Community Celebrates, Ritchies Hut, Rebuild. 04/18/2010
 What a great subject this would make for an artist to paint. Tomorrow, Parks Victoria staff will be joined by the volunteers with the Victorian High Country Huts Association, the Ritchie family, local schools, and members of the community to celebrate the completion of Ritchie’s Hut. The hut was rebuilt after the original was lost in the Great Divide Fires of 2006-07. The decision to rebuild the hut followed close consultation with the community and was based on the high social, cultural and refuge values of the original hut. “Rebuilding of the famous High Country Hut started in May 2008,” said Parks Victoria Ranger Chris Clarke. “It was a labour of love for many of us. It was also a lot of hard work.” “This was a true community effort. So many people were more than willing to pitch in whether it was with materials, services, or their time. We are extremely grateful for the fantastic efforts of volunteers from the Victorian High Country Hut Association, trail-riding groups, scouts, venturers and school groups who contributed over 2,500 hours to the project. ” The original Ritchie’s Hut was built by the Ritchie family in 1947 at the junction of 14 Mile Creek and the Howqua River, near Mansfield. The hut was built with materials from the surrounding land, with timber for the walls and roof cut and shaped by hand from nearby trees. Ken Birch, President of the Victorian High Country Hut Association, said that many of the traditional techniques were kept alive in the rebuilding of the hut. “We’ve seen a lot of the materials used in Ritchie’s Hut carried up on pack horse. It’s great to see everyone involved in the rebuilding embracing the heritage of the huts in the Alpine National Park.” Parks Victoria’s Chris Clarke said many weekends were spent prefabricating the hut at the Blackbird Hut depot in the Howqua Hills Historic Area. “Volunteers sourced timber from local forests, which they cut into slabs using a traditional adze and broad axe,” said Mr Clarke. “The hut was then dismantled and transported to 8 Mile Flat, where pieces of the hut were carried in by hand, pack horse and helicopter.” “Although the hut’s remote location created some problems for the builders, it also gave the volunteers a taste of what life was like for local designer Fred Fry and the Ritchie family at a time before power tools and helicopters.” Robert Ritchie, son of founder Bob Ritchie, said that this was a fantastic day to celebrate the completion of a lot of hard work by many people. “For Dad and his friends in the 1940s, spending days on end fishing the remote areas of the Howqua was their dream. It was the reason the hut was built in the first place. We’re delighted to see that dream, re-imagined by so many. I, on behalf of my family, would like to thank everyone involved. We encourage visitors to come up and enjoy the simple pleasures of one of the most picturesque areas of the park.” Below is a hut at Warburton that I am preparing to paint at the moment. I plan to show some of the stages of the art work here in this blog.  Tree Stump, Sculpture, at lakes Entrance. 04/10/2010
 Lakes Entrance Avenue of Honour WWI Memorial Statues  'In 1924 an avenue of Monterey Cypress trees was planted along the Esplanade to commemorate the 26 local men who lost their lives during World War I. Over the years the odd tree had been removed for various reasons and in 1997 the East Gippsland Shire Council, unaware of their original significance, planned to remove the remainder. Their decision caused considerable controversy within the community. Following a public campaign by the Lakes Entrance Regional Historical Society the trunks of six of the trees have been preserved and transformed into memorial sculptures by chainsaw artist John Brady.  Brady carved the stump of one tree into a sea captain to reflect the community's early pioneers and to commemorate the loss of ships and lives at Lakes Entrance. The sculpture proved so popular that it was decided to utilise the other tree stumps in the same way and local businesses sponsored the carving of the five other stumps which represent a World War I soldier, a wounded soldier with a donkey, a World War I nurse, Simpson* helping two wounded soldiers and a family waiting for Dad. The sculptures are waxed and oiled constantly to preserve the wood.' The Avenue of Honour and the WWI Memorial Statues were rededicated on 1 May 1999 by Peter McGauran, Minister for the Arts and the Centenary of Federation. The sculptures shown here Inscriptions carved on tree sculptures Mariner CARVED BY JOHN BRADY NOV 1998 Family WAITING FOR DAD CARVED BY JOHN BRADY FEB 1999 A comment from a tourist viewing the sculpture of the family was that ‘back then women were concerned that they would lose their children to childhood illness, or die in childbirth themselves, they never needed to concern themselves, about dieting or diet pill side effects, they had real life and death situations to be concerned about and how much easier it is today when men and women are concerned about management of life’s excesses.' She had a good point. We are fortunate in that it is the poor management of an affluent lifestyle that is now one of our greatest risks, a luxury that the everyday man or woman of the era depicted in these sculptures, would not have known. Soldier WWI SOLDIER by JOHN BRADY MAY 1998  Sand Castle Sculpture at Lakes Entrance. 04/09/2010
