not by lightening. not by fever. nor by hand… it happened the moment I found this image lurking in an old photo folder on my desktop…

I’m homesick. And I’ve been struck hard.

Why do I do it to myself, why did I have to come up with this water theme which lead me to finding this?

I took this photograph with my AE-1, and I remember it vividly. This represents home. It is Sydney life. My old Sydney life, hanging out on the Hawkesbury River, on a boat called the Avventura, waking up to this view. Okay, it’s not like we did this every day, but on the occassional weekend, all through summer, it’s what we did.

As soon as I saw this image this afternoon I could smell the crisp clean morning air, I could hear the cicadas getting their little wings ready for their incessant (but now so missed!) buzzing. I could feel the sea breeze play with my hair, and the sun touch my skin. Sweet memories. sweet seaside memories.

This is definately the soundtrack to this image. Definately.

“Please close your eyes and then open them with the understanding that you are now in my world…”

That was the screen text on one of my short films I made for uni way back when. It then followed with a non-eventful continuing loop of crappy video footage of water backwash from a motorboat. Yes I went to art college. My poor fellow students, I apologise to you now but I’m sure I must have thought it expressed something inside me worth expressing at the time. Perhaps some inclination for wanting to be one of Kingsley’s captured water babies…

The Water Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby

My mother read it to me as a child and as difficult as it was to try to understand the 19th century English of Charles Kingsley’s at the age of 8, the essence of the story and the beautiful sketches of Jessie Willcox Smith are etched in my heart forever still.

In short, the story is about Tom, a young chimney sweep who falls in the river and unfortunately dies but is transformed into a ‘water baby’. A series of underwater adventures follows with fairies such as Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby and Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid.

This story fuelled my imagination and passion for the sea and inspired many an artwork since, including the above mentioned short film and a number of sketches, photographic stories like the one below, short stories and poems that one day, when back in Sydney, I might take a wander through the attic and perhaps will feel brave enough to post them here in the (blog)house. I am always drawn to water, I can’t help but want to take out my camera and click away, so this week is dedicated to places, things and images water related that have inspired me and continue to inspire my work. I adore the waters edge, finding all sorts of little bits and pieces to make things from… stringing little shells into necklaces and bracelets, gathering driftwood, or just collecting, I always find a gift from mother nature when i take a wander by the sea side…

le jardin des plantes.

canal st martin. love it.

I have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of these little guys and was delighted to see a tiny orange furry head pop up this morning, quel plaisir!! These birds are called coots and they have made an, um, interesting home just outside my kitchen window. They are water-dwelling birds, they create nests with twigs and whatever they can find in the canal. It is a stylists nightmare. When I first arrived to my new home the first thing I noticed was this eye sore and I wanted to get rid of it immediately, until I found out it was in fact, a home as well. So while I’ve been sipping on my tea in the kitchen each morning I watch these funny looking black coots build their nest higher and higher and I try to imagine all the things I could offer them to make their nest a little more appealing to the (my) eye. It was only a few weeks ago I noticed there were eggs and it reminded me once again that prettiness (or the lack there of) does not equal true natural beauty – I now feel so honoured to be neighbours with this adorable family.

So welcome little one. What shall we name him?