Today on tour. ..

Today I was on a very well traversed road and from under a cloud of fog and ending a weekend of sleety flurries, icy winds and rain… emerged this! Stunning….

The rejection of sleeping Ariadne.

My latest Photograph and entry into the Taranaki Arts Trail Exhibition 2016.

Titled “The rejection of sleeping Ariadne”.

Description:

A 3rd century BC Roman copy of an ancient Greek sculpture of Ariadne.

Ariadne awoke from her peaceful slumber  to find herself abandoned and rejected by her lover, Theseus, according to Greek mythology. This sculpture captures her final moment of peace before she wakes and realises the devastating betrayal that has occurred.

She is left to dream alone…rejected then by her lover and now, it also appears, the public.

Bored of the inspiration board…

It was time for a change. My studio inspiration board had gotten very cluttered, very colourful, very chaotic…full of images, colours, words, photos, and kids art. It was busy and bright and bold. But mostly busy!

But instead of feeling inspired, I started to feel cluttered and crowded. I wanted space to think. I wanted less, not more. So I took it all down, without thinking or reviewing, or analysing any particular item. I put them in a suitcase with my other papers.  Then I put back up six items. Not six on purpose, just because these six images felt right for right now.

None of the images on the board are mine. One is a beloved print brought in Wellington a few years back that had been rolled up in a drawer  – a watercolour sketch of a hummingbird. Another is a postcard of Paris – both for my dreams to go there one day, and also because it was from a dear friend. Another image is a magazine advertisement image that I like. The final blue image is a photo of the sea found in yet another magazine. The blues are intoxicating beautiful and a reminder of the inherent beauty in nature and beaches.

My “Start Something” paper mantra returned to the wall (as always) and finally, I added the brochure from the “One” exhibition – held in 2013, as a reminder of my past achievements and future plans.

When I look at the wall, I feel optimistic and calm and I can hear myself think. Right now, I like that.

Sometimes inspiration boards need a little inspiration too!

Preparing for take off…

Sometimes you get to witness something special.

A monarch drying out its new wings and preparing for flight. Some, I understand, fly thousands of kilometres from North America to Mexico and back, while our New Zealand ones prefer to stay home!

It’s a new day…

 

“Don’t you get bored photographing the same thing?” It was a question I was asked today. And I smiled. Yes, it is the same road that I travel almost every week, backward and forward. A road I know every well now. Travelling the same road along the coast for nearly an hour each way. But bored?…No! Every moment offers a new photo opportunity…different light, different weather, different time of day, different season, different focus, different mental state, different camera lens and settings…so many variables…so many opportunities to get that one image that is the elusive “one”.

So, yes, it may be the same old road. But for a million other reasons, it’s a new day…and a new photo.

That’s our role, isn’t it as artists…to look at the same old thing as if we are looking at it for the first time?

The romance of roses…is it dead?

As you know, I love roses. I love them even when they are dying, like these ones. There is something beautiful, yet slightly macabre about gorgeous red roses in their final stages of bloom.

Maybe it’s a cliché but roses really are like a metaphor for love in real life….first, the precious rose-bud like the thrill of new romantic love, then there is the full blown blooming gorgeousness of long-life-together-kind-of-love represented by roses in full bloom. Then, finally the graceful and bitter-sweet love found in appreciating something and thinking it beautiful through its final stages of life, while decaying and dying…somehow fragile yet still achingly beautiful. I am sure a poet wrote about it….

Glass Bay’s secret treasures…

There is a bay, not far from here. If you like, you could say it is the site of an old dump. If you prefer, you could call it Glass Bay, known locally for its beach covered with sea glass, the beautiful result of bottles crushed and smoothed by rocks and ocean waves then covering the sand in a shiny and tiny glass and pebble mix underfoot.

There, I found this. Amongst the debris, junk, ruins and discarded waste of yesteryear that is now now falling down the cliff into the sea…it was too big and heavy for me to carry back up the steep rocky beach cliff, so I had to make do with admiring its design. There was something sentimental and romantic about its rusted and washed up presence on the beach…I just loved it.

PS… If you are reading this I will take it as a good sign that you can still find my blog…I have had to convert back to my word-press domain and address for this blog. I am building my website using my www.blackboxartstudio.com  address for that forum……..Hopefully you will hang in there while I get everything connected, and running properly….please have patience with me.

A sprinkle of diamonds…

It was as if all the leaves on this  plant had been sprinkled with loose diamonds….the green leaves were all shimmery and glistening with tiny diamonds it seemed. I looked again and realised it was tiny droplets of rain making the diamond bright sparkles on the leaves, in the morning sunshine.

Love is in the air…

at the Zoo at least…

Love is:

a mud bath for two?

Or just a lazy Sunday snooze together!

Something new in the garden…

 

A protea. It’s taking ages to blossom. But it is stunning even as a bud waiting to bloom so I don’t mind. It has many shades of pink (which I like) and is strangely velvet smooth to touch. Quite spectacular!