The drive from Isisford to Blackall has changed a lot in the past 30 years
The fact that it is all bitumen is amazing and that you can put your foot down and do the drive at 110k's, with the only concern being the odd kangaroo hopping across the road.
Back in the day it was a fairly rough two wheel mostly black soil track, you had a little bitumen on the other side of the river from Isisford but it stopped where the road turned off to Blackall then the next time you hit bitumen was at the '6 miles' road junction just out of Blackall.
Many a road party was held either end where the dirt started or the bitumen stopped which ever way you wanted to look at it.
If you had been at the Tatts Pub in Blackall for a session, the ' roady ' was at the six mile....if on the other hand you had been to the 'Pictures' in Isisford then retired to Clancy's Overflow Hotel for a few until the then 10 p.m. closing time....remember that? You had the roady just over the bridge on the Barcoo under a big old coolabah tree.
As I crossed the river out of Isisford I did glance over at the spot under the tree and remembered some good ol' times. There is now a monument under that tree commemorating the accidental drowning of a young girl back in the early 1990's.
After turning off from the Emment road on to the Blackall road you go over a grid which marks the boundary of the town common and 'Isis Downs'. You then travel about 20 ks through that 'grand old Dame' pastoral station.
I could still recognize the country although it has changed a little where it has been cleared. Looked as though most of the sheep fences were long gone replaced with cattle barbed ones. A new set of cattle yards beside the road was also a bit of a surprise.
But the turn off into the station and the view of the famous shearing shed , the homestead and sundry buildings was very familiar. Not a great change there.
Next was 'Gowan Hill' which was owned by the Rice family but I'm not sure who owns it now.
After that you come to 'Springfield'. This property I know well as I worked there off and on for the Armstrong family before they sold to CPC (Consolidated Press ) also owners of 'Isis Downs' and half the Isisford district.
That country had changed with lots of clearing which has really opened up the view but I could still remember bits and pieces as I drove. I used to help Mr Armstrong with his cattle work. We had some interesting times trying to yard his cunning shorthorn cows. It didn't seem to matter how much trouble was taken in the preparation prior to getting them to the yards or how many men, women and dogs we assembled......
it was full on drama!!
I remember once we battled for what seemed like hours with cattle turning back, going in every direction, people screaming at the cattle, the dogs and each other.....but eventually in the dark we yarded them.
All retired to the homestead for a couple of stiff rum's before a feed and early to bed of the next day of drafting and the start of the branding.
Mr A was up first and had gone over to the yards while Mrs A and I started breakfast.
We didn't notice him walk into the kitchen, he was very quite as he just entered and stood there. We both turned round and looked at him and I think we both knew what the look on his face meant.
There was not one single hoof left in the yard.....they had knocked the side of the yard down during the night and off back to their paddocks they went....probably with little smiles on their faces!!!
The things you remember
Just after the turn off to' Springfield ' you cross the Springfield Creek which is on the boundary between 'Springfield' and 'Thornleigh'.
I worked at Thornleigh as a jillaroo for Mrs Wagstaff the owner of this magnificent property. She had lost her husband in a horse accident some years before. She had 3 girls, at the eldest was a year older than I was and the youngest was still in primary school.
I started work there in May of 1974.
Thornleigh is 110,000 acres and when I was there it ran around 20,000 merino sheep, and a fair mob of black angus cattle.
Mrs Wagstaff had a manager who took his orders every day from 'the ol' boss' as she was affectionately referred to.
I have just worked out she would have only been 45 that at that time.
The manager was in charge of a work force of 5 to 6 men commonly called station hands or ringers. I started work there for general shearing which was always done through the month of June.
Shearing took a month to 6 weeks and was always full on for that time. We were kept busy mustering woolly sheep to the shed and taking away shorn sheep, occasionally we would help with drafting although there were usually 'yard men' employed to do that.
All mustering was done on horse back when I first went there later we used motor bikes but not often.
I spent probably 3 years there off and on and these are days that I still think about often.
Mrs Wagstaff was a hard boss, but she was fair and we got on well...looking back she was very patient with me.
While at my sister's party last week end in Blackall I meet an old friend who worked in the district when I was at Thornleigh, we were reminiscing about the good old days and he said something interesting that I had never thought of.
