Category: Stories From Life

A Quick Escape…to Millthorpe in country NSW!

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Stories From Life

Last weekend my Wife and I went up into the country to stay at place we have been to many times over the years, Millthorpe, NSW, Australia. Millthorpe is about a 3 1/2 hour drive over the Blue Mountains, North-West from where we live, which is 60 kilometres / 37 miles South-West of Sydney.

We have been up there many times as Diane and her Husband, David were school friends of my Wife, Susan. They have 6 boys who are all adults now with only a couple living at home.

Pretty much all of the family came home that weekend as Sean (their second child) and his Wife, Emily were holding a 1st Birthday party for their first child, Nyssa, on Saturday afternoon in Bathurst about 20 minutes drive from Millthorpe.

The party was great and we dinner back at Millthorpe that night.

Millthorpe is a quiet little town of about 1,253 people, and is a Heritage-listed village. I’ll post a link below so you see more about this town if you are interested.

This time we stayed at the Rosebank Guest House. Normally, we would stay with David and Diane however they had a houseful this weekend.

Rosebank is a old Bank building with 4.5metres / 15feet ceilings and is run by a local Artist, Jenny Beach and her husband. We were the only guests staying that night so it was very quiet. They have an Art Supplies sale section within the guest house which is ‘indeed heaven’ for guests like me.

The guest house is beautifully furnished and has Art from Jenny and other local Artists lining the walls of every room.

Jenny (we didn’t get to meet her husband that weekend), was the perfect host, the accomodation was wonderful, and yes you guessed it, I bought some Art supplies. 🙂

On Sunday morning, I did a 1/2 hour walk around town mainly taking some reference photos for future sketches.

On the way home we stopped at Govett’s Leap in the Blue Mountains (the subject of my next post), and then a late lunch at a restaurant called, “The Bunker” at Springwood in the Lower Blue Mountains.

All-in-all another great little escape filled with good cheer, family, friends, Art and relaxation.

We are looking forward to our next escape!

Till next time!

Written & Photographed by David Johnson

30 June 2023

Click on the link (Home) to find out more about Millthorpe.

https://www.millthorpevillage.com.au/

Art Journaling Australia

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Painting, Stories From Life

Recently, a great friend and business owner I know (who is an Artist, Art Teacher and Art Therapist), Sharon Veness, set up a Facebook group called ‘Art Journaling Australia.’

I’ve been doing sketches for a few years now and have read about Art Journaling before, however I’ve not really had a consistent practice for it. This past week, I’ve joined Sharon’s new Facebook group and am enjoying the process.

Some of my Art Journaling will never see the light of day as it is quite personal however, some is less personal and I have been happy to share it in the group.

Here a couple of examples:

Arterial lifelines hold our lives together. They are our Lifeblood, connecting the various parts of our lives, bleeding into each other… Watercolour was a great way to communicate this, I felt.

I’m really enjoying this process. It’s another way for me to communicate/express how I feel about things in my life and as I view the world on a daily basis.

If you are interested in checking out the Facebook link, here it is:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/635381875168842

Happy Art Journaling! 🙂

Written by David Johnson

17 June 2023

Art After Dark

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Stories From Life

Last night, I attended ‘Art After Dark’ at a local, small Art Gallery, called ‘The Alan Baker Gallery’ in Camden, N.S.S. Australia. It’s about 3 minutes drive from where i live.

This was the third (and last for now) such event held there. I couldn’t attend the first one due to illness, and the second due to a prior engagement so I was pleased to be able to attend last night.

It was an intimate gathering, featuring a local musician Ria Brcic who provided a beautiful voice accompanied by an Acoustic Guitar in the background, whilst Artists’ demonstrations like live portrait painting carried on through the night.

There were also local Artists on display such as, Verena Heirich with her exquisite wearable art and Natalie with her ‘Creations Couture, both of which added a special flavour to the event.

