Diana and other loves

 

I recently updated my website, having added a folder containing photographs I took with my Diana F+ and splitzer lens in Europe in 2009 - 2010, and also a folder of digital 'Europe Doubles' taken at the same time. Despite not being my artistic focus, I do enjoy taking photographs with digital and analog, and appreciate the magic of capturing a little piece of the world through the lens. I realize now, looking over my scans just how strongly photos are able to rejuvenate memories of places and people.

Diana loves Europe

I finally got around to developing the 6 of the 7 rolls of Diana film I took on my trip to Europe last year. I am pretty happy with the result, but that is probably because I didn't know what to expect. I scanned in a few images as you can see above. I got given the Diana F+ camera as a 'thank you' present from my beautiful friends Kelly and Matt who visited me in Europe. I flew to Hungary and showed them the sights for a week or so. We had a blast discovering the secret places Budapest together and also small cities in the south of Hungary. This camera was undoubtedly the best gift I could have received, as I got it only 2 months into my 9 month trip - so there were plenty of memories and places left to record!

These small Diana prints and some digital enlargements will hopefully be exhibited here in Adelaide sometime soon. I am really hoping the show happens.

D n M

(all above photographs are by me taken in Oroshaza, Berlin, and the last two in Copenhagen)

... I find it is sometimes hard to philosophise about your life when you don´t know where it is going. You naturally assume everyone else has their desire direction and you are left alone wondering if you are with the right person and doing the right thing, or just sleepwalking through your life. Or thats how I feel sometimes - as in this moment.

I decided to illustrate this entry with photographs I have taken over the last few months of travel that depict a sense of quiet and aloneness.I sometimes wonder how "cat ladies" come to be. Those old women who end up in a small unit with a dead garden talking to her twenty odd cats and cooking nothing but cabbage soup. Were they once someone´s someone? Did they love and be loved and simply lose their way? Was it all doomed for them from the start, as they drew the Old Maid card from God´s hand?

I wrote D n M as the title for this train of thoughts as an abbreviation for Deep and Meaningful, but as I later thought Dark and Murky, or dark and twisty as Meredith Grey would say. I find comfort in dark, morbid thoughts. Like expecting or feeling the worst will be worse than anything that can actually happen, and thus you save yourself a whole lot of heartache. Thats my theory in cliffnotes anyway.
I will now go for a nice long walk through the farms and fields and hope to lose myself for a while. Adieu.

double take

I´m really into quiet images these days, and I suppose I have always have been in a sense. However, of late I have found myself really finding comfort in serene images, those capturing the unnoticed moments like a teacup raised to a girl´s lips, or a cat crossing the road. Whenever I do come across such a photograph I get excited but also think to myself, "why dont people bother to take more pictures like this?" These are moments of magic, and people are missing it. And so I made a little promise to myself to document these precious, fleeting events and make the ordinary extraordinary.

Here are a few pieces from my travels around Hungary over the last month.






I arrived in Germany (again) yesterday, having flown in from Hungary after 4 weeks with family and friends and enjoyed 6 hours with my wonderful friend Karoline in Berlin, then took a 3 hour train to Kassel to my darling boyfriend. It is supernice to be back, and I haven´t felt this at home in a while. It feels great.

tick tack toe

|Before launching into the current situation surrounding my little life here, on the other side of the planet (to the usual) I would like to take an excerpt from my diary (suffering from much neglect) to show where I was then, and where I am now. So the following is from around a week ago, I think.

I've been feeling a bit pointless lately. Like I am floating around in a bubble of timeless abyss, purposeless and wasteful of my own talents and resources, Reaching the four month mark of no work and no study following a two year blur of full time commitment of all categories is tough, and forcing me to realize how the mundane, seemingly everyday life in my everyday world can actually be bliss. I often long to be back in my own bed in my colourful room in my brick house full of life and light and parental love. I miss the ease of routine, the rolling green hills and my little white ballerina prancing around the garden in all her furry glory. Jessie is one of the things I miss the most about home, her tuna breath and trilly meows, her grateful purrs and dignified presence. I sometimes catch myself double-taking when I think I see her come around a door frame out of the corner of my eye, or when I see something small move in the distance. How silly I must look!

