It was March 2005, somewhere near St Kilda....
It was March 2005, somewhere near St Kilda. I was sitting in a room, on a sofa propped on milk crates, staring at the ceiling. Around my neck was a Philadelphia collar and in my hand was a bottle of gin. The collar was the only sign that I had recently broken my C1, 2 & T1 the gin was to stop me thinking about it. I was staring at the ceiling because it was reasonably tricky to stare anywhere else. I sat quietly contemplating my future. Next to me was a chap called Christopher Lansell, Crispy to his comrades, whom I’d known about 8 minutes. He started talking about some things, wild, imaginative things, I started to reply, and back he came with more, this went on quite successfully for a while. One of these crazy things was an idea he’d been playing with to install a 1:1 billion scale model of the Solar System somewhere in Melbourne. It seemed quite a good idea to me. Almost without any warning at all it was 9am on December 10 of that year, my return ticket to the UK forgotten in the back of a drawer somewhere, and 6 months out of date, my neck visible to all who cared to glance. I’m crouched at the door to our St Kilda studio, attempting to drill a hole into Pluto, except this Pluto is only 2mm in diametre, which makes it very tricky. And in half an hour it’s meant to be on a plinth somewhere near Port Melbourne. / / / / Building the Sun Having drummed up some media interest through an interview on ABC radio and an article in The Age and spent a few months constructing the Sun and nine planets by hand we were actually within minutes of taking our disjointed conversation live. / / / / / Painting the Planets / Planet bases Pluto / Mars / Neptune / Saturn / Jupiter / Having finally secured Pluto to it’s stand, we threw all the models in the back of a trailer and hightailed it to the beach, as we roared along the approach to the marina there was a sudden, and slightly sickening crunch. Crispy braked, we looked at each other in silent fear, then out through the back window of the Toyota. Rolling down the road in the vague direction of Acland Street was a 1.39m golden ball of plywood and satin. Hmmm. We exited the car at speed and, to the amusement of the residents, sprinted off after the star. It was not entirely unscathed, but it was still presentable, and anyway, we were out of time. The weekend was long and disgustingly hot, but the model was a success, large numbers of families turned up on their bikes, with their children, The Age article folded in their pockets, planning to ride the full 6km route to Pluto. And being mid summer the beach and passing traffic was plentiful. Seeing kids stand under the 1.28cm hand painted sphere that was Earth (I even managed to dust the Himalayas with some snow) and point out Australia before running 150m to the Sun and smacking it with their ice cream stained hands was quite rewarding. / Earth, a man with a beard & the Moon, which is as far as Man has ever actually travelled, allegedly. (But not the man with the beard, he may have been no further than Geelong, I don’t know) Mars / The Sun / / / By Sunday night we were knackered but content. Then things started getting interesting. Tony Wheeler, co-founder of Lonely Planet rang us up, said he’d heard about the project but had been out of the country and wondered if he could come and see the models, we, unsurprisingly said yes. Then the council rang us up and said they’d had a lot of calls from the general public asking when they were going to do the project again. They said they hadn’t done it in the first place. It was about this point that words like ‘permanent’ began to appear in conversations. We found a sculptor, Cameron Robbins, an eccentric and extremely talented man based in Collingwood, and commenced talks with the council. It was estimated at costing around $70,000, and so the tedious process of money raising became the focus, Tony pledged a large sum of his personal finances, as did some universities. Things looked good. Then the university pulled out, and we experienced our first wedge of bureaucratic council red tape. Things look bad. And that high and low was a microcosm of how it progressed for the next two years. With a hefty focus on the ‘This is just never going to happen’ line of thought. But now, three years and six months after a conversation on a sofa in St Kilda, there are some people down at the foreshore tidying up the metre high bluestone plinths the planets rest on, and no doubt someone polishing the 360kg of bronze that makes up the Sun, in preparation for the opening on September 21. And I’m going to miss it, because I’m in London, so if you have nothing better to do please pop down to the reserve north of the Marina at 4.45, take some photos, get yourself an epic sense of how fragile and unique Earth really is and give Crispy some support for the endless phone calls and meetings and rolls and rolls of tape he’s deftly sliced through. Pouring the bronze Planets / Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Uranus cooling off / Half of the Sun / All of the Sun / Polishing the Sun / The sculptor Cameron Robbins next to polished Sun / Saturn / Venus, Mars, Earth, Mercury & Pluto (yeah it’s not a planet anymore, but it was then) / Pouring concrete base for the Sun / Diamond saw cutting bluestone plinths for the planets / Plinths being lifted into place / / The Sun being moved into place / / / / Model Location / And if you ever see anyone chasing an enormous shining sphere down a road, go and give them a hand.
