A Synapse In Life

I appreciated the feedback everyone here has given me. Unfortunately for some, I will probably not be painting much anymore. My interests have taken me down different paths and I've decided to go give painting a rest while I explore my other passions.

Though this may be the end of Cerulean Blue, It is certainly not the end to my pursuit of happiness. We are simply turning the page and this new chapter is headed "Coffee".

If you are interested in hearing about where this path takes me, look no further.

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Back to Blogging

Hello my fellow readers!

I must apologize for my absence and lack of posts. My excuse is that I have been busy busy busy and haven't found the time to paint in quite a while... and, without any paintings it's a bit hard to maintain a painters blog. That is why I have decided to alter Cerulean Blue. From this day forward it shall be my general travel/Australia blog. Dedications go to my brother Hunter with his Travel/Hobby blog which inspired me to start blogging again.
Cheers

What have I been up to in the last few months?
Well! to begin: I still work at the cafe I talked about in previous posts, V-Cafe; I still make Coffee on a regular basis; and I still don't know what I'm going to to will my self. I find it hard to commit to a decision regarding what I want to do for the rest of my life. Career wise at lest. I have struggled with this decision for quite a while. It is probably this struggle that caused me to put my engineering degree on hold, travel to Oz , and take some time off to figure it out. Well, it's been just over a year that i've taken 'off' and I am finally ready to get back 'on' but unfortunately I still find that decision, my career choice, no easier to decided. Maybe I just need more time? I have had a think and came to the conclusion that even though I may not know my direction I should at least get the ball rolling, build a little momentum and perhaps figure out where its going along the way.
This momentum comes from 'Australian Pacific College'. I have registered and payed for a 2 year course in Business Marketing and Management. A very broad subject but experience that well help me down the road, regardless of which path I take. I am very happy with my decision. Though not a career choice, it's a very reasonable 2 year stepping stone towards bigger and better things. Who knows where this may take me. I will keep you posted along my journey if you care to join me.

The Ocean Breathes Salty

It has been far too long since my last post. I have been working heaps training new staff and preparing them for another V-Cafe that will be opening in the city a few weeks from now. This is the painting I mentioned in my last post. I like it. The crashing wave came out a bit sub-par, but no worries. It takes a lot of practice to be able to witness the oceans waves, pick out their characteristics and effectively personify them on canvas. I really like to paint a few more seascapes in my spare time. Which! I will have more of once our cafe on Pitt St.(in the city) opens and I become AM supervisor at the Cafe here in the Northern Beaches. With warmer weather to come and me having more free time to enjoy, these next few months are looking quite promising. I look forward to soaking up the rays on the beach and painting the randomness I come across. A fellow friend/artist and I plan to go on painting adventures around Sydney--Mostly just to get lost and enjoy our days off.

Tomorrow I leave for the Hunter Vally!! I believe I mentioned it in a previous post but for those who don't know; I will be leaving tomorrow at 7am to spend a weekend in the Hunter Vally visiting various vineyards and cheeseries(is that what they're called?). I am quite excited! but can't be bothered packing yet. I have always been a last minuet packer. I will make sure to bring a camera and take lots of photographs from which I will paint many pictures and post them here, for you to view!
Until next time!

Muttonbird Island

The view from Muttonbird Island in Coffs Harbor on an overcast day. A lone fisherman enjoying the peace and quite along the island's rocky edge. I painted this yesterday along with another of the same scene. However, I still have a few things to work on with this other painting. It highlights the oceans power as a huge wave crashes against the peninsula near where the man is fishing. The only problem is that painting an exploding wave is pretty darn hard. I think I will let that painting dry, and go back over it with several layers to achieve that highly topographical, chunky, yet soft look a wave has as it BAM! hits a rock. haha i'm sure there is a word for that feature, a 'Blowhole' would be my closest description. Anywho, It will be up sometime this week.

Last week I worked 50 hours at my cafe and 7 at another cafe in Balgowhal. Talk about a busy week! This was only because someone quit without notice. Ideally I would like to work 35-40 hours a week, which is what I will be scheduled for from now on(as long as no one else quits out of the blue).

I will be heading up the the Hunter Vally for a weekend (October 2-3) with a group of travelers I haven't met on a 'Grape Excursion'. It is an organized event with a group of about 20 travelers. We will be heading up together on a bus that stops at several different vineyards for wine tasting and tours, spend the night at a nice hostel in the hills, and have the following day to muck around on our own. The Hunter valley is renown for its fertile soil and optimal growing conditions. We'll be able to sample the best wine in the region and purchase a at real Fair Dinkum price. As low as $3 a bottle(if you're lucky)!!

I am quite excited to get out and have a bit of fun with other travelers. I will be sure to take heaps of photos and sketches, and paint you all about it.

