Show Me The Treasure

Home Archive for 2011

at 10:40

Boatique-ing: In the Ponderings - Episode 1

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What with his busy farm life, Bart is something of a stranger to relaxation, and has taken to saying he lives a 365/24/7 life. A while ago Bart heard about the benefits of mediatation and floatation tanks. Working on a theory that any investment in mediation would be good for farm productivity, his thoughts turned to rigging up

at 20:34

Grate Minds - Floored Wonders

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So, I arrived today in the world of stylish grates, this one in Hibaya Gardens, with its garnish of stray leaves and cherry blossom motifs is glorious. There is a real sense of discovery in finding these and there must be a street hardware fan club or guild of metal workers dedicated to this art? So, I arrived

at 14:04

Pudding on the Mix - A Trap for New Players

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Pudding on the Mix - A Trap for New Players Image

Never shy of loitering around the kitchen, Frank Winkler has set out to make his fortune in the Christmas cake business. Frank is fond of the grand gesture, and has found a crop of what he describes as extra large fancy raisins. On the maxim of the proof of the pudding, while he seems to be turning them

at 07:49

Reflective Agregations on Agapanthus

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Reflective Agregations on Agapanthus Image

In a variation of 'my favourite things' it's agapanthus, not roses, with raindrops. The surface tension , waters' fondness for itself, seen here suggests the dropping part of the rain might well be done and what the buds don't drink in will evaporate, like a top note play by a soprano sax, when the time's ripe. Of course

at 16:56

An Everlasting Corsage

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This is school Formal season, where spry young things board harbour boats for twinkly harbour parties. For girls, Must Have Accessorries include a teeter-totter pair of shoes - preferably with carry handles, a Partner ina smart striped jacket and bow tie and a Corsage, or two. Given the rigours of boating life I concocted this After Party EverLasting

at 17:30

Barn Wrangling

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It is a delicate problem but due to his anatomical shortcomings, Bart's stereoscopic vision is a little underpowered. Readers may have noticed that from time to time Farmer Brassica is a bit out in his estimation of how big things, or in this case, how small things, really are. This is a state which Mavis Eggwhistle has tsked

at 10:27

Doubling Up on Double Peonies

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Can a flower be too gorgeous, too exuberantly pettaline? No, No, No, Non a vera! Here the double luxury of pink peonies multiplies lavishly in the mirror. Right now my house is something of floral fiat, gardenias in sugar bowls, peonies in pewter jugs, a posey of pansies in the wobbling-base composite vase which is the lid of

at 10:12

A Room with a View - Phoenix Canariensis

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A Room with a View - Phoenix Canariensis Image

The Phoenix palm - Fibonnacci-ist of the garden - somehow always manages to be centre stage, even when it's leaning North-North-East. It will be no surprise this is done in prussian blue, and a calligraphy brush, a great lesson in the difference between the beginning and the end. The Phoenix palm - Fibonnacci-ist of the garden - somehow

at 09:54

Cross Purposes - Shocking Hazard in Suburbs

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Cross Purposes - Shocking Hazard in Suburbs Image

At first glance I thought this pole with its red tape, yellow tape (repeat, repeat), was a new species of street art, but no, it's a warning that this Pole is not to be crossed. It does suggest some a joke of the What-Do-You-Get- When- You-Cross-a Pole kind. Pondering possible answers, I think they might involve Poland, The

at 07:45

Old Shades for Sale - Bart Brassica and the Door to Door Salesman

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Old Shades for Sale - Bart Brassica and the Door to Door Salesman Image

