Hitching Post Pony

This darling little pony is actually a hitching post from the days when horses were the mainstay of everyday travel. It’s such a whimsical piece — the idea of tying a real horse to a cute miniature is so amusing. The two would have been tied together, literally joined at the mouth by looping the leather reins through the metal ring. What a lovely detail!

I found a pair of these hitching posts at an antique store in the nearby town of Bungendore. I’d have them in my garden, probably guarding a gate or pathway, if only the price tag featured far fewer numbers.

Chomp

Today, I’m letting my inner punk out.

Who would have thought a stroll down the back streets of my little ole country town would reveal a clean-picked graffiti skull and a fence designed to impale would-be intruders?

On second thoughts, I’m not surprised. After all, Emo style has brought punk attitude back and into the mainstream, making the skull the fashion icon of the moment.

I played with negative images and background textures — I love the rusted, archaic result.

Convergence

Woah … two posts in one day!

This is another image from my meander down both the main and back streets of downtown Yass in search of textures and patterns. I’m overwhelmed by the detail and depth in seemingly simple features — included here are steps, tiles, a footpath, a brick wall and a door. The patina of age is also so mesmerising.

Curiously, this picture reminds me of an architectural licorice allsort, most likely the Mediterranean kind. Is it a co-incidence that I’ve been craving the sugary variety lately (and have, indeed, gobbled two packets)? They’re obviously unconsciously informing my art!

Truckin' Tiles

This week has been sticky and stormy, the kind weather that makes most people’s moods plummet. But such turbulence brings out the Romantic in me, the person who would love to dash across the windswept moors with Heathcliff and Cathy, or leap off the rocks in Caspar David Friedrich’s “Wanderer above a Sea of Fog”.

Instead, and clearly with more sense, I’ve been strolling through the alleys behind Comur Street, the main drag of Yass, searching for close-ups and textures. In this image, we have the door of a storage shed, the tiles on the Westpac Bank veranda and a rusted sheet of corrugated iron. The black, hand-painted borders are inspired by Karen Michel, whose altered photographs are tastier than a wedge of rich, dark chocolate cake.

Spicy Gingerbread Men

Christmas is coming ... and the goose isn’t the only thing getting fat!

I’ve had a hankering lately for gingerbread men, so I whipped these little boys up on Monday using a recipe from Taste.com.au. The result was very pretty and definitely delicious, especially as I multiplied the amount of dried ginger by about six and also added grated fresh ginger — I like my gingerbread spicy!

I must say, though, that this recipe was a bit doughy for my tastes — I prefer crispy biscuits (or cookies, whichever term you prefer). At first, I thought this might have been because I used gluten-free flour and dairy-free margarine, but then I saw other cooks had left similar comments on the website.

Notice I use the word “was” throughout this post? Well, that’s because I’ve only got one cookie left.

Is it naughty to eat gingerbread men for breakfast?

The Nurse's Mug Shots

This is my 99th post. It's appropriate right now to be on such a cusp because I have some exciting news — I've been invited to have a solo exhibition next year!

Called Dumb-founded, my show will explore the fate of clothing mannequins after they've expired their fashion used-by dates. What happens when ideals of beauty change and yesterday's plastic people are kicked off the sales floor? Well, they're snapped up by museums and junk shops, which use them in the most quirky ways.

For example, the mannequin in the above shot is part of a medical display at the Boorowa Museum. You just know she's embroiled in a malpractice suit from these eerie mugshots. That's a long way from the catwalk, baby!

The idea for Dumb-founded has been in the works for quite a while — in fact, my first post on this blog was of four manneqins. And there'll be plenty more as I prepare for my show, which will run from 23 April to 10 May 2009 at Photoaccess.

Mary's Blue Eyes

As I worked on this image today, I pondered Mary’s blue eyes. As a Jew in ancient Palestine, surely the eyes of the mother of Jesus would have brown? So I did a little web surfing and discovered this part of the world was the gateway into Africa for migrants and traders, which means Arab, black African, Roman, Greek, Indian and Persian faces were seen everyday.

Having said this, in 2002, forensic artist Richard Neave created a picture of Christ using two starting points — a real Israeli skull from ancient Palestine and the assumption that Jesus looked like a typical peasant of the day. The result is olive skin, black curly hair and a big nose. What’s more, Neave says Jesus was probably only 5”1’. This hardly fits with the movie star looks and muscle-man proportions most of us expect from the saviour of the world!

Richard Neave's vision of Jesus Christ

If we believe Neave’s rather convincing reconstruction, the law of genetics tells us that Mary really could not have possessed the gorgeous baby blue peepers she has in western mythology.

So where do they come from?

Ah, how I love Google. Mary’s eyes, and indeed her mantle, are traditionally the colour of lapiz lazuli, a deeply-saturated blue stone that has been revered since ancient Egypt when Cleopatra ground it into eyeshadow and the dead were buried with a chunk carved into the shape of an eye to ensure great power in the afterlife. Later, people believed the stone could heal boils and ulcers, or encourage friendship and truth. How fitting that artists should use this colour to associate the mother of the son of God with beauty, royalty, heavenly glory, healing and truth.

However, lapis lazuli does more than symbolise Mary’s attributes — it also literally portrays her. The Reverend Johann Roten, SM, Director of the Marian Library-International Marian Research Institute at the University of Dayton says Mary’s dark blue mantle, and presumably equally blue eyes, first appeared in the Byzantine era, around 500 AD. This is also the time artists discovered they could turn ground lapis lazuli into blue paint, notably the colour we now know as ultramarine.

This picture started as a snap of an icon of Mary in St Patrick’s Catholic Church, Boorowa. In Photoshop, I converted it to monochrome and then re-added snatches of colour, along with a sun-faded glow. The aged texture is inspired by Linda Plaisted and Tracy Wallace. A special “thank you” to Tracy, who emailed me a texture sample, which I used as a springboard to create my own using acrylic paint on foam core and a more than healthy dose of sand-papering.

I Love My Dog....

I love my dog as much as I love you
But you may fade, my dog will always come through.
Cat Stevens, "I Love My Dog"

I'm sure many people have professed love for their dog by quoting this song. And I'm sure almost as many photographed their dog for World Toy Camera Day (18 October) this year.

So we've already established that the above photograph probably isn't all that significant! But indulge me for a moment as I tell you Ruby is the fastest dog I've ever met. An Australian Kelpie bred to herd sheep or cows all day, her speed, stamina and agility are not just astounding, but poetic to watch. She's obsessed with bouncy balls, like the one in the photo, and easily jumps up to three times her height to snatch one mid-air.

Okay, now for some technical details....

I sandwiched two shots together, which I took with my Kodak Instamatic 133-X, a plastic baby with automatic focus and two choices of exposure (sunny or not sunny). They're a dime a dozen at charity shops because they take 126 film, which I conveniently sell through CameraFanplastic and eBay.

This post is dedicated to Ruby's Uncle Wayne, who she thinks is way more cool than me!