I was out and about the other day, and spotted something from the top of the Gateway Bridge that I wanted to photograph, so I looked for …
I was out and about the other day, and spotted something from the top of the Gateway Bridge that I wanted to photograph, so I looked for a spot to take the photo I wanted. Needless to say, I couldn’t find a way to frame it, but discovered that the bridge looked pretty interesting against the sky. The new bridge is being built on the other side of the one you can see here….20 years later… The whole point of this ramble is the differences noticeable in my images shot with the polariser I had on my lens. I bought a Singh Ray warming polariser last year, but haven’t used it much because I don’t like being out in the middle of the day. Too hot, and tooooo sunny here in Qld. I used the polariser for this first image, but not turned to it’s correct position. When I checked the image on the back of the camera, I thought it looked dull and lifeless, so I rotated the circular polariser until the sky looked better, and I noticed that the white across the top of the bridge stood out a lot brighter too. Here’s the second shot. Much more vibrant! Doesn’t a polariser make a difference! Polarisers can also be useful for hiding and or enhancing reflections, in water and glass, however they can do nasty things to the sky when used with ultra-wide lenses. They generally work best with skies when you are 90degrees to the sun, I believe. Here’s the final image after some tweaking
I HAVE SOLD A FRAMED PRINT OF THE BELOW IMAGE AND 2 CARDS OF THIS IMAGE…
I HAVE SOLD A FRAMED PRINT OF THE BELOW IMAGE AND 2 CARDS OF THIS IMAGE TODAY omg omg omg I am so pleased and honered, thank you to the wonderful person who has bought this. who ever it is mmmmwwwwwhhhh a big kiss for you
!http://images-3.redbubble.net/img/art/border:blackwithdetail/product:laminated-print/size:small/view:preview/2003962-2-sketch-country-wa…
/ Country Walk We can ask no greater joy than to pass gently through this place that has been given to us, and make something out of it. Not necessarily to fully understand it, for that might be an impossible task, but to honour it in our own way. / Moondance Well, its a marvelous night for a moondance / With the stars up above in your eyes / A fantabulous night to make romance / ‘neath the cover of October skies / And all the leaves on the trees are falling / To the sound of the breezes that blow / And I’m trying to please to the calling / Of your heart-strings that play soft and low. Thank you so much.
With >20cm falling on the Victorian Alps during the last 24hrs, it seems appropriate to contrast the seasons that are being experienced a…
With >20cm falling on the Victorian Alps during the last 24hrs, it seems appropriate to contrast the seasons that are being experienced across the globe today. From the icy chill of winter, to the warming rays of summer – each season provides those with keen eyes, spectacular scenery to capture and beauty to inspire creativity. Remember to TAG TAG TAG your work, so that everyone can search with success!
