...failed painter

the getting of wisdom

2011-04-08T16:52:00.001+10:00

‘Pushkar Barber’© L.M.Noonan 2011

Our youngest son Oliver is 17 today. Above is the image I printed on the cover of our birthday card to him.
His father is having the full treatment while Oliver waits and watches.

COLLAGE

2011-04-06T18:50:00.001+10:00

Down the rabbit hole

2010-06-24T17:07:00.001+10:00

Last week, Fong and I visited the ‘White Rabbit’ gallery in Sydney…we are still digesting the incredible quality of the artworks and the vision of the collector.
Afterwards and following a splendid pub lunch at the Broadway Lounge we dutifully started to take in parts of the Sydney Biennale…but I’m afraid we had been spoiled and expected at the very least a similar quality. The works were by contrast dull and done to death.

A note from the Director of White Rabbit Gallery

“Many people associate the name White Rabbit with serendipity and surprise. And the White Rabbit Collection did arise from a series of chance encounters. The first was in 1999, when I came across a wall sculpture by Wang Zhiyuan in the storeroom of a Sydney art gallery. It showed whimsical fusions of humans, animals and angels, and I was immediately struck by the artist’s inventiveness and technical mastery.

That discovery led to a meeting with Wang Zhiyuan, who became a family friend and regaled us with news of the exciting changes taking place in the Chinese art world. A few years later, as a surprise present, I took my younger daughter to China. We met up with Wang Zhiyuan, who had moved to Beijing and opened a studio.

That led to perhaps the biggest surprise of all—seeing the extraordinary art he had been raving about. The best of it had all the qualities that had made his work leap out at me. It was bursting with ideas and energy, vibrant, often humorous, imaginative, technically superb and utterly compelling. I was hooked, and wanted to start collecting at once.

The name for the White Rabbit Gallery, which the Neilson Foundation started building in 2008, popped into my head one day and just stuck. The establishment of the Gallery, though, was very deliberate. We wanted to share with Australians and the world the best of Chinese contemporary art since 2000—a turning point that I think of as the Big Bang. I hope all visitors to the Gallery will experience the surprise, delight and fascination that the White Rabbit Collection’s artists and their works have given the Neilson family.”

Judith Neilson, 2010

12th International Collage Show

2010-04-03T09:25:00.006+10:00

© L.M.Noonan 2010

The annual ICE exhibition is up and running on again at the Real Tart Gallery in New Plymouth.The image ‘errata’ above is one of the thirteen (13) I sent for inclusion this year.Like most Australians; I’ve travelled to some very far flung destinations…sometimes taking days to do so and yet I’ve never flown the few hours it takes to reach New Zealand.
Every year I keep saying that we should flydrive the length and breadth of both islands and every year something else comes up.
Perhaps I have a subconscious notion that I will fall deeply in love with this fabled land and feel compelled to pull up roots and move.
You can have stickybeak at the photos the indefatigable Dale Copeland—artist and organiser; has posted on her blog.
The gallery space looks interesting doesn't it?
As some of you may have noticed; I am redecorating again.
Why…you might be wondering? Methinks it’s rather like when start shifting things around in my studio…I have to clear away the clutter in order to start working again.

art terminal © failed painter 2010

2010-02-24T18:05:00.002+10:00

the sculpture
their response
their ferocity
their sheer viscerality
the body politic
the attacks
the support
the descriptions
the rhetorical skirmish
the public gaze
ahistorical
asocial
atypical
response
repartee
ranting
before the sagging relief of scuttling retirement
and
annulment of the defacto marriage of art + aspiration

opening

2010-02-05T11:58:00.002+10:00

Last week Fong and I with the help Dawn Oelrich and her amazing gallery team set up our joint exhibition entitled 'SHIFT". It opened to the public on Monday, however last night the official opening was held.

We arrived ahead of our guests; nervous as usual.

Son #4 moved to the big smoke last weekend to begin his life as a university student and last night I saw him for the first time this week...but of course I'm not missing him a bit!

The first of what we thought would be a modest gathering started arriving.

I knew Fong's work would more than pass muster...

but what did they think of the stuff on the walls?

Most of the questions concerning my work were based on the techniques and methods of construction.

After the speeches son #3 --Yi; entertained the crowd with a set of new originals

after which son #4 --Bas and friend Jackson adlibbed with some duelling acoustic improv.

All in all a great night.
Thankyou my friends...you know who you are. I won't forget your well wishes and kind support.

All photos in this posting were supplied my baby...son #5 Oliver.
Who IS that gorgeous girl?
Technorati Tags: exhibition opening,art show,shift,sunshine coast university gallery

Time for an overhaul

2010-01-29T14:54:00.002+10:00

Much has changed here at chez failed painter however after coming this close to deleting my blog forever, I've decided to pare try and cut some of the bloat.
Our exhibition was hung and dusted yesterday and is open to the public this coming Monday. The official opening is on Thursday February 4th and everyone is welcome.
A big thankyou to the hanging team and Dawn Oelrich...curator extraordinaire.

another quickie

2009-08-10T09:30:00.002+10:00

We have a strict internet usage quota mostly because of our 'rural' location.
I'm told that our distance from a subbox and the age of our telecommunications lines determines speed, quantity and I suppose quality of internet.
Anyway, last month the ferals managed to use up our allotted amount in half the time.
In plain speak WE HAD NO INTERNET beyond the worst kind of dialup. I could not even load my own blog page!
I could however, hang out a load of washing and boil the kettle and make myself a cuppa in the time it took to download my email messages.
So that's why I've been silent.
Also, I have been busier than usual with the demands of the ferals and the work that provides us with our daily bread. And there have been several significant changes in our personal lives that have gobbled up lots of angst time and sleep time.
I'm still really busy because this week I'm being both Mum and Dad to the ferals.
Fong is in Malaysia for a while, so I won't be surfing the net for a little while yet.
Just sticking my head up to say Hoo Roo.

PS I'd really love to have a few helping hands like Jeffy has at his factory

set that alarm clock

2009-07-13T18:38:00.001+10:00

Nothing's been happening around these parts...nothing of any interest.
I always seem to do more
washing,
shopping,
cleaning
and cooking when it's school holiday time.
However;

everything goes back to 'normal' tomorrow.
Hurrah! I do love the ferals, but a little absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Come morning it's pack them up and ship them out.
all photos © L.M.Noonan 2009

a quickie

2009-07-07T11:23:00.001+10:00

A young family friend has just published his first post to his blog.

I look forward to what this young man does next...and not just because of who his subject matter is.

Yi posted to his blog the work that he is featured in, and the archangel and speak no evil model is Yi's older brother---son # 2; Josh.

flights of fancy in Kathmandu

2009-07-05T14:55:00.001+10:00

all photographs © L.M.Noonan 2009

I posted a poem that I wrote in Nepal last year, today it's a few more photos...all taken a few minutes apart.
I was busy trying to get a few shots of the whirling clouds and congregations of Kathmandu's pigeons when a street boy--more numerous than even the pigeons; stood directly in front of my lens, I smiled and took the photo not expecting much. A few months later and I realised that I caught more than I bargained for.

Technorati Tags: photographs,nepal,kathmandu,street kids,pigeons

culture vulture

2009-07-02T18:02:00.001+10:00

The predatory glint of the roads teeth
seems anticipatory
friendly even
it only has to wait

this road has dined on many such as we
vainglorious
seeking what
enlightenment
congratulatory esteem

the mica winks
despite
the dollops of buff
yak
and human manure
how does one start to understand anothers culture

from the wrappers
from the rubbish
from the waste

It's school holidays here in Queensland and somehow the days have gotten away
from me.
I keep meaning to post some more photos from our last trip but...
Instead: a little bit of hastily written poetry I found in my travel diary.
Written on the trails in Nepal.

dangerous liaisons

2009-06-19T09:57:00.001+10:00

dangerous liaisons © L.M.Noonan 2009

duly noted:

these gestures

these acts

these events

the subtleties of language

impenetrable

unguessable

elude you

direct you down one way streets

and cul-the-sacs

set you up in blind dates with monsters

have you tasting fugu instead of foie gras

leaves you on worn stoops blackeyed and lost

duly noted:

stick to what you know

I've been flitting from one thing to another--as befits a failed painter.
A bit of painting here, a little sewing there and lots of reading...of other peoples fiction.
I've read two of the four book Nightwatch series by Sergei Lukyanenko, the first and second having been made into some excellent cinematic viewing.
All of the books were translated into english by my X brother-in-law; Andrew Bromfield.

