Tree Street Art Safari 25th March 2023

Hi everyone. I hope you and yours are well. 

 I have spent the last couple of months getting ready for the Tree Street Art Safari in my home town last Saturday. This event is run by the Stirling Street Arts Centre in the "tree" street area of Bunbury. Residents host artists in their gardens. It is a fabulous event and the opportunity for people to visit artists they might not normally see.

I had lots on offer - ecoprint wool and silk scarves, totebags, greeting cards, note books & upcyled eco-printed TShirts. Photo products on prints, totes, cushion covers and greeting cards. And paper flowers!

Plus I had for sale my writers group, the South Side Quills latest anotholgy "Aspects of Childhood". You can see it on the right had side bar here....

The day dawned clear and warm and we had a very busy day welcoming over 900 people through our display. There were lots of people out and about making it a vibrant event.

Firstly I must say THANKYOU to my wonderful, obliging and generous hosts Maggie & Alec for hosting me again this year for the Tree Street Art Safari. I was truly blessed when I was paired with them several years ago. THANKYOU to everyone who visited and THANKYOU to those who purchased from me or commented on my work. I truly appreciate you all and enjoyed meeting and talking with you.

And THANKYOU to my husband without whose support i couldn't do any of this.

A lucky visitor walked away with my favourite framed photo print of spices tucked under her arm to put up in her new kitchen. 

I had lots of prints and greeting cards.

There were cushions and tote bags from my print on demand on-line Red Bubble range.

Eco printed wool and silk scarves

Including my new favourite printed with coreopsis yellow daisies from my front garden. It just loves being printed on wool and silk and even cotton. I loved this cute little top on the right hand side here, but unfortunately it didn't fit me...

And lots of other T's including these...

Eco printing greeting cards, notebooks, tote bags, and scarves.

And paper flowers

Now to get ready for the Dardanup Art Trail on the weekend of 29-30 April

Thank you so much for stopping by. And please excuse the blatant advertising. Do you have an art market you visit? Perhaps you would like to share in your comments. 

You can see my Red Bubble shop here where you can order from anywhere in the world! Life Images on Red Bubble

I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 
I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

Mosaic Monday @ Soul & Mind & So On

Travel Tuesday

Pictorial Tuesday 

ThroughMy Lens 
Image-in-ing
My corner of the world through my camera 
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global hosted by Randomosity. 
       and Little bird - Pienilintu
Thankful Thursday 
Welcome to Nature Thursday

Skywatch Friday

Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.

Sculpture by the Bay- Dunsborough 2023- Western Australia

Last weekend we visited the Sculpture by the Bay exhibition as part of the Dunsborough Art Festival. This is an annual event which has been held in Dunsborough since 2011. 

Always very interesting to see the range of large sculptures through the park along the foreshore and along Dunn Bay Road, and the small scultpures in Christian Fletcher's Gallery. 

I was particularly drawn to those with an environmental message. 

Below top left you can see - 

- Insiduous by Heloise Roberts - Flowers made from plastic bottles attached to trees and trailing through the garden representing insiduous introduced species that are suffocating our native ecosystems. This piece seemed like it was lit by solar lights in the middle of each flower. Would have been good to see at night. 

And below that -  Cumulonimbus by Shanti Gelmi & Louise Grimshaw - using waste and products of over consumption, it reflects on the effect of climate change on our environment. But I did love the little plastic creatures. 

I enjoyed the play of light and reflections on the fish in The School by Richard Aitken - reflecting on the warming of the oceans and the delicate balance. 

I really liked The Plant Apocalypse by Year 6 students at Dunsborough Primary School and their teacher Karen Seaman -  a colaborative piece using recycled paper, cardboard, plastic, salvaged fishing rope and wood, using metallic patinas to disguise the origins of the materials and creating a skyscraper that has been overtaken by nature. 

Musical Bones by David Johansen was a piece that encouraged interaction. Made from an old piano and bits and pieces inside to create the sound. Lots of fun! 

