Wellington

Sigh. The weather's always like this, the locals assured me.

Pop quiz

James Earl Jones does the alphabet, from vintage Sesame Street (via SwissMiss).

Do you think if I were to loop this on a monitor in Jasper's bedroom he'd grow up being able to jump and/or dance in a way that his father can't?

The Secret.

"Water is just a collection of 1960s patterns and different sections of swirls. Once I found that out, painting it was easy."

From Sculptor works on the edge, Daily News 28 March.

Regionalism?

An ongoing subtext to the merry dance of the open homes is an insight into people's art collecting habits.

In Wellington it was a rarity to see much more than mass wedding photos in the homes in our price range, though we did chance upon the occasional Tom Kreisler print (twice in Thorndon), a handful of aged City Gallery exibition posters (go Brodsky and Utkin), and a terrifying number of faded impressionist prints, usually above the toilet.


Taranaki fares slightly better. There's a common theme of either a Michael Smither or Peter Lambert edition in almost every lounge in the province it would seem, but still a terrifying level of what would appear to be DIY decorative art, usually in houses freshly painted 'contemporary beige' (gotta love those quick and cheap home improvement shows).


And then we chanced upon this homage to Peter Peryer and went weak at the knees:

Walk the Lion

While the rest of Taranaki were standing in line to see a lion in Opunake Jasper and I went on a 150 minute time-killing adventure in Stratford. By the time we joined the queue it was worthy of a one-day sculpture project in its own right, though perhaps more anthropoligical than artistic

The camera on the phone inexplicably added a sort of faded blue filter to all shots taken in Stratford. Go figure.

(Title stolen from Wanda Harland)

Worse than first thought...

The worst of the global financial situation was felt today when the Herald launched it's graphic and tagline for the occasion.

On one hand I'm pleased to see the media are cutting costs - in this case on design and copywriting. On the other I'm thinking 'self fulfilling prophecy' and that things are eveidently going to get a whole lot uglier.

Somewhere near Te Kuiti

An aspect of parenthood I'd not considered until Sunday is the sudden need to break lengthy car trips for reasons other than espresso, galleries, the occasional studio visit, or bike trails.

Not saying it's a bad thing - just one I've got out of the habit of. 

Multipass

In the burgeoning market sector of animal art, it's good to know that the lower budget collector is catered for, with this new series of editions at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery.

Pic: Chester Carlson, xerography inventor.