Postcards from The Alice

Gettin' the desert vibe...

25th World Wide Sketchcrawl - Sat Nov 21st '09

Well this sketchcrawl is the 5th anniversay and I will be in the Red Centre of the Universe. I would like to invite any fellow artists to come and join me! I'm thinking to start at the Gap at around 9am.

If anyone is interested drop me a line here or on the SC forum. www.sketchcrawl.com

If not, I will go by myself anyway and upload the pix afterward. I DO hope I can find some more participants though. Let's put Alice Springs on the map!

Travel Diary ~ Thailand (Phuket)

OK so I was trapped in my jungle hut during a monsoon and happened to have some footage, so I put this little number together one afternoon. I enjoyed it so much, shall have to do it again one day! I've got so much more footage here now, of Spain and other parts of Europe... Perhaps I should make it my little project for this week?



posted from my lovely mac :)

My skydiving video ~ Byron Bay

I re-edited this one from the video I got at the drop-zone, as the music they chose wasn't to my taste! LOL, I'm uploading it as an example of my handywork. It took me a bit of mucking around but eventually got it off the video & into the computer, then separated the audio from the visual and laid the new soundtrack over the top before burning the whole thing to DVD. There is a full lenghth version, but this one has been chopped down to save your bandwidth. Enjoy!!



posted from my lovely mac :)

Barcelona & London sketches

These I did in the last few days in Barcelona. All a bit rushed but I wanted to capture some stuff before I left, as it just is way different to sketch in open air than doing it from photos...

Catedral in Barrio Gotico

Sagrada Familia

Debussy by Catalan Sculptor Maillol @ La Pedrera, Barcelona

Eva by Lluis Montane and Mullfulleda in the Museu Dali, Portal de Angels, Barcelona

Lecester Square, London (near Soho District)

posted from my lovely mac :)

What I did on the plane...

Somewhere between London and Abu Dhabi (after that I pretty much fell asleep for the remander of the trip)

posted from my lovely mac :)

Barrio Gotico

A quick sketch session with Cesar the other day in Gotico, I really need to figure out how to turn these pix around...hrmph! It's starting to get cold over here now and we got the last bit of sunlight, it seems.

Correfocs ~ Firerunners

I've uploaded some photos to flickr of the big event at Le Merce (Barcelonas' Big Party); Correfoc, which means Fire Run. Here's a little more info about the tradition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correfoc. It was a ton of fun!

24th Sketchcrawl - 19 Sept 2009

I participated 24th World Wide SketchCrawl event with several other sketchers on September the 19th. We went to Barceloneta in Barcelona. There is a beach and a port there. This was my second sketchcrawl and wandering in the district and trying to park my bike took more time than drawing (sometimes I think it would just be faster to walk!). I didn't get there until lunchtime but most of other members worked from the morning and they made so many fine sketches while I was running around, stuck on the metro! EVENTUALLY I found the crew, and as usual, I have been totally awe-struck and amazed by the work I'm seeing from the other artists. It's really inspiring.

SO here's what I got up to yesterday:

This is where we had lunch, in La Plaça de Barceloneta.

www.madeinbarcelona.com a very groovy band we watched playing in the port. Reggae/funk with funny lyrics (in Spanish! Thx for the translation Cesar).

A quick sketch of my friend Tina getting ready for the party. She was a little insulted because it actually looks nothing like her, but, to be fair I only saw her in this possie for about 2 mins before she was off doing something else with make-up/hair or something...

this is a sketch I did of Leo Messi for a friends birthday present/card, it was a last minute idea and as you can see the room was kind of dark, and i was in a rush. Not my best piece, but we went to Carolina's fiesta later in the evening and she was well impressed to have a drawing of her fave footy star...awesome party! Those Colombians really know how it's done! Was a lot of fun.

VISIT THE BARCELONA SKETCHCRAWL OFFICIAL SITE OR JOIN THE WORLDWIDE SKETCHCRAWL FORUM

Euro Roadtrip Extravaganza! Paris

PARIS! The first thing I noticed about France was the black men. Speaking French. That's hot. Then I noticed that the guys seem to dress well, have iPhones and regular jobs. They have EQUALITY. I even saw a black man reading the news on (in French) on TV. That was pretty cool. You'd never see that in Oz or Spain or Thailand...

I'm beginning to get the rhythm of Euro-life. Work your ass off, then take a winter holiday (snow!), work your ass off some more then take a summer holiday (endless possibilities). I'm still astounded that the majority of people speak at least 3 languages and have a Masters Degree.

QUOTES FROM PARIS
"When governments say that they don't care about culture, that's where the trouble starts. Culture is the most important thing that a nation has. It's what makes us different from animals, it's what makes one nation different from another nation." Some guy on telly.

The French seem to have really embraced globalisation; ie: immigration & integration. It's like they're interested in other cultures and use them as inspiration. You might say they 'milk' the cool stuff out of other cultures, and keep the cream.

