The Big T is having Paris for real, so I’m hanging out here with Rick and Ilse. I’m not quite speaking along with the actors, but I have watched it a few times before.
Six Word Saturday is hosted by Debbie at Travel with Intent
Advertisements
Art
Working in colour
Getting ready. Image: Su Leslie 2018
All the spring-cleaning and re-organising of my stuff that’s been going on has revealed the true extent of my fabric stash, and I am determined to start using it.
Green certainly seems to be my colour. Image: Su Leslie 2018
These shades of blue and green seem to form the palette of my life, and I think look really good on my newly painted work table.
New work table, new enthusiasm. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Sanded, sealed, splashed and sealed again; our old table repurposed. The surface is smooth enough for working with fabric, and waterproof so I can use it for painting too.
It’s amazing how having a fun, colourful workspace improves my enthusiasm for a project.
Of course the painting helps. I bought it about 30 years ago from a friend who in turn bought it in an art school graduate show. I love the colours, and the landscape is Auckland’s west coast, probably either Piha or Te Henga beach.
Story-telling in glass
Window dedicated to members of the Royal New Zealand Navy and New Zealand Merchant Navy who served in conflicts abroad. Hall of Remembrance, Auckland Museum. Image: Su Leslie 2018
I’ve always been drawn to the Auckland Museum’s Hall of Remembrance — a long marble gallery lit softly by multiple leadlight and stained glass windows set in the walls and ceiling.
It is a quiet space, where symbolism and personal loss hang heavy. Where column after column of names engraved on the walls mark, but do not do justice to, the thousands of New Zealanders who have died in wars, and continue to do so.
It’s difficult to reconcile that still, beautiful space with the noisy, ugly realities of conflict.
But perhaps that is the point.
A lie preserved in stained glass doesn’t make it more true. — Saul Williams
We must shine with hope, stained glass windows that shape light into icons, glow like lanterns borne before a procession. Who can bear hope back into the world but us. — Marge Piercy
Posted to Lens-Artists Photo Challenge |window
Wordless Wednesday
Who said finger-painting was just for kids? Image: Su Leslie 2018
Blue skies and art
Ramon Robertson, “Gravity Bag” (detail). Exhibited at Sculpture in the Gardens, Auckland Botanic Gardens 2016. Image: Su Leslie
Ramon Robertson, “Gravity Bag” (detail). Exhibited at Sculpture in the Gardens, Auckland Botanic Gardens 2016. Image: Su Leslie
Ramon Robertson, “Gravity Bag” (detail). Exhibited at Sculpture in the Gardens, Auckland Botanic Gardens 2016. Image: Su Leslie
I’m a fan of Ramon Robertson‘s work. The Glasgow-born, Auckland-based sculptor explores themes of urbanisation, mass production and human engagement with the built environment, often placing stylised human forms in structural contexts.
Gravity Bag (above):
… is a black timber tower standing at 280 cm with a group of 15 concrete figures standing on top.
The figures depict senior architects, junior architects, planners and contractors who are experimenting with the idea of wearing sand bags to work out an alternative way of assessing the gravity pull on built structures. (Sculptor of the Week — Ramon Robertson, Our Auckland, 11 February 2016)
Because much of his work involves figures — often garbed in unusual ways — atop plinths, to see it close-up means looking upward into surprisingly characterful faces molded from concrete and resin.
In context. Gravity Bag, by Ramon Robertson, installed at the Auckland Botanic Gardens for Sculpture in the Gardens, 2015-6.
We visited Sculpture in the Gardens on a perfect blue day, and I love the contrast between the intense blue sky and the figures — which themselves are a contrast of light and shadow.
Posted to Ragtag Daily Prompt | contrast, and Lens-Artist Photo Challenge | look up
Monday Macro
Job done: time to put down the brushes. Image: Su Leslie 2018
The Changing Seasons, September 2018
Detail, Diminishing Returns, sculpture in bronze by Bing Dawe. Havelock North, Hawke’s Bay, NZ. Image Su Leslie 2018
Spring flowers and art.
