Close Observations

Kereru – In New Zealand Even the Pigeons are Spectacular

Image | | Loraine

NZ 2013

nz 2013 2

I recently spent a wonderful week on the south island of New Zealand at the 5th Global Botanic Gardens Congress. On the very last day of our visit we made it to the gorgeous Dunedin Botanic Gardens for a morning spent oohing and ahhing over the gracious lawns, gardens and magnificent trees. Just as we were leaving we found this beautiful creature pecking away at leaves in trees just near the entrance gates. It was kind enough to pose. You can click to make bigger. More on the lovely native wood pigeon here.

Fragments

| Loraine
I’ve always been thrilled to find little shards of china buried in the garden or on digs along land that used to be near housing. I love the ornate decorations. I want to know the story of the cup or plate or bowl – how did it come to be exactly there under my feet? I have quite a collection and I am drawn to people who like to pick up and collect the things I do. 
This little as yet unfinished drawing, done in fine pen on quite rough water colour paper features pieces from my own treasure trove and a couple of spectacular pieces borrowed from a dear friend.The beauty of undertaking to draw something with lot of fine details is that you get to know it very well. The way the leaves intertwine, the shading to add depth to the decoration, the placement of petals just so, a temple here, a blossom there. I’ll never look at a teacup in the same way. 
Drawing the fragments has also been an exercise in faith – the faith in my ability to represent the art already inherent in those small remnants of something useful. At times I found myself struggling with confidence – I could actually almost hear the doubting voice when I was about to tackle a particularly complex decoration. I’m practicing quietening that voice and learning to continue working in spite of it. It’s a nice feeling to make it to the other side of that doubting time and settle to work or in this case settle to play.

PS – If I was doing this again I probably wouldn’t start on really rough paper – every time a .005 pen tip hits a bump it’s like driving into the side of a mountain!

Desk 2

| Loraine
I’m a terrible sticky beak for other people’s spaces, especially workspaces, making spaces, offices, hideaways… I have a very small office hideaway of my own and although it’s a bit jam packed with stuff I love it and I love being at my desk in front of window that looks out onto the hedge. I feel peaceful, creative and optimistic here.

Full Moon Silhouettes

| Loraine

Full Moon Silhouettes from Mark Gee on Vimeo.
 Click the clip to view full screen – this is very nice big.

 Mark Gee –

“Full Moon Silhouettes is a real time video of the moon rising over the Mount Victoria Lookout in Wellington, New Zealand. People had gathered up there this night to get the best view possible of the moon rising. I captured the video from 2.1km away on the other side of the city. It’s something that I’ve been wanting to photograph for a long time now, and a lot of planning and failed attempts had taken place. Finally, during moon rise on the 28th January 2013, everything fell into place and I got my footage.
The video is as it came off the memory card and there has been no manipulation whatsoever. Technically it was quite a challenge to get the final result. I shot it on a Canon ID MkIV in video mode with a Canon EF 500mm f/4L and a Canon 2x extender II, giving me the equivalent focal length of 1300mm.“


Music – Tenderness by Dan Phillipson : http://premiumbeat.com/royalty_free_music/songs/tenderness

http://markg.com.au
http://facebook.com/markgphoto
http://markg.com.au/2013/01/full-moon-silhouettes/

The rising moon or the setting sun still has the power to move us.

Big Leaves – Little Birds

| Loraine
Last week’s wild, windy weather brought me an unexpected gift in the shape of a big, fallen nest. It’s the most fabulous structure and there’s no way my photography can do justice to the intricacy and sheer ingenious use of materials in this nest. I admire the perseverance it must take to gather and fashion this motley collection of both natural and man made materials into a home for infant birds. A strong bird built this one – heavy gauge wire, both new and rusted, small pieces of chicken wire (oh, the irony!) cotton, string, branchlets and hundreds of strands of varied fibres are built into this lovely sturdy nest. I’m in awe.

Birds have been on my mind. This weekend I spent a quiet hour or two playing around with disassembling photographs of things I’ve made previously and reassembling them with new components. The big, leathery leaves of Ficus macrophylla are particularly wonderful, changing colour from yellow to ochre and deeper brown on my desk as the days pass and I like the way copied driftwood from this piece remind me of seabird bones. Lots of connections – just like in the natural world.