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Julius Shulman Visual Acoustics

 

Did any one get a chance to see this marvelous documentary when it came out several months ago? It's about the life and work of photographer Julius Shulman who recently passed away. He was the "It" architectural photographer and had worked consistently since the '30s. He photographed everyone from Frank Lloyd Wright to Frank Gehry and a who's who of famous architectural beauties in between. The documentary is narrated by Dustin Hoffman so I bet it's a treat to watch. Here's the link to the film's site: Visual Acoustics.

P.S. Sarah of Wallspank has featured me on her blog today. Here's the link ----> WALLSPANK! Thank you so much Sarah!

Happy Hump day folks!

(Images from here)

The Constant Reader.

 

A drawing from the weekend : The Constant Reader. I've been doing a lot of reading of late and I'm fascinated by how I construct castles and palaces in my mind (so to speak) out of a few well written lines or less.

I mostly read waiting for the bus at the bus stop and actually on the bus to school. A light detective romp is the best type of book for me at the moment because I don't want to pine for it when I actually get into work and have to put it down. I like a book I can later pick up whenever and dive right in.

I hope everyone had a terrific weekend!

Shadow Shot Sunday and the Melbourne Botanics.

Shadow Shot Sunday folks! It's a good job I have collected some shadowy shots from my holiday in Melbourne because it's very un-shadowy today here in Sydney. It's rainy and a little cool. However, we haven't had much rain or cool of late so it's rather wonderful!

So, back to Shadow Shot - this is a photo of the Melbourne Botanical gardens entrance. The Botanics were established in 1846 so I imagine this is when the gate was built. I thought it was so pretty with the delicate iron work. The lights either side of the gate also caught my eye. The round purple glass case for the light looked very smart I thought next to the black iron work.

Here's that light again with a bit more sun on it. Notice that it also has some gold highlights.

The interesting thing about the Melbourne Botanics is how different (as in they are in different locations and a different climate) and yet how eerily similar they are to the Sydney Botanics. An English landscape gardener by the name of William Guilfoyle was largely responsible for the look of the Melbourne gardens. I've had a good look around the internet to see if he had a hand in designing the Sydney Botanics but there doesn't seem to be any connection. So, perhaps the similarities in the two gardens are due to the fact that they were designed at roughly the same time and that they are both Australian.

Shadow Shot Sunday is proudly brought to you by the lovely Tracy of Hey Harriet! If you'd like to join in, and you are more than welcome to, here are the instructions on how to do so!

Melbourne's The Block and The Hopetoun Tea Rooms.

Melbourne and Sydney are like two separate universes and even though they are only a couple of hundred kilometres apart (712.35 to be exact) it's impossible to compare them.

One of the biggest differences is in the CBDs of both cities. Melbourne has several arcades and "lanes" devoted to cafe culture, tea cakes and fine dining. These arcades and lane ways are bustling, fun and buzzing with all sorts of people from trendy young 'uns with interesting hair cuts to regal madames and their entourages.

One of my favourite arcades is The Block and one of my favourite eating establishments is The Hopetoun Tea Rooms. From a quick perusal of the web I found out this arcade was purchased for 18 pounds in 1891. Lady Hopetoun founded a tea room for The Victorian Ladies Association soon after.

Here's my Happy Friday homage to The Block and The Hopetoun Tea Rooms.

 

Isn't that wallpaper something? 

We have a three day weekend down here in Aus so I'll be doing some serious relaxing and hanging around the house type activities which will most likely involve a lot of drawing. Surprise!

Happy Friday folks and may your weekend be filled with good relaxing fun!

Smitten...

Patriotic American Chenille Ornaments by Old World Primitives

I stumbled upon these groovy creations by Old World Primitives the other evening whilst surfing Etsy. They really "speak" to me! They are a wonderful combination of Victoriana and quirk! Of course the fact that pussy cats feature in a lot of the items had nothing to do with it I swear!

 

Romantic Chenille Cat ornaments

Chenille Cat ornaments 

Happy Hump Day folks (*sigh*)!

Art Deco High Tea and all that...

Art Deco High Tea

High Tea as explained by The Food Lover's Companion: This British tradition is a late-afternoon or early evening meal, usually quite substantial. It originated in the 19th century as a simple, early workingman's supper. High tea can be served buffet-style or set on a table. It includes a variety of dishes such as cornish pasties, welsh rabbit, scotch wood cock and various other meat and fish dishes. Also included are plenty of buns, crumpets, biscuits and jams, as well as an elaborate array of cakes and pastries and, of course, steaming pots of hot tea.

