Saturday, February 28, 2009

A Week In Hands (Saturday)


Here's another hand from the South Brisbane mural. Plenty of Australian motifs here: the painted indiginous man, the hand print, the dots (used a lot in aboriginal art), the gecko (of which there are loads in Brisbane) and of course the Kangaroo.

Kangaroo meat is quite the go here right now. The steaks are looked upon as a healthy choice as they are high in protein and low in fat. They even make kangaroo sausages. Stick these in some bread and hey presto - kanga banger sangers!

Friday, February 27, 2009

A Week In Hands (Friday)

This is a section of the mural that runs along the outside wall of South Brisbane train station. It goes for about 50 metres. I can't find much information on it (if you know, please tell me!) but further along from where this shot was taken, it says it was painted to celebrate the 2000 Olympics. Don't ask me about the meaning of it all, though; speech not enduring what the mind conceives? Hmmm... Still, it really brightens up the street.

I'll leave my diatribe about tagging and taggers for another time and place.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

A Week In Hands (Thursday)

Rock paintings on the Aboriginal Art Walk in Mt Coot-tha. I was very excited at my find and really impressed at how well preserved they were until I read on a sign nearby that they were painted in 1993. Ha!

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

A Week In Hands (Wednesday)

Here's the hand stencil again - this time posing with its modern counterparts on a little "Graffarty" wall.

Monday, February 23, 2009

A Week In Hands (Monday)


There are a lot of hands around Brisbane...
Stenciled hands on walls go back to the earliest Australian cave paintings. The main function of them was to record people's presence and association with a site. They are used a lot today too.

These ones are on the wall of West End primary school.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Hanging Out, Looking Good

The Botanical Gardens in Mount Coot-tha are not just about plants. All sorts of wildlife are attracted there including this gorgeous looking spider. Click on the picture for a closer look - it really is pretty. This one, I'm reliably informed by Matthew Shaw at the inquiry centre of the Queensland Museum, is a Dome-web spider. Big fangs, painful bites initially but not harmful to humans after the initial chomp. I didn't really think about that when I was holding the camera millimetres from its head.

If you like spiders, here's another one I posted in January. If that's not enough for you, take a look at the spider section of the Queensland Museum website.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Metronome Installation


I mentioned Brisbane's backyard frogs in yesterday's post. If you were having trouble conjuring up the sound of the frogs... this installation in the Gallery of Modern Art might help!

Friday, February 20, 2009

The Weekend Starts Here

Thanks to Sandra for this beautiful shot, taken from her back deck in Grange on the north side of Brisbane. Around this time of year the nights are balmy with minimums rarely getting below about 20 degrees celcius (68f). Sound effects to go with this picture: cicadas, crickets and frogs and the hiss of an ice cold beer opening. Smell effects: jasmine laced with BBQ. Are you there yet?

Drift from sky to sky, visit Skywatch Friday.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Traffic Stopping Art (number 10)

Artforce are the company who organize and allocate Brisbane's traffic signal boxes. Every November they hold a competition for those boxes painted in the previous year. This year's overall winner is shown here. It's called "Renewal" by Scott Moorhead and, according to the Artforce website, is a tribute to 60s optical art. Like the doilies that you find in the windmills of your mind...

Boldly, Moorhead has proceeded with this project despite the inherent hazards of making ones eyes go a bit squiffy at a major intersection. It's on the corner of Grey and Peel streets across the road, appropriately, from the Gallery of Modern Art.


For the other arty traffic signal boxes in the series, click on the TSBs label below.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Terra Firma


I'll finish of my balloon series here in a field in Samford. The red in the picture is the balloon being packed up by all the diligent passengers expect for me. Instead, I was prancing around the field with my camera taking pictures of flowers and trying to be arty. I did get around to helping in the end (honestly).
I took 200 shots from inflation to deflation so I might still pop in the occasional one from time to time. If you enjoyed them a fraction as much as I enjoyed taking them then I'm on to a winner!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Hillside Neighbourhood

The balloon has drifted north and slightly west of the city...
You might be able to see how steep the road on the left is. Many Queenslander houses in Brisbane are 1 storey at one side of the house and 2 or even 3 stories at the other side to accommodate the hills they are built on.
These houses get the sun as soon as it pops over the horizon - like there is a spotlight on them. Perfect if you are a morning person. Breakfast on the verandah? Why not!

Monday, February 16, 2009

Looking Straight Down

With all the satellite imagery available to us now, roof views from above are much more familiar than they were. But I still think it's like looking under a city's bed: you see all the unsightly bits it couldn't find a place for like air conditioners, aerials and exhaust fans. Except for the Hilton on Elizabeth Street(top right) which appears to have a tennis court on the roof... posh, but surely that's an accident waiting to happen?

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Tranquility

At 5.30am on a Saturday, there's not much noise about in Brisbane. Especially 1000 feet in the air. Here are the occasional sounds that I heard:

*The blast of gas from the burner in our basket and those of the two balloons that flew near us
*Cockatoos and lorikeets over Ferny Hills
*Dogs barking in the outer suburbs- I think the balloons might freak them out a bit
*Basket creaking

Other than that, the silence is enveloping... a bit like when it has snowed (not something that ever happens here).

