Jen and Poppy - Insane sunsets at White Cliffs.

Day 17 Sunday May 24, 2009

White Cliffs notes will follow as soon as we can get back in front of a computer.

Today we are heading south to Mungo National Park for a few days camping, on the first leg of our return trip to the coast.

Please stay tuned for more excellent adventures from Poppy and Jen.

 

Jen & Poppy - FORMER GLORY

Mt Gipps and Tarrawingee

Day 16 Saturday May 23, 2009

After a slightly slow start, we were on our way heading north on the Silver City Highway in Deirdre’s band new Toyota Landcruiser. First stop, just off the highway at Yanco Glen. We foraged through the remains of the old pub and settlement trying to piece together what would have been there, with only footings, smashed bottles, rusty metal and corrugated iron to go by. We took a few samples with us, then we drove the 9kms of dirt to the gate of Mt Gipps Station. An 85,000 acre working sheep station, now owned by John and Kym Cramp. Mount Gipps Station was one of the first properties settled west of the Darling River in the 1860’s. Sidney Kidman worked there as a young lad. In 1883 Charles Rasp a boundary rider along with 6 other men working on the station staked out a mining claim to one of the richest silver, lead and zinc deposits in the world. They formed a syndicate of 7 and called it BHP in 1885. In 1891 a private railway line was built from Broken Hill to Tarrawingee limestone quarries. Evidence of this line can be seen today weaving its way through Mount Gipps. Mount Gipps Station has a geological history spanning from around 800 million years to 1.7billion years and there are also several old mines on the property.

When we arrived at the homestead, Kym greeted us with a refreshing cuppa and a slice of Australian Celebration cake. Kym first showed us around the station’s shearers huts and the old overseers homestead, which she rents out to interested tourists. They are in the process of trying to restore the property to its former glory, and they’re doing a great job of it.

On our way to Tarrawingee, we took a slight detour to check out the relics of German Charley’s hotel. Back in the Toyota again a few kilometres up the road, we came across the incredible letterbox of Poolamacca Station, pictured above. It was another big photo session here for Jen, Poppy and Deirdre, as Kym forgot her camera. Then it was on to the remains of the village of Tarrawingee. The only evidence left of this once thriving 300+ person town, is the stone train station platform, about 5 huge in-ground stone water storage tanks, footings of several dwellings, a stone verandah floor, millions of smashed bottles in every colour and loads of flattened, rusty tobacco tins. We looked around here for a few hours before the tall shadows moved us along. The sun was getting low as we headed north a bit further to see the old limestone quarry. We walked down into the base of the open cut mine and from here the ancient layers of stone are truly amazing.

It was a quick trip back to Kym’s station for a hurried look at their woolshed before the sun went down. We sped past the most amazing sunset as Deirdre drove like a bat out of hell back to the Hill.

Stay tuned.

Poppy and Jen

 

Jen & Poppy - Headframe

Day 15 Friday May 22, 2009

We were up super early and photographed the art exchange and Brown’s Shaft at the Junction Mine in the glorious morning light. Then back to the art exchange for brunch, fabulous pouched eggs and bacon on a crusty white loaf. Then we were back out in the super Rav, for more photographing around the Hill. After a long day with our fingers on the trigger and about 1000 pics later we were off to local artist Deirdre Edwards' for dinner. Her very kind son was our chef, which we came to learn was a good thing, because Deidre “can’t cook!” and that was in her own words. She also said “ he didn’t learn that from me”, dinner was great and we headed home for a good nights sleep to get ready for our next adventure out to Mt Gipps Station. 

Please stay tuned for our next excellent adventure, back out in the bush.  

For more info on Deirdre Edwards http://djdee.com.au

Jen & Poppy  

 

Jen & Poppy - Incongruous

Day 14 Thursday May 21, 2009

Today we spent the day gathering images from old shops around the town of Broken Hill for a prospective collaborative work. Corinthian columns, corrugated iron, fake bricks, pressed tin, timber, brick, fibro and beautiful sandstone. These are just some of the materials that can be found on a single building. This was our first opportunity to really spend some time viewing the disparate architecture of the Hill.

Stay blogged on to Poppy & Jen.

'The shooter gets shot'

From Jen by Poppy

Jen & Poppy - Reined in!

Preliminary experimental work

Day 13 Wednesday 20th May.

Rain had set in overnight, so our plans to visit a historic homestead with local artist, Deirdre, were cancelled.

