Arty Farty Party

Adoring Husband and I attended the opening of this month's art exhibits at Gattakas Artspace in Maryborough, tonight.  The Artist and her husband, The Yachtie, also attended.

It was just to get an idea of what to expect next month for our opening.

It was all very arty farty and wonderful, and we booked the young lad who was providing the entertainment with his guitar in the corner, to entertain at our opening.

We were home by 9pm.

It's now 11.15pm and I am off to bed so that I can be awake early enough to catch a lift into The Bay and see my Chicklet family.

Too many late nights and early mornings and hours in front of the computer screen this week. (three glasses of wine tonight might also be a contributing factor!)

Very tired.

Nite all.  

At Last

I have finally finished the thirty A3 sized photos and put them on a memory stick to send to my friend at the Glasshouse Mountains, so that she can print them.

I have quite a wide variety of photos to display at this size, from birds to landscapes to still life to black & whites.  I think I'm happy with them all.  I just hope that they print well.  I guess if they don't, I can always get them done professionally and quickly if necessary.

'Best Cousin in the World' kindly informed me today that I had 3 weeks til the opening and I began to panic just a touch, but since our phone call, I have calculated that there are still 29 days til 7th September and by my calculations, that's four weeks and one day ... whew!

So, tomorrow's job will be to find all of the photos that I need to print at A4 size and put them into one file (which I should have been doing all along, but you know me, the organisational skills of a gnat).  Then next week, we can take them in to be printed as well.

I also need to figure out which photos I will do at poster size.  Just two or three.

Tomorrow night is our trip to Maryborough for the August artist's exhibit opening, just to get an idea of what to expect at ours.

Adoring Husband and I will drive over early, because I'd like to get a late afternoon shot of the wharf near Muddy Waters Cafe before we go to the gallery.

My lovely artist friend advised me today, that I would be required to speak publicly, albeit ever so briefly, at our opening.  Just one more thing to think about.  Ugh.

I'm excited about two whale watching trips that we are taking.  One will be the Sunday before the the opening and the other will be the Saturday after.

Here is a series of five shots that I took last season of a whale breaching near our boat.

The most beautiful and graceful creatures.  I will be forever in awe of them.

Well, I believe today has been quite productive and I have achieved what I set out to achieve.  Let's hope that tomorrow can be equally so.

I'm feeling pretty calm.

Nite all.

Playing Around

I've been playing around with photoshop today.  Just the basic edits.  I'll work on the more complex and complicated editing later as I begin to feel my way around the program.

I've also been playing with the Bamboo Tablet, which I think might be an even bigger learning curve!

So my poor brain is feeling truly overworked tonight!

Here are a couple of photos that I edited with photoshop.

... and here are a couple of beautiful pelicans that I photographed on the beach at low tide this morning.

Now I am going to rest my brain for a bit before bed.

Nite all.

Falling into Place

Today has been a good day!

My brother has confirmed that he and his friend will be here for the opening of the exhibit.

My sister and one of her girls will be here too.

My tutor, Andrew Goodall, of Nature's Image Photography, has agreed to be my public speaker and introduce me and my work at the exhibit.  I feel very honoured that he has agreed to do this!

We are all going on a whale watching tour the day after the opening.

I printed out 4 photos today in town, to test the quality of the print and they were so much better than I imagined.

We had printed out some photos here at home on A4 photography paper and the quality was just terrible ... I thought it was my photography and if I had to mount photos of that quality at the gallery, I would have been SO embarrassed!

But these photos looked great, so now I am excited to get the rest done.

I am so relieved!

After that, we went to see my Chicklet family!  It was lovely to see them after more than a week, because they had all come down with the flu after my last visit.  (No, I didn't give them any germs!)

My lovely little Chicklet was in fine form.  Bright and bubbly and happy.  No photos though - another 'too busy enjoying the moment' moment :D

So things seem to be falling into place nicely.  So far so good!

Nite all.

Invitation

So ... if you're not too busy ... and you want to come to the opening night ...

Just a month to go now.

I've been playing with photoshop today, just learning the basics and trying to feel my way around.

The National Bank Building in Tenterfield is architecture of the Art Deco era.  

I have a couple of photos of the Roxy Theatre in Bingara.  One of the front display windows, has a fabulous statue of Marilyn Monroe, but it didn't matter what angle I tried, the light was all wrong and the reflections in the glass are pretty bad.

This is heavily edited and the best I could get it.
(I have others without the silly man in the background!)

