Yesterday I was trying to find some photos to use as guides for my graphic novel. I had tidied my studio a while back, and knew these images were somewhere. I sorted through my piles of sketch pads in the cupboard, in my desk drawers, the wooden trunk in the lounge, and back through the cupboard again. I found other, probably more exciting finds in there, related to illustrating work I did some years back. So, rather than some current sketches today, I thought I’d show you some oldies.
Last week we set off for Napier, which is in the Hawke’s Bay region, for a short break. Half the five and a half hour trip from Auckland is covered quickly, as a new swathe of expressway bypasses Hamilton, a city which used to have motorists bumper to bumper making their way through the industrial outskirts. It was great to drive alongside the Waikato River looking out on the rolling green pasture filled with cattle, willow, poplars and late blossoming trees along the way. I took a few photos as we drove, knowing my phone does a good job of capturing a static image while we are moving, as I hoped to do a sketch or two once back home.
Just recently, I framed a nude sketch I had done some time ago (above), and hung it on my studio wall. Then, I decided to hang another nude sketch on an adjacent wall, swapping out the portrait which had previously hung there, (apologies for the glass glare on both). This activity was all it took to kickstart my return to work on my graphic novel, which had sat in the same spot for weeks on my drawing easel.
I started on the book yesterday, continuing with the section called Piano Teacher, which is about a girl who watches her brother go through his lessons with his teacher – badly. She, a rather bright child, picks up the hang of it all, and in turn offers lessons to a young friend of hers.
Needless to say unseen difficulties arise…
Oh, it’s been a while, but I am once more feeling the push to write, and draw. So bear with me while I tell you a little about the two images you are about to see, both claiming my attention on the same day.
I shall start with the first image, which shows an item I would never have thought of owning had I not recently needed hospital treatment, with my heart deciding it show me just how flippant it could be – a week after my successful nasal operation. A trip to A&E and a pronouncement of ‘nothing sinister’ was made. I am improving, but not back to my usual fast walking, just yet. Well, at least I’m walking!
As I’ve let you know before, of the health situation at home, I wont mention it here, except to say it’s been a rough few weeks coming to terms with a slower pace of life. ‘But hey!’ I hear some comment, ‘I mean, you guys are getting on, right? Oh yes, we are, can’t deny it, but that doesn’t mean one is supposed to sit on the settee and watch movies all day, well, not the always doing stuff kind of people we have always been. We do our movie watching in the evening, thank you very much.
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Rather than report more on our health status at home which now includes my husband’s demise, I am choosing to focus on the positive. On Saturday 20 June, tickets are booked for seats at Circa Theatre in Wellington, as we couldn’t attend the opening of ‘Julia’ on 30 May. I am still hopeful of seeing the one-woman show, as my daughter Lara is ‘Julia’. Although it is rather ‘wait and see’ for us here.
Most Australians would know the name Julia Gillard, and her short period as Prime Minister. As the commentary says on the flyer “In 2012, Julia Gillard delivered a speech that ricocheted across the world.”
“‘JULIA’ brings the woman and the moment to the stage in a gripping one-woman performance that puts us inside a very public storm and reveals the life and pressures that led to it.”
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I thought I’d start a post with a photo taken with family and friends while on holiday, late 1970’s at Auckland zoo. I’m the tallest one, sporting overalls even then). A few weeks back, with some family staying, Kerry had the great idea of visiting the zoo. And I’m afraid to say, it was my only visit since moving here 25 years ago. I dressed for the visit in my overalls, not the same pair), perhaps hoping to have a photo taken just for fun as a nod to my appearance back in the day.
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A couple of years ago I discovered that a woman I’d been good friends with over forty years ago, was now living in the same city as me. I messaged Anne, and we met up, just the once, for she moved away soon after. Five years later I received a message to say my friend was back living in Auckland and suggested we meet, with partners this time. Kerry and I invited them for lunch, and a few weeks later we lunched at their place. As we were leaving Anne said to me, ‘We should meet for a coffee, ‘just the two of us, as we have so much to catch up on.’ Little did we know just how much.
