From the wild to the tame

from w
I've often been interested in the space between the wild and the civilized, from the forest to the planted farm, from deep ecology to the organised city. I find that over-organised living spaces are uncomfortable, locked doors, shut windows, things like that. I love walking through a forest where small living creatures are not disturbed though I couldn't live there - with snakes and creeping things. I like verandahs, gardens and outdoor living. Perhaps tha's why I fitted easily into the lifestyle in Fiji. But as more and more forests are destroyed, and trees are felled, there won't be a lot of jungle/forest left and if we have to live in tightly knit apartments with rules (such as in Geneva) that you can't flush a toilet after 11 p.m., then I won't call that human living!

Over Christmas at Greendale I did some sketching outside a very modern home and it was so noticeable - that there are three kinds of spaces - the tall timber at a distance, flowerbeds mainly of pansies and cement nearby, and an indigenous constructed garden in between which is perhaps a firebreak which is necessary in this kind of landscape with so much timber. I made three pen sketches and back home made two paintings, but as usual, never satisfied, I messed about with shapes and textures using a computer program, Photo-edit. Click on any picture to enlarge to see details - which look a bit scary at times and remind me of the 70s!

A better way to show the three different sections would be to use different techniques for each part so that is next!

Christmas at Greendale

from w
It has been a delightful Christmas and Boxing Day for Peceli and me as we went to my brother John's place to meet with all his family - there were fifteen children and eleven adults (oops - fifteen adults and eleven children) so it was a contantly moving busy crowd with lots of fine food preparation, games under the gum trees, kookaburras and kangaroos, swimming in the dam, and plenty of conversations about life in Darwin, life in Geneva and France, and how life has been going for us all. The environment at Greendale is perfect - tall timber and houses snug in Lacote Road. We were privileged to have a most beautiful house to sleep in as neighbours up the road kindly gave us the run of their very modern home, with beautiful art objects and walls of fine books. Peceli found a minister's dream office so he browsed through Biblical study books he'd never seen before and wrote his sermon for later. Thank you to Marg and John and the families for a time of refreshment and connecting us once again with our Australian extended family.