We decided to stay in at BHAE and actually do some artwork.

Poppy was busy all day making a soundtrack then editing and manipulating the video piece to go with it.

It’s pretty damned cool if you ask me!

I started painting, laying down textures, just trying to capture the essence of the amazing rocks and trees we had seen in Mutawintji National Park.

Despite the bleak weather, we had a pretty successful day.

 

Jen & Poppy

Jen & Poppy - Otto's Grotto

Day 12 Tuesday 19^th May

Otto's Danish Castle 

Today we visited a bizarre but interesting place. Burnt out relics, which left us puzzled and confused. We had too many questions not to do a little research and find out what it was all about. It's been said that you could get anything "from a needle to an anchor" at Otto Holten's hardware store. Otto was a Danish migrant who arrived in Broken Hill in the early 1900's, He created a thriving business that sold anything and everything for over fifty years. He built his own house and shop on the same large block in the predominantly migrant area of the south broken hill. The house, an astonishing replica of a Danish castle, was destroyed in a storm. The shop, a rambling, adhoc building described as a 'rabbit warren' was affectionately known as the grotto. Defying union rules, he traded seven days a week, providing the materials needed to build the many houses that sprang up in the area during the mining boom. A union dispute marked the end of Otto's business, and the old man died soon after the shop was burnt to the ground in the seventies. But old Otto's Grotto is now enjoying a new lease of life, courtesy of pensioner Karl Hahn. Karl moved to Broken Hill about a year ago and chanced upon Otto's story. Since that time he has taken it upon himself to turn the old site into an 'open air museum', spending virtually every day at the disused site, currently owned by the Public Trustee. After visiting Otto’s grotto we headed for the Mundi Mundi planes for another missed sunset, this time there was a thick band of cloud on the horizon. On our return journey we counted the 39 dips in the road between Silverton and the Hill. The night was topped off with a plate of chicken, bacon and mushroom fettuccine that we shared with Patrick the photographer. 

If you are interested in more info on Otto’s grotto follow this link http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2009/05/07/2563893.htm

Please stay tuned for the next exciting installment from the "YoungOnes"

Poppy & Jen

Blogger's Bog - Poppy and Jen

Blogger’s Bog

Day 11 Sunday 18^th May

 

We got up and went straight to the computer to start blogging, no tea, no coffee, no breakfast keen to get it all down. We blogged until 11am when we took a short break for some brunch, mmm! bacon and eggs. We then promptly retuned to the blogger’s desk. What a "Hommeresque" day, we kept on blogging through the day and night with another short break for dinner, mmm! Nacho’s again which was accompanied buy a DUFF BEER for Poppy and a tequila for Jen ahhh! When we finished bloging at 2am it was definitely time for bed, but no need to get change we were still in our pj’s.

 

Please stay tuned for the next exciting installment from the "YoungOnes"

Poppy & Jen

Homestead Gorge - Mutawintji

Homestead Gorge - Mutawintji 

Jen & Poppy

Homestead Gorge - Mutawintji 

Day 10 Sunday 17^th.

Jen & Poppy - Magical Mutawintji

  Atop Byngnano Range - Mutawintji NP

Magical Mutawintji

Day 10 Sunday 17^th.

After a great campfire breakfast with a Billy of tea, we set off for the Homestead Gorge passing some beautiful aboriginal stencils and engravings to the start of the Rock holes loop track. The track took us up the side of the gorge and along, so that we could view these incredible rock holes from above. We made our way back down the rock face to the sandy bottom of the gorge again. We then forged our way up the gorge as far as we could, stopped only by the large water holes which still remained, about a meter under their usual embedded waterline marks. After retuning to the main gorge we scrambled up an ancient watercourse, which was etched into the rock face, dotted with pools, which ran down from the top of the range. Large groups of indigenous people, around a thousand at a time, have gathered here for thousands of years to trade, celebrate, birth and perform initiation ceremonies. This place has an amazing feeling!