I am sure that most of you find that some situations get in the way of a commitment you made to continue working on a project come what may? Well, that’s me folks! Yes, I have been procrastinating about getting stuck in to my art work, and I apologise to those who may have been waiting to see progress on my Memoir in Pictures (a working title). I’m only a few pages along from when I last wrote about the book, although I have made some inroads as to how I wish to present my pages, and to execute the finished product – as in taking it from scruffy pencil sketches to the finished product.
Trying to discover why I had persisting pain around my mouth, head, et al. I went to see a doctor, a dentist, a jaw chap, a periodontist and a physiotherapist. After many months I had a scan to look at my sinuses, to find a large cyst was blocking my nasal passage. After fourteen months, from when I began this path of discovery, I am now booked in for an operation. To say that I’m not looking forward to having my nasal cavities explored is an understatement. Still, through all this annoying daily pain, I decided to find things which would take my mind off, well, myself.
I had read about an art residency in the French countryside, which appealed greatly, as Kerry and I had stayed in the area a long time ago, and loved it.
I have been absent from my computer and drawing board, as I was out of the country on a short train sojourn from Brisbane to Adelaide, though I did have sketching on my mind. Well, more the potential for later sketches, as it would have been impossible to get the scenery down on paper as the landscape whizzed by. Fortunately I found that my phone camera could capture with technology that which I couldn’t by hand, and the shots I took of the landscape out the window turned out better than I imagined they might.
Our introduction to others at the meeting point in Brisbane was superb, with breakfast awaiting, complete with live music to accompany the event. Kerry and I climbed aboard the Great Southern anticipation rising, as we were to be spending three nights on this train. Many buses were lined up to feed us to the train, which was incredibly long, to cater for the three hundred plus people who were heading off on this adventure. I learned early on that being in a Gold carriage was lower down the scale of ‘class’ than I had imagined, as Gold Superior and Platinum won the top honours. Still, our cabin was fine, and the dining car and lounge the same. The staff were great, as was the food and plenty of nice passengers to talk with.
Looking back, it seems, becomes more common as the years advance, for when I read of a blogger friend’s adventure to Nepal in 1982, I was immediately transported to my own travel experience in 1992. Early that year I read an advertisement for small group walking tours in the foothills of Mt Everest, Solukhumbu, Nepal. It so appealed; lots of walking, wonderful scenery, a different culture, this was for me! And, I should add, this would be my first trip overseas. I wrote to the company immediately, received the information, and three weeks later I landed in Kathmandu along with my walking buddies; Diane the leader, Jill, Annie and I – strangers until we met at Auckland airport! Note: Solukhumbu is the area where New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary had built schools, hospitals and given other support, since he had famously scaled Mt Everest alongside Sherpa Tensing in 1952.
Hi to all. I do hope your Christmas break has been relaxing and you are once again immersed in your art, work, reading, or whatever moves you most. While our holidays are behind us here, there have been many disruptions to my intended outpouring of my art and writing project. I decided this week to give you some idea of why I’ve stalled on my most adventurous art project yet – a graphic novel. I decided to write myself back into this project, and here is some of what I wrote…
Last week I was reminded of my sketch trip to Spain in 2019, and I went looking for the sketchbook I’d used at the time. Previous to leaving, I’d joined a travel sketching group, and in preparation we were asked to choose something to sketch from a favourite place we’d visited. So I chose a photo taken twenty years earlier from the cathedral Sagara Família in Barcelona.
I was high in a tower which overlooked the city and focussed on the sculptured doves in front of me. I used water-soluble ink for the foreground. It’s wise not to load the brush with too much water when you pick up the ink pigment. I used a diluted watercolour for the background.
Some Images from the sketching trip to follow
These past months have seen me with numerous dental and periodontist visits and quite frankly I’ve not felt great – hence the lack of scintillating posts. However, Kerry and I recently visited a nearby community garden at Forrest Hill (Grow Forrest Hill), to see how differently other gardens are run, compared with our Devonport community garden (Ngataringa Organic Garden). While he chatted to members, I took photos of some beautiful flowering plants. I love nature and colour, and focussing on beautiful colourful subjects is a good way to avoid ruminating on one’s troubles I’ve found. I do hope you enjoy the images I’ve selected.
