debbieann | Entries tagged with hobart

I can tell how US-based my internet reading is by how much I see about Thanksgiving - a lot!

Not too much new here - I'm still going to the life model classes and doing watercolors, I'm volunteering at Amnesty Intl, which seems to be going well and we are still enjoying Tasmania. We went on a long hike last weekend at Cape Raoul. I thought it would be a one hour walk and it ended up taking about five hours. It was very rocky and I watched my feet the whole time. I'm very pleased to not have twisted an ankle or fallen down. We saw one big venomous snake and an echidna. I liked that the walk had a destination - some cliffs looking out to the ocean. We went to two of the lookout points.

I've seen a few movies - This Is Not a Film - about a filmmaker in Iran being banned from making films, and The Tall Man about a case in Palm Island of an Aboriginal man dying in police custody and the case against the police. My favorite recent film was Bill Cunningham - what a fascinating man, biking all over NYC and taking photos - he is good at spotting fashion trends. He lives very modestly and is completely absorbed in his work. It was a very good documentary. Next up I'll probably see We Need to Talk about Kevin, because I love Tilda Swinton.

I read Three Bags Full - a cute murder mystery solved by a flock of sheep. I'm currently reading Aspergirls and next I want to read The Gate, which is about Cambodia. I also have Jung's Red Book at home from the library - it is a huge huge book to lug home, but very beautiful. The size makes it a bit hard to read.

I've been making tongue once a week - I can't believe it is only $3 for a whole tongue. I also have been making roast beef. I heard cherries are going to be at the farmers market this weekend. It is definitely spring here, but the mornings and evenings can still be cold. The light is amazing though - from maybe 5 am til 830 pm. I love it.

Life is great. I'm enjoying trying to paint portraits in watercolors. though both oils and encaustic also call my name.

my ravens might have another life - an artist projected them on to my body and she will paint me with my art on my body. She wants to do a series of works w artists w their art on them. Maybe it will happen.

I continue to try and paint people in watercolor. I'm at the library checking out several books on watercolor painting. the two art groups I am a part of stop meeting in Dec and Jan, but hopefully I can keep painting.

Tasmania gay pride parade happens this Saturday - Charles and I will be there. We have had several couch surfers stay and we're booked up for half of November! It is interesting to meet people from around the world. First guest was from Singapore, second guest from Belgium/Netherlands, next will be Italy and Hong Kong and then finally Kenya. It is nice to talk to them about where they live.

wow - I actually kind of sort of have a schedule. Tomorrow I'll start at Amnesty Intl at the reception desk, and I'll work there every Weds afternoon. Every other Tuesday I have a Life Drawing class and every Thurs morning is also an art class. The classes don't have a teacher, it is a model and everyone does their own art thing. On Fridays, when school is in session, there is a talk from 1230-130 by an artist over at the university. I usually read the art books/magazines in the library over there before the talk. Way more art in my life than there ever was before. I try to leave the watercolors set up here at home so that I can sit down during the day and try one.

And since Charles has been gone I have mastered roast beef. I am very happy with it - it lasts for several meals. Photos on flickr. Between the roast beef and roasted cauliflower I am set. And lettuce or spinach for my leafy greens. I've made the roast beef three times in the last two weeks. 1.2 kg for 60 min, start at 190c then 180c. Let sit for 15 min. Turns out rare! no bone. I tried a lamb roast and it did not go nearly as well.

I hope things work out at AI, I really admire their goals and how they go about it. I hope they are happy w my work.

I'm reading two different books - and neither is very cheerful - The Roving Party -which is about John Batman and a small group of men hunting and killing Aboriginal people in Tasmania or as it was called VanDemonianland and Swimming in A Sea of Death by David Rieff about the death of his mother, Susan Sontag.

Last night I watched The Waiting City about an Australian couple that goes to India to adopt a baby.

And our latest courchsurfer has arrived. He works in the Netherlands, is from Belgium and will do some big treks here in Tasmania.

Lots of art in my life right now. Two different life drawing classes, well there are no teachers, but a group of people gets together and there is a model. One meets every Thurs from 10-12 and the other meets every other Tues 915-12. You get one minute poses, and then 5 min and then 15 min. The models are naked. I thought there was a chance I could not spend that much time drawing, but I am very content and the time flies by. First I used pencil, but now I am mainly doing watercolors. but I am really in awe of this guy who does oil painting. His style really speaks to me - he captures the essence of the person.

http://www.colvillegallery.com.au/gallery/chenping.php

I really want to work w oils, because his style really speaks to what I want to do. but maybe I could do it in watercolors. but boy, the oils look like fun. but it is pretty hard/expensive to deal w all the stuff to do w oils.

I spent part of the day in the library looking at Francesco Clemente's watercolors.

I also go to a talk at UTas Art College every Friday. There is a different artist each time speaking about their art practice. Recently it has been several Big Concept artists - I've heard Maddie Leach (NZ), Ruben Santiago(Spain), Paul O'Neill (Ireland), Mick Wilson (Ireland), Luke Smyles.
Amazingly Maddie spoke about a project she did on Beaver Island. I must've been the only other person there who had been to Beaver Island.

