weekend

over. i painted three layers of white trim in the purple room only to have it peel off when i took off the masking tape ... i have left the rest of the tape on as the room looks better with it still on than the peeling weird-ness that is the neat crisp edge i was aiming for ..damn humidity ... and my inability to be clever with house painting. Rachael once told met that the cleaner you are at the end of the day after painting the better painter you are (in regards to house painting that is) I am always a total mess.

We are also battling with head lice .. a gross topic i know but widespread up here and for most of the locals nothing they worry about but, and really this is the most interesting thing about nits, they make kids crabby. Its a Official Side Effect - grumpiness. This strikes me as kinda strange but cool and certainly a good explanation for iggy's mood swings of late ...

i gots to talk to my nieces on skype on the weekend (and sisters too). The eldest started school today, they are both so gorgeous and growing up, and i miss them! boo, made me homesick...

but now it is monday and ...

Kade had a moment at work with a exhibition he initiated confirmed in the US ..in Idaho no less and right on the 30th December... i am working on my excuses for why i need to accompany him there ... the fact that jon bon jovi attended the last opening is excuse enough for me  ha! shot to the heart!

(how far is idaho from mn again?)

The print space is guns a-blazing producing all kinds of new work - some really mind-blowingly awesome and some ...  not. I get the honour to try and pick colours to make the prints mind-blow and that tis a challenge indeed. I try not to let my personal colour predijuces intervene as then everything would be printed grey... or close too. Certainly there would be nothing purple.  Today we did a yellow and pink print - and it is sweet and lovely so ...

It is almost april - i can hardly believe it , we have been here close on 3 months... way back in january a lady at iggy's daycare told me that time here is different . I am beginning to think she might be right... timeflies and i don't know if it is because it feels like perpetual summer or because i don't have any real engagements to attend or because i am never late for anything coz i am never in traffic trying to get there or because i don't get txt messages anymore or because people just ain't busy here but somehow one or all of those things make time fly .. go figure ...

in anycase, it is almost april and i might be needing a city fix soon.. bring on may i say

we have kade's folks arriving on thursday so we get to show off ... and around ...  our first guests! excitement!  wonder how they feel bout painting ....

and now, after that grand ramble, some more photos of my kids and some multi coloured prawn crackers

yesterday was lovely hot and sunny
today is raining raining raining
nothing to do except finish painting and maybe some baking ...
i like nothing to do rainy days

last night jane, watjumi and this little cutie came round for dinner

 

yellow baby yellow bucket

yesterday we got our car back after almost two weeks - it somehow got a road worthy cert - a miracle really, iggy and me went for a windy ride to town and back, he was strangely glad to see his car seat again. 

coming into yirrkala

and lastly we brought our first piece of artwork from Buku  - a Nyapanyapa etching

it is so lovely, and looks real good on the aubergine wall

 speaking of lavender .. check out this sunrise

the clouds here are amazing

purple

we painted the living room. purple.
it is meant to be G R E Y  but somehow it turned out a shade of lavender, or aubergine perhaps ...


note to self - this is why paint shop supply S AM P L E P O T S

 looks alright with karen o ...

is it alright with us ?

Good news.... I have got a new updated liquor permit - so i can now buy 6 light beers AND 1 bottle of wine a day

hah!

Kade got back from sydney last night after a seriously quick jaunt there and back - enough time to buy a phone (yay a landline!) a mattress topper (yay a good nights sleep!)(kids not included) and some new shirts...but thats not why he went...he went to attend the opening of a new exhibition of Buku Larranggay Artists Djambawa Marawili and his wife Kathy Wirrpanda at Annadale Galleries. They had a successful time, and Kade had a re-introduction to the art scene in Sydney and another taste of what his new job entails...talking art to art fiends and the like... he of course, had no problem with this. hah
He also got to meet Fiona Hall    L u c k y

Djambawa eating burramundi in chinatown

 with Kathy

 at the gallery

one of those art fiends

Meanwhile I have been waiting for some white ecthing ink to arrive express post for two weeks ... on tuesday when I was poised ready to get all mad I discovered that the supplier never got my fax and so the ink had never ever even been sent.... this white ink is the basis for all the linocuts in the printspace waiting to be editioned so, the ink arrived today - next week is gonna be busy, but the ladies will be satisfied at least as they have been coming in for weeks wondering where their work is at ... not so good for the new print lady to be not doing her job ... tsk tsk