He said how he pretty much always made it back to the homestead for lunch, I said we never did.... that we had to cut our lunch after breakfast and wrap it in newspaper, this was carried in our saddle bags and was pretty awful come lunch time on a hot summers day.
I remember I used to take vegemite sandwiches they seemed to come out o.k.
He said with a laugh that was because he worked on a company place where as I worked on a privately owned enterprise.
Back then company places didn't employ women.
It was very hard to suddenly be thrown into a work force of men who had never worked with a, I was going to say woman but I was really only a girl, they didn't like it one bit and decided right from the word go that I was completely useless and a hindrance. They tryed as hard as they could to get rid of me and when they couldn't they proceeded to make my job as hard as they possibly could.
But of course I am pretty pig headed...... anyway I loved my job.
I think it must be wonderful for the jillaroo's of today as they are recognized as being able to do the job as well as any man and there are even women up north who are head stockwomen and leading hands in charge of men. Would never have happened in my day.
I drove though Thornleigh on on to Moorlands which in my day was run as a part of Thornleigh but is now a separate property. Mrs Wagstaff passed away in early 2000's and ' Thornleigh ' is now owned by her eldest daughter Wendy and her husband Tom. Her second daughter Lynda and her husband own ' Moorlands'.
Probably the most amazing thing that I noticed on the drive through 'Thornleigh' was the complete lack of sheep. It is now covered in beautiful Droughtmaster cattle.
The next big place was ' Malvern Hills ' again I don't know who owns this but I am fairly sure it is a big company. As I drove past the turn off there were 3 semi trucks with 3 trailers as piece loaded to the hilt with cattle. This place was a merino sheep stud but now is all cattle.
I drove past the '6 mile' which has lots of memories of great party's round a fire on a cold night.
From there I turned off on to the ' Listowel Downs ' road this is not it's official name but can't remember it at the moment.
My older sister lives 100 kls down this road at ' Listowel Downs '. I was going out to stay with her for a couple of days for a farewell party as they have recently sold out......to another big company. It was again a trip down memory lane as when Tony and I lived at ' Mt Grey ' we used to go to ' Listowel 'often.
Wendy would relieve me of a child or two when ever I went into hospitial to have a baby, so the kids spent time there also.
The party was lots of fun and I managed to catch up with old friends from that part of the world. Country people never change and it is wonderful to think that you can talk to someone you haven't seen for nearly 30 years and pick up where you left off .
And all the reminiscing!!!!!
From there I drove home and it was great as I had been away for a while and was tired after 2 party's and lots of driving......and talking!!
Now I really need to do some painting
That's it for now
Sunday, 21 April 2013
Wednesday, 17 April 2013
DAYS AWAY
I have had 10 days away.
Travelling out west attending party's and visiting my father and my son and grandson.
First off I drove to "Stratton" the cattle property where my son and his wife live and run their business.
It was wonderful to see them.
I must admit little grandson Charlie is a treasure, but I mustn't go on about him as my dear (close) friends tell me I'm getting a little boring on that topic......of course they don't have grandchildren as yet!!
He has grown and is a fraction away from walking. He will be 1 on the 2nd of May ...we share a birthday.
Bill took me for a drive around the place and it is still quite dry as they haven't had their normal share of rain this summer.
Going into winter with the poor grass cover is a worry for them.
In these parts we are a summer rainfall part of the world and winter rain is rare.
Sometimes we get the odd bit of winter rain but it usually does more harm than good.
When the rain doesn't come or is not enough then the other probably worse result is what is called a water drought. Graziers can have enough feed for their cattle but water is in short supply.
This seems to be happening right across Queensland's inland. I think there will be a lot of people heading out into the "long" paddock in the next few months, my son included.
Oh, in case your not aware the long paddock is another name for droving your cattle on the side of roads where grass is which sometimes means shifting them a few hundred kilometers by road transport and walk cattle around the stock route's (sides of the road) until rain has fallen and the grass has grown on the home property and cattle can be taken home, or turned around and walked home which is usually the case.
Back to my trip. From Stratton I went to my sister Grace's cattle property out side Wallambilla south of Roma. It was to celebrate my niece's 21st birthday. We had a great night and a relaxing recovery day the following day.
