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!

Ben in Blue!

Well here we have it! Ben Cook in color! Painted with a mix of alizarin crimson and french ultramarine. I decided to stick to this one color and focus on tone, things were getting pretty messy with the last portrait painting I did. I found it quite difficult taking everything into consideration while painting someones face. Drawing with a pencil, value can be attained by simply pressing harder or softer, shading things in. Painting on the other hand, excluding hue, requires mixing appropriate portions of paint A and paint B to achieve a single tone, hopefully matching the tone of the area you wish to paint. For now, I will stick to one color while painting faces, see how I do, and add colors from there.

Tomorrow I will try painting myself from a black and white photograph I took a few months back. "A self portrait", you ask. I don't think it counts, even though it is a portrait of myself. Self portraits are more about what you see when you look at yourself in a mirror, what you look like to you. The painting I will be doing is more like a still life work. Looking at the photo, and painting. Its the difference between seeing a photo of someone, and actually seeing someone. I don't believe people really looked like they do in a photograph. A picture is worth 1000 words right? Could you be described in 1000 words?

Shipie's Blue Hour

Here we have a painting that was done from a photograph my friend, Francois Desard, took of me in Tasmania at Shipstern Bluff. We had to get up real early to catch the famous wave when all the right conditions applied. Two hours hiking time also had to be taken into consideration before we left which meant if things weren't just right, it would be a two hour hike back as well. We had been on this track many times prior, in search of the perfect wave, however this time we spent the majority of the trek in darkness and wouldn't be leaving empty handed. Arriving before the sun had risen above the ocean's horizon, we found ourselves speechless with what the morning light awakened. A naples glow from the submerged sun began to fill our atmosphere slowly giving the land its coarse definition. With each eager footstep, we familiarized ourselves to the rock as we maneuvered around boulders toward Shipie's point. Francois hung back to set up his camera while I had ventured on to bask in the power of the ocean. It was then, while I stared into the deep blue and out towards Bruny Island, that the photo was taken. I had a body board under my arm at the time but decided to paint the figure with a surf board because the short board's distinctive shape would be easier for the viewer to identify while keeping the theme much the same. A surfer and his wave.

Everett should be somewhere over the Pacific Ocean right about now, watching movies and being stuffed full of food during his 14 hour flight to Los Angeles. He just left this morning and I already miss him, we had some good times during the 6 weeks he spent out here. University will be starting for him shortly, which I'm sure will be exciting so he has a lot to look forward to. And I have a job now as a barista/smoothy maker for a Virgin Active Gym near where I live. With free coffee and gym membership, who could ask for more? Things are really looking up.

Under the Bridge and Over the Pond

Here is that second painting I promised you. The one from the day Everett and I ventured into to city. The majority of it was done about a week ago but I decided to let it dry before painting in the boat and calling it complete. There are a few characteristics I would like to change about this piece but I'm satisfied with it none the less. I'm not one to go back and change my old paintings when I suddenly spot something in them that doesn't fit. If you play with it too much you'll spend a great deal of time poking paint around and ruining your work only to realize that you preferred the way it originally looked. I also like to keep my original paintings the way they are as a record of my mishaps and triumphs. It will be interesting to look back years down the road and see everything I went through in finding my own style. If I were to paint this piece again(which I plan on doing!), I would definitely make the landmass that's protruding from the right side of the picture, much smaller and insignificant. The buildings in the background could use a little tinkering with, but that's something I can try on a different piece. When I get a job and earn a bit of money I think I'll work on repainting some of my favorite pieces, this included, larger on stretched canvas. They would be much more marketable and wouldn't require expensive framing.

5 more days until Everett fly's home. Where has the time gone? We are hoping for good weather for the next few days but the reporter is not too optimistic. We might just have to buy an umbrella. One of the items on our list of things still to do is a tour of Sydney's Opera Theater. This can be a little pricey but I hear it's well worth it. A boat tour around the harbor would also be nice, maybe followed by lunch in the revolving restaurant on the Sydney Tower! We'll see where the days take us.

Northern Beaches

Sorry, no picture this time. I have been working on several paintings at the same time in different stages but I don't have a complete one to post just yet. Soon though. These ones are really coming along and will be well worth the wait.

Yesterday was the first beautiful day we've had in a while. Save for a few puff little clouds, the sky was big, blue and full of sun shine. Everett and I took advantage of the weather and spent our afternoon along the coast of Sydney's Northern Beaches not far from where we live. We caught a bus to South Curl Curl and enjoyed a casual stroll along the beaches and cliff faces that lined our route. We finished up in Manly just as the sun was tucking behind buildings and shops. It felt a bit surreal. Coming from western United States, the few ocean sunsets I'd seen always set over the ocean. However, out here on the east coast of Australia it's the opposite. It tends to throw off my internal compass a bit. As the shadows from Manly slowly extinguished the last few sunny spots of sand, we decided to call it a day. We caught a bus home and had a nice big bowl of pasta for dinner. A great way to end a perfect day.