Saturday, February 14, 2009

A Bit of Background

Welcome back to our balloon flight over Brisbane! You are directly over Kangaroo Point looking across the central business district (CBD) north-west towards The Gap.

The city of Brisbane is built on hills. The ones in the background are mostly eucalypt forest with patches of rainforest giving you a real sense of what it must have looked like when European settlers first came across it 200 years ago.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Breathe Out..

After 3 years of gazing at the balloons silently drifting over Brisbane in the early mornings, I finally got to have a go! What a birthday present.

Can you see the Story Bridge?
And these buildings?
How about the Tallest Tree?

More balloon pics over the next couple of days...

Enjoy your Friday wherever you may be and for a glimpse at other skies around the world, fly over to Skywatch Friday.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

The Ol Factory

Without a doubt the most gorgeous shop in Brisbane I have been in is Libertine Parfumerie in West End. It's only been open a year but it has a grand old Parisian feel to it with shiny dark carved wood and posh chairs. When I went in for a nose (no pun intended) with my little girl, the guy in there really impressed us spraying all these little take-home cards with different smells for her wardrobe. Some of the scents are amazing... Fresh Laundry...Dirt (surprisingly nice!)... and Gin and Tonic (a scent I can acquire for free on a Friday after work if I try hard enough).

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Traffic Stopping Art (number 9)


The guy immortalised on the box is the former premier of Queensland, Peter Beattie. He was premier here for 9 years up until 2007 and is something of an institution in Queensland politics. He once described himself as a "media tart" which leads me to wonder if maybe he commissioned this box himself.
What's that on top of the box, you say? A used nylon stocking, of course...

For other signal box art, click on the TSBs label below.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

The Vatican vs South Brisbane

This is St. Mary's Catholic Church in South Brisbane, one of the most popular churches in Brisbane with a flock of 800. It is well known for its "rebel" priest Father Peter Kennedy. Many of his practices have been frowned upon by the Vatican including his wording of The Lord's Prayer ("Our MotherFather who art in heaven") and his political outspokenness (one example was the big banner outside the church last year demanding David Hicks be returned to Australia from Guantanamo Bay). His church recognises the land it is on as Aboriginal and has strong ties with the Aboriginal community in the area. Read an interview about it here. This is definitely not on as far as The Vatican are concerned and they have been threatening action for a while. A couple of days ago the Archbishop of Brisbane told the priest unless he tended his resignation, he would be fired as parish priest on 21st of February.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Al Fresco...? Who's He, Then?

According to a friend of mine, back in the '60s Brisbane had seven restaurants. That's it. Seven.
Today there are hundreds to choose from and most spill out onto pavements and verandahs... One thing I will never take for granted is eating outside at a restaurant in a t-shirt. 3 years on and it's still a novelty!

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Weddings, Bar Mitzvahs and Other Old Customs

This is Customs House shining in the early morning sun. It opened in 1886 and was a functioning Customs House for 102 years. Now it is a functioning functions house owned by the University of Queensland. You can have a fancy meal here, go on a free tour (sundays) or even get married here. Like so many of Brisbane's Colonial buildings, it stands out against a background of glass and steel. And of course a foreground of the mighty Brisbane River.

Friday, February 6, 2009

On Yer Bike!

Cycling is really popular here in Brizzy. There are a few well-worn routes and this photo shows part of one of them. Each morning around 6am dozens fly by like a flock of multi-coloured, lycra-stretched advertising-birds. And during the Tour de France a lot of them turn into canaries...

Check out more skies in other blogs from around the world at Skywatch Friday

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Praying Mantis

This Praying Mantis likes to hang out on my finger lime tree. It's all knees and elbows anyway but with the sharp spines on the tree, it really looks like it is tip-toeing when it moves!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Something For Nothing


There are a lot of handouts going on in Australia at the moment. $42billion from the government yesterday alone! I hope it works.
We had our own handout bonanza in the local park recently in the shape of a kids' clothes-swapping picnic. Most kids went away with new stuff (to them) which saved us a few bob and was a good excuse for a clear-out.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

4 Faces of Brisbane


Here's an alternate "Paths and Passageways" shot - this time taken from an alley down the side of the GPO. Can you guess what the 4 faces are?

Monday, February 2, 2009

Traffic Stopping Art (number 8)


Another signal box for you. Today's offering comes from Brisbane Sqaure infront of the colourful new City Library. It caught my eye because is it set so far in from the road that it looks a bit lost...

More about those big balls in the background soon...

For more traffic signal boxes across Brisbane, click on the TSBs label below.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

February Theme Day: Paths and Passages


You're looking at the eastern end of the South Bank Grand Arbour - a 1km pathway that meanders through the South Bank Parklands and provides perfect shade from the hot Brisbane sun. At night, it is lit up and the shadows accentuated.

Every few metres there is a tall steel tendril; each one connected with several rows of wire. At the base of each tendril is a pink bougainvillea which is trained to grow along the wire. Further along the path the tendrils are on both sides creating a tunnel to walk through. It's 10 years old this year but only in the past 2 or 3 of years it has really started to grow from seperate steel structures into a cohesive art form. And there's plenty of room for more growth.

This is my first theme day! (I didn't take part in the January theme day as it was supposed to be the best photo I'd posted in 2008 so my choice was a bit limited.) It happens each month at the first of every month and is open to all members of the City Daily Photo community.
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants
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