Visit to the Sportsmen's Club

from w
Now, Sportsmen's Clubs and pokie machines are not my scene but this year the church fellowship groups (about seven of them - so about ninety women) decided to eat at this venue instead of the getting-older women catering. We used to have fabulous dinners with decorations and trimmings, lots of singing, a speaker, etc. This time we had to wait for the bingo guys to leave, then we sat down as a waiter shoved a few leaves on the tables as decoration. Anyway I met lots of friends I don't see much so that was fine. A nice turkey meal and plum pudding. Water on the tables. Hey, where's the punch? Line up for coffee. Okay, bare and spare for a Christmas party but that's okay. The entertainment was lovely - about 28 Grade 5 and 6 (I guess) children from the Leopold Primary School and two teachers came in and sang half a dozen songs. A super idea. Better than older women listening to love songs of the 40s. Anyway I drew three women at the pokie machines while we waited, and then quick sketches of some of the singing group.

Australian Election Corio results

Corio

Electorate Map [PDF Format]
(VIC)GeelongLast Updated: Sun Nov 25 01:01AM AEST
Roll: 90,454
Votes Counted: 76.4%
Booths Counted Primary Vote: 37/37
Booths Counted 2CP: 37/37
ABC Predicted Final Result: ALP RETAIN: 3.3% swing to ALP Party % Vote
ALP 58.9
LIB 41.1
Primary Count Name Party Votes % Vote Swing
Darrin Jeffrey Welden LDP 596 0.9 0.9
Ross Russell CEC 141 0.2 -0.1
Chris Johnson SAL 266 0.4 -0.3
Gordon Alderson FFP 2,690 4.0 1.5
Angelo Kakouros LIB 19,279 29.0 -10.8
Gavan O'Connor IND 8,393 12.6 12.6
Erica Menheere-Thompson DEM 463 0.7 0.7
Richard Marles ALP 30,947 46.5 -1.1
Rob Leach GRN 3,805 5.7 0.0
.... IND 0 0.0 -3.5
Informal 2,506 3.1
Total Votes 69,086 76.38
Progressive Count After Preferences Candidate Party % Vote Swing
Richard Marles ALP 58.9 +3.3
Angelo Kakouros LIB 41.1 -3.3

MP

Christmas and the Colour of Money

from w
May I be a Gramdma Scrooge and say 'Ba, humbug!' about the excesses and commercialisation of Christmas? I had to wait an hour for photos to be printed - okay, our digital camera somehow won't work with the computer yet - and looked down from the mezzanine floor at Market Square overlooking Santa and the babes and toddlers getting their photos taken. I did a pencil sketch and a couple of people engaged in conversation with me telling me they drew cartoons etc. Anyway the drawing looked a bit bland for the colourful season so I later added mainly red, green and yellow and blinged it up a bit. Click on pics to enlarge. (Some of the photos I picked up are of a recent wedding and they are on the babasiga blog.)

But it's not my scene at all. The whole Santa thing is a far cry from that generous bishop in Turkey whose name was equivalent to Nicholas. So do I tell my grandsons and granddaughter that Christmas is really about something else?

at Yarraville

from w
Between the church wedding and the reception there was a bit of a wait so I drew a doorway in a brick wall in a side street in Yarraville not far from the Catholic Church hall where the reception was being prepared. This house was probalby from about 1910 and had been recycled in a modern way. That's what has happened in some older Melbourne suburbs which were once working class. Now gentrified and expensive.The quick picture of a girl was made inside the hall.

(Wall door pic altered later)

Tree in Williamstown

from w
Haven't been posting drawings this week because we are busy catching up with various chores. Saturday afternoon we went to a Fijian/Cook Islander wedding in Williamstown and after the service a huge Moreton Bay fig caught my attention. The building behind is the manse and it certainly needs a coat of paint. My unobtrusive sketching attracted attention from local parishioners however and they told me that Williamstown was the first settlement in Melbourne with many old buildings but these days it is an expensive area - gentrified I suppose.. The tree causes anxiety as the roots go out under the road but some people do not want it removed.

