Mingary Mountain Retreat

This past weekend 4 of us went on a retreat to Mount Mee which is only an hour away from home. We stayed in this gorgeous big home - lots of bedrooms and bathrooms with nice touches throughout...little sayings and books to read.. a piano to play if we wanted...

Looking down the drive to the house nestled in the trees and the shed on the left...

2 of the balconies..the bottom one was off the dining room and kitchen and we spent a bit of time out here..looking out into the trees...with no other houses around us.

Part of the extensive garden.

Buddhas to greet us at the front door...and....

birdbaths and...

the most beautiful gardenias which were also laid out on our towels and in the bathrooms..their scent is so gorgeous..I brought some of them home and I can still smell them.

Lots of carved hands were placed around the rooms...

I really enjoyed the weekend...to be with 3 other women all committed to their personal growth and spiritual health was fantastic and I learnt a lot from them..We did some guided meditations and went out in the garden walking and laughed a lot too of course.

It was time out from life I suppose but also time for reflection.

For the Dutch kids...Hello! xo

We had brunch at the Aussie kids' house on Sunday morning...yummy pancakes made by Don..here he is in the kitchen and I asked the kids to say hello to the Dutch kids...special hello to you guys..xoxo

Work in Progress and New Barbed Wire In Stock

This is my watercolour 'ghost people in the garden piece' that is ongoing...not sure where it is headed but I found this very cute frame in the opshop for it so that is dictating the size for now..One of them is reading by a lamp in the garden..ha.

My friend Desley visited on the weekend and brought me a whole box of old barbed wire...when she received my text asking if she could do that she was at home with her husband Albert, and he is very keen to help out so sent over this big box (below) with some extra bits he added including this wonderful bit of chicken wire which has gone through a fire. You can see the colours on the close-up photo. Aaaand it already is in a great heart shape...I LOVE it...I think I have a pretty good life when I get gifts like this...

My First Hand Made Book

I am doing a class online and this is the first book I have done..it is a bookbinding class. It is taught by Mary Ann Moss and her blog is Dispatch From LA..it is in my favourites..and it is one of my favourites..she is funny and open and relaxed and I really love reading her stuff. She talks about being a 'guerilla bookbinder' not a perfect bookbinder as she is not into perfection but lots of creativity. Having said that I think her books are well made but the colour and fun come across more than the structure I suppose...Anyway if you have a look at her blog you will see what I mean.

The fabric strips on the binding could be decorated a bit more and I wasn't quite sure how long to make them...so I will possibly add some more paraphernalia as time goes by.

Some of the pages waiting to be collaged etc. I'm going to use this one as a travel journal beginning next week when we fly to Melbourne for a week for the PGA...thats golf!! not tennis as a friend thought..haha..didn't tell Don...

I have always loved books...ever since I was little..I grew up with no tv but lots of reading and for a long time books were sacred and I wouldn't turn down page corners or write in them or damage them but now I use them in all sorts of art projects....I use the covers as I have here, and the insides as I have here also...I needed quite sturdy paper for this so some old picture books and coffee table books helped out with that...Trudes you might recognize some of them...

I really really loved doing this and have plans for MORE MORE MORE....I can plan them around the size I want and the purpose I want them for eg this one is small enough to put in my bag and carry around so I can sketch in it and write on the go..and it has plenty of pages to cover a holiday..

Sunshine Beach Surf Club...Good Music, Good Company

Here I am with the musician we went to see...he was grrrrrreat!!

Col and Jane...both looking a bit hippy in their outfits..Col loves this shirt and it suits him..all 'peace and love'.

3 Friends...Me with Leonie and Sandra...xxx.

Phil talking to Al in between sets.

We are a group of lovely friends..we all have our idiosyncracies and oddities...(they the same thing?) but we all have good hearts and are pretty funny too..some of us. They all came for dinner at the surf club as I told them Al was playing. They enjoyed his music and the next time we go to one of his gigs we want to DANCE!!! So it will be a band gig.

Feeding Wild Dolphins....

We spent a couple of days in a little place called Tin Can Bay...it is well known for the wild dolphins that come in each day, (when they feel like it), to be hand fed. This has been going on since about 1951, I think it was. A dolphin was hurt and came into the bay and was nursed by some people and when it regained its health, it began visiting each day and being fed and this has continued through a few generations.

They only recieve a tenth of their daily needs and some days they don't appear...it is entirely up to them. They can touch the people but we are not allowed to touch them at all and it is an on the spot fine of $300...

The volunteers (in the khaki uniforms), described the dolphins as coming in for 'tea and bikkies' as it is such a small amount of food for them..This was of course a pretty incredible experience..

Work in progress...although more like fun not work.

I am playing with watercolours again..I find them really difficult but really enjoyable as they are so beautiful to use. I'm doing lots of drawings of different figures from old family photos and vintage postcards...repeating the same drawings over and over. Practice does make the finished drawing better and I can definitely see the difference in each next drawing.(is that goodish grammar?I feel a bit fluey this morning so my grammar brain is slow.) I am doing the same with some flora from around the garden, vines and flowers, leaves, plants..there is lots to choose from..and then they are being combined on backgrounds of old maps.

This picture above is from a vintage postcard of a girl holding a sickle standing in a field. Somebody's personal message on the card says, "Iowa cornfields, gone but not forgotten". Pretty cute.

What I really like also is that I don't have any plan in mind other than the process...no finished anything is in my head. So it really is about doing and having fun and playing and seeing what happens..

The picture above is from a photo of my mum when she was in her late teens and was crowned "Queen of the Ball", hence the crown.

So this is my mum with her crown and a lady from another postcard reading by the light of a lamp..I think the flowers and leaves etc will become a lot more detailed and the figures will be mysteriously hanging around in the background...maybe...