Well Xmas has once again whisked by without much of a trace (a few Kilos of extra weight are a sad reminder of much merriness and jollity!)
We enjoyed a break with family at the house in Ocean Grove and are now back in the swing of a new year. Already time is passing at a fearsome rate.
Notable events so far include a new addition to the family - my brother's new baby - shown here on the journey from South Australia back to home base.
He plans to restore and run this 1965 Bedford bus for Weddings Parties and Anything including tours of local wineries and eateries. It will run as Menzies Passenger Services, reviving the busline that my grandfather used to run between Ocean Grove and Geelong.
I think it's a great idea and hope that the work required goes swiftly - I'm looking forward to winery services!
One of my more achievable resolutions this year is to devote more time to the creative side and to this end have once again joined in a "Background paper for Art journals" swap for the group Collage Unleashed. I've been working on the papers for a week, having to wait for bits to dry. I've finished my 22 pages and they will be on their way tomorrow to the States. The theme this time was Year of the Rabbit with the emphasis on Chinese New Year - hence my colours of red and gold.
Here are some samples - back and fronts. Colour looks a little washed out here. They were done with acrylic painted backgrounds with stamps, torn chinese papers and gold and red tissue collaged on.
Gold circles were made using the bottom of a container as a stamp with gold paint and a final spritz with copper coloured Moon Shadow mists gave an aged look to the fronts. I hope the others find them easy to use for journalling. It will be interesting to find out how others interpret the theme.
I can't not mention the disastrous floods in Queensland and northern NSW - the worst recorded.
I know that several friends are safe above the flood level but are without power. Imagine the clean up that faces everyone once things get back to what will pass for normal! The fires here in Victoria were a major disaster but I can't help thinking that the clean up of ash - heartbreaking though it was, is nothing compared to stinking, putrid and disease ridden mud.
This is truly a strange country - we struggle through droughts for years, praying for rain then the heavens open and we get back all the water that evaporated in one massive deluge. We are never satisfied, but sometimes it just doesn't seem right!!
