Beautiful one day...

Fantastic work and weather today. Spent the day at the cottage. Am editing video for public viewing tomorrow night and beyond, and in between giving the computer time to process the footage I painted. Completed a small 30cm x 30cm canvas of the rocks opposite the cottage. A view that changes hourly, and daily. When its dry and warm the rocks are grey and pale white, which transforms over the day as shadows come and go. The water level rises and falls over a metre which comes in so quickly that you blink and half the rock is gone! Treated myself to lovely fish n chips for lunch from 'the best Tasmanian seafood restaurant and takeaway in 2009'. Was good, was great, was yum.

Tonight am going out to take some night shots.
Photo today is of my place of residence, The Kings Bridge Cottage, Launceston, Tasmania.

Walking, walking, walking

Went up the zigzag track again this morning (easier, flat walkway is closed due to a rock fall - opens again tomorrow - I hope!!), and onto first basin again. Joined basin volunteer, Geoff and a small but dedicated bunch to walk the 45min each way trek to Duck Reach power station. It took as 2 hours round trip, but that was due to the excellent stories told by Geoff. This walk is part of the 'Walks on the Wild Side', council initiative and always finishes with a free BBQ -  starving artists have to get a free meal when we can!
Was an entertaining trip with lots of silly talk also provided by Klaus (say no more for those that know him!), David (our genuine walker), Michael (good company and good to keep pace with) and me (in it for the free food)  and volunteer co-ordinator Bernard who had the audacity to drive there and back only to nip into the track to take photos. A great morning and thanks to Bonnie for my vege burgers that I am growing to really like.
Had to zigzag home again so legs gave way this arvo and needed a rest, so researched some new photography techniques .... from the comfort of my chair.
Now is 6:15 local time and am enjoying a red and salmon pate, watching the water drift past.
Photos are looking up towards Duck Reach from the bridge (walk is on the left hand side - up and down...) and a narrow rock wall along the path that has another rock wedged on top!

A day drawing

Woke to grey skies that turned blue very quickly. Tis funny how the weather so influences ones mood and direction. Was deliberating whether to go to the basin and draw or edit video at the cottage when a shaft of light throught the window meant that I opted for the hike along the zig-zag track and onto the first basin. I walked around for a bit before settling in on a grassed area near the water.
I saw a Glover like vista (for magnitude n mood) before me and thought -I'll have a go.  Spent the next four hours drawing a detailed and intricate scene....which i'll have to go back to, to finish. What I love about drawing is seeing. Seeing the detail, the patterns and the rhythms of whatever is in front of you.

Came home exhausted but happy and organised myself to talk to  the Arts reporter from The Examiner to drum up an audience for the night-time video installations.

Its 6:38 local time and I have just glanced out the window to see the sun hitting a piece of rock that i hadn't noticed before.....hmmm so much to do. :-)

Awesome day

Best weather and day yet. Beautiful blues and light meant that I had my morning cuppa on the balcony and stayed to draw for the morning. Still totally overwhelmed by the magnitude of the view i concentrated on a small section of rock face. Happy with what i did - a postcard view for a lucky viewer. Have been excited by the result so more to come. While i was drawing i was also running across to the opposite gorge side of the water and filming myself to incorporate into video bits.....
Arvo... and went via the Zigzag path (a rock fall on the main path has meant closure to the easier main path to first basin) to full summer  - hot weather and teenagers, sitting, chatting and flirting as teenagers do. Some were jumping off Duck Bottom rock.

 

Came back to the cottage and had dinner before the night drew me outside to explore more time, light and imagery. Took about 100 photos to get about three i can work with, but still a good result!!
Hope for more sun tomorrow as i want to go out and draw some more  - will draw regardless now that I have started.

Changing colours

For the last couple of days I have doing a combination of editing video and taking still shots. The videos are taking muchos time rendering - thankfully I am only doing a few minutes for each piece but some of that involves editing down several hours of footage and I also am layering in multiple tracks..... Friday night rained and so my first actual public projection night was last night (Saturday).  This was really just trying to see if the spot was good and everything worked. I was happy with the result. Now I just need the media to come on board and get people to come for a look!

I am playing around with colour a bit in the video and still images. The way the colour changes so quickly is amazing. I am planning some more time lapse work. I think I will have enough raw material and concepts by the time I leave for the next two years. All I need is time to do them all! Ummmm :-)

Yesterday went for a walk around the shoreline to the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery. A really wide selection of historical and cultural works -including restored railway and foundry setups. Also included was uni and studio spaces. Their second site is being revamped so the art side was a little thin but had Philip Wolfhagens' Archipelago as the main feature. A truly magnificent work spanning over three sets of two panels. Each panel is 2m x 5m and together they form a view of land and sea that is windswept and misty. You can almost feel the salty air.
I am about to head off for a walk over to the showgrounds - Sunday markets. Then home to read the papers and watch the gorge change colours.

Four seasons in one day

Woke to a beautiful, crispy cool day and went for a long walk around the gorge. Lots of ducks out on the water today - maybe they knew the rain would come as soon as I walked back inside! This Thursday then continued to change constantly all day - from full almost cloudless sun to soaking rain. Temperatures rose and fell in sync with these changes.
Just off the walk path I found a little tableau that contained a Richard Tipping work.
Love finding public art in strange places!

I continued to work on film pieces - am working up a few for public showings each week. The damp weather meant that I couldn't set up and have a practice run when it got dark. Unfortunately rain is also predicted for Friday night so unlikely to project then as well. No worries. Am here for a while so I'm sure will get plenty of chances for fine weather at night.

Tuesday and Wednesday - connecting some dots

Tuesday. Met with Gina L, from Parks and Recreation, who is the co-ordinator of the Residency program to discuss the location of the video data projections that I want to do on the rocks outside the cottage. Because a main access road across the bridge is visible to much of the cottage, and therefore the rocks, we decided on an area that would suit but still not affect traffic. Have arranged to borrow the data projector from Arts Alive - and am most grateful for their support.
Did manage to start drawing this afternoon and have a start of a work before the light went. Also finished the book I was reading! The rain makes relaxing in between the work easier. :-0

By Wednesday I was drawing up plans for 2D digital works in my diary. Have an idea for a major work that will take a couple of days to photograph - and over 200 photos. The beauty of this is the residency allows me the time to be able to do this, and start the layering process in Photoshop. 
The day finished with a meet with 3 potential digital story volunteers. Am keen to get started more on this project.