From there I drove to Augathella where I stayed with my very good friend Lisa and her husband Mark.
They run a very successful fat lamb enterprise. They have managed to successfully make the transition from running merino sheep where the main income was from wool, to a dorper type sheep that is a meat producer only, and needs no shearing at all.
Having lived in that part of the world and run merino's it is strange to see funny looking black and white sheep covering the beautiful mitchell grass plains.
That night Lisa invited another old friend who lives on the next door property over for dinner and we all had a wonderful catch up. A few little hangovers may have been scattered about the following morning!!
But soldiering on I drove to Longreach the next day. My dad is in the old peoples home there and my 2 sister's and I take turns to visit and spend time with him. He is 83 this year and getting very frail. But he still has one passion/pleasure and that is being taken out side for a smoke.....puts a smile on his face every time.
He loves also to be taken for a drive and his favourite destination is the Thomson River. He likes to sit and look at the river and buff on his durry.
While we were doing this the other day I got to thinking about the connection Dad has with that river.
His Grandfather Angus crossed that river in the early part of the last century on his way from his birth state of Victoria to take up his new job as manager of the Queensland sheep stud of "Strathdarr".
Later his Grandmother Alice would have crossed that river on her way to Longreach to give birth to his mother.
Still later his mother Alison would have crossed that river to give birth to him and finally his wife Lesley would have crossed that river to give birth to me.
So he has been crossing that river all his life in one form or another.
Dad loves to talk about the old days and has managed to write and publish 3 books about his life and the people he has known. This is quite an achievement as he has lived all his life in Longreach except for a stint of couple a years working on Sheep Studs also in NSW.
His other love is to recite poetry, mainly A.B. Paterson's work. It was sad to leave him.
From Longreach I headed to Listowel Downs at Blackall where my sister Wendy and her family live. They have just sold the property which has been in he husbands family for 60 years.
You can drive straight from Longreach to Blackall via Barcaldine but I decided on the spur of the moment to divert through Isisford. Take a little trip along the Mighty Barcoo River.
This is my second most loved part of the world after Longreach.
I lived for 8 years on a property right next to the small township of Emmet which is 80 ks north west of Isisford and my husband Tony is an Isisford boy having lived all his childhood on Emmet Downs at Emmet and then at Isis Downs at Isisford. We have a lot of history in that part of Western Queensland.
Isisford hasn't changed much since we lived there in the 80's, in fact it may have gotten smaller. One thing has happened that has made a difference since our time has been the discovery of dinosaur bones by Ian Duncan a past manager of Isis Downs. This has resulted in the old picture theatre in the main street (where many a 'film' was watched half lying back in a canvas squatter type chair) being replaced by a state- of- the- art Outer Barcoo Interpretive Centre where you can see a replica of the said dinosaur and lots of other information on the area.
I stopped and had a look and a coffee and Isisford being Isisford in no time at all I had been discovered as well after running into my old neighbour Jocelyn Avery who with her husband Johnny ran the Emment store.
She has always been an amazing women. When I was first married and moved to live at Mt Grey, Jocelyn had 4 small children and drove the school bus every day and worked at the school all day then drove home. She has had many jobs since then including driving the ambulance. I asked her what she was up to now and she informed me she was on the Longreach Shire Council, worked at the medical centre in Isisford and also ran her own shop selling everything you could possibly need but didn't want to go to Longreach to get. She is helped out by her daughter Belinda and the retired Jimmy Baker well know jockey.
She is still an amazing women.
Having spent too much time in Isisford I hit the road to Blackall. This was a very interesting drive as I know that road and the property's along it very well.
But I think that might be another story\
TO BE CONTINUED
'
Travelling out west attending party's and visiting my father and my son and grandson.
First off I drove to "Stratton" the cattle property where my son and his wife live and run their business.
It was wonderful to see them.
I must admit little grandson Charlie is a treasure, but I mustn't go on about him as my dear (close) friends tell me I'm getting a little boring on that topic......of course they don't have grandchildren as yet!!
He has grown and is a fraction away from walking. He will be 1 on the 2nd of May ...we share a birthday.
Bill took me for a drive around the place and it is still quite dry as they haven't had their normal share of rain this summer.
Going into winter with the poor grass cover is a worry for them.
