Such beautiful paintings

Many years ago now, I saw a painting, in a little city gallery, by an artist I'd never heard of before. In the most beautifully dappled colours, he had captured the changing light from tall tree shade to reflections by water's edge and the explorations of meandering children along the bank. It reminded me of long and free Summer days spent in waterholes and by creek beds in the place where I grew up. I couldn't afford to buy that painting, even though I so very much wanted to, but I've never forgotten the beauty of it and the memory and feeling it left me with. The artist was Dale Marsh and I have been enthralled by his paintings ever since.

Dale Marsh's beautifully dappled colours.

(Detail from The Overgrown Garden, 1985.)

I didn't know it then, but it is his work that features on the giant mural that welcomes you to Bribie Island. Children running, full of joy, down a sand dune greet you as you drive off the bridge and onto the island. Dale Marsh loves this island, referring to it as the "cradle to my soul and the inspiration of my life". He is now 80years old and still painting this place that means so much to him. 

Bribie Island's welcoming mural.

(Image credit:  The Bribie Islander)

A deep love of place.

(Dale Marsh, 2019)

So it was to Bribie, for which Dale Marsh feels such affection, that I drove last Sunday to see Catching the Light, an exhibition of his work at the island's little seaside museum. Paintings inspired by and of the island adorned the walls of a light-filled gallery that looks out upon a view of the sea. Older paintings and more recent paintings and all so very beautiful.

Catching the Light Exhibition Booklet. 

In the quiet gallery, I spent much time with each and every painting. Looking up close at the brushstrokes and dabs of colour, layers of them, and then from distance to see the painting in its wholeness and wonder. 

 Detail from Morning Ramble at Red Beach

(Dale Marsh, 2016)

Detail from Reflections on a Posy. 

(Dale Marsh, 2014)

I think a deep connection to place, like that which Dale Marsh feels for Bribie Island and which inspires his incredible paintings still, is important for all of us; a love so profound that it gives us a home to drop anchor in and a safe harbour to come back to. Perhaps, that is what I felt when I saw that painting all those years ago now. I recognised "home" reflected in its dappled colours and in its light.

Meg

  

Mountains & Mosaics

Discovering a lookout, which afforded a panoramic view across a wide expanse of trees and mountains to the distant coast beyond, was just the balm I needed after a draining week. From my spot on high, I breathed in not only the breathtaking view but also the fresh air and the quiet and nature's soothing colours from the Glasshouse Mountains Lookout.

 An impressive view ... all the way to the coast!

This expansive view from the lookout takes in native bushland and pine plantations and is punctuated by the craggy peaks of the Sunshine Coast hinterland's iconic Glasshouse Mountains. Here are a few of those mountains:

Mt. Tibrogargan (364m) & Mt. Tibberoowuccu (220m)

Tunbubudula or "The Twins" (338m/294m)

 Mt. Coonowrin (377m)

The landscape I looked out across, and those beautiful colours, were there too in the gorgeous mosaics that I found set into the lookout's path. Here is Mt. Coonowrin and Mt. Beerwah represented in tiles. 

Most beautiful mountain mosaic.

While these mountain peaks were named collectively as the "Glasshouse Mountains" by Lieutenant James Cook in 1770, as they reminded him of glass factory furnaces, back in England, they were (and still are) of very special significance to the local indigenous peoples long before then. In their ancient Dreamtime story, retold here, these glasshouse peaks are members of one family. Woven into their words are how particular features of these mountains and the surrounding land, from which they rise up, came to be.

Discovering this lookout afforded me a truly wonderful view, not only of the mountains but also into their history too.

Meg

p.s.  Australia's country music legend, Slim Dusty, wrote this song that also records the indigenous story of these Glasshouse Mountains. 

A White Jacaranda

Trees are the reason I love our particular little pocket of suburbia so much. The tall eucalypts of the state forest along the ridge and beyond, the paperbarks along the little creek, the native trees in so many of the gardens and the flowering of the Jacarandas in Spring. For me, it's the trees here that are the backdrop of my everyday world.

At the moment, when I look out beyond our verandah, I can see the beautiful purple highlights of the Jacaranda trees in bloom. This purple blossoming is synonymous with Spring in my city but, on a recent and rather hilly walk, I discovered a different Jacaranda, in a street not far from home...

Clusters of beautiful white Jacaranda flowers.

Instead of a blooming halo of purple blossoms, this young Jacaranda was covered in hundreds of pure white flowers. Oh, my! Looking up through its branches, to the sunny sky above, the white of its flowers set against the perfect blue Spring-sky background, was just gorgeous!

White blossoms and a blue sky. Sigh!

I could've laid down, right there on that footpath, for hours and happily looked up at those flowers and the wispy clouds drifting by. Instead, I've been back to visit it several times now, just to stand underneath it and look up!

Spring flowers adorn young branches.

Sometimes, the world offers up that which is so simple yet is so very beautiful. 

Meg

p.s.  A Little History...

The very first Jacaranda grown in Australia was planted in my city's Botanic Gardens back in 1864. It was a purple flowering variety and it grew & bloomed until it was knocked down in a cyclone in 1980. It is thought that it is this particular Jacaranda that features in the very popular painting, Under the Jacaranda, by the artist Godfrey Rivers. The painting hangs in the Queensland Art Gallery. I am thinking of taking a trip in to the gallery to see it. I wonder if there will be any Jacaranda flowers sprinkled on the floor underneath it when I visit?

Here & Now 16

It is October and the beautiful Jacaranda trees are in bloom now. Their distinctive seasonal flowering, a soft lavender purple, is synonymous with Spring in our sub-tropical city. In our oldest parks and public gardens and along many streets, these majestic trees put on their Spring display. Here, in my little suburb, there are many jacarandas, their spreading branches covered in masses of their beautiful blossoms. These blossoms fall in a swirl of purple that covers the grass and footpaths below in a soft and flowery carpet. I love to walk beneath them ...

Masses of jacaranda flowers 

A carpet of fallen flowers covers the path.

Soft & beautiful purple blossoms.

An almost-silhouette against a greying sky.

Loving //   Jacarandas in bloom, like purple punctuation marks along our streets.

Eating //  Little chocolate chip cookies made with chick peas and peanut butter. 
                     (Back to school biscuits!)

Drinking //  Cold water with a few lemon juice ice cubes for zing!

Feeling //  So very tired. 

Making //  A set of Melissa's red and white peace doves for Christmas giving.

Thinking //  That Christmas gets earlier every year ... 
                        
Dreaming //  Of this distant, but not too distant, shore. It's only seven short weeks away!

I'm not sure what's blooming in your own Here & Now but if you'd like to share, or to peek into the October of others, you can pop over to Sarah at her beautiful blog, Say Little Hen. A visit there will brighten your day!

Meg