Today was a beautiful, bright, sunny, windy day….so, being the mum that I am, I decided to wash the sheets. Tonight we’ll sleep on s…
Today was a beautiful, bright, sunny, windy day….so, being the mum that I am, I decided to wash the sheets. Tonight we’ll sleep on sunkissed, fresh, white, 100% cotton sheets…. Oh joy…. (It’s the little things)
Hello everyone .................twrphotography .......................... / came up w…
Hello everyone .................twrphotography .......................... / came up with the idea and asked me to help start a group to help artists sell their art work here on redbubble…........... We love redbubble for the community but also hope to sell a few things as well do many others on redbubble and we hope this is a way for us all to acheive this. Please take a few minutes of your time to go view and join Wishing you many sales —-—-—-—-BUYER R US —-—-—-——
civilization VS nature – eternal war or just hopeless mimicry and all around only mimicry complex … ??? so there is short essay abo…
civilization VS nature – eternal war or just hopeless mimicry and all around only mimicry complex … ??? so there is short essay about complicated Aesthetics of clouds and electric cables …
Hello sweet person who purchased a card of ‘hypnotic’! Thankyou!!!! Hello sweet people who comment on my work and who support me on R…
Hello sweet person who purchased a card of ‘hypnotic’! Thankyou!!!! Hello sweet people who comment on my work and who support me on RB. Thankyou too~! Sal :D
Hello to all my friends on the Bubble… Time for a break – I will be out of the country on a sun break from Wednesday 30 April for a wee…
Hello to all my friends on the Bubble… Time for a break – I will be out of the country on a sun break from Wednesday 30 April for a week in the sun (hopefully) in the Canaries. Will of course have a camera with me, so hoping to get some good dhots too…. Thanks for all your great comments on my work, and will catch up on all of your great work as soon as I can after I get back. Will try and clear the decks by tonight…! Andy
I am sat at the bar, by the pool and it’sboilng hot! This is a wonderful place to be Peace and quiet, sunshine in abundance, all the f…
I am sat at the bar, by the pool and it’sboilng hot! This is a wonderful place to be Peace and quiet, sunshine in abundance, all the food and drink I could ever need or want. A fabulous pool to cool off in, and the sea, just a stones throw away. I haven’t even taken my camera out of the bag yet. We have hired a car for the next 4 days, and will be touring the whole of the island – it wasn’t our intention before coming over, but now that we are here – it is so fantastic, that we want to see it all. Speak soon folks – I have to go get busy now – with some Absolutely blissful relaxation! Jul
Rocky / was featured in “RURAL AROUND THE …
Rocky / was featured in RURAL AROUND THE GLOBE Now he really will be strutting his stuff around here! LOL! Thanks so much to our host for this feature!! Let You Light Shine Down On Me FEATURED IN FIRST THINGS GROUP and I also am featured member!! / Thanks so much for to our host for supporting my photos!! And a million thanks to all who have visited, and comment on my photos too! / YOU ALL ROCK!!!!!!!!!
I’d like to thank the hosts of first things group and all those who voted “ethereal” the w…
I’d like to thank the hosts of first things group and all those who voted “ethereal” the winner in the heaven and earth challenge. Many thanks indeed.
I had marvelous fun with my new Nikon D60 today at the official opening of the melbourne solar system, originally envisioned by onetonshadow and some guy they call ‘crispy’. Anyhoo, the sculptures are friggin marvelous, we only got as far as Mars, but many return visits are planned. There are more photos on flickr cos I don’t want to spam you with them here on RB. An in depth review from danny here
!http://images-1.redbubble.net/img/art/framecolor:mocha/framestyle:flat30/mattecolor:black/product:framed-print/size:large/view:preview/2…
“Behold The Light” Placed in the top ten in the challenge “The Magic Of Mist” in the group “Shots In The Fog” Thanks to the moderators of this wonderful group for also featuring me as an artist, I feel very honored! Dee
woopee Susan bought a card .I slept in too only just found out! awwww thanks thanks thanks, soooo muchly . little bubble dance comi…
woopee Susan bought a card .I slept in too only just found out! awwww thanks thanks thanks, soooo muchly . little bubble dance coming on! / O` O ` O /O^ O@ O $ O%O & O & cha cha cha http://www.redbubble.com/people/susanrepasky
Weekend Challenge !http://images-3.redbubble.net/img/ar…
Weekend Challenge In Live Love, and Dream Group! Thanks a ton for all who participated, and voted! There were so many gorgeous images, and its a great honor for me to have even placed!! CONGRATULATION to all the top 10 in the challenge as well! Hugs to you all! / Carolyn
I WISH I COULD PUT THE NAME HERE…..... and say who but.. I feel so blessed I know who ever bought them will be feeling my JOY!!! JOY!!!...