In these parts we are a summer rainfall part of the world and winter rain is rare.
Sometimes we get the odd bit of winter rain but it usually does more harm than good.
When the rain doesn't come or is not enough then the other probably worse result is what is called a water drought. Graziers can have enough feed for their cattle but water is in short supply.
This seems to be happening right across Queensland's inland. I think there will be a lot of people heading out into the "long" paddock in the next few months, my son included.
Oh, in case your not aware the long paddock is another name for droving your cattle on the side of roads where grass is which sometimes means shifting them a few hundred kilometers by road transport and walk cattle around the stock route's (sides of the road) until rain has fallen and the grass has grown on the home property and cattle can be taken home, or turned around and walked home which is usually the case.
Back to my trip. From Stratton I went to my sister Grace's cattle property out side Wallambilla south of Roma. It was to celebrate my niece's 21st birthday. We had a great night and a relaxing recovery day the following day.
From there I drove to Augathella where I stayed with my very good friend Lisa and her husband Mark.
They run a very successful fat lamb enterprise. They have managed to successfully make the transition from running merino sheep where the main income was from wool, to a dorper type sheep that is a meat producer only, and needs no shearing at all.
Having lived in that part of the world and run merino's it is strange to see funny looking black and white sheep covering the beautiful mitchell grass plains.
That night Lisa invited another old friend who lives on the next door property over for dinner and we all had a wonderful catch up. A few little hangovers may have been scattered about the following morning!!
But soldiering on I drove to Longreach the next day. My dad is in the old peoples home there and my 2 sister's and I take turns to visit and spend time with him. He is 83 this year and getting very frail. But he still has one passion/pleasure and that is being taken out side for a smoke.....puts a smile on his face every time.
He loves also to be taken for a drive and his favourite destination is the Thomson River. He likes to sit and look at the river and buff on his durry.
While we were doing this the other day I got to thinking about the connection Dad has with that river.
His Grandfather Angus crossed that river in the early part of the last century on his way from his birth state of Victoria to take up his new job as manager of the Queensland sheep stud of "Strathdarr".
Later his Grandmother Alice would have crossed that river on her way to Longreach to give birth to his mother.
Still later his mother Alison would have crossed that river to give birth to him and finally his wife Lesley would have crossed that river to give birth to me.
So he has been crossing that river all his life in one form or another.
Dad loves to talk about the old days and has managed to write and publish 3 books about his life and the people he has known. This is quite an achievement as he has lived all his life in Longreach except for a stint of couple a years working on Sheep Studs also in NSW.
His other love is to recite poetry, mainly A.B. Paterson's work. It was sad to leave him.
From Longreach I headed to Listowel Downs at Blackall where my sister Wendy and her family live. They have just sold the property which has been in he husbands family for 60 years.
You can drive straight from Longreach to Blackall via Barcaldine but I decided on the spur of the moment to divert through Isisford. Take a little trip along the Mighty Barcoo River.
This is my second most loved part of the world after Longreach.
I lived for 8 years on a property right next to the small township of Emmet which is 80 ks north west of Isisford and my husband Tony is an Isisford boy having lived all his childhood on Emmet Downs at Emmet and then at Isis Downs at Isisford. We have a lot of history in that part of Western Queensland.
Isisford hasn't changed much since we lived there in the 80's, in fact it may have gotten smaller. One thing has happened that has made a difference since our time has been the discovery of dinosaur bones by Ian Duncan a past manager of Isis Downs. This has resulted in the old picture theatre in the main street (where many a 'film' was watched half lying back in a canvas squatter type chair) being replaced by a state- of- the- art Outer Barcoo Interpretive Centre where you can see a replica of the said dinosaur and lots of other information on the area.
I stopped and had a look and a coffee and Isisford being Isisford in no time at all I had been discovered as well after running into my old neighbour Jocelyn Avery who with her husband Johnny ran the Emment store.
She has always been an amazing women. When I was first married and moved to live at Mt Grey, Jocelyn had 4 small children and drove the school bus every day and worked at the school all day then drove home. She has had many jobs since then including driving the ambulance. I asked her what she was up to now and she informed me she was on the Longreach Shire Council, worked at the medical centre in Isisford and also ran her own shop selling everything you could possibly need but didn't want to go to Longreach to get. She is helped out by her daughter Belinda and the retired Jimmy Baker well know jockey.
