After in the afternoon getting a haircut on Botany Road I went out with Esag at about 5pm it was 2 Feb with Simon I was heading in the bus and on the train to Rushcutters Bay where we met with Sophie and Anthony, it was a lovely night Sophie got talking with Gavin and Daniel two men who worked up the road and Daniel ended up buying ‘Apparel VI’ (see below) I took the watercolours out of my knapsack to show Sophie and he immediately felt drawn to them he pounced flourishing a $50 note so I used his Biro to sign the thing on the back with the year is was made laying it flat for convenience on a dining table on the pavement, on the way up the hill toward Victoria Street we’d been talking about making art and Daniel expressed ideas about what paper to use he suggested going to A4 but with cheaper stock to alleviate fears about expense I’d explained how the 200gsm Reeves paper buckles when it dries Amanda says cockles I use so much water I explained to Daniel how I’d resolved to use more expensive options and had done so I did in fact yes I use beautiful cotton rag paper now it works fine lays flat when dry all in all it was a transformative night I got home in Anthony’s car talking about the paper stock on the way turning into Botany Road in his electric blue Lexus, at home I told Omer and Ming we were talking for a while in the night I was a bit high and feeling quite then as they retired I watched ‘Kavanagh QC’ and went to bed around midnight having not turned into a pumpkin.
‘Apparel VI’ in the making was actually a bit of a struggle because I had to look through quite a number of issues of ‘New Scientist’ to find the requisite text to use in the collage for my purposes I wanted to match the words with a clothing ad I’d found Adolfo Dominguez uses the words “40 years old” a Google search I hadn’t actually gone looking for their ad especially nothing about it drew it to me particularly I was just looking for a clothing ad I’d finally there in the magazine found text saying “340,000 years old” and so I cut off the bits I didn’t need clip scissors snip snip clean careful don’t cut what you need clip I was looking at all the pages vigilant hypervigilant trying to find what I needed in the clutter of words images TV on in the background voices comforting English yes my language would it be the same if they were talking French in the magazines scanning each page trying to identify something to use passing quickly over what I didn’t need and keeping the nugget I did the rough diamond.
The title of the magazine remarkable in the case ‘New Scientist’ it is yes that’s right it wasn’t done with Daniel in mind that would be strange impossible to predict we were just out with the art group met by chance just randoms though he had a pen in his pocket but his office near the gallery we stopped outside Sophie but the magazine name apposite because Daniel and Gavin work at a medical research institute I’ll never forget that night it will stay in my memory forever – at least as long as I’m alive, but then afterward it’ll remain alive in this chronicle – he wanted an orange one and so I offered this one and he took it it was magical I don’t know why he wanted an orange one why “orange” yes but later I resolved to make more orange ones oh my God can you believe it I made my first sale in fact Omer a couple of days before had singled out ‘Apparel VI’ due to its immediate impact he liked it because it spoke to him I don’t know why he couldn’t explain though he tried, it just clicked he pointed to it as it lay with the other three (I make them in sets of four) on the coffee table his mind working like this very literal he thought the man in the picture was 40 years old so – click – it spoke to him not like Kavanagh QC who must be 65 if he’s a day John Thaw must be dead these long years oh God it’s a bit spooky watching stupid crime dramas with dead actors Thaw cold death actors in them death when was it made in the early noughts probably yes definitely dead leaf blower whipper snipper pollution oh I’m stuck with stupid crime dramas look at me just like my old mum Judy and ‘Hawaii Five-0’ when dad was away on business such a relief when he wasn’t there people could do what they wanted for a change I make my art on the dining table mum had a studio next to the kitchen remodelled at Vaucluse she never made art there she was always doing something in the kitchen though I remember calling dad on the phone from the kitchen at Vaucluse the old one facing the bay and I was asking him if I could drop French ha! listen to me go on I told Daniel the same story on the evening of 2 Feb what a day it was, we also started talking about a pool hall in the CBD in the 70s he said it was in Pitt Street me insistent it was on George Street, listen back then in the kitchen I was only 16 but God look I am 60 (61 at time of editing this entry) and just like snap snip just that all the years have gone by all the pain and suffering needless a complete waste of time making someone else rich in actual fact but oh I made my first sale.
