By My Fingers and my Phone -Keirle Park

Nothing shows more up more acutely the index finger as a blunt instrument than attempting a parkscape with Express Draw on the small window of an iPhone. This is kind of drawing that is abandoned rather than finished, which raises the interesting question of what, art-wise, is ever finished? When does a work tip from under to over done?  This may be good example of something which may tick all the boxes, abandoned, under and over done.Still, it is Keirle Park, Wednesday 22 May and the day was disappearing like credits on movie which you are watching hoping to find whose song was playing as car drove off into the twilight.

Return of the Shadow - Bart's Bo-Peepism

The last time we saw Bart's true Shadow it (well let's be polite and say 'he'), he, had hived off to rural anonymity in the wide pastures of Cooma NSW (see Mysterious Brassica Shaped Space Found) The Shadow eschews any suggestion that he might patch it up with Bart Brassica , who he says in any case prefers his fancy colourised shadow, which the Shadow goes on to say, is an abomination and a crime against nature.  It seems there may be a quantum entanglement between Bart and his Shadow, as both have simultaneously taken up with a pet pig and both are undertaking an advanced course in Pig Training. The Shadow, taking advantage of his monochromatic slightness, has been slipping into even class entirely unnoticed and not paying a single cent, whereas Bart Brassica has deferred his fees on what he calls the Hex Scheme.

The uncanny similarity between their companion pigs might be considered more than a coincidence by some!

Things with Wings, Every Day in May # 11

Though, to quote that famous 'running late and out of time table order' line made infamous by State Rail, I am behind and out of kilter in the Every Day in May's list of drawing challenges,  so far I've got a not at all impressive 8 out of 19,  I did get  #11 -  'something with wings' while waiting in Wagga airport lounge last Sunday morning. If I was going to be a shyster I'd say, after landing into a stiff westerly at Mascot later, that this would qualify for #13 as well, ' something that blows in the wind'.

Farmer Brassica's Zygopetalum Zeitgiest

In his episodic efforts trying to figure out what to think (see In the Ponderings) Farmer Brassica has decided that he might go with the flow and tap into the New Jersey zeitgiest, and thereby save getting himself a dreadful headache from concentrating on the high faluting.
With this in mind Bart, ever the agriculturalist, has been cultivating things that are in that verbal vicinity, and thinking that a simple farmer can't be too choosy with an obscure letter like Z, he figures this crop of  Zygopetalum orchids will do the trick.  As you can see the heady perfume has rather lifted him off his feet.Will they have the same effect on Mavis Eggwhistle when she comes around to collect these giants specimens for the Whistle Stoppe Floriste Shoppe?

Kierle Park - Darkness Falls

The graphic sharpness of the lowest branch of the Norfolk Pine is what I started out on here, another Wednesday with the light fading fast at Keirle Park, and then the floodlits reverse the distribution of lighter sky, darker ground.

Buddha's Hand

Buddha’s Hand

More fingers than thumbs
you act like a crown
offer the curlicue destiny of scent,

persist as jester’s cap
pointing to that place where fruit
is king. 

Carol Jenkins 

The Atmospherics of Electric Fans

Back at Tanpopo for dinner last Monday night, I decide to take the simpler view: one man, one fan, one wall and the Specials. Is this laziness or winnowing? In any case the fan speaks volumes, the fan's three blades, its cagey grill, the elegance of the hanging switch adds instant atmosphere.
We shared the Aburi Sushi - which was excellent, and then my favourite order chai-shu ramen. Perfect.

Old School Prawns & The Not So Safety Net

In many ways Bart Brassica is a model farmer, but in others, particularly his laissez-faire attitude to bodies of water, as has been put to him in various subpoenas, he tends towards the criminally negligent and is liable to come unstuck. In this case you might notice the blurring around his pitchfork is due not so much to drowning but to waving to attract attention. As we've seen before Bart is, for all purposes, undrownable but can neither swim nor float. Here he  has fallen in while attempting to scoop out a batch of his oversized Prawns from the Old School Baths he had installed to take advantage of the recent flood. This interlude, where Bart waits for someone to come and haul him out, gives him time for more complex ponderings.