  How to build a sand Sculpture A lot of work goes into making a good sand sculpture. Sculptors need patience and endurance to create their masterpieces from thousands of tonnes of sand. They can take up to two months to build and span up to 10 metres in height. Sculptors use a special kind of sand that is also used on building sites and was most likely used in the foundations of your home. It is called heavy sand and is different to the sand you see on the beach because each grain is square, which means it sticks together better, like building blocks. The sand on the beach is smoother and rounder so it doesn’t stay together quite as well. Some beaches are located near the mouths of rivers have better sand for sculpting as it isn’t worn down by the surf. The most important part of making a sand sculpture is the preparation, or what sculptors call “pound up”. Pound up involves building wooden walls in a square or rectangle shape. These walls are called “forms” and are about two feet tall. After the forms are built they are filled with sand, like a giant sandpit, right to the top. When the forms are full, sculptors set to work making sure that the sand is pounded down as hard as possible by whacking it, jumping on it and watering it. Water is REALLY important; the water helps the sand stick together and helps it to set hard as it dries out. Successive forms are built on top of the first and compacted down so that eventually you have what looks a bit like a wooden pyramid of forms, as high as is required, all filled to the brim with sand that has been pushed down into them. When pounding up a couple of thousand tonnes of sand, this process can take weeks but care is very important because if the sand isn’t compacted hard enough the sculpture might collapse later. After the sand has had time to set the sculptors climb up, take off the top form, and begin to carve into the sand block left behind.  Coordinating the supplies and set up of a sand sculpture being created in public as a fund raising project, l must be huge, admin jobs, it is art project on a large scale and I take my cap off to those in Lakes Entrance who have organised this sand castle sculpture. When you are on the beach this summer you might not have the time (or equipment!) to make forms but a bucket is the next best thing. Fill your bucket with sand that is damp, not too wet and not too dry but somewhere in between is best, then push the sand down as hard as you can into the bucket. Be careful of the strength of your bucket because too much pressure can crack it just as forms sometimes do when too much pressure is exerted on them. Once you are happy with your pound up, find a good spot on the beach, flip your bucket over and very carefully remove it, leaving the sand behind on the ground. Now you have the beginnings of your sculpture. If you want to go the extra step ask your parents if they have an old bucket that they can cut the bottom out of, that way you can start with your bucket upside down and fill the sand in from the top. This allows you to build up on top of each layer that you pound up with cups and containers like the professionals do with their smaller forms.  Now the fun part - carving. Carving gives the sculpture all of its detail and character. You can use almost anything to carve and most of the professional sculptors actually use cooking and dental utensils. You better ask your parents before you start using their icing scraper at the beach though. There are loads of tools you can use to help you carve out a work of art from icy-pole sticks to house keys (again you better ask before you try that one) and even water pistols can be used to cut a hole through the middle of your pile. Try to visualise what you want to carve out before you get started and then go wild! If you can get one, a water spray bottle is a great idea to have handy while you are carving to keep the sand damp. Every once in a while, give your sculpture a couple of sprays so it doesn’t dry out. The rest is up to you. Try using stuff you find on the beach like sea shells and sea weed.    Coolart Homestead will host a photographic exhibition that opens on Easter Sunday to celebrate the sister city relationship between Melbourne and St Petersburg. The exhibition will feature photographs from the old capital of Peter's and Catherine's Russia as well as rare images of from the Russian warship ‘Rynda’ when it visited Melbourne in 1888. Visitors can also admire the paintings from Maria Kononov, an acclaimed artist from Russia, who has caught the attention of the international art world at just 12 years old. Kononov’s oil paintings will be on sale at the exhibition and proceeds from her works will go to the Melbourne-St Petersburg Cities Music Exchange project. The exhibition marks the 20th anniversary of the sister city relationship between Melbourne and St Petersburg. Admission - Adult $8.50, Concession $6.50, Child $5.00, Family (2A+2C) $20.00 When: Sunday April 4 – Sunday April 30, 10am – 4 pm daily. Where: Coolart Wetlands and Homestead, Lord Somers Rd, Somers, Melway Ref 193J9 Admission: Adults $8.50, Concession $6.50, Child $5.00, Family $20.00 Presented by the City of Melbourne and the City of St Petersburg at Coolart Wetlands and Homestead, courtesy of Parks Victoria For more information call the Parks Victoria Information Centre on 13 1963 or visit at www.parkweb.vic.gov.au  Reg and I had a good drive home to