Dot point photos

Oh, blossoms, I'm a frustrated duck. The road to the end (of the book) was crystal clear and smooth a few days ago, then I had a big whack of doubt* and now it's back to dirt road. The cover needed to be taken back to square one and rethought.

The last few days have been dominated by my body trying to keep busy while my brain ticks over in the background, thinking and rethinking through design ideas. I've rustled up a makeshift shade curtain on our front verandah, gone to a couple of Xmas party-type things, hung out at the ANU Art School Grad Show and tried to coax Bumblebee through the last major homework assignment of the year.

The latter is extremely time-consuming, as he has to be given pep-talks almost between every word he writes. Does anyone else have that problem?

I think I've cracked the cover. I had a breakthrough late yesterday, and I'll try it out again today to see if yesterday's thoughts were true or just exhausted desperation.

In the meantime, here are some dot points to catch up with all the little things I've been wanting to blog about but haven't found time for:

-- BUMBLEBEE'S SCHOOL CONCERT


His year danced to a music medley of the decades since WWII. His class did the 60s. his teacher is too young to know that the 60s consisted of more fashion styles than merely hippie culture. Bumblebee was quite impressed that I owned a peace medallion (from my 80s anti-nuke protesting!).


Mr Pooter is quite a droll character who likes to make snide comments about such things. I can't tell you what he was saying here because some babyboomers might get offended. I'm sure you can guess, or make up your own caption.

-- BEST BELOVED'S COOKING



Best Beloved has been channelling any boredom and frustration at my working hours into the creation of some pretty spectacular food. I gobbled before photographing the stupendous sorrel and potato omelette I received for breakfast yesterday, and this was presented last night for dessert. It's a gooseberry tart, with a very bready cake base, not too sweet, so the whole thing was beautifully tart and chewy. Yum!

-- THE GRAD SHOW

If you're local and you like art, go and see the ANU Art School graduating student show. We have a hopeless new arts reviewer for the Canberra Times, and she failed to even mention the show's existence in Saturday's paper. Obviously she doesn't know anything exists unless a memo in triplicate lands in her in-tray.

There are some fun things and some absolutely beautiful things. Here are a small selection, by no means the best, just stuff that caught our eyes on one walk around.


This, believe it or not, is the entire typescript of Finnegan's Wake. In one slab, about the size of a tea-towel, screen-printed onto a panel of wood. A feat achieved by Nicci Haynes, and I'm trying to persuade her to make a t-shirt and t-towel edition of it. You'd buy one, wouldn't you?


This is a pendulum pendant by Katie Green, from Gold and silversmithing. It's called 'Walking to your own beat', and this is her description:
The design of this pendant is based on the concept that as the wearer is moving around, a pendulum is caused to swing. On the opposite end of the pendulum is a set of spikes that during the swinging motion pluck the teeth of music box combs. This action creates random notes.

Lovely, isn't it? I love the shadows it casts, as well.



This is Bumblebee's favorite: 'Spiderman and Wonder Woman after Titian', oil on canvas, by Daniel Vukovjak.


It even has Superman, but no Batman.


This is a big wall piece, like a quilt, and called 'Memory Quilt', by Kate Maurice. There are bulldozers stitched in silk into the right hand corner. All the panels are flyleaves from old books, discoloured and all holding incredibly personal and emotional inscriptions. I spend time every day looking at this piece and find something different and usually amazing each time.

Like this:


It's a hand-drawn Ex-libris in pencil! Done straight into the book!

And this:


Any relation to Chrissie Amphlett, I wonder?



Here's another of Kate's pieces. It's called 'The Forest for the trees', and it's made up from a lot of the left over books from the Lifeline Book Fair. You can see some non-book spaces in it; they are little dioramas of bird and wildlife scenes.


Another of Bumblebee's favorites, a huge skelington made of cardboard with all the bits labelled. That's Bumblebee in the Simpsons shirt...




This was Best Beloved's favorite piece. I think he wants to revisit it with his own bit of foamcore label.


I will try to blog a few more; there are some nice artists' books, and a series of rings with a twist. But you know me with my blogging promises...





*According to Nigel from Artwranglers, this is what makes art Art rather than Kitsch. Heh.