Recycled Hare
Recently this photo was
reproduced as a billboard
and displayed on the outside
of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery.
Once the exhibition was over
the vinyl billboard was sent
away to be turned into
shoulder bags.
Earthworm Studies
More than ten years ago
I made some closeup photos
of earthworms,
it was Herald Island days.
I have the negatives
and a contact sheet but
apart from making a couple of quick
prints, I didn’t pursue the image
further. I don’t know why,
perhaps it was because other photos
were coming along and crowding it out
and I was distracted. I don’t know
where those two prints are at the moment although
I would like to. They are somewhere in the
drawers here though.
But the idea has constantly gnawed away,
so recently I bought some clay
and began making shapes
based upon the photos that I had taken,
and drawings that I made from time
to time such as these below.
The photo at the top of the page is
my first clay version.
I would like to see it turned into
bronze, or even marble. Or
perhaps a photographic image.
I’m not sure, so I’m exploring it now.
Black Nerita
Shellfish huddled together
after the tide has gone out.
Farm Study
A view of some cows.
The quality of the image is not good
because I took it with my phone
camera, and the wind was very strong,
making it extremely difficult
to keep steady.
I don’t think that it is really
the cows that I am interested in
as much as the way that
they are dispersed.
I recognise this image, I’ve taken it
before, except that time it
was a view of ants.
Stick Insect
The Auckland Art Gallery
has just published a small book
entitled I Spy NZ Art.
It is a type of alphabet book,
the letter H,
for example,
is accompanied by a Peter Siddell
painting of a house.
All of the art works used
are in the gallery’s collection.
On the page illustrating
I, there is a photograph of a
stick insect.
I took this photo in 1992.
I
Canterbury Landscape
Recently, I have been going through
files of earlier photos,
many of them images
many of them images
I haven’t looked at for
years.
Here is one,
Canterbury Landscape
taken on the
15th June 2006.
15th June 2006.
Te Henui Vicarage
Built in 1843
this is one of the
oldest buildings in
New Zealand.
Situated in central New Plymouth,
It is built from stones
It is built from stones
hauled up by bullocks
from the
from the
Te Henui river which
runs nearby,
and from limestone
from Nelson.
It is possible that
Frederick Thatcher,
Bishop Selwyn’s architect
had a hand in
the design of this
building.
and from limestone
from Nelson.
It is possible that
Frederick Thatcher,
Bishop Selwyn’s architect
had a hand in
the design of this
building.
Flight Simulator
Here in New Plymouth we have a technological museum.
One of the exhibits is this Link Trainer, Link being
the name of the designer.
It came from the Air Force, but is in need of
a large amount of restoration.
Californian Quail
This old friend turned up today
in an online catalogue sent out
in Arrowtown. I had almost
forgotten about this photo of mine.
The old friend is not just the photo
however, but also the bird itself
because it was one of a large
number living around the house
where I spent a year.
This was about an hours drive
from Arrowtown.
I fed them with seed mixes
so they became very friendly,
even venturing inside if I allowed it.
This particular quail was standing
on a high vantage point and watching over
the safety of the others.
Tony’s Toys
I took this photo about 3 years ago,
and have had it on my bathroom wall
for the last two. I never went beyond making
one print. I wanted to think about the image
before I made the expensive decision to print
an edition, although I did exhibit this particular print a couple
of times.
I keep looking at this photo in terms of the
flat planes of colour that compose the image.
For some time I’ve been looking for a photo that
I’d taken that would work in needlepoint.
Perhaps this image could be treated that way.
Those flat planes make it much easier to
render in thread.
Even as a boy I was interested in needlepoint but never really
took it up other than in a sporadic way.
My mother did encourage me though and she
had as a young woman been a seamstress
in Karangahape Road.
I’ve heard my stitching described as ‘tortured’
so I wouldn’t stitch it myself.
Meanwhile, lately, I ‘ve been
thinking that I will after all print an edition
of the photographic version.