Adalya in progress

Quite a bit more work to be done. The ground is actually a browner warmer colour.

Kix Sandals

For a week now I have had some kix sandals. Over the years I have thought that this brand of sandals was wonderful. Unlike so many mens sandals they are not just shoes with holes in them,  but sandals with straps that let your feet breathe. Unfortunately the people who make these sandals are going to retire and production will be shutdown, Below is a photo of my sandals. They have a few other styles as well. I can only wish the producers well in retirement, but I am sad at the thought that I won't be able continue to obtain their sandals.

A Walk

Today a group of us went for a walk through the 'Canyon', which is the name of a paddock on my brothers farm, the 'ancestral pile'. I was the guide for some friends. The day turned out perfectly although we were a little worried at the chance of rain because of the recent rainyness. The Canyon is a steep drop to the river and named for its associations to the early Western writer Harold Bell Wright and his books set in Arizona.

Adalya

I started work on a new painting working on the stretched paper putting in the drawn part.

Adalia and Adaline

Two paintings "finished" Adalia with a little white and Adaline, well I'm pretty sure.

More for Adalia

It just needed a bit more work.

Adalia

Perhaps this is finished?

Athena's Birrthday

Athena's day off and birthday yesterday and because Arion and Adrian were visiting we went up to Mirboo North via Lyrebird walk in Darlimurla. The walk has been rebuilt since the fires and we went to see the regeneration since then.

Then on to Mirboo North for lunch at the Baths Road Reserve with a walk to the pool to trigger the memories of summers past. After that we drove to Narracan Falls.

Back to Trafalgar and into the kitchen to prepare Athena's birthday Dinner, which was consumed outdoors in the front yard with conviviality and conversation until thoughts of getting to work the next day drew guests homeward.

At Cowwarr Weir

On Sunday we went to Cowwarr Weir for a Kids Plus Picnic day. There was a jumping castle, earth ball, connect 4, other things and canoes on the weir. The weather was perfect and anyone who wanted to  got out in a canoe. I went wandering to take some photos.

Some Sketches Finished

I've finished these sketches except for getting the masking fluid off from around the outside and it's been down a bit too long. Eucalyptus oil at least seems to move it, but I won't have nice clean edges.

More Sketching

The first 5 sketches were shown previously and are now finished. The last 4 have more work and decisions to go. Can I make myself blot out most of the shapes?

Small Sketches

Drawing

Betrayal

At a funeral this week the thought of betrayal came to mind through a process of weighing up a life. In my life my, the biggest regrets are related to a betrayal of trust. These events are seared in my memory and most likely bigger for me than the person that they involve. In fact the person probably doesn’t even register or remember them. I know that God forgives me, but the person/people involved have their own rights. I doubt they even remember the events and yet I cannot let them sleep completely. They chasten me, they help me to remember that I cannot pretend that my image of myself is flawless. They help me remember to be careful with other people’s lives. They help remember my role in life of trying to be a blessing. I don’t condemn myself for these betrayals. I have made my reparations, but like civet in a perfume their very faint stench heightens my awareness and keeps me alert in my relationships, mostly.

Hats

I am trying to make myself wear a hat because it is the ‘right and proper’ thing to do, if I don’t want to get skin cancer and my balding pate offers less and less protections. I have noticed that when I wear a hat I want to wear it on a backwards-sloping angle so that my forehead isn’t covered and yet when I look at many photos of people wearing hats they wear them with the brims parallel to the ground. I am presuming that this is the ‘official’ way to wear a hat because that is the ‘military’ way that hats a worn. What a conundrum. I don’t think that I’ll wear mine in the parallel fashion unless I think that it suits the hat and me.

Spring at Tullycavan

Today I went to Tullycavan to check out how things were going. Of course lots needed doing. I mowed lawns, I checked out the state of the weeds that I'll need to spray soon, I chipped thistles, I added wood to a bonfire and I planted some oak seedlings that were volunteers here at the Rectory. They probably don't have much hope of surviving, but better than here where they'll need to be dug up in the near future. They look so bright and hopeful in the ground and amongst the grass instead of crowded in the shadow of their progenitor.

Iterations of Adalee

A new painting begins. Stretching paper. Drawing in the composition. Graphite in the ground. Rubbing out the ground. Next colour.

A Little Sad

Sometimes

I feel tears

in my eyes

as emotion

pushes out

from within.

When I can feel

the weight

of hurt

mine or someone else's

pushing

into the stream of life

through me

Drawing

Achebe

Close to the finish too.

Adair

Finished almost, I think.

Adeh

Close to finished.

Adair

More work to be done.

Adah

Maybe finished, but probably not.

More on Achebe

Driving home at night

Photos from driving home from Kensington and on City Link on Saturday night. I just enjoy them. Nowadays with digital cameras they are not hard to take, but still. . .