HOW TO DRAW A MUSHROOM... because I keep doing it!

DRAWING A MUSHROOM 

A looooong long time ago, I did a blog about mushrooms, and how it is quite ironic that as a vegetarian, I should devour mushies. But ... I am allergic to them so I just cannot do that. Along with being allergic to bananas, and mopping, and cleaning windows, this is another quirk in my genetic makeup.

Another quirk - I seem to just be a bit addicted to drawing and painting them. I know as a kid I had a stamp collection, and one of my little first day sets was of Australian fungi. I remember thinking they were so goddamn cute! As per lots of little girls, I imagined fairies playing and sitting on them, making little houses with them, you know, lovely make believe stuff. Of course, I am old enough now to know better, but I still find them adorably cute!

I have drawn them in crayon, texta, pencil, painted them in watercolour and ink and acrylic, on canvas, paper, and scraps of stuff. I have taken photos of real ones and made ones, I have made collages of them and I have even sewn them!

They are so super easy to draw, I often just sit and doodle with a pen and pencil, and find that suddenly, they have...well, mushroomed up all over the page!  So I thought I might share with you how I draw one of these little cuties, and how easy it is. Maybe you do this too? Or would like to try? Would love to know!

So here you are, a little video or two of me drawing some mushrooms. Nothing too fancy, just a few shapes and a bit of shading... and there you go.

A quick one in lead pencil...

And another little one... this time watercolour...

And so as you can see, I really do have a thing for these little fun-guys! And I see no time soon that I will stop playing around with them... endless possibilities still to explore. Go the Mushie!

BETWEEN HERE AND THERE In Country NSW and how a photography exhibition happened....

BETWEEN HERE AND THERE

In Country Australia

 Rainbow Sky

It is inevitable, when you live in the country in a continent as vast as ours, that you spend many hours and kilometres in a car, driving. We drive for family, friends & social events, we drive for sporting & cultural stuff, we drive for shopping trips, medical appointments, & we drive because we have to.

To be honest, it can be tiresome, and takes hours out of your day, week, your productivity. BUT for me - a guilty secret. Most of the time it is a quiet pleasure. 

When my hubby drives, I spend my time in the passenger seat dozing through half closed heavy lidded eyes. Light flickers through, trees blur by, and the rocking of the car lulls me to dream and think, and imagine. Telegraph poles, green and golden fields, they all move by at rapid pace while my mind wanders.

Canola Dreaming

When I am not dozing and dreaming, I am admiring the views, the vistas, the light, the colours, the shapes, the way the golden clear light creates halos around trees & weeds, the long shadows, & the lonely trees surrounded by an island of crops. Huge endless skies, whether grey, blue, or looking like magical fairy floss as dusk falls.

After almost two decades of living here, I am still thrilled by the beauty of this place, the Central West of NSW. It is never boring - the change of weather, time,crops and seasons ensures that.

As a result of this love of place, it is not uncommon for me to be randomly pulling over into the verge to take photos. I often have one of my cameras with me(Canon 60D or Olympus OMD)& always my phone(Samsung Note 5). All of the photos here have been taken with one of these. If I do not have a camera on me, I feel a bit bereft actually!

Cotton Candy Clouds

And it is not unusual then for me to take twice as long for me to get home as it does to arrive anywhere, because with appointment and commitments met, I am free to dawdle and stop along the way to get a shot I like. A line of trees, a windmill, a lovely crop, a windy road…

When I look back on these photos I see they tell the story of the journey, of the places BETWEEN HERE AND THERE, the unknown, unnamed, unnoticed, quiet spaces between places. Not the destination itself that matters. If I was going to get a bit deep, I could say... this is not unlike life itself, eh?

Single Lovely  Tree

And so, what to do with all these photos? Well, from an initial pool of about 600 pics, I edited, and culled, and edited, and culled. And squeezed it down to about 35 photos. Why? Because well, they have become an exhibition. 

They have become something hanging on walls, printed professionally on archival rag paper, framed and on display. They have become a thing I am sharing with others, which is always a bit nerve wracking! Will they see the beauty in the blur and the movement, and the golden light? Will they scoff instead?

Well, really, all that matters is that I love them, and for me they tell the authentic story of how I get between the here and the there... and the bits in between!

 My exhibition, Between Here and There, is hanging at Japanese Gardens and Cultural Centre, Ken Nakajima Way Cowra, NSW, for the month of July 2017. Here is the online You tube Catalogue of the exhibition!  All pieces for sale!