So you are out and about - but what do you do

twobob · Guru

So you are out and about - but what do you do

Gary and Kerry · Guru

I have always wanted to learn to play the guitar. so before we head off in Feb I am going to buy one and hopefully by the time we get back I will be able to strum something out that is recognizable.

drongo & wendy · Senior Member

Well I breed australian native birds [shock horror for some] I find them very relaxing but frustrating at the same time. This i have been involved in since i was a little ankle biter. tyring to work out how i can take them arround auss with me, misses says im dead meat if i try. My other interest is orchids but with no hot house and this frosty climate dont have a lot of success.
Just noticed a good article in the OUTBACK AUSTRALIA web site about BRIGHT, if any are heading to the north east of VIC u may find it good reading.

DAVO

dave06 · Guru

BOB, I sort of think everyone has a "frustrated ambition" inside, this would surely be the time to turn it to "real time", I socialise yes and I love it but I am also intrigued by the "magic beepy stick" ( gold detector) in two years we will be "full time" we dont watch tv, it worries me a bit about all the endless hours to kill, but when we are "out there" there doesnt seem to be enough hours in a day, dont ask me where they go, but they do

Pam · Guru

I like to do the sudoku,kakuro puzzles on holidays. Hubby buys a variety of magazines sort of a special treat as they are too expensive to buy all the time.

waltzing matilda · Senior Member

Interesting question Two Bob. I try to see everything that interests me in an area, take lots of photographs. Always have my laptop so edit the photos as I go along. I'm also a freelance writer so I spend time at libraries (if I'm in a town) and talking to people about the places I'm in as well as researching on the internet. And write notes and drafts for articles. I love history, what real people did in this spot years ago, so check that out as well.

For example, when I was in Busselton, W.A. I went int the library and came across the diary of Georgiana Molloy. She wrote about life in the settlement round the 1840s-50s. Interesting insights particularly relating to the Aborigines. Her real claim to fame is her collection of and research into the native plants of the area which she sent back to the Royal Conservatory in London. The gentlemen of the conservatory took her work and published it under their own names but she is finally being recognised for her pioneering research. Her diary made Busselton a much more interesting place for me as I could travel through time with her as well as place.

Travelling round central Australia, gave me a great admiration for the almost forgotten explorer, Ernest Giles, who covered more territroy in his explorations than any other explorer! Reading his diary and visiting the places he explored gave me a tremendous appreciation for the persistence and dedication of this man and possibly the fact that we are all capable of so much more than we ever do.

Camping is also a great time to catch up on the reading, sit around with a glass of my favourite liquid (slightly mind-altering) and socialise. Actually, there's never enough hours in the day but at least it's not the same as the pressures of home and the jobs to be done.

Got a bit carried away there Two Bob, didn't I? But you get the picture.

-- Edited by waltzing matilda at 16:15, 2008-10-19

twobob · Guru

Veronica
I love early aussie history. Some of the things that early pioneers did, are still being done by GN. READING, prospecting, Painting, observing and collating, WRITING, all what has been seen and observed.

I started this thread, just so GN understand the journey. There IS time to do that course, take that study, try some painting, make soap. Not only that, it is necessary, to have an interest, outside of the jouney. Learn, try new things, see everything and grow from it all.

This thread is for everyone to "tell", what they also wish to do, achieve, and learn.

Veronica, I will see you at the corner, in 2010, I hope

MikeMin · Veteran Member

Hi Guys, we are both very keen lawn bowlers and where possible, will toddle off to a local club to get a game. Hubbie is a keen fisherman and will spend time chasing the elusive big one. I have a project going whereby I am scanning hundreds of family photos and documents and once categorised, will then start a photobook on the family history for our children. This is going to be a longterm project which should keep me out of trouble. Added to the above, I will keep an extensive diary of daily trials, tribulations and wonders.

jimbo · Guru

You should have a great time on the road...I too am a keen bowler and like to play wherever I can get a game...Around Tweed Heads and Southern QLD is my first Port of Call....Useally six weeks of the year....Can't wait to just head off around the country...

Bubs · Senior Member

Well, I am one of the lucky ones who has found a passion that I can take wherever I go!
I am a landscape artist, so just imagine how it is going to be for me. All those beautiful landscapes .. and not ENOUGH time to paint them all!

twobob · Guru

Bubs

It not about painting whats there, its been done, should not it be about painting, as you see it. Life experience.

A painting is about the artist, the experience and the outcome - thus the final product. Is this not true about the journey, even for those that do not paint, but write poetry, books, or even a letter.

We go, we learn, and become ....

