Print making in the studio

A rare and beautiful thing to have a couple of days at home to simply play in the studio. The conversations of onion pickers drift across the paddocks and the trees sing of spring as the breeze plays through their leaves. Added some more "colour" using a silky oak leaf from last week - well preserved with layers of textile paint it then disintegrated (as it should) while donating itself to a last layer of print on my clean up cloth. 

One degree of separation

.This morning the WMBM made some additions to his edible colour palette  - jostaberry, thornless loganberry (it will never mitigate the viciousness of the youngberry) and more raspberries. The sweet potato also are taking off in the vegie patch and last evening we dined on freshly dug potatoes, yellow squash and cherry tomato bake with fresh peas. Where's the meat? Well we tucked into a lamb sausage each - courtesy of our friends and farmers Siwa Fresh. The onion and carrot were grown locally - our entire meal was no more than one degree of separation between paddock and us.  The wattle seed pods are gorgeous, providing a reddish ochre carpet and are irresistible to the Rosella's and king parrots.



First flight of the honeyeater

First flight was evidence of this little miracle. More like a sporadic blurr of fuzz and the soft crash landing in a pile of dry leaves.  A flapping frenzy ensued,  interrupted only by some strict "stay very, very still" instructions from the ever-vigilant parent. This nestling-no-more finally emerged on an upper branch. Rewarded. Rewarding. Last seen blurring in the direction of the more densely foliaged lemon tree. Never forget to grow your feathers ...

 

 



Garden for the soul

It is four weeks until the official start of Spring - our plants are already starting to bloom. Some days it is the simple things, like sitting on the bench and becoming part of the garden-scape. The wattles are bursting with powdery sweetness, and the honey eaters have embraced the breeding season with a nest under our window. The two little occupants are ever so vocal demanding food  - and in between are perfectly still and silent. Am heading off to that bench with the WMBM, a joyful little dog and a glass of red. My idea of sanctuary for an hour ....

Quiet days at home

Having a few quiet days at home this week and couldn't miss the opportunity to take some "sneak peeks of peaks" - that's Double Top (afar) and The Twins (middle foreground). From Double Top the range continues into New South Wales. This is the view from my studio window (instead of facing the big tidy up it needs). A little closer is Mount Greville (below) and Mount Frazer (behind) with a little cloud snagged on the canopy. The rain has brought such a fresh look to the place - vivid greens accompanied by the riot of colour and noise in the galahs and my favourite little people, the wrens. Plenty of inspiration for the next project .....

Tick that Box

Beneath the Southern Sky entry  submitted - CHECK
State of the Art Quilt 2012 entry submitted for Queensland Quilters - CHECK
Vacuuming and housework completed - sorry, what was that?

This sketch was going to form the basis of a Beneath the Southern Sky entry - the Queensland Coastline near Innisfail coming home from work recently - farmland, rivers emptying into the Pacific Ocean, coral quays and a container ship or two ... I do love aerial views and the way they quickly become abstract with height (I think we were nearing 40,000 feet). My actual entry is 150% completely different from this idea ... maybe another idea for another quilt on another day ...

and this is a Nankeen Kestrel (tiny blimp out front, far right),  telling off a Wedgetail eagle (big blimp centre) both of which were being harassed by a crow (moderate sized blimp, slightly below). Sunday mornings are always busy out here .... sometimes we are lucky enough, in the breeding season, to watch the parent eagles teach their young the finer art of flying, fishing and catching thermals.

Sketching, books and doodling

Part of spending time in the garden has also been to consider time, space and change (no I'm not particularly cerebral, it's the last assignment in exploration of textiles).  I've taken to date stamping my pages so that I can track my journey more accurately (and I just love those roll-around-the-date-pick-your-own-adventure-it's-my-version-of-the-tardis date stamps). I may even start a separate log of journal page musings ...  Above is a time line of change for our property. Pre-1800s there was forest akin to that now protected in the Main Range National Park behind us - the floorboards of our home are made from a single tree  - when the house was built in the early 1900s. That part of the time line is all house and cattle, next to no trees. Finally, under a different type of care by the WMBM more than 1300 trees, shrubs and bushes have been reinstalled.  All eras have been of caring for the land and expressing that care in different contexts.

Another look at change - from the established trees to the 4-6 year olds and the ongoing mission of WMBM with the tube stock, duly supported until well enough established to survive scorching summers, frosty winters, drought and flooding rains - all in the space of a good year! There's another change, from tree top to the water table below (we reside on an aquafer that produces something akin to diffused soda water from about 40 feet underfoot)

Finding inspiration

This is my special place in one of the gardens where I can think about things. This morning I took some photographs trying to look at this place of rest with fresh eyes. I especially loved the gumnuts on the floor of the garden - it wasn't until I enlarged the photos that the seeds became evident - another lesson about my perception of empty space.  This was reinforced by the hive of activity, literally, occurring in that place between the dried bark and the dead stump.  Almost an oversight, there are a number of ants conversing and scurrying before this afternoon's predicted showers and there's even a little winged bug resting under a leaf of grass (bottom  of picture, between 5 and 6 o'clock). An accident of camera settings and the dreamy play of light through the fimbriata also captured a sense of hammock and restful contemplation ... which is where I intend to spend the next part of this beautiful day.

Storm front @ 31 degrees

More site lines that are sight lines. Chocolate earth, the black soil of the Fassifern, smells good enough to eat. Not. This is seriously tempting for stitch lines. Sometimes in the rush of "get-to-work-mornings" it is nice to stop. A shop front. A wall of bricks.A paddock freshly ploughed.

