Painting is like music

from w
Although I'm doing digitel pictures at the moment (which cost nothing) instead of using tubes of paint, my intention is to look at using shapes and textures that correspond to timbres and instruments playing music. Or perhaps a fantastic garden. I started off by making four initial pictures after placing several pieces of cut paper (some bits from a discarded children's book) leaves and a shell on a scanner. Then I wanted to make variations - using Picasa and Photo-edit - that remind people of the various musical lines and sounds in jazz or orchestral music. Does that make sense? So I use the word 'painting' rather liberally. Click on any picture to enlarge.

A palm tree in Moorabool Street

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From a photo of a fan palm tree, which we call 'iri masei' in Fiji, I made a few abstract kind of pictures. Moorabool Street, one of the main streets in Geelong is lined with these trees which were planted to beautify the city, though palm trees in a climate like ours is a bit odd. The leaves are lovely though and in South Pacific countries these leaves are used to make fans for dance groups or fans just for dealing with hot weather! I realize that many painters are satisfied to stay with the realistic image, but I like to mess about with cropping, using gamma or flattening the shapes and so on, using Photo-edit an earlier image program with Microsoft. Some day I'll pick the best of these 'found' images, and make some large paintings but not yet.

From pelicans to abstractions

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I messed about with some of the pelican pictures I made a fortnight ago, and I don't think they resemble pelicans any more. Here are some of the variations.

Breakwater bridge for the future

from w
The other day we were sketching near the current Breakwater Bridge and it really doesn't serve its purpose of traffic flow any more. The new bridge is needed even though six homes will have to go and three holes at the Barwon Valley Golf Course. Anyway the free local paper, Geelong News,Jan 20, ran a story about the proposed new bridge with an artist's version of the look of it. I'm not the artist of course as this project team would be paid heaps. Not my style too. The project will be very expensive of course, maybe $63 million to link with Fellmongers Rd.

When a person goes missing

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On the news for a few days is the story of a businessman who left Tullamarine airport almost a week ago and just disappeared. Then his car turns up in a lane near a river in the Ballan area, then a sighting in a General Store in the small town of Gordon, and now a sighting in Geelong! What did happen? Why do people go missing - of their own accord, or something more sinister? There must be a heap of stress in the lives of many people today to make them want to have time out. Certainly a place to have 'time out' could be the Ballan area as it is quite beautiful around there - picturesque - they made that children's film Charlotte's Web near Ballan.

Missing Herman Rockefeller reported in Newtown supermarket
Jeff Whalley
January 27th, 2010
POLICE believe missing millionaire and former Geelong man Herman Rockefeller is alive amidst reports he has been sighted in Newtown.

Mr Rockefeller has been missing since Thursday and on Monday police found his car on the Ballan-Daylesford Rd at Ballan near an abandoned homestead next to a riverbank.3AW this morning reported that Mr Rockefeller was sighted at a Newtown supermarket on Sunday night.

The father of two grew up in Newtown, was a dux of Geelong College and still has family living in the suburb.

The radio statio reported that police believed Mr Rockefeller is alive and asked for him to contact them. They are viewing the sighting of the missing millionaire as credible.

Reports also had the owner of the Gordon General store, near Ballan, saying he may have been in her shop on Monday morning and again that afternoon.The store is about nine kilometres away from where his car was found.

His brother Charles on Monday spoke to the Advertiser:``My brother loves life and he loves the Geelong football team. He tries to get down to most Geelong football games.''
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added on Friday Jan 29
The police investigations have now taken a different turn and they now consider the possibility of foul play. Perhaps the media, bloggers, and facebook writers have been wrong in assuming that the man had just wanted a few quiet days.
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Saturday: The curiosity of a mystery led to many red herrings as none of the sightings were accurate. Two people from Melbourne have now been charged with the murder of Herman Rockefeller. It is unimaginable how dreadful his family must be feeling now.