The view from the top of this solid rock mountain was truly awesome. You could see for miles in every direction the, it was one of the highest place around. We started our decent, squeezing through tight rock crevices, abseiling and rock hopping down the dry creek beds. What a fantastic and fascinating 4 hours of solid walking, climbing, scrambling and stumbling. We arrived back at the campsite exhausted and fell into our chairs, kicking back, we simultaneously registered the ominous sky and decided to pack up the tents and head back to the Hill. With it looking like rain we couldn’t take the chance of being rained in for 14 days or more. The drive back to the Hill was easier than we expected. We saw a flockish/herd of emus and a massive wedge tail eagle feasting on a fresh kill. Seeing as it was almost sunset time, we headed to the top of the Line of Lode, we missed it once again, but not for the fact of being late this time but for being too early for once, can you believe it? On our return to BHAE, we were invited to dinner at Patrick's place, for a German come Asian inspired dish, very delicious bratt kartoffeln mitt schwinefleisch.

 

Stay tuned to the same bat station, at the same bat time, for the next exciting adventures from the now “crazy ones” (don’t worry, just a mild bout of BH fever)

Poppy & Jen

 

Lorna has a full day in the Studio

Yes, that's right a full day in the studio. 

After preparing the space ready to work over the last couple of days I was ready to commence work on this new series based on the experience of being in residence at Broken Hill and beyond. 

I had decided to commence with the River Road works of Kinchega National Park but after pulling out all the sketches (that I thought were hideous), I realised that they all have an essence of the place and time that just can't be duplicated by photography - even though having the photograph helps - being there and making the marks of that moment of time justify the experience to me now. Your eye remembers the shapes and mood with a different sort of accuracy.

After working on seven works on paper based on the sketches from the landscapes of Mundi Mundi, Kinchega and White Cliffs as well as three small canvases, the day was nearly over.

Beginnings are funny places to be. I too am landscape inspired like Sue and the Line of Lode has fascinated me from the beginning and is a totally different series of work. The history is significant and definitely needs more research and time for it to distill into a shape of its own. 

That's enough now from one of the 'older ones'!

Sue's Blog - No.3

Sue's blog No. 3
I am so surprised by my attraction to the industrial landscape that I have decide to start with that. It all began when I decided to make some largish drawings from around the town in the last week of the residency. I couldn't get enough of it. I have found some canvases and some old oil paint and today I began one painting based on the drawings. These drawings may turn up in prints too.

News from Sue - Blog No.2

Sue's Blog no. 2
The YoungOnes seem to be having a far more active time and by their reports are covering more National Park kiometres than the MatureOnes did. Haven't heard a thing about flies either.
Looking at my drawings and photos I have decided that I have two major areas of interest at the moment, the natural landscape and the mining landscape. Prettey obvious really!
Jen, when I saw your photo taken from the Line of Lode I thought it was one of your paintings. It was the stripes I think and it took me a while to work out what it really was. My photos in groups look like my work and I noticed that some of Lorna's looked like her paintings. Interesting, but not really surprising!

Groonki Mark - Mutawintji

Jen & Poppy
Day 9 Saturday 16th May.

The day began once again with Nelleke's delicious homemade muesli. First up we headed to the Mutawinji Gorge, which is a 6km return walk across rangeland country, where we had some close encounters with wild mountain goats. Then the walk continued into one of the park's most picturesque gorges, ending at a large peaceful rock pool enclosed by towering red cliffs. Here we came across our first Euro (kangaroo) relaxing by the edge of the waterhole. We enjoyed our walk back through the Beefwood and the native Cypress pines, which opened out onto the rangelands again where we marveled at the souring wedge tail eagles. With ominous clouds closing in we tried unsuccessfully to obtain information about the weather. After many fruitless phone calls we eventually gave up after NP rage hit boiling point, we decided to do the Thaaklatjika Mingkana Walk to calm down. It was a short easy walk into the splendor of the gorge up to the Thaaklatjika (Wright's cave). Within the rocky overhang are some fascinating examples of aboriginal paintings, stencils and engravings. We were horrified to see that William Wright had defaced an ancient "Groonki Mark" c. 8,000 years old, by painting his initials and date over it (1858). We continued up an arm of the gorge as far as we could go, then began to climb and discovered the Rockholes. Stones being swirled around in the pool by the strong flow of water during wet periods formed this series of holes. We returned to camp at dusk for Nachos and drinks.
Please stay tuned for the next exciting installment from the "YoungOnes"

Poppy & Jen

It's hard to find good wood!

Jen & Poppy
Day 8 Friday 15th May.

