Year 3 of the 52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 43

Week 43: Rainbow.

"Pot of Gold - Found!". Black Sharpie, watercolour pencils and Kindy Glitz glitter glue, on watercolour paper, collaged onto white card. Photographed under a halogen lamp.

Update:

Week 43: Rainbow II.

"Rainbow Paddle-pop." Just a quickie sketch of a kids' summer favourite - for all of its colours, the Streets Rainbow Paddle-pop is simply vanilla/caramel flavour. Drawing is coloured with a chunky Noor Hardtmuth rainbow pencil - multiple random colours compressed into the one lead.

Return of the 52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 41

Week 41: Sweets

"Gingerbread house". White and yellow Puffy Paint on recycled brown paper. Details in watercolour and black finepoint Sharpie, with collaged roof and witch.

Update:

Week 41: Sweets II

Watercolour and collage with white opaque paint pen.

1.1.11

Today, I am told, is the first day of the second decade of the third millennium.

Last night, Sydney celebrated with the traditional anticipated/expected fireworks spectacular over the harbour - and I actually ventured in for the first time since December 31, 1985 (the year the movie "Explorers" premiered, because we filled in our afternoon by going to the cinema to see it.)


Ice cream van in Martin Place.

I had been invited by a friend to attend her rooftop gathering in The Rocks and this sounded like the perfect way to enjoy the event without having to tolerate the crowds!


The view upon arrival, above The Rocks.


Sydney Harbour Bridge.


Sydney Opera House (recently nicknamed the "Oprah House").


Fireworks by Foti Brothers, wavy glow stick by Karen, glowing rings by Chie-Hoon.














Happy New Year!

(By the way, the first photo is a closeup of the battery-operated pendant I wore for the event.)

The foggiest notion

It seemed like a great idea at the time. Leave the dog at home and take a quick trip to Katoomba (via breakfast at Glenbrook again - yummo! Mash coffee shop can be habit-forming) for a bush walk.

We arrived in Katoomba only to hear that the fog had "rolled in" twice already and suddenly, "Here it comes again!"

Undaunted, we headed off to Echo Point to see what remained visible of the Three Sisters tourist attraction. The Japanese tourists were quite perplexed...


If I used Photoshop, I could drop in a postcard of the Three Sisters behind me.

To make me feel even guiltier for leaving Jack at home, we met a Jack Russell terrier in the fog. Well, I think it might have been a Jack Russell. It certainly felt a bit like a Jack Russell.


This tourist dog (above left) was exactly the same colour
as the fog. He looked like a little disembodied head strolling
around the lookout. Ian (above right) desperately seeks the
Three Sisters at Queen Elizabeth's Lookout.
(Click on the photos to see larger versions.)



I didn't have the heart to tell the Japanese tourists
that they were heading in the wrong direction...



One reluctant Sister finally makes an appearance. Her siblings remain shy.



A few nice photos: Ian (above left) at the one visible Sister;
and Leura Cascades Track in the rain (above right).
Click on the photos to see larger versions.

Sunday's magic number: 92.6 - Oh well... Too many distractions last week, including my housemate's midweek homemade bolognaise pizza, and a work colleague's 60th birthday party on Friday night. But I don't feel like I really put on two kgs! Damn that Home Ice Cream truck which drove by last Monday, the public holiday.

Time to get serious again. (Sigh. Didn't I say that last week?)


Bush tucker fit for an Andorian. I assume these are a variety
of quandongs, growing wild at Leura.

The art of blissing out

I'm sure it started in 1981, when I started helping out on a Saturday morning "fruit bun day" in his hot bread shop.

My younger brother did his apprenticeship in bread manufacture with my Dad in his shop, but Saturday mornings was my brother's day off. Although I'd always served customers in the shop on Tuesday and Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings for extra "pocket money" - and worked full time in our depot shop throughout 1980 - I agreed to start going in extra early on Saturdays to help with the making of fruit loaves and fruit buns. In the 70s and 80s, it was actually illegal for New South Wales bakeries to make fresh bread on weekends, so hot, sweet loaves were our draw card to exhaust the supplies of bread (made late Friday afternoon) for the Saturday morning shoppers. Different times!

Anyway, it was also in the 1980s that I found I could so easily drop off to sleep in movies.

Admittedly, if the group I was going to the movies with on a Saturday night insisted on going to a late session, then I was guaranteed to drift off early into the film due to my early starts on the Saturday morning. Except for something like "Raiders of the Lost Ark", when a friend, Ruth, hammered on my arm in all the scary bits. (She did it quite Ruthlessly. Tee hee.)

"Superman 3" (although I was jetlagged for this); and the tank chase scene of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" are also memorable films in which I struggled to stay awake, not matter how much wanted to enjoy the film.

Other times, and right through until recently, I find myself simply "blissing out" - with no bakery hours to blame! A sure sign I'm reaching the age where needing grandpa naps is compulsory.

With the repetitive movements are lulling me into a trance, I have strong memories of sleeping through almost all of "Me, Myself and Irene" and "The Cat in the Hat", despite the usually-hilarious Jim Carrey and Mike Myers, respectively. I also "blissed out" watching the humpback whales of "Fantasia 2000" (on a huge IMAX screen); the jellyfish scene "Finding Nemo"; the first time I tried to watch "Shrek" (although my appreciation increased after seeing the wonderfully clever "Shrek 2"); and - ho hum - much of "The Golden Compass".

Today, I was off with a friend, Leonie, to see "The Water Horse". A magical new film that explores the legend of the Loch Ness Monster, it's a fun story, beautifully and affectionately told. I'm happy to report that I didn't "bliss out", fall asleep, or even snore (which I've been known to do while wide awake). The special effects are so sophisticated; they've finally perfected SPFX movie eyeballs that look just like eyeballs. Magnificent!

If you're looking for a feel-good movie, this is it! Especially with a banana flavoured choc top ice-cream!