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Book Treasure

22/12/201904/07/2021 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Books, Stories From Life

In my last article, I spoke about our trip to Berrima every year. Within that trip is a visit to Berkelouw’s Book Barn which is situated just North of the Village, Berrima.

On a November weekend, 25 years in a row we have visited the bookshop. As mentioned previously, it used to contain approx. 300,000 books, though these days it only holds approx. 200,000 due to the owner diversifying to keep the business afloat.

It has a Wedding Reception, a Wine-Tasting facility and a Coffee Shop/Restaurant within it’s grounds plus a small Colonial Cottage which is used as a Guest House. All-in-all a nice retreat.

Each time we go there, we set ourselves a budget so that we don’t ‘go overboard.’ Seeing how both my Wife, Susan an I are both ‘Book-Fiends’ this is a great idea.

They have books ranging from a few dollars to in the ’000’s, thus it caters for all tastes in price and indeed, subject matter.

For many years the Photography section would be my first point of call, followed by the Art section then, Poetry, Sci-Fi, Garden and Self-Development and Poetry.

For the past few years I have been hitting the Art section first, then Poetry and I will have a quick skim of Photography followed by other sections.

We generally spend 1 1/2 – 2 hours there and sometimes it takes a half or all of that before I find books I want to buy.

This visit saw me purchase three books:

Matthew Arnold: A Selection Of His Finest Poems
The Making Of A Poem: A Norton Anthology Of Poetic Forms
How To Read A Poem and Fall In Love With Poetry: Edward Hirsch

I found all of them in the space of 20 minutes when I arrived at the Poetry section. All three books I love though I think the ‘How To Read A Poem’ book is my early favourite and possible one of the best book purchases I have ever made!

It looks such a beautiful read. I look forward to savouring it over time.

Three more books to add to the “Book Treasure” I have discovered at Berkelouw’s Book Barn, Berrima.

If you are in the area, why not pay them a visit or visit them online. You just might discover some “Book Treasure” of your own.
Great hunting!

Written By David Johnson

22 December 2019

http://berkelouw.com.au/

25th Anniversary!

08/12/201907/12/2019 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Stories From Life

Last month, it marked 25 years since Susan and I went out to dinner for the first time. Every year since, we’ve celebrated the occasion by spending either the weekend or the day on or close to the day in November. We’ve been married now for over 22 years.

We normally celebrate it in Berrima, NSW as it was in Berrima that Susan finally said yes to going out with me (after saying no, 5 times). What changed, you might ask? There’s a little more to it but that’s a story for another day.

Berrima, as ‘Aussie Towns’ states is ‘a historic village driven by tourism and handicrafts surrounded by farming and grazing, coal mining and cement manufacture.’

We always have a meal or two down there and although the order of things has changed over the years, there are shops/places within the town that we always visit and others that ‘come and go.’

One such place we used to love was ’Sprinkles’, a Christmas shop with all manner of decorations for sale including those charming musical and voice or movement-activated decorations. It was such a treat and we used to by a special decoration there each year. Sadly, the owner retired a couple of years ago and closed it down.

Another special place is Berkeleouw’s Book Barn which used to have 300,000 second-hand books. It now only holds 200,000 as the owners diversified (to stay afloat). It now has a Wedding Reception Centre, a Wine-Tasting facility and a coffee alcove and a restaurant where the eating space can be enlarged as some of the sturdy bookshelves are on wheels, thus can be wheeled towards the other bookshelves that line the walls to create more room for tables.

As a bookshop it has a different charm now to what it used to have. Not better, just different and we still enjoy ‘unearthing book treasure there!’ It’s great that they also retained the grand, old fireplace which is surely needed in the colder months in the Southern Highlands.

There are many other shops, including ‘Mrs Old Bucks Pantry’, ’Six Impossible Things’,’The Bay Tree Gallery’ (that has a wide variety of Artistic endeavours on display/sale’, ’Sticky Beaks Vintage Emporium’ (which is like 10 shops in one), ’The Little Hand-Stirred Jam Shop’, ‘The Brown Shutter’ but to name a few.

As you can see, we love our trips to Berrima. It’s a special time for us and our visits there have added so many more special memories along the way.

Written by David Johnson

December 2019

http://www.aussietowns.com.au/town/berrima-nsw

Words Cascade

07/12/2019 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Poetry

Words cascade

Opportunities

02/11/2019 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Haiku Poetry

Opportunities (1)

I Was Led…

16/10/2019 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Poetry

I Was Led...

A First For Me!

13/10/201912/10/2019 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Painting

Last month I achieved a First with my painting!

I had the pleasure of seeing one of my paintings on a gallery wall for the First Time Ever!

The opportunity came via a local Artist, Kerrie Abello who had recently set up the ‘Dragonfly Community Gallery in Campbelltown, NSW, Australia which is about 15 minutes drive from where I live. Campbelltown is a City situated approx. 50kms from Sydney in the Macarthur Region.

The Dragonfly Community Gallery is the first of its type in the area and hopefully, not the last.

Kerrie is looking to give local Artists a chance (just like myself and others who were part of the gallery’s First Exhibition) an outlet to show off their talent.

Kerrie being interviewed – Dragonfly Community Gallery, Campbelltown

The painting I chose was one I had finished painting in 2017, an Acrylic and Oil called “Abundance of Joy” 90cm x 30cm and can be seen below.

I also had the pleasure of being interviewed at the Gallery by Brian Laul and Frank Michel, two local businesspeople who video interview local businesspeople and identities in the Macarthur Region for the “Good Morning Macarthur” Facebook Page, an initiative they set up. Thank you, Brian and Frank.

