Brunswick gold 3: Bob

Bob lost his leg in the war, but gained a wife when he married the beautiful cook at his post. They were married for fifty years, had two children, and two grandchildren, all grown up now. Since his wife passed away, Bob has been living in a hostel close to us. We sometimes chat when he's having a smoko on the street; Bob used to work in the printing industry too, as a newspaper typesetter. I've never known anyone who can memorise as many jokes and tell them in such fast succession – completely poker-faced!

compositions with human hands and tired birds

Diego the parrot likes to fall asleep like this,
especially on cooler nights.

constructions

shelter (sleep)

This is the work of my best friend and a beautiful artist, Amanda Verschuren.

She is "… interested in using the visual language of architecture to examine the nature of housing and accommodation. Construction materials and processes and their metaphorical meanings in relation to the themes of permanence and transience are key concerns."
(A.V. 2009)

More Amanda's sculpture/objects can be seen at
http://www.amandaverschuren.blogspot.com

5 am and alive

the ancient cities of CBD

Captured from a camera-sized crack
somewhere close to Franklin Street …

after the storm

showers eased


some dried off


some survived – summer plums?


some lights still glow








and clouds still carry rains

... in translation

Sunday evening is a sad wolf

wondering about the world

... and the importance of sunlight

This is my paternal grandmother in the 1930s,
and above a group of younger children
from where she grew up getting their
vitamin D from a sunbath.

(Photographer unknown, family archives)

water, air

Great Days

John Prine / Illegal Smile
(from the Great Days Anthology)

When I woke up this morning, things were lookin' bad
Seem like total silence was the only friend I had
Bowl of oatmeal tried to stare me down... and won
And it was twelve o'clock before I realized
That I was havin' .. no fun

But fortunately I have the key to escape reality
And you may see me tonight with an illegal smile
It don't cost very much, but it lasts a long while
Won't you please tell the man I didn't kill anyone
No I'm just tryin' to have me some fun

Last time I checked my bankroll,
It was gettin' thin
Sometimes it seems like the bottom
Is the only place I've been
I chased a rainbow down a one-way street... dead end
And all my friends turned out to be insurance salesmen

Well, I sat down in my closet with all my overalls
Tryin' to get away
From all the ears inside my walls
I dreamed the police heard
Everything I thought... what then?
Well I went to court
And the judge's name was Hoffman

Ah but fortunately I have the key to escape reality
And you may see me tonight with an illegal smile
It don't cost very much, but it lasts a long while
Won't you please tell the man I didn't kill anyone
No I'm just tryin' to have me some fun

Well done, hot dog bun, my sister's a nun

* * *

xx0 & warmest apologies to everyone concerned : )
IK

They tried to make me go to rehab -

I said "no, no, no"

(Amy Winehouse)

sketches for paintings

With the light outside increasing towards spring, shadows grow softer.
For some reason I find myself currently drawn to the semi-lit moments between dusk and total darkness. Essential detail is still there, yet now somehow with a memory-like dimension, stillness which allows time for contemplation. Time distorts in an interesting way.

Thank you, beautiful friends.

amores perros

February 2009, Teotihuacan, just before a storm

fragile

a moment

This is such an old sketch but I still love it.

memory, thought, expression

in keeping with the thought of passing time
(time passing)

Ten winters ago now

louie



mark



norris and hamish



vivian

Western Australia, 1999

between dusk and darkness

15.8. 2009