The event ran from 6pm – 8pm and I enjoyed it immensely. Apart from seeing the creations of local Artists, it was a great chance to mingle, chat and share artistic experiences.

Looking forward to the next local Art event!

Written by David Johnson

29 April 2023

https://www.camden.nsw.gov.au/community/support/cultural-development-and-arts/alan-baker-art-gallery-at-macaria/

“Artist’s In Action”

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Painting, Stories From Life

Last Sunday, I was one of 30 ‘Creative’s’ that assembled down at the Camden Civic Centre to display our creativity. All manner of arts and crafts were on display.

There were:

  • Painters
  • Sketchers/Drawers
  • Mixed Media
  • Photographers
  • Japanese Martial Arts
  • Floral creations
  • Chinese Brushwork
  • Charcoal
  • Pastel
  • Bonzai
  • Ballerinas
  • Couture
  • Live Demonstrations
  • Talks
  • Kids Competition
  • and more!

Ho Yee Wong (Jo), the President of the Macarthur Art Group (of which I am a member), asked me if I would promote my ‘Everyday Art Practice’ aka my ‘Watercolour Sketch a Day’? I said I would be glad to.

We were there for 8 hours (and open to the public for 6), and I completed a couple of Watercolour Sketches whilst chatting to interested onlookers.

I asked them whether they practised any form of art and/or craft and often, they would say that ‘they didn’t have time’, or ‘they were not talented enoough.’

Wanting to help them, I advised them that I wasn’t very good drawing as a child, or even up until into my 50’s( all true), however, it is a skill that can be learnt. As far as ‘time’ goes, most people have a certain amount of time that is wasted during our days.

We stand in queue’s or sit at the Mall eating lunch or having a cuppa. There are miniature sketchbooks available and you only need one pen. Instead of pulling out your mobile phone, use your sketchbook. You don’t even have to show it to anybody, it can just be your personal hobby.

The simple of act of sketching takes your mind off other things. It can be the ‘mental break’ that you need when you are trying to solve a problem, when you are stressed out or when you are bored.

You have time…

You can learn skills…

What are you waiting for?

Pick up that pen and sketchbook today! 🙂

Written by David Johnson

25 March 2023

Feather Fountain Pen Set

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Stories From Life

One of the presents that I was very grateful to receive was a Feather Fountain Pen set. I had looked at these before and thought I might like one but wasn’t sure. They look unique though you cannot really try them in the shop so it seemed a bit of a gamble to buy one. I have two Fountain pens already, and not being a collector, I am very happy with the two pens, a Lamy Safari and a Waterman Hemisphere.

I used it for the first time last night and was very happy with how if felt in my hand, writing, in fact, I wrote a poem with last night. I also like the nib that was fitted to the pen, a Finer point. I love writing with Fine or Extra Fine nibs. As you can see, it comes with a selection of nibs and I am looking forward to trying them out.

There are more expensive Feather Fountain Pen sets available, however, I feel that this will be a great introduction to these type of writing tools. Looking forward to using it again.

Happy Writing All!

Written by David Johnson

26 December 2022

Summer Beauties

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Stories From Life

Well, it’s been the best Spring/Summer for blooming Cacti flowers that I’ve had in quite a few years!

Here are a couple of more beauties…

The series of 3 images is from a Notocactus variation, and the Yellow flower is from an Echinopsis variation.

At the end of the flowering season I shall put together a post showing all the flowers that have bloomed from my Cacti and Succulents this time around.

Looking forward to the next beauty!

Written by David Johnson

15 December 2022

Orange & Yellow

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Stories From Life

Say ‘Hello’ to my latest Cacti flowers, from my Parodia Mairanana!

I was walking up the side of the house (that we just moved to) and something caught the corner of my eye…it was the gorgeous colour of these flowers.

My Cacti and Succulents (before we moved) had grown to 160 plants. Some of them were duplicates, most not and I have realised that my hobby was getting out of hand. We intend to buy a house next year, however, after the latest move I have come to the conclusion that I need to downsize my collection.