Spending so much time all by my lonesome has taught me some valuable lessons about myself, in reaffirming things I already knew, or thought I knew, and has shown me new sides of myself I was less aware of. Like my need for my own space and for reflection,and how much I dislike people cooking for me, or rather me not having the opportunity to cook for myself. Being a vegetarian with numerous food allergies and health considerations, (which have been relatively recent developments) I have found a new strength in myself and have developed a wisdom that comes from knowing what is good and nourishing for your body, and what isn't. I have found that being put in social situations, especially in Eastern European culture, where the main dishes all include meat and potatoes, both of which I do not eat, I usually make a silent resolve to just smile and simply say I am not hungry and vow to make some rice and veggies as soon as I get home.

Speaking of which, I think its time for dinner. So as we say in Hungary, “Viszlát!”, or goodbye.

looking up

Despite my sleepiness and lack of inspiration to get out of my pajamas I am quite certain things are increasingly looking on the up. Eurotrip is shaping nicely, business here is wrapping up, and flourishing also. It appears I will be joining the Urban Cow stockist family, as they are happy to exhibit and sell my paintings for me. This is really exciting, as they are arguably Adelaide's most prestigious art retail store and I also get a discount when shopping there now - amazing!

I have completed almost all of my commissions for this year, with one large one still in negotiation. I am also looking into some art-related work in Europe which I am not at liberty to disclose as yet, as I have only applied so far and do not want to jinx it! But let me just say that if I do score this, it will be a once in a lifetime experience and I would be jumping to the moon and back.

Glassblowing is proceeding nicely, and speaking of which, I am happy to announce that I have my first ever PAYED glass work arranged for wednesday and thursday next week. That is twelve hours of glass assistance work which I will get payed for. Probably not much, but it is the principle that counts here people. I am super excited and feeling pretty privileged and proud of myself for being selected. :)

I best get dressed for work now and hopefully pick up some pay from the nursery. It is off to the gallery, then to a sushi-train dinner with two of my favourite people Kelly and Matt, who are shouting me tonight :) Very kind. Its supposed to be a goodbye-sushi which actually makes me feel like crying, so I decided to make it this weekend and not too close to my actual send-off date. Phew.
Over n out
xx

4 weeks and 3 days

... then Au Revoir Adelaide!

I know already you won't believe me when I say.. . but things are starting to really come together! this makes me feel incredibly good, considering I've been climbing what feels like mountains of challenges, and valleys of failures. But NO! I am on the up and up!

There is hope in the financial department, a very small chance I'll be able to re-write/maintain my $2000 study grant (possibly maybe PRETTY PLEASE??!?!) and that things may just well be a-okay.

I filled in my form to differ for the 1st semester of next year and arranged to have the option of differing the one after that. I saw my program director today, and it would probably work out better if i was to differ the whole year. *oh dear, will I really have to extend my stay to europe? .. oh nooo* And the fact that I'm pretty on track with my subjects, units, majors and minors is a relief as I thought I had stuffed up in a major way.. turns out its pretty ok, but after this semester ends I will only have to do 1 more glass class to wrap up my minor which is quite sad. I'm really getting into it.