I really hoped I could photoshop the glass clean, but it appears to be an impossibility - well it is for somebody at my PS skill level anyway.

Anybody out there brilliant enough to clean this up?

It's been fun playing around with PS anyway.  This week, I might even teach myself to use the tablet that's been sitting in the cupboard for about 2 months now!

This morning I got a lovely photo of Molly, patiently waiting for her owner to continue on their walk.

Isn't she lovely?  Looks can be deceiving - she is a cranky bugger sometimes!

It was another glorious day, and Adoring Husband and I planned on going into The Bay to print some photos, but a delivery that we were waiting for, arrived later than expected, so now we are going in tomorrow instead.

Adoring Husband suggested that we go to the movies, but he's not interested in seeing Magic Mike and there isn't much else to choose from at the moment.  Maybe next time.

That's it for my day.  I didn't get to see if my rat was still on the concrete pad.  Let's all imagine that the beautiful white breasted sea eagle swooped down and grabbed him for breakfast!

Nite all.

Glorious Winter!

So!  I was gunna chain myself to the desk today and learn, through Youtube tutorials, how to photoshop reflections off windows and other interesting stuff.  That was my big Sunday plan.

Then I woke up.

At 7.30am it was 3 degrees!  That's cold for this neck of the woods!  So I donned a jacket (believe it or not) and opened the door to the most glorious, sunny Winter's day.

As I pedalled, I kept one hand in a pocket to keep it warm, and then halfway there, I swapped hands.  When I got to the bakery, I rested my hands on the glass of the pie display cabinet, to warm them up and after that, my coffee cup kept my hands warm.

Within 30 minutes of arriving at the Seat of Knowledge, my jacket was off and tied in a knot around my waist!

It was one of those perfect days when the sun shines brightly and twinkles like diamonds on the water.  When the air is so clean and crisp that the colour of everything is vibrant and beautiful.  When the warmth of the sun hugs every inch of your body and all you want to do is raise your face towards it and close your eyes and think of all the things that make you happy.

It was the kind of morning that makes you wish that time would stand still so that you can feel this perfect wonderfulness forever.

The birds were singing, the water was flowing smoothly with the tide, people were out fishing and rowing, walking their dogs, chatting in groups along the river bank, children were running along the beach or skate boarding on the side roads.

Holiday makers were sitting on the sun decks reading the Sunday papers and eating bacon and eggs.

I was pedalling deliciously slowly all over town and soaking up the perfect day.

Just before I got to the street that leads me home, I decided to ride along a dirt track through some bushland nearby.  I'd walked part way through it before, but today, I discovered that the track went right along the river to a place where we once picnicked with friends.

The picnic area was partly destroyed in the last floods and the Council removed the table because the land was too unstable with heavy erosion.

Anyway, along the track, I came across a dead rat.  I was pretty excited with this find and I stopped the trike to pick it up with a plastic bag that I had in the basket of my trike.

When I related this story to Adoring Husband, he gasped in horror and looked at me like he wanted to trade me in on a 'non picking up dead rats' wife.  Hilarious!  Especially when I told him that it was still warm and soft and that no rigor mortis had set in yet.

I wanted the dead rat so that I could lure a kite or eagle down for a swoop shot with my camera.

So I put it in my trike basket and rode on to Picnic Point, where I immediately spotted this guy.

Collared Kingfisher

He didn't hang around very long, so I only got a couple of photos before he disappeared.

Then a Kite landed atop a tall tree nearby, so I grabbed my plastic bag and took the rat over to the concrete pad where the picnic table had once been and lay the rat in the middle of it.

I hurried back to my trike and grabbed my camera, ready to aim and fire.

The Kite had disappeared.  Ugh.

So I set myself up near the fence so that I could use the fence post as a tripod to steady my aim.

Waiting ...

... waiting ...

Thirty minutes later, my rat was still lying motionless (as dead rats do) on the concrete block.

Even the kookaburra that perched itself on a tree branch nearby, wasn't interested in my rat.

So I figured it was time to leave.

On my way home, I came across a huge flock of Stilts and Curlews making a hell of racket!  Just as I got my camera ready, a dog came running across the sand and scared the birds into flight.

Frightened off

The Culprit (looks a bit like a dingo!)

That topped my morning off very nicely and it was almost 11.30 when I finally pulled into our driveway.