Make soap - bloody hard stuff to get right, but when it is right!!

Valderi · Veteran Member

Hi TwoBob

Thats a very interesting statement you mentioned about painting:
'It not about painting whats there, its been done, should not it be about painting, as you see it. Life experience.'

Lets look at Pablo Picassos early work, he drew and painted some of the finest anatomical works of art in the world from looking at whats there and this had all been done before. From this he was able to go to the next level which was abstract cubism, he produced some very great works and this all came from his early studies and was an extension of how he now saw things and wanted to express things.

I teach art and some of my students ask, why do my abstracts always turn out messy, where am I going wrong? I explain to them before you can paint abstract youve got to learn, study and draw what you can see, for example trees. When you know how to draw and paint a tree perfectly you can then take it to the next level and produce what you feel.

Some of my students are quite happy to produce traditional landscapes and work hard on them, other students liked to take it to the next level and look for something beyond what they see. As Claude Monet said, you can spend all your life looking for it and when you find it, you dont know what to do with it.

Bubs, have fun with your painting and enjoy what you produce. Painting is a personal and individual statement and no matter what you produce it will have you and your life experience in it, it ca'n't be any other way.

I too will be painting and drawing on the road, as I have done all my life, so there is no need to stop doing that once I am out in the bush seeing all these beautiful sights of this great country. I'm also looking forward to whiling away some time with the 'magic beepy stick' as Dave calls it, sounds rather therapeutic.

Cheers

Frank

-- Edited by Valderi at 11:43, 2008-10-21

dave06 · Guru

mate it's got me stuffed how you fellers can paint in the first place, a tree for instance has got to be one of the hardest things, I have yet to see a landscape artist paint a tree that I would accept as being a true reproduction of a tree, or at least any tree that I have seen, albert namitjira came close in his eary days, I have photography as another hobby and I am constantly dissapointed at my shots, I have roamed some fantastic country and have thousands of fantastic photos from all over aus. but cannot "capture" the essence of that to which I see, I use adobe photoshop cs2 and find that I must "touch up" some of my shots, it has got to be one of the most frustrating things that I have ever tried to do, I have seen photographs of a waterdrop just above ground level on its way down into a puddle, with another droplet producing circles in the puddle, crystal clear and absolute perfection fantastic, but way beyond me, I cant even get the camera to focus to the spot where the drop is going to be, if you have a little time I challenge all and sundry to try it, oh and the "magic beepy stick" is still adding to my collection of ringpulls, a few coins but as yet no damn gold, but it is a fantastic way of combining a great walk and an absorbing hobby, very relaxing also challenging at the same time and resets the brain

Helen · Veteran Member

You sure started something here TwoBob. I am never bored on the road and have too much stuff packed to keep me busy. Apart from doing the tourist thing, I try and have a decent walk everyday, paint, but haven't for a while, have a recorder to learn somewhere! Italian language books, ditto. Read heaps and replenish supplies at op-shops and book sales. Knit and also do patchwork, which I eventually plan to make pocket money from. Have a laptop which I can watch TV on, movies or play games edit photos etc. Should work occaisionally, but heck, where's the time?

Cupie · Guru

dave06 wrote:

I have yet to see a landscape artist paint a tree that I would accept as being a true reproduction of a tree, or at least any tree that I have seen,

Dave .. Your comments sent me off to have another look at my (yet to be hung) prints of "The Three Gums" by Sir Hans Heysen and "King of the Riverbed" by Henk Guth. These are magnificient paintings that do it for my wife & I. You should certainly be able to view the one by Heysen via google but I suspect the much less famous one by Heysen was destroyed in the fire at his gallery Panorama Guth in Alice a few years ago.

cheers .. G

dave06 · Guru

graham, hans was one of the greats and his gum trees were damn good, I am a big fan of his, I have visited his home at hahndorf many times (the cedars) but just take a look at the way the branches are sort of flowing, he has the bark down pat but the branches and leaves still eluded him, I have stood at the spot where these were painted and seen the trees, albeit heaps of years later and it is very close but not quite, but he was one of our elite

Cupie · Guru

Dave ... Couldn't agree more ... about his greatness. I too have stood at that spot.
You're right about the leaves too .. funny I never noticed that B4. Although I suppose Guth is a much lesser painter, his leaves are to my sye, much better.

