Birdwatching

I was feeling really cranky the other day and the dogs were driving me mad with "take me out, take me out, take me out NOW!!"....I couldn't put it off any longer so I begrudgingly took them out.  I know it sounds selfish, and it is, but sometimes, I just can't be fagged taking them out....

So, I drove out into the forest and let the dogs run free with the wind and I hit the trails.  I was shimmying along just checking out the sites.  Mossy old fallen logs, soft delicate ferns with tiny beads of rain on their fronds, squishy soft soil and clear beautiful blue skies.  Then it occurred to me how still and quiet it was.  It was as though time had stopped and I was the only thing moving. 

Then I listened for any sound that I could, any sound to convince me that I was in fact there in that moment.  The sound I heard was of birds, tweeting, singing, squawking, whistling...their wings fluttering as they dove from branch to branch exploring their own little corner of the sky. I looked up through the treetops and found a whole new world and it occurred to me that being a bird is the epitome of infinite freedom....go where you want, when you want, single or solo, no passports, no borders, no border patrols....a free ticket to fly.

This inspired my next collection of paintings, titled "Birdwatcher".  All available in the shop or on our website.

So, thanks to my dogs, for allowing me to find a pot of gold at the end of my selfish rainbow.  Sorry guys, I'll never begrudge taking you little punks out ever again!

one is the loneliest number

I have been quite overwhelmed lately....and not in a good way.  I think we speak of being "overwhelmed with love" or "overwhelmed with joy" quite freely, but how often do we share with our friends or family, our feelings of being overwhelmed by merely life itself?

When feelings like this overcome you, you feel guilty and self indulgent given that there are people all over the world dealing with things such as wars or natural disasters on a scale that my little brain couldn't even conceive.  So you don't dwell, you suppress them...and they hide, for another moment or so, until they arise again...and again....until you are forced to ponder them again.  And that's a good thing, because if we're not here to think then life's pretty empty, right?

I have been consumed by aloneness lately.  Not in a melodramatic way, I have just honestly had this aching feeling of being separate and insular from everyone.  I don't know if that has ever happened to you, but if it has, then you know that it is a very confronting feeling.  And not one that you can ignore.  You can try to ignore it mentally, but it's deeper than that, it's heavy on your heart and rises up to your throat.

You realise that you were born alone, you take this journey alone, and you die alone.  And any connections you make along the way are momentary and temporary.

But I also realised that this isn't a bad thing.  It's a good thing, a wonderful thing, an amazing thing.  It's what I am here for, to have this experience...on my own.  It's like having the best piece of chocolate cake and not having to share it.   Sure, you share your life with people, with family and with friends, but at the beginning of the day and surely, at the end of the day, it is YOU that you are left with.  And you better like you, cause it's like that expression "everywhere you turn, there you are".

I watched this video below and it made my aloneness feel like a blessing. Because it is when we are alone, that we are our true authentic self and can enjoy all that life has to offer.

I am alone.  We are all alone.  And I'm cool with that.

The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

old dogs are the best dogs

Last Monday night, my old dog Casey who's a 12.5 year old Golden Retriever had a weird wigout episode in the middle of the night.  It was absolutely horrifying, she was vomiting & couldn't stand up without falling straight over.  


The vet diagnosed her with geriatric vestibular syndrome which is where the information which gets sent to the brain gets all mixed up and causes the dog to not understand it's place in space....therefore, their eyes dart back & forth, they vomit & fall over....it's kinda like an epic sea sickness I think. 


Due to her age, we thought it was curtains for our old girl and were absolutely devastated thinking that she could have a brain tumour or something which was causing this to happen.  We carried her around in a sling for the first 3 days, so she could enjoy the sunshine in the yard rather than just lying on her bed inside.


Anyhow, this story does have a happy ending, a hallelujah happy ending, because Casey, my friends is a wonder dog.  


We got her when she was 5 from a breeder who put her into retirement.  She had already had 27 puppies and we wanted to give her a fricken awesome retirement sipping pina coladas & wearing boardies.


I kid you not, this dog has been the most chilled out dog I have ever met.  When my neices & nephews were toddlers, they used to ride her like a pony....that's how chilled out she is.


