Photography

Sunday Studio Visit – a bit of photography!

Its been a while since I posted – I have been sick in varying degrees (coming good, then not) for a few months now. I started with insomnia a few months ago which left me run down. I then came down with a virus which I couldn’t shift and which developed from there to a severe chest infection and virus induced asthma! I have never had asthma, so it has been weird! Due to ll of this I have been doing the bare minimum of what I need to do, and now that I am starting to feel better (I think) I am in catch up mode.

I haven’t even posted a Christmas pressie reminder for my ETSY shop – so here is one now 🙂

As for today’s Sunday studio visit – I wasn’t in the studio today. Being a couple of weeks from Christmas we had a family Christmas lunch with a side from my partners family, which was lovely and relaxing. The weather was beautiful, which is only just starting to happen in Ballarat – so it was perfectly timed!

The hosts live a big warehouse which they are slowly converting in a gorgeous home, and there were some fantastic views from the outdoor deck of the surrounds, which included some great geometric architectural juxtapositions which I couldn’t resist capturing on my phone.

So, I thought these shots would be a great re-introduction to my – hopefully – more regular blogging life 🙂

Enjoy!

Photo Challenge – Thursday Doors

I haven’t participated in a WordPress photo challenge for a while, so the ‘door’ challenge I stumbled upon on the travel blog of Miscellaneous Musings of a Middle Aged Mind was a great way to tempt me out of my cacoon!!

I love the textures in old doors, and also the historical stories behind them (if you will excuse the pun). I also love the way modern technologies – electricity wiring, downpipes, etc – wind and weaves respectfully around the doors.

So I am sharing a few doors I captured during some travelling through France. The first two are from Vallauris, where I did an art residency, and the other if from Vence which I visited whilst in France during the residency.

Enjoy 🙂

Peeling paint textured door, Vallauris, France, with an inset of the gorgeous textures

Mid Week Snow ….

BBRRRR …. we have had a cold snap here in the southern reaches of Australia, and where I live is a high area of Victoria which is usually colder and more rainy than other parts of Victoria. It has been really cold and wet now ffor about a month, more so in the past few days, in the lead up to a forecast for snow!

So with a forecast for snow and below 0C temperatures, I awoke to snow this morning. Snow is beautiful and I say, if its going to be that cold it may as well snow!! We usually get snow flurries here most Winters, in fact the last was only two weeks ago, but it is not usually enough to settle on the ground. Today’s snow was the most we have had since June 2000. I did take pics of that snow, and have searched, but can’t find them.

Here’s a YouTube drone view of the area near me courtesy of Higher Perspective Photography – I live on the other side of the mount, which is Mount Warrenheip.

And here are some pics of today’s snow…. they are all colour photos, but some appear black and white due to the flat light. They are all straight from my phone, no filters in an attempt to capture the grey atmosphere of the morning – enjoy 🙂

Artworks in the snow

Artworks in the snow

The garlic patch

The Lemon Tree

Weekly Photo Challenge – Mother Earth

This weeks WordPress photo challenge inspired me as it combined those two wonderful words ‘Mother’ & ‘Earth’

The challenge is posited between Earth Day and Mothers Day, depending on where you are in the world – but regardless, it is a great theme, and one I must address.

In our current climate where politicians seem to continue denying climate change – or if they accept it, they have to implement policy that suits everybody (IE big business) – I struggle to feel positive about the future of the planet and my/our children.

Much of my ceramic artwork is informed by this atrocious dilemma and aims to draw the viewers attention toward the world climate crisis. My PhD thesis addressed these very issues – the climate within a feminist (mother earth) framework.

Within this context I am posting some images of amazing rocks found in Lorne, Victoria. The impressions on the rock faces are inspiring, caused by the ever changing cross currents within the bite of the area – they look so beautiful and organic, and I hope these images will inspire a rejuvenated outlook toward our precious environment, as is the aim with most of my artwork.

Photo Challenge : Landscape

Today I am participating in the WordPress weekly photo challenge, and this weeks theme is Landscape.

Last weekend I went to Lorne for the Sculpture Biennale, which I have posted about HERE.

While I was there I took a couple of landscape shots – well they are a combination of landscape/seascape/rockscape – but thats what coastal landscape photography is!

Anyway, I only took two shots, specifically for this challenge, which I looked up before I left,  because I was too busy shooting shots of the sculpture! I had intended to take more, but it didn’t happen.

It was an overcast day so the tones are gray which is actually a great contrast with the rocks.

So here are my pics 🙂

Lorne

Lorne

Be sure to visit other entries to the weekly challenge HERE.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Locks, Keys, Knobs and Handles

Its been a little while since I participated in a photo challenge on WordPress, but this weeks topic on Cee’s Photography blog caught my eye – mainly because I like doors, and handles and locks and stuff, and the textures that emerge on these objects over time.

I went back through my travel archives for this challenge and found some pics from Sth Korea, Italy and France – enjoy!

Be sure to also visit other entries to this challenge HERE

Antibes, France

France

Sth Korea

Vence, France

A Couple of Pics

I missed last Sundays studio visit – I was in Melbourne catching up with family stuff, so just couldn’t manage a post BUT I am going to share a couple of pics which I took whilst in Melbourne…

My mum is an avid dragon collector & this pic was taken early in the morning with the sun shining through her window & casting a fantastic shadow, highlighting a very small portion of her collection.

This yarn bombing pic was taken while hubby & I were having a coffee in the Footscray Mall … there was lots of tree decorating in the mall, including some miniature tutus around tree trunks!

That’s it for today …. see you later in the week 🙂

Cee’s Black & White Challenge – Lights

Happy mid week!

Today I am participating in a black and white photography challenge with the theme of “light” being hosted on Cee’s Photography Blog. 

I think that light can be very dramatic in black and white, which is why I love old black and white movies – the lighting can add so much mood to the feel of the film!

The pics of the lamps were taken tonight specifically for this challenge and the overhead shot was taken a couple of years ago at a restaurant in which my son works. I am pretty happy with the shots, especially considering they were all taken on my HTC phone!

Anyway, enjoy my post, and be sure to check out Cee’s blog for more participant posts 🙂

Instagram Photoaday Challenge

Did you know I have an Instagram account? You can follow me HERE…

This month I have been participating in a photoaday challenge on Instagram…. each day has a different theme, and participants post of photo each day with the appropriate hashtags so everyone can find the posts…

I’ve also been joining a challenge set by the National Gallery of Victoria – 30 days of creativity. I’ll post about that in the future.

For now, I am going to share some of the pictures I have posting for the photoaday challenge …check out my IG account to see them all 🙂

Cee’s Photography Challenge : Doors and Windows

Today I am participating in a photo challenge posted on Cee’s Photography, a blog I have been following for a while.

This weeks challenge is doors and windows – both components have to be in the shot, and the challenge drew me back to my artist residency in France in 2010 where I fell in love with doors and chimneys!!

These doors are all photographed in Vallauris, a small town in the south of France famous for pottery… in fact it was settled (colonised) by the Romans because of the vast amount of clay available in the area. And this Roman influence can be seen in the medieval doors scattered throughout the town. While not all doors had windows, many did, as medieval doors had little spy holes, and I was amazed at the height of these doors – five foot nothing = Romans of the time.

So, onto the pics – enjoy 🙂