It took us all day to get out of town. We were packed up and ready to go @ 9am, but we spent hours looking for the illusive firewood, which national parks insist you take with you. We had an energizing fresh veggie juice from the health food shop before heading out to Mutawinji NP. We actually didn’t leave town until 2pm. The drive was good, although there were many rocks on red earth with lots off sand traps, very exciting. I got a bit dazed from concentrating on the road directly in front of the car, while Poppy was on animal patrol looking out for goats, emus, sheep, cows and kangaroos. We arrived after a dusty 2 hours on the road and quickly set up camp before dusk, just missing out on the last good spot. We made a campfire and cooked our gourmet snags with salad and roast potatoes. Then sat for hours chatting around the campfire, then climbed into our sleeping bags.
Please stay tuned for the next exciting installment from the "YoungOnes"

Poppy & Jen

Line a Load

Jen & Poppy

Day 7 Thursday 14th May.

Today we slept in, then spent the rest of the day doing our washing, renewing our supplies and buying the bits and pieces we still needed for camping, another camera battery, head torch and mug. We visited Tom, Dick & Harrys, a lovely café kitchen shop. Explored the little shops on Patton and Argent streets. We decided to head up to the Line of Load to check out the sunset before dinner. We got stuck at the railway crossing waiting for an endless goods train to pass, once again we just missed the sunset. The view was brilliant regardless of our timing. We headed to the supermarket – super mail and bought more food, water & wine.
We didn't have lunch so we were starving by the time we made lamb steaks and salad for dinner. We retired to our beds for a little light reading – research for our forthcoming trip to Mutiwintji National Park.
Please stay tuned for the next exciting installment from the "YoungOnes"

Poppy & Jen

360 Degrees

Day 6 Wednesday 13th May, part 2.

We drove back to Broken Hill following the pipeline, which supplies The Hill with water from the Menindee Lakes.

After arriving back at the Broken Hill Art Exchange (BHAE) we showered our 3 days of camping off and headed out to the living desert sculptures, as per usual we just missed the sun going down. Despite missing the sun, we enjoyed taking in the 360degree view of the vast semiarid desert. We shall return, a bit earlier next time.

We had a disappointing meal at a pizza place downtown and then talked the night away with Patrick and Craig back at BHAE.

Jen & Poppy

Surreal Sunset Strip

View of Menindee Lake Sunset Strip.
Day 6 Wednesday 13th May, part 1.
We had a relaxing morning by the campfire taking pleasure in another bowl of Nelleke’s now famous muesli with a dollop of yogurt on top. We now felt at ease and where enjoying the surrounding environment. Then Poppy lent over and said “Ahhh how’s the serenity!”

We packed up camp then headed south on the river drive, following the banks of the Darling, we stopped to look at what was left of the PS Providence, a paddle steamer which was stranded on the river for over a year due to low water levels. After a night at the pub the crew decided it was time to get out of there and stoked up the boiler, it exploded due to the fact that they forgot to fill it with water. The explosion was so massive that the cook was later found hanging in a tree, he survived the explosion but later died of his injuries. The rest of the crew were all killed and were buried in the Knichega cemetery. The drive then took us past the original Kinchega homestead and cemetery, we walked through the site which gave us an idea of the isolation that the early pastoralists would have felt. We were left with more questions than answers after this experience. We headed out of the national park for the main road towards Broken Hill. We came across a gateway, which looked very much like it may contain a strange sect or cult. Curiosity got the better of us so we entered Sunset Strip! As it turns out Sunset Strip was a c. 1960s holiday retreat built on the edge of the mighty Menindee Lake. It watery playground for dusty miners from the Hill, it now seems bizarre seeing that there hasn’t been any water in the lake since 2002. It was a surreal experience to drive down the boat ramp into the dry lake and look back up towards the holiday houses with their jetties and pontoons now engulfed in sand.

Poppy and Jen

Magical Menindee's Sensational Sunset - Part 3

Day 5 Tuesday May 15th continued

Returning back to our camp we drove past the dry Pamamaroo Lake, which was a spectacular sight in the remaining light, an intense red band on the horizon fading into the blackness of night.
When we arrived back at camp we were horror-struck to find it totally empty!
Just before mass panic set in we realised it wasn't our camp, our camp was another kilometre further down river and there we found everything as we left it. The night ended with yummy roast potatoes topped with onion, garlic, bacon and capsicum.