I WISH I COULD PUT THE NAME HERE…..... and say who but.. I feel so blessed I know who ever bought them will be feeling my JOY!!! JOY!!!! JOY!!! / THANK YOU FOR YOUR LOVE..xox / Pink Toes Pink Toes In Space #3 / Pink Toes In Sand #1 /
!http://images-2.redbubble.net/img/art/framecolor:black/framestyle:flat30/mattecolor:black/product:framed-print/size:medium/view:preview/...
Night Blooming Beauty featured in the group Paintings from Beginners Basket Full Of Sun featured in the group Paintings from Beginners Thanks to the moderators of this wonderful group for these features!
It is so beautiful out today…and time for me to say….....THANKS SO MUCH! / . / THE NEW GROUP LIFELINE...
It is so beautiful out today…and time for me to say….....THANKS SO MUCH! / . / THE NEW GROUP LIFELINE / WITH AMAZING HOSTS.. COLORBLIND AND RICARDO PEREZ JR FEATURED TWO..WOW.. OF MY WORKS THANKS SO MUCH HOSTS! / . / PAINFUL THINKING / AND / VIBRATION SERIES: The Vibration of Wonder / / . / ANOTHER AMAZING NEW GROUP I WAS INVITED TO JOIN IS.. / DIGITAL ARTS UNITED / WITH HOST… JENSEYES FEATURED.. this week / SATURATED SIN !http://images-2.redbubble.net/img/art/cropped/size:small / /view:main/3233983-3-saturated-sin.jpg! / AND LAST.. / SEA WEED SERENADE..ONE,TWO,THREE WOW I AM DANCING.. THANKS SO MUCH JEN / ‘ / OK..NOW I AM REALLY DANCING.. CAUSE ONE OF MY RECENT FAV POEMS .. ONE OF LIFE’S MYSTERIES GOT FEATURED IN LIFELINE!!! HOW BOUT I AM TWIRLING!!! / . / / SIGNPOST SONG / and my written work / SOVEREIGNTY / FEATURED IN THAT MOST OUT OF THIS WORLD BEST GROUP. / C.O.R.E. / AAAAMMMAAAZING HOSTS USHNA SARDAR AND SIMON THE YELLOW FURY I SO LOVE YOU. / EPIPHANY FEATURED IN .. THE DIVINE FEMININE / YAHHHH THANKS TO THE HOSTS / MOONSPIRAL / BARBARA GLATZEDER AND / TERRI HINKLE / AND / SUCH A BIG HONOR TO HAVE BEEN CHOOSEN FOR THE GROUP / MY PIECE… COASTAL MANTRA SERIES: FLYING MEDITATION / PAY IT FORWARD / BY FELLOW ARTIST WHO IS AN EXTRAORDINARY HUMAN BEING.. / KELLIE CRANMER / WITH AMAZING HOSTS… SALSBELLS AND JULIE LANGFORD AND…EC GARDNER THANKS SO VERY MUCH.. this still has my feet tappin! and from my fellow HOst / Marion Capman / over at Feminine Intent / I was so pleased she choose my newest love… / Weeping Women / NOW.. COFFEE AND A LONG ASS WALK.. I APPRECIATE THESE HONORS.. XOX
Thanks to dear Hosts of / “EUROPEAN EVERYD…
Thanks to dear Hosts of / “EUROPEAN EVERYDAY LIFE” Group / for this feature;)) Very kind of you:) Thank you my Friends:) / All the Best to you every single day. Tereza
*For anyone at all interested! My DA’s take anywhere from 3-32 hours.Depending on number of layers and render time. First & foremos…
For anyone at all interested! My DA’s take anywhere from 3-32 hours.Depending on number of layers and render time. First & foremost is the camera, I use a Canon S3 and a Kodak LS753 on my travels wherever I go, it could just be to the store,or checking the mail,the camera is always there. / I look for scenes that would work in a DA,it might be part of a snow bank, a hill, skyline, people, etc. / My main software is Artmatic Voyager & Artmatic Pro for renders + Photoshop. / Infini- D for building ships,space stations, buildings etc. I use Poser 6 for DA people, animals. Deep Space Explorer and Starry Night Pro which are software I use with my telescope, this for the REAL galaxies, planets, nebula,s uns , and star systems. The main filters I use are / Color Efex Pro 2.0, Sharpener Pro 2.0,Liquid,Mystical_TTC,plus on and off a number of other photoshop filters. I have 100’s of folders in which I have collected ( for the last 20 yrs) bits and pieces of photo’s and creations,everything from moons planets, seas,skies, nebula, star systems etc. Everthing I might need now or in future DA’s. I even have one with nothing but renders, sometimes I only use part of one or two or more in the same render. I like to think of my creations as jigsaw puzzles. I have one folder that I use for my workshop. I also use a Bluenose Wacom Tablet. I first select