Diary Of An Artist In A New World

East Sydney Academy Of Art - Sydney Life Drawing And Sketch Club Art Class

Already it is the second term of art classes and sketch club. It hardly seems possible that time could go so fast. The classes are busy and have a wonderful buzz about the artists who come along. Some are just beginners and some are very experienced, but they all feel like part of a family. They probably don't realize that the principal reason I hold the classes is simply because of the joy I feel in seeing artists gathering with the model and each discovering their personal triumphs and frustrations as they take charcoal and chalk and pencil, watercolor and ink, and make marks on paper (whether perfect or imperfect) that reflect that deep human need to make sense of our world through making pictures.

Dealing With Anxiety At The Dentist

Root canal. The words strike irrational fear. Like snakes, we instinctively recoil from certain things. Dental work is one of them. I was at the dentist today, and root canal therapy was the agenda. I get very anxious. I was a victim of a country schools dental program in which there were dental nurses only - no dentists - and they drilled without anaesthetic. It was the country in the 1960's. Boys displaying courage was more important than spending money on anaesthetics. The only encouragement consisted of being told that only girls cry and be still. Now I would never go to any dentist voluntarily unless there is great pain.

Stargazing

Tonight Saturn is so very bright and strongly yellow in the northern sky. I don't remember it being so bright before. In the city I don't use a telescope in recent years. I cannot escape bright street lights at the studio. Years ago when Pablo was young and Leif was an infant we put together a 6 inch reflecting telescope. I painted Johansen & Sons on the tube. That was in Cairns. I remember the first time we saw Saturn in the telescope. We found it low in the eastern sky. It was the strangest sight. The rings were nearly edge on and it looked like a ball with a nail through it.

New Baby Arrives - 6.8lbs (3.08kg)

Isn't it beautiful? A brand new 17inch Macbook Pro laptop with high resolution screen. All shiny aluminum. It represents new possibilities and long months saving up. The zen-like simplicity of the machine barely hints at the power beneath. 2.5GHz Penryn Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB RAM, Nividia GeForce 8600M GT video card with 512MB of GDDR3 memory, 250GB hard drive. Most desktops aren't that powerful. Pure geek heaven.