Technorati Tags: nightwatch,sergei lukyanenko,fugu,foie gras,poetry

some everyday things that caught my eye

2009-06-15T18:07:00.001+10:00

all photographs © L.M.Noonan

I've been pushing oilpaints around on a canvas I put away a couple of months ago and while I still have some things to resolve I'm enjoying the doing and of course the smell.
I don't want to post a picture just yet so I'm putting up some photos of rather mundane subjects with a little twist.

Technorati Tags: photos,fairy floss,kitten,washing powder,failed painter

udaipur snaps

2009-06-08T18:14:00.001+10:00

all photographs © L.M.Noonan

A few more random photographs; this time from walking around Udaipur.

Technorati Tags: photographs,India,Udaipur,L.M.Noonan

pushkar postcards

2009-06-07T18:22:00.001+10:00

all photographs © L.M.Noonan 2009

It's been damp and rather dreary. The ferals have the flu and the methylcobalamin is amongst other things causing me to have vivid dreams. Last night I dreamt of India. These are just a few memories of Pushkar.

Technorati Tags: photography,L.M.Noonan,India,Pushcar,methylcobalamin

here comes the son

2009-06-03T17:50:00.001+10:00

Living in Peachester has always been a bit like living at the edge of the world. If you imagine the rest of the world as Jupiter, we’d be a little broken bit of some tiny asteroid—not even a moon; caught in its magnetosphere. The off world experience of being a resident of the Peachester range has recently intensified. The seemingly never ending ‘wet’ that we’ve been in the grip of has literally cut the road. We are kind of marooned, initially council said that it could take to 3 months to fix however they’ve since revised that down to 3-4 weeks! One of the forty bends no longer exists and it now takes an hour and a half each way for my two youngest sons to reach high school. The bus company is fuming and I feel very sorry for those who must commute to the coast or Brisbane for work. As for Fong and I, we were never more glad to be free of the 9-5 workday and place tyranny.
That doesn’t mean we never leave home. No in fact we are doing a little more travelling than usual in our roles as roadies and support team for Sebastian’s band ‘TheSeizures’.

Last Saturday they were interviewed by Brisbane’s 4zzz and afterwards played a set at a punk concert and a week before that they were the support band for a well known Melbourne band at Rosies in the city.

Instead of a 360 do a 350 and we'll all feel better

2009-05-22T09:35:00.001+10:00

I don't usually watch telly whilst I'm throwing something together to feed the ferals. Sometimes there's something on that's worth listening to however. Last night I heard for the first time a lecture presented by Bill McKibben concerning the 350 organisation. An utterly charismatic speaker.

If you don't know about the 350 project please click on the new little badge I've pasted in my sidebar. I urge you to at least have a gander. It's important stuff. And please spread the word.

Technorati Tags: 350,Bill McKibben,INTERNATIONAL DAY OF CLIMATE ACTION,October 24,2010

The morgue chamber

2009-05-15T13:06:00.001+10:00

a farrago of incidents ingeniously inventive—
the neighbour smitten, desolate ,friendless, both hands held overhead;
the legacy of hope
I begin where I can
I use myself—delivered of my fears and sorrows;
and trespass on alien waters
making art in the shallow picture space between the subject and the methodologies
seeking to apprehend a sensuality as the narrative

pain is pictureable
a valuable almanac sometimes mistaken as antediluvian dismal foreboding
another faltering step along the path of formality
sprinkling visual cues
feathery references

at length I pronounce Grace and Glory
untitled 1,2 and 3
and place my exquisite corpses on the altar that is the existential dung heap

Technorati Tags: poem poetry

Some things change some things are as they always have been

2009-05-14T10:14:00.001+10:00

I have decided to try and stay positive about the future of art--bit of a change, yes I know.
One of the reasons is that young people everywhere are still dedicating themselves to this lifestyle.
Despite the setbacks, the lack of recognition, the uncertain future and the knowledge that I will most likely never make a living that is above the governments definition of the poverty line, how can I in all honesty try to dissuade fledgling artists from living their lives in the only way possible--my sons for example?
We are not really talking about choices here, because to lead what society deems to be a mainstream lifestyle is tantamount to a kind of suicide of the senses or is that sensibility.
Yes they will be hurt, they will suffer, they will yearn for that elusive pat on the back; but then who's to say they won't achieve what they set out to do.
I can't preempt a future that is in a state of flux.
I may be a dinosaur witnessing the extinction of my kind but I must still nurture the dinosaur eggs.

I ran into an adolescent dinosaur at the local video store the other day.
Both his parents are visual artists and no doubt hoped he would take up a sensible profession.
The sweet young boy I remember has turned into a handsome--still sweet; and intelligent painter.
Hope springs eternal and I am buoyed by it.
If you're interested in Joe's work please visit his website.

http://www.josephdaws.com/

'Terrace' ©Joe Daws 2009, Oil on Linen 122 x 182 cm
This painting is from his current exhibition at Doggett Street

PS....David Howard posted a review of Joe's works on Art Smelter

Technorati Tags: joseph daws,painting,artists,dinosaurs

ballardian blues

2009-05-05T01:06:00.001+10:00

J.G. Ballard's death--April 19th; escaped my notice...so inwardly focused, so selfishly embroiled in the machinations of my personal world have I been.
Science fiction has been my hidey hole, my refuge since primary school.
I cut my teeth on John Wyndam, devoured anything by Philip K Dick and have an entire shelve in my sci fi library devoted to the works of Brian Aldiss.
'The Drowned World' remains my favourite Ballard novel.
Did you know that the adjective Ballardian .– in the Collins English Dictionary is 1: of James Graham Ballard (1930-2009), the British novelist, or his works. and 2: resembling or suggestive of the conditions described in Ballard's novels and stories, esp dystopian modernity, bleak man-made landscapes and the psychological effects of technological, social or environmental developments.
For those who'd like to read more

east is west and west is east

2009-05-03T17:10:00.001+10:00

©L.M.Noonan 2009

We took the ferals to Brisbane yesterday and watched 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'.
Because it's been thrashed by our film critics, my expectations were low, however it wasn't THAT bad.
Hugh looked a little 'over it' all so that his co star Liev Schreiber stole the show--for me that is.
Afterwards I managed to spend a couple of hours at the Gallery of Modern Art which is showing The China Project.
Unlike the blockbuster movie; my expectations were high.
Well there were very few poorly executed works, Chinese art schools seem to ~~churn out~~ turn out artists with lots of technical ability, however there was something lacking.
A certain sameness.
A sense that I've seen it all before.
Sure I'm always thrilled to see paint on large canvases and so forth but...
Maybe I'm over the whole art thing?

hype hyper

2009-04-12T16:47:00.001+10:00

©L.M.Noonan2009

I'm SO over the advertising hype surrounding easter, xmas, mother's days, father's day, dead uncle bob's day!
Nowhere it seems; is free of lurid signs and symbols.

mad cow indifference

2009-04-10T14:34:00.001+10:00

© L.M.Noonan 2009

After an incredibly hectic week --out every day; we are doing nothing...absolutely nothing during the Easter weekend. There'll be no easter egg hunts or paschal lamb celebrations (well, I am cooking lamb steaks tonight, does that count?)
Hope wherever you are you have a good one...

Happy Birthday baby

2009-04-08T08:54:00.001+10:00

because I know he reads my blog...
Happy Birthday Oliver. My youngest son is 15 today!
Check out what he's been doing at his blog

2009-04-04T17:53:00.001+10:00

the lines of communication

2009-04-03T14:01:00.001+10:00

My photographic skills are very limited.
During my undergraduate years I confess to taking a minor in photography—I can almost hear the collective “oh dear”—well, yes I did scrape a pass…just.
I hated all those rules.
Have I mentioned I’m claustrophobic; not good in a darkroom?
And the chemycals…
All that posing, setting up.
Of course it was much worse when I decided to study lithography.
Why do you have to make every print in an edition exactly the same?
As the juvenile failed painter was booted from art department to art department, they all despaired—me especially that I would never find a way around my short attention span.
And then I got my first digital camera.
Now it doesn’t matter that I don’t use a tripod or plan a shot.
Now it’s ok to take random shots of my feet, someone’s nostrils and my beloved driveby/bikeby/walkby and sometimes run for the lick of your life shots.
Who cares if they’re a bit blurry and a histogram is a dirty word for post menopausal wymen.
All the same is very nice to receive the thumbs up occasionally.
Ta very muchly

here there and everywhere

2009-03-31T13:26:00.001+10:00

© l.m.noonan 2009

Where does the time go?
Lately I'm always busy--doing lots of things for lots of people; but I don't seem to get much done...for myself.
The dates for my exhibition have been brought forward by a few months and to quote from the curator's email..."start panicking!"
I'm wrestling with how to show what can only be described as an orderly chaos.
outcome from this morning's walk:

ritualised perambulations
requiring dark glasses
emollient shade
a welcome breeze
are best accompanied before :
star knives rain down on thirsty skin
erratic cardiac saccades
and
low blows from the fully employed sciatica samurai

