We are ticking along nicely into the new year now. It still gives me a bit of a fright to see 2008 printed as our year though. Already some big events have happened in New Zealand, Sir Edmond Hillary passing on was a shock, but if someone was to leave this earth satisfied with his journey here, that is one man that could be! We were also here on the coast of New Plymouth last weekend to see the two Australian kayakers come to shore, that is a great feat, and it was awesome to see the last of their journey and be there to applaud them.

As for me, this is looking like an exciting year. I am to begin studying for my Masters of Fine Arts through RMIT in Melbourne. I will be doing it via distance which means I can do it from our new (as yet non existent) home here on the coast of Taranaki. Through my MFA, I intend to explore the notion of self-identity & self-representation, in particular interest are the symbols we choose to portray ourselves with.

It is fantastic to be in a small city that has resource such as a high quality museum, gallery and library. The council here has invested a good amount of resources into the culture here as can be seen with the work of the Len Lye foundation, the aforementioned amenities, and other great assets such as Pukekura park which is currently alight with music and lights for the annual festival of lights, and the coastal walkway.

I'm ticking along well with my work, but will wait to show you some of my recent pieces, here though is a bit of a tongue in cheek image for you to think over.

death

Death is a strange thing. It will happen to us all one day, that is a certainty. As aware of this dim fact as we may be, it still is a strange phenomenon. That life as we know it can leave the body of whom we are so familiar with, is very difficult to comprehend. I speak of this as it is on my mind today. I woke up this morning to find Tweedle had died in the night, I wasn't expecting it as I had looked after him for a week successfully, and thought if he was to die, it would have happened sooner. Also today is the day of a friends funeral. I won't be able to make it, partly because we hadn't been too close over the last few years, but I saw only a couple of months ago, and he is my facebook friend. Facebook drives me crazy, and I don't really visit it much, however I popped into Scott’s page to see what had been said. His fiancée had written to him only a few days before he died, to say how much she loved him, and since his death has continued to write to him speaking of her loss and sadness. Hundreds of other posts have been put on by many of his friends also. Scott was only 29, and died unexpectantly.

Death is a concept that often comes up in my work, sometimes directly other times a bit more indirectly. Either way I am fascinated by the fact that it is to happen to us all at a date we have no idea of, and that it leaves an emptly shell of a body behind, the soul, gone somewhere else.

tweedle

Here is a snapshot taken of the newest addition to our whanau. I have taken other images that include 'tweedle' too, I will post those in the near future. Tweedle is a baby whiteeye that was found by my sister in the carpark on the kaimais, he is so young that he needs to be feed runny food off a spoon every 15 minutes or so. Hopefuly he will grow out of this shortly as it is quite tiring. In he mean time, he is a good subject.