopped lettuce just does not carry the day and whatdotheyserverthere...but chopped lettuce! Ick! minus 10 points.
Steak is lovely, veggies all great, and in such good portions that there are left overs to be taken...if only the bus boy did not lose them and now I am not sure whose food I brought home!

Lastly I am a demon about the coffee....has to be fresh, tasty and just like the Italian's intended....NO CINNAMON!
All good there if I could find the coffee in the cup underneath the foam....oh well, a good foamy lip can be sexy right?

Then comes the bill...DH chucks his card in without really looking.  When it comes back to be signed turns out that they had charges us 2X for the wine...........oh er Sorry Sir..it was a typo on the wine list, but we will let you have it for what you "thought" it was going to be...
Yeah right!

Have I ever mentioned that I REALLY like Subway Sandwiches!  They are just the best, you can watch them make it and they even put what you REALLY like into the bun!  Works for me!

So, we get home, flick on the TV and I'm greeted by a re-run of the Return to Snowy River.  Nothing like the rendolent sounds of a booming orchestra, sweaty brumbies pounding down the sides of the Blue Mountains and folk speaking YOUR language to make you heartily homesick! And as the boys or DH will tell you, I am a sucker at the movies, cry at each and every one, even if they are not sad.  So there I sit on the couch, in my high heels, black stockings and finery, sobbing my heart out....

Dreaming of my wide brown land downunder, hugs from my small men and real Caesar salads with bacon at the Blue Duck Cafe (Misty, you know what I mean) ....
How many days till I fly?...

Illustration Friday - Intricate

Illustration Friday's topic this week is "Intricate".

Not really sure why, but I decided to use an image of one of New York City's ballerinas as the basis for the digital collage I had in mind.  I took the photo of the City Ballet poster outside the Javit's Center a week or so ago.

I liked the simple outlines of the image once I'd pulled it out of the photograph and from there, well the complexities of the collage seemed to marry well with the theme of the week and speaks to the artisitc endeavour required to perform some of their amazing (and intricate) dances.