Poppy & Jen

Magical Menindee's Sensational Sunset - Part 2

Day 5 Tuesday May 15th, part 2.
Lake Wetherall, beginning of sunset.
After leaving the Menindee pub we headed north to find water. We came across the last campsite of the ill-fated explorers Bourke and Wills. Five minutes up the road we came to the edge of Lake Wetherall, filled with water and dead trees. After much searching through desert and dry land it was amazing to feel the water in the air. We quickly searched for the best vantage point to view the sunset. We decided on a small finger of land jutting out into the lake where we crawled along the thickly wooded steep bank on the waters edge. We finally came across the perfect spot where a couple were trying to enjoy a romantic sunset with a bottle of champagne with Joss Stone playing in the background from the open doors of their Lexus. We settled in with them on the grey clay banks and enjoyed our very late lunch as the sun went down.
Watching the sun set here was a truly amazing experience! The colours were so intense they didn't seem real. If we hadn't had been there we wouldn't have believed these photos hadn't been enhanced. We started photographing the sunset at 6.10pm (top photo) and continued through to 7pm (next blog photo). The colours were continually changing, starting from blue hues going through silver, gold, orange, red, pink through to the purples. It was absolutely incredible!!!!!

Poppy and Jen

Classic Kinchega to Crusty Cawndilla

Day 5 Tuesday 15th, part 1.

After surviving the 1st night of camping and enjoying Nelleke's amazingly delicious homemade toasted muesli for breakfast, we set out for Kinchega Historic Woolshed. There in the middle of the desert is this amazing wood and tin structure which was once the largest in the central west. In it's hay day this 800,000 hectare property extended from Broken Hill to Menindee and run 8,000,000 sheep. Although the last sheep was shawn in 1967, you can still smell them. We took some (lots) incredible photos of this impressive building, the textures, lines, light and shade and repetition of shapes, capturing our imaginations.
After leaving the Woolshed we followed the lake drive and headed west toward Cawdilla Lake. It was quite surreal to walk on the bed of a dry lake which when full this lake system contains more water than Sydney Harbour. It was an eerie feeling walking through this previously submerged forest.
After a sandwich on the edge of the this lake of sand, we headed for Menindee and ended up in the pub. We had a drink with a helicopter pilot who was doing a geological survey of the area.
We heard rumors of water!!!
All will be revealed in our next installment!

Poppy and Jen

Sue's Blog

This is the view of the back of the Broken Hill Art Exchange with a full moon rising.

So far Lorna has done all the work on this blog.She is a superior communicator. I will add a few words even though it is now after the main event and we are both home again with our memories.

It was a surprise to me to find beauty in the industrial landscape of Broken Hill. Visually, it is a very interesting place indeed if you can allow yourself to look at all the strange mining structures and electrictiy cables rather than trying to view the lanscape through them.What a bizarre thing to do though, digging up all that earth and then dumping it somewhere else.The scale of this work is astonishing and the impact on the local society one way and another and on the growth of Australia we have only just begun to understand.

Visits to the nearby National Parks were a treat.I have been to the outback before so the colours and shape of the natural landscape were not a surprise to me  but I loved it all once again. The morning and evening light add a certain quality to it. The big question is how to speak about it in my own voice as a visual artist. This will be the challenge in the studio over the next few months.

The Broken Hill Art Exchange was a good and stimulating place to be and I would recommend it as a residency to other artists. We mixed with a number of other artists and as our brief required of us we exchanged information with a number of artists, some of whom are planning a trip to the coast now. Nice for us to find ouselves among photographers and video artists, musicians and poets. The moon came up at sunset on our final evening. Pictured here is the back of the Art Exchange, not yet renovated. The front and the interiors of the studios are quite comfortable.This would have been a very flash shopping centre in the 1950s.

The Dusty Darling

After driving 1,400 kms in 1 and a half days we finally reached Broken Hill.
We were introduced to the other artists @ BHAE and were shown around Silverton and the Mundi Mundi Plain by Sue and Lorna.
Once we'd finished our initial obligations, we went bush.
We headed out across the plains toward Menindee and set up camp on the very dusty banks of the Darling River in Kinchega NP. The environment wasn't quite what we expected and it took a little time for us to adjust. The environment is harsh but the colours are muted and soft.

Poppy and Jen

Oops I Forgot

I have forgotten about the Indian Curry night on Friday 8th to welcome the girls and farewell to Jacko and us.We had a great night and a candlelit dinner for nine with a nearly full moon outside. I also need to say that we spent all day Saturday getting our presentations and images ready for the  slideshow talks at the Regional Gallery. It ended up being a long day getting everything ready and onto Patrick's laptop but in the end it was all worth while with people turning up on Mother's Day and some interesting questions as well.