Australia Day and a song

from w
It's Australia Day today in memory of the 26th January when a fleet of ships brought convicts from England to settle in a bay on the eastern coast, thus displacing the tribes that were already here. Anyway, history is real and now we have a holiday to remember that day, though with good things like Citizenship ceremonies for new Australians. Peceli took up Oz citizenship a few years ago, but would never not call himself a Fijian! Of course you can have two tribes to belong to. I think nationalism, patriotism is fine up to a point as long as we know also that we are citizens of the wider world, part of all humanity.

I don't like the current National Anthem with its woozy 'girt by sea'. Instead I like the song the Seekers (I think) sang - 'I am Australian'. I found the words and chords from a website called School Spirit.

I Am Australian

I came from the Dreamtime, from the dusty red soil plains.
I am the ancient heart, the keeper of the flame.
I stood upon the rocky shore, I watched the tall ships come.
For forty thousand years I’d been the first Australian.

I came upon a prison ship bound down by iron chains.
I cleared the land, endured the lash and waited for the rains.
I’m a settler, I’m a farmer’s wife on a dry and barren run.
A convict then a free man, I became Australian.

I’m the daughter of a digger who sought the mother lode.
The girl became a woman on a long and dusty road.
I’m a child of the Depression – I saw the good times come.
I’m a bushy, I’m a battler, I am Australian.

We are one but we are many
And from all the lands on Earth we come.
We share a dream and sing with one voice
“I am, you are, we are Australian.”

I’m a teller of stories, I’m a singer of songs.
I am Albert Namatjira and I paint the ghostly gums.
I’m Clancy on his horse, I’m Ned Kelly on the run.
I’m the one who waltzed Matilda, I am Australian.

I’m the hot wind of the desert, I’m the black soil of the plains.
I’m the mountains and the valleys, I’m the droughts and flooding rains.
I am the Rock, I am the sky, the rivers when they run.
The spirit of this great land, I am Australian.

We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on Earth we come.
We share a dream and sing with one voice
“I am, you are, we are Australian.
I am, you are, we are Australian.”

If anyone is interested, the chord progression is as follows – (// signifies a new line in the lyrics)

C / F C // Am / F G C // C / F G Am // C Dm / F G C //

Chorus follows as -

C / F C // Am G / C // C // F C // F G / Am G / F G C //

Great tennis today

photos from Herald Sun sports gallery of Day 8 at the tennis in Melbourne.
from w
Though the match between Federer and Hewitt was predicable, the best tennis of the day was definitely between Tsonga and Almagro, the crowd enthusiastic and waving flags - which I think isn't what it's about anyway. It's about athletes, not countries!
We have just been watching the five set match on the TV, though it looks like it really was earlier as it still was daylight. We were all barracking for Tsonga. 'Unbelievable' shouted the commentator dozens of times as the shots were superb, both tennis players so so good. Both player Tsonga and the commentator needed a good cool-down afterwards!

Australian Open Round 4: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def Nicolas Almagro
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (10) 6 6 4 6 9
Nicolas Almagro (26) 3 4 6 7 7
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And Tsonga wins in the next round (January 28)It was again unbelievable tennis though the Le Conte the French commentator was a bit more restrained this time. Tsonga was really losing half way through the match, then when his opponent has a stomach upset, the tide turned, though both players hit great shots until the end. We watched it into the middle of the night until 1 a.m. again barracking for the Frenchman. Next he has to face Federer - tomorrow - so that will be interesting.
Tsonga still has spring in step after thriller MICHAEL GLEESON (from the Age newspaper)
January 28, 2010 - 12:55AM Jo-Wilfried Tsonga celebrates in fine style after a gruelling five-setter against Novak Djokovic. Photo: AP

Until this week Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had never played a five-set match. Now he has played two in a row and, more importantly, won both, last night upsetting world No.3 Novak Djokovic in five gripping sets to advance to the semi-final.

Tsonga announced himself as a serious player when he danced through to the final in a dream here two years ago, only to lose to Djokovic.

