Cutest coffee EVER!

At the National Gallery of Australia, afternoon tea with a good friend and I got THIS coffee! Is that the cutest coffee ever or what?

artistic coffee @ the NGA!

 This is the same friend who gave me the gorgeous black and white knitted/felted top I am wearing in the photo below. How I score buddies like this, I don't know. Just got lucky I guess.

I've been ultra busy the last few weeks finishing up the work for my Diploma of Art and Design. We finished up the semester with an exhibition of our work. It was a great little exhibition. I have nothing but grand praise for the quality of teaching and teachers at CIT in Canberra. The diploma has been excellent, I am looking forward to the Advanced Dip!

I did a lot of drawing and made a short film of the process, inspired by William Kentridge.

 I also painted lots of self portraits! I am starting to feel like Frida Kahlo, just need a parrot and some fancy jewellery.

 ....'I could drink a case of you, darling, and I would still be on my feet, I would still be on my feet'

Has anyone seen this tree?

On a recent drive-through visit to South Gippsland in Victoria we were lured to a popular local tourist attraction. 
We followed a sign directing us to 'The World's Tallest Tree'. Naturally we were excited and filled with anticipation......

Read carefully..'if the tree grew here..' That is a big 'if''.

There is actually nothing there, not even a leaf.

 It is a very celebrated non-tree. We wondered whether the world's biggest eagle once lived here, in the world's tallest tree. 


Much of South Gippsland is a huge, seriously gigantic and growing, hole which used to have coal in it (and rocks and topsoil, grass, trees, bugs, birds, marsupials and so on), but there is nothing there now. So I suppose that a special place commemorating where something once grew is appropriate.

Lovely, smoggy Melbourne and family :-)

We travelled to Melbourne to celebrate my dad's 80th birthday. We surprised him with a special dinner. There were gifts, lots of kissing and hugging, a couple of short speeches and much love.


We also did lots of catching up with other family members; regrettably I didn't take any photos of them!!! Damn! 


We went into the city to see a FANTASTIC  exhibition by William Kentridge and had lunch at Southbank and caught trams and had coffee at Brunetti's. All very 'Melbourne' and great fun and enhanced by perfect autumn weather. 

Mum and Dad, sons and daughters

The adorable couple :-)

Grand daughters and friends

Ian Potter Centre

Like all shop cake these look much better than they tasted, they were okay though

Collins St trams

Looking down Flinders Street

The Yarra from Princes Bridge

St Paul's Cathedral

It was a still day and the pollution hung in the air, it was like looking through vaseline. This is the intersection of Swanston and Flinders Streets, curiously empty of people and cars (for a split second!)

Flying Street Performer!

 

Solid State Circus at the National Folk Festival.

a good weekend

Perfect autumn weekend. Great weather, hanging around home doing stuff, eating good food and working on the paintings. Love it!

This was fabulous 'beef and reef' that Danz made for dinner on Saturday evening. Too good.

Tonight it's steamed veges with pesto so I picked this crop out of our garden. The basil for the pesto was out of the garden too. It doesn't come any fresher than that.

Now, back to the studio :-)