Just then I caught a weekly documentary series on Paris which was so interesting. I learnt some pretty fascinating things about operas, the musee d'orsay, Versailles and the Eiffel tower. The one thing I'd be Superduper keen on doing in paris is seeing some fashion shows. i'm pretty sure i would actually jizz my pants. moving on..

my wonderful friend Anna and I are planning a trip to Geneva to visit her lovely and accommodating married cousin and his wife and go skiing and live the good life for a while. this sounds amazing and I already cannot wait. she's my little sunshine, intellectual stimulant and pocket rocket. sie ist wunderbar <3 Speaking of wunderbar and amazing people, I spent last night with three of my amazing ladyfriends. we bonded over a visit to the zineshop and had some wine and cheese with the lovely artdwellers of Peel street, after which the 4 of us proceeded to the central markets because I decided that fishball soup would totally make our evening. and it did. (it also made me groan all the way back to uni clutching my belly due to food allergy sufferage. however, I survived and am none worse for the wear. phew) the art auction we crawled back to uni for was amazing. super interesting and cheap! it made me really wish I had a special art fund I could dip into at times like these ! amazing! the likes of gabriella bisetto, mark kimber and toby richardson donated work and it was so great.

afterwards we walked to our shared busstop (!!) which is amazing considering we live in 3 different and faraway suburbs and ran amok, rather.. we huddled and cuddled from the cold, did cartwheels and became the ninjas we were destined to be. these girls make me not want to leave, but also realize how lucky I am to have them in my life. they are amazing and make me so happy. bye for now

ps: we have our hands in the air because its what bands do. apparently.

make a wish

[source for above balloon shot is carninscatola ]
..

Every time I think up a new little project, roadtrip, patisserie, monument, piece of land to visit during my impending eurotrip I get a feeling that's a little bit like a flutter in the vicinity of my heart.

The countries I am guaranteed to visit are Germany, Hungary, Holland, Spain and France and the "I wish" list includes ~
Denmark, UK, Portugal, Luxemburg, Scandinavia, Faroe Island, The Baltic countries (Namely Lithuania), Slovakia, Poland, Austria and Italy. Theres probably more, like more of Eastern Europe and maybe more north stuff aswell. How to choose? Limited funds make this trip a little more interesting as I am literally going to travel europe on a shoestring. but it will be amazing. I am taking my trusty polaroid Duke with me, with whom the furthest I've traveled so far was Sydney, and Glenelg :) So he is clearly hungry for more adventures, as am I. Here are a few gems we have collaborated on:



Gulls of Sea ~ Glenelg


Myself in front of some cool street art on Oxford Street, sunny Sydney


My man and I at the Sydney Opera House. (one of the best days I've ever had the pleasure of enjoying)

Also, I am really loving The Whitest Boy Alive, especially 'Burning'. See if this works if you want a taste:

http://www.last.fm/music/The+Whitest+Boy+Alive/_/Burning

ah the possibilities

Right now I am excited because:

1. I got payed.
2. My boyfriend is in Copenhagen right now and I am very excited for him.
3. I am (slowly) getting to the bottom of my "assignments to finish and hand up pronto" list
4. Visited one of Australia's most famous/successful glassblowers Nick Mount at his home studio and got to chat with him one on one. I was mostly impressed by his amazing garden which was full of grapefruit, rhubarb and succulents, and he even had a round island of soil in the middle with two or three boats filled with soil and plants! Pretty insane.
5. I just spent the better part or this arvo/evening at my terrific mate Anna's house playing Wii for the first time, and kicking butt in bowling and tennis! Yeah.. after failing miserably at the shooting and boxing. Hah. Just proves i'm an active little critter.. or that I need to get out more.

This entry could be mistaken for an attempt at procrastination because i was ideally going to try and finish off my essay for my 3rd year Contemporary art subject, however my eyes are feeling tired and droopy, my tummy a bit ill and my bed is doing its weird magnetic superpower thing where it begins vibrating at this higher frequency and drawing me closer and closer to its warm, comfy cotton bosom.

Another reason I can't be bothered getting on with this essay is that I am still hyped from glassblowing earlier today. I used some multi-coloured frit which was mostly made up of oranges and blues and made a small round bowl and a little vessel. And a small, clear hip-flask. Mwuaha. So now I feel like just ripping in there and pumping out a whole bunch of things for my solo project, for which I have begun making a series of Egg Vases, which look a lot like this:



except more transparent and approximately the size of the smallest one. Photos to come soon! Anyway... enough dawdle. should go be productive. goodnight.