We took her to a dog chiropractor who did some work on her and after alot of banging & cracking, the rest, I tell you is a miracle.  A week later and she's walking again, prancing at the park and doing Evil Kineval sideroll stunts.....albeit like a wobbly stoner...


So, here's to you Casey..... keep on rockin' in the free world.

art schmart

I recently did some new paintings for an exhibition at St Mel Gallery in Daylesford.  The theme was "Art is for Lovers".


The collection is called "I love her....and that is the beginning of everything."  It is a quote I discovered recently by F. Scott Fitzgerald and everything fell into place for this series based around the theme of Art is for Lovers.  Kyla and I are celebrating 10 years together this year, and when I read this quote, it just hit me in the heart, how poignant that saying is in my life.....because, meeting her, really was the beginning of my everything....(you can vom now if you want).


So, for all you lovers out there, each piece comprises my favourite love quotes of all time.


Some pieces have been sold already, but the remaining ones are on our website.  We have just added a new category of Original Artwork, so if ya wanna check em out, feel free.  They're on display in the shop too.


I picked up a spraycan last year and faced with the option of sniffing it or gettin' crafty, I chose the latter.


Say no to drugs kids x

new tubs on the block

We just got these wicked tubs in at the shop.  They're called Trendy-Tub.  They are all the way from gay Paree and made of recycled industrial materials.  


They have multiple purposes, for storage, as a seat or table, a lampshade...whatever the hell you want really, it's up to you brother.


The graphics on them are all designed by french artists and are incredibly beautiful.


They retail at $200.


Check out these bad boys.

 I heart Paris x x

fear of commitment...

I love religious icons.  The trashier the better.   I decided to make up a little ghetto where my collection could all live, on a bookshelf in the kitchen.   After I set it up, I stood back and pondered the new neighbourhood that I had just constructed.  Which lead me to ponder the big picture.  The real picture. 

I looked at what I had created just out of stuff I had laying around, and it was quite surreal to think that the junky stuff I collect, was actually playing itself out in real life, on a world scale.  The little army dudes, US dollars, the fall of dictators like Sadam & the outdated currency they leave in their wake, Jesus and Mary hanging round, looking all heavenly (yet aloof), the mosque alarm clock which blares Arabic chanting each morning and arvo for prayers, and Quan Yin just sitting there watching over everything, like a good "Mother of Compassion & Mercy" deity does, ya know.


It freaked me out a bit.  I realised that I had no particular attachment to any of them, and that I was just covering all bases of my agnostic fear.


But like all propaganda for all religions...."I realised there was something missing".


The fact that, he with the biggest clout wins!  Whether it's religious political parties or different religions trying to sway democratic laws, he with the biggest guns wins.


That's when I subdivided my neighbourhood and called in the dude with the biggest guns of all.

Hulk Hogan is President of my ghetto and his guns trump all.... 


I no longer live in fear.

Seemed like a good idea at the time...

A few weeks back, Kyla went to visit her nan in Melbourne for 2 nights and for some random reason I thought, "I could paint the kitchen & surprise her before she gets back".  Clearly, I am an idiot.  

We've lived here for 6 years and the kitchen was hideous.  It was like you were stuck in a bad Swedish sauna in 1981.  The pine timber was, to say the least, overwhelmingly hideous.  We kept putting it off because kitchens are so expensive, so I decided that I could wait no longer and damn it, if we couldn't afford a new kitchen, then we were just gonna have to make do with the old one.

10 days later, primer, sealer, undercoat, 2 coats of acrylic, 2 coats of enamel, evil aluminim windows, french fricken bastard windows, a gimp shoulder from RSI....and we're finally done.

It's always 12 months between renovations here, and that's why.  I always seem to under calculate the sheer monstrosity of the work at hand.  If I was a tradie, doing quotes & stuff, I would be broke - that I know for sure.

Anyhow, the renovation was called "let's do the kitchen with a budget of bugger all".

This is the result.  Not to everyone's taste I suppose, but I do love a tip scavenge....and I do love my wifey for helping me even though she didn't have to x

The Swedish Sauna before Jenny Craig

....and after Jenny Craig

we still have the ugly stone rock climbing wall...but that's another reno