Today I went to a gallery and heard an artist talk about his work - Joel Crosswell. I really like his drawings, which you can see here, but they are hard to see:
http://www.bettgallery.com.au/artists/crosswell/existence/index.html

He draws in a style he calls automatic drawing, just sits down and draws, no sketching, no models, no agonizing over a line. I like it. I had seen it earlier at the Tasmanian Museum and Gallery, where he won a prize from MONA.

I also went on little art field trip - a bus was organized by a local gallery and the artist came along in the bus, and we went out to a nice lunch two hours north of here and then went to the gallery w her work. her name is Mandy Renard
http://www.handmarkgallery.com/tasmanian-artists/artist.php?id=40
and she had a series of prints based on a Sufi poem called The Gathering of the Birds, or also The Conference of the Birds
http://www.handmarkgallery.com/files/The_Gathering_of_the_Birds_Statement._docx.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conference_of_the_Birds
I like her work a lot - wish we could also go see her studio. It was a very nice day out.

I have been pleasantly surprised by how many films that were at the Melbourne Film Festival have actually made it to Hobart.
The State Cinema here in Hobart has 15 different films on at a time, which means they can show a lot of the less mainstream films.

Today I saw El Bulli: Cooking in Progress and the only other person in the theatre was our friend that we met because we go
to the same place for coffee every day. I sort of get it now - if you hang out in a certain part of Hobart you can spot when someone new appears. And you see the same people SO often that you become sort of casual acquaintances. I have seen Alex from our new coffee
place in 5 different places around town - there is sort of a craft beer-third wave coffee-indy film-art gallery set! It didn't happen in
Melbourne, probably because there are hundreds of people in that set, or thousands, but here, it is all smaller. I should ask Alex where she doesn't see me, because I'd probably like to be there too. Today I went to two films and a talk by an artist. And had good coffee in the morning, went to the Salamanca markets and had pad thai for dinner. With a pecan sticky bun from Sweet Envy in the middle. Charles is in the US, enjoying the delights of SF.

here are the films I've seen recently-

El Bulli - well, this might be best if you have eaten there. I liked it. I think Gordon was a little bored. It was mostly about the creation
of the menu. It was not the menu that we had there, but you could see elements. the theme of this menu was water! they were very
creative with water in many different ways.

Project Nim - so SAD, in a way, it is about what happens when the experiment is over, and really how what happened hurt so many.
I felt very sad for Nim the chimp, and the people that really cared about Nim. I like this style of documentary - the very stark interview w old footage and photos mixed in.

The Whistleblower - about women being trafficked in Bosnia by private corporations and by the 'peacekeeping' forces. based on true events. hard to watch, and yet such an important story. I felt like it was a little squashed in to the time frame. It needed more time. reminded me of Silkwood in a way.

I also saw Eyeof the Storm, which I did not love, despite the fact that I do love Charlotte Rampling (and was pleased she mentioned
Night Porter as one of her key films in an interview, she is great in this film, but the rest of the film wasn't as great). Also saw
Jane Eyre, Red Dog, The Guard.

Triangle Wars - I had been really sad to miss this at the festival - all about a group fighting off developers in St Kilda. A wonderful, inspiring documentary, maybe better for me since I know Melbourne. the power of the people!

Still on my to see list at the state theatre - Senna (will wait til Charles gets back, unless it is about to leave)
Viva Riva! - a congonese crime thriller - really looking forward to this
The Hunter- filmed in TASMANIA and Willem Dafoe came down for the opening. tassie is very proud of this.

Films are expensive here - $16.50! except on Tues it is the low price of $12.50.

Current Location: Hobart, Tasmania

I'm still working on getting rid of stuff. It is almost like packing for camping - every bit of extra paper is getting evaluated, along w clothing, books and other items.

Emptying out the Melbourne apartment was a huge step towards minimizing stuff, but even though we are in a furnished apartment in Hobart, we still have more than we could easily manage to get on an airplane. I am trying to remember that it is much easier to do now, rather than later, even though it seems like, well, we aren't going anywhere right now. It is challenging to balance what gives us great pleasure (sodastream and bowls made in the clay studio) with what do we really need. I take 5 things a week or so to Salvos. I am trying to go through paper and get rid of unnecessary paper. Charles will be able to take some stuff to the US to give to people.

I'm sure it will be easier to get out of here than it was to get out of Melbourne. We did great on that - we both worked on it. I gave a lot away on freecycle. Seven boxes of kitchen and misc household stuff. I gave a huge box of art supplies to a local artist. Charles listed many things on ebay. I miss the waterbed and the table and this little cupboard we used for shoes. And a nightstand that Charles had.

