With  the weather forecast  for 28C or around 84F  we have a sunny day to celebrate our National Day here in Australia. I am posting some photos I took on my visit to central Victoria over the past week. The flowers are Everlasting daisies, taken in very windy conditions, and the wood carvings are done by using a chainsaw on pine logs. The characters are a soldier, a sailor, an airman and a nurse from World War 1.They are in Epsom, Victoria, at the rear of the Public Hall. Hidden treasures by Chainsaw Artist John Brady.

For reasons unknown this interesting fabric is called different names in  the USA and Australia. Today’s photos are of work done by teachers a Threads and Textiles Art Workshop which I ran in Melbourne.

My daughter made the same scarecrow in Grade 4 and it lasted several years guarding the rhubarb in a pot on our patio. The  cat-like creature was made by an adult  because I think a child would have given it more legs. This is a great activity to use up scraps from the scarecrows.

Three years ago in February we travelled around Tasmania with our Car Club. We stopped for lunch in Bridge Street in historic Richmond and I took this photograph of the blackboard in the Icecream Parlour . Since Primary School, when I watched my teacher  illustrate the Poem of the week, I have been fascinated by Blackboard Art. I love this artist’s attention to detail in the animals and the interaction between them.

I have always liked this stencil print made by a Grade 1 student, Elise. Collage and some crayon rubbing have been added to enhance the work. The kangaroos are hanging around in a group which we call a “mob” here in Australia.

In July 2006 I attended a demonstration by pastel artist and teacher, Terrianne Murray at Zart, an art supplier in Box Hill. I have asked her permission to post these photgraphs of her at work. She is the President of the Pastel Society of Victoria .

Today’s Artwork is a  dry pastel drawing by my talented sister-in-law, Cherrie Osborn. Descended from John Hanson Walker (British, 1844-1933), a famous  portrait artist, Cherrie has been an Artist in School for us over the years. She is a wonderful and encouraging teacher of Grade 6 still life drawing. Her main messages to the students are “look closely and only draw what you see”, and “enjoy your work”.

Drawn from her imagination,this work, entitled ‘The Road to ………’, has us all intrigued. We’ve all travelled it in Australia, we’re just not sure where.

These portraits were painted using his daughters as subjects.The girl in green looks remarkably like my niece who is his great,great grandaughter.

Several years ago we visited our younger daughter who was on  Student Exchange in Italy. She showed us Venice which is, arguably, one of the World’s most memorable cities and Verona, home of Romeo and Juliet. We were impressed by the pavement art in Venice and the Harlequin busker in fair Verona.

While we were travelling in England in 2004 we saw a sign advertising an Art Exhibition in a very old stately home. In a centuries old ruined section there was a magnificent Swarvroski Crystal horse by Stella McCartney.

The photos do not show the brilliance of the crystals but the precision involved in hanging each crystal in its exact space to form the horse is unbelievable.

My children know I like them to look out for interesting artworks so I can use the photographs at school. My older daughter  took these in  beautiful  Barcelona. The  amazing  mosaic work is by  Spanish artist Antoni Gaudi.

I’ve always been interested in junk sculpture so I took these photos in New York on a visit there in 2003. I have had trouble finding anything about the artist, Charles Davidson and have resorted  to Ask to find anything about him. Our students really enjoy using junk in this way and it’s a good activity to do when the class is studying Reuse and Recycle.