NSW – Communicating Creatively

A Quick Escape…to Millthorpe in country NSW!

30/06/202330/06/2023 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 After Dark

29/04/202329/04/2023 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/

A Day To Relax…

26/11/2022 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

A Fleeting Beauty!

04/11/2022 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

Books, Books, Books – Argyle Emporium

15/08/202215/08/2022 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Books

Last Sunday-week, Susan and I made a planned stop on the way to visiting her parents, who live 25 kilometres/15.5 miles outside of Goulburn. Goulburn is about one and three-quarter hours drive from our home.

The planned stop was at the Argyle Emporium, which is located opposite the railway line in Goulburn in an old Police Station. The Argyle Emporium has been a second-hand bookshop for 21 years and houses approximately 500,000 books. ‘Book Heaven’ for book-lovers!

This time we only spent just over an hour there and the good news for other book-lovers is that upon leaving there, I left 499, 496 books at the bookshop…. 🙂

The following ones I the books I purchased:

I love books on the Visual Arts that delve into how Artist expresses what they are feeling by using tools and techniques. This one features the thoughts of 20 famous artists. I love this book!

The second book I purchased is a collection that I have been wanting in my Poetry collection for some time but just hadn’t found the right one. Over 1,000 pages of Wordsworth delight!

The third book purchased that day was also Poetry. I enjoy buying collections of poetry. It is true that sometimes the collections overlap with other collections of poetry however, this hasn’t happened too much so far… This collection breaks up the poetry into subjects and includes over 90 Poets. The book was printed in 1957.

The last book purchased that day is from another ‘like’ of mine, and that is ‘tools and techniques that inspire creative writing’. I find them a fascinating read and, by the looks of this book, I won’t be disappointed.

4 more books from from the treasure-trove second-hand bookshop known as the Argyle Emporium, Goulburn, NSW. Australia. Some of the rooms are pictured below.

I can hardly wait until our next visit! 🙂

Written by David Johnson

17 August 2022

Oh The Fun!

03/05/2022 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Stories From Life

Last weekend, my Wife and I stayed with our friends at Millthorpe, NSW, Australia as my Wife had been invited to a Baby Shower in Bathurst, about 20 minutes drive away.

Whilst my Wife was at the party, I ventured into the CBD and started to look for a suitable subject to sketch and paint.

I came across a lovely-looking building with a dome which turned out the be the Courthouse however, I chose to sit in the park and view it from behind. I quite liked the busyness of the structures in front of it that were set against the backdrop of the dome.

For me, it was rather a challenging subject as I am still endeavouring to learn ‘how much I want to leave in or leave out?’ One of the other challenges I had on the day was it was quite chilly with a wind blowing. The light was just beautiful though, so I sat there and attempted to sketch and paint it, well my interpretation anyway…

I will definitely have another go at this subject at some point. It was the first time out using my new Winsor and Newton Field Kit which has a mix of Winsor and Newton, and Daniel Smith paints.

After I finished the sketch, I set off with my DSLR camera and (of course) my Phone camera to see what I could capture in the beautiful late afternoon light. Below is one example from the iPhone camera.

All in all, I had a very enjoyable couple of hours in the late afternoon light.

Till next time!

Written by David Johnson

3 May 2022

A Favourite Spot!

16/02/202212/02/2022 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Stories From Life

A favourite spot I (we) like to go to relax is only about 8 minutes drive from where we live. The Nepean River wanders through the Camden District (N.S.W. Australia) and it is at its widest going through Camden.

There exists a lot there to please people and caters for a diverse amount of interests. You can:

Have a leisurely walk on man-made paths or go off-track
Kayak/Canoe up and down the river
Go for a quick dip (no sand on the bank, though)
Ride your bike along a designated Bike track
Sit by the river with a book
Sketch, Paint, Photograph
Play ball games with your friends and family
Exercise in a number of ways
Take your children to the permanent Play equipment or kick a ball
Just relax

We use it to go and relax, go for a walk and other things. I’ve been down there to sit and read, walk, sketch, paint or just sit and relax. When Susan comes with me she will either take a book or Crotchet.

Our most recent visit was just to sit and relax on one of the benches by the river. We were joined by i/2 dozen Lizards, a few Ducks and cooling breeze on a hot day for an hour or so. We are certainly blessed to have such a place so near to us.

Till next time!

Written by David johnson

16 February 2022

27 Years since…

21/11/2021 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Stories From Life

Yesterday, we embarked on our annual pilgrimage to Berrima which is a small village in the Southern Highlands of NSW, Australia. It is approx. 1 hour South of where we live. We drive down there on this weekend every year, sometimes for the weekend, sometimes to spend the day there like we did this year.

Why Berrima? It is the place that my (now) Wife, Susan finally said ‘Yes’ to me asking her out to dinner, after declining me 5 times back in 1994. We were down there as friends collecting some items for a Christmas party that a Dog Club (that Susan was the Social Secretary of) was holding.

We had lunch at The White Horse Inn and it had such a romantic feel that I felt compelled to ask her out ‘just one more time…’. I did and she said yes! 🙂 After that we visited some of the shops (which are tourist orientated) and then went off to Berkelouw’s Book Barn at Berrima, which, back then held about 250,000 books. Unfortunately, the White Horse Inn has not been open for a number of years now.

Fast forward to this weekend, we have to do it in reverse these days as Berkelouw’s had to change to economically survive by reducing the amount of books (to about 100,000) and diversifying into a Wedding Reception venue, a restaurant/cafe and a wine-tasting venue. They close at 3.00pm each day for functions, hence the earlier visiting time. This was a shorter visit for us this time as we both found 6 books each within 1 1/4 hours. Normally it takes us longer.

After that, we took off to one of our favourite ‘Vintage-ware’ shops called “Sticky Beaks.’ We love visiting shops like these as they bring back a multitude of memories of things that were used in the past and one can pick up interesting curios, as we did again today.

Susan managed to pick up a tray that converts into a Grazing platter. Functional and artistic, I’m sure we will pit it to good use.

From there we set off to our lunch booking at Josh’s Cafe & Restaurant for a sumptious meal of Grilled Barramundi (a highly recommended fish in Australia), salad and then we shared a couple of desserts, ‘Pear and Rhubarb Crumble’ and Hot Chocolate Fondant, mainly because I couldn’t make up my mind on which one to have. 🙂 Deliciously decadent!

From there we visited Mrs Oldbucks Jam & Food shop and several other shops including a relatively new Berrima shop called, ‘Six Impossible Things’, the name coming from a Lewis Carroll story. It is set in an old Colonial cottage down a short pathway.

**Sticky Beaks, Baytree Gallery, The Brown Shutter, Mrs Oldbucks**

It was there that I purchased a glass Inkwell and some Calligraphy Ink. I had been looking for one of these for about 18 months. 🙂

It was a tremendous way to celebrate 27 years since we went out to dinner and for us there is no better place to celebrate it than where Susan said ‘Yes’ all those years ago.

Written by David Johnson

21 November 2021