© L.M.Noonan 2009

Postscript: for the benefit of her fellow ning nong nangs here are a few links
http://swindlemagazine.com/issue05/john-van-hamersveld/
http://www.risenmagazine.com/feature/john-van-hamersveld-endless
and finally to John Van Hamersveld's palatial web museum
http://www.vanhamersveldmuseumofart.com/vhmoa/index_01.html

the great wave

2009-03-30T09:41:00.001+10:00

A marvelous link from Lee to Ron Slate's website
:http://lowebrow.blogspot.com/2009/03/i-also-speak-from-cramped-provisional.html

reflections

2009-03-26T11:36:00.001+10:00

"Kathmandu is even more rundown at the heel than I remember. The city evergreens are coated with a thick frosting of dirt the colour of crematorium ash. The smog obscures all; we can feel the sun but we cannot see it. The first pleasant surprise is the International Guest House. Though only a two star hotel—unlike the three star Vaishalli we stayed in last visit—it is an oasis in the concrete and rio rods that is Thamel. They have reserved three modest but clean rooms stacked on top of each other like a cake.: Josh and Bas on the fourth floor, Nic and Oli on the second floor; Fong and I the cream between. The food—so far; is better than I recall. More expensive, but generally better quality. We thought it would be colder. It’s quite warm in the middle of the day, only chilly in the mornings and evenings.
During the taxi ride into town from the airport we saw a ‘silent’ protest march that almost brought the traffic to a complete stop. I wondered what it was all about. Today the shops are all closed, the hotel’s gates locked and there is an uneasy quietness in the normally bustling tourist hub. We met our guide, Pemba Sherpa at 7.30am and he says that it is a national strike, a protest against the new Maoist government. Some student activists have disappeared, presumed dead. He says that we should stay away from certain areas like Bodinath and Bhaktapur so we walked for five hours—in a meandering sort of fashion; to Durbar Square and back. We ate lunch at our favourite momo restaurant during which the place was locked down twice. The first time because of young men running down the street outside brandishing long steel bars; the second, a short while later because of police and soldiers. Here they all carry guns, big guns. We decided to go back to the relative safety of our hotel. What should be a panoramic view of the Himalayas from the Hotel’s rooftop terrace is instead oppressive grey cloaking. The smog is so thick I can’t see the mountains that surround the city but nevertheless with a little from my inner eye I imagine how magical it was to visit the valley of the gods before the invention of the internal combustion engine."

I try to walk and swim every morning. This is when I clear out the cobwebs,sometimes I read aloud from my journal--to kickstart some creative juices; or my prose to see how I can improve upon it. This morning it was from the little notebook I carried in Nepal and India. The excerpt above seemed appropriate because I've been trawling the thousands of photographs I took during that trip.

acculturated

2009-03-17T13:46:00.001+10:00

Oli, Yi, Fong and myself flew to Sydney last week to cop a bit of culture

and catch up with family...who are an excitable lot

After our no frills flight we went in search of something familiar to sink our fangs in

The next day using the big smokes excellent public transport system we visited:

The Art Gallery of New South Wales

--Oli and I are big fans Anselm Keifer's work--

Yi indulged in some impromptu performance art

Oli planned his exhibition here one day

and we pondered some of the more perplexing questions that high art can pose; like...why would someone take his dog running in the woods naked? What if the dog got hungry?

And does this parquet look good with our shoes?

We did the obligatory sightseeing of famous landmarks

before boarding our flight home.
We flew into a storm above Brisbane last night ; this was taken at sunset and 27,000 feet.

the things you see

2009-03-01T14:53:00.001+10:00

'simply B' © l.m.noonan 2009

The majority of my 'drive by' shots'--in this case through the grimy glass of our train to Delhi; were either blurred or plain uninteresting.
I did manage a couple of lucky shots however.
This is another composite shot that is the combination of a photograph and a scan of one of my small artworks/canvas.

more fun

2009-02-27T13:11:00.001+10:00

'niclace' © l.m.noonan 2009

somehow the days have whizzed by--as usual.
I've been busy foraging and collecting in our local op shops (thrift shops).
Today's image is a mixture of my photographs and scanned items like lace doilies.

a bit of fun

2009-02-22T18:20:00.001+10:00

I took this photo during the modelling of the 'unties' session recently and couldn't resist embellishing it somewhat.

life block

2009-02-18T12:15:00.001+10:00

Is it wise to give a dark ~~nameless~~ fear a name?
I followed a link on Lee's blog and found a near perfect description and name for my present state.

"one Monday afternoon I lost my mind. I could not stop crying. I was extremely angry. Everything that I thought I knew, every goal I thought I had, every relationship in which I believed, was thrown into crisis. Everything that had been easy for me became hard. It was as if I had walked off a precipice, and for six months or more I was in a continual state of falling. I was experiencing what might be called, among other things, radical doubt."

Meanwhile I'll keep on doing the little things--the displacement activities--until I get to know this newly named fear. Maybe we'll become fast friends.

repurposeful

2009-02-16T15:14:00.001+10:00

In India, only absolute rubbish is thrown way. However there's mountains of this total garbage strewn everywhere, and the locals don't seem to notice --much to the alarm of visitors such as myself. Armies of low caste street cleaners glean every reusable particle. I didn't notice any government directed recycling centres or thrift shops but I did notice how these items of value are deconstructed,
recut,
recycled,
repurposed
and transformed; especially in Rajasthan. ..

Many of you may have noticed my own keen interest in recycling.
I think most artists are thrifty by necessity and learned to recycle long before the term became part of the popular vernacular.
I hoard books, furniture and fabric, unable to toss a single scrap of worn but pretty fabric.

Long before I studied fashion design I wanted to dress differently; a lack of funds saw me pillaging the fabric of vintage gathered skirts and snipping off glass buttons and unpicking somewhat kitsch trimmings. I remember stumbling on two entire bolts of 1950's petersham silk-- one black and one royal purple; and angsting over which of my designs was worthy enough to warrant cutting into the gorgeous stuff. When I 'got over' my designer period; I continued to collect --much to the congratulatory hurrahs of our ever present cloth eating vermin. Large plastic storage tubs house my most precious items.
I have also collected textiles and costumes from the places that I have travelled...for the sheer pleasure of it and the instructive ingenuity of their creators.

Yi has inherited this love of the vintage and the unusual and some of my things have been happily passed on. I am no longer svelte and look slightly ridiculous sporting some of my favourites. I am happy that some of my children are developing a love of the well made and just plain bizarre stuff that threatens to oust me from my own studio. I'll be doing a spot of repurposing...er eco fashion designing now that I've got an appreciative client base; starting with my 'unties'©

incommunicado

2009-02-10T16:34:00.001+10:00

I am a recovering internet junkie.
There...I've ~~said it~~ written it and I can't take it back.
I suppose I could delete this post

During our time away we came to realise that we didn't need television, the internet, hot showers,clean clothes and lashings of animal protein.
Instead, during our spare time we read dogeared novels --penned by authors we'd normally give short shrift; cast adrift by other desperate travelers, discuss the regional variations of dahl baht--being defacto connoisseurs of sorts; scoff at the decadency of a change of clothes and feel a sense of accomplishment at stretching a teacupful of hottish water over the shrinking surface of our skins.
The lack of internet access--load shedding; meant we had to remember how to use some old fashioned equipment like biros and postcards in order to send a few words ~~winging~~ crawling via snail mail to loved ones in the real world outside of our nomad bubble.
When we arrived in Kathmandu we wondered how we would survive the power cuts er load shedding.
12 hours a day...crikey.
A month later and 16 hours a day was water of a ducks back.

Back in OZ and we have deliciously clean air, sunsets and sunrises to die for, lots of personal space and ...electricity.
One can't have enough of air, space and beauty, electricity however, is addictive.
So now I approach the computer with trepidation.
I have to do some load shedding of my own.

live long and prosper

2009-02-09T17:07:00.002+10:00

we're back

2009-01-28T17:26:00.001+10:00

Well most of us are...
Josh --first on the right in the photo above-- is presently trekking in the Annapurna region.
The last time I saw son #2 was in the Thar desert of Rajasthan. We had to make our way back to Kathmandu via Delhi. I bid my camel --Laloo--and Josh a fond farewell, caught a jeep back to Jaisalmer, threw everything into the backpacks for the umpteenth time and boarded the train for India's big smoke.