South Curl Curl

This is a view of South Curl Curl from a footpath just south of the beach. I painted this picture from a photo taken while Everett and I were walking to Manly via Queenscliff one sunny afternoon. I really enjoyed how the painting turned out. The darkness in the lower left corner does make it feel a bit bottom heavy but definitely gives the scene some depth. Peering out though the trees, you easily follow the mans gaze along the coast and out as far as the eye can see, where the ocean and sky converge to a hazy yet distinct horizon. It could probably do with a few less branches poking out from the sides. Definitely a painting I wouldn't mind trying again, this time on proper canvas. I've been making due with a strange canvas paper while Ive been out of $, but even that is running low. Luckily I received my first pay check just recently! Time to spend some money.

The Cafe is going well. I love my coworkers but hate the boss. Hmmm I hope she doesn't read this... I guess I wouldn't say that I hate her, its just the way she manages that gets me off. She can be quite bossy and frantic at inconvenient times, a real high strung women. Not the kind of attitude a manager in the hospitality industry should have. But hey, it's great experience and the pay is good(compared to what I made back home), so i'll make due.

I am still having trouble making up my mind. I have to decide whether or not I should (A) stay here and study out west in Perth, or (B) come back home and celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with the family, work as a barista in my home town and start up University in the Spring. Or there is option C; Fly home for a few months then come back to Oz in February when school starts. I just can't make up my mind. Maybe I will go see a fortune teller. Maybe not. What is your opinion, my dearest reader? Option A, B, or C.

All Work and No Play is How Jack Saves Money

This is the same boat that was in the painting I did of the Harbor Bridge, composed from the sketches I made the day Everett and I went to Milsons point. Probably a month ago? In this painting I wanted to capture the freedom one gets from sailing so I exclude the Bridge and focused on the boat. I can remember now how envious I felt that day. Everett and I had just come from the crowded Saturday markets in The Rock's and were looking for refuge, someplace quiet (which is near impossible in Sydney). As this group slowly sailed by, I realized that they had found precisely what we were after. A piece of solitude in the heart of the city. I decided this would make an appropriate painting. But how could I portray this envious felling I had toward the group of sailors? In the painting I gave the city a fast, sloppy, dirty look to contrast the boats cool clan colors to achieve the same feeling I had back on Milsons point. I think I did alright. The painting brings me back to that moment however, It may just look like a boat to you.

Work is going well! This job supports me to the point that I don't ever have to buy food. Here is a typical day at work: I get up at 5 and bike to work, clocking in just before 6. Because I arrive so much earlier than anyone else, I usually have a chance to nibble a few bits and pieces for breakfast while setting up the cafe. I have a lunch break at noon accompanied by a free meal. And before leaving I usually take home a few sandwiches that didn't sell. The prefect for my dinner!(they would be thrown out anyway). I plan to live like this for the next few months until I have enough money saved to travel on. I still haven't decided weather or not I will get a student visa and stay another year or head home to see everyone. Its a tough decision. Luckily I have some time to debate.

Self Portrate

Its me! Everything went well with this painting except for the eyes. I wiped and restarted the eyes 3 or 4 times in an effort to get it right, but finally settled on not painting them all together. Instead I slapped a pair of sunnies over my sad looking eyeballs and called it good. I enjoy painting landscapes much more than people. Unfortunately the weather and my new job have been preventing me from going on painting missions around Sydney. Without the constant change of environment that comes with travel, I have begun to feel a lack of stimulation (to paint). But maybe I've just been busy. I think I have a few days off next week. Perhaps I'll mission to Palm Beach and paint something from Barrenjoey Head. We'll see.

I havn't done much apart from work and work related study lately. Sounds terrible, but it really hasn't been that bad. My hours in the day are spent at work in the cafe, attending barista school in the city, or at home eating at which time I read about coffee in online forums(A bit obsessive, I know!). It was just a few weeks ago that I realized how much I love the stuff. And not just at the drinking level. I really enjoy the science and technique behind it all, from pulling the espresso shot to steaming microfoamed milk. "How to make the perfect cuppa?" is the question I want to answer. Back home, Espresso coffee never seemed to be that big but out here, Wow!. Just about every restaurant in Australia is equipped with an espresso machine --you would have to look far and wide to find a place that served drip coffee. Down under, everyone loves espresso coffee, and from that spirals the world of a barista. It is our job to serve a better cup of coffee than the other cafes. Even if we use the same beans as them, it comes down to technique and style which varies from cafe to cafe and produces a difference you can taste in the coffee.

It's been a long week thinking about coffee but TGIF and the weekend is here! Tomorrow night I'll be heading to the Sydney Swans' last footy match with a good mate and a few cold ones!