Barbie in the Bush

Day two of the art workshop today. Lance showed some more examples today, this time using a number of different colors that warmed into the foreground. His work is truly beautiful; no wonder he is such an important Noongar artist!

With renewed vigor, I approached my painting. Some splotches of acrylic paint had accidentally ended up on one of my lakescapes yesterday, and Troy had suggested I go back in and turn the yellow and red into a fire. That didn’t seem to fit with my scene, though, and as I thought more about it, it actually seemed that the colors were perfect – they are exactly the colors of the kayaks at camp which are such an essential part of that lake scene. So the first thing I did was add a row of kayaks on the lake. Though Noongar art focuses more on land than people, my painting still shows people interacting with nature and I’m quite proud of it.

I then took on a new painting and with the addition of color I was finally able to paint hills. They weren’t quite Australian hills and my bold use of colors made me the rebel child in the art workshop, but I really love the scene. It reminds me of Colgate in the fall. As I was working on my sky, Uncle Allen came over and gave me some instruction on color – to make it as light as possible where the sky meets the hills. My colors were still bolder than I think he had hoped, but it was still great advice. As we drove through the countryside later, I looked over the hills and noticed that he was right: the sky is lightest where it meets the hills.

After the morning workshop, we left for a lunch in Broomehill on the farm of Annabelle and Jim, the owners of the restaurant from the night before. Joe, our bus driver, drove us over these beautifully winding hard-packed red dirt roads to the farm, although once we were at the farm we still had to drive along side sheep pastures for a number of miles. When we finally arrived at the farmhouse, no one else was around, so Leighann and I wandered off to go find the sheep while Joe and Ellen (Professor Kraly) tried to figure out where we were supposed to meet everyone. Leighann and I approached the sheep as quietly as we could, but when we were still 20 yards off, one sheep noticed and alerted his friends. They stared us down as we kept walking closer, until finally one gave the signal to run and the whole flock took off in a light stampede. We never got closer than 20 feet from the sheep, but even as the whole flock ran (we called our efforts “herding”) they made such little sound it was like the trickle of a brook.

Jim came to get our group after a while and took us up to Rock Hill, an outcrop off the main road of the farm. The bus had to off-road for a bit through fields and a small wooded area, but when we arrived at the site, the view was truly worth it. A sacred site for local Noongars, Annabelle had also been picnicking there since she was young. It was awesome for everyone to come together, though, for another delicious meal in such a beautiful place.

We spent a few hours on the farm, and then set off for Kojonup, which is another small town a few miles away. There is a fabulous visitor’s center there, though, that does a really good job at interpreting local Aboriginal and agricultural life for white folks (called “wadjella” in Noongar) and out-of-towners. The exhibits were very family friendly and accessible, but we had the further benefit of a tour guide. Though Jack’s jokes were somewhat off-color, he had great perspective on life in the town over the years, especially as a Noongar man (and featherweight boxing champion!).

The bus ride back to Katanning was rather sleepy, but our group dined at the motel restaurant (I tried a Toohey’s Extra Dry…pretty good and the closest to a Blue Light I think you’ll get here) and then a few of us went to the art center to check email and look at the art for sale. While I will have to be an admirer and not a buyer, there were a number of absolutely beautiful pieces that I would hang in my house in a heartbeat! Looking through the price lists, it was also very cool to see a number of names listed of men and women who I have gotten to know over the past few days.

Peace,

Jill