INDIA!
India...we thought you were going for a quiet stroll in the Himalayas?
Yes, yes we did do that. One stroll anyway.
But I got crook didn't I.
Made it to the Gokyo Lakes--a smidge under 5,000 meters--AMS and asthma aaaannndd an upper respiratory tract infection. Couldn't do the planned second trek at the Tibetan border. What to do?
Go south, and see Varanassi, Agra and all those romantic sounding cities in Rajasthan.
Did we have a great ~~holiday~~ experience?
Hold your horses, I'll tell you all about it...in dribs and drabs, when we get better.
It seems we brought more than we bargained for in the Subcontinent.
A nasty virus, a variant of Glandular fever.
Gone is the intrepid trekker, camel rider extraordinaire and savvy haggler.
Failed Painter is nurse, cook and bottlewasher.
Some things never change.

See Ya

2008-11-17T14:56:00.001+10:00

We--the collective, not the royal--are taking a break. I'll be back in January sometime. Have a lovely time wherever you are and know that I will also be having--to quote Ted "an excellent adventure".Lots of pictures when I get back.
Meanwhile here are a couple of old favourites.

addictions

2008-11-08T15:21:00.001+10:00

I've been collecting cheap--10-50 cents--books for a very long time, intending to use them somehow?
My studio and every available bit of storage is given over to these potential masterpieces.
Some are destined to become the covers of my journals.

Some will be cannibalized and regurgitated as artworks.
The paperbacks are only 50 or so years old; but seem as obsolete as novels from the 18th century.
Time seems to be moving faster, spiraling inwards on itself.
What will happen when it's impossibly compressed, tangled and rendered indecipherable.
Will it implode; will we--those that survive--simply start again, drawing in the dirt, carving tablets?
Are we doomed to the Cartesian space time.
How long IS a piece of string?

YaaAk

2008-11-04T17:38:00.001+10:00

I had a lovely day today.
This is the inside of the Birthday card Nic made for me.

Pinky

2008-11-03T17:23:00.001+10:00

© L.M.Noonan 2008

Pinky is another strange little person I met on Saturday.
By the way,
Yi has posted a live recording of a new song called 'Like first time lovers".

Technorati Tags: new song from Yi,like first time lovers,mp3,photography

time is fleeting

2008-11-02T17:39:00.000+10:00

© L.M.Noonan 2008

My studio is a mess...again. The floor is strewn with oversize red sausage bags and backpacks. In various piles there are stacks of thermal underwear, raincapes, mittens,gloves, beanies, sunhats and too many other sorts of clothing to describe. I write and rewrite lists of 'to do', 'to buy', 'to bring'--even in my sleep. No matter how many times I go over it SOMETHING important will be left behind. One day it will be too simple to pack for the two old farts going on holiday--I hope. Until then I must gird my loins against the inevitable wrath that will be directed towards me. How could I leave behind his ipod cable and so on.

Yesterday I goofed off and accompanied Beloved to yet another collectibles fair. He is still looking for the bib and bobs he needs for his defunct technology series. I whiled away the time taking happy snaps of some lovely --if elderly; lovely ladies.

ANNOUNCEMENT

2008-10-24T13:51:00.001+10:00

Yi has his own blog up and running so please have a squizz and spread the word.
http://lifeofyi.blogspot.com/

Ta very muchly

art converter

2008-10-21T10:05:00.001+10:00

I think I've found a way to bridge the gap between the money we have and the money we need.
I'll take my masterpieces to the art pawnshop.

just part of the furniture

2008-10-20T16:56:00.001+10:00

© L.M.Noonan 2008

The end of another nail biting week.
Watching the news on the telly and our dollar's gyrations.

More about that Dam Hirst

2008-10-17T10:17:00.001+10:00

Concerning my last post, I found this article penned by Ms Greer for the Guardian.
She loves upsetting the applecart.

PS...I like apples; red ones, green ones. Just as long as they're crisp.

missed out by that much...

2008-10-15T06:30:00.001+10:00

We all like to know who are our betters, who's the man; who's da boss.
It sure as hell isn't me.
I searched the top 100.
I searched the top 1,000.
I'm nowhere to be found.
I guess I must be one of those fawning members of the art pack; lying there grinning foolishly, tongue dripping;belly exposed.
In case you're interested --yawn--here's the list.
I would like to declare it just another pile of steaming turds.

"The art world's equivalent to the Forbes 100' – Reuters
Now in its seventh year, the Power 100 assesses the titans of the artworld at a time when contemporary art's appeal has never been greater – and the stakes have never been higher."

The 2008 Power 100
Read a full report on the list here.
01. Science (Damien Hirst)
02. Larry Gagosian
03. Kathy Halbreich
04. Sir Nicholas Serota
05. Iwan Wirth
06. Jay Jopling
07. David Zwirner
08. François Pinault
09. Jasper Johns
10. Eli Broad
11. Jeff Koons
12. Steven A. Cohen
13. Daniel Birnbaum
14. Charles Saatchi
15. Brett Gorvy & Amy Cappellazzo
16. Tobias Meyer & Cheyenne Westphal
17. Marian Goodman
18. Gerhard Richter
19. Richard Prince
20. Dominique Lévy & Robert Mnuchin
21. Michael Govan
22. Marc Glimcher
23. Annette Schönholzer, Marc Spiegler
24. Alfred Pacquement
25. Matthew Slotover & Amanda Sharp
26. Barbara Gladstone
27. Matthew Marks
28. Takashi Murakami
29. Agnes Gund
30. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan
31. Dakis Joannou
32. Bernard Arnault
33. Richard Serra
34. Sadie Coles
35. Julia Peyton-Jones & Hans Ulrich Obrist
36. Donna De Salvo
37. Simon de Pury
38. Don & Mera Rubell
39. Ann Philbin
40. Paul Schimmel
41. Patricia Phelps de Cisneros
42. Michael Ringier
43. Jose, Alberto & David Mugrabi
44. Chris Kennedy
45. Bruce Nauman
46. Cy Twombly
47. Ai Weiwei
48. Tim Blum & Jeff Poe
49. Andreas Gursky
50. Olafur Eliasson
51. Harry Blain & Graham Southern
52. Jeff Wall
53. Peter Doig
54. Roman Abramovich & Daria Zhukova
55. Bruno Brunnet, Nicole Hackert, Philipp Haverkampf
56. Marlene Dumas
57. Gavin Brown
58. Victoria Miro
59. Mitchell Rales
60. Yvon Lambert
61. Mike Kelley
62. Paul McCarthy
63. Banksy
64. Emmanuel Perrotin
65. William Acquavella
66 .Lucian Freud
67. Victor Pinchuk
68. Maurizio Cattelan
69. Cai Guo Qiang
70. Maureen Paley
71. Roberta Smith
72. Peter Schjeldahl
73. Thelma Golden
74. Ralph Rugoff
75. Robert Gober
76. Iwona Blazwick
77. Richard Armstrong
78. Massimiliano Gioni
79. Jerry Saltz
80. Reena Spaulings/Bernadette Corporation
81. Louise Bourgeois
82. Cindy Sherman
83. Okwui Enwezor
84. Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn
85. Shaun Caley Regen
86. Liam Gillick
87. Miuccia Prada
88. John Baldessari
89. Francesca von Habsburg
90. Christian Boros
91. Nicholas Logsdail
92. Subodh Gupta
93. The Long March Project
94. Paula Cooper
95. Peter Nagy
96. Casey Reas
97. Anita & Poju Zabludowicz
98. Guy & Myriam Ullens
99. Laurent Le Bon
100. Thomas Kinkade
Entrants on the Power 100 list are judged on the following four criteria, each of which carries a 25 percent weighting.
1. Genuine influence over the production of art: entrants must exert influence over the type, style and shape of contemporary art being produced in the previous 12 months.
2. Influence on an international scale: as the list is international, entrants must exert influence on a global scale rather than as big fish in small-to-medium ponds.
3. Financial clout: entrants are judged on the extent to which they have shaped, moulded or dominated the art market, whether as artists, dealers or collectors.
4. Activity within the last 12 months: entrants are judged on having actually done something during the period September 2007 to August 2008. It's not enough to sit on your powerful behind.

