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Hello Death - can we talk

10/6/2019

Death I’m tired

You’ve been camped at our door for so long now
Could it not be someone else’s turn … please

It’s not that we don’t understand you
although sometimes you make no sense
It’s not necessarily that we are afraid of you
nor that we don’t expect you to be there

But this time, just like the last time, we weren’t expecting you.
How do you decide ?

I know you are infinitely patient … could you wait just a little longer for the next time ... please

Death we’re all just so tired right now

In memory of our cousin, who lived his life fully & in a truly positive way.

RIP Bernie xxx

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Beach Holidays, An Unexpected Workshop & Snippets of Melbourne

30/4/2019

Waihi Beach

Torquay Beach

Portsea Beach

Long summer days, warm ocean temperatures & beach retreats are a perfect end to my favourite season of the year.
Today as I'm writing this it is most decidedly autumn, it's grey, it's windy & it's raining on & off.
Fortunately it's not cold.
Our days are shorter, now that daylight saving has ended.
It's a cyclical thing & let's face it, not unexpected.

March to April went like this:
Beach Retreat >> recovery at home >> 5 days filled with family >> recovery at home >> Holiday with family & friends in Australia >> recovery at home

woah ! that didn't leave much time for anything else really did it.

Nevertheless at the end of March I was able to attend a workshop which covered hand printing techniques you can do at home.
I was going to write a post about it but actually can't be bothered ! Not because I didn't enjoy it nor that I didn't learn anything new, nor that it didn't spark a few ideas of things I want to try because it did do all of those things however I was kinda hoping it would draw a few things together & until that happens I have to let it simmer.

Instead, let me give you some snippets of Australia:

it's an easy & interesting drive from Melbourne airport to Bendigo
we saw amazing outcrops of granite around the Harcourt area
Harcourt is, these days, better known for growing apples
we also saw more dead kangaroos, presumably victims of roadkill, on the drive to & from Bendigo than I have ever seen before travelling around other parts of Australia - apparently this is usual
‘history’ of Bendigo & surrounds ‘begins’ at the arrival of Europeans !
there are many old, elaborate buildings which speak of there having been lots & lots of money in the area - in the past anyway
there is a 'high grade, low cost' underground gold mine located 20km from the city of Bendigo

Sandhurst Gaol

Castlemaine Gaol

there are also many jails/gaols; some very old & some very new
Castlemaine Gaol was opened in 1860 & closed in 1990 !
Sandhurst Gaol, in Bendigo, was built in approximately 1851, records suggest it was working in 1857, & closed in 2006 !
Sandhurst gaol has been converted into a theatre called Ulumbarra & there are 2 scar trees sited at the main entrance
Old Castlemaine Jail is sited up on a hill & probably has the best view of the entire town
we were introduced to ‘prison eggs’
I didn’t cook at all ! & at my cousin's place I didn’t even think about doing anything - nor did I do anything even vaguely houseworky - it was AMAZING

sunset view from our cabin

Surfside Cabin #1

Torquay Beach

it cost more to stay 1 night in a cabin in a caravan park in Torquay than for 1 night in the hotel in Melbourne
it was beautiful cabin in a beautiful caravan park beside a beautiful ocean & i would happily stay there again
Great Ocean Road starts, or ends depending on which direction you're travelling, at Torquay

Victoria Bight

View from Queenscliff Ferry Terminal

Queenscliff to Sorrento Ferry

we were the youngest people in Queenscliff by at least 20 years - maybe 30 even
the car ferry ride from Queenscliff to Sorrento was superb, loading & unloading the car was seamless & skilfully managed & the views picturesque
Portsea is so flat we walked 4.3km, 6,223 steps, 0 floors
the ocean temp, at 18 degrees C, in Torquay & Portsea was colder than at home

view looking from one window (Albert Park)

it's a city

view from the other window lol

we walked an average of 4.4 kilometres each day we were away (5.6 km/day in April)
we stayed beside the botanic gardens so easy to get to anywhere we wanted to be
eating out in Melbourne is great & easily accessible with superb quality produce & excellent flavours
i now look old enough that people offer me a seat on the trams
people make eye contact & smile
i love Australia

Following My Whims

27/3/2019

Following my whims in February took me back to block printing, using blocks we had carved few years back & also, mono printing my beloved kawakawa leaves.

Indulging my monochromatic tendencies I started with a little bit of block printing, using white fabric paint on black cotton.
Must admit I was surprised by what a difference the brand of paint makes.
I equally enjoy the white block on black & the ‘less white - more grey’ tones on black using the blocks

Initially I didn’t like the uneven white blotchiness I obtained with the more highly pigmented paints on the kawakawa leaves & preferred the smoothness of the grey.

I realised that my preference was based on what I had come to ‘expect’ & a preconceived motion of what I might ‘do next’ with the prints rather than what I was obtaining in the exploration.
Ha ! rookie mistake falling victim to my own preconceptions.

I changed fabrics, back to the natural dyed cottons of varying weights & monoprinted some singles, groupings & multiples of kawakawa leaves.

It felt so indulgent to be picking more than one leaf at a time !

I love these as none of the black is super black, which looks pleasing to me on the undyed fabrics.

I decided to test my heat setting process by over-dyeing some of my black monoprints in a harakeke pod dye bath.
I also popped a few whenu of muka in too.

Love, love, love these - perhaps mostly because it worked !

So there it is:
Changing paints, changing fabrics, creating layers all whilst preserving the detail of the leaves.
Overdyeing, or is it underdyeing, with natural dye.
White on black, grey on black, black on white, black on harakeke pod brown.

It's been a fabulous summer following my whims & now, at the end of March, I have washed & ironed all the small squares of fabric I've been using over the past few months.
Some I used to filter the inks I made & some are the result of these last explorations.
I literally have a couch covered in 30cm squares of different browns, all obtained from harakeke pods - no wonder we can't find one word to describe them all.
Some look slightly pink, some look slightly green, there are definitely a few that hover a little too close to beige for comfort & some are a rich warm harakeke brown.

Tino nui te mihi aroha ki te pā harakeke.
He taonga tuku iho.

Sal x

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