cheers .. G

dave06 · Guru

henks leaves are better than Hans but the form of the branches to my eye are too flowing he couldnt quite capture the "real river red" but thats my opinion. I would love to live either of their lives, travel paint, travel paint, most of sir hans work was presold, the cedars is a magical little cottage on the edge of hahndorf in the magnificent adelaide hills, fresh produce delivered to his door everyday by a gratefull populace, worshipped in your own neighborhood, hows that for "the good life" they were and still are some of the countrys finest artists and are yet to be equalled but to try and capture something like a big river red or a bluegum must be an enormous task to set, my brother did a bit of work the other side of whyalla and met a black feller up there, used to come and have a cuppa with the road gang, top bloke, he etched a scene on the top of a doctor pat tobbacco tin using nothing more than a spoon, emus and kangaroos feeding beneath a tree, never seen anything like it before or since and my brother wont part with it

Ole Grizzly · Senior Member

Wow, I am so fortunate as to be living virtually next door to the Cedars.....
Have done quite a few hours volunteering by weeding and general maintenance around the property , and thoroughly enjoyed my reward of Devonshire Tea provided by the gallant ladies who would poke a pointy stick at us blokes if we slowed down for a manly chat..
All in good fun and companionship working towards a good worthwhile cause.

Ole Grizzly · Senior Member

But, to answer 2 Bob..I can't. As yet I haven't been on the camping trail and will have to see if I get bored of myself and require some entertainment.
Probably have others camping nearby being entertained by watching me set up camp the first few times, or by seeing my dinner disappear in to a cloud of smoke and charred ruins..
Guess I'll have to buy some tilers knee pads for when I go begging for a feed at other campfires..

dave06 · Guru

graham, I studied more of Hans work a bit more closely whilst waiting for the next load, I found this one and it is very close to "the perfect gum tree" painting that I have seen 'AMBLESIDE LANDSCAPE, if you can find a copy and study it you will see what I mean, I found the print being advertised on ebay, it is truly amazing and as close to real trees as I have ever seen, he has the branches "looking" correct and the leaves as close to perfection as I have seen, so I must (gladly) take back that which I spoke of earlier, these are truly a reproduction of a "real tree" and the best I have come across, he is, in my eyes, a "master" , of course all spoken with the sight of an absolute novice ( I know nothing of art) as I stated I photograph (albeit not very well) and would not attempt to paint, I do however like garys idea of learning to play the geeetar, I may try that one day. grizz, well done for vollunteering at the cedars, a good worthy pastime, special place, almost a shrine, no kneepads required at our camps, beer and a chair are however compulsory items, and yes there is a lot of "entertainment value" in watching others setup their camps as you will see when you are out there

-- Edited by dave06 at 12:37, 2008-10-23

NannyMon · Veteran Member

"and yes there is a lot of "entertainment value" in watching others setup their camps as you will see when you are out there"
You got that right Dave, the other day when my son and I were setting up the "Eagle" (only the second time my son had done it and the very first for me) it was pouring rain and everyone just sat under their annexes and watched ... and yes we did get a few grins and comments the next day. One couple, who were right opposite my son's set up, sat under that annex, for four days and watched the comings and goings of everyone in that caravan park, I just couldnt understand it, why not sit on your verandah at home and watch the world go by, a lot cheaper than a caravan park.

dave06 · Guru

you meet ALL sorts in cp's mon, please refer back to some of your earlier postings and remember what was said then, dear lord, grant this traveller and so on and so forth!!! some fantastic people in them thar parks but some bloody weirdos as well!!! we are beginning to call it "the zoo"!!! get yourself some thicker skin and join life in all it's glory

twobob · Guru

Maybe this thread got a little side lined on painting. I own a Guth, and love it. To me he was a GN. He camped out in some really remote stuff. I am sure he did other things than paint. In fact if I think about it and his gallery, he observed nature.

Are there any writers, poets, singers?

What about people those that are using this spare time to do study (other than art).

I am not a poet, but when you have such an environment, and a mind that wonders, I have strung together some dirty ditties. But I have alway had music playing. Love to learn the guitar, as Gary intends.

I have watch the animals, big and small, and wondered, how did they know to do that? ie bird build a nest, the structure is built safely for the known environment, sufficent for its purpose, and yet they do not read, or attend school.