Hmm...gotta get me some of that financial clout, exert some influence over something other than my three cats and ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING--NEXT YEAR.

Technorati Tags: 2008 Power 100

REMIND YOU OF ANYONE?

2008-10-10T09:37:00.001+10:00

Mask II, Ron Mueck

I've posted about Ron Mueck's sculptures before...what's so special about this work?
Well--apart from the obvious--it's simply a head. It isn't a bust.
If like me you are intrigued pop over to the British Museum and watch a short video'

Technorati Tags: hyper realism,sculpture,ron mueck,australian sculptor,decapitation,easter island,british museum,statuephilia

Time for a cuppa

2008-10-09T21:15:00.001+10:00

Happy Birthday

Make a free photo slideshow

Time for a cuppa

2008-10-09T21:02:00.001+10:00

a truce is called across the frosty divide
they consider each other:
the missing digits
the blackened noses
the stenorous convulsions of pigeon chests
pathetically comedic
comedically pathetic

their panda eyes
rheumy and crusted by a novena of sleepless fear-filled nights
seek the chinks in the others tinplate
the rents in the rabbit fur
the subtle slump of unacknowledged defeat
finding instead
hard-bitten resolve

‘I’ve got half a pack of bickies’ he offers
‘Right, I’ll put the billy on then?’

© L.M.Noonan 2008

It seems that I have become the unofficial manager of Nic's fledgling music career, hence...my absence from my own career?
I've helped him to sign up to a number of musician associations, and entered his work to several competitions here and abroad.
Apparently one of the radio stations in Brisbane played a track off 'Submarine Man' during the week!

PS...HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR LENNON...WHEREVER YOU ARE.

Date of Birth: 9 October 1940

GIVE PEACE A CHANCE

Technorati Tags: Submarine Man,poem' original image

Ciao bello

2008-09-28T11:54:00.001+10:00

I was sad to learn of Paul Newman's death last Friday (26th September) aged 83.

Technorati Tags: Paul Newman is dead

I'm still feeling a bit off

2008-09-27T18:11:00.001+10:00

DIY © L.M.Noonan

2008-09-26T16:08:00.001+10:00

Afterwhen
time moved glacially
the hand at my throat
clenched
and clenched
again
sometimes relaxing long enough
for
short sharp shallow gasps

in Dante’s first ring of hell
my head is
all
that is free
sitting proud above the frozen lake called boredom
swaddled
unable to avoid
the
short sharp savage blows

the owner of these arabesques
this spastic spiteful ballet
keeps well beyond the bounds of my swollen peripheries
my squeakspeak echoes in the pure Euclidean tundra
my breath
ragged poetry—hieroglyphics drawn by wet fingers
drying on the seamless wall of time—
each epithet a
short sharp shy mantra.

“Beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror which we are barely able to endure and are awed because it serenely disdains to annihilate us”.
RAINER MARIA RILKE, Duino Elegies

Technorati Tags: free verse,failed poetry

Tastee

2008-09-23T12:15:00.001+10:00

©Olle Hemmendorff
Found this whilst trekkin the net.
And this...

©adam brandejs

howard's way

2008-09-22T20:44:00.001+10:00

I've been bumping into David Howard for a couple of decades now--ever since beloved and I took up residence in the Sunshine State.
When he was able to give up work and practice art full time, I would bump into him doing his shopping or having dinner at a local musoes club,
however, it's been a bit quiet at his blogging outpost, so I was delighted when he emailed me yesterday and requested our presence at his home for coffee and nibbles.
I love visiting other artist's studios as they often provide tantalizing clues to the mind behind the art.
The inquiring mind and critical eye of the Bird Proofer and Art Smelter godfather permeates the studio that is an interesting melee of ordered clutter and works in progress.
And; like every other artist worth knowing there is a magpie collection of the arcane, sometimes useless; but always interesting objects and books--he is the only painter I know that has both "The Thirty Nine Steps" AND the Bible close to hand!
It was fantastic to see his latest "NASA" series of paintings, they have inspired me to get out the brushes again.

ah...the thrill of new toys

2008-09-21T10:37:00.001+10:00

© L.M.Noonan 2008

Spent yesterday in the big smoke again.
Nic has been saving for a new amp and backup up guitar for a long time.
He did his homework and obtained a quote for the lowest possible prices and presented these to his favourite music store to price match.
My canny boy saved himself a cool $1100.00!
He is the proud owner of a Fender Supersonic amp and a sleek, black hollow body Epiphone -Lola; who will reside; we hope amicably; with Cinnamon and Charlotte, his orange hollow body Yamaha and electric blue Stratocaster. All lovely and talented young female guitars.
He also took the opportunity to distribute some more copies of his debut album.
Today he is a happy boy. I can hear the supersonic as I type.
**news from the ME front.
As many of you may have divined, I have been battling severe depression for some months now.
It has been my dark companion since Nic's accident --three years ago this October; only recently completely overwhelming me and effecting my health in unexpected ways.
The medication I was prescribed brought a set of new and unpleasant side effects; the worst, a total numbing of emotions and self of detachment.
Like the chain smoking decades ago; I quit and rode out the withdrawal symptoms.
I adore my family doctor and friend , but some things can't be fixed in the conventional way.
Better to feel pain than nothing.
It is after all the main tool of my trade.

Come in Spinners

2008-09-19T09:51:00.001+10:00

Just one day after the collapse of another major investment bank, Damien Hirst's artwork??? sold for a record £70.5 million in the first session.
Is it just me or does anybody else think this is wrong?
I'm not having a bitch about the art--taste is such an arbitrary thing; it's the money...the value placed upon it.
It's-for want of a better word; obscene.
I don't know who's worse; the rich ~~suckers art lovers~~ investors or the artist.
Damien could however redeem his sagging artistic reputation by donating the spoils to the poor.
I'm sure there's a few people in Africa who would like a dead cow or two...even a chicken. Sans Formaldehyde please!

Technorati Tags: Damien Hirst,Sotheby

The alternative cover

2008-09-16T14:10:00.001+10:00

© Oliver Hew 2008
The alternative cover for 'Submarine Man' uses a photo that Oliver took recently...
by the way; Oliver won a junior photography prize on the weekend.
Personally, I prefer Oliver's image, however Yi (Nic) insists on printing both versions.
As promised, here is another song from the album :
"Pretty Little Hands"

Submarine man has surfaced

2008-09-13T18:22:00.001+10:00

Yi (Nic) has produced his first album. It's called 'Submarine Man' and sports a choice of two covers.

This weekend we hope to get a myspace up and running for him and he is going to enter the songs into a number of competitions all closing in the next month.
Nic composed, arranged performed and recorded all the work in the cottage that used to be my old studio and in which he now lives.
He spends most of his free time when not at school, learning the infuriating protocols of a recording program and making do with the mostly secondhand equipment.
Next year he will take a gap year and concentrate on composing and performing.
Here is track #1

Submarine Man

Tomorrow I'll post the alternative cover image and another track.
Remember any feedback is good.
Any support is better!

Technorati Tags: Submarine man,original album,indie music,Yi

Happy Birthday Sebastian

2008-09-07T19:07:00.001+10:00

Yesterday son number four-- Sebastian; turned turned sweet sixteen.

Finding my way out

2008-09-01T11:26:00.001+10:00

Basquinado' © L.M.Noonan 2008

Not much ME time of late. Been helping the ferals with their various creative endeavours,school assignments and acting as nurse to those members of the family who have succumbed to the latest virus that is circulating the highschool.
Nic has just finished his first album and is trying to mix it down--exasperated that it doesn't sound professionally recorded. I've assured him that if there are any rough cut diamonds; people will recognise them and excuse the lack of a soundproof room and squillions of dollars of recording equipment.
After all you can't polish a turd!
Meanwhile I'm trialling some new medication and hoping to break the back of the inertia that has all but killed my career...such as it was.
Above is something I made today.

Please look away if you are the squeamish type

2008-08-28T17:25:00.001+10:00

A surgeon put an end to Josh's misery today. Josh--who will be in bed recovering for a few days; elected to have all four wisdom teeth extracted. I haven't made up my mind whether they'll be allowed to live in the 'tooth' box with the four sets of baby teeth the tooth fairy has collected over the decades. They might scare the other littlies.

Lantana

2008-08-22T10:35:00.001+10:00

"Lantana" © Sebastian Hew 2008---mixed media: wood, cardboard,paper, paint.

