Stardbroke Island Sand Blow

At Stradbroke Rebecca took me on a deserted 4WD track. We walked through banksia forests and up a really steep track of soft ,soft sand to emerge at this....
A sand blow.
It was like emerging into another world. The sun was setting, lighting up the beach spinifex and animal tracks.

Wind was blowing the beach spinifex around. Calligraphy in the sand.

Goenpul - People of the Pearl Shell

We spent the weekend at Stradbroke Island.
Words cannot encompass how beautiful and inspiring this was. We did a cultural/archeological/botanical tour with Shane Coghill of the Goenpul tribe- the People of the Pearl Shell. Shane took us right into the wallum on the narrow tracks made by wallabies. All around us was the stiff tangle of leucopogon, leptospernums, sedges and Dianella. As we looked into the heart of a clump of reeds for lizard eggs I noticed a Forked Sundew on it's long spindly stalk reaching through the blades towards the sun.
Shane took us along an old road shaded by the huge Bloodwood trees, there was an eagles nest , big enough to house human children balanced high up.
We took a lot of impressions in clay and our weird resin products. We took a lot of impressions in our impressionable brains, ancient stories, vegetation, dried leaves stippled shadows , in that strange, filtering, creative, process.

Midyim

Austromyrtus dulcis

The midyim in the garden are flowering and I made a graphic background for our stall at Finders Keepers Market in a couple of weeks. I expect we will see lots of this edible berry growing on our trip to North Stradbroke Island later this week as it loves having its feet in sandy open forests where it forms a spreading understorey favoured by snakes. Pity it is the wrong time of year for the delicious gingery berries.

crumunda park, wallum, September

crumunda park, wallum, September
Originally uploaded by shannongarson

Leptospernum flowering in Currimundi Lake (Kathleen McArthur) Conservation Park.
We did a workshop with Phoebe Hart from Hartflicker Films on filming with a small handheld camera. She gave us heaps of tips on using tripods, getting shots and getting footage suitable for editing into a finished product. The film will be part of the final exhibition as well as broadcast on the web. We hope to capture the collaboration from these early stages right though to finished exhibition work with accompanying footage of the making process in both studios.

Crumunda Park and the ground orchid

Last week Rebecca and I both headed from our homes with cars full of friends/supporters and children to the lovely wallum of Crumunda Park at Currimundi Lake (Kathleen McArthur) Conservation Park. Arriving late, in various degrees of disarray we were met by Suzanne Aspland a local authority on the wallum. It seemed as if Suzanne was familiar with every tiny plant along the path as we walked through the ti-tree and paperbark forest and entered the golden, late afternoon light of the wallum heath.

Once again the need to really LOOK was impressed upon me as Suzanne pointed out the fine hairs in the throats of the tiny, white Leucopogon leptospermoides

The banksia normally known for it's knobbly brown seed pods used by May Gibbs as inspiration for the villains of "Snugglepot and Cuddlepie" had on a pale green coat knitted out of moss stitch. Velvety brown seed pods peeked out through slashes in this startling garment.Just as the sun went down we saw this beautiful ground orchid at the side of the path. Hidden under the trees this weirdly spotted delicate plant was the highlight of the day.