Paris is GIGANTIC. Being there feels like being inside a machine. One can hear and feel the gears cranking and shifting, the people are the fuel that keeps the city alive. Wzzzzz! Grrrrr! Crrrrnk! Endless droves of tourists moving through Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, buying souvenirs in the centre and eating lunch in Barrio Latino and taking boat rides along the Champs Elyses.

posted from my lovely mac :)

Euro Roadtrip Extravaganza! Amsterdam

Lunch in Luxembourg, coffee break in Belgium, and dinner in Amsterdam ~ with a side order of hash thanks! The most astonishing things about this famous city are: The lack of noise and pollution, due mainly to all the canals, the modes of transportation are bicycle, boat or tram. The quietest and most freshly oxigenated city I've ever visited. Yet there's loads to see and do and buy. They have a Chinatown and a Gaytown. As well as all of the other stuff you would've already heard about, there are some really peaceful and chilled-out neighborhoods.

I stopped painting here after I saw the local artists sitting around the centre doing things like this:

I realised that I'm using the wrong kind of pen and watercolour, so will have to visit an art supplies shop and get the right stuff to improve my techniques.

The fashion is quirky & freaky. The vibe is: tranquility. Nobody seems to be in a rush, everyone is friendly and relaxed. It seems like a gigantic Nimbin. With Canals. Groovy old buildings, some as old as 400 years, that could explain why they were leaning at precarious angles....

The people seem to be from all over the world ~ a fantastic melting pot. An example of how we can all live together and indeed get along (with the help of a little weed?). Many inter-racial couples and multicultural families. Tolerance. Now that I have been in Amsterdam, I feel right at home in Europe. I am beginning to develop a plan to rent a houseboat with some friends for a few weeks next summer.

QUOTES FROM AMSTERDAM PUBLIC SPACES

"The thing about music is, when it hits, you feel no pain" ~Dead Presidents.

"Dream like you'll live forever, live like you'll die tomorrow" ~James Dean.

"The most dangerous thing you need to worry about in Amsterdam is the bikes. There are more bikes than people in this city." ~Random Tour Guide.

In my Spanish class was a retired schoolteacher from Holland named Joop, he told me that Australia was too boring for him, and I don't doubt it! I wonder how dutch people could live anywhere else. Did you know that Holland is not actually a country? It's region in the Netherlands, but everyone uses the two names interchangeably. I'm completely and absolutely in love with the place. The people are so relaxed and open and friendly, and the language sounds like the people are always laughing or making jokes. And the stroopwaffles! You haven't lived till you've eaten these wonderful things for breakfast.

Euro Roadtrip Extravaganza! Belgium

Another blink-and-you missed it quickstop in Belgium, we took a boat ride through the canals of Brugge ~ a city dating back to the 10th century. Rather unusual flemish style architecture, quite charming. The Belgians are not messing around when it comes to chocolate and beer either. A lovely place, worth a drop-in if you're in the area. The fountain with all the sculptures just outside the centre was pretty rad too, but I was on the bus and couldn't get a good shot of it...

Euro Roadtrip Extravaganza! Luxembourg

Luxembourg is kinda posh! Wow! Nice park, made another watercolour, in the rain...I was lucky to find one of those nifty water-pens that you fill with water and use for watercolour painting. It's less messy than using a pot of water and you have more control over where to put the colour.

The people of Luxembourg seemed rather reserved ~ I tried to strike up a conversation with a few locals working in the shops, they're very friendly and helpful, but have the kind of shyness borne in places where everyone knows everyone and families have lived there for generations. Bit of a fairyland though, defo worth a stop-over.

Euro Roadtrip Extravaganza! France

In Dijon we stopped for lunch and I did a quick sketch of the park with a fountain which rather nicely started just as I was doing the painting...



In Metz we saw a lot of swans, and also along the way we stopped at a crocodile park, so I got to see some animals. Not to mention the roadkill: skunk and rabbits. At least I know that there are some wild animals, even if I only saw dead ones, or ones in captivity!

Euro Roadtrip Extravaganza! Costa Brava

Doing a roadtrip through Europe is interesting in that it is rather a lot like home; the back highways have a lot of factories, dodgy little hotels and daggy subrubs. We even came face-to-sweaty-face with French bogans at the Caravan/Camping parks! And yet... when we arrived at the centre of an old village or city, we saw the most beautifuk and ancient architecture -- all completely intact and often in the process of restoration.

The atmosphere is not unlike that of a Theme Park crossed with a Museum. I get the feeling that the old buildings are kept in good nick for the sake of the tourists ~ surely in many cases this would be a good example of how tourism can be beneficial to the local economy. In fact, some churches sell souvenirs inside, and some are used as venues for concerts such as jazz and classical.

Our first stop was L'Estartit on the Costa Brava where we camped for two nights and did a spot of scuba diving. The conditions were blah, so it wasn't much to write home about. There were Manta Ray and Eels, and some colorful fish, but no turtles or sharks as promised in the brochure! Hey! It's not Byron Bay, but there's life and greenery and spectacular sceneery just the same.



Then we began to drive further north to France. It's weird but I was disappointed after the first two nights in Southern France that I didn't feel like a better person. However, on the third (or was it the fourth?) day of traveling through this remarkable countryside the feeling began to creep up on me.