My husband particularly liked Brian Plank's - Kite - each piece moving independantly at the whim of the wind. 

Below 

- Jillain Warnock has used her artworks printed on aluminium to create Spiral Journey of the Spirit.  

- Plastic rope has been unravelled to make the tail of Kerry Walker's Peacock  

- and recylced objects have been used to create a dog as part of Merrilyn Whisson's piece - To Fetch A Pail of Water. 

In Size Matters by Margaret Rees - a hungry seagull is sizing up his options for breakfast, knowing the future of the ocean's sustainability is on the line. The pylon base is salvaged timber from the old Busselton Jetty. 

Below here you can see - clockwise from top left - 

- Shorts too Big by Greg Banfield created from windfall jarrah tells the story of hand-me-down clothes. 

- Tempest - by Wayne Smith - Created from corten steel this piece is like a whirling dervish or dust devil in the desert outback. 

- Metamorphosis by Rod Barnes - made from metal including old car doors representing the Year 2080 where machines reaching out to assist in developing mechanical life forms to restore beauty and wonder to the world. 

- Stealth Birdhouse by Keith Lush would almost disappear in the garden follage. 

And a few of the small sculptures - clockwise from top left - 

- Best Laid Plans II by Shanti Gelmi - representing the manipulation of dreams and expectations and the delicate balance between honouring wishes versus following your own path made possible by parental scarifice. 

- Lil'Bird by David Barbour made from washed up driftwood. 

-  Don't be afraid to think outside the box by Sue Smorthwaite representing the importance to think and decide for yourself whilst still being mindful of the need for social cohesion and tolerance of other views. 

- The Money trap by Louise Grimshaw aims to provoke discussion about the assumption that more money equals more happiness and the risks associated with obtaining more at the expense of simple pleasures. 

- Our Prickly Earth by Joshua Nicholas - made from wire, nuts, and washers represents the state of our global climate which is at least, a bit prickly. 

I hope you have enjoyed this look at the Dunsborough Sculpture By the Bay. You can see more at Sculpture By The Bay. Click on Galleries, then 2023 Sculpture By the Bay Gallery to see all the entries and prize winners. 

Thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 
I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!
   

Mosaic Monday @ Soul & Mind & So On

Travel Tuesday

Pictorial Tuesday 

ThroughMy Lens 
Image-in-ing
My corner of the world through my camera 
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global hosted by Randomosity. 
       and Little bird - Pienilintu
Thankful Thursday 
Welcome to Nature Thursday

Skywatch Friday

Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.

52 x 2 photo project - February 2023

 Hi everyone, I hope you and yours are doing well. This week I am continuing sharing my 52 x 2 photo project with you. 2 photos per week for 52 weeks - one colur and one mono per week. Below are my February images. 

Week 1 - 1 February 2023 - colour - Outside some housing units I saw this little patch of gorgeous sunflowers. So I went back with my camera to photograph them.

Week 1 - 3 February 2023 - mono - a walk bridge over the water between the Leschenault Inlet and Koombana Bay in Bunbury. 

Week 2 - 6 February 2023 - Mono - Giant red tingle tree in the Valley of the Giants at Walpole in our Great Southern Region of Western Australia, taken during a little getaway. 

Week 2 - 7 February 2023 - Colour - Driving through the karri forest along the Karri Explorer drive in the Pemberton region during our little getaway. More about this later. 

Week 3 - 12 February 2023 - Colour - Banksia Baxteri - Baxter's Banksia. I bought a bunch of these gorgeous banksias in Balingup on the way home from our little getaway. You can see more if you click on the link. 

Week 3 - 15 February 2023 - Mono - playing with a little still life photography for a photogrpahy group topic. 

I ended up entering this one, and received a Gold award for it - a collection of my grandmother's mother's, and mother-in-laws old spoons etc, plus a few of my own. 

