Monthly Archives: July 2017

On the Rocks

“On the Rocks 1”

“On the Rocks 2”

The latest additions to my drawing series headed for Kidogo Arthouse in September 2017 are “On the Rocks 1” and “On the Rocks 2”.    These drawings will be the smallest in the exhibition at 195 x 200 mm each.

In the past three weeks I have been to New Zealand and back twice.  Each time I flew, one of the drawings went with me so that I could work while away.  These well-traveled crested terns were worked on in airport transit lounges, my sister’s house in Wellington and in the hospice where my brother was being cared for in Christchurch.  It was calming to scratch away with pencils in the unusual circumstances in which my drawings and I found ourselves.   They were both completed back home in my studio.

When holding an exhibition it is good to have a range of art sizes.  Not everyone has huge wall spaces (or wallets) for one’s major works.  A small sized drawing (or two) may be just the ticket for an intimate space.

“Entranced” opens on 7th September at Kidogo Arthouse on Bathers Beach, Fremantle.

 

Flames and Rainbows

It is mid-winter in Perth.   Close to my house the flame trees are flowering.

On our way home from coffee Matthew and I stop to reflect on the lorikeet action going on in the trees.

Our delight in watching the Rainbow Lorikeets is such that I have to go home to get my camera and return for some photographs.  Upside down, right way up – any way is a good way to eat.

“And these trees are delicious!”

You could walk right past your local trees and not notice…

…but it is good to stop and observe small miracles in our very midst.

Dedicated with love to my brother, Max Podstolski.  His joy of birds ever since I can remember was inspirational – and contagious!

22 November 1952 – 20 July 2017

Port Authority

Who knows a port better than one who inhabits it night and day?  The ubiquitous Silver Gull is right at home among the ships, containers, bridges and cranes of Fremantle.  Observant citizen of land, sea and sky, he could probably tell us the daily shipping news – if we asked.  He is the port authority.

“Port Authority”
Oil pastels and coloured pencils.   230 x 310 mm.  July 2017.

“Port Authority” is the second drawing of this particular gull.  I drew him last year with coloured pencils only.  This time I wanted to add oil pastels to the mix and do a bigger drawing.  And as you can see, he is looking in the opposite direction in the first drawing…because a bird needs to know what is happening all around him!

“Port Side” 
210 x 245 mm.  August 2016

I chose to put ‘port’ in the title again since these two drawings are clearly related (though I no longer have the first one).