Tant de Forêts Trailer.

A nice wee trailer. Looking forward to the film. It reminds me a little of the lovely art work of Charlie Harper.

Tant de For\'eats - trailer from Burcu & Geoffrey on Vimeo.
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Waterfall by Chris McKay

This morning I just had to share this stunning photograph from New Zealand photographer Chris McKay.

He writes:

ALEXANDER FALLS

Alexander Falls is a waterfall on Madeley Creek, a tributary of Callaghan Creek in the Callaghan Valley area of the Sea to Sky Country of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. The falls are located just below a bridge on the access road to Callaghan Lake Provincial Park, at the head of the valley, which lies to the west of the resort town of Whistler.

The falls consist of three drops that total up to 141 feet (43 m) in total. The falls are about 40 feet (12 m) wide.

Canon 5DIII | EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM II | 50mm | f/5.6 | 8 sec | ISO 50 | Lee Big Stopper | -1/3 EV

Feel free to share but no other use without prior written consent.

©Chris McKay Photography 2014

Simian Pancakes

(But is it ART?)

The Last Visible Kiwi?

Contemplating a name change.
Not really.  Just joking.
But, what is not a joke is that, with the exception of only two bird species, every single indigenous bird in New Zealand is mentioned in our Wildlife Act legislation as needing some kind of protection.

http://www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/north-island-brown-kiwi

Say the word kiwis in the Rest of the World and they seem to think a fruit or shoe polish.
But here, we refer to ourselves as Kiwis, aka, New Zealanders.
The bird we have adopted as our namesake as well as our national bird, is no better off than any other NZ bird.  And a lot worse off than many.  Nocturnal.  Forest-dwelling. Ground-nesting. Flightless. And with a naturally low rate of reproduction (one or maybe two eggs a year), kiwis are under threat from reduction of their natural environment.
But mostly from predation by a long and toothy list of introduced species:
Cats
Dogs
Ferrets
Hedgehogs
Weasels
Rats
Brush-tailed Possums

http://www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz/sites/all/files/120047MTSM12_KiwiEncounter_Mk3-4743-SBernert.jpg

There are six types of kiwi in New Zealand.  One is already extinct.
They are found no-where else in the world.
Most Kiwi kids, and most adults too, have never seen a real kiwi.

The verandah

Now that the wisteria has finished flowering the battle begins to maintain ownership of the house by humans.

It was lovely...

The Art of the Craft

Desire To Fly from R&A Collaborations on Vimeo.

Style and Content

'Style is the consequence of something being described in the way most appropriate to its content. It is not a hemline height or a gratuitous indicative flourish added to modify or embellish an image. Style is the by-product of saying what has to be said in the most appropriate way a maker can say it. Meaningful style emerges from the necessity of description. It is not a product of self-conscious selection.'

- Kit White,  101 Things to Learn in Art School.

Getting stuck, so back to basics. Brain storm of CONTENT for my next exhibition.

Nature Talks

Short, mesmerising talks about different aspects of the world world we live and depend upon.

http://natureisspeaking.org/theocean.html

Spring Rains

Once it found out I really, really wanted to get the lawns mowed today, the weather was given instructions for this morning:
1. Provide an enticing peek of golden sunshine on dawn.
2. Continue a short period of glorious golden morning thereby lulling her into a false sense of security so she wastes an hour on the computer.
3. Commence to rain heavily with very large drops, and with all the appearance of doing this all day.

Success!

Exciting news!  After trying for over a year, my girl Natalie has finally been accepted by an airline for a position as flight attendant. In about two months she will put on the Virgin Australia uniform for the first time.
Before that she has almost three weeks' work to complete for the café where she works.  During that time she'll try and find some accommodation not too far from the Auckland airport.  On 28th October she begins a five week training course and when that is complete … off she flies!
She will be based in Auckland and will be on the trans Tasman flights to and from Australian cities.  So if you are ever flying Virgin across 'The Ditch', look out for her!

http://blog.virginaustralia.com/events/

Insane in the Membrane

Natalie and I went up to Auckland yesterday.
Ponsonby is a rather delightful suburb with funky little (and some bigger) arty and designer shops, super galleries, and great cafes.
I particularly wanted to check out Whitespace, and also go to Black Asterix to see 'Insane in the Membrane' by Ewan McDougall. It was great to see it in the flesh paint.  So funny, and happy, and crazy.  I love his work, and enjoy the references to ancient cave art. However he can develop some quite dark themes, especially during our recent election.  The work is not as simplistic as the bright colours and repeating smiling imagery would suggest.

'Insane in the Membrane' - Ewan McDougall - Black Asterix, Ponsonby, Auckland.

Then, although it was already about 2pm, we went to see if they had again run out of their heavenly tiramisu at the cafe near the Auckland Museum. Sadly they had.  So I had to make do with the wonderful lemon pie and Nat had something else.
Although the wind was cold, the sun shone.  A Nice Day.
On the way home Natalie drove from almost Ngatea to Paeroa - about 30 kms.  Her driving is coming along very well.