A huddle of Lemurs

Actually the collective noun for a group of lemurs is a troop. These guys however will definately be huddling by the time I finish with them. I thought I would try to do a little work in progress overview - of my planned entry in the next MAANZ symposium exhibition.

The theme this time is a pattern from nature with a minimum repitition of 5, with the size being the standard 30cm x 30cm as for previous competitions. Anyway so long as I am happy with the outcome this will be my entry. Time will tell.

Already I am challenged because I have started to work this in the reverse sequence to usual. That is, I worked the background first. I figured it would be too difficult to lay the background in later so have completed it - mosaic and grout, and am now working the lemurs. Not sure yet whether it will turn out how I am imagining but I guess I wont know until I give it a go. I just knew that I wanted to focus on the little fluffy hair on these guys ears and heads so the work had to overlay the background. You can see from my sketch I am no artist.

As for the little Rainbow Lorikeets I am working this piece predominantly in smalti. Fingers crossed.

Pamela's crocodile

One of the great things about being involved with MAANZ is that you get the opportunity to share expertise, knowledge and learning. The Queensland group is currently involved in producing a series of 20 panels to contribute to Pamela Irving's Patterson Station Project. Intended to populate a dull concrete rail underpass, in Melbourne, the panels are themed "Community". Thanks to the talented Heddy we are now working on a "portrait" of a Queenslander, made up of various elements of iconic Queenslandiana. The individual panels are starting to come together, and I can only imagine the overall impact of the completed series. Thought I would share the panel that I am working on. This is as close to finished as it gets - given it will travel to Melbourne as is and will only be grouted after installation. Tried to make Mr Crocodile look as friendly as possible.

Spoilt girl

You have to love friends - a group of us got together to celebrate a recent birthday. We had an Italian feast which included this gorgeous antipasto platter. Believe me it tasted every bit as good as it looked! Sorry I can only share the image with you. Fresh figs and proscuitto with toasted ciabbata - also a choice of smoked or Sicilian olives. Naturally I had to try both. This was followed, if you can believe it, by hand made pasta with basil and cherry tomatoes, then marinated chicken with broccoli, and then the piece de resistance (not sure what the Italian equivalent for this very apt French term is) Panacotte with balsamic strawberries. Of course, keeping with tradition we drank Italian Aperol and bubbles. Yum yum.....oh I almost forgot, Florentines and Amoretti (?) with coffee. Big hugs to my girl friends who helped me to celebrate in such style.

Rosie Roo Gum Boots

I guess this is better late than never....an image of my gum boots, post Brisbane Floods. I couldn't work out how to retrospectively add an image to a previous blog, so if you want to see the text that goes with this image go back a couple of blog entries to the one on the Brisbane Floods and see what it is all about. Smiles.

Silent witness

Late one afternoon on my trip to Barcaldine we saw a mob of kangaroos resting in a paddock. Not having the right camera lense with me the roos were a speck in the distance of the photo I took. That's what comes of being a photographic novice - perhaps I should stick to mosaic.

I decided to return early next morning in the hope that the kangaroos would again be on view. Arriving before 6.00am I found the proof that my idea had been good, but the implementation lacked in the timing department. These fresh kangaroo tracks show that they had indeed been there, but that the roos had gone off seeking adventure prior to my arrival.

The long tracks at the top of the photo are made by the kangaroo's rear feet whilst the smaller "handprints" are from the shorter front legs. Tracks like these would be made when a kangaroo is travelling slowly - at this time they using a shuffling motion, placing their front paws onto the ground for balance as they bring their hind legs forward.

Beauty in nature

One of the things I loved about my trip to Central Western Queensland late last year was the beauty of the natural landscape. I was in awe of the vastness of the skies, the wide sweeping landscape, with clouds low on the horizon. Early morning was a wonderful time to walk - to beat the heat of the day and to see the local bird populations. During our visit we saw emus with chicks (the males undertake the primary care role) short billed corellas including the acrobat shown above, sulphur crested cockatoos, crested pidgeon, pelicans and other birds I am yet to identify. The stark contrast between the plumage of the birds and the sky is inspiring.

Rainbow Lorikeets

Working on Where’s Alice? provided an opportunity to work with Italian smalti. This was really the first time that I had the chance to use this traditional material. The technique too was a departure from how I generally work, so this also made me push the limits of my usual comfort zone. I think this stemmed from being presented the opportunity to have some material framed – my prize awarded to Where’s Alice? being a framing voucher. So, once my brain started grappling with how can I best present a mosaic for framing, the departure to producing a non-grouted work was easy. Hence the smalti, hence the new style of working.

Inspiration for these little lorikeets came from a friend who is a wonderful photographer. Her specialty…birds. Coincidentally my current subject of choice seems to be birds. Perfect match. The two little birds that this work is based on flew in to shelter during a storm and perched on her veranda. Truly dishevelled and wet, these guys sat out the storm, then departed from whence they came. I just feel privileged to have been able to capture their portrait.

Apologies for the blue hue - the background board is actually purple, somehow the iphone adjusted the colour when I zoomed in close to get the detail.