We had a garage sale before moving and I sold/offloaded about 50 plants, reducing my collection to 110. This is still a lot of plants to move, particularly when you consider the size of some of the plants and the pots.

I am going to bite the bullet and pick out my favourite say, 30 plants and have another garage sale.

I also think that I am going to change direction slightly in terms I what future Cacti and Succulent plants I will buy, i.e., I think I will aim for the smaller, flowering plants. There will still be some columnar plants but mainly smaller Ball-type ones.

Written by David Johnson

28 November 2022

A Day To Relax…

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Stories From Life

Today, Susan and I went down to Berrima, which is about 1 hour’s drive South of where we live, to celebrate 28 years since we went out to dinner for the first time way back on 19 November 1994. We were a week late in celebrating as we were moving house last week.

After all that has been happening in the last 4-5 months, it was delightful to get away for the day and relax.

As is normal, the first stop is Berkeleouw’s Book Barn which houses approximately 100,000 books. It used to be, however, the help the business survive, they kept a reduced amount of books and added Wedding Receptions, a cafe/restaurant, accommodation, and wine tasting to the business.

We spent just under two hours there and (in a separate post) I’ll talk about the books I purchased.

After Berkeleouws, we had a delicious lunch at Josh’s Cafe and Restaurant which is located in the actual town of Berrima. We have been eating there for many years and are always delighted with the food, service, and atmosphere.

From there, we ventured into a few shops (as we normally do), including ‘Mrs. OldBucks’ (jams, sauces, honey, teas, etc), ‘Six Impossible Things’ (various boutique items including writing materials, dip pens, ink, journals, books, and other tourist-inspired goodies). Our last stop was ‘Sticky Beaks Vintage Emporium which consists of a number of smaller antique sellers within a larger shop.

All-in-all a very relaxing day that helped us celebrate one of the most special days in our lives!

Looking forward to next year’s celebration!

Written by David Johnson

26 November 2022

More Beauties!

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Stories From Life

It has been a bit of a challenge posting in this past week as we are in the process of moving. Always a fun task, not!

Following on from my last post, I can excitedly report that two more of my Cacti and Succulents have flowered in the past week.

The first is an Aylosteria pulvinosa. It is only a small Cacti plant measuring 5cm across and has had pups and the flowers in the image are (apart from that flowered last week) the first full crop of flowers that this plant has produced.

The second plant to flower this week (in fact it bloomed today), is an Epiphyllum Hybrid which is sometimes mistakenly called a ‘Dragonfruit’ plant, according to the Cacti and Succulent Association of Australia. I joined the Society nearly 12 months ago and am learning a lot.

I love the rich, Red colour of this flower which really contrasts well against the Green foliage of the plant.

Two more beauties from my collection that have flowered so far in Spring.

I am so looking forward to the rest of Spring and Summer!

Written by David Johnson

12 November 2022

A Fleeting Beauty!

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Stories From Life

One of my other hobbies is Cacti and Succulents. As mentioned previously, I have had them as an interest for the last 45 years (since I was 14).

I’m not an expert by any means and although I collect them I do not regard myself as ‘true collector’, like a lot of the people that are in the Cactus & Succulent Society of Australia, which I joined during the last Covid lockdown in 2021.

I enjoy their uniqueness and beauty.

Yesterday, one of my Ball Cacti, of the Echinopsis variety, flowered for the first time ever and I thought that was worth of a post.

The stem of the flower has been growing for a number of weeks and leading up to the point of flowering, there is always great anticipation, particularly when you don’t know what colour the flower will be. I walked out the side door yesterday and upon walking past our cattery that holds our single Cat, Miri, the flower came into full view.

I never tire of this type of flower’s exquisite beauty! It begins to open nocturnally and we are blessed with its beauty in the morning. The flower only blooms for 24-48 hours, then its gone. A fleeting beauty.

Written and photographed by David Johnson

4 November 2022