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What do an Australian Fur Seal, a New Zealand Fur Seal, a Sub-antarctic Fur Seal and a Humpback Whale have in common...
a) From year to year they all spend some time around the coast of Australia.
b) They all love water, especially when commercial fishermen aren't around.
c) They are all ace.
d) All of the above.
Medium: watercolour and pencil on Rising Stonehenge cream 100% cotton 245gsm paper
Dimensions: 9 X 14cm
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I've been drawing a lot of late, so I thought I'd do some drawing heavy, back to back postings this week. This one is all about those feathered guys in the skies, birds.
Blue Wrens frolic, with threads to keep them from loosing each other.
A Magpie decorates his branch with fairy lights.
A Giant Ringneck Parrot heads to the dam for a drink.
A Golden Shouldered Parrot hitches a ride on the top of a freight truck.
Parrots watching the wind change.
Where the Ringneck Parrots used to perch.
Medium: watercolour and pencil on Rising Stonehenge cream 100% cotton 245gsm paper
Dimensions: 9 X 14cm
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I’ve just returned from a little country trip, the highlight of which was getting to go for a ride on the back of a Harley.
I was able to hear the roar and hum of the bike as the key turned and it started up. I was able to cruise around a country town I'd never seen before. I was able to feel the warmth of the exhaust pipe on my ankle as the cold wind and stinging rain hit my face, speeding along the highway. I was able to feel what it was like to glide around corners and zoom up a driveway into a garage, stopping just in time so as not to hit the KTM and an old Holden parked alongside. Then I was able to stand around the bikes talking about trips to Cape York on the very fine KTM.
For a short while I was able to feel like a real biker and it was totally fantastic!
Other modes of transport encountered on the trip included a few slightly rusty utes and a very handsome horse named Trooper, who likes nothing more than eating a cut up carrot and later licking your hand.
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Bears the world over face many threats, from being hunted for their body parts or captured and held in appalling conditions and made to perform. Bear baiting and bear bile farming, so many heartbreaking stories I don't know where to begin.
One problem I thought I'd put into a drawing this week, is the bears loss of habitat as land is cleared for farming. I thought I’d make sure this group of four bears had a little money tucked up their collective sleeve so as to buy back some of their land… as well as the services of a few helpful humans to replant their forests too.
Asiatic Black Bear with cash, to buy back her habitat.
Sun Bear with cash, to buy back her habitat.
Sloth Bear with cash, to buy back his habitat.
Spectacled Bear with cash, to buy back her habitat.
This little quokka has been having trouble with well meaning tourists who have been feeding him… As he can’t speak human I thought it would help him if he wore this little badge.
Quokka with “don’t feed me” badge, to protect him from the tourists who feed him inappropriate food.
If you're anything like me and you need a little "happy ending" story to balance out thinking and reading about the cruelty that many bears endure, here's one I read over the weekend, about an Australian Bush Heritage Fund property in Queensland which is a refuge to many mammals including the amazing Lesser Hairy-footed Dunnart.
The Bear Necessities:
Unbearable
Bear Baiting Events Stopped in Pakistan
China Bear Rescue
How you can help
And now for a feel good photo from flickr.
Medium: watercolour and pencil on Rising Stonehenge cream 100% cotton 245gsm paper
Dimensions: 9 X 14cm
P.S. This posting marks my one year blogging anniversary! I can't believe it's been a year already and I hope the next year of blogging is just as much fun as this one has been.
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The day of the tea party has arrived! I'm all packed and ready to go with my...
porcelain teapot,
(From Japan. Edo period, late 17th century AD)
Chinese gold-lacquered tea chest used at Mt.Vernon,
(From the Smithsonian Institution, Dept. of History)
coffee cups,
(From Hodeidah, Yemen, AD 1960s)
hand painted coffee cup,
(From Holland)
and a Jasper tea cup and saucer.
(Old Wedgwood)
So see you there.
Medium: watercolour and pencil on aquarelle arches 100% pure cotton hot pressed 300gsm paper
Dimensions: 15 X 15cm
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I read this article in The Age on Sunday about a Melbourne woman who only uses 22 litres of water a day - how amazing! Over the last year or so Gracia and I have been able to reduce our water usage from an average of 300 litres a day down to 100 litres a day. We've gone all "frugal with water" and that's without spending any money on water friendly appliances, a rain water tank or even a water efficient shower-head (though I plan on buying one in the next little bit).
So after reading about Val Yule of Mount Waverley, I thought it only fitting I should post a few more of my new drawings... two of the four being water dwelling critters.
Gulf of California Porpoise with scissors, to help her escape from commercial fishing nets.
Several more Giant Otter with goggles, to protect their eyes from the mercury contaminated waters.
Long-nosed Echidna with a hammer, so that he can build a fence around his habitat and protect himself from hunters.
PS. See you all at the tea party!
Medium: watercolour and pencil on Magnani pure cotton 250gsm paper
Dimensions: 9 X 14cm
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It's the start of a new year but all the old concerns like "what are we doing to this planet!" still plague me. As a consequence I've started a new series of drawings and here are my first few...
Polar with floatation devices, to help save her from drowning.
Giant Otter with goggles, to protect his eyes from the mercury contaminated waters.
I wanted to find a video link of this amazing guy in the wild, but alas I could only find footage of a cub in a domestic setting... I'm assuming he's been rescued and on the road to recovery?
Medium: watercolour and pencil on Magnani pure cotton 250gsm paper
Dimensions: 9 X 14cm
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Here's to a great new year for everyone in the southern hemisphere...
and in the northern hemisphere too...
and of course to those of you who are stitched and hand sewn.
(New things made by Thelma.)
(An owl pinnie by request, without buttons for a baby.)
Here's to new adventures, new drawings and new tales. And thank-you to the three Polar Bears, a favourite of mine, who stayed still long enough for me to draw them. This trio also happily put up with me draping them in fairy lights to mark the occasion.
Medium: watercolour and pencil on aquarelle arches 100% pure cotton hot pressed 300gsm paper
Dimensions: 18 X 26cm
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