Category Archives: Australia

SAMA SAJA

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The Darwin Museum has a fantastic display of Indonesian boats sailed to Australia by refugees. This little boat the “Sama Jasa” is only 5 meters long. It sailed across the sea with 6 people on board, landed on Bathurst Island, just off Darwin, in 1986. The crew were detained by customs, taken with the boat to Darwin and held in detention as illegal immigrants. How frustrating, after surviving a trip like that.

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Most of the boat is unpainted timber, the cabin is held together with rusty steel nails. The rigging is made from fencing wire. Below the waterline is coated with bitumen and lime.

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The Australian artist, Ian Fairweather, tells of a similar journey in his autobiography. In Darwin during the war, Fairweather built a raft out of aeroplane fuel tanks and drifted out of Darwin harbour late one night. After drifting for a week or so he washed up on an Indonesian beach where he was arrested by the authorities and sent straight back to Darwin.

WATERCOLOR WINDMILL

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Outside the town of Batchelor, we camped under a huge old Southern Cross windmill. The kind that turn and creak at the slightest breath of wind.

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I started to sketch it but every time I looked up the wind had changed and it looked completely different. I decided to ignore what it looked like from where I sat and draw it square on from in front.

Once it had shifted around a few times I had enough information to disregard perspective and make the drawing flat and mechanical.

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The initial drawing was done with Charcoal pencil, then washes of indigo and Burnt Sienna were put in fairly loosley with a 1″ and 1/4″ flat brush. The windmill was old and coated with rust and grease. I wanted the sketch to give the impression of reliability while indicating the wear and tear of a hard life.

Burnt Sienna ink lines were added then the drawing was broken up slightly with washes and splashes of White  Gouache.

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This detail shows the Burnt Sienna ink lines, some left hard and sharp, others sprayed and softened with a mist of water. You can also see lines of white charcoal pencil adding to the detail and loose splashes of White Gouache.

These mechanical subjects are a lot of fun to paint. You can fill them with atmosphere and character, saying more about their life and function than their actual appearance.

SNAKE IN THE GRASS

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ADELAIDE RIVER

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We decided to camp at the Adelaide River Race Track before heading up to Darwin. The sun was setting and a few whispy clouds were catching the last bit of light.

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I climbed the judges tower to take some photographs. When I climbed down there was a snake  at the foot of the tower, arched up and snapping at me. I jumped back and he dissapeared into the grass. I couldn’t believe it – after hours of carefully picking my way through spinifex and speargrass the day before and not seeing a snake, to be bailed up by one here  was amazing.

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I snapped a blurry shot of him in the fading light with a wide angle lens as he slithered into the grass.

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Four furlong bend from the top of the tower.

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Last light as the sun went down

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Next morning I walked over to the railway yard and couldn’t believe my luck. Someone had parked a yellow steam roller next to a purple railway carriage!

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PUBS – 2

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GROVE HILL HOTEL

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Whipping along the Stuart Highway north of Pine Creek, we saw a sign pointing to Grove Hill Hotel. We figured it must be a pretty impressive pub – the sign said “HISTORICAL” so off we went along a twisting dirt road to Grove Hill.

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At first sight the pub didn’t look that impressive. The garden was struggling, paint peeling and “New Ownership” sign, badly faded, but we went in anyway.

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The foyer was an elegant mixture of art deco and Territorian casual. We made our way through to the bar and ordered some drinks before wandering through the rest of the pub.

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The bar served a variety of beers in either cans or stubbies.

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The dining room – simple and tastefully decorated.

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Each table displayed a magnificent arrangement of artifical flowers.

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The bedrooms were comfortable and inviting.

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Keeping everything running smoothly required some fairly sophisticated, high-tech equipment.

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A piano accordian on the sideboard looked to have provided hours and hours years and years of first rate entertainment.

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Out the back, the matinence shed contained all the necessary tools to keep everything in ship shape condition.

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There was even a ride on mower to keep the grounds immaculate.

The car park is always a good indicator of the quality of a hotel. Looking at Grove Hill’s car park, it appears a lot of patrons arrive, park their car and never leave – and who could blame them.

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So next time you happen to be whipping along the Stuart Highway north of  Pine Creek, take the detour to Grove Hill Hotel.

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They even offer camping and budget accommodation.

UMBRAWARRA GORGE

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This morning I was up before sunrise to explore the escarpment behind our camp at Umbrawarra Gorge. From the top of the escarpment the view was fantastic as the sun came up.  The country between the escarpment and the gorge is an undulating stretch of spinifex and spear grass, punctuated by amazing outcrops of weathered stone.

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These outcrops vary in size and complexity. Some have large overhangs and cavities and many contain aboriginal paintings, grinding surfaces and flint chippings.

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These outcrops make great photographic subjects in the early morning light. The blue sky and sea of yellow spinifex provide a great colour arrangement.

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Crossing the area of grassland behind the escarpment eventually brings you to the Umbrawarra Gorge. I found more rock paintings along the top of the gorge, also some interesting caves and crevasses.

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There are permanent waterholes at the bottom of the gorge, some with sandy beaches and full of small fish. The water is bloody freezing when you first dive in but after a while numbness sets in and it feels pretty good.

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Many of the rocks along the escarpment and through the gorge have a rippled surface similar to the texture of sand after the tide has gone out. I guess it means this whole area was once under water, or just that it’s covered in ripply rocks.

Dianne and I walked up the gorge and found some weird little red flowers covered with a sticky fluid to trap insects.

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These flowers looked like a type of soft cactus. They grew in clusters near the water and were about 20cm in diameter.

We also found some tiny yellow orchids, about the size of your little fingernail. They grew in shady pockets along the floor of the gorge

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Exploring the gorge and the surrounding country is a fantastic experience. The fascinating geography and interesting aboriginal art sites make you want to just keep on walking and exploring.

KATHERINE

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We left Mataranka and headed up the Stuart Highway to Katherine. There was washing and shopping to be done , the car was due for a service, Dianne had to catch up on some bookwork and I wanted to do some painting along the river.

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Katherine river in the dry season is lined with huge distorted paperbarks and Pandanas Palms. As you walk along the river bed evidence of the wet season floods can be seen in the tops of many of the large trees. Huge logs and branches suspended 20 to 30 feet up. All the trees slope in the direction of flow

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Walking back towards the town I found this palette 30 foot up a tree. It’s hard to imagine that much water.

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During the dry everything looks peaceful and sedate. In 6 months time all this will be under metres of fast flowing water.

Next month we will be back in Katherine with with the International Artist Workshop. We will be staying in town and visiting the gorge.

WESTERN BOWERBIRD

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These birds seem to occur all over Northern Australia. They are hyperactive, noisy little guys with elaborate bowers. The purple plume on the back of their heads rises when they want to impress another bird.

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The male builds a bower and decorates it with white and silver objects to impress the female. The female builds a nest elsewhere to lay her eggs.

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This impressive bower was decorated with white snail shells, bits of broken glass and crumpled wads of silver foil. The males are incredibly fussy about the arrangement of the decoration around their bower. If you drop in an extra snail shell, the bird will quickly pick it up and remove it.