Brian Laul and Frank Michel from “Good Morning Macarthur”

I’m not a full-time artist and had thought that (apart from wanting to enter the local Art Prizes for fun), it would be a while before any painting of mine would grace the wall of a gallery.

It was an amazing experience sharing the wall with other Artists, some of whom are part-timers just like me. It has now inspired me to think about having my own exhibition or having one in conjunction with one or two other people.

I would like to thank Kerrie Abello for the opportunity, not only for accepting my painting as part of the Dragonfly Community Gallery’s 1st Ever Exhibition, but for inspiring me to expand my thinking around my Art.

Written by David Johnson

12 October 2019

Good Morning Macarthur interview: Kerrie Abello followed by myself (@15 minute mark)

http://bit.ly/2p9MU9R

For more details about the Dragonfly Community Gallery:

https://www.facebook.com/dragonflycommunitygallery/

For more details about “Good Morning Macarthur”:

https://www.facebook.com/goodmorningmacarthur/

Visually Sensual

01/10/201929/09/2019 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Poetry

Visually sensual

Creative Noon

04/08/2019 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Painting

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of experiencing my first ‘Creative Noon’ event.

Creative Noon is a gathering of ‘creatives’ at a Cafe/Restaurant in Campbelltown, which is situated approx. 60km South West of Sydney, Australia and is approx. 10 minutes drive from where I live.

It was started by two ladies, Sandie O’Neill (Licence to Create) & Janeen Harris in conjunction with Sonya Moluang who owns and operates ‘Bar Centrale’, the cafe/restaurant.

The idea was simple. They wanted to create a non-competitive environment in which creatives of all types could gather for 2 1/2 hours on a Saturday afternoon to create, chat and enjoy a refreshment or two.

We each did a quick introduction, saying our name and what types of creativity we are involved in. There were about 10 people there this time and it seems multiple people are into multiple types of Artistic endeavours including: Photography; Writing Poetry; Oil Painting; Watercolour Painting, Sculpting; Soft Pastel, YarnBombing (never heard of that one before), Crocheting, Drawing, Sketching, Mixed Media, Stained Glass, Mosaics to name but a few.

I had a wonderful time meeting and chatting. Yesterday, I took my Watercolours and the resulting creation can be viewed at the base of this article. Other art forms represented yesterday were Soft Pastel, Drawing, YarnBombing, Crocheting.

Insights and inspiration can come from anywhere. Mixing with other creatives can open the door to other views, other opinions of your artistic creations. It can help you see things different ways and can help you grow in your artistic journey.

Am very much looking forward to the next ‘Creative Noon!’

Written by David Johnson

4 August 2019

Sketchbook Revival 2019

08/06/201902/06/2019 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Painting

A couple of months ago, when visiting doodlewash.com (one of the blogs I follow on WordPress), I came upon an event called, “Sketchbook Revival 2019.” Sketchbook Revival (as I found out) was in its second year and was started by Karen Abend and her team.

It began in late April and the organisers invited 25 Artists to give an instruction via a 25 – 50 minute video which was recorded live then emailed (or accessed via the schedule page) to eager participants like myself.

A wide range of mediums were covered including pencil, pen, Watercolour, Acrylic, Mixed-Media, Charcoal, Digital and a host of others.

Each participant received 2 videos daily over 13 days and then we all had another 14 days to access the videos for free. Some of the topics included: “Portrait Party”, “Sidewalk Cracks”, “Whimsical Buildings”, “Sketching Like A Kid Again”, Sketching Our Intuition”, “Object Observation” and much, much more.

As the video played, you could ‘tag along’ and paint, sketch, draw etc with the Artist. It was a great chance, not only to use mediums that you are used to using but also try out some other mediums whilst being guided.

After each video we were invited to share our creations in the closed Facebook Group so that everyone could see and comment on them if they wished. The Artists gave feedback as well.

I’ve included some of my creations below.

Each Artist also gave participants a free gift to encourage them on their creative journey and there were also links to the Artists’ websites where there more free resources plus paid courses to investigate.

Overall, I found it to be a most rewarding experience. It has certainly changed the way I think about producing creative works, particularly in my sketchbook.

I am so looking forward to Sketchbook Revival 2020!

Written by David Johnson

3 June 2019

Here is the link to the Facebook Group.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SketchbookRevival/

Pen & Wash

Intuitive watercolour

Mindful Inspirations

How To Draw A Dog

How To Start A Happy Journal

Whimsical Buildings

How To Draw A Bird

Create Daily

Drawing A Seahorse

Watercolour Sketch A Day Continues…

01/06/201901/06/2019 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Painting

Back on Australia Day, 26 January 2019, I decided to do a Watercolour Sketch a Day, mainly because I was inconsistent in getting to actually paint. I wanted to learn Watercolour and would do a small one, then life would intervene and before I knew it, another couple of weeks had passed and so on…

As of today (Day 127) I have done 127 Watercolour Sketches in a row. It continues to be fun and has become a kind of therapy and it helps me escape into my own little world and away from digital technology, as digital seems to have pervaded into most areas of our lives. I find it quite meditative and am thoroughly enjoying this journey of fun and learning!

Currently, I have about 3 sketchbooks going. One is a Paper Mill A4 heavier Ivory paper (that sadly the manufacturer has advised is now unavailable), a Moleskine Watercolour A5 Journal (200gsm) and an A4 (120gsm) hardcover Journal.

With the Paper Mill Journal being unavailable, I think that I will have a go at building my own. More on that in another post.

I use Cotman Watercolour Half-Pans, Aqua Wash (mainly) and some conventional brushes and Staedtler Pigment Liners and Derwent pencils.

For now, here is a selection of my Watercolour Sketches since Day 67.

Written by David Johnson
1 June 2019