Now, it seems a door-to-door salesman has materialised, in a sudden kind of way, on Bart Brassica's front porch selling Shadows. Bart's regular shadow upped and left due to certain, let's say, less than sensitive remarks by Bart who was in a pickle from drinking fermented beat pickle liquor. Granny Egg took this photo of the salesman talking

at 08:13

Non Persona Non Grata

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In a moment of implicit intergenerational evolutionary discontinuity, the author of this sign at Macquarie University playing fields has decided that a child is not a person. Then there is that ominous claim of a removal right, and the disproportionate burden of 'all' children on 'an' adult. While this discontinuity from Darwin's thesis is strange, the Author of

at 11:18

Three Scenes from Tanpopo

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It seems that even the same smallish restaurant,Tanpopo, which I've now sketched quite a few times, always has some new aspect to try and catch, the way the fluoro light shines down on the chef at the back , the slight movement of the paper lanterns in the breeze from the door or the cerise cushions that miraculously

at 15:06

Lagoon-Wise - Keirle Park's Framed View

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Lagoon-Wise - Keirle Park's Framed View Image

November is a sticky month in Sydney, and this week the fold up chair came into its own [- though surely there was a Mr Hulot moment when I stood up and the chair stuck to my derrier] so I sat under a Norfolk Pine and looked back across the carpark, the road - which obligingly reduced its

at 11:25

Mysterious Mr Brassica shaped space found

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Mysterious Mr Brassica shaped space found Image

As constant readers will know, Bart Brassica has a peculiar colourised shadow (see the Colourised Shadow post ). A recently discovered snap taken from the Marlborough Hotel outside of Cooma, NSW, shows a dark Bart Brassica shaped space has taken up residence on the verandah that looks out over the nearby hills and telegraph poles. There is

at 19:46

In Fine Mettle - Hatching a Good Understory

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In Fine Mettle - Hatching a Good Understory Image

In the last year, since visiting Japan and being impressed, while pressing my light weight boot on the finer points of street art, that is the well-designed hatches for the various sub-plots of services which are to be found in every city, I've had my eye out for similar local designs of fine mettle in metal but have

at 12:54

Torch Songs - Melusine Moments of Illumination

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Torch Songs - Melusine Moments of Illumination Image

In May I sketched my dolphin torch, an ode, of sorts, in black and yellow to its stalwart aid, on black trips at night to the meter box, more often of late, late night walking back from my writing shed, when all the world is seemingly asleep to it shines my way back down the stairs, across the

at 15:32

Sidelining Tuesday at Keirle Park

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There is might be a survey of popular stances for men watching sport, the classic folded-arms-with- a-tilt to-one-side-, for the knowledgable aside, and the ever reliable, hand-in-pocket-leaving-the-other- to-point. After the empty nest of Wednesday afternoon at Keirle Park, a one-off switch to Tuesday finds a field of under 8's playing tag footie with a contingent of sideliners, the

at 12:01

Tea Tree Blossom Season at Keirle Park

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Tea Tree Blossom Season at Keirle Park Image

Is there something more introspective about Wednesday's that drew my attention to the flowering tea trees that edge the carpark of Keirle Park? Perhaps one should rightly attend to the significant floral events like these as well as the busyness of people. You can't see them in the background but there were people skating, tennis players ambling

at 10:58

Fastest Moving Geologic Formation

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Macquarie University playing fields are not for the faint hearted, and the prospect of being engulfed by on oncoming cliff is surely creepy. The fields, at least at the moment, are home to what must qualify as the fastest geological mover ever, the mobile cliff. This gives an altogether different insight into the term 'cliff hanger'.Macquarie University playing

at 08:29

Picnic without lightning

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A brilliant Saturday morning in the Hunter Valley, stopped at Oakvale Winery - a fretwork of shadows on the grass and a picnic table with not much more than ants and dappled sunlight. Not a trace of thunder to be seen, the susshhh of traffic on tarmac, and from over my shoulder an amplified guitar - sharp and

at 10:43

Late Additions of Figures to the Keirle-scape

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Late Additions of Figures to the Keirle-scape Image

Something Alice-like happened in last Wednesday's Keirle Park sketch. Firstly there was no-one there, and then nearly at the end I looked up and there were people and their dogs. I have attempted to convey the ratio of people to park, allowing that any perspective had not so much as left me but been a no-show, eg. that

at 13:53

Infra Dig - Two's Company, Four's Annoying

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Infra Dig - Two's Company, Four's Annoying Image