Bart and the Hand of Buddha - In the Ponderings Episode 3

In his ongoing journey to Enlightenment Bart sometimes dreams of, not so much of Where the Woozle Wasn't*, but of being diametrically blind-sided.  Ever since he had a visit from Mr Buddha after a spending a bit of time submerged in the pond (see Episode 2 of In the Ponderings ) Bart has been keen to catch sight of him again to ask him just how real he really is. That he is out of sight even when Bart is dreaming does not help at all.
How this giant clawed citrus specimen levitated into Bart's unconscious might have its origins in Mavis Eggwhistle making him squeeze three dozen lemons to make lemon butter,  saying her new nail extension made this unfeasible for her and in any case her Occupational Therapist, Miss Wanda W. says Mavis should avoid anything that invovles squeezing.

* For those unfamiliar with the term 'Where the Woozle Wasn't' are referred to A A Milne's account of animal tracking in that chapter of Winne The Pooh.

Tank Standing Room Only

You might not suspect this is my take-away sketch from Wednesday's  yum cha lunch at Sea Treasure ( excellent name hey?) at Crows Nest. It was the Anzac Day public holiday and our table was pushed  hard up against the tanks. The lobster to the left was not at all fussy about where he put his claws down, walking all over his tankmates. It seems nearly bad manners to talk about the food (which was all it should be, hot from the kitchen, dimpled dumplings, piles of twice-cooked green studded with salty gooish chinese olives,  fried rice noodles with hoisin and peanut sauce, rounds of jasmine tea and then gloriously eggy flaky tarts...oops) when somebody's next course is rotating a stalked eye in your direction.

Rearmament ~ Mavis Regains her Lost Limbs

The last time we had news of Mavis Eggwhistle, after the unfortunate incident of her losing both her arms due to a Fit of Pique at  Bart Brassica (Infra Dig - Two's company Four's Annoying ), she was contemplating taking the  Sticky  Tape Cure to reattach her arms. As many would know the Sticky Tape cure is problematic, the result being unreliable, unsightly and a hindrance to most activities.

Bravely Mavis is trialling a new Blue-Tac Stem Cell technique, which so a far, has worked a treat and even gives her a degree more flexibility. Mavis feels, as a florist, that as stem cells are what hold up quite substantial flowers with elegant flexibility they will give her back both her arms, ( two as we see here) and a greater range of movement.  Here we catch sight of Mavis at her weekly occupational therapy class, though she is not quite sure if she will ever really be able such a whiz with the lariat as Miss WW the instructor.

Not a Sky in the Cloud

Cloud-wise the state of about to rain has more vivacity, more variagation, than the uniform water-washed grey of the drizzle or raining kind of sky. Is this presumption too presumptuous? Rain, or so it seems,  brings a kind of anonymity to the sky but  perhaps this overstates the matter and rain only redirects the gaze to more earthy matters.

Wagga - The Sky's the Thing

Easter saw us up stakes and head for edge of the western slopes, the river lands and the architectural embellished 19th century building of the main drag in Wagga Wagga.  The Courthouse clock tower can just been seen from the pavement tables of Mates Gully on Fitzmaurice Street, and beyond that one of the few inclines of Central Wagga, as the street takes it gently up a bit closer to that colossally blue sky.

Render Unto Caesar - The Lure of the Classics

One of the obstacles that Farmer Bart Brassica faces is the stereotyping of country folk as quasi-literate cornshuckers who would prefer to watch for fish  bubbles to  rise up in root beer rather than read a book. As an antidote to such accusations, and in pursuit of the disposable income of the sensitive city-based  new age farmer and literary angler, Bart has devised a deep dark pool of fish and the classics.  As the mix of real fish and books is problematic Bart has come up with  this cocktail of fish substitues and a charred page of The Twelve Caesars. This page came as a bonus with the Caesar Salad he ordered in the Library Cafe when he accidentally ran into Mavis Eggswhistle there for lunch a few weeks back.  That the fish all have red noses that exactly match Bart's bucket is one of life's mysteries.

