Category Archives: Art

Art, Cool stuff, writing, Writing Stories

The Carrot and the Eggplant

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Chris the carrot (left) and Ethan the eggplant.

The carrot and the egg-plant showed up at our house today. In actual fact, the carrot slept in our house and the eggplant came to meet his fellow ‘vege’. These two ‘vegetables’ were preparing for the Year 12 free dress day at Kenmore High School, Brisbane. My son Chris and his friend Ethan have almost reached the end of high school. The dress-up is the beginning of the ending. These two had to dress as a vegetable that shared the first letter in their names. That’s why the boys used the letters “c” and “e”.  Now, who could have thought of such a thing?

Watching them from the window as they were painting their limbs, I thought they were heading in the right direction – they had the right colours. After an hour, I came down to photograph the boys and started to laugh. Instead of two vegetables, two aliens were peaking back at me behind large bug eyes.

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“You don’t look like vegetables, at least not the real vegetables – perhaps the futuristic vegetables,”  I said.

They were not impressed with my jokes. ………………………………………………….

Next post – 150 word story.

Art, Culture and Heritage, Indigenous, Life, People, Photography, TRIBALMYSTIC BLOG, Writing Stories

A Stunning Beauty from Papua New Guinea

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On my return home to Papua New Guinea on September 16th, it was the Independence Day. My son Chris and I were very lucky to see PNG people celebrating in their traditional costumes.

On arrival at the Jacksons International Airport, Port Moresby, our first meeting was with this stunning beauty.  I wish I had taken more, but I only had time to take four photographs of this beautiful woman and rush to domestic terminal to transit to Lae. I will get her name later, that’s how PNG networking is, but she was dressed in Simbu traditional dress. I believe she was part of the Air Niugini staff and assisted the international departure passengers.

If you have any questions about her dress, ask me, but this post is purely to show the beauty of the image. When I come across moments like this, I am very proud to be a Papua New Guinean. My reasons being, we are unique people, we love our culture and we are always proud to show it.

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Art, Photography, Writing Stories

The Prophecy – Art Project

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The prophecy project, shot at ten locations in Senegal, features intricately costumed figures interacting with polluted environment. The collective work was created by Photographer Fabrice Monteiro, Costume Designer Doulsy (jah gal) and Eco Fund. Each costume was meticulously built from garbage and debris found throughout the site, reflecting the atmosphere and state where each type of garbage was found and returned to each site where Monteiro photographed them.

The Prophecy was collated to address concerns of critical environmental issues across many countries in Africa. (It should also be the concern of the rest of the world). In the video, see how the artists put each living sculpture together.

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Designboom

https://vimeo.com/110245685

Art, Cool stuff, Writing Stories

Made of the Printed Words – Cool Stuff

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A book igloo  by Colombian artist Miler Lago was constructed cleverly with their titles/spines face inside. The entire art is created by material of the printed words.

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Miler was born in 1973 and lives and works in Bogota, Colombia. He is known for his other famous work, Fragments of Time – an attempt on the artist’s part to slow things down, but the form of the work itself goes further still: these are branch-like forms composed entirely of sheets of newspaper and books, densely stacked together and sanded at the edges, which generates both a mottled, trunk-like surface and a wood effect colour, (see pictures below).

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Art, My Art, Painting, Writing Stories

Freda Completed – Watercolour Art

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Watercolour painting by JK.Leahy©

This is Freda. I started work on her in January this year (see earlier post) but never had time to finish her. Recently, I went over some of the unfinished watercolours and decided to do some more work on her. I think Freda is completed. Let me know what you think.

I thought she would make a good character in one of my stories. To finish Freda, I ‘rewarded’ her, with a mouth full of betel nut. Having a betel nut smile is a typical Papua New Guinea way.

Recently, while in PNG I spent some time with my mother and my aunts, nieces, and the rest of the family, just chewing betel nut and talking. We shared a lot of stories.

Freda looks more like my mother now that I have aged her. Maybe because, I saw my mother recently and noticed how much she has aged while I have been away.

 

 

Art, Culture and Heritage, Indigenous, Writing Stories

Training to Enhance Skills of Cultural Producers

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Robinson Fairo, Figurine, Solomon Islands. Photo: Collection of Waikato Museum via SPC.