I plan to do some sketching/painting this afternoon and it's 35 degrees outside today, very hot! I planned to draw a bit last week but there were knocks on the door every time I got out my pencils and sketchbook.
(altered later)

Artistic school gates at Whittington

from w
A great project in the local primary schools involved the creation of new gates for several schools. Here is one of them in a nearby suburb. Artist Mark Trinham, performance artist Naomi Steinborner and Anna Loughrey, from the City of Greater Geelong, with Whittington Primary School students dressed as butterflies, spiders, worms and a snail. Photo: FEE CRAWFORD

from local Addie:
RIPENING seeds and the cycle of life were the inspiration for a new entrance at the Whittington Primary School community garden. Designed by artist Mark Trinham and created with the help of students, the entrance is designed to link the multi-cultural garden with open recreational space. The City of Greater Geelong commissioned the multi-cultural garden and rain seeds gateway projects to encourage people from various backgrounds to use the space to work, talk and share cultures...

A Vintage Leunig cartoon about politicians

from w
You might need to click on the picture in order to read the words.

The election trail is becoming boring and repetitive and there's too much talk about money. I think Hugh Mackay in today's Age is right when he says: 'The government succeeded in getting the economy back as the top agenda item, but since I believe this is not what this election is about, the danger is that voters simply switch off. The voters have repeatedly said 'Could someone please talk to us about the kind of society we want to become.' They would love one side or the other to say something visionary about Australian society - involving the four big issues: education, health, the environment the workplace.'

There has been little talk about borders and attitudes to the rest of the world as I think foreign policy is rather important at the moment. Instead of 'me too' from Rudd on every which way but loose he should come up with some outstanding words about overseas aid and foreign policy.

While the potatoes were cooking

from w
I played around with the picture of the flowering cactus to make a negative image etc. So now I suppose I had better tidy up and go to a Bible study group! Oh yes, I have turned off the potatoes though sometimes I do leave it too long and then the potatoes are like lovo (underground oven) cooking - slightly burnt!

A surprise from an ugly plant

from w
The house is abuzz with activity today as the golf course is flooded (Barwon Valley club is near the river and becomes a lake periodically and this is a surprise after the drought), so Peceli is on one computer writing about the coming of the lotu to Nadroga, Junior has pulled up the lino in the bathroom as we are seriously into renovating at present, and I have been going bonkers typing up lists on Excel. Then I walked out to tidy up the potplants and discovered one of the ugly cactus plants has flowered brilliantly. So I drew it before it faded or someone stole it, etc. I used watercolour pencils, and a bit of whiteout. I've been throwing out lots of geraniums that look elderly and some of the cactus that are half-eaten by bugs.

Helen Mirren and 'The Queen'

from w
When Peceli brought home a video that he said should suit my taste and I saw it was 'The Queen' I shrugged and thought, oh dear, I don't really like that family at all. It will be boring. Anyway, it was a very good film and sort of funny and of course extremely sad at the same time. This disfunctional family are comedic except for the dreadful circumstances when a beautiful young woman dies suddenly in the fullness of life and the relatives haven't a clue how to behave.
Picking who was who was interesting as there was a kind of physical resemblance up to a point and 'Tony Blair' was a bit of a circus.

From the web about the film:

Not only is The Queen a British black comedy, it's a world-shaking tragedy and an intimately human drama, too. There are times when you will laugh in horror at the antics of the Royals and times when you will weep in sorrow. It's a bloody good film.
Helen Mirren does a great impression of both HM Elizabeth II, the proud and dedicated monarch of the world's biggest former empire, and Betty Windsor, hard-pressed mother of four squabbling kids. What makes watching her worthwhile is that she never quite separates the two women: you are always treated to the private thoughts of a public figure and the public actions of a very private woman. Playing off this performance is Michael Sheen as The People's Prime Minister™, Tony Blair. From enthusiastic antagonist to ardent advocate, Michael measures the character's growth through every scene.

The Queen also gives us a look at what goes on behind the scenes in the world of Elizabeth Regina: the plethora of people who stand around waiting for the next royal whim, the idleness of the impossibly wealthy, the introverted nature of the House of Windsor. It's fascinating, like watching a train crash in slow motion. There are times when you want to reach into the silver screen and slap someone.

If you've ever stood in the check-out line at the supermarket looking at gossip magazines then you'll like the Queen.

An interview with Helen Mirren

variations on buddha and bird drawings

from w
Using the drawing I posted before I used Photo-edit to try out different views of the same two pictures - such as negative, chalk, thick edge, embossed and so on. Click on each pic to enlarge.

Sculptures in gardens

from w
After looking at Margaret Olley's bright jolly paintings, my sketches are wimpy. Anyway I went to a garden shop where there are numerous sculptures and potted plants and did two pictures. One has a little buddha statue, the other has a metal bird. The garden shop has a website.