Griffin Playwrights

Our class has met for the second time. During the three hours last Wednesday we worked on creating ideas from photographs and a tin of random transitive verbs. We are learning to scope out the reality of our characters, what they will say and do in the situations that our work places them. I brought along a small plate of rum balls and mini apple cinamon muffins. Everyone shared them at the break. Next week Lucy and I are bringing some fruit like rockmelon and stawberries. We had homework - a short play synopsis on betrayal. Daryl read out his - he is the stand up comic - it was about a love triangle and a discovered diary left open. Hilary talked about this being a Freudian slip - an accidentally on purpose moment by the character. Rob gave an overview of his synopsis that he left on the printer and forgot to bring. It was about Queen Christina of Sweden and Descartes. It was really complex. I shuffled my synopsis to the bottom of my notes and felt less bold. Next week we are working on a bullet pointed three act run down of a play about a Faustian bargain.

Utamaro Exhibition

Heiko - Fishing 1810
The Utamaro Exhibition is on at the NSW Art Gallery,

Feb-March 2010.
It contains wood block prints from 1790-1810 from the time when Utamaro was prolific. There are interesting poetry books with similies of love and insects, illustrated in pages on delicate papers. The exhibition focuses on the changes to the depiction of woman as courtesans and then to workers and as mothers. Also at the gallery now is ArtExpress the HSC Yr 12 travelling showcase. The gallery shop is full of all things Japanese from saki cups to kimonos.

The Playground

On the days when I pick up the kids from school I am always fascinated by the interplay of grown ups and kids. The kids run around playing while the grown ups stand or sit and talk. The smaller kids who are either todlers or pre-schoolers seem to have the most fun seeking out boxes and tracing the hopscotch. I would like to create a painting of in the playground fun with the figures sitting under the trees while the kids play. Here are some of my pics with the idea of preliminary studies for the composition.

Olympic Gold

Congratulations Torah Bright on Olympic Gold for the Women's Halfpipe.

Monumental Drinking Fountain

This fountain located on the south side of the Stanton Library was built to commemorate the reign of Queen Victoria. It will have looked across the many changes to the North Sydney landscape over the years, from the time before the Bridge to now when tall buildings form the skyline. Every month the noodle markets are held here on a Friday night.

Where will the children play?

While a new double story classroom block is built in 2010 our local primary school along with many others in the state have seen more portables placed into playground space along with scaffolding and building materials. Somehow everyone is coping in the cramped exterior of the school but I can't help wishing it were otherwise. At least two schools in our suburb were closed in the early 1990s and now with a population boom state primary schools are again full of students.

What is the ideal size of a primary school which can be larger than local yr7-12 high schools? How many classrooms and how many teachers ideally on each site? These are the questions that census planners and the public need to address.

The view from a bridge

From this week Long Gully Bridge will have barriers on either side at the request of the NSW Coroner. It has been one of the landmarks of our locality. Stepping out on a late Summer's day I photographed the Bridge for one last time as it has stood since 1939. Its construction created the suburb of Northbridge accessible to the City by this Bridge and the Sydney Harbour Bridge opened in 1932.