Snap. On 3 Feb I started making another series of watercolours with – snip – more collage this time National Rugby League team logos starting with the Roosters then the Rabbitohs I did six in total Sharks Raiders green red yellow black I had to redo the one for the Sharks because of an error in drawing the first time and when I went to bed I was in the process of thinking of how to do the Broncos and the Cowboys would I have the right colours I thought about how to make the colours for the Broncos the colours team colours so important for people yes black and white ‘Kavanagh QC’ or sports logos printed on shirts silk screen silk out to sea Kavanagh QC the team sponsors also printed silk screen pressed with ink onto the shirts men wear to go to the markets on a Sunday they wear these sponsored shirts to take the kids to piano practice to sport games on Saturday school competition you can buy shirts like this in shops oh God that leaf blower or is it a whipper snipper endless noise polluting the – the what? – atmosphere I asked Bronwen if she wanted to go to a gallery on Sunday she said she’s going to the Galapagos on Tuesday she’d let me know closer to Sunday and asked me if it would be ok I said sure the trip on her bucket list the trip by plane she’s off with her mum I was “Wow” what an adventure not like driving to Camperdown I sold a painting definitely on my bucket list ha God NRL teams what next I’d done six the parcels I’d posted had all arrived in Japan I’d posted them in the weeks leading up to this moment oh the Galapagos all that wildlife Bronwen had in time come to the vision board class with Sophie taking the class we all made art together it was fun transformative we did watercolours too another time another time the next time was transformative watercolour then collage free I’d driven all over the city picking up magazines Facebook Marketplace giving away for free people just want to get them out of their house one’s man’s trash is another man’s treasure ‘Kavanagh QC’ boxes full of ‘New Scientist’ from Riverwood then was it Balgowlah somewhere up that way a little house on a back street computer magazines just like that in the car navy blue Ensign snap just over speed bumps.
I continued for the next couple of weeks making more series and by 16 Feb when I went to a Peterhsam Bowlo poets reading night I took along some of my creations which went down well with people there who’d gathered to listen to poetry. Everyone who saw them enjoyed the ‘CAPitalism’ series (‘Cars, ads, pop music’) and the ‘Shipwreck’ series and I read out a sonnet from 2010 about a suicide on account of the evening’s theme of death, one of their number had passed away unexpectedly in hospital, here are some of the paintings we looked at on the night.
The above work is of a Toyota Corolla’s taillight like another person who saw this painting the woman I showed it to in Petersham liked the “colours” it’s funny how people use this word for this one in the series and not for other ones even though they all use colours weird that people are predictable are they not all unique all the same one and all for one.
Musketeers. The same woman remembered like me the Pasha Bulker grounding shown in the above painting, it took place in 2007 a lifetime away but still in memory. When I got home because it was Thursday I watched ‘Kavanaugh QC’ this time about a man with PTSD the show was made in the nineties and such topics weren’t normally talked about it’s interesting how TV shows can break new ground nowadays a show about a returned soldier who turns violent would be considered routine, not because returned soldiers routinely murder people but because we now are more aware of such disability and are willing to publicly acknowledge it shame gone away maybe a little but still present for many.
Another one of the ‘CAPitalism’ series I discussed was with Christopher Michaels who commented on the one with the Ford Mustang, he said that now that Ford no longer makes cars in Australia you see a lot more of this type of car on the streets and I had to agree, my next-door neighbour has one it’s a beast with a loud exhaust I remember my Ducati in my twenties a loud exhaust we change and we grow old it’s the way of the world we die, maybe I should get another Ducati now that I’m retired an old codger riding round on a muscle bike how would that look why would I care I’m just daydreaming anyway.