She is still an amazing women.
Having spent too much time in Isisford I hit the road to Blackall. This was a very interesting drive as I know that road and the property's along it very well.
But I think that might be another story\
TO BE CONTINUED
'
Sunday, 10 March 2013
Land of Drought's and Flooding Rains.
"The sun is out
the sky is blue
there's not a cloud
to spoil the view"
At Last.
We have had soooo much rain.
I have just about given up measuring it.
BUT ...having lived on the land and run a business where the main ingredient for success is rain, I know not to complain, because rain can stop and then it can take years to start again. I know this because I have seen it happen....often.
Australia is the driest country on earth, therefore droughts especially in Queensland are some thing we have to learn to deal with.
I remember the first drought I ever experienced. The time was the late 60's and I was about 10. I have a memory of skinny horses and dead sheep.
For thoes who don't know sheep are an animal that spends it's whole life looking for a way to die!!
(A direct quote from my husband.)
I think this is because they never ever have an original thought, they think collectively.
So if one sheep thinks it will walk into a muddy dam for a drink and gets bogged that doesn't mean that any of the others are going to say better not go in there or the same thing will happen to us.... no they all follow and they all get bogged
.....sheep!!
This brings me back to my first experiences of drought.....pulling out bogged sheep from dams.
Also another rather awful memory was when Dad would want us to " depth a dam" ...see how much water was left so that he would know how long until the water dryed up and sheep had to be moved to another paddock or sold.
We would have to swim out into the middle of the dam which I might add usually had the odd dead sheep floating about in it. Once in the middle we would have to hold one arm above our heads with fingers pointing to the sky and go down until we touched the bottom. Dad could then judge the depth of water.
I hated this because I would imagine all sort of horrible things lurking on the bottom waiting for a little girls feet!!
I remember the incredible dust storms that would hit Longreach and just black out the sun, also a bit scary when your little.
The next big drought I remember was in 1982/3. We were living and working at " Mt Gray "
at Emmet south west of Longreach. A property owned at the time by Tony's father Dick McLean.
We used to breed our own horses back then. We had about 20 brood mares and a stallion. It was a bit of extra income for us as Tony would break in the grown foals and sell them, it also kept us well supplied with work horses. All mustering was done on horse back as most of the country was too rough for motor bikes.
This suited us well as it gave us the opportunity to work our young breakers.
It is funny how events stick in your mind, you can go through a particularly bad time where lots of awful things happen but years later when you think back usually one thing stands out.
The thing that stands out for me was to do with our horses. The drought just kept on keeping on and there didn't seem to be an end to it. As with all droughts there are decisions to be made and they are usually heart wrenching.
We were forced to make a decision regarding our horses. We couldn't afford to feed them all to keep them alive. There were a few mares that were heavy in foal so we brought them into the house and feed them until they foaled. Any foals not big enough to fend for them self were shoot to save the mother. These are the decisions that are made daily by the custodians of the land and livestock in times of drought.
One of the mares brought back to feed was a beautiful grey mare who had had 2 previous foals, both very good horses, people reading this who knew our horses will remember " Bungie", he was her last foal.
She managed to have her foal a few days after being brought home, but she was very weak and I could see that she was giving up. The foal was sucking but her milk supply wasn't great.
At the time I was 8 months pregnant with our first child. Every morning I would go over to the stable to check on the mare. This particular morning she was lying down this is always a bad sign with horses or cattle for that matter. When an animal is weak they will try very hard to stay up right as they know that if they lay down they usually will not have the strength to stand. If you see a sick animal lying down it's a bad sign and you have to try and get it up as quickly as possible.
I put a halter on her so that I could at least help her when she tryed to stand. I managed to get her sitting up with her front legs out in front of her. She gave one enormous effort and caught me by surprise and I wasn't quick enough to help by pulling on the halter lead, being so pregnant probably had something to do with it.
That effort was all she had left and she just lay right down with her head on the ground and try as I might to encourage her to try again, she wouldn't. She had had enough.
She died late that afternoon with her little foal standing over her.
This drought broke the night our son was born. The 18th March 1983. Just as a matter of interest this son of mine will be 30 in a few days time.
