Volunteer Translator

Recently I've been giving myself a warm fuzzy by doing some volunteer translation for the International Children's Digital Library. Whilst I've been volunteering with Distributed Proofreaders for a while now, the translation aspect of the ICDL assignments makes the experience a little more challenging -- but because it's translating metadata for the books, not the books themselves, it's not too challenging!

Kiwi

A still life study with steps from the initial line drawing to the finished fruit as part of a communal learning forum with the Concept Art website. It's been organised mostly by the artist Min Yum whose work I really admire.

Outside My Window

This is the view outside my bedroom window at the moment: grey and overcast and with a chilly wind blowing that is not at all agreeable.



There's a surreal tree on the right hand side of the photo -- here's a close up:



It's all fruit but no leaves. I tried sketching it but it ended up looking more like a very sad Christmas tree rather than a bizarre bit of shrubbery.

La Petite Oiseau

Recently my tracky daks have been riding pretty low, hanging right off my arse almost so I decided it was time to buy a new bit of elastic for the waist band. Whilst measuring how much elastic I would need, the guy running the sewing stall at the market remarked that I wouldn't need much more than 50cm to fit around my waist because I was such a little bird, which inspired the above drawing. Seeing as I've been doing a bit of tai chi latley, so my version of the little bird is in a tai chi position known as the White Crane Cools Its Wings.

La Neige

Who knew that it ever snowed in Provence? Not me -- I thought it had a Mediterranean climate, meaning hot, dry summers and wet, temperate winters. Colour me surprised when it started to snow in earnest this morning and it hasn't stopped yet!

This is what it looked like at 11am:



And a couple of hours later:



Well, given that I don't have my gigantic winter jacket with me, let's hope that I don't have to go outdoors for any longer than 5 seconds at a time!!

Tight Arse Tuesday

Nostalgia time...

If I were in Perth on a Tuesday night, it would be prime time for heading out for any number of discount meals, movies and the like, but my all time favourite tight arse Tuesday activity is going to Gelare for half priced waffles... Damn I miss Gelare waffles!!



Image courtesy of http://p.vtourist.com

Some Kind of Landscape

It's been ages since I've drawn anything -- too obsessed with learning French, Chinse and German whilst keeping a small, wriggly infant under contol -- and I think the lack of practice shows, though I'm quite pleased with the mountains.

Ennui

Ok so I'm more or less over this semi-holiday deal here in Garéoult. The weather right now is chilly and windy, which means it's not particularly pleasant to go outside, but staying indoors for hours on end is starting to drive me a little crazy. The baby has been pretty badly behaved whilst he's been here -- not listening to instructions, throwing tantrums and generally taking advantage of the fact his grandparents don't really follow up on his naughtiness. I'm tired of watching him ignore what they say to him, tired of hearing his grandmother raise her voice ineffectually, tired of watching his grandfather play with him when he's good but do nothing when he's not, tired of being the one sending him to the naughty corner if he misbehaves.

Is there something inherently defunct in a language that doesn't distinguish between boredom and annoyance? It's a small, miniscule, in fact consolation that in this situation, I'm experiencing both.

Garéoult Photos

The view from the patio of the house where I'm staying in Garéoult.



A cute little laneway in the village leading to some hills with walking trails.



A field and one of the many hills surrounding the village.

Garéoult

Well a change is as good as a holiday so they say -- let's put that theory to the test! I'm going to be staying in Garéoult for the next couple of weeks with the baby and his grandparents, whilst his parents take a little holiday. Garéoult is about an hour or so away from Lorgues, but still in the same region of France. The drive up was quite pretty as the leaves are starting to turn because of autumn, so lots of gorgeous shades of red, yellow, orange and brown lined the way to the village. The house I'm staying at is a little way out of the village proper, but has a magnificent view of the hills -- photos coming soon!