I might take the same route tomorrow and see if my little rat friend is still there!  The forecast is for the same perfect weather, but I'll have to cut the morning short to go into town and print out some of my photos for the exhibit.

Ah well, a little glorious Winter sunshine is better than none at all!

Nite all.

Writer's Block

Tonight, I have writer's block.

So I'm thinking that tonight's post might be short and sweet.

I didn't get to visit my little Chicklet today because sadly, the Chicklet family is down with the flu.

So instead, I pedalled out to the dirt track that splits the national park to see if I could find some fairy wrens.

I could hear them everywhere, but then I could also hear this Raptor.  I have no idea if it's a hawk or a kite or an eagle, but it was squawking incessantly, high in the tree, while all the little birds in the bush below were freaking out.

This isn't a good photo and it's tightly cropped, but I've posted it on flickr with hopes that one of the 'bird' men can tell me what it is.

I was surprised when two little female wrens flew up onto the branch of this small tree and looked up at the raptor for a couple of minutes and then disappeared back into the long grasses.

I've had a disappointing day with the camera.  I had a couple of ideas for photographs that didn't quite pan out.  I spent a lot of time on them but they just didn't live up to my expectations, so my energy levels have dropped a touch.

You know what we creative types are like ... very touchy and moody.  Just ask Adoring Husband lol!

I might get an early night to bed and build the energy levels up again, so that I can start fresh tomorrow.

Nite all.

It's me!

It hasn't been published yet, but here is the copy of what will appear in our local rag in a couple of weeks.

My usual habit is to create nicknames for people mentioned in this blog, however, in this case, for promotional purposes, actual names have been left in the article.

******

It’s ‘Time to Shine’ for Local Artisans

Local identity, Jackie Brennan, has been too busy to be out and about lately, unlike our resident photographer, Roz Griffin, who’s been scouring the village, taking shots with her long lens camera. You may have seen her - Roz is our local three-wheeler bikie with a passion for wildlife photography.

It was over coffee one morning at indoor bowls that Jackie invited Roz to join her in her next solo art exhibition. Such public display of talent was a whole new scene for award-winner Roz, but after a little assurance, she humbly agreed.

Jackie’s last solo exhibition ‘Metalica’ was held at Gallery 5 in Hervey Bay.  Two thirds of the artworks were sold on the opening night. This time the theme is ‘Art Deco Revival’ … quite a challenge for Roz who excels in capturing the beauty of Australian flora and fauna. Therefore, several generic works will also be on display in gallery two. All works will be for sale.

Jackie is a retired professor of Interior Design and Architecture with a post-graduate degree in Fine Arts. She is also an award winning artist, author and poet who still enjoys teaching - mostly weekend workshops, and of course our Monday craft mornings.

These two talented ladies are having a joint solo art and photographic exhibition at Gatakers Artspace in Maryborough for the duration of September.  This gallery is the latest Fraser Coast cultural installation. With a two year waiting list for exhibitors, it is well worth a visit. 

The grand opening is on Friday 7^th September, and best of all – you’re all invited to attend. Entry is free! Doors will open at 6.30pm for 7pm. It’s anticipated that the night will conclude around 9pm. 

So why not get a few friends together for a special night out to show your support for a couple of our local ladies.

Gatakers Art Space is located in the old warehouse building in the laneway between Kent and Wharf Streets, Maryborough – opposite the Federal Hotel at 311 Kent Street.

******

The two photos that I provided for this article are ...

Remember when?

Six Eyes

Already, strangers are stopping in the streets, asking me if I am the lady having the exhibit in Maryborough.

It's a very strange feeling, having to promote myself in a positive way, without adding a joke of self criticism.  I am renowned for that.

It's all beginning to happen now!

I can do this!

Nite all.

Distractions

We (Adoring Husband and myself) are organising a whale watching tour for our flickr group.

After we posted photos last year, a few members mentioned that they would like to attend a tour this year, so we've organised a good price and are just waiting on numbers now.

It will be on the Sunday before the exhibit, and I reckon I will need a distraction by then.  The combination of whales and my friendly flickr group will be just what the Dr ordered!

Aside from two more photos that I took today for the exhibit, I got a couple of bird shots on my morning ride.  The good old reliable lorikeet ...

and

the good old reliable kookaburra.

The Fairy Wrens eluded me this morning.  I spotted them a couple of times, but lost them just as quickly.  I think I need to get my glasses checked!