So, while all the folks in Lambertville have been speculating that Bart might have caught Mavis having a very casual coffee with Mr Farmhand, Mavis is mightily miffed that, in actual fact, Bart had asked Mr Farmhand along because he finds his perputual preparedness to dig, even to dig laminex, reassuring. Now I have to tell you that

at 19:13

Dust Jacketed - A Great Catch Up In Blue

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Dust Jacketed - A Great Catch Up In Blue Image

Anthologization is an interesting business, poetry is one of the few genres, being economically contained so that 'representative' or thematic anthologies are feasible. So, it follows that any reader would be crazy not to avail themselves of the benefits. The interesting thing is that they divide poets sharply into those who are In the Book and those that

at 20:52

The Art of Reading & All Good Things Must End

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The Art of Reading & All Good Things Must End Image

When do you stop? That is in the context of when do you stop an exercise that had become something between a habit, an indulgence and a compulsion. Here is the last drawing on the last page of the 40 page notebook, which I started on the penultimate day in May with a drawing of Bart Brassica, and

at 15:24

Wednesday is the New Monday - Back to Keirle Park

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Wednesday is the New Monday - Back to Keirle Park Image

A term away from my weekly survey of Keirle Park and things are both same and different. Firstly, in that classic Australian rethink, the goal posts have been moved. Where To is the next question The clover has had a chance to flower, there were four smallish black school shoes in different spots, some strange new signs, one

at 08:28

Great Thoughts Aloft - The Industrialisation of the Mind

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Great Thoughts Aloft - The Industrialisation of the Mind Image

As you can see another Prussian Blue Capa Derivative. If Wall Street catch what's going on here, some wily Financier - and I am not meaning that small confection of buttery pastry and japonaisery - will list these on the Dow and ASX , perhaps even the Footsie, as Industrial Derivatives. And why not if one can trade

at 08:14

Grey is the New Black - Lunch Scene at Tan Popo

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Grey is the New Black - Lunch Scene at Tan Popo Image

Saturday lunch we beetled over to Tan Popo for Chai-Su Ramen and a Bento Box. The place was a-bustle with lunchers, except for one small member of the party - partly sketched in here - who had fallen asleep, Thomas the Tank Engine trainers little blue and red confections on his small feet. All the adults were wearing

at 08:10

New, Next, Now - Unpacking Kaldor at the Art Gallery of NSW

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New, Next, Now - Unpacking Kaldor at the Art Gallery of NSW Image

Settling into a fold-out stool, in a cluster of art gallery visitors, the more flexible young fry folded up like pretzels on cushions at the front, parents, grandparents and thy unaccompanied curious plumping out the crowd at the back, there is that "Ahhh" feeling as the the New, Next, Now show sets into motion. Two whimsical dust-jacked workers

at 15:52

Zeppelined Again or The Bang at The End of the World

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Zeppelined Again or The Bang at The End of the World Image

Last Monday strolling over to the White Rabbit Gallery, we discovered the White Rabbit had checked his pocket watch, twitched his whiskers, saying 'Oh my, I'm late, I'm late' and bunny hopped backwards into the mirror. The fall back position was a contemplation of the local street art. While I would include the excellent fire hydrant ensemble below

at 08:24

Paper Moons & Menus : Sketchy Characters at Tan Popo

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Paper Moons & Menus : Sketchy Characters at Tan Popo Image

The three young women at the corner table in Tan Popo look a little under impressed about the messy hair day I've given them, a little exacerbated by the slap happy lipstick. Still any dinner where not one but two paper moons shine down, pushing back the green inked-in night, is a fine thing.The three young women at

at 10:39

Negativisation - The too much washing blues

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Negativisation - The too much washing blues Image