I was out at Windsor for a curator’s talk on 15 Feb and dropped in at the framer’s studio to pick things up and to specify more items, I got a whole lot of things, ten in all, and put them in the back of the car to bring back home. The next day before the poetry reading I rehung the living room wall (see below) bringing down from the hallway on the first floor a number of items including photos Aunt Madge made when she was alive, I’d had them printed from slides and framed.
Because her photos are all of cars (these ones and I got some of her boat photos framed) nearby I put up two acrylic paintings by Christ O’Doherty. The Christine Dean painting in bright colours was purchased from the artist in a swap on 14 Feb her husband wanted one of Madge’s husband Elmer’s Danish oil paintings and so I said he could have it if she gave me a painting. When they called from her mother’s house where the works are stored they asked me also to pay Christine some money and I baulked as I’d thought it was a straight-out one-for-one swap so they offered two instead of one I immediately jumped in the car and drove to Mascot to use the ATM to withdraw banknotes then met the two of them at my place and we talked in the front room for an hour or so it was enjoyable to discuss art surrounded by art. Christine signed one of the works that had nothing written on the back and we discussed Adam Cullen, whose ‘Murray Carp’ is on the wall in the entranceway, and Anita Cobbey who was murdered in the 70s poor girl or was it the 80s I forget the details but remember it was grisly Westies.
Also in the living room hang is a print by Melbourne artist Hego (near the TV) showing a model named Olive. I’d bought this print in Newtown at a pop-up shop on 3 Nov 2022 when I went there specifically to see this Melbourne artist’s works, somehow I’d been exposed to works by Hego on social media (this is how I got to know Victorian artist Mark Dober as well) and had taken a liking to them, so went out on the train from Redfern, the pop-up shop was south of the station in the “Paris” end of Newtown, my heartland I lived down that way in the 80s before I bought the Ducati I can’t remember the exact sequence of events life’s like a dream one day we’re living in Newtown then next moment we’re in Glebe what happens to all the time it vanishes like a thought snap it goes away and we’re left with – what? – a sensation like loss, drowning in our own ideas, wallowing in grief at the thought of all the time that has passed the pain is enormous but pain is close to pleasure life’s wonderful God.
I also had the blinds person come out her name is Dana she arrived on Tues as well, initially her GPS sent her to the wrong address but she called me from the street outside number 3 and I told her which house to look for so she drove up in her car. She’d been in touch the week before when her car was at the service centre but hadn’t been able to make it then as the mechanics hadn’t finished their work, now she went to the back bedroom on the first floor where the bathroom door had exploded and she measured the space and gave me a quote. I went upstairs when I was free and made the payment from the pink slip she left with me, two days later I messaged Dana asking if the money’d been received then the office emailed me saying full payment had come through.
They’re up in Lane Cove, I was up in Pymble on 30 Oct the year before picking up an oil painting ($85) seen on Facebook Marketplace I got Amanda to ask the restorer Chris (not to be confused with the paper restorer Rose) he cleaned it and fixed the frame which was coming apart then when I got it on Wed I hung it in the entranceway beside the front door. Where I met the woman to get the painting was right next to two main roads busy as buggery road leading east and west north and south a crossroads like where I am right now shall I go downstairs shall I brush my teeth shall I continue writing what to do what to say have I said enough Kavanaugh QC his wife of many years they obviously love each other love not shown like this in TV dramas like this anymore or is it who knows there are so many crime dramas like an altar at which we pray screened into our living rooms love in bed husband and wife too saccharine nowadays there needs to be more aggression frustration what is the word for the feeling we are so close but still two separate – animals – people two individuals yes that’s the word maybe someone should write an academic study of love in crime dramas over the decades that would be revealing maybe someone has already written one, I’ll go downstairs I can hear someone in the kitchen see what they’re doing it was nothing I watched TV news then came back up to write an email.
