Tag Archives: reflection

The beauty around us

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I don’t know the name of these

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.

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A memorable read

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Recently I began helping out at a second-hand bookshop, and came across Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden. The title was familiar, but after reading the foreword, decided I’d missed reading it somehow. It was published in 1998, three years before I went to live and work in Japan.

I knew little of the country when I arrived, but when It came to time leave, the place and its people were a part of me.

I made close friends, and was invited into their homes, to enjoy meals, attend art classes, and cultural events – such as New Year celebrations and rituals. These memories floated through my thoughts as I read Memoirs of a Geisha.

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Well, there is a little progress

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Original rough, left side of double page spread

Last time I talked about my memoir with pictures, I showed a few pencil sketches of some pages I had nutted out. I have now sketched more pages, attempting to make a storyboard of the tales I wished to tell, or portray. This bit was easy. I love sketching in pencil and plotting scenarios based on my experiences when young, that was no trouble what so ever.

I studied other graphic novels to get a feel with how I wanted mine to look: a mixture of double pages in colour or black and white, and several pages with smaller images, as you might see in a comic, with speech bubbles etc., But then, I decided I should do at least one trial page in full colour as I imagined the larger pages should look. But, what medium to use?

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A focus on line to achieve form

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As I mentioned in my last post, Thursday would be the last of four Life drawing sessions held locally. Again we started with numerous quick sketches and we were encouraged to keep to pencil throughout. But I couldn’t resist using willow charcoal for a few the poses, as I particularly like the medium. I did use pencil, but it didn’t respond so well to the reasonably thick cartridge paper I had brought with me. The above poses were only a couple of minutes long, and are mere flashes of line on paper.

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Looking at light on form

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Willow charcoal & charcoal pencil, 1996

I went to my first Life Drawing classes aged fourteen with my dad. My brother and sister also attended at various times too. Dad was passionate about art and thought one of his children might catch the bug. However, I was the only one who ended up at art school, where I continued to sketch the figure. It was something I loved doing then, and have continued doing from time to time, ever since.

The above sketch was part of an exhibition of my figure studies completed that year. I hired a model, and worked in a studio above my garage to produce the work. It was great to have a comfy sofa the model could relax in, which resulted in many nice long poses. All the work sold, which was good, but when I realised I wished to keep one (the above image) for myself, on enquiry I found my agent had sold it that very day. Lucky I had taken a photo.

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It all started in Amsterdam

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Amsterdam was where we would join the Viking Sigrun (they call it a ship, not a boat) and the other approximately 179 others who had chosen this trip up the Rhine for a week’s voyage. Kerry and I chose to arrive early in Amsterdam, giving us time to meet friends, and to rid ourselves of jet lag, after our lengthy flights from New Zealand. Over 36 hours should you wonder.

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Things that fall

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Final image

I’ve spoken often about how I love to go walking in my neighbourhood, and I didn’t let the previous night’s storm put me off. It was still blowing furiously yesterday when I took off, cap on under my red jacket hood. Sunglasses too, to keep the wind and salt air out. The debris on the footpath had me stop at the end of the block, and there I stooped to uplift a fine collection of fallen goods. I picked up a large leaf, (from a magnolia I guessed), two small pōhutukawa leaves sporting radiant autumn colours, a seed of some sort and a small feijoa. Feijoas are loved and disliked in equal number here. I love them. To eat, one should slice them in half and scoop out the middle with a teaspoon, But this fallen delicacy was way too small to eat.

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A lull in proceedings

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For all my excitement about my new novel, and tripping about to speak at book stores etc., I admit the busyness over the past few weeks has seen me flop on my bed for ‘Nana Naps’ most afternoons, my thoughts of sketching lost in dreams.

However, I woke feeling fresh this morning (ye ha!) and made a start on sketching three small figs on a saucer, before taking off to walk by the sea. So lovely with the hint of autumn in the air and tui going crazy in the trees.

My batteries were re-charged.

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And what a week it was!

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Family group

It began well. Kerry and I flew to Melbourne for a couple of days so we could attend a special event. My son and family live there, and so we met for dinner in the CBD soon after arrival. I was so pleased Gelato was suggested after the hot spicy dishes. The ice cream was so delicious I could have eaten two. A quick catchup with Kerry’s granddaughter and baby great-grandson the next day, and back into the city to prepare for the event, which was a large gathering of friends and family to celebrate the life of a dear friend.

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No final painting but there is this

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La Femme au Bain by René-Xavier Prinet, around 1888

The final class was cut short, as we were to be given a talk about the painting by Charles Goldie, which is where the classes began. To recap, we were handed a copy of the painting and were asked to copy it. But what I never realised until this talk was, that Goldie had copied his La Femme au Bain, from an original, for on the bottom of the painting it reads ‘after’ René-Xavier Prinet. Both artists studied at the Académie Julian in Paris around the same time. So, I had made a copy of a copy. I didn’t know what to think. I guess seeing both men could certainly paint, I must have learned something through close observation.

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