Last night we attended the opening of the "Excellence Awards in Visual Art and Design" at the University of the Sunshine Coast Gallery.
A total of 34 artworks are on display until September 6th.
These have been shortlisted from many thousands of entries from highschools in the Wide Bay area.
We were thrilled that Sebastian's work made the cut and that he also won a highly commended award; announced during the opening.
"Lantana" is an interpretive self portrait.

Philosophy...what philosophy?

2008-08-10T11:04:00.001+10:00

I'd vowed not to do any more quizzes or memes but...
turns out CA and I have one more thing in common:
we are both Existentialists.

What philosophy do you follow? (v1.03)
created with QuizFarm.com

I say Goodbye and you say Hello

2008-08-08T14:46:00.001+10:00

Nic and I drove Adam--my oldest son; to Brisbane International Airport early this morning to catch his flight to Vancouver. A lovely young woman is waiting for him there. The goodbyes never get any easier especially when one's not sure exactly when they will return. If this long distance romance works out, some hard decisions will have to be made about who moves where. The chances are high that at least one of my five sons will end up living overseas; however on the bright side, I guess I'll have a very good excuse for traveling more often. I've always wanted to visit Canada...

Good Luck Adsy. Mum's thinking about you.

Stubborn as a mule?

2008-08-07T17:16:00.001+10:00

It's been said by many who know me, that I'm a tad on the stubborn side.
I've been labeled a pigheaded, Jesuit-minded, stig in the mud.
After reading MULES ARE SMARTER however I will wear the description with pride --
as will my troop of crazy mixed up hybrid ferals.

Stuff that isn't in the manual

2008-08-05T20:03:00.001+10:00

A few years after the acrimonious breakup with my first lover, I found out—to my horror; that my mother was still regularly speaking with and on good terms with him. I felt betrayed and hurled all sorts of abuse at her ,expecting that if I was finished with him, then surely she was too?
She explained that she had always liked him and the fact that we were no longer friends had no bearing on those feelings. She asked him not to visit after that.
Decades later with five sons of my own, and too many young girls left in their wake to list; I think I understand.

It's really hard to keep a safe distance between yourself and the person who is sharing your child's life; even if it's a brief affair. And how does one know when the 'right' person has come along?
I used to think that there is nothing worse than breaking up with someone.
There is, it's standing helplessly on the sidelines , unable to help or intervene in any way.
Knowing that they and they alone have to go through this painful rollercoaster of emotions...sometimes with you in the backseat screaming soundlessly

.

Closet Luddite

2008-08-04T09:48:00.001+10:00

I have a confession.
Despite this illicit blog affair...I am really a luddite in blog clothing.

This appeals to me.

Technorati Tags: pocketmod,luddite hack

PS.....................................

This one is for you jafabrit

Check out this skull and the rest of the skeleton made of melted cassettes at
http://bored-night.com/index.php/Weird/Cassette-Tape-Life-Size-Skeleton.html

no chestnuts here

2008-08-02T03:36:00.001+10:00

Yoko Ono has had a strong presence on the internet for a longtime, however on June 15th this year she began her 100 acorns blog.
The blog celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Acorn Peace Event and accordingly began on 15 June 2008.
She plans to publish an 'Acorn' every day for 100 days.
Today's 'acorn' held special significance for me...

"Get a telephone that only echoes back your voice.
Call every day and complain and moan
about your life and people around you." Yoko Ono

Technorati Tags: yoko ono,100 acorns,peace event,conceptual instructions

waiting at the bus stop

2008-07-31T15:55:00.001+10:00

Even if I had a creative impulse these days I'd be unable to do anything about it. More visitors at the failed hotel. This time for a week. Sometimes I feel like stealing Nic's pushbike and rattling off down the mountain...never to return.

Grammatolatry

2008-07-22T12:26:00.000+10:00

Sometimes I am felled
yes                        felled

liken me to a venerable old growth
for            I am no sapling
consider me a risk
wormy
scarred
brittle

                 I am felled
by
the unexpected chop of words
of metaphors              so keen
so beautiful
that my limbs tremble beneath the tumbling zephyr of ideas
that
circulate
in what was
                    moments
before
a               vacuum

Technorati Tags: grammatolatry,poetry

"YourDocumentsPlease.com" catalogue is online

2008-07-11T16:54:00.001+10:00

The travelling exhibition "Your Documents Please" has its own web presence for those who can't make it to any of the galleries kindly hosting the show.
You can check out my contribution as well as Jafabrit's at http://yourdocumentsplease.com/
While you're there please take the time to visit Dale Copeland's work, and that of the organisers Daniel Georges and Rumi Tsuda.

EXHIBITION DATES
April 4, 2008 - April 20, 2008 ------ Museum of Arts and Crafts - Itami, Itami-shi, Japan
August 2, 2008 - August 17, 2008 ----- ZAIM, Yokohama, Japan
Late November - December, 2008 ------ 2B Galéria, Budapest, Hungary
January 2009 (tentative) ------ Galerie Kurt im Hirsch, Berlin, Germany
February 2009 ------ GALÉRIA Z - Bratislava, Slovakia
April 17, 2009 ------ May 8, 2009, Galería Ajolote Arte Contemporáneo, Guadalajara, Mexico

A short break

2008-07-09T12:51:00.001+10:00

Last week we took short break and stayed at O'Reilly's in the Lamington National Park.
It's a couple of hours south of where we live and the cabins have all the mod cons and are nestled amongst the rainforest with lovely views over the distant mountains.

We self catered to save on our meals because of our great gallumping boys/men hearty appetites.

A small part of the park is boardwalked to prevent damage to the forest by the masses of day tourists that visit every year.
There are bridges that allow you walk high up amongst the forest giants and view some of it's occupants like the parrots with Nic below.

The boys climbed one tree, however it was very dark and I could only get a couple of shots.

If you look closely you'll see I've drawn a thin red line around the tree's crown where they were perched.

Oli has bought a secondhand camera, and spent most of the time learning to use it

The next day we undertook a fairly tough 5 hour walk passing many beautiful waterfalls.
It was cold and my knees may never forgive me, but well worth it.
I was ever so pleased to stumble back with nothing more lasting than a tick bite, to crackling fire in the cabin and the curry I'd made a couple of days ahead and a couple of glasses of red wine.

Technorati Tags: O'Reilley's,Lamington National Park,cabins,rainforest

Across the Universe cover by Yi

2008-07-07T18:24:00.001+10:00

Haven't accomplished much during the holidays, however, here is an amateurish video clip shot in my studio under available--winter--light.
We own a geriatric handycam with poor resolution and I've only ever made and uploaded one to youtube before.
Meanwhile he is hoping to record some of his newer songs when an overdue school assignment is done.
Today I managed to solve the gremlin in his recording equipment and his Fender Bassman will back from repairs.

Technorati Tags: across the universe,Beatles,cover,Yi,youtube,free music video

I Married a Heart Surgeon

2008-07-07T18:13:00.001+10:00

Schooled at the knees of surgeons
who
carefully
exacted a pound of pectoral flesh
from his martyred mother
he turned his hatred
of female frailty
his practised
and
practical misogyny
to his victims
of which
I
was one
               somewhere
in the middle
of
   a
     very
             long
                      line
or rather
queue
             for supplicants to male rage are aplenty

as trained object of the male gaze
I bared my meagre mammarys to his flensing knives
shuddering
beneath
the critical eye
both longing for and loathing this nebulous appraisal

his announcement:
my stomach
                      he found too rounded
my pelvis
                  too jutting
my nipples
                     mismatched

my Bluebeard
huffed
and
puffed
slapped
and
scratched
bit
and
cuffed
before
pronouncing me
short
          of the mark.

Please note this is NOT a poem about Beloved.

HELP ME...I'M SHRINKING

2008-06-28T04:15:00.001+10:00

No, it wasn't blogger. I pulled the post. Morbid feeling sorry for meself shite.
I'm still waiting for appointments, there are many poor blighters ahead of me in the queue.

So. I haven't done anything --anything artistic...or literary--worth mentioning except lick my sores.
My husband's parents and brother are here for a week and that combined with the two week mid winter school holiday means very little besides cooking and cleaning for this grumpy woman.
I am however, plotting.

GETTING DOWN AND DIRTY

2008-06-11T17:00:00.001+10:00

Another in the series of photos I took of Nic's back when he asked for a hair trimming.
He was wearing my black painting apron to stop the hair getting on his trews.
Looking at it again today, I decided to try painting his hands and texturing the wall to add both some movement and drama. Then I made another faux frame.
I realise the red is possibly disturbing, but it does play rather nicely with the cord I tied his ponytail with.

