Please do not feed the birds

Especially the ones with human heads.

Weird window prop

At Michael's camera shop in Melbourne CBD. Not sure how this prop is relevant to any of this and it's just a weird/creepy prop in of itself.

Stencil art cat.

Stencil art cat, off Flinders Lane, Melbourne CBD.

Crystal ball dog

Victoria Street, Fitzroy, 2016

by Putos

We are here.

In a residential bluestone lane in Footscray.

Compulsory Palm Oil Labelling in Australia

Here we are at Federation Square, Deakin Edge last night to help promote
the petition to make labelling palm oil compulsory in Australia.
Parliament will decide next month, so it's important we get as many signatures as we can now. Hoping to get 100,000! Please help by signing and sharing.

The orangutan is the gardener of the forest, spreading seeds to create more forest, an umbrella species that others like tigers and rhinos, and countless more rely on.

#labelpalmoil #iwantthechoice #dontpalmusoff #turnmelbourneorange #inyourpalm #orangutan #endangered

Melbourne Zoo , as organisers of both the petition and event, donated 1000 orangutan plush toys which were hidden outside of Deakin Edge, and seated throughout the auditorium. The plushies were for everyone to find, as a reward for attending and promoting this important petition. These toys represent the real live orangutans lost to unsustainable palm oil production every year. At this rate they will be extinct within a decade. Attendees were actively encouraged to take selfies with their plushy, and use the hash tag #labelpalmoil when posting it on social media. Also there were bags of oranges kindly donated by Orange World. Thanks for the juicy evening snack Orange World!

Afterwards we were instructed to swarm/surround Livinia Nixon doing the weather report. I mimed my plushy Kiani, to also do the weather report. I hope we were in frame because it would have been HILARIOUS.

The lower left corner image is a live study of Maimunah, using an enrichment puzzle at the Royal Melbourne Zoo. You can see this drawing on Instagram as the initial live study if you're on there:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BLHZd1NhS-I/?taken-by=patriciadenisartist
I'll be posting an exclusive work in progress shot here.
And the final drawing here first.

Finally there is a free shopping app. for your phone to help you shop ethically now, by avoiding unsustainable palm oil. Read about it here.

Everyone is here and ready to roll!

Keeping these hard waste finds together to take to my parents' house for my nieces to play with, was best done like this:

Spring

DIY Plant Markers

Icy pole and icecream sticks should always be saved because they are useful.  They can be used to stir a small pot of paint, to mix and apply two part expoxy resin aka Araldite, and with a pencil or waterproof pen/biro...

...they make biodegradable plant markers.

9 Abandoned Warehouse Street Art: The Warehouse Itself

Here is a series of shots taken in and around various locations at 

the abandoned warehouse, former jeans factory, thus concluding this series.  

This blogger here has done a more extensive post featuring images and history of the site. 

Like her I would not have explored as much as I did if I was alone. 

Fortunately I had a good male friend with me so I felt safe.

7 Abandoned Warehouse Street Art: Patrick the Starfish

Patrick the starfish from Sponge Bob Squarepants, as a painter

6 Abandoned Warehouse Street Art: Goat Skull

By Kaffiene

5 Abandoned Warehouse Street Art: Illustrator Style

Jackalope mask pays homage to Princess Mononoke.

Whale head on head of impaled figure. The first kanji character is part of the word whale or whaling, the last one might mean strength but I can't figure out more than that.

Unhappy girl.

4 Abandoned Warehouse Street Art: Poultry

Toothed duck peeking around a corner.

Another toothed duck. It's like Daffy Duck went on an acid trip or something...

Cigar smoking rooster. by Putos.

3 Abandoned Warehouse Street Art: Faces

From the previous post featuring abstraction.

Detail of face, with DOG tag digitally scrubbed back.

Simple linework face peeking through high, reinforced, frosted windows (in 'office' area?).

2 Abandoned Warehouse Street Art: Abstract Forms Part II

Monochromatic abstraction in silver and black.

Colour popping abstraction

Abstraction and stylised faces.

David Bowie Is - leaving Melbourne soon!

#sketch of #costume at #davidbowieis from his 1979 Saturday Night Live performance of #themanwhosoldtheworld resting on my David Bowie Is catalogue. There are worse 24 hour earworms to have - I'll have to buy the album to scratch that itch!
#drawing #drawingfromlife #davidbowie #acmimember #avantgarde #avantgardefashion — at ACMI.

