The Timid Hedgehog

Bookfest!

Russ — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:45:13 +0000

A while back I visited the lifeline book-fest in brisbane, with some friends, and managed to overindulge in buying books. I found scores of books, but there were a few I was delighted to find, one being, The Medium is the Massage, often heard about this book, but never seen it, and I found two Steinbeck novels. After four of five hours of browsing, there was a years supply of books to read.

Washington Irving

Russ — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:18:31 +0000

One of my favorite stories is “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, it’s so winsomely written. So recently reading about Washington Irving, a quote came to the forefront, it was,

“and when I cannot get a dinner to suit my taste, I endeavor to get a taste to suit my dinner”.

It was Alexander Pope whom said: “true politeness consists being easy in one’s self, and in making every one about one as easy as one can”. Are we easy to be around?

Agapanthus: lily of the Nile

Russ — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:56:33 +0000

During a visited to Tamborine Mountain I came across a cluster of Agapanthus, and it impressed upon me to create something pretty.

A. H. Auden: Let History Be My Judge

Russ — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:39:03 +0000

W. H. Auden was a British born poet, who later became an American citizen. Some of the themes in his poetry were: love, religion, citizenship and morals. Here is a quick sketch to show appreciation to a fine artist.

We Too Had Known Golden Hours

We, too, had known golden hours
When body and soul were in tune,
Had danced with our true loves
By the light of a full moon,
And sat with the wise and good
As tongues grew witty and gay
Over some noble dish
Out of Escoffier;
Had felt the intrusive glory
Which tears reserve apart,
And would in the old grand manner
Have sung from a resonant heart.
But, pawed-at and gossiped-over
By the promiscuous crowd,
Concocted by editors
Into spells to befuddle the crowd,
All words like Peace and Love,
All sane affirmative speech,
Had been soiled, profaned, debased
To a horrid mechanical screech.
No civil style survived
That pandaemonioum
But the wry, the sotto-voce,
Ironic and monochrome:
And where should we find shelter
For joy or mere content
When little was left standing
But the suburb of dissent?

Blog Transformation.

Russ — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:02:52 +0000

After finishing recent travels, there is no longer any travels to report. The change is from travel to art and design, with regular postings of art.

Berlin: the city thats eternally becoming.

Russ — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:51:19 +0000

Berlin has been great, so I decided to stay an extra week. Since the days have been so cold, I haven’t been wandering the streets often, but the days I tour around, encumbered with 2 jumpers, have been enjoyable. On one of the days I went on an underground tour of Berlin, seeing street art, squatter houses and artist hangouts. The first place I went to was called Cassiopeia, it was an old train station, that had been bomb during the war and taken over by squatters. There was one quarter of the station that was just rubble, and never fixed or cleared. Cassiopeia had amazing street art, it had lots of stencil work, and quite a bit of graffiti, it also had a nightclub, Rock-climbing wall, skate park and a outdoor theater. After Cassiopeia the guide just showed us some extraordinary street art, the first was a giant spaceman, my most-liked street work of the tour. Then we went to a place where artist had pained 50 faces around a building, it was done to help the community, because during the 90′s it was a dangerous place, but now it’s a nice safe area. The artist had a major impact on the area, since they painted everything in light colours, therefore the drug addicts had no dingy dark areas, its interesting solution. Lastly I went to the most famous squatter buildings, turned into studios, called Kunsthaus tacheles. On most of the other days I have been drawing.

Beard badges.

Russ — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:11:22 +0000

My family were commenting on my beard, so thought I would post these Badges.

Berlin: Day 1 & 2

Russ — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:05:48 +0000

For the first day in Berlin, I went on the free walking tour. It started around 11 am and finished at 3, it was mostly walking with little talking, since berlin’s sights are far apart. I like the Jewish monument, or cemetery, it was a group of blocks all the same length, but placed at different heights creating something pleasing. After the tour I visited the european history museum, it was full of reading which took me 4 hours, and I still didn’t finish before they kicked everyone out. I enjoyed seeing the history from the time of The Wall, and I finally understand where Prussia was now.

On the second day I went to Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp just outside Berlin. The camp was irksome, painful and depressing, it’s a reminder of how evil we are. I did have a nice day, since I never left in the morning expecting to have an enjoyable experience at the camp, more an enlightening one.

Ampelmännchen

Russ — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 22:57:59 +0000

One of the most charming things about Berlin is the traffic lights called Ampelmann. Prior to German reunification, the two german states had different traffic lights. East Germany created a new shape for the traffic light, to help children, and anyone, with crossing the street. It’s great to walk around Berlin and see these men, it reminds us of something nice from the east’s past. There are women one’s too.

An evening in Wien.

Russ — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 22:32:28 +0000

On one of the days I spent in delightful Wien, I went to the palace with some friends, then went to this cafe/bar in the evening. The cafe/bar was super, it had a DJ playing his music lightly, wasn’t to overbearing, there were an assorted bunch of lamps, seats and books; It felt sort of post-modernistic. I think we stayed there for 3 hours, I wish I could remember the name of the place. The photos were taken by a friend with an old camera.