Unfortunately, it's still very wet in the national park ... like a swamp, so I won't be trekking through there in the near future.  It's so waterlogged, it will take an entire Summer of dry weather to dry the ground up.

This has been a welcome distraction from my exhibit photos and now it's time for bed.

Nite all.

Newsworthy

It appears that I am a little newsworthy (in my own lunch box).

I was asked to send through two of my photos, to somebody who has written an article for the local rag, about the exhibit, and THEN I had to send a photo of myself holding my camera!

I have two photos of myself holding my camera, and they are both of the back of my head!

One was taken by Adoring Husband while I was taking photos of Fairy Wrens at the southern end of town, and I think the other one was taken a couple of years ago by my sister, Squirt.

So I needed a photo, without putting too much effort into it, and without involving anybody else - because I knew it would be a 'process', and I knew that a LOT of shots would have to be taken before I'd be happy.

So I put a bit of make-up on and grabbed a hat.  I sat at my work table in front of my mosaic mirror and began experimenting with different shots.  Different facial expressions.  Holding the camera at different angles.

It was a tricky job to get a photo without looking through the view finder.

To get my head as close to centred in the circle of the mirror as possible.  To get my face focussed and have the 'Canon' name on the camera, clear and in focus.  To avoid the fluorescent light reflecting brightly off the mirror or the lens glass.  To avoid chopping the top of my head off or chopping the camera out completely.

It took 50 odd shots to end up with this one ...

... which is still not even close to perfect, but I'm happy enough to use it ... for now.

When I posted it on facebook, I got lots of nice comments, but my favourite was from the Bare-chested Chef, who said "You look so inspired and focussed.  Like you are doing something that you are incredibly passionate about.  I love it."

That's exactly how I feel, so his comment gave me a real buzz :)

Speaking of the Bare-chested Chef ... Vegan Chickie emailed me this lovely photo of my precious little Chicklet helping her 'Dadu' make pizza today.

She is so grown up!  They both look like they are having such a good time together.  Look at her little black shirt all covered in flour.  And those lovely little curls around her ears!  What a great photo.  A beautiful memory captured forever.

In the mean time, I am still head down and bum up, trying to get all the extra photos organised!

Yes, it's ALMOST time to panic!

Nite all.

I have 50

Fifty photos is what I have, ready to print and show at the exhibit.

I require more.  As Vegan Chickie would say "eeeeep!"

I didn't know this before I went to lunch today - twenty of us all having a lovely time together, drinking wine, until two of the ladies won $1800 and then we were drinking whatever they put in front of us!

We tried out the new menu set by the new chefs at the Bowls Club and they put a lot of effort into creating a delicious gluten free meal for Kaz and I.

It was a fun afternoon and something that we will be doing on the last Tuesday of every month - apparently.

Short and sweet tonight - an early one for me, so that I can panic effectively tomorrow as I attempt to find or create some extra photos for the exhibit.

Nite all.

Granny Nikonian

So excited for The Nikonian, who has become a first time Grandmother today!

She has a new little granddaughter to love.  I can't wait to see the first beautiful photos that she takes.

The Nikonian is one of the best photographers that I have the pleasure of knowing, and when she's feeling the love, her shots have the WOW factor.

Anyway, I just wanted to acknowledge her exciting news today and send my love and good wishes to her and to her family.  Hugs and kisses to you oxox.

I've been busy today with some more shots for the exhibit.  Setting the shot up, shooting it, editing it.  It's quite tiring really.  Too much brain work involved.

Those of you who know me, know that I am basically lazy - that is also true when it comes to my photography.

Wildlife and birds and landscapes are much easier.  You put yourself in the right place at the right time and you capture the moment.  That's when you best see the magic of photography.

So much more thought and time has to go into still life and portraits.  Getting the lighting right and the composition has to be just right, to tell a story.

Creating a 'moment' with people in portraits takes real skill.

It's all especially more exhausting when you are unsure of yourself.

If I had a studio with all the lighting and backgrounds and props, it might be easier.  I say 'might' because I'm really only guessing or assuming that to be the case.

I think I am making the best out of my limited resources and I am pretty happy with my shots so far.

Oh if money were no object!!  Must remind Adoring Husband to buy a ticket in Powerball this week!

I'm doing ok.  Sometimes I feel frustrated because I can sit here at my desk for a few hours, and at the end of it, feel like I have achieved nothing.  Other times I can sit here for thirty minutes and at the end of it, feel like I have conquered Mount Everest!

What a process.  A HUGE learning curve for me.  Immensely satisfying and terribly frustrating all at the same time.

I only have one photo to share today.  I caught this fellow singing this morning as I rode past the lagoon.

I think I might go watch some of the Olympic Games for a while and give myself a break from the computer screen (from one screen to another - sad huh?).

Nite all.  

Childers Festival of Cultures

Adoring Husband and I spent the morning in Childers at the Festival of Cultures.  It used to be called the Multicultural Festival.

Bigger and better this year, which was our fourth year in a row.  Hundreds of stalls and tens of thousands of people.  They actually block off the main street (which is also the highway) and line both sides of the street with stalls and rides and entertainment.

At various points down the street are different artists entertaining the crowds.  Country music with dancers performing rocknroll, rockabilly and line dancing,  Jamaican music,  Egyptian music with belly dancers, and then a much bigger stage down one of the side streets with a steady stream of bands and entertainment.

The Twine were performing again this year and they always draw a big crowd.  They were contestants on Australia's Got Talent in 2010, and they have a lot of energy on stage.  I even considered getting up for a dance ... and I am NOT a dancer!

After they finished, a quartet of young girls performed.  Beautiful voices and such talent with their instruments.  They have already won a major award (the Golden Fiddle) at Tamworth Country Music Festival and they were also contestants on the New Young Talent Time.

Warming up before the show

Despite how they appear in this photo, they were happy and high energy performers

The crowd was very appreciative.

 

... and I loved this piece of artwork

... I reckon I could create something like this myself ... I LOVE trees and I would love a big colourful tree to put on the wall above the bed.

We were home just after lunch, but we had a great time and I love that every year, after we get home, I immediately begin looking forward to next year.

Right now, I'm looking forward to bed.

Nite all.
 

Boz Boz Boz

I have the image replaying over and over in my head, of my precious little Chicklet running towards me saying 'Boz Boz Boz' as she greeted me at her place today.

It's the first time that she has appeared overjoyed that I exist in the world and it made my heart sing.

She spent a lot of time leaning against me as she played with various toys and my jewellery.  It made me feel very warm and fuzzy.

I took a lot of photos of her today, but rarely looking through the view finder, so I ended up with lots of 'chopped off' shots.

I had photos of just an arm or just a leg or half a face or a body without a head, just her eyes or just her mouth!

Sometimes I can do that with the camera and end up with some wonderful shots, but alas, today was not one of those times.

I think she looks a lot like my youngest daughter, Bubbles, at the same age, in this photo.

She wore her cape and I dubbed her 'Sir Juniper, Knight of the Square (coffee) Table'.  Her little mouth was coated in strawberry juice (and so was the floor!) from the juicy strawberries that I took for a snack.

We shared carrot sticks, nuts and seeds, strawberries and grapes - a lot of which were scattered all over the floor by the time we finished!

I usually get a couple of hours to visit on a Saturday morning while Adoring Husband has his regular club golf day, but today was a special golf tournament, so I got to spend almost four hours with my lovely little family.

It was great!  But it wore me out and I climbed under the blankets in my bed at about 4 o'clock this afternoon and had a one hour nanny nap!  At the same time Adoring Husband was sprawled on the couch snoring quietly.

Home made pizza and footy tonight - Super Saturday on Fox Sports Channel and now a long evening of various Olympic sports to watch.

I've had a nice break today from my photos and I'll get back to it tomorrow.  I need to put them all onto a memory stick to send off for printing.

Less than six weeks til D-Day!

I will go to sleep tonight with the sound of my Chicklet saying 'Boz Boz Boz' in my head.  **happy grandmotherly sigh*

Nite all.

Big Mouth, little brother.

My little brother bragged about me, and the exhibit, on his blog this morning and then added a link to here so that people could come and view my photography.

So I decided to follow the link myself to see which of my photos would be the first viewed by a complete stranger.

Sadly, the first page of photos were not 'bragworthy' at all!

I really do need a website - or maybe just a facebook page?

Anyway, I've decided to find some of my favourite photos from the past 18 months (I can't believe that I have been keeping this blog for 18 months!!) and post them here today for the viewing pleasure of any newbies who might believe my brother and come looking for photography that is (according to him) "a must see"!

That is my effort for the evening. My brain is mush. Tonight has been a little R&R and I had a couple of wines with the girls at the club.
Tomorrow I get to spend a few hours with my Chicklet family, so there should be photos :D

Nite all.