Sailor's mattress in a box arrived today too - a revelation in packaging - especially when where you live requires everything to barged in at a great cost - it comes packed into a box and it expands when you unwrap it. We filmed the opening as the word as spread through the community and generated some interest -  I was expecting it to be a bit of an anti-climax but to my suprise it was a cool thing - once the first layer was unwrapped the thing sprung into life with a mind of its own and made some several loud creaking and cracking noises and became a mattress - VIOLA!  whole thing took less than three minutes and is pretty comfortable...amazing!

watch this space - the video is coming!

and we are waiting on word of the arrival of wee sienna .... any day now ...  x

This morning i watched a huge ginger tabby cat prowl through the jungle beneath my bedroom window. A strange sight in a land of dogs, watch out birds! I had a rare moment of peace as Sailor and Kade were gone to school and work respectively and Iggy was sleeping in peacefully.  I had a gorgeous half hour of morning-time on my own ... lucky me. This so never happens that I relish the times it does. And Sailor went in for one of his mammoth sleeps last night which is a product of too many nights refusing to go to sleep and early mornings at school, eventually it all catches up with him and he passes out at 530 and sleeps through to morning. The peace that brings in the evening is also a wonderful thing

Gulumbu's first proof ... more stars been added ... ain't it pretty tho

Work has been super busy all week, there are so many things going on in the printspace, Dhapanbal and Bulmirri won a poster art prize for the Centenary of NT Women and got flown to Darwin last night and put up in a fancy hotel with Gulumbu their aunty, LUCKY, and there is a show in may for some youth portraits done last year so I have been busy collecting the selected work to send and trying to find funding to send some of the youth for the opening. Also brewing in the pipeworks was the possibility of appearing at the Melbourne Art Fair doing demonstrations on printing (!!!) We have roped in the renowned Basil Hall to accompany us so it is now confirmed that in May the print space ladies and me are off to Melbourne YIPEE.  Further in the year we have a print conference that we are going to speak at ( i say WE but really i don't mean ME, i mean other more knowledgable staff!) There is a great lady called Denise Salvotas who is conducting her PhD on the Yirrkala PrintSpace and so she is going to talk along with Aruleun (one of the knowledgable staff).  Thats in melbourne too! We also got approved a grant to host another youth workshop, a show for printers under thirty and another show in Dawin in August... and the offers keep on coming.  Not to mention three new linocuts waiting to be printed as we wait on ink from down south - some exciting stuff. I sure do got my work cut out for me ...

Nyapanyapa's latest linocut..proof

Barrupu's latest linocut..proof

Dhapanbal's latest linocut ... proof

more proofing -Dhapnabal, Bulmirri, Ruby and Barrata's work 

Finally the sun is shining here today after one week of rain - i have been doing some more unpacking and discovering a variety of mouldy clothes and shoes. yeesh... however the house is looking good, I have had to curb Kade's Nhulunbuy Notice Board habit after been sent to town to look at yet another hideous dining table. I am unsure at this point whether to just accept that all the furniture for sale is going to be hideous or keep on holding out for the chance a killer piece turns up...?  hmmm

Other news- Kade is off to Sydney on March 15th for an exhibition opening at Annandale Galleries, he is going with Big Boss Man Djambawa Marawili so the pressure is on! He has been worrying about his outfit but did get a great man-bag satchel off ebay yesterday so at least he'll be accessorised well... any sydney folk - go along!

Jane, Rosie and I bravely went to yoga on wednesday night where we did warrior pose and standing dog pose. ha!  Felt great tho.

iggy and me on the walk back from daycare - he is settled in there pretty well

and

 courtyard at the arts centre -where the ladies sit and paint or make lino

where iggy splashes in the rock pool

 sailor in the printspace 

(he comes there everyday after school and complains about how hungry he is)

iggy in the printspace

 ranydjupi's quail linocut - another proof ... sweet-ness

(there seems to be alot of purple going on - rest assured, that is NOT the case, just the colour on hand for testing!!)

So tomorrow is the weekend, we have plans to go to oyster bay with watjumi and the afro sisters on sunday if the weather is good and a BBQ at will's on saturday night. Today i am off to complain about my stupid liquor licence, I am certain there has been some mistake!