northern Victoria from the Grampians. We had an interesting stop over at Bendigo Pottery and I took photos to share in my blogs of the historical pottery. We arrived home to find my autumn roses in flower and my potatoes ready to harvest. I have had a quick check and aside from some climbing roses needing a good tie back, all looks good after the storm that went through this area about a month ago while we were away. I freshened up and popped my feet up and I am now enjoying that I have full bars of internet connection on my computer so I will be able to do my internet work a lot faster, J and enjoy it more. Do those promised competition prize giveaways for my Kathy Shell fans. A quick look through the five weeks of accumulated mail which included an overdue gas bill, (oops), the dog registration due, three parcels to be collected, and a free life insurance quote, nothing too eventful there. I am sitting here relaxing for a short time, and thinking about what exercise I will do now I do not have those wonderful Grampians mountain ranges outside my caravan door. I am also deciding where to start on the many things I want to do while at home base, before resuming our tour. I want to catch up with my daughter and her family who live in this area soon J and I plan to pack more art supplies than I took with me on tour, the first time.. I had packed and took away on this trip, the pastels, acrylics, watercolours and guess what happened? I felt like painting in oils. Lol, Is that the artist’s perogative? OK, where do I make a start? I have illustrated this post with some of my favourite photos from the Grampians.                      Aboriginal Rock Art and Natures Rock Art. 03/22/2010
 This week, Reg and I will be revisiting some of the sites in the Grampians, that feature aboriginal rock art, that we have visited in the past and look forward to including these sites in our walks during this, our last week in the Grampians for a while. These sites are- Bunjil's Shelter One of the most important aboriginal rock art sites in the region this site depicts Bunjil, the traditional creator of the land, and his two dingoes. Bunjil was known as a good spirit who created things as they are today and gave the tribes their law and culture. 11 kilometres from Stawell and sign posted off the Stawell-Pomonal Road Gulgurn Manja Shelter Gulgurn Manja means 'hands of young people'. The Gulgurn Manja Shelter displays small handprints in red ochre. Signage outlines some of the stories and legends of the Jardwadjali people and the mountains they call Gariwerd. Mt Zero Road, Northern Grampians Ngamadjidj Shelter Take this self-guided walk to an Aboriginal art site that depicts the dancing spirit with white painted figures. The walk from the car park to Ngamadjidj Shelter is short and suitable for people with limited mobility. Plantation Road and Grampians Road, Northern Grampians Billimina Shelter Start this walk at the Buandik camping ground and follow Billiamina Creek upstream to the Buandik Falls. From there a short walk leads you to the shelter. This massive rock overhang was once a meeting place for the Jardwadjali people, and is covered with over 2,500 motifs that consist of red ochre bar strokes. Billywing Road off Henty Highway, Western Grampians Manja Shelter This fascinating large rock shelter is on the western side of the Grampians. Manja symbolises the link between the Jardwadjali and their land. It is believed, that the hand stencils were a way of recording a visit to this incredible rock overhang. This rock site also has more hand stencils than any other site in Victoria. Off Harrap Track via Glenelg River Road and Henty Highway, Western Grampians  The Rocks themselves are nature’s art Everywhere we look in the Grampians, we are awestruck by the beauty of the shapes and textures of the rocks. My imagination sees shapes within the rock forms, in fact there are rocks called the ‘Indian’, and Elephant’s Hide’ and many rocks look like they have pimples, lol J, these might look like they need the best natural acne treatment available but they make secure grips for your feet when rock scrambling.  The massive rock know as the Elephants Hide, viewed from Boroka Lookout, Grampians, Victoria. Where the B_____ H___ are We? 03/17/2010
 Reg and I just returned from a steady paced nine-kilometre bush walk, up and down hills. The instructions in the map said to ask at the General store in the country town for the detailed map. We did, and the storeowner was rather vague about the walk, said it had, just been cleared, so it was passable and she had no brochures left. We set of, happily, in the direction she said, to go and this was backed up by the information on the map we carried so we were quite happy at that stage.  As I got within view of the mountain range we were supposed to scale in what was described, on the map, as a medium difficulty walk and rock scramble, I was having a few doubts about Reg’s choice of a walk, I did not think he was ready to tackle it.  After four kilometres and still nowhere near the mountain range base, I could see that, the information on the map was incorrect. This was no 3.8 kilometre walk over a mountain range as we had already covered a greater distance than that and I was concerned looking at the steepness of the mountain about Reg’s ability to climb it, so I suggested we turn back. Reg agreed that was a good idea. It proved to be a very good idea.  