FRANKENSTEINS MOTHER

2008-06-10T10:16:00.001+10:00

My poor sons are yet again the subject matter for my macabre compositing experiments.
I spent many happy days during my childhood in musty old science museums.
This reminds me of those mysterious objects floating captured in vitrines.
(imagine a delicious shudder on my part)

LOW LIGHT LEVELS

2008-06-09T12:20:00.001+10:00

The short days of winter, the low light levels and general cast adrift feelings that threaten to engulf me are partly to blame for these images.
That's my theory anyway—and I'm sticking to it.
I typed the formal letter that informed all the relevant people and specialist clinics that we are done with queues and appointments and experimental techniques, medicines and theories in general.
Whilst it's good to have a closure of sorts, it's also very scary.
Where do we go from here?
The only thing for certain is that we have spent the last of our savings on those tickets.
Am I worried?
Well a little bit.
The squirrel part of me always like to know I have a bit tucked away, but two and a half years of plundering our hard won savings have left all but the cupboard bare.
I always have lots of food in my pantry—sacks of rice, pasta,lentils, enough real coffee for a year in the deep freeze—the essentials.
It's the legacy/psychosis of my poor childhood.
When we get back I'll worry about the lack of cash--then.
Meanwhile the new solar hot water system is working a treat and costing us nothing but that upfront $4,000.
We are trying to sell the people mover because we tend to move about in smaller groups now and petrol can only go up.
My attempts at growing a few vegies have been defeated by the caterpillars and bush turkeys so I will have to rethink the whole affair...next year.
And the beat goes on.
Thankyou my friends—you know who you are--for the support and kind words.

WHAT ELSE TO DO...ON A DRAB SUNDAY?

2008-06-08T16:42:00.001+10:00

After two and a half long years since Nic's accident, we have decided to give the hospitals and various specialists a wide berth for a while.
I think we--the family--have suffered enough post traumatic stress to last each of our collective lifetimes.
Our lives have been on hold while Nic has been taking his little steps back to some semblance of normality.
The system advocates a lifetime of various rehabilitation measures including drugs like dexamphetamines.
These things are not for us, there has to be better way.
Perhaps this is the reason I find it impossible to pick up where I left off.
Maybe I'm using this as an excuse.
I don't think it matters much.
I know that if I was supposed to make a mark ( a teeny, inconsequential nick) I would have; long before this calamity struck.
It's spilt milk.
I stuffed about with a photo that had very little merit.
Fortunately I'm inclined to keep even the bad shots in case I can use them as photoshop fodder.
I added a few layers of scratches and a frame and I rather like the result.
I just couldn't make up my mind which version to run with, so I'm posting both.
What do you think?
It reminds me of an old tintype.
If I could be fekked; I can imagine a whole series.
Oh well.

EXPERIMENTING WITH FRAMES

2008-05-31T15:17:00.001+10:00

© L.M.Noonan

LUNA ROSA

2008-05-29T17:44:00.001+10:00

the supernatural
is only recognised
in the wake of the experience

when
the chipped mug
called your heart
stops scraping across the bars of your chest

when
each hair
on
each goosebump
ripples
in the precognitive breeze

when
your
tumescent optic nerves
are rebuffed
by
the a.m. tundra

                                       it sounded
                              short
            and fleshy
     pale
female
    with bound feet

I waited
in
pitch
blackness
with
insomnial reserve
for my daemon

                in vain

© L.M.Noonan

BETTER THAN WATCHING PAINT DRY

2008-05-29T17:43:00.001+10:00

How utterly mesmerizing is this youtube clip --a wall-painted animation by BLU?
It's been a trying week and sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't simply give up and passively
absorb the creativity that is in abundance everywhere except in my own head or studio.

LUCKY DOOR

2008-05-25T13:32:00.001+10:00

Feel like yourself
                              leather gear
                              rubber gear
                              fetish gear
a six month relationship
that
won’t
end in tears

prohibited boomerang
one clear favourite
you name it...we fix it
make your move
live                     action
we
have the cause
you
have
the effect

                         bypass
protective equipment
must
be
worn
behind your lucky door

© L.M.Noonan

Technorati Tags: poem' original image,poetry,original image

SIX MILE BLINK

2008-05-22T15:50:00.001+10:00

The teenage pines waved
six mile blinked
and
roadkill played dead
windsocks suffer coitus interruptus
before
merging right and right
again
make a whish said captain
'everybody needs a truckie' between uhlman and boundary

a limiting compression
if directed

      and
japanese spares

deception
                honour
                           a vast pleasant green land
follow your instincts home

toll

injured wildlife
arterial
self-contained with care

think
waite
restrict
catch sweet downfall anytime

rebel cellarbrations
                           wow
call in now boothby
phone annie
for
changed signals
      end

© L.M.Noonan 2008

Technorati Tags: poetry,digital imagery

EYE IN THE SKY

2008-05-18T11:00:00.001+10:00

There very few television series that do it for me.
I try to never miss 'Grand Designs' -a droll show for many- but riveting for those who've had the dubious honour of owner building.
James Spader makes me feel all goosy and I've been a fan since 'sex, lies and videotapes' but that's just one of the reasons I watch Boston Legal.
As a confirmed sci-fi nut, I not only read just about anything labeled as such , I also watch all but the goriest this genre has to offer.
I was a 'trekkie' and Doctor Who fan in the 60's , and don't get me started on 'Firefly'...
what's not to love?
I own the series, of course.

The boys gave me the Deadwood series so that I could increase my vocabulary of cussing phrases.
I cannot even write my favourite!
Great show.
And yes, I was an X-filer, and confess to being almost mesmerized by David Duckovny's profile.
I did so yearn to make a portrait painting that showcased his large and strangely sexy nose.
Do I give credence to conspiracy theories...well sometimes I wonder especially when your son shows you a satellite image of your own home.

What the ?

I know it's a recent shot because of the brown scar in front of the house made by the track we cut as a fire break last summer.
The sooper dooper USS military satellite can probably see my lunar-white body skinny-dipping in the pool!
I think I can even spy one of beloved's larger sculptures just outside 'the titanic' (his studio, top right building away from the main complex).

Can you locate your place or are we of some special and ominous significance.

I swear the greenstuff surrounding our house is plain old mixed hardwood and not Marryjerwarna.
I gets me kicks from an inherited chymical imbalance.

Levitating

Achieving that first hair’s breadth of separation
that’s
the hard part
each time your conceited victory proclaims
now
I have the key
now I know
the subtle curves
the just so jiggle of the lock
this
I won’t forget
but you do.

Each time seems
harder
each time
you know
you will fail
each time you surprise
yourself

each time is like the first

Misty Morning Musing

2008-05-16T09:53:00.001+10:00

© L.M.Noonan

It has been deliciously misty of late. The mountain wraps herself and all who cling to her sides in this shifting shawl. In the early morning rush to catch the school bus I always forget to grab my camera--just in case. The just in case today being the fluorescent pink plastic feed containers that my neighbour uses for her stumpy legged cows.
They glow amidst the frosty grass and sheets of mist.
Ah, that explains the pink raygun?

Driving back with my headlights on I thought about my last official year at school.

I've lived in Melbourne twice; each time for roughly a period of a year and both times in pretty much the same suburb.
In 1959 I lived in a large dilapidated house that had been converted into a warren of tiny flats for poor families.
My mother had learned just enough English to get by with our noisy neighbours but relied heavily on my small person for company.
It was very difficult for her when I started primary school, and each day she would not only accompany me to the local convent but at both little lunch and big lunch she would be waiting with a little treat.
A tiny bunch of green grapes or maybe a chocolate eclair with fresh cream.
Of course, she always walked me home.

My parents were divorced by the time I spent a much lonelier last year , 1968--back in Melbourne.
My usual journey to school involved a brisk walk from Middle Park to St Kilda, hop on a tram and bob down each time I saw a ticket collector, get off in front of the Art Gallery of Victoria, wait for a connecting tram to take me to school in Windsor...another convent.

At the start of winter, I developed a cold sore on the side of my mouth that grew to the size of a small coin and wouldn't heal.
Not only was I poor, stunted and wearing second-hand clothes, I was sporting a revolting oozing lesion.
I started wagging school.
I spent every day for at least six weeks at the Art Gallery in front of either a Fred McCubbin painting or a work by David Hockey (that I didn't understand but loved).
When the nuns finally got in contact with my father the decision was mutual that school was over for this pustulant rover.
I was just shy of my fourteenth birthday.
So here's to the misty Melbourne mornings that introduced me to the world of painting.

chipped

2008-05-13T12:20:00.001+10:00

© L.M.Noonan
Nic asked for a trim and I couldn't resist taking a few quick photos--chipped nail polish and all.
A handful turned out unexpectedly well, so I might post a couple more in the coming days.