Our enormous amount of rain that we have been having all along the coast of Queensland has not spread inland. There are part in the west that are in the gripes of awful drought where here on the coast in places like Bundaberg whole towns have been washed away.
Going back to that drought baby of mine, he has been droving his cattle on the stock routes round Roma and Surat as they have had a really dry spell at " Stratton" the cattle property where he lives with his wife Kellie and their little son Charlie. They sold these cattle at the Roma sale a couple of weeks ago, but still haven't received enough good rain to see them through the winter.
In this dry old land of ours all you can do is
Hope...
Until next time.
To view my paintings and drawings click on this link http://www.theoutbackartist.com.au
the sky is blue
there's not a cloud
to spoil the view"
At Last.
We have had soooo much rain.
I have just about given up measuring it.
BUT ...having lived on the land and run a business where the main ingredient for success is rain, I know not to complain, because rain can stop and then it can take years to start again. I know this because I have seen it happen....often.
Australia is the driest country on earth, therefore droughts especially in Queensland are some thing we have to learn to deal with.
I remember the first drought I ever experienced. The time was the late 60's and I was about 10. I have a memory of skinny horses and dead sheep.
For thoes who don't know sheep are an animal that spends it's whole life looking for a way to die!!
(A direct quote from my husband.)
I think this is because they never ever have an original thought, they think collectively.
So if one sheep thinks it will walk into a muddy dam for a drink and gets bogged that doesn't mean that any of the others are going to say better not go in there or the same thing will happen to us.... no they all follow and they all get bogged
.....sheep!!
This brings me back to my first experiences of drought.....pulling out bogged sheep from dams.
Also another rather awful memory was when Dad would want us to " depth a dam" ...see how much water was left so that he would know how long until the water dryed up and sheep had to be moved to another paddock or sold.
We would have to swim out into the middle of the dam which I might add usually had the odd dead sheep floating about in it. Once in the middle we would have to hold one arm above our heads with fingers pointing to the sky and go down until we touched the bottom. Dad could then judge the depth of water.
I hated this because I would imagine all sort of horrible things lurking on the bottom waiting for a little girls feet!!
I remember the incredible dust storms that would hit Longreach and just black out the sun, also a bit scary when your little.
The next big drought I remember was in 1982/3. We were living and working at " Mt Gray "
at Emmet south west of Longreach. A property owned at the time by Tony's father Dick McLean.
We used to breed our own horses back then. We had about 20 brood mares and a stallion. It was a bit of extra income for us as Tony would break in the grown foals and sell them, it also kept us well supplied with work horses. All mustering was done on horse back as most of the country was too rough for motor bikes.
This suited us well as it gave us the opportunity to work our young breakers.
It is funny how events stick in your mind, you can go through a particularly bad time where lots of awful things happen but years later when you think back usually one thing stands out.
The thing that stands out for me was to do with our horses. The drought just kept on keeping on and there didn't seem to be an end to it. As with all droughts there are decisions to be made and they are usually heart wrenching.
We were forced to make a decision regarding our horses. We couldn't afford to feed them all to keep them alive. There were a few mares that were heavy in foal so we brought them into the house and feed them until they foaled. Any foals not big enough to fend for them self were shoot to save the mother. These are the decisions that are made daily by the custodians of the land and livestock in times of drought.
One of the mares brought back to feed was a beautiful grey mare who had had 2 previous foals, both very good horses, people reading this who knew our horses will remember " Bungie", he was her last foal.
She managed to have her foal a few days after being brought home, but she was very weak and I could see that she was giving up. The foal was sucking but her milk supply wasn't great.
At the time I was 8 months pregnant with our first child. Every morning I would go over to the stable to check on the mare. This particular morning she was lying down this is always a bad sign with horses or cattle for that matter. When an animal is weak they will try very hard to stay up right as they know that if they lay down they usually will not have the strength to stand. If you see a sick animal lying down it's a bad sign and you have to try and get it up as quickly as possible.
I put a halter on her so that I could at least help her when she tryed to stand. I managed to get her sitting up with her front legs out in front of her. She gave one enormous effort and caught me by surprise and I wasn't quick enough to help by pulling on the halter lead, being so pregnant probably had something to do with it.