In other news, my Tasmanian driver's license will be mailed to me and I went on a long walk around Battery point - described here:
http://www.hobartcity.com.au/Community/Arts_and_Culture/Public_Art/Battery_Point
we live closer to a sandy beach/dog park than I realized. Lots of great dogs running around today. It still isn't really warm out, but the trees are green again and there are lots of flowers.

I tried to go to a life drawing class today, but the schedule is a little hard to understand and it isn't this week, so it must be next week. The sign said "Fortnightly starting Feb 9", but if you are standing there on Sept 13, it is a little challenging to figure when the class is. I think they could be more helpful, but I think it is so small town, that people forget what it looks like from the outside. Many ads for things have no addresses, because everyone knows where it is.

We'll spend fri-mon in Melbourne this coming up week.

Trying to settle back in to Hobart - missing Melbourne, missing the daily excitement of the film festival. Been visiting the library, hanging out at Dr Coffee, went to the museum and carnegie gallery. Not much happening. Reading a bit, watching a few films (saw Red Dog in the theatre and The Killer Inside Me on DVD). Charles is going back to finish up emptying the apt. I'll miss the few things we collected. I need to sort through the stuff we did bring and try to organize it.

Just adjusting to being back in Hobart - trying to stay warm through the winter. In the morning I follow the sunlight around the apartment. I've been reading a lot, just finished another Nesbo book, a Norwegian police series I like. I have also been watching DVDs from the library, most recently Master of the House from 1925 by Dryer, and All My Friends are Leaving Brisbane. Also Lorna's Silence and 4 months 3 weeks 2 Days. We had a nice weekend where we went to MONA again and went out for a nice dinner at Piccolo (venison carpaccio! pig trotters and pig tail, yum). I haven't really found my routine yet.

Current Location: library

I am very excited to find an art library. It is at the art school and apparently
open to everyone. A cafeteria and an art gallery are close by. The library has a great selection
of art magazines and beautiful art books. I looked at What Remains by Sally Mann and
Fornicon by Ungerer. I read Sight&Sound and Art in Australia and Aperture. I hope to go
back. They also have a free art talk on Fridays at 12:30. The library is off of Hunter St
down at the wharf and there is a nice view of the harbor from the library. I happy I found a place
I can read all the expensive art magazines. The buildings are also interesting - part of restored
IXL Jam Factory with lots of industrial bit and pieces still in place.

Current Location: Hobart

(I'm thinking of making a little zine of things to do in Hobart and this is my rough draft start)

Supreme Court of Tasmania (near Salamanca)

Anyone can go watch a trial at the Supreme Court. They usually start
at 10 a.m and finish around 4 pm with a break for lunch, usually 1-2:15pm.
The schedule can be found at the court and on the web under the
section called Daily Lists. People in the audience are free to come
and go as they want, so even if you only have an hour, you can stop by the court and watch what is happening. On some days there is very little going on,
and on other days there is a full trial. Often Fridays are short days
and finish by 1 pm.

If the judge is sitting in the court, then you are suppose to bow to him
as you enter and as you leave. Everyone stands when he enters the
court and then remains standing until told to sit down. In the trial I went to the front bench was informally reserved for family members. The accused family sat on one
side and the deceased family sat on the other side. You are not allowed to
take water bottles into the court and you go through a metal detector when you enter. I saw many law students in the audience.

I went to a two and a half week murder trial, which may seem like a
very odd thing to do, but you learn a lot about the legal system, and you learn a lot about the people involved. I learned about parts of town that
I will probably never visit. It was also interesting to think about
what I would do if I were on the jury. There is also a law library
in the basement and it is an interesting place to visit with lots of
old books about the Australian legal system.

Parliament House

The House meets Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10 am, when it
is in session. The public can attend and sit in the gallery. Lunch is from 1 pm to 2:30 pm . When you enter parliament, you will go through a metal detector and sign in and be given a badge. You are then escorted to the second floor gallery where you can look down on the floor. There are also three
screens showing what is happening. There are free tours of parliament on non-sitting days. There is also a webcast of the proceedings, but I
think it is more fun to see it in person. I was surprised at how
overblown the speeches were and how people didn't listen to each other and often interrupted.

Library

The library opens at 9:30 am. On the first floor is the lending
library and on the second floor is a reference library. The reference library has a nice selection of magazines. Both floors have computers. If you can get a library card (you need ID and address
verification) you can use the computers for two hours a day for free. Some computers are have a 30 minute limit and you are only allowed to log in twice in one day.There are free lockers on the ground floor
because you are not allowed to take bags to the second floor. There is also a museum/archive on the ground floor that is free.

Current Location: Hobart

We are back in Hobart after being gone for 10 days. I'm starting a Christina Stead book called "The Man Who Loved Children". Also going to the gym, doing laundry, looking for things to do - the usual. We'll be down here most of the time until the end of March. There is currently a Aussie Hash Nash here - a meeting of the drinking club with a running problem - the Hash House Harriers. It is a pretty big gathering. There is also a US Navy ship - USS Shoup. And we've seen two different cruise ships in the last two days - so a busy city.