Check out this 3D sidewalk art created by Julian Beever and Kurt Wenner. Some they did together others individually.
Click on the links or the pics to check out their websites for more truly extraordinary street art - it seems almost impossible that it’s only 2 dimensional.
I mentioned in my post of yesterday that I would share what my sis and I got up to on Sunday morning before we visited the art gallery.
Click on the logo above to go to the New Zealand website.
You may have heard about the World March For Peace And Non-Violence which is starting in Wellington, NZ on October 2 and travelling around the globe for 90 days ending in the Andes Mountains in Argentina on January 2, 2010. The march is about raising awareness of how much better life could be if some of the international arms budget went toward improving people’s lives instead of for destruction. It is also about denouncing the dangerous world situation that is leading us frighteningly closer to nuclear war.
In Auckland yesterday morning, a precursor event was planned to help welcome the international contingent of marchers. The event kicked off in QEII square at 10am with a walk around the city’s peace heritage sites to be followed by a ra
lly with music and speeches until mid afternoon. At one stage I was marching beside a famous Aucklander Lucy Lawless – she’s tall and friendly. She’s hot too, even without the Xena costume.
Though my sister and I weren’t sure what route was planned around the city, we knew we wanted to be involved but without staying for the whole thing (we care but just not enough to march all day). Thankfully just before lunch time the march was at Albert Park, a block away from the art gallery so we discretely slipped off to indulge in some Rita Angus.
Check out the international website for more information about the March for Peace. Join in if any events are close to you.
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I was chatting to an American friend the other night on the phone and I mentioned that New Zealand is an avowedly nuclear free zone. My friend hadn’t known this and was surprised – maybe there are others who weren’t aware of this?
It all started with the dastardly French who were testing their nukes in our backyard in the south Pacific. They conducted 41 atmospheric nuclear tests at Mururoa atoll between 1966 and 1974 before they moved underground for a further 147 tests until the early 90s. In a symbolic act of protest in 1973 the New Zealand government sent two navy frigates, HMNZS Canterbury and Otago, into the test zone area to disrupt the testing. Huge impromptu flotillas of what became known as peace yachts accompanied the frigates. These protests were supported by large contingents of environmental groups such as Greenpeace.
In 1985 in an act of retaliation for all the hassle over the years, French saboteurs entered NZ and blew up the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior which was berthed at an Auckland wharf. A man sleeping on board was killed.
We were horrified. This act of international terrorism served to galvanise the views of ordinary New Zealanders and resulted in the passing of the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act of 1987. All forms of nuclear generation were disallowed and nuclear powered or armed vessels were no longer permitted to enter our 22 kilometre (12 mile) zone.
Over the years it has certainly made for some very uncomfortable conversations with the US as their policy of neither confirming nor denying any vessel is nuclear powered and/or armed means that we disallow them all. It’s a weird situation and it puts us on the outer with our ‘friends’ though a referendum here a few years ago showed that for better or worse the large majority of kiwis want to keep the status quo. A nuclear free zone we remain after 22 years.
My sister and I are both fans of painter Rita Angus and we decided today to check out the latest exhibition of her work at the Auckland City Art Gallery.
Rita Angus was a feminist and a pacifist and was one of this country's pioneer modern painters. She was prolific for over 40 years until she died in 1970. I particularly enjoy the oils she painted in her later years - here are four of my favourites.
Central Otago
Boats in the Bay
Fog, Hawkes Bay
View from Tinakori Road
I had been hoping to buy a lithograph of ‘Boats’ to have mounted for my bedroom wall but the $90.00 price tag was unfortunately out of my range. Instead we treated ourselves at the patisserie a few doors down – fabulous creamy cappuccino and delicious lemon tart.
It was a good part of a great day out, I hope your Sunday is as much fun.
**EDIT** I will post about what we got up to this morning, before the gallery, at some stage over the next couple of days.
The esteemed JadedJ is an unapologetic flaming socialist-liberal who hails from the Cornhusker state. He’s an unashamed Anglophile who is mighty clever and even more sarcastic. Here’s a link to his blog Banquet of Consequences for those who aren’t already under the spell of his wit and charm.
In a momentary lapse of judgement, JJ has deemed me worthy of this highly celebrated Kreativ Blogger award. All I have to do in return is share with my readers 7 things that I love, not including people, and nominate 4 brand new worthy recipients (so as to keep the torture going ad nauseum). 
So deep breath and here goes:
1) I love Italian renaissance art especially Botticelli and Raphael.
2) I love travelling and seeing new places both inside NZ and outside. Can’t wait to get around the world some more once my son is independent.
3) I love sleeping in on a Sunday morning.
4) I love learning about new things and I challenge myself to undertake a course at least once every year. Sometimes it’s academic, other times not. This year I did both; a calligraphy course as well as suffering my way through an arduous statistics paper.
5) I love thunder storms.