A training programme to enhance the business, marketing and product development skills of cultural producers in Solomon Islands began this week in the capital Honiara. The Solomon Islands is part of the Melanesian region of the South Pacific. The secretariat of Pacific Community (SPC) reported in its newsletter Culture Talk that cultural industries in Solomon Islands represent an important economic sector as well as the country’s rich heritage and culture.

Although there are increasing numbers of cultural producers in Solomon Islands, only a few training programmes target this sector to assist producers to export their cultural goods.

Supported by European Union, the training called “Enhancing the Pacific Cultural Industries: Fiji, Samoa and Solomon Islands” project, was implemented by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS). The training is held in partnership with the Solomon Islands Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Solomon Islands Arts Alliance.

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Welcome Vaka picture from SPC.
Art, Writing Stories

Re-visit the Accidental Artwork

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Dear friends, I am away from this blog for an assignment. I will be back with loads of stories – I promise. My son Nathan said he may cover the blog for me while I’m gone. He somewhat likes the Mondays Finish the Story fiction challenge and the Cool Stuff. I hope it is not like when he says he would do the dishes and then I find them in the sink when I come home. Jokes aside, don’t despair if you don’t see a post in the next couple of weeks, just think of all the stories I will be telling you when I return. Besides, Nathan may surprise all of us with one of his tales.

In this post before I go, I wanted to revisit the accidental artwork. If you have been wondering what happened to the work I pressed – this was the result when I ‘harvested’ it a few days ago.

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I set with leaves and natural dyes in an earlier post (The Accident Artwork – Art Experiments). After three weeks of moist disintegration of leaf fibres on paper with tea, coffee and garden dyes, the work was totally unexpected.

In the work above and below, I used Acacia leaves with tea and other boiled leaves.

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In the next two work below, I used coffee and gum leaves. This is what rotten gum leaves look like on paper. The liquid is quite thick and can really stain.

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I am thinking of trying the mixture to stain wood furniture next time.

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I also would like to wish all Papua New Guineans a Happy 40th Independence Day today – 16th September.

 

 

 

 

Art, Cool stuff

Master Penman – Supreme pen work

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Art, My Art, Painting, Poetry, Women, Writing Stories

In the park – Poem

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Watercolour by JK.Leahy© Title: “In the Park” (Mt Cootha Botanical Gardens)

In the Park – JK.Leahy©

Restless is the breeze

where light has ceased

Alone, I sit in the dark

where we kissed in the park

Heightened heat burns

And time rhythms heartbeat

I wait in the park

where our footsteps left a mark

Years worn boulders and

seedlings aged into forest

Grave is nearing

for our meeting in the park

My Cootha is one of my favourite places in Brisbane. My closest friend and my son’s godmother Marina works in the temperate gardens. Often when I visit her, this wooden contemporary bench is where we sit and have lunch. I painted this watercolour for her as a gift. The poem is just an observation of people who come to sit in the temperate gardens.

Art, Cool stuff, Writing Stories

The Accidental Artwork – Art Experiments

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Photo: Gums Leaves in Little Ruby plant dye on watercolour paper. 2015. JK.Leahy©

I love the accidental artwork. That’s why I enjoy art experiments.

I set out to do another art experiment in my garden this morning. It was a beautiful day for it. I ended up accidentally shooting the leaves intended for my experiment in another artwork, totally unplanned. The accident in the experiment looked too interesting to not photograph.

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Photo: Acacia leaves (and one gum leaf) in tea on watercolour paper. 2015. JK.Leahy©
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Photo: Acacia leaves in tea on watercolour paper. 2015. JK.Leahy©

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After laying out the materials, I applied water and dyes. Then, I pinned everything down with glass. I noticed reflections and water bubbles sneaking into my work. They had their own colour and shadows. That was when my artwork plan changed. It was the experiment that came out of another experiment, the kind  of ‘accident’,  we artists love. Something you did not expect, never meant to or planned to create but it becomes yours. A gift from the universe.

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Photo: Gums leaves in Little Ruby dye on watercolour paper. 2015. JK.Leahy©
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Photo: Gums Leaves in Coffee and Tea on watercolour paper. 2015. JK.Leahy©

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The images were shot with a Nikon D5200 using both macro and 18-55mm lenses. We shall re-visit the work, after all the water dries up in a few days. Thank you for reading about my experiments, please let me know what you think of my accidental artwork in the images.