For those interested, you can see my other drawings from David Bowie Is, as well as my other creative output, on my instagram here. I don't always do Follow for Follows but I try to make the time to Like for Likes :)

You can download a free David Bowie album from a selection of about 6 with your ACMI​ David Bowie Is card. Okay. I should have expected that I couldn't fill some of the gaps in my collection with a free download of The Man Who Sold the World, Lodger etc. You want me to buy those Bowie? That is fine! I completely understand. I've been twice and a nice couple - who said they have all of his albums - gave me theirs so I had four to redeem.

Or so I thought.

You can only redeem one album this way per Google Play account. Oops. I chose Earthling. Well played, sir. The promotion cards claim that 'David Bowie is all yours' but clearly he isn't! It's more accurately 'David Bowie is pimping his new album and bumping his less popular works up the Google Play charts' or more simply 'David Bowie is savvy'.

'I'm Afraid of Americans' is an epic song. It's in my top ten of favourite Bowie songs. I friggin' LOVE it. I saw the clip for the first time on Monday and thought that was clever too. A pity about the rest of that album - I am not a fan of drum-and-bass, it sounds a bit samey after a few songs IMHO - but maybe I'll grow to like it!




As for the exhibition itself:

No photography permitted, is not just signed but verbally instructed to every visitor. I have seen some sneaky mobile phone images online because some take this as a challenge to rise to rather than respecting Bowie's wishes. Why take a crappy pic on your phone to share on social  media when the catalogue is filled with beautifully shot images of all the artifacts (and a very interesting collection of essays to boot)? Why not just enjoy the experience rather than have proof you were there in a selfie? If it means that much to you, buy the book/postcard.

It took me all afternoon to visit the show on my first visit and I had _no_ intention of drawing that time! As you can see above I did do some drawing as an artistic challenge on my second visit. I read every label, listened to everything sound bite, watched almost every clip! Luckily that was on a Wednesday a couple of weeks after it first opened with few other people. On Monday there was quite a few people, with lines to view artifacts, so I didn't worry about consuming everything. I had to be considerate about where I placed myself to draw. What I love about drawing is that it makes you really look at things. You appreciate the form and detail of a thing to a level you would not absorb if you merely looked at it. I thought I knew his face but it was only after drawing from one of his life cast masks - they are dotted on seemingly random mannequins throughout the exhibition - that I knew it best.

It was wonderful to see so many iconic, unique costumes and finely designed outfits in the fibre. To think the great man himself once wore these and defined a moment in time was awesome... 

I had no idea he was such a talented mime, that he was so involved in all parts of his output, such a diligent, organised individual. I love that he kept all of these things, because either he's an organised hoarder or he knew that one day they would be of interest to other people. Probably both! It was a special treat to see the creative process in the material form of Bowie's song writing, on all sorts of paper with corrections and ch, ch, changes.

With almost constant sound and vision - I turned the sound down, took my head phones off or unplugged them because it was sometimes too much - it was an intense experience and I needed a nap after both visits!

Thank you to David Bowie for having the foresight to keep all of these things carefully, the wisdom to engage a collection curator to catalogue them, and the professionalism to approach the V&A Museum with said catalogue and offer free reign to tell your story in the best possible way through The David Bowie Archive. It was not wanting in detail or breadth!

1 Abandoned Warehouse Street Art: Abstract Forms Part I

This is the first of a series of posts showcasing street art seen at an abandoned warehouse in the western suburbs of Melbourne. I had the opportunity to explore this place over a year ago now, but the task of getting so many interesting images ready for the web was a bit daunting! The nine part series will automatically post weekly, until just before Christmas. Enjoy!

Setting the scene. There were many holes in the ground connected up to drainage. The warehouse was a former jeans factory. The last post in this series will highlight some of the architecture.

Cool, fluid abstraction

'I love my peoples'

Feel good abstraction.

Feel good abstraction, detail

Faces, Street Art Mural.

By Ghost Patrol. The X-ray face may be in collaboration with Shok-1.

Unnamed Alley, Melbourne CBD, October 2013

Pixelated Tasmanian Tiger Paste Up, Street Art

I think this one was in Literature Lane but it might have been in the Unnamed Alley...

Melbourne CBD, October 2015