what I may use, everything is a COPY on a transparent background, then I build the shot, which can take up to 12 hours. / This could include renders, model building, people/creature making, etc. / I’ve being known to spend 2 days inside a single program, getting a certain sky,landscape or planet, until I achieve my goal. In some cases I have done a built over a day or so and ended up deleting it and starting again!. Mostly that happens when too many ideas colide. Once the build is to my liking I save all the layers into a folder, / ( I have had up to 66 layers so far) / then crop and save as a .jpg into another folder,then clear the screen and reopen the jpg. Now starts the path to the finished DA,I try different effects until I get what I want, the mist or fog in my DA’s is created using the Fog filter in Efex Pro, the nice thing about this set of filters is that the effect can be painted on and off just where it is needed. I use the Liquid filter, cloning tool and feathering to blend the edges of each layer, it also gives a nice paint effect,which I think adds to the DA. / Then I finally have the finished product. Saved as a jpg at 300 dpi and posted If you have any other questions….just ask!!!!!!!! “May you always create well and prosper” Alienvisitor’s Imagi – Nation* AV
!http://images-1.redbubble.net/img/art/framecolor:mocha/framestyle:flat30/mattecolor:black/product:framed-print/size:large/view:preview/2…
“Behold the Light is being featured in the group “First Things” thanks to the moderators of the group for this honor!
The weekend just passed was the Cairns Winter Solstice Celebration & Sustainable Lifestyle Gathering 2009 event, which was not actually i…
The weekend just passed was the Cairns Winter Solstice Celebration & Sustainable Lifestyle Gathering 2009 event, which was not actually in Cairns but just out of Ravenshoe, where I live, at an area called Sugar Bag Station near Mt Garnet, 3 hours from Cairns. I was not able to attend it even though I would have loved to, my friend Konrad went, he of the Celebrate! being an Individual…at my PaRtY! in Australia! You’re Standing In it…. Konrad will give me the story anyways…but for anyone who doesn’t know much about it, it is a Celebration of the Solstice, which controls history as far as man can remember back…Christmas itself is a Christian tradition placed over the pagan Solstice celebrations and this was common so most Christian traditions are steeped in Pagan celebration. The original Easter is the celebration of Spring really, Eostre, a goddess, the word estrogen, the female hormone comes from her name, the eggs and rabbits represent fertility and believe me the old Fertility Rite celebrations were pretty wild!! Mother Goddesses are all the main theme in them, famous mythical Greek Goddesses such as Demeter (and her mysteries) and Artemis (and famous brother Apollo) are all entwined into the Solstice story and to me it is absolutely fascinating stuff! I have studied the Solstice, not in an astronomy sense but the effects it has had on the ancient cultures and countries of the world and the powerful effect this has on our whole being and nature in general is worth a mention.. If you are thinking of something that means anything here, we could look at Stonehenge and the gatherings they have their on the Solstice, what does it all mean…this is ancient stuff, pre any other known religion and the basis for most pagan celebrations or celebrations of the Earth and the Gods each culture associates with the event as mentioned earlier. There is a Winter Solstice and a Summer Solstice and both are reversed when in the Northern Hemisphere or Southern. The Great Pyramid has an opening half way up one side leading out from the Grand Gallery, at the solstice a beam of light hits this opening precisely….many other monuments have this occurance too, Stonehenge again probably one of famous, one of the latest scientific findings which i would tend to think is spot on is that