Monsterrat and the temporary fear of God

I miss my time in Spain. To ease the longing I've been reworking some images I took and doodles I doodled while in Barcelona. If you do plan to visit, do not skip THIS place. About 1 hour north of Barcelona by train is Montserrat, a mountain top monastery in Catalonia. Winter is the BEST time. The entire region and the mountains were empty.

The crispy air up there burnt my face, it was a little creepy being so high, crucifixes appear on mountain tops amongst mini monasteries and  tiny hermitages just appear from behind terrain, it's quite and beautiful with a huge empty sky, probably the highest I have actually felt on this planet earth, it  all made I feel a little like I was closer to some type of god, actually the more time I spent up there alone I felt actually ended up rather fearful of one. Thankfully after a full day of exploration I raced the sun and descending via the funicular, then further down by the cable car and while the temperature dropped reality slowly came back to me in a slow warm rush and all that fear of God was replaced with that normal whimsy, happy feeling of existence. But I guess it could of also been an increasing fear of heights.

Images taken by Canon 30D + doodles + pink hue overlays.

Back from the hills of Ubud, orchids in hand.

I have recently returned from a short Indonesian jaunt and I must begin by saying I lost my favourite and beloved point and shoot camera on the back of a moderately high speed motorbike in Ubud. I had so many photos, I loved them and I miss them! Gone, but hopefully not really gone. I hope a Balinese kids finds my camera in tact and uses it, falls in love with photography and carries it everywhere like i did. On the up side, I have already purchased my new camera, a sparkling new Luxim LX5!

All I have left are my instagram pictures from my iphone, here they are - they are all I have, low quality but sum up my trip pretty perfectly.

The biggest highlight of Bali and the heart of it all is Ubud. Im telling you, go to the hills.  I climbed Mt Batur in the night time and lost my mind during the clim momentarily, but it was so beautiful from the top and well worth a trip. Mountain dogs have stolen my heart and A monkey ate a hole in my dress pocket. I don't have the motivation to write without my pictures so I'll keep it really short - I have some top Balinese tips! Find and eat at Melting Wok Warung plus eat some Indonesian Pancakes. Trust me.  Fork out and book accommodation at Alila Ubud. Climb Mt Batur and Bali Hai. My biggest and best tip, learn as much Balinese as you can and use it ...  the balinese people are so beautiful, always use Suksma (thank you)for thank you and drop a few Indonesia phrases like Pagi (morning!) - watch their faces light up!

Have a lovely Easter! Im looking forward to 4 days off with lots, lots and lots of food!

Square One, opening tonight!

A little while back, The Strutten collective interviewed me for their site here and showcased some of my documentary photography work here - they recently asked me to participate in their second exhibition 'Square One - an exploration and celebration of Brisbane creatives and their journey' - if you are in Brisbane, get your little bottom to the opening tonight at Bleeding Heart Gallery a lovely space in a beautiful historic Brisbane building, head to Stutten to check out all the info online.

This will be my first foray into showing photographic prints that are, well, printed by real automated machines (it's the future!) I have a close and lovable history in etching, lithography and drawing … so I am literally at square one with this. Having my own expectations met after handing over my own work in files to a printer was a slightly unnerving process. I didn't get to print them myself or have any control in the printing process. I will be showing a small body of work, 10 art prints on lovely rag paper... all  images taken in Lisbon and Paris ... some layered with illustration. It will be a little like a tactile blog post on the wall! No sore eyes here people.

I am super keen to share a few beers with you, so please drop by and if you notice me, stop me and say HI!  I will be exhibition alongside some other very awesome Brisbane creatives - particularly looking forward partially seeing Dominique Falla's installation piece in the flesh. I love the short little film the talentedYarron Frauenfelder from This is Neu made too ...

It's going to be a fun night. Huzzah! x


Strutten.com presents Square One. from strutten on Vimeo.

Documenting Saturdays and a love for bridges.

Weekends exploring my town. The beaches and city streets, its harder to see all things exciting and new with stale eyes. So I've been attempting to take my normal routes with my traveller set of eyeballs, point and shoot + pen and paper.  A little documenting always turns out harder and longer than expected. 

Photos and doodles taken in the following locations, in no specific order all in my hood of South East Queensland Australia. Rainbow Beach, West End, Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley, Woolloowin Train Station, Kings Beach Caloundra, Stanthorpe Winery + region, Manly, Redcliffe, South Bank, Central Train Station, outside Gallery of Modern Art, my lounge room and here are my favourites > under the Victoria Bridge, on the Kurilpa Bridge, near the William Jolly Bridge and all time super favourite, across from the Story Bridge (second from the top)

Im a little excited to be heading to the hills of Ubud in Bali Indonesia in March, on a celebratory birthday trip.  My traveller eyeballs are so ready. I miss getting on planes and ready for some new scenery. 

If you have holiday or travel images on your blog / flicker / website - please leave your address ... my holiday is not close enough. I need photo eye candy! 

Huzzah for holidays!