6) I love public speaking and feel at my most confident at the front of a room with an audience. I’m a Leo, what can I 
say?
and finally…
7) I love shoes. When my weight gets me down I can always count on my shoes still fitting beautifully and looking hot. Nothing improves a woman’s calf like the 4 inch heel on a sexy red Manolo Blahnik.
OK and now to the important part. With whom shall I share the honour of the Kreativ Blogger award?
Lori from Family Trees May Contain Nuts is a dedicated blogger. She works hard to make her blog an interactive and interesting place to visit and we all know that’s not an easy thing to achieve.
Al from Al In The Country is a big city boy transplanted to rural Maine in the name of love. Al is working hard to fit in to small town life and the stories and the pics are a joy to partake of.
Sophisticated New Yorker Kathryn has a blog called From the Inside…Out. Kathryn has the most fabulous sense of humour. In her words “Cocktails are optional, but highly recommended. Not that you need one to find me utterly charming...but it couldn't hurt.”
and lastly…
Dade from Spain has an absolutely beautiful blog called It’s My Life. There’s a wonderful slideshow of Dade’s family to share and be sure to click on the link to Krysalis Photography to see some of Dade’s truly incredible pictures.
I’ll leave a comment on each of your sites to let you know the big news so collect a copy of the award for your sidebar and go for it. Have fun.
The delightful and fun Joanne from Joanne Moving Forward – half speed has tagged me to share 10 things about myself that readers may not know. Well any of you that read this blog regularly know that I compulsively over share almost everything going on in my life so this isn’t going to be an easy assignment.
I will tag three of my newest followers as I’m keen to get them sharing a bit about themselves. Please guys. I realise this is probably not your style at all but I’m nosey OK? Give a girl a break.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------OK, deep breath and here goes…
1) I have blue eyes and fair skin. Gorgeous!
2) I’m somewhat wayward church wise but have given my own child a Catholic education. Hypocritical? Maybe, but the RC’s do good schooling and a bit of dogma never seriously hurt anyone.
3) I had a Norwegian Hooded rat named Seamus for years when I was in high school. I loved that rat.
4) My teenage son points out that I guilt him into doing stuff, yikes, I’m turning into my mother. Must work on that!
5) My favourite painting is Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. It takes my breath away. I have still never made to to the Uffizi to see the real thing but one day I will. 
6) I am mathematically challenged. Even simple arithmetic ain’t simple to me.
7) I am shamefully monolingual. I used to gather as much as I needed to get by very basically when travelling but have never shown any commitment to learning a second language properly. Am thinking about starting night classes with my dad though and learning Italian. He already passably speaks 3 languages.
8) I will watch almost any sport on TV.
9) I can ride a motorbike.
10) On a cold and rainy winter Sunday afternoon (like today) I can easily stay in bed all day. Today is proof of that. I have slept, finished my book, dozed a bit, watched a DVD on my laptop and now written this post and it is now 3.15pm. Rory’s out so I don’t intend getting up even now. Lazy cow.
It is said that on this day in 1678, Lady Godiva, a local noblewoman, stripped naked and rode her horse through the town of Coventry in England to protest her husbands harsh taxes on the people working his land. 
Artist: John Collier. 1897
He supposedly initiated the naked ride when, tired at her repeated requests, he told if she would ride through town naked he would review the taxes.
The story follows that Lady Godiva asked all of the towns residents to stay indoors and to shutter their windows while she made her ride and all obeyed except for one young man named Tom who peeped through the crack in the shutters when she rode past. He creating the Peeping Tom of today.
According to the fable Lord Godiva was true to his word and reduced the taxes on the villagers making life much easier for them.
A woman of strength and courage. I aspire to that strength and fortitude, though without the public nudity.
What do you aspire to?
I’ve taken an extra day so I’ve got four whole days off starting now. Extra super fabulous.
Happy happy happy Friday tomorrow everyone.
“Don’t take this the wrong way…but…” is another good one.
What exactly does it mean when an insult is prefaced by the above words? Is the message that follows less offensive because of them or is the insulted party just expected to take it on the chin because ‘no offence’ was intended?
These little words somehow miraculously remove the need for tact or good manners. It’s freedom of speech gone berserk.
My grandmother used to say that;
Anything before the ‘but’ is a lie.
Do you agree?
Did your parent or grandparent have a saying that makes more and more sense as you get older? 
Artist: Marion C Honors
Though not usually a fan of snow globes, I must say these are spectacularly artistic examples. I remember Domestic Daze saying she collected them.
Walter Martin and Paloma Munoz are an American/Spanish artistic collaboration known more for their installations. Their latest series of work is a collection of snow globes entitled Travellers. They have interesting, somewhat macabre themes. Click on the pictures to enlarge and to link to the website and more information about each globe. The detail is fantastic.
Check out their website (Martin-Munoz.com). Fantastic stuff. All sorts of installations. Surreal.