By the Prickings - Mr Farmhand's Handedness

Seasonal work brings in some strange tasks, perhaps none quite so odd as the harvesting of prickles at Deer Creek. These fine spines on the button cacti are used to create that  eerie feeling of discomfort  so popular in the film industry. These are late season, or B-Grade prickles, which are in great demand by Hollywood for the new vogue in vampire romances.  Rumour has it that some unscrupulous cinemas also add them to seating fabrics, curtains and carpet.

This photograph, by Ms Periz, also highlights Mr Farmhand's disproportionately large hands.  Sometimes he claims he is wearing Mits to protect him, and his hands are really quite petit.  Frank Winkler, whose hands are identical, says, 'Pshaw! How do you think we got the family name of Farmhand in the first place?'

Bumper Crop - Clever Tribal Treble

The Afghan concept gets a new lease of life with this witty crocheted bumper bar cover snapped by a sharp eyed friend in Wagga Wagga. Is this is a car accessory, an art statement, granny gone crazy or a mobile graffitti of the knitta variety?  In any case Bravo to the maker - if this is what they do on their P's I will be watching out for when they get their open license.

Photo Credit and Thanks! to Toby Ellis.

[Apple] - Duke of Lambourne

 This particular apple, from one of 120 heirloom apple trees, in an orchard run by the poet Peter Lach-Newinsky, is, he tells me, a Duke of Lambourne. As I ate it before I had quite finished this sketch I can vouch for its deliciousness, the vivid green centre of both the stalk and blossom ends, the rough dry feel to the skin, the even creamy texture of the flesh, sweet with an airy substance to it, like biting into a concentrated cloud, was just right. Hail the range of apple trees, apples and those who grow them!

Keirle Park - Subtract One Hour

Keirle Park at 6pm Eastern Standard Time, getting towards the middle of April, the sun has dipped below the horizon, and the grass is a patchy brightness from the floodlights. Trying to hurry in the colour before I run out of light, the rugby figures come in as a sketchy late addition.  Like traces, it seemed they were an afterthought, look up again, and they've moved on.

Court of Apple - Tree bears Witness

These eleven varieties of apple, blossom side down, stalk side up are in the identification line-up at the green grocers.  It seems that they have retained the right to remind silent, though I expect when it comes to the crunch, they will.

Can Heaven - Bart Goes Shopping

As some might recall, Bart Brassica, has a colourised shadow (see The Oddity of Bart's Colourised Shadow). The  reason for this might, or might not, be made clear in a future episode. Of course, as any student of science knows, for every effect there is an equal and opposite effect, and in relation to Bart  Brassica , the colouric upkeep for his coloured shadow seems to sap certain places he visits of all grades of colour, leaving them like old black and white episodes of I Love Lucy ( except, mores the pity, that Lucille Ball does not appear). 
Here we see a rare photo of the back of Bart surveying what he calls Can Heaven, otherwise known as the Grocery Department in in the Lambertville Emporium, drained of all colour. All the store keepers are thoroughly sick of this effect and it is likely he will be escorted out.

PS Bart most usually avoids having his back to people or cameras, being touchh about the embossing on every single one of his shirts.

Antlered States -The Sine Curve of Curiosity

In this beautiful tonal study of grey, we find Mr Farmhand in amongst the j-curves of antlers. Curiousity and family ties gets Mr Farmhand into some odd places.  He was heard muttering something about the Aegean stables and why had ever agreed to work with Frank Winkler shifting this pile of Antlers.   You cant see Frank as he has fallen through to the bottom of this pile, after arriving this morning with  his balance slurred and his tie askew, saying excitedly that he had been up early meditating on Antlered States of Being. Mr Farmhand, after watching Frank's hoe flailing wildy about trying to get a grip on these polished points as he slid on the bottom of the heap, has not said a word but will no doubt keep digging till he gets to the bottom of it.


This photo courtesy of Ms Ingrid Periz.