Both of these things make me happy, but throw in good company, good food and some wine — and I’m positively beaming.
September has delivered on all of these things, almost simultaneously in the last few days while the Big T and I have been on holiday in Napier.
Beach, Marine Parade, Napier. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Beach, Marine Parade, Napier. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Beach, Marine Parade, Napier. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Tom Parker Fountain, Marine Parade, Napier, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Tom Parker Fountain, Marine Parade, Napier, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Marine Parade, Napier, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2018
On the east coast, about 400km from Auckland, Napier is a city in Hawke’s Bay. In February 1931, it was at the epicentre of a magnitude 7.8 earthquake which killed 256 people, injured thousands, and devastated much of the region, including destroying most of the buildings in central Napier and the neighouring town of Hastings.
Both Napier and Hastings were rebuilt, with much of the new architecture in the Art Deco style. Today, Napier is considered one of the finest Art Deco cities in the world.
Public Trust Building, Napier, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Daily Telegraph Building, Napier, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Facade, Masson House, Napier, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Typical small Art Deco commercial building, Napier. NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Detail, Art Deco facade, commercial building, Napier, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Detail, Art Deco facade, commercial building, Napier, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Five major rivers flow into the Hawke’s Bay region, providing huge areas of fertile land for agriculture, and more recently viticulture. Local vineyards produce award-winning wines, so naturally T and I tasted a few (along with locally brewed beers and ciders).
It would have been wrong not to.
Lunch, Brave Brewing Co. Hastings, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Lunch, Brave Brewing Co. Hastings, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2018
What next? Brave Brewing Company, Hastings, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Tasting room, Trinity Hill Winery, Hastings, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Tasting room, Trinity Hill Winery, Hastings, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Trinity Hill Winery, Hastings, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2018
A Wave in Time, bronze statue, Emerson St, Napier. Artist: Mark Whyte. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Cherry blossom, Havelock North town centre, Hawkes Bay, NZ. Image: Su Leslie
Detail, Bottled River. Installation by George Nuku and students of Hawke’s Bay schools. Hastings City Art Gallery, NZ. Image: Su Leslie
Pou, Nga Marae o Heretaunga. Hastings, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Ceramics, seen at Hastings City Art Gallery, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Ceramics, seen at Hastings City Art Gallery, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Bottled Ocean,
Te Mata Peak, Hawke’s Bay, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Te Mata Peak, Hawke’s Bay, NZ. Image: Su Leslie
Sunset, Te Mata Peak, Hawke’s Bay, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Pou. Part of Star Compass at Waitangi Regional Park, Napier. NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2018
About The Changing Seasons
The Changing Seasons is a monthly challenge where bloggers around the world share what’s been happening in their month.
If you would like to join in, here are the guidelines:
The Changing Seasons Version One (photographic):
- Each month, post 5-20 photos in a gallery that you feel represent your month
- Don’t use photos from your archive. Only new shots.
- Tag your posts with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so that others can find them
The Changing Seasons Version Two (you choose the format):
- Each month, post a photo, recipe, painting, drawing, video, whatever that you feel says something about your month
- Don’t use archive stuff. Only new material!
- Tag your posts with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so others can find them.
If you do a ping-back to this post, I can update it with links to all of yours.
UPDATE
Here is what September looked like for some other bloggers
Max at Cardinal Guzman
Sarah at Art Expedition
Tracy at Reflections of an Untidy Mind
Marilyn at Serendipity Seeking intelligent life on Earth
Mick at Mick’s Cogs
Jude at Under a Cornish Sky
Deb at The Widow Badass Blog
Joanne at My Life Lived Full
Lee at Ladyleemanila
Klara over at lessywannagohome on Blogspot
Ruth at Ruth’s Arc
Pauline at Living in Paradise
Ju Lyn at All Things Bright and Beautiful
Little Pieces of Me — who joins us for the first time.