On the way out I took one last photo of the Line of Lode.

Back home

Arrived home on Monday after a ten hour drive from Balranald consequently it has taken me this long to update the blog. John is very happy to have me home again. I am still in ga-ga land after the experience of Broken Hill, the landscape and the people.

Back here I have been uploading all the camcorder footage and am now pleased to report that I have completed 6 projects of moving images so far. I love iMovie and my MacBook - just ask Sue. I had been working with a hand me down computer for 12 years now and this is my first chance of working with up to date technology and I love it!

I am also pleased to report that the washing is now up to date too. It is so good to have my washing machine and a line again. Those who know me can relate to how I am feeling about that.

Highlights for me have been a bit of a mixed bag. The big one was to be confronted by such an awesome landscape. It is like you can't take it all in on one bit of paper or canvas or camera either. The camcorder could at least pan around and take it in. 

The colours were striking and the light was luminous at times - especially early mornings and early evenings.  The footage of Kinchega Woolshed was very moody and the River Road for me captured a certain spirit of the place - a place where you become absorbed and immersed as one with the landscape. Photos of the Line of Lode will give me something to research and consider as a possible theme. Too early to decide any direction yet.

Now it is time to reflect and the process of working in the studio begins. I had'nt realised how regimented I had become in my own space before this experience. The aim of the project was to confront our way of working as artists and express to others how this process of making art happen really works. Talking to other artists has also made me aware of the support we give to our contemporary artists here in the Far South Coast. I come back home feeling ready to work now. The next part of the journey is just beginning where the real struggle to make works begin.

The Young Ones are now camping at Menindee till tomorrow. They have promised to email me with their updates.

Sue arrived home yesterday and we will catch up later this week for a de-brief over coffee.

The Fab Four Reunite!

Here at Duff St the Fab Four from the South East are together for just a few days before Sue and I head home. The 'young ones' arrived yesterday evening and we quickly bustled them off to a book launch of Barbara De Franceschi's poetry at the Regional Gallery. The 'older ones' were at home mingling in the crowd and with camcorder in hand tried to capture the launch and the musical performance that accompanied the poetry. It was then back to BHAE and our studio for a cuppa before bed.

Up and about but not quite so early this time - capturing the morning sunbeams over coffee outside. Sue was busy preparing the vegetable curry for tonight's dinner here. We had a busy day deciding on a visit to Silverton and Mundi Mundi again. This time we were the tour guides. It was so good to see their enthusiasm and excitement about this place.

Over lunch we worked out a rough plan for our talk on Sunday then visited The Horizon Gallery before heading back to Duff St.

Late afternoon we met with Barbara De Franceschi to talk about her poetry and how she likes working with musicians and other artists. Poppy and Jen had printed up portfolio books of their work which was a great idea to have as a way to chat about their work.

Better get ready for tonight's banquet now here for 12 people!!!!!!!

Fly Overs, Drawing and Kinchega

It's been another hectic few days with the weekend still showing no signs of rest for these girls. Saturday I ended up painting for a few hours and Sue did some catch up time with her husband John. Sunday was a great morning with a flight with John in his Piper Dakota and Patrick Neu as guest from BHAE (he is also a professional photographer) Great views over Silverton, the Mundi Mundi Plain, the Barrier Ranges and the Line of Lode that divides Broken Hill with the mullock heap, closed mines and open cut. Patrick's photos look great.
After the flight I spent time with Deirdre Edwards in her studio on a one on one talk about her working studio and gallery. It was valuable to get further insight into her work and the running of her home gallery. By mid afternoon I accompanied Deirdre to the GAARA Arts group monthly meeting and met artists during the meeting then later for an informal chat over coffee.
Monday was spent visiting galleries with Sue - Pro Hart's and Jack Absalom were on our list as well as the Jarah Mosaic Gallery with Julie and Rod as informative and friendly hosts.
The evening was spent with Nelleke, Cora, Nisette and Penny at the Broken Earth Restaurant sitting on top of the Line of Lode overlooking the city at sunset. They were visiting to attend the CWA conference here this week.
Monday afternoon was pack up time ready for an early departure Tuesday morning to Menindee. Sue is staying here to work on sketches and drawings on site while I am away.
What can I say just that there is too much to tell and sometimes words can't say it all. For me it was again another one of those experiences that will be etched in my memory for some time. The Kinchega Woolshed was hauntingly moody with patinas that truly want me back in my own studio right NOW!!!! Inside with the pungent smell of times past there were many niches to explore . Outside the galvanised iron piecework with weathered and worn shades of pink to blue/grey were set off by the blue sky and the fencework of worn timber posts.
The River Road took me by surprise with the picturesque lining of River Red Gums and the winding Darling. The sound of cranky crows, reflective milky water and being at peace by myself painting was magic. it was almost liked the place talked back to me about times past and present. The river level was quite low which meant that the roots of trees were exposed and quite gnarled.
By this morning on my return to the river, the light had changed but the relections in the water were sharper. Figures appeared and some ideas are now brewing. I painted till lunch and then headed back to Broken Hill. So many ideas to play with in my head.
Tomorrow Poppy and Jen arrive and the experience will continue for them in their way. Running out of time now and feeling like I am only just getting started.........................