Stonehenge, when looked down on from the top resembles ancient images of the womans uterus, that being the whole area being celebrated in these Fertility rites. Astronomically, here is a quick run down of it from Wiki (Solstice) / -A solstice is an astronomical event that occur twice each year, when the tilt of the Earth’s axis is most inclined toward or away from the Sun, causing the Sun’s apparent position in the sky to reach its northernmost or southernmost extreme. The name is derived from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still), because at the solstices, the Sun stands still in declination; that is, the apparent movement of the Sun’s path north or south comes to a stop before reversing direction. The term solstice can also be used in a wider sense, as the date (day) when this occurs. The solstices, together with the equinoxes, are connected with the seasons. In some cultures they are considered to start or separate the seasons while in others they fall in the middle. The English expressions “midwinter” (winter solstice) and “midsummer” (summer solstice) may derive from a tradition according to which there were only two seasons: winter and summer. Midsummer’s Day is 24 June, about three days after the solstice itself). Similarly 25 December is the start of the Christmas celebration, which was a pagan festival in pre-Christian times, and is the day the Sun begins to return to the northern hemisphere. Many cultures celebrate various combinations of the winter and summer solstices, the equinoxes, and the midpoints between them, leading to various holidays arising around these events. For the December solstice, Christmas is the most popular holiday to have arisen. In addition, Yalda, Saturnalia, Karachun, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Yule (see winter solstice for more) are also celebrated around this time. For the June solstice, Christian cultures celebrate the feast of St. John from June 23 to June 24 (see St. John’s Eve, Ivan Kupala Day, Midsummer), while Neopagans observe Midsummer. For the vernal (spring) equinox, several spring-time festivals are celebrated, such as the observance in Judaism of Passover. The autumnal equinox has also given rise to various holidays, such as the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. At the midpoints between these four solar events, cross-quarter days are celebrated.— The Winter Solstice here will be the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. This event was huge this weekend, advertised world-wide, people I know were there were from everywhere, even Israel!! Here is the official website to the mentioned event Winter Solstice and from it…. -The New Solar year begins with the turning point of the Winter Solstice, as it has down through eons-an unending cycle of dark and light, waning and waxing, ultimately representing nature’s birth, death, and rebirth. The Winter Solstice is a time to affirm our spiritual ties to nature through celebrations and traditions that are thousands of years old.- So, there you go, embrace the Solstice, your Spirit and Nature as we all gaze into the Heavens next time and remember that you yourself are up there and part of it….in the Zodiac, an amazing array of 12 constellations that each and every one of us are made up of…...myself, I hang out in the Libran sector :O) I hope you enjoyed hearing about the Solstice, some you may not have known about, it happens around June 21 and I wanted to remind you about it! Vanessa :O)
RedBubble is a great place to find art, design, photos and writing from over 80,000 talented people.
On stunning greeting cards, awesome t-shirts or beautiful prints to hang on your walls.
It’s really simple. If you’re not happy with your purchase for any reason, we’ll fix it.
Since February 2007 we’ve shipped over 241,200 items to more than 70 countries around the world.
Sign up for your free account, upload your work, join some groups and share your creative genius with the world.