Last night the Frenchman avenged that loss, defeating the Serb in the early hours of this morning 7-6 (10-8), 6-7 (7-5), 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 in nearly four hours ... and celebrated with a dance.

When he made the final here in 2008 Tsonga did so only after defeating Rafael Nadal. If he hopes to replicate that effort this year he will have to do so by beating not only the world No.3 Djokovic, but also the world No.1 Roger Federer — his opponent in tomorrow's semi-final.

Djokovic, who for a time yesterday appeared likely to become the new world No.1 when Roger Federer flirted with the idea of a loss in his quarter-final clash with Nikolay Davydenko, was struck by illness during the fourth set, regularly gripping at his stomach and upon being broken in his first service game he absented himself from the court to be ill.

Tsonga had just bounced about the court crying out and rallying the crowd when Djokovic took his time-out.

A night after Nadal was forced to concede his match with a knee injury — admittedly when he was set to lose — it appeared Djokovic might similarly be forced to pull out of his game.

The illness issue should not cloud Tsonga's performance, as the Frenchman commanded the court for much of the night and eclipsed Djokovic with his thundering serve and powerful forehand.

A player who normally enjoys his court pace and ability to volley at the net, Tsonga was however routinely brought unstuck by his drop shots by Djokovic's phenomenal pace and capacity to slide a winner past him after picking up the unpickable short ball.

Although Djokovic defeated Tsonga here two years ago in the final to win his first grand slam, the record also reveals that Tsonga has beaten him on four of the next five matches the pair has played.

Last night continued that trend, but early in the match nothing separated the pair. You get a sense of the closeness of this match by this: the first set lasted one hour and seven minutes and was decided by a tie-break that went 18 points. The next set went 57 minutes and was also decided by a tie-break (7-5). At that point you figured this match might go five sets and may finish Friday.

Sketching lately while computer is at repairs

from w
Three days without a computer was difficult as I wanted to read emails, etc. Had to have a quick look on another computer. So while watching the tennis (Melbourne) I did three pictures with biro, pencil and coloured pencils. One is of rocks and hills, another Vorovoro Island in Fiji, the third a ti-tree at Peceli's golf course, Barwon Valley where we had dinner on Friday night to escape the heat in our own house without airconditioning. I had taken only one photo of the bent tree and used that as an aid to the drawing.

It's been sad lately with two funerals at our Uniting Church, within a fortnight - a young woman in her 30s who had that awful illness, and today a lovely gentleman, Derrick Chapple, who was 101. A charming man who did superb cartoon sketches to go with true stories from everyday life. He had been a Primary School teacher and when he retired two years earlier than expected, they said he had to retire because he wouldn't last long with problem ears and eyes. That was 45 years ago! The music at the two funerals couldn't have been more different - because of the different ages - one a pop song was played, the other a love song of the 40s.

A good news story about Dokkoon

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Amidst the sad, desperate, awful stories on the media these days, here is one uplifting story. Dokkoon is a sixteen year old Asian elephant at Melbourne zoo and last week she gave birth to a much awaited calf, a little female elephant. Not named so far. Maybe Matilda after Waltzing Matilda. Here are two pics from the Age website. The other pics are from a photo I took in the front of an Indian shop in Moorabool Street, Geelong.

music images

from w
Here are some pictures from one music themed overlapping picture the other day. No time to chat as I'm on a borrowed computer as ours is down for repairs.

A walk along Moorabool Street

from w
After paying the $212 bill for phone and internet for four weeks, I walked along Moorabool Streets taking photos though I didn't take any of the op shops, @2 dollar shops and golf shops! These are cropped and some are altered a little.

Overlapping pictures

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Using Picasa it is easy to overlap two pictures. Make a folder and add two pictures that have some correspondence in shapes, line contours, rhythm. Click on title of folder, go to create, picture collage, then to superimpose and so on. I used two quite different subjects - a drawing of pelicans and a pic from the Mad magazine - Spy versus spy (which I had intended for another purpose) and then used Photo-edit, an old microsoft image program to change this and that. Click on any picture to enlarge.