We were walking back the way we thought we had come, when we got to one of the many forks in the unsignposted, bush track and Reg, wanted to go to the right and I wanted to go left. He was so certain, I let him lead, and I think he was actually right at that point, I am not sure where we took the wrong turn. I knew there was a main road out on our left somewhere and we could always find our way out, by turning left. Just the same, when you begin to walk through areas you have not seen before on unsignposted bush tracks I do find it unnerving. Lol, we were not lost, we just had no idea, J, exactly where we were  We were within 5 kilometres of a little country store, somewhere vaguely to the left, or was that left right or right left? I steered us left and we found a road, not one we knew, this took us to the main road, not sure which way to turn from there, left or right, we turned right, knowing we could stop a car and ask if we needed to. Reg by now was favouring one leg, it had been the longest walk he has done since before he got whooping Cough last August. I was doing fine, the little bit of anxiety at not being sure where we were, had gone, now we were on the main road. Heaps of relief, when the little general store, appeared in the distance. Funny, but as I reached the car, my energy flagged. I felt ready to flop  To think that back in my thirties I never considered going for a two-hour brisk walk and healthy portion controlled eating as the way to becoming and maintaining a slim body, no I looked for solutions that took the work away from me. Diet pills, generic adipex, I think are versions of the phentermine drug, type, products I used to pop, hoping they could make me slim. What a long way, I have come since then. Reg and I probably should have turned back sooner, or not even have gone on that walk when the directions were so vague. I did follow the safety rule of making sure someone knew where we were going, by telling the people in the general store we were going to do the walk and I left our car parked in sight of the store so people would have known if we had had a problem and not returned. While the walk was not as we expected, we both feel great now, knowing we had a great exercise session, and we are both steadily improving in fitness each day with the exercise challenges we are giving ourselves.  I have illustrated this blog post about today’s walk with images of the art fridge magnets I have made from landscape paintings I have done. I saw some views, today, I would love to paint. How will I paint it, Impressionist style or romantic realist? I favour impressionist style and Reg and most of the public prefer romantic realism. When I begin a painting, the scene dictates to me, how it wants to be painted.  Our Special Place: The Grampians, Victoria. 03/11/2010
 Reg and I had a whirlwind courtship after a friendship that began when I was forteen and Reg was twenty. My darling man tells me he fell in love with me then but waited until I was an adult, before 'testing the waters', with a letters sent from where hwe was living at the time, Dampier in Western Australia. When I replied, he quit his job and set of to Melbourne sending me love letters about returning to his 'girl', from each overnight stop he arrived at. I fell in love on our first date, the first Wednesday in December 1967, the year I had turned 21. We were engages (secretly), on the following Saturday, our second date, then we promptly planned our honeymoon and lol, we left on the 1st of January, 1968 for our honeymoon in the Grampians. Oh yes, we did get married, a respectable, 6 months after our first date, in May 1968, we did not want to be foolish and not get to know each other a little more before making the commitment in a church in front of family and friends. lol. Well that is how 'we got together', and why the Grampians is such a special place to us. Reg and I also spent his long service leave there. Our daughters attended the primary school at Halls gap and we hiked all over those mountains for a second time. When I had my stroke at age 32, I set climbing to the top of Mount William in the Grampians as my goal. I did it two years later. I wonder if I could do it again at 63. WOW :-). that would be a challenge I might seriously think about :-). I think I might accept that challenge. I have painted heaps of art works of the Grampians as I LOVE this place. We will be staying for one week, from this Saturday night 13 March 2010, at the Grampians Gardens, Tourist Park.  Tinnies. 02/27/2010
 I thought these tinnies, laying above the high water mark at Phillip Island, were great material for an artist to paint so I am putting them here and letting my readers know they are welocome to use them if they wish. Remember though that unless I give permission for you to use them, other pictures on my website are copyright to me and should not be used.     For The Young Artist 02/20/2010
 Fridge magnet featuring the copyright art work of Kathy Shell Kid's colouring pages Print out and colour in! Phillip Island artist and Phillip Island Nature Park Ranger, Vicki Nelson, has drawn some amazing Little Penguin adventures for you to colour in! Please click on the links below to download Vicki's Little Penguin adventures. LIttle Penguins swimming Little Penguins catch some fish Little Penguins at home at night in their burrows | Kathy Shell on Facebook What is RSS
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