That effort was all she had left and she just lay right down with her head on the ground and try as I might to encourage her to try again, she wouldn't. She had had enough.
She died late that afternoon with her little foal standing over her.
This drought broke the night our son was born. The 18th March 1983. Just as a matter of interest this son of mine will be 30 in a few days time.
Our enormous amount of rain that we have been having all along the coast of Queensland has not spread inland. There are part in the west that are in the gripes of awful drought where here on the coast in places like Bundaberg whole towns have been washed away.
 |
| Drought Baby Bill with his son Charlie on the road with cattle |
In this dry old land of ours all you can do is
Hope...
Until next time.
To view my paintings and drawings click on this link http://www.theoutbackartist.com.au
Thursday, 28 February 2013
G'DAY USA
Just looked at my Stats and noticed a lot of American interest in my blog.
This is great ...means I'm getting out there.
I just love the internet!!
It appeals to me on so many levels.
Firstly, I am pretty well obsessed with information and you know back in the day you had to look things up at in books and I was sooo disappointed when I couldn't find the right book or find anything that would quench the current thirst....but now we have the internet and I sometimes find myself getting up in the middle of the night to look something up that I have been thinking about.
Does anyone else do this or is it just me?
Secondly, it is amazing when you are isolated as I am and also can look at art and artist from all over the world. I can see what is happening in every part of the world and how good is that! I love to google stuff...random stuff like " What did Elvis do on his last day on earth "...or " Or how do I make a really great orange colour and bang there it is AMAZING.
Or I can follow a dog race on the other side of the word....and really feel like I'm involved!!
This is how my new American readers came about...see killed 2 birds with the 1 stone...and learnt something to boot.
At first I couldn't figure out how this had happened....but then I realized that due to my information obsession I had been following the Yukon Quest which is a 1000 mile Dog Sled Race which starts in Whitehorse Yukon Territory Canada and finishers 7 to 9 days later in Fairbanks Alaska.
I had made a few random comments and liked their facebook page which.... OF COURSE... led to people then looking at me.
I feel as though I have made a big step forward with my understanding of how things work.....some may think this is elementary dear Watson...but not for little ol' sometimes slow on the up take me!!
So I welcome my USA readers.
These are some photo's taken by my daughter Lucy who is currently living and working in Whitehorse
The dogs are mix of different breeds. But they say that all they really need is a need to RUN!
As you can see they just love it and are very keen to get on the "trail'
Off they go...notice the bale of hay...this is used for the dogs to sleep on when they pull up for a blow in between check points. The booties are so cute don't you think...love the fact that they are " glow in the dark"
I could go on and on about this race and the people and dogs involved.
I love things that are a little 'left of centre' or where man and beast combine to achieve amazing feats.
Think I am going to have to go see this first hand.
That's it for now
This is great ...means I'm getting out there.
I just love the internet!!
It appeals to me on so many levels.
Firstly, I am pretty well obsessed with information and you know back in the day you had to look things up at in books and I was sooo disappointed when I couldn't find the right book or find anything that would quench the current thirst....but now we have the internet and I sometimes find myself getting up in the middle of the night to look something up that I have been thinking about.
Does anyone else do this or is it just me?
Secondly, it is amazing when you are isolated as I am and also can look at art and artist from all over the world. I can see what is happening in every part of the world and how good is that! I love to google stuff...random stuff like " What did Elvis do on his last day on earth "...or " Or how do I make a really great orange colour and bang there it is AMAZING.
Or I can follow a dog race on the other side of the word....and really feel like I'm involved!!
This is how my new American readers came about...see killed 2 birds with the 1 stone...and learnt something to boot.
At first I couldn't figure out how this had happened....but then I realized that due to my information obsession I had been following the Yukon Quest which is a 1000 mile Dog Sled Race which starts in Whitehorse Yukon Territory Canada and finishers 7 to 9 days later in Fairbanks Alaska.
I had made a few random comments and liked their facebook page which.... OF COURSE... led to people then looking at me.
I feel as though I have made a big step forward with my understanding of how things work.....some may think this is elementary dear Watson...but not for little ol' sometimes slow on the up take me!!
So I welcome my USA readers.
