Bundanon - Day Eight

I'm writing this entry two days late. In fact, that day was a bit of a washout for me; I was hungry, grumpy and tired and to be honest I can't remember much about it. So instead I'm going to share with you a few micro-observations from my last few days.

1. The Island
Apparently somewhere near here there is a mystical island that has held fascination for many of the AIRs (Artists In Residence - official Bundanon lingo). Yesterday I was passed by Maggie our English visual artist comrade, her shoes in hand and clothes hitched around her waist, whispering to me about her quest to wade to the island in question, high tide or not. Later Dan mentioned with eager wide eyes about the same fabled land.

This morning Rhi actually found the island and said it's no big deal.

2. Grasshopper.
Yesterday at dusk a green grasshopper flew out of nowhere and landed on my camera. Dan and I took about 90 or so photos of him. Or her. He (or she) was extremely photogenic and seemed to enjoy posing: lifting each leg one at a time and grinning the whole time. Good chap.

3. Pulpit Rock.
In recent months I've been obsessed with the time-lapse feature on my digital camera, taking endless shots of the Bendigo Prison before it closed. I have found very few interesting things to capture in this way here at Bundanon, however. My one idea has to mimic Arthur Boyd's obsession with Pulpit Rock, a fairly grand bunch of rocks on top of one of the biggest hills around here. He painted those rocks endlessly it seems, mostly captured at the scene from across the river. I've been doing the same from different times of the day using my camera. I've discovered that still this is a fairly uninteresting idea. The most interesting thing about it is the way that the water changes over time, prompting Danielle to suggest that that might be the angle I'm looking for. Perhaps. So far it's entailed braving endless lantana at high tide, although the resulting peace and quiet waiting for the shots to unravel has been really rewarding. Enforced reflection.

4. Snack.
I have lived an enforced Snack-free diet these past two days (i.e. Cadbury Snack, the cheapest and crummist chocolate around to which I am hopelessly addicted). Despite the fact that Rhiannon has gone on a Snack-run to Sydney for me I am doing surprisingly OK. Dan has helped by making me non-Vegan rice pudding as have others with their superb cooking. Except whoever took the extra mandarins this morning shall get a stern talking to.

5. Piano.
It has taken 10 or so days of lounging about, unwinding, enthusiastically talking up ideas and idly noodling but I have really recaptured my interest in playing the piano. It's been great having a grand piano right outside my bedroom upon which I can muck around at any time of the day (except, it transpires, at 10am when certain people are sleeping).

That is all.