Should I know the answer to this, and another thing. What study do I need to do

-- Edited by twobob at 22:48, 2008-10-24

-- Edited by twobob at 22:50, 2008-10-24

dave06 · Guru

BoB, where we live here in pirie we have a parkland right opposite, well flats that the council couldnt give a rats about, I have adopted them and in the 20 plus years we have lived here we have planted it out in native bush land, we have had various animals and birds take up residence and come calling on us, baby lizards, fantail finches nest in our home trees, honey eaters live and nest in our standards out the front, they all call in when things get a bit hard out there, water and food, just a hand out now and again, we had a female magpie land in our backyard a few years ago now, obvious distress still very wild and unaproachable too weak to fly, over a period of about 6 weeks I fed her and took water out to her and gave her shelter, it got to the stage that she was coming over to us and landing on the back of the chairs pecking at ones clothing to be hand fed, we gradually weened her off and she took up residence in a gum across the road that I had planted a long time ago, a male soon came and we watched from our front seats her efforts to build a nest, first one blew down, eggs fell out of the second one but the third she got right, when the young hatched she was still "mooching" off us and feeding the young whatever we gave them, being in a drought food was and still is very scarce, when they fledged we had mum and 3 little ones waiting for us everymorning under the back verandah all carolling for breakfast, some of our most rewarding times were sitting under the back verandah with company and the little group of magpies running up and down our chairs, playing with various objects and performing little magpie tricks, they have all grown up and have nests and young of their own now but the original mum is still in the old gum across the road waking us with a carol every morning, and coming in when things "get a bit hard" when chased by hawks she comes straight in under the back verandah, so the birds arent born knowing how to build a nest it is trial and error, much like life, if it all falls in a heap start gathering more sticks and build stronger, good motto to live by I reckon!!!

NannyMon · Veteran Member

Thanks for sharing your magpies with us Dave, what a great story, and I am so pleased mother magpie has not forgotten your kindness to her.

twobob · Guru

Dave
Bloody nice post. Love interacting with "wild" life, and you did it right. Provided help, but not "handout" that changes the whole dynamic. Let them be them, and if they choose, and you know not to over do it (as you do), enjoy the experience.

We are the top of the food chain, but that comes with responsibility, for the whole of the food chain.

There you go, that was one chapter, in the book you will write - sell for a $squillion (less GST) and live on its proceeds.

On ya

Cupie · Guru

Hi 'twobob' .. My Guth minatures are "Simpsons Gap" & "Ghost Gums in the Macdonnell Ranges". I glance at them most nights as I amble/stagger off to bed .. they are in the hallway with downlights highlighting them.... a great way to finish the day. When I was on Norfolk Is. recently a person at their Panoramic Gallery said that the Panorama Guth galery at the Alice was burnt down recently. Fortunately I have a video of the place.
cheers .. Graham

twobob · Guru

Graham,
Mine is of Ormiston Gorge, purchased 1981. The galley was burnt down, but a number of years ago (2 I think). I might ask my mates there, what has happened to it. Knowing the Alice, they would have bull dozed it and built something for the tourist to live in. I like it as a reminder of the Centre, and its colours.

I wish I had more knowledge of the stars though, when there. Fantastic place to see the sky's, and the LARGE aray of star's. I would go to sleep under them, just doze off looking up. Nearly forgot the Satellites, and falling star's - thanks for the reminder.

Did you know, just north west of Tea Tree, there is a large crater, caused by an outer space object impacting the earth. And friends of mine use to own a watermelon and grape farm just south of TT - desert country and this oasis, just off the main road!

Basil Faulty · Guru

So what do I do? Geeeez I try to relax, lay on a beach (perving as SWMBO will tell you)..... I used to write magazine articles on our travels untill I discovered that I was being taken for a ride. Fishing, watching others arrive and set up camp can absorb many hours. Photography also provides me with a creative out let. I also do the tourist thing, there is always something to interest me, I love wineries well not the wine itself but I enjoy mingling with the pretentious types who tend to gravitate to those places..... Then of course there is always "work" to do, there is always some deserving venture that needs a hand for a day, a week or month and I am quite dextrous, always ready to sand or paint a railway carriage or tramcar under restoration and with my formal qualifications if I ever venture near the Murray I seem to spend considerable time on a paddle steamer (AND I LOVE IT) of course I can't go near Puffing Billy because I'm a life member there and SWMBO goes off if she has to ride in the 3rd class carriage....
Gracie now being a fully qualified Therapy Dog there is always the opportunity for us to "drop in" to an Aged Care Facility and pay the inmates errrrrrr Patients a visit, surprisingly most places seem shocked that we don't charge for bringing some sunshine as some apparently do....
I'm rarely bored, with my crook prostate there is always a loo to suss out...
As to ART I own a Streeton "Sunday At Coogee" which I was given years ago, I thought it was either stolen or a fake so kept it hidden for yeaRS until I met an affecianado and showed it to him and he said, " It's genuine, Streeton used to finance his travels by painting these scenes and selling them still wet on the day to a local for a few shillings, not very valuable but a nice piece, errr do you want to sell it?" Hey I may have it valued...