The Reluctant Camper loved the Outback

Just back from the outback of Mutawintji National Park and White Cliffs late yesterday afternoon. We both had an amazing time out there. 

Sue and I departed Tuesday morning with an overcast sky. I was not very happy camping understanding that if it rained we could be cut off with road closures and needed extra food and water with us just in case this happened. Forever checking the skies on our way I was a very reluctant camper. 

As it turned out the day cleared and we were setting up camp before lunch. We picked our camp site in picturesque surroundings at Mutawuntji and then headed out for the 'easy' Homestead Gorge Walk with back pack and cameras ready. This walk ended up taking us two hours but what an experience for us. Lots of photos in a magnificent setting. Back to camp to light campfire (after borrowing matches and later corkscrew from neighbours) for our billy tea. Sue was happy and energetic enough to start drawing. Me, well I was just relieved to be back again - tired and sore but quietly elevated after the afternoon's adventure. I got thinking and realised that the place is so awesome that is hard for me to take it all in. I feel like I am just brewing away in my head right now. Relieved, excited and in wonder of how this landscape seeps into your psyche. 

After a delightful dinner prepared by Sue in one pan we enjoyed an evening under the stars with a bottle of red and around the fire before heading off to bed. Sue in her tent and me in the back of the Subaru with stars shining through the window blinking at me.

Next morning I set up the campfire for our morning cuppa and the plan for the day was to draw till we departed for White Cliffs - and that we did. It was fantastic and the drawings are'nt as bad as I thought after all. Returned the matches to our neighbouring campers to find that the wife/partner Prue's cousin.

Setting off to White Cliffs mid afternoon we were glad to be in the Subaru as the roads were making driving not difficult, just being constantly aware of the conditions. Sue handled it very well. The wildlife was in abundance with wedge-tailed eagles, emus, goats, sheep, cattle, horses and birdlife with the backdrop of colour in the changing sky another unforgetful experience. We stopped a few times as we approached White Cliffs to take photos of the setting on the horizon.

Our next two nights were spent in dug-outs at the White Cliffs Underground Hotel. It was an experience to be told that we both smelled like campfires when we booked in. Off to the showers for us both before a three course meal in the dining room with all the other guests. Great idea as we chatted to other travellers and then it was an early night ready for a big plans to draw the next day. 

We headed out early and did a circuit around the perimeter fence and in the township to decide where to start drawing. The mounded areas to the northwest of Turleys Hill was where we set up before lunch. Those mounds are hard to draw but once you got your eye in it was a little bit easier. One lot of passer's by yelled out 'ah a couple of Pro Hart's over there'....ha ha. After a lunch break (we found a great cafe in Red Earth) and then visited some local galleries. Otto's photo gallery and Barbara Gasch's jewellery gallery was good to see. After a bit of a washup and rest before we decided on the changing light on top of Turleys Hill near the transmission towers for the next drawing sesion. 

This will be another experience that we both won't forget too quickly. The integrity of the people and harsh reality of living in this environment struck us both. This is what being an Australian is all about. Trying to capture this Australian landscape is now our challenge. You still just look at it and wonder. 

Next morning we headed to Wilcannia to meet up with Sue's husband John - who was flying with his friend Stan from Merimbula via an overnighter in Ivanhoe. Sue drove back in the Subaru and I was fortunate to hop on board for the flight to Broken Hill. 

Now the real work begins in the studio in residence with some paint on canvas.