So, it is the continuing study of Robert Capa, his photo of a boy watching a parade for the commenoration of the annexure of Belgium. Whatever is passing before him and the rest of the crowd in the original photo, including the woman next to him with a very elegant hat, it does not inspire joy. Here one

at 10:37

Pole Star - Knitter's Witty Art

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How exciting a knitta pole piece on my own suburban street. Of all street art forms, the knitted additions to poles and street furniture are perhaps the most endearing, taking the homely craft of knitting and subverting it into that oft threatening thing, Art-that-no-one-asked-for, art-without-a-frame, the sinister, the oh-my-god- the-neighbourhood-is-getting-taken-over-by-hoods, and that-is-not-art Art This pole, an ugly leftover

at 08:05

To Gild the Crumpet

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A rainy Sunday morning with the weather making a great racket on the roof and trees? Might as well stay in and gild a crumpet. This honey glazed one here did not last out the drawing. In a mix media moment, I took up the offer of some acrylic gold to add the swirling detail to the bread

at 07:38

Nested Nests & The Resting Interloper

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Nested Nests & The Resting Interloper Image

These aggregate or nested nests, blow-ins from the bird world, went through an empty nest phase, prompting the question is a nest a nest if there is nothing in it? Is a house a house if it does not house? The bob-tailed snub-beaked white-breasted whistler, who wheezes something like an A, might be an interloper or a steadfast

at 10:27

Handy Hank & The Old School Skiis

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While some men favour the old school tie, Hank Brassica, Bart's second cousin, has a penchant for what he calls his Old School Skiis. While it does snow quite some, and then a bit more, in Winters in Flemington and Lambertville, as there are no slopes to speak, no resorts or, well, really anything but fields and snow,

at 12:12

Farmer Brassica's Ethel Merman Moment

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Farmer Brassica's Ethel Merman Moment Image

It will be a surprise to some folks but Farmer Bart's musical tastes run to musicals, albeit those with an agricultural or country flavour. One of his favourite songs is 'Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries'. This large bowl of cherries is Bart's Spring Tribute to Ethel Merman, though he admits the grapes make it somewhat of

at 08:27

Green-grey leaves, white-green gumnuts - the compact architecture of vases

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Green-grey leaves, white-green gumnuts - the compact architecture of vases Image

Mostly when I sketch a vase of something, at least a little of the vase gets in, but here the white glass wide-lipped vase is nowhere to be seen. One vase and its complex contents may demand a number of takes. Mostly when I sketch a vase of something, at least a little of the vase gets in,

at 15:09

Black Board Singing in the Early Night

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Black Board Singing in the Early Night Image

At our regular weekday or Sunday night dining spot, Billy Swings on Spit Road, Mosman, the blackboard is centre stage. Are blackboard menus more convivial than paper menus? Each has it's own particular pleasures and pitfalls but the idea that the whole list of foods can be dusted off may make it just that more appealing with the

at 08:32

Water Under the Bridge - Keirle Park 's out and back walk.

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Water Under the Bridge - Keirle Park 's out and back walk. Image

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at 08:15

The Leaf Measure Axiom

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To Observe Late Afternoon Snow Take a pair of ski boots, skis and stocks that have been marinating, overday, two feet and two shins until they're tender. Remove skis and stocks, carefully set them aside for another use. Awkwardly measure out your ski-boot steps from the locker to the Village Bus Stop, Route 2. Arrange that the

at 08:14

Three Views Towards Kosciusko

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I've been away listening to mountains, the silent fall of snow.Though it's early Spring, something like a winter front waltzed across Thredbo. The myth that Eskimo-Aluet languages have thirteen words for snow might be plausibly overtaken by one about an Australian Alpine dialect with fourteen words for slush. One might also coin a word, let's say snowslept, to

at 19:51

Farmer Bart : Arch Fruit Arborist

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While Farmer Bart Brassica's acreage is far from tropical, leastwise not this decade, for some time he has aspired to a tropical paradise, with pineapples, bananas and papaya - papaya is something Bart declares must be the original cash crop on account of its name. By corollary Bart is adamant that growing pawpaw would be tantamount to a