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.