Friday 29 November 2013

The Art of Australia



Today I visited the Royal Academy to see the Australia exhibition which closes on December 6th. We have visited many Australian Art Galleries and always enjoyed the unique quality of Australian art. The recent BBC 3 part series The Art of Australia was another motivator. The exhibition did not disappoint. I especially enjoyed these works:

Evening Shadows, Backwater of the Murray, South Australia (1890) by H. J. Johnstone

William Piguenit - The Flood in the Darling 1890
via Wikimedia Commons

Frederick McCubbin - The pioneer - Google Art Project
The Pioneer by Frederick McCubbin (1904), via Wikimedia Commons

Arthur Streeton - Fire's on - Google Art Project
Fire's On by Arthur Streeton (1891), via Wikimedia Commons

Tom Roberts - A Break Away 1891
A Break Away by Tom Roberts (1891), via Wikimedia Commons


This painting brings back good memories of several trips to Palm Beach. On one we walked to the end of the pier to board a boat trip round the area:
Adrian Feint, The Jetties, Palm Beach (1942)


Another of his paintings is a favourite (not in the exhibition): Sofala (1947). We have seen this in both Sydney and Melbourne galleries.

This is from Tasmania, where we spent a glorious five days around 1991: 
Autumn equinox: the loss of the sun by Philip Wolfhagen (2009)

Thursday 28 November 2013

A Spoonbill fishes at Newhaven

Spoonbill, Platalea leucorodia with fish or shrimp
On Monday blue skies lured me to Newhaven to see the juvenile Spoonbill which had been resident for a week. I parked in the Tide Mills car park, then wandered west by the Tide Pool until I saw a crowd on the footbridge pointing large lenses at this charismatic bird. I spent two hours observing its fascinating behaviour. It moved its beak from side to side in the water and caught small fish, shrimp and a large crab. The tide was out so the pool had plenty of exposed mud. Every so often the bird would walk out of the water onto the mud and a stream of white would emerge from its backside. It didn't seem to mind the onlookers, but would not walk under the footbridge with its observers, instead it flew to the other side.





















with fish
with fish
with fish
with fish























crabby
with fish
with fish