Week 4 - 20 February 2023 - Mono - the Safety Bay jetty near Rockingham

Week 4 - 21 February 2023 - Colour - On an overnight trip to Rockingham a couple of hours north of home, we took a ferry ride to Penguin Island and then a dolphin-sealion boat tour and penguin discovery talk. We hadn't been to Penguin Island since we were teenagers - it's changed a lot! More on this later! 

The Penguins are so cute! 

BONUS shot - We went to the South West Multicultural Festival in Bunbury on the 18 February. Always a fabulous afternoon of free multicultural entertainment. And a great opportunity to experience cultural dance. Unfortunately I couldn't stay for the evening show. This is a vibrant Colombian dancer.  

And the beautiful Nicole from Sol y Sombra Spanish Dance Company in Bunbury. I've blogged about them many times before. Sadly I haven't danced this past year due to a foot problem. 

A few more pics from the Multicultural festival 

Thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 

My thoughts go to the people of the Ukraine at this time of the one year anniversary. 

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

Mosaic Monday @ Soul & Mind & So On

Travel Tuesday

Pictorial Tuesday 

ThroughMy Lens 
Image-in-ing
My corner of the world through my camera 
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global hosted by Randomosity. 
       and Little bird - Pienilintu
Thankful Thursday 
Welcome to Nature Thursday

Skywatch Friday

Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.

Banksia baxteri - Baxter's Banksia - Western Australia

 Hi everyone, I hope you and yours are doing well. 

Last week we took a short three night trip away to the forest regions a couple of hours south of where we live. More on that later. 

On our way home I bought a glorious bunch of Banksia baxteri - Baxter's Banksia - for a local shop in Balingup and grown by a local grower. Looking through my photos I am not sure I have seen these in full flower in the wild, though we have seen the heads starting to form nuts when we have been in the Fitzgerald National Park near Hopetoun in spring. 

It was named by Robert Brown after the collector, William Baxter, who gathered it in 1829 near King George Sound in Western Australia. 

A shrub up to 4 metres tall, it flowers along the south coast of Western Australia, during December to May, mainly January to March. 

The lemon coloured flowers grow on the end of the stems and the leaves form a sort of cup shape around the flower. 

It has the typical saw-tooth leaf of most banksias, though I learnt that the leaf of each Banksia type is slightly different, which is a handy identification tool. 

It grows from seed or cuttings and flowers within 3-4 years. I am thinking I need to grow one, they are so beautiful. 

Here are some spent examples we saw flowering in the Fitzgerald River National Park near Hopetoun and Tozers Bush Camp near Bremer Bay along the south coast last August. Your can see the nuts starting to form. 

That's it from me today. I hope you have enjoyed this little look at Baxters Banksia - Banksia baxteri 

Information from: Banksias - 2nd edition - by Kevin Collins, Kathy Collins & Alex George - Bloomings Books - and available from various booksellers 

You can learn a bit more about Banksias over on my blogpost - The iconic Australian Banksia

Banksias belong to the Proteaceae plant family. Characterised by their flower spikes and woody seed cones they range from ground hugging plants to 30 metre high trees. There are 78 known Banksias, 76 species in Australia, 62 of which are endemic to Western Australia, and 30 of these growing between Esperance and Walpole on our southern coast. In recent years the genus Dryandra has been incorporated into the genus Banksia, so the genus now totals 173 species.

You might also like:

Biodiversity Hotspot - Fitzgerald river National Park

In celebration of spring in Western Australia - along the south coast

Flora Base - Banksia baxteri

Thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!
   

Mosaic Monday @ Soul & Mind & So On

Travel Tuesday

Pictorial Tuesday 

ThroughMy Lens 
Image-in-ing
My corner of the world through my camera 
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global hosted by Randomosity. 
       and Little bird - Pienilintu
Thankful Thursday 
Welcome to Nature Thursday

Skywatch Friday

Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.

My heart goes out to those suffering through war, earthquake, flooding, illness, poverty, starvation and other disasters throughout the world.