I went and bought plants from a man named John in Pagewood on 17 Feb he has bees buzzing around his back yard though they didn’t molest us, his plants reasonable starting at $5 each so I picked out four to take back home with me in the RAV4. He also sells honey from his property up at Newcastle so I bought some for Ming and Omer, his house on a busy road but I parked in a side street, I carried the box I’d brought and put it in the back seat then drove back to Botany, repotted some of the acquisitions and later in the evening innocently repotted some of the pups of the poisonous mother of thousands plant that I have growing in the entranceway. I got more potting mix when I went down the road to IGA in the afternoon to get milk and nuts etcetera, carrying the bag in one hand with the groceries in the other, I just made it home exhausted it was a struggle but all good in the end we all die it’s about making good memories in the minds of others I never knew this when I was young what did I believe in those days I can’t remember it was long ago, ages. In the evening I watched part of ‘Van der Valk’ but went to bed before it ended, another stupid crime drama people screaming at each other displaying hatred in their speech in real life they’re far more circumspect I think we get sick of moderating our discourse we crave the freedom to say what we really want to say in a manner of our own choosing so we can express the hatred and fear that fills us like jugs of wine mother of thousands poisonous to cats, dogs and humans I shouldn’t propagate it but it’s so cute.
I went rogue and bought more plants on 23 Feb from a woman living in Wahroonga, then on 24 Feb I went north again, this time to Warriewood, to get pots that also had been advertised on Facebook Marketplace. The big, grey pots cost more than the plants naturally but they were perfect (see photo below) and in the afternoon after getting home and eating I filled them with the potting mix I’d bought at the nursery on the way back to Botany (there was just room enough in the car for the bags of soil and I bought five 25kg bags) planting the camellia and hydrangeas in the pots that’d originally come from Target, mine being 25% cheaper than when the vendor had bought them I learned from the sticker on the side of the box bonus yay me. After doing all of this and finding myself with no more potting mix to use with anything else that I might acquire in future I wisely went to IGA bought more, using mum and dad’s two-wheeled trolley to bring the three, 25-litre bags home along Bay Street. I repotted some of the spathiphyllum by tearing the plants apart with my hands and using some other pots I had that I filled with soil.
On 25 Feb I was back on the road again to Sylvania (yes, to the south this third time on the road chasing bargains and green things) which was a bit closer to home but also a place like the other two that normally I would never visit. I noted one evening how it was a year exactly since I first started doing the garden, originally it’d been on the occasion of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine that I began to put the plants out, buy plants, and choose locations for plants to live because reading had become impossible in the face of the Russian president’s aggression and I wanted something else to do. Many of the plants I bought via Facebook Marketplace or from the nursery had survived and I’d gotten used to doing something new every week or so (mainly by trial and error) so the little plants from Sylvania were repotted some of them when I got home before eating food, then I went to the bank to replenish my store of dollar notes.
I still had one unused pot of the same, large size and on 26 Feb asked some vendors on Facebook Marketplace about frangipani they were selling. There was one vendor out at Cabramatta but I didn’t want to travel so far. I asked another vendor, closer this time, but she initially said other buyers were coming to pick up her free offerings. In the end I did get a frangipani, in fact it was a vendor in Monterey so not very far from home.
The day before I’d split out the spathiphyllum, breaking two of the plants into several bits and repotting them. On the 26th I also put more soil in with the colocasias in the light well because the dirt level in the central pot had sunk down.
I drove to Parramatta on 27 Feb in the evening so it was a big adventure for me. I fact I organised to meet with a Facebook Marketplace buyer who lives in the north-west of the city, and he called me when I was in Camperdown picking up a friend to take to a poetry reading. The accelerated heartrate I experienced on the way to Camperdown didn’t continue on the M4 out west thankfully and I arrived at the meeting point on Hunter Street without delay, the poetry reading was fun and I did read out two poems, then I dropped off the people who were with me and drove back home.
More Japanese sayings done in watercolour and planned a series for the zodiac but in Japanese because my daughter is big on astrology.
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