A mini buffet! How lovely! So this is what my weekend Art Deco gal in the fabulous hat is having. I am also pretty certain she's at the Savoy Hotel and is just about to pop over to the Savoy's theatre to catch a Gilbert and Sullivan opera. Perhaps it's "HMAS Pinafore". 

...and here's Poppy again but this time she's in a day outfit rather than a party outfit.

 
Art Deco Poppy III

So more Art Deco drawings from me! I think it's a pretty well established fact I've got a thing for the roaring twenties. I think it's not helped by the fact that my father talks about his mother and how she was a real live flapper. I like looking at photos of her from that time - she really did wear cloches and straight dresses with long strings of beads. Quite amazing to think of it - it seems like an eon ago yet it was less than a century.

Happy week gentle readers!

Shadow Shot Sunday!

Happy Shadow Shot Sunday everyone! This is my submission for the week - a pretty park behind the exhibition building in the centre of Melbourne city. It features one of my favourite trees: a poplar. For some reason I adore poplars! I have adored them ever since I was little and one of my earliest "drawing" memories was drawing a poplar for my classmates. Maybe I was a poplar in a former life?

Shadow Shot Sunday is hosted by the charismatic Tracy of Hey Harriet fame! It is open to all! You can find out how to join in the fun here!

And! Don't forget to enter my gigantic 7 print giveaway HERE over at Pikaland!

Oh Friday!

Happy Friday you gorgeous people you! I bring you wonderful over the top art deco Melbourne building details. I don't know it for a fact, but I'm pretty sure we don't have anything quite as fantastic as this on any buildings up here in Sydney - let alone in the heart of the city! Way to go Melbourne!

It's something, isn't it? The building looked a little run down but I have a feeling that if it has survived this long then some gentle soul will restore it to it's former glory. 

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

7 print Giveaway over at Pikaland!

First of all -----> click here to enter a huge giveaway of my work over at Pikaland! All you have to do is to comment on the post about my gigantic seven print giveaway and you could win! What could be easier? 

Secondly, I ordered this brand new cartoon/ comic book story on line after seeing it reviewed on Book by it's Cover the other day.

It's the first comic book by Blaise Larmee and it's a dreamy tale of parties, motel rooms, mysterious projects and night time swims. I couldn't put it down! I also feel hugely lazy because this young person has written and illustrated an entire book in the sweetest soft drawings ever! It's inspiring stuff!

If you would like to order a copy for yourself  you can go here to do so!

I'd also like to mention that my prints are now available on the beautiful WallSpank art shopping site too!

 
Hope everyone is having a good week!

Weekend drawing festival...

Paula

So, the weekend has come and gone *sigh* but so has Monday *phew*!

I watched a heap of movies, well two actually at the weekend. I saw "The Informant!" which is a Soderbergh movie with  Matt Damon. I won't say what it's about because things about the story and lead character are revealed right up to the end credits. It was watchable enough - I admire Soderbergh's sheer volume of work and the creative way he goes about film making. I feel he is an "auteur" in the true sense that Truffaut spoke about all those years ago in the '50s.However, having said that, I never feel "wow" after his films. Maybe instead of "WOW" I feel quiet admiration.

The other film I saw was "The Invention of Lying" with Ricky Gervais. I really like Ricky Gervais - his stand up shows sometimes make me laugh until I weep. He seems to have a very endearing personality to my mind. While this film was based on an interesting concept, nobody in his world ever lies, it kind of lost it's way for me about half way through and I'm afraid my boyfriend and I switched it off. Actually, I think the real reason I ejected it was Jennifer Garner's face - I found her pumped lips, botox and cheek implants very off putting and distracting!

I also managed to draw three pictures! That's Paula up top in the natty pink suit and monocle, Chloe being super art deco and Geraldine being...well Geraldine.

Art Deco Chloe

Geraldine the Guinea Fowl

You wouldn't think it to look at Geraldine - but she is pretty significant in the drawing department for me. Firstly, I've been hanging out to draw a black bird with white spots forever. Really and truly. Secondly, even though those white spots look pretty rough and ready, they were an utter labour of love and deep therapy! At the end of Saturday I was feeling a little shall we say "crabby" for one reason or another and doing the white spots on Geraldine really improved my mood no end! I guess that's what they might call "Art Therapy"? ...and thank you Geraldine.

Hope everyone has a super week!