The Brisbane River

This is an aerial photo of the Brisbane River I took in 2018 when on a helicopter ride around the city. As my beloved mother- in- law said this is not a straight river, it twists and turns and can confuse. As I was walking in the city today day I came across a brass plaque. There are a few on the ground. Not many people see them. This one is about the river. A central part of Brisbane life. A naked woman, a reclining thigh? What is your take on this "body" of water ? 

Brisbane enters lockdown today again - masks everywhere in the city and people taking it very much in their stride but compliance is there and that is what we need - keeping everyone safe. 

Shortest day 2021

Sunrise 6.37 am Sunset 17.01pm 

But in between 

A bit of this 

And a bit of that 

A gum nut here 

And a splash just there 

Spreading it out 

And colouring it in 

Playing with light 

In the bright sunshine.

Cheeky chappies on a breezy day

Some of you may know this lovely pair that went on holiday a while back without telling me. They are now back to their regular hours and are quite delightful, like today, a fairly breezy day, when they were puffing up their feather and making bouffant hairstyles which had me in stitches. 

Dennis and Doreen

Dennis showing some lovely tail feathers 

Doreen and her bouffant hair 

To have this contact with wild birds is just wonderful and I owe it entirely to our dog Tara, for whom we chose the house. We thought she would like it. She didn't make it, but look at all the lovely wild animals who stop by to keep us company. RIP Champ - Jill and Joe's dog and Charlie, Lucy and Joe's little rascal. 

You mean so much to us. 

 

European Masterpieces at GOMA

Four years in the planning, many months in the execution and last weekend saw the Gallery of Modern Art opening its exhibition of European Masterpieces to the public. 500 years of art right before our very eyes here in Brisbane all the way from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York - Yup, if we can't travel GOMA brings it all to us. What a treat! What a unique show! I spent the best part of this week there and I could easily go back and spend several more days. It's not just the art, its the way the Gallery enables us to connect with it -from apps and details on the artists and their works, to drawing our own still life drawings to lectures and musical interludes on a daily basis.They are incomparable in this skill and offer a world class experience. 

65 works have come to Brisbane. The earliest, the Crucifixion by Fra Angelico goes back to 1420-23

I am going to chose just a handful to show you - some real favourites 

Starting with Madonna and Child by Carlo Crivelli dating back to 1457

This work is done on a piece of wood with Egg tempura hundreds of years ago. A medium that is very difficult to work with and yet the results are so stunning. The Madonna and Child set in the forefront, lush gardens in the back, between large fruits on either side and what looks remarkably like a cucumber on the right - apparently a bit of a trademark of the artist, who clearly had a sense of humour and wanted to emphasise fecundity. His beautiful signature at the bottom as a folded piece of paper as well as an oversize fly buzzing around which the child is distracted by. 

This is the Portrait of a Young Man painted by Hugo Van der Goes 1457. 

Here it canvas and oil and suddenly all the subtleties of oil painting are opened up, including this young man's five o clock shadow. The wrinkles in his hands and his sunken eyes. Something profoundly sad and thoughtful in this young man's countenance, perhaps a reflection of the artist's difficult life.  

Venus and Adonis by Titian in the 1550s 

The quality of the light, their entwined bodies, her begging him to stay and not head out to hunt, perhaps a premonition on her part that she will never see him again. He was gored to death. 

Caravaggio's Musicians 1597

Caravaggio was 26 and newly arrived in Rome when he was commissioned to paint this work of Musicians, an allegory of music and love. It is thought the one looking back at us is Caravaggio himself. His departure from the norm was evident in this painting choosing ordinary people to feature in this scene.

 

Degas Danceurs 1834- 1917 

Artists beginning to allow themselves freedom in their subject matters. Backstage at the ballet - new subjects, different art, oil on canvas but looking almost as if it is a pastel. The image of a prying man with a hat on and a large belly, looking at the ballerinas. Somethings never change 😕

Renoir A young Girl with daisies 1889 

An exquisite sensual drawing though we are not sure whether she was a neighbour, a lover, or a friend. Mrs Renoir who appears in the wall opposite this young girl is not half as attractive or sensual. 

Cezanne and his still life 1891 

I never realised but his perspective leaves questions in a viewer's mind. They don't look quite right but that is because he was a master of dimensions, weights and depths and often wanted to give a whole image to the viewers from any side it was looked at. He said  "with an apple I want to astonish the whole of Paris". 

There is more, so much more but these were some special favourites. Do go if you can. 

Discoveries with Dougall 38 - picking up where we left off

Yup firmly in the neighbourhood which we love so much enjoying the interrupted blue of the skies, the warmth of the sun and the gentle breeze. Today's walk along Enoggera offered up some different images.

I loved this one of the straight conifers through the iron gate. 

The warmth of the sun and the slanting rays are just perfect for bringing out the bees. This bush was abuzz with them. 

They absolutely gorged on the flowers and who would not want a post box decorated in these colours?

He dipped in the stream and behaved very well. We visited our local Civocity Park to see what new additions had been added to this lovely inviting place along the creek. 

What better way to end the week - one son at home - the other sun on trunks and pods rich and earthy.

Sydney to Brisbane Via the Gibraltar Range.

The secret is to take a different route each time - and so we did heading out to Central Coast which we thought might be interesting but sadly was rather built up. Onto our first stop which was at Wyrrabalong National Park where we walked the Lily Pily circuit - there are a lot of eucalypt forests in Oz but each one is different and here there were so many spectacular red gums. 

Lunch was at Shake and Bean in Swansea complete with motorbikes, cars and aeroplanes in the cafe. We had hot dogs with tomato ketchup and mustard like teenagers enjoying Friday night out. 

Overnight found us at Absolute Beachfront Opal Cove Resort in Coff's Harbour which was a big resort by the Ocean. We enjoyed a walk and ocean views in the morning. This was the entrance of wonderful fig trees. 

We turned inland travelling through some other very tall eucalypt forests of Orana State Forest. Beautiful rolling hills, many homesteads and paddocks, horses and cows. We headed in the direction of Nana Glen towards Grafton an old and established town on the Clarence River rich from the timber trade. Notice the magnificent tree in front of the Court house and the original site of the Police station dating back to the 1870s. Grafton is famous for its flowering Jacarandas and has a Festival to celebrate them in Oct - Nov when they are in blooming. It is also the place where the first hand glider was invented. 

 

The Clarence River with some little islands in the middle of it - yes it is that wide. 

From there we started climbing into the Great Dividing Range - oh it was so beautiful. The Gibraltar National Park is one of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia. The forests are lush, rich and the views extend as far as your eye can take you. We snaked up the road next to the Mann river which flowed below. 

We pick-nicked in the warm sunshine over looking the mountain range and stopped at Raspberry Lookout which is a magnificent place to take it all in. There is even a stump of one of the cedars they cut down with axes in those days.

Descending from the mountain range we headed towards Wallangara on the border of the two states, famous for its steam railway trains and railway station  and from there to Stanthorpe to buy fruit and veg before our final stretch home to Brisbane enjoying yet another stunning sunset. And this is just a shortened version of the beauty and history this area holds. 

We are back and rested and raring to do it all over again, just in another direction.