408. Winged Horse

Fineliner ink on paper, 26 October 2009.

It’s a horse, with wings. Yes, I draw a lot of these! Napoleon Dynamite makes a lot of sense to me. Now for a Liger…

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http://flokot.redbubble.com/sets/107560/works

At the time of writing (June 2010), I have made gift cards of this design available for purchase from AUD$2.52 plus postage at http://flokot.redbubble.com/sets/107560/works/4008005-2-winged-horse-in-trotting-pose.

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And, in other news…

On the topic of all things Australia, our fair nation now has its first woman Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. We also have a woman for Governor-General, and, of course, our ultimate ruler is the Queen. Nice.

And no, there was no election. The Labor party (and don’t ask me why they don’t spell their name ‘Labour’), which is the party in power, simply decided to dump Prime Minister Kevin Rudd from the role – who, I think, seemed like a pretty nice guy. While it’s exciting to have a woman in charge, I don’t think it’s likely to make me vote Labor. Not when they don’t even spell their name in Australian English spelling.

I liked my husband’s (sarcastic) comment that the woman Prime Minister should “be accountable to a man”. As members of an egalitarian church (gender and ethnicity have no bearing on an individual’s God-given capacity for leadership), it seemed a fitting joke, in light of recent resumed arguments (surprisingly, debated by women) that our church is “wrong” to allow women pastoral and teaching roles. All theological nit-picking aside, I personally think it’s great to witness an historical moment for Australian women.

And, as a few people I know have pointed out, it’s about time a “bogan ranga” gets the job as head of our nation.

To translate for my international readers, both bogan and ranga are somewhat derogatory terms. As to how to explain them, umm… let me consult wikipedia…

Ranga – http://blogs.abc.net.au/nsw/2009/07/whats-a-ranga.html?program=702_weekends I have to admit, I don’t make a habit of calling people this term. As the token brunette  in a family of red-haired people, it would be ridiculous of me to have a go at people with red hair. I know some red-heads who’ve embraced the term, but others see it as a form of racism. I tend to avoid it out of recognition that those of us with Celtic heritage tend to get harassed a fair bit for our skin and hair colouring. As in, other white people tell me I’m too white. Pffft. Everyone is what they are, there’s nothing innately wrong with one skin tone compared to another.

Bogan – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogan – I don’t know how to explain this one. If you’re Aussie, you just kind of know what it means and you know how to apply the term for offense, endearment, and humour! It’s often associated with mullet hair cuts. I personally think it’s a bit like what you get if Australian culture just stopped somewhere in the 1980s.

More information:

http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/sys_gov.html

Australian Government fact sheet – a simple introduction to the structure of the Australian Government

The Governor-General – http://www.gg.gov.au/governorgeneral/category.php?id=2

You know you’re Australian when…

Here’s a link to an article I found at http://www.zompist.com/aussie.html. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I can say that, in my experience, it’s largely true!

Quote: “You drive on the left-hand side of the road. You stop at red lights even if nobody’s around. If you’re a pedestrian and cars are stopped at a red light, you will fearlessly cross the street in front of them.” Yes, that’s right!

“Christmas is right on the summer solstice and is quite often the hottest day of the year. You spend it with your family, give presents, and put up a tree. Your decorations still feature sleighs and snowflakes. You send people cards with pictures of White Christmases. There is nothing unusual in having Christmas dinner outdoors.”

I suggest that a Melbourne version might include:

– you have an inbuilt suspicion regarding people from Sydney

– you harbour dreams of either (a) sporting success (b) literary / poetry success

– you wear mostly black clothes

– you know that Aussie Rules is the most superior football code

– you think people from Adelaide sound a bit posh

Any of my friends care to suggest other Aussie-isms or Victorian-isms?

407. Birds and Heritage Vegetable Gardening

Ink fineliner on paper, circa February 2010.

A bird on a pumpkin! I was reading a book on heritage vegetable gardening and felt so inspired by the beautiful fruits and vegetables that I decided to create an illustration representing that. I got the references for the birds from a book on Australian birds, though right now I can’t recall what kind of birds they are, exactly. I’m still working on my knowledge of Australian avