Australia Day(s)

Yesterday was Australia Day. It was a perfect summer day, cool in the shade, very warm in the sun and we had a lovely cool evening where you could sit around outside in comfort.
I knew it was going to get warm so took Penny out early to Yarra Bend Park for our daily perambulation (we don't use the 'w' word, she knows that and gets keen to go before we are quite ready for a walk).
I took my trusty camera with me in case there were some interesting sights. The sun was shining through the leaves and I took a lot of photos with some thought of coming up with a design for our local tapestry weaving group's theme of Colour.
I am also considering making a small tapestry based on the theme Light and Shade (it is for an online group) and so was influenced by my recent thinking on that topic.

As I rarely draw or paint, I played around with a few of them in Photoshop to see if I could abstract them a bit, to make them easier to weave.  I just used the filters and came up with some that were more abstract.  It is great fun going through the filters, you get so many variations it is hard to keep track of what might be useful and what is just fun to do. I'll have to have a more serious look later and decide if I think I might actually be able to weave any of them.

I'm not sure why this filter option exists, I've never found a use for it, but it is a very different interpretation of the image.  I suppose, if I do this, it won't have to be green, I can make it any colour I like.  I love playing with the Hue and Saturation thingy too. 

I noticed that I was getting a lot of green and gold - very appropriate for Australia Day. I know we have the red, white and blue flag but so do a whole lot of other countries, so Australia's colours are usually green and gold.

Today is the Australia Day holiday, seeing Australia Day fell on a Sunday this year. As it is going to be hotter today, and is already windy, we took Penny out early again, back to Yarra Bend Park. It is quite close to the city, so we were surprised to see a kangaroo hopping around. Unfortunately, it is a dog-friendy park where dogs are off-lead and we did see one dog chase the kangaroo. We didn't see where the kangaroo ended up and were worried it had gone onto the freeway but then we met someone who had seen it (assuming there was only one) on the other side of the freeway and we hope it got into the bushy area beside the river where dogs do not go.

We go to this park because Penny can swim in the river, today there was also someone in a boat!

And you do get good shadows in the early part of the day. I'm not sure if I will ever get a good design out of this sort of image but it is enjoyable to take the photos and to be there seeing them.

Christmas Eve

The weather was perfect today - not hot, not cold, not windy, not anything negative. I was finally inspired to go out to our new glasshouse and dig out some of the dyeing equipment. I soaked some of my silk in an alum solution.  It has boiled for an hour and is being left for a time. As it is Christmas day tomorrow, I may not get around to doing the dyeing part, I will see. The recommendation is to leave it overnight, at least. Last year I inadvertently left some of the fabric for over a week but later found out that that is a recommended practice. I don't think I will last that long this year though.
The hollyhocks are in wonderful bloom. I have been keeping some out of the freezer, letting them get all dry and crumbly. I hope they work as well as last year.
Then I decided to take some more pictures of the flowers, trying some of the settings on my camera. It takes quite good images on the automatic setting but I decided to play around with the settings today, to see if I can remember how to do certain things, and to see if I could get some special effects. Some of the photos turned out ok.

Playing around with the settings, not that successfully.

After dinner we decided that we should take the dog out - it had got too hot for her in the afternoon and we had been busy in the morning. Off we went to Yarra Bend Park. We didn't get there till almost 9.00 and the sun was about to set.
Lo and behold (very appropriate for Christmas) a huge stream of fruit bats/flying foxes were just leaving to go foraging in the night. There were thousands of them!!
I took some more photos. It was quite dark by then and I couldn't see the camera that well, so the playing around with settings wasn't fully successful. But it was a wonderful sight and a lovely night for a walk.

Waiting, waiting

It is election day today and it feels as if everything is on hold till we hear the results.
To fill in some of the time, I walked at Yarra Bend again.  There is a tree near the carpark that has a big fungus near the ground.  It often looks a lot like an elephant's foot but today it had a beautiful bright green rim on it.

I tried for a few close-ups, they didn't turn out that well but they are still interesting.  I couldn't get a good image of the velvety texture of the brown part but these give an indication.

Further along, I was taking pictures of the different colours and patterns in the bark.  Then I noticed the face.  Well, I think it is a face, or someone wearing a mask. In fact, it is almost the whole head and looks 3D-ish. 

Face on a Seat

While out walking at Yarra Bend recently, I saw this seat.  It made me think of Faces in Places, a very amusing site of photos.

As we got closer, it looked less like a face but still not too bad. It actually reminded me of a dog, very appropriate as it is a dog friendly park.

I seem to have run out of oomph lately, hence this rather random post. 

I can't blame it on the weather, we are having the occasional hot day followed by lovely cool days and, more importantly, nights.

I am trying to finish the blackwork but it is an uphill battle at the moment, probably because I am not totally pleased with the design. Oh well, soldier on and see what eventuates.

Traffic Building

A group I belong to has come up with a theme for us to design a tapestry for.  Building.
I have had ideas sloshing around in my brain for ages, nothing much coming from them though.
I took our dog out earlyish this morning, in an attempt to beat the heat.
One of our favourite places is Yarra Bend park, a dog friendly park that is kept well mown so you can see where you are going and can, hopefully, avoid the snakes. And the dogs can swim in the river.
So we were sauntering along (well I was, Penny was busy investigating all the interesting smells) and I looked at the freeway - the traffic was building.  People are returning from their summer holidays and the traffic is noticeably heavier each day lately.
And I had an idea for the theme - traffic building.

Approximately 8.00am

10 minutes later, looking towards the city

Looking away from the city

 We walked over the freeway and the traffic got heavier even as we walked.  Down at the river, all was peaceful.

On our return, the traffic was much heavier.  It is still holiday season and the traffic will only get heavier.  I am so glad I don't have to drive in this sort of traffic very often.

8.40am, looking towards the city

Looking away from the city

Unfortunately, I don't think it would make a good image.  Oh well, keep thinking, something will come to me.

What to do on a hot day?

It is a scorcher today and likely to be hot for a while yet.  We have card tables, chairs, etc covering some of the plants in an attempt to shield them from the sun. Here's hoping it works.
So ... what to do on a hot day?

We took the dog out early in an effort to beat the heat.  We went to Yarra Bend for a swim and I got some photos that might turn out useful for a design.

I even played around with Photoshop for a while.

Cropped from the picture above.

Cropped further.

Hue and Saturation

As you can see, I was not all that energised, I just did some simple manipulation of the photos. Still, I might get a good abstract design for some tapestry weaving or fabric printing, who knows?

I was then tempted to have a nanna nap but managed to stay up doing some experimenting with patchwork and dyeing.  More about that in the next post.

Cute Birds and Dangerous Birds

I was walking along near the Preston Library the other day and noticed lots of cute images of birds - the council logo, it is everywhere in that vicinity.

The logo from the internet site for the council.

Information about services in this council building.

Small medallion on the footpath.

Street information sign.

Rubbish bin.

As I headed towards the library I was very entertained, looking at all these images.  Then ...

This was right in line with my vision and it was quite startling - as I suppose it is meant to be. 

The above sign is very obvious and gives a clear warning about the dangers of magpie swooping.  However, I have been lucky and not been seriously swooped by magpies, despite us having some problems with them in our school grounds some years.  The birds generally stayed out of the way of children rampaging around at various times of the day.

Over the last few days we have been walking at Yarra Bend, early in the morning in an attempt to beat the heat, and we have been swooped - but not by magpies.  The birds really don't like Penny, our dog, and usually only swoop her but I was attacked also late last week.  It quite startling actually.

I couldn't get a good picture of the bird, but here is a very zoomed image of one watching us walking under its territory.
After a bit of searching online at various sites, I think it is a Noisy Miner.  It looks a lot like the pictures on this site. There is a site that talks about the bad behaviour of the birds but it is really only in relation to other birds, not humans.  However, I can see when I am in their territory and when we leave it - it is very clear which trees are the edge of their 'property'.  They seem to slap their wings just as they reach you and it is quite loud.
I just can't resist putting in the date too - 2/1/12

Christmas Eve

It is nearly a week since I last blogged - I will miss my deadline if I'm not careful.
I haven't been doing much of great interest in the last week.  We finished our exhibition and then it was the post-study let-down.  I have tried to get interested in some sewing or weaving but just don't have the energy or focus.
We have had some pre-Christmas events and the planning for Christmas day and that has been enough.  It is also getting hotter, more summery, and that takes it out of you.  Even the nights are getting warmer which makes sleeping harder.
But the hot weather has one benefit (not that it feels like it at the time), you have to get up early to take the dog for a walk before the heat sets in.  This morning I went to Yarra Bend and got yet more photos of eucalyptus trunks.  Yes, I am still taking photos.  I am very impressed with my phone, it takes quite good pictures and I don't have to carry a camera with me.
I will have to come up with some new works to depict this sort of  trunk, it is very textured.

Here is a picture I took recently, it is a paperbark and the texture is amazing.  I am still thinking about how to try something with this.  Maybe felting would be the go.  I have yet to find a felting technique that I like to do - or that I can make pleasing products with.  So maybe something like this would be a challenge I could take up. Something for the new  year perhaps.  

Tapestry exhibition

Last week I visited the tapestry exhibition at Hawthorn Studio and Gallery.  The work being exhibited is by Joy Smith (my first tapestry teacher) and Gerda van Hamond.  They based their work on monthly visits to sites along the Yarra River but they have produced very different works.  Joy and Gerda spoke at the gallery and it was very interesting to hear about their beginning inspirations and processes.

Joy said she works more from photographs these days and is interested in people in the environment.  Her work clearly reflects this.  It was great to see scenes that I instantly recognised as places we have taken our dog for walks in, especially Yarra Bend Park.

Gerda tends to look at very small aspects of the scene, possibly fungus, bark or some very small element of the site. She also exhibited some of her drawings that she works on before weaving.  She does them with oil sticks and may combine several sketches from the day to make her cartoon.

Based on the river in flood.

Despite concentrating on such small images, her works can be quite large.

This one is based on a piece of bark but is quite large, over a metre square.

It was great to catch up with other students with whom I learnt tapestry over the last couple of years.  We will have to keep meeting at tapestry exhibitions, maybe even put on one ourselves.  I have not done any weaving this year but do have three images I would like to work on soon.  Maybe when this semester is over and I have less assignments due.

Rainbow Lorikeets

I have just been for a walk at Yarra Bend park and we got quite close to some rainbow lorikeets  (there are some beautiful pictures at this link).  They just sat in the branch above our heads and I was able to take a picture despite having to mess around with camera settings in the gathering dark. They were totally unfazed by two humans and a dog looking up at them.

I am considering doing another tapestry weaving of bark or a tree trunk, so I was pleased to get the picture of the tree they were in also.  I really love some of the eucalyptus barks, their colours can be amazing, not at all what you expect to see in tree bark.
I have finished the pieces I am going to hand in and have them sewn up, ready for mounting.  Now I have to work out how I want to do that.  Decisions, decisions.

Screen Print has been dominating my thinking this past week - we have to print a repeat length of the design we have come up with, as well as 4 colourways.  Those people who think tapestry weaving is slow and frustrating should take a good look at screen print!!  There is so much waiting around - and so much that can go wrong.  I will be very glad when I have printed the length and can relax again.

More Birds

Saturday must have been my busy day. After the visit to Heide and the lesson on free motion sewing, I went out to Yarra Bend Park with our dog. While we were wandering around, we came across some very tame parrots. They were not bothered by us and let us get quite close. I managed to get a few pictures of them. They are beautiful. I think they are grass parrots.