Nic's been trying to get a handle on a recording program that's installed on his temperamental computer.
He decided (unusually) to try doing a cover; in this case 'across the universe' and I think he's done a great job.
With a bit of luck if we can work out the best output settings then I may be able to post an mpg version of it.
I'd like to make a little video clip if my ancient handycam is still up to it...so watch this space.

Technorati Tags: across the universe,mpg,photography

wandering amongst the gravestones

2008-05-10T10:24:00.001+10:00

Our stone supplier's premises are naturally, opposite a large Brisbane graveyard.
Sometimes--if it isn't too hot--I wander through an area I haven't visited previously.
For reasons I cannot explain, I am fascinated by the need to make memorials to the dead.
Over the years I've snapped lots of photos of those I deemed--rather arbitrarily--to be more interesting.

Of the handful of shots I took this last visit, this is probably my favourite.
It's both touching and mysterious....a toy dog tied to the headstone by a strand of rosary beads.
At first I thought it might be the grave of a child, but no, it's a beloved husband and father who passed away 2 years after I was born.
More than 50 years on, and someone--perhaps John?-- is visiting.
I can't help but ponder the significance of the dog.

We've had some fatalities on the mountain.
This week our hot water system, without warning died, leaving us to mourn the lack of warm water during Winter and the dilemma of its replacement.
$5,000.00 or thereabouts is a financial slug we do not need.
AND we have discovered that some nearby trees have been tapping into our drinking water.
Our large concrete water tank is festooned with roots and hence some trees must meet their maker.
I hate killing trees, but the tank is too expensive to replace.
Thankfully my studio tank will get us out of trouble until the house one is drained and cleaned.
I wonder what's going to bite the dust next?

congratulations...it's a boy!

2008-05-09T07:58:00.001+10:00

My friend Lee's book "Mortal Ghost" is at last available in print.

Although the book is available as both a free PDF download and a podcast,
there is nothing so lovely--me thinks anyway--as the object known as THE BOOK.
Some potential readers may be offput by the fact that the central characters are young adults, don't be...I assure you it is a very grown bit of writing.

I loved it so much that I agreed to illustrate the cover.

Technorati Tags: L.Lee Lowe,Mortal Ghost,Lulu,free pdf book,podcast

suggestions welcome

2008-05-06T14:56:00.001+10:00

Daniel Georges, one of the artist curators behind the identity exhibition "Your Documents please" is calling for expressions of interest from any LARGE non profit exhibition/gallery spaces.
Some wonderful exhibition venues in Japan and Europe have already been secured so the exhibition will be on the road for quite sometime yet, however a venue on mainland Australia and new Zealand would be fabulous as would the possibility of sending it to other parts of the globe.
Do any of you know of a non-profit space in your area that might be interested? If you or they are willing to hang and dismount the show, the only real cost is promotion and shipping a few boxes.

I'm posting a small sample of works included in the exhibition —sent to me by Daniel today— with a special emphasis on the antipodean artists involved.

Daniel Georges can send a proposal if you have a space in mind. A full catalogue of the exhibition should be online soon. So watch this space!

OZ (Australian) artists
Marian Macken
Gregg Nowell
Nancy Lehet
Ioulia Terizis
George Alamidis
L.M. Noonan
Annette Minchin
Jordana Maisie
Greg Neville
Helen Malone

Kiwi (New Zealand) artists
Helen Schamroth
Lorraine Pemberton
Anne Holiday
Dale Copeland
Carl Fairweather
Robyn Challis

Technorati Tags: expressions of interest,identity exhibition,your documents please,daniel georges

just milk

2008-05-02T10:14:00.001+10:00

a dormouse scratched at the timbers of my hotel
and
sighing with impatience
requested
26 cups
—no sugar
just milk

I know you from somewhere?
it’ll come to me
later
in me sleep
mos likely

a dormouse ate the shortbread
matey made for christmas
thanked me solemnly
turned tail
and
exited
stage left
into the pantry
north of the kitchen

© L.M.Noonan

Ma booty, ma booty, ma sweet sweet booty

2008-04-30T11:37:00.001+10:00

Yesterday could well have joined the crowded ranks of 'another bad , emotionally draining day' however, a lovely surprise lifted my rather low state of mind.
My share in the loot, the rewards of participating in another artists' collage exchange; and what a crackerjack of diverse styles, a veritable smorgasbord for this collage gourmand.
I hope that the artists who receive my works are as delighted as I am.

Dale Copeland is busy sorting and sending each participant their bundle of goodies, an exhaustive task but as she explains in today's email
"it's a lot of to-and-fro work, taking the packs to the Post Office for weighing and pricing then bringing them home for a whole lot of stamp-sticking. But I still think that stamps are worth the effort compared with the machine-printed labels. I'm trying to make sure that everyone gets one of the $1.50 stamps as the picture on it shows the mountain out our window."

Even this most mundane of activities is given the Copeland creative flourish!
Thankyou Dale, and thankyou to those peers whose work I will treasure.
If you can spare the time, the site is large, please visit ICE 10.

PS David (the bird proofer; your guess is as good as mine for this mysterious blog title) has just posted images of some interesting paintings of Ngungun.

Technorati Tags: International Collage Exhibition,Dale Copeland,David Howard

the climb to the top

2008-04-27T09:19:00.001+10:00

The family is in get fit mode again.
Yesterday morning we tackled Ngungun (pronounced ner gun gun) again for the first time in ages. The boys have been racing each other up and down the bigger mountains like Beerwah for years but for the somewhat more brittle members of the family —like you know who; the scene pictured above is plenty tough...thenkyu.

We are totaling up our frequent flyers points and scouring the internet for the cheapest flights to Kathmandu again.
It's been four years since we were last there and I'm longing for the mountains and the simplicity of life on the trails.
If we can swing it (school exams and finances withstanding) we are targeting mid November and Everest base camp.

.

Technorati Tags: nepal,Ngungun,trekking

an interview with Nic

2008-04-26T14:47:00.005+10:00

Nic explains a little bit about his artwork that is presently being exhibited at GOMA
(Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane).
I've snipped it from the looped video that plays on a flatscreen behind his artwork.

discombobulated

2008-04-21T08:23:00.001+10:00

Words are like fonts, and fonts are like chocolate, and chocolate is best taken with red wine.
I'm not referring to everyday words, the meat and three veg words that rattle around in our ever shrinking vocabularies, but the quixotic, the archaic and the enigmatic words that embellished and enriched the literature of preceding centuries.
I have noticed my vocabulary shrinking.
I can't be bothered to explain a particular turn of phrase anymore.
Plain English is just that.
Would my childhood have been happier without threats from my father 'to discombobulate me", my mater yelling" I'll flay ya alive when I catch ya"?
Perhaps not, but I would have had a lot less to imagine while learning to best the best sprinter in primary school.

Eugene Ehrlich, a word Connoisseur, died recently at the age of 85.
"Mr. Ehrlich could be said to have armed the average guy with rare words, piquant phrases, Latin expressions and French witticisms to astound, confuse and bore acquaintances at cocktail parties and water coolers."

Hmm, back to my meat and three veg existence

Opening night at MAC

2008-04-18T08:46:00.001+10:00

received these lovely photos from Daniel Georges —curator of the exhibition "your documents please". Presently showing at the Itami Museum of Art and Craft.

'Montage of Installation at MAC-Itami showing about half the show—the rest is in the rooms through the middle and on both sides of the wall whose edge is visible.'

Daniel reports that the opening was great and that many artists from Osaka and Kyoto attended.
How Fantastic!

'At the After-party at Kumano-san's (the former MAC-Itami director who
is holding the bottle) studio'.

'Shot of night time picnickers under the full-on cherry blossoms'.

Technorati Tags: MAC itami,your passports please,identity,travelling exhibition

better late than never?

2008-04-16T10:10:00.001+10:00

Way back at the start of the year Colette Amelia handed out some gold stars in the form of
E is for Excellence blog badges. What an ungrateful bitch I must seem.
I have no excuses...well, maybe one.
I didn't notice that one had been given to me.
Unbelievable.
I know.
How could someone so attention-seeking miss this ?

Thankyou C.A.

http://meanderings-and-blatherings.blogspot.com/2008/02/excellent.html