A few wonderful days in Perth. I watched two of my favourite people get married. Met their favourite people, who have now joined my own list of favourite people. Carried balloons around town. Didn't cry at all during the ceremony. Didn't get sunburnt despite the heat. Went to a tiki bar. Drank far too much rum. Bought more dinosaur jewellery. Ate lots of cheese. Fell asleep watching Jurassic Park. Drank delicious cider. Went in a fun house. Ate more cheese.
Now I'm back at home where I have to rejoin the land of work and study. And I've had to say goodbye to my brother who has moved away for work, and mum and dad who have resumed their travels after a month in Brisbane.
Ivan knows what its all about. Hanging out at the library on a school holiday Friday was not a good idea, no matter how loudly I crank the Katy Perry. This has also ruined my plans of a weekend at the beach with a sneaky trip to Underwater World to check out my shark buddies. The sharks might have to wait a couple of weeks. And for today, I think I'm going to have to quickly download as much uni stuff as I can then retire to my backyard with a book and a cider.
A couple of new additions to the family. Meet Sarah (the vegiesaurus), and Clive. They won't be featuring in any artworks, but they will be hanging out at Reframed with the other dinos. Only two days until we're open!
One week to go before install of Reframed, and I've finally finished my photographs. Its a bright, sunny, hot winter (apparently) day and I had yet another morning trying to find the right light for my last picture. I think I've finally got it right. And Claude didn't even bother me.
Ok, its Monday night. Day two of my not allowed to go to bed before midnight because I have so much damn work to do regimen. The only way I've been getting through this is with Batman sized cups of green cordial and the most ridiculous playlists ever. Whatever keeps me awake and working.. and researching Godzilla.
Check Yo Self - Ice Cube
Wild Wild West - Will Smith
I still can't hear the words wild or west without busting out a "wicky wicky wild". And I genuinely enjoy this and everything Will Smith does. Go on and judge me.
Daughter - Pearl Jam
What's better than my drunk Eddie Vedder impression? My overtired 11pm Monday night Eddie Vedder impression. "Doooonnnn't caawwlll meeeaaaaa"
99 Problems - Jay Z
Timebomb - Rancid
We Belong - Pat Benetar
You thought Love is a Battlefield was entertaining? It aint' got nothing on the green gloves, creepiest drummer ever, and the children's choir singing at the bog of eternal stench.
Which brings me to..
As The World Falls Down - David Bowie
Like most normal children, I developed a massive crush on David Bowie after seeing this movie. Ten year old girls all over the world were wishing their brothers away, hoping that a glam rock goblin king would dance with them at a masquerade ball. It must be love. You can't even see his junk in this scene.
Express Yourself - NWA
I don't have much to say about this, apart from I got in an argument with a girl at school once because she tried to tell me Express Yourself was a Madonna song.
Tops - The Rolling Stones
I'll still defend Mick & Co in any Beatles vs Stones argument.
And of course...
Godzilla - Blue Oyster Cult
There's no working on dino themed artworks without this bad boy playing.
The sun is out and the light is gorgeous, so of course it was trek to the backyard to take photos time. Today it was only the crows keeping me company, unlike last time when a stupid ibis decided to join in a little too closely which scared the hell out of me.
This is my usual sunny afternoon setup. Picnic blanket and toys strewn around the backyard taking turns to be photographed. I'd love to show you some of the finished shots, but you'll just have to wait for the exhibition to open. Sorry. It's a surprise :) I will tell you that Cleo the raptor is definitely the most photogenic and I'm having trouble picking just one photo of her.
And I found my Diana lens, so had to have a little play around. I love what it does to the light, but unfortunately it didn't really work very well for dino photos.
Another day spent laying in the dirt hanging out with toy dinosaurs and my camera. I learnt two things today. Firstly, one of my lenses could do with a major clean. Secondly, Godzilla is having major jealousy issues. I think I'm going to need to build him a city to destroy or something.
Breakfast is absolutely the best meal of the day. There's coffee, bacon is usually involved, and if you have a sweet tooth, you're allowed to have something sugary and chocolatey without being judged. Try that at lunchtime. Not to mention breakfast is the only meal where its socially acceptable to sit in a fancy restaurant alone with a good book.
There are a billion (well, a lot) of amazing breakfast places around town and since I tend to try a new one every week or so, I thought I'd share what I've found. And gloat about all the bacon I'm eating. I thought I'd start out with Egg, which is a favourite not only because of the amazing food, but because it is about a 20 second walk from my house. This is a big selling point when you just got out of bed and are desperate for caffeine (and bacon).
My drink of choice.. mocha deliciousness.
Eggs Florentine. With a side of bacon, of course. Gotta love runny eggs with loads of pepper.
I'm a responsible adult. I didn't get chocolate in my second coffee.
A little outtake from today. Ivan is a little bit unstable on his feet. One of the pitfalls of not working with real dinosaurs, I guess. Apart from a little bit of wonkiness, I've had a pretty productive day with the dinos, with much more to be done again tomorrow. It's been fun. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to eat a delicious homemade pizza and watch some Masterchef.
I'll admit it, I'm a Masterchef junkie. The combination of cooking AND the fake drama of reality TV? I'm hooked. For the last few months (yeah, I've neglected all aspects of a social life for that long) I've been rushing home in time to watch every night at 7pm.. and sometimes repeats on Saturday nights.. because apparently reality TV is better the second time around. I managed to get my housemates into it as well - or maybe they just saw the addiction in my eyes and were too scared to change the channel. Our favourite thing to do as we're eating our frozen dinners and microwave mug cakes (apart from mocking Alice's outfits and George's 'alegant' pronunciation) is gush over the beautiful bromance between Ben and Andy. And now that (dun dun dun.. spoiler for the west coasters) Andy is the winner I'm pretty sure he's going to have to spend his winnings on a beautiful Ben/Andy wedding. Or at least a joint cooking show where we can watch the cuteness and the cooking on a regular basis.
Now.. back to having a social life. Or not. Masterchef All Stars starts tomorrow night ;)
On my recent visit to Perth I was blown away by the amount of street art. It's everywhere! It made me realise how much we're lacking this in Brisbane. I keep looking, but there's nothing. I don't know if it just gets cleaned up before we get a chance to see it, or if the people of Brisbane just aren't as into it. Such a pity, because it really is inspiring to see such beautiful works when you're just walking through the streets.
It's finally a sunny-ish day so I'm trying to get cracking on my pieces for Reframed - a group exhibition I'll be part of in August. I've spent the morning laying in wet grass playing with dinosaurs. So much fun.. although I haven't really achieved much.. just testing lighting and settings. Tomorrow I'll be baking, drinking and cleaning with the dinosaurs.. while having a Jurassic Park marathon to keep me inspired. And there'll be lots of printing, cutting, taping, and painting well into the night. Busy times ahead!
P.S. You should totes like Reframed on Facebook to keep updated with everyone's work!
It was my birthday a few weeks ago, and I got super duper spoiled. My best buddy Jess is EXTREMELY talented, and made me these amazing button flowers. And what bouquet is complete without a few dinos? Love it!
Art, food, wine, beer, dinosaurs, art deco, vintage shopping, lovely people.. what's not to love about Perth? Probably that its so far away. That's about it.
