matouenpeluche

Shadowy Terraces part II

Last week I had a pretty Sydney, Paddington terrace house for my shadow shot so, this week I thought I'd put up a Melbourne terraced house. On the whole, Melbourne's buildings from the Victorian era seem to be grander (see my Grand Melbourne theory here!), however, the terraced houses are usually fairly similar. They both feature the iron lace work and they both have the same detailing around the windows and doors. I think the biggest difference might be the climate and terrain! The fact that Sydney is hilly and wet while Melbourne is flat and dry makes everything look different! :0)

Here's another terraced house from Melbourne for good luck!

Shadow Shot Sunday is hosted by Tracy of Hey Harriet! If you'd like to participate all you have to do is read the instructions here and Bob's your uncle! 

Macaron heaven

Theurel and Thomas have the most amazing store devoted entirely to their macarons in Mexico. It really is macaron heaven. Designed by Anagrama, these interiors are elegance personified the way they showcase the macarons in all their delicate beauty against the stark white.

I've only recently become a macaron connoisseur. My Dad  introduced me to the delights of these fine meringue, almond power and sugar confections a few months back. I've become such a connoisseur that I've discovered that just because a macaron looks lovely, it ain't necessarily so! However, I think these ones pictured here at Theurel and Thomas would be pretty amazing. I don't know why I think that - intuition I suppose! ;0)

 

All images from Theurel & Thomas and Anagrama via Yatzer.

Veronica in Paris

 
Veronica in Paris

This is Veronica in Paris taking photos of the Eiffel Tower with her snazzy retro camera. Meanwhile, French pigeons puff and coo at her feet. Ah Paris! *wistful sigh*!

London

All the hyper reportage about Kate and Wills has brought about a serious case of London-itis in me. I'm not one of those people that are mad about the royals (although I wish them both all the happiness in the world) but rather mad about London! I've been there three times and it's always been an absolutely awesome adventure.

The first time I went, I was lucky enough to go as a young girl with my parents. I was a wide eyed, Doc Martin wearing, dreadlocked rebel and I made a bee line for The King's Road. The second time I went was after uni and it was for several months. I went by myself and met some terrific fellow lone adventurers from every corner of the globe. I remember being lucky enough to see a three hour Carlos Santana concert at Wembley Stadium which totally blew my socks off. The third time I went, I went with my Dad and we had a rollicking good time and explored what felt like every nook and cranny of that big beautiful city. *sigh* Well I feel that wonderful city is due another visit!

This is London Circa 1966 courtesy of my treasure trove of National Geograghics. 

A rainy night in Piccadilly Circus with an insert of some Rockers ("a teen-age motorcycle set"). Left: The Birmingham Symphony Orchestra plays for an audience at London's Kenwood Lakeside.

London Zoo's elephants in Regent's Park and launching yachts in Kensington Gardens Round Pool.

Seated on a shooting stick rather than doing a complicated dance move, a visitor views paintings at the Royal Academy. A World War I veteran and a young family looking at modern sculpture at the Tate Gallery.

Piccadilly Circus with the statue that everyone thinks of as Eros, the winged Greek god of love but which is actually the Angel of Christian Charity. It's a pretty fantastic photo that one actually. I wouldn't mind it as a poster!

Happy Thursday too by the way - it's down hill all the way from here folks! :0)

Two Friends + a very big visitor!

Two Friends

These are two birdies I drew on the weekend. Their names are Nathan and Randolph. Even though they have bills that are finch like, they are in fact a figment of my imagination! There are no powder blue fat cuties like this in the wild unfortunately. *sigh*!

 

In other news, I was up at my usual time yesterday morning sipping my coffee and surfing the internet when I heard all these helicopters and light aircraft buzzing around. I racked my brain for some special ocassion that would warrent such activity and nothing presented itself. Then, at the bus stop I heard a woman excitedly tell a friend "Oh yes the Queen Mary is in town!". Whoa! The last time I saw that regal gal I got a crick in my neck looking up at her!

Here she is direct to you from downtown Sydney yesterday morning:

I went down with my Dad to see her after work yesterday afternoon. Boy! She was not hard to spot! According to the Wikipedia entry about her, she is the largest ocean liner ever. She leaves today so I was glad I had a look at her again - she is truly a sight to behold.

I trust everyone's week is progressing in an orderly manner!

Images from The Sydney Morning Herald.

Circular Quay to Manly

 

1)&2) Goodbye Circular Quay, Sydney Opera House and city! 3) Hello working Naval Base that Russell Crowe's apartment looks onto (true!) 4) Rushcutter's Bay yachts 5) Small but perfectly formed Clarke Island 6) A Rose Bay Seaplane (home of Sydney's first ever airport!) 7) Shark Island (Clarke's big brother) 8) South Head - goodbye Eastern Suburbs! 9) Goodbye visiting cruise ship 10) Hello Manly!

This glorious trip - these photos don't even come close to doing this lovely journey justice - takes only half an hour. I used to do it twice a day when I was at uni and I never got tired of it. I took these photos on my first Manly trip in ages last week. What a treat it was!

...and happy Thursday - I trust everyone's week is treating them well!

Slim Aarons

  

Sundowners

Slim Aarons (1916 - 2006) photographed socialites, celebrities and the international jet set. He called it "photographing attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places."

Delores Delrio

Penthouse Pool

Mara Lane

Dolly Fritz

He worked over several decades but I have to say I am most fond of his 1950s - 1960s portraits. He also photographed exotic locations too like Lake Como and Capri in Italy but it's this black and white shot of New York's Park Avenue that is my fave.

Park Avenue

By the way, did you know that Jimmy Stewart's apartment in Rear Window was supposedly based on Slim Aarons' apartment in New York?

Hope everyone is having a terrific week!

Images from here.

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!

Adelaide trip.

 

 

    

I've just returned from a whirlwind three day holiday in Adelaide - a city that is in South Australia. It takes about one and a half hours by plane to get there from Sydney. I went there with my boyfriend to celebrate his brother's birthday and it was a real treat for me because I'd not been before!

Here are some "happy snaps"! 1) & 2) Marble lovely and William Morris wallpaper from the Art Gallery. 3) Two huge paintings by Napier Wallace also in the Gallery. 4) A fine bit of Palladian architecture for The Magistrate's Court. 5) A Victorian Church in North Adelaide. 6) A large cactussy type plant in a delightfully stained glass hot house in the Botanics. 7) A bee collecting pollen on a cherry blossom tree also in the Botanics. 8) A superb bit of Federation/ gothic style Victorian architecture in North Adelaide. 9) The sandstone buildings - which included the Art Gallery and Museum and various other government buildings on North Terrace.

Now! Off to explore everyone's blogs which I am very much looking forward to! Happy Monday folks!

Japan.

When I was about 10 or thereabouts, I was lucky enough to go to Japan for a few weeks with my parents. Gee it was amazing! So different to anywhere I'd ever been before! Tokyo was like a cross between "Blade Runner" and some exotic department store. Kyoto, on the other hand was like a fairy land of pretty red lanterns and trees and Zen Buddhist Temples. I liked the Buddhist temples the best. You'd take your shoes off at the door and then tip toe around stopping and sitting from time to time to contemplate a moss garden or a perfectly raked gravel yard.

I've also read that in Japan there are trillions of radio stations. Of course there are the usual music, news, talk back stations but there are also stations which only have waves crashing against cliffs and other ambient sounds to sooth the soul. I even read that there was a station dedicated to train station and platform noises so the businessman late home from work because of a "meeting" could use this as back ground noise whilst ringing his wife. I don't know how true that is!

So, here is my modern Geisha girl listening to her designer radio station in her pretty kimono. She is now a large print in my shop!