These are some photo's taken by my daughter Lucy who is currently living and working in Whitehorse
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| The start in Whitehorse |
As you can see they just love it and are very keen to get on the "trail'
I could go on and on about this race and the people and dogs involved.
I love things that are a little 'left of centre' or where man and beast combine to achieve amazing feats.
Think I am going to have to go see this first hand.
That's it for now
Wednesday, 30 January 2013
2012 Done and Dustered
Well 2012 is over and done with....looking back it was an interesting year.....some very big highs and a few little hick up's or bumps in the road which ever way you want to look at it.
Artistically it didn't start well with a knock back from being included for hanging in a local art comp. Artists are very sensitive creatures and it doesn't seem to matter how long you are in the game or how often you tell your self what others think doesn't matter ..... a knock back is a knock back.
I would tell more but the same comp is coming up again this year and I don't want to offend. I'm going to have another crack at it. I'll talk more on this at a later date.
Not long after the knock back I was wondering if it was worth taking my art to the Beef Australia or Beef Week as it is known in these parts. My confidence had taken quite a beating you see. Eventually I rallied and thought get over yourself Sandy so I rang to see if any sites were still available, being a little late off the mark. I still wasn't feeling so good about it all so I told my self that if a site is available then I am meant to be there.
Well it was sorry all sites are taken...so be it I said. But they did say they would ring if anything became available.
About a week later I got a call to say they had a site for me and that it was a good one and I should be happy...... that was probably an understatement because I actually think I had the best site in the whole show!!!
Someone up there was smiling down on me.
I had a great week of sales and I just love being round people, talking to and listening to what people have to say about what I do, it is such a tonic. The surprising thing that happened was that the painting I had painted especially for the Knock Back Art Comp was actually the first painting sold.
All of the above restored my bruised and battered confidence.
I had also decided to make some greeting cards featuring my paintings to sell at Beef Week so during the months of June / July I traveled around attending markets in Toowoomba and Warwick selling my cards....It also meant I could catch up with old friends down that way. This is again lots of fun as I can talk to people and it is so interesting what people tell you. I am astounded by the things I am told. I am always a target for other artists. I don't know how often I end up in a conversation with older women telling me how they love to paint but never had the confidence to just do it. This always makes me a little sad. I thank God I decided a few years ago not to waste my talent.
Then in October I had a small exhibition in Roma. I had a big change for this exhibition and really went all out with color. I made all the work feature the color Pink and then decided to call the show PINK. It was well received but sales weren't great. I think the GFC has a lot to do with things now, and really when you look at wants and needs, the last thing you NEED is a painting.
I have not done a lot since then just a few commissions.
But this is not to say that a lot hasn't happened away from my art life. My other life has been quite full and very rewarding.
2012 has brought me a beautiful Grandson and the wedding of my youngest daughter.
Two pretty big events in life's journey!!!
So lets see what 2013 has to offer
Tuesday, 2 October 2012
HOW I DID IT
Just going to share quickly my painting of the Odd Galah
This a large canvas measuring 122 cm x 90cm.
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I was in a hurry so just quickly drew in a very rough out line with a large marking pen
I then started to paint I was just trying to paint in the bird as quickly as possible
Just working on the darks
Here I have finished painting the bird. It is very rough but now I can start to stand back and fine tune it.
You'll notice that I have painted a dark grey where the shadow part of it's head is.
Here it is completed.
I had some trouble getting the birds position right so that it looks like he is perched on a branch and looking down.
In the end I think it came off
The background colour is a very rich purpley pink blue. Took longer to settle on that colour than to do the rest of the painting.....but that's not unusual...for me
That's it for now
EXHIBITION BROWN GULLY COMPLETE
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| Just Arrived Acrylic on canvas Framed 70cm x 70cm |
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| ODD GALAH Acrylic on Canvas 122cm x 90cm |
There is probably nothing quite as satisfying for an artist than seeing your work completed and hanging.
Nellie at Brown Gully did a fantastic job hanging the work then hosting the event.
I was very relaxed this time and quite confident with what I had achieved.
There really is something to be said about using the same colour thread through all the paintings
it really gives it continuity.
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| More paintings |
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| The black white and pink wall |
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| My son Bill having a look |
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| The family deciding where to go for dinner |
If your in Roma or passing through stop and have a look
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