Paddock clearing this afternoon ahead of the storm coming up from the New South Wales border region, about 200 kilometres across and looking like we will catch its edge.

And here it comes, pushing towards the coast, sending rumblings our way. It is still 31 degrees on the verandah and time to log off!

Chocolate Earth

 

Chocolate earth @ Tarome



The paddocks have been reploughed for the first time since the recent flooding and planting is underway.  They are like dark chocolate for as far as the eye can see - still tastes like dirt. The black soil gets a crust on it  that prevents the new shoots coming through - so the irrigators are used to keep that top layer soft, even if it seems like we've had enough rain. That's Mount Fraser on the horizon, and Mt French reflected in the mirror. Gives new meaning to "point and shoot".

Coming home last evening and that's Mount French, a different angle, in the last of the sun before the storm came through.

Then and now ... after the flood



27 December 2010



11 February 2011

When the rain stopped ...

2m deeper ...



Upstream





Many trees now gone



Our repaired bridge ..



Spicers Gap



Spicers Gap from the back deck



Spicers Gap reappeared yesterday after WMBM spent the previous two afternoons pruning, trimming and finally chainsaw pruning the conifers that run between our and the neighbouring property. In the "early days" before access through neighbouring Cunninghams Gap, the oxen, drays, horses and humans were hoisted up the sheer face quite literally - definitely not an experience for the faint-hearted.

Some serious height reduction has occurred - and once again our early warning system is back in full view. 

The secret garden is in full bloom with a colourful competition between the spider lillies and crepe myrtles. The little people aren't complaining and the wild double-barred finch population has exploded this summer. Babies and nests everywhere ...



Crepe myrtles and spider lillies



Storms and promise .. on Martin Luther King Day

About 65kms or 40 miles up the road where the rainbow points is Ipswich where I had left about 50 minutes earlier. I did wonder at the cheek of the rainbow - after driving home near blind through lightning flashes and wild windy rain to the last of the shredded sunlight. Then my favourite tree lit up - a Moreton Bay Ash that towers above all else with bark that turns purple and rust and blue just before Christmas. It sheds in enormous strips into the garden bed. Mulch. Each year the trunk and branches are left creamy white and smoothly pristine. Caught in the last burst of sun for the afternoon while the storm rumbled on to the north east. And I thought ... all this promise and hope and quiet reflection. I hope you feel it too. It is Martin Luther King Day and it is good.

Time to build an Ark

Villis Bridge

We went down to the end of our road today to find the source of a mighty roar - it permeated everything - and we found, or didn't find, our bridge. The water hurtles down from Mount Castle, usually the day after rain, but the saturated earth combined with our 150mm+ in the last 36 hours and we turned into Lake Tarome.

Quilting and Tarome



The girls leaving the secret garden

It's awkwardly humid and threatening to spill itself from the sky. I have pruned the secret garden - and made sure I didn't disturb the nests of web and soft things as I went. I then took a beer and some nuts to Chris who is out there on the ride-on - and as I handed them over made a rather hasty retreat  from our first big brown slithery of the warmer weather. He/She/It retreated to the shade of the garden bed and was last seen smoothing itself most casually away from the noisy humans.
For the past few days the birds have been going intermittently hysterical for no apparent reason with everyone and everything heading tree-ward - so we suspect it is  the beginning of snake season as they seek out  nestlings and other yummy bits in the bushes. Or ... there's a parrot out there who's having a lot of fun at the expense of everyone else.

I told everyone that my ultimate birthday fantasy was to lock the front gate and unplug the phone - and it's absolutely true.  Quiet. Silence. Only the sound of the chickens scratching in the gardens and the cacophony of birds being gluttons in the spring flowers. And the secret garden that Chris made ... for me.  Weeding and pruning in the secret garden - which I've come to understand as honouring the garden and house and the space we inhabit - is a most pleasurable way to spend a birthday morning - and there's  much self-satisfaction at having really earned a refreshment afterwards.

Blue wren in the sweet potato

Our "secret garden" is an extension of the original house yard by 12 metres or so. The two guava bushes that we simply could not kill (in spite of mowing them into the dust-  week in, week out, for forever) have now formed a cooling arch that invites the interested visitor to a path that once led to a garden bench and somewhere quiet to reflect on navel lint and partake of ... refreshments. It's now a totally plant-enclosed area - sans bench - and provides protection from the wind for our lime tree and the roses and several other gorgeous things, and the little people that allow us to share their space. This morning the wrens brought out three more little people - showing them how to flip this and poke that, in search of independence and food. Every now and then we get  (that really means Chris gets) the chipper out and prune hard - which results in mulch for next season's benefit. And so it goes ....
As for a quilty update, I've nearly completed 11 blocks on the Civil War inspired quilt - depending on a few things, I only have a total of 25 or 36 to complete  ... those things include the size of the bed, time pressures and how much overhang there's going to be ... oh, and my good humour remaining intact.  I spent yesterday with Meredith and Robyn - yakking and sewing and more talking ... special days.  Upcoming important projects (as opposed to those that aren't quite so significant) are: the members' exhibition piece that I haven't even thought about for the Boonah Art Gallery members, a vessel for the Vessel Challenge for 2QAQ Art-rageous Christmas Party  ... and the State of the Art Quilt 2011 entries .. I'm hoping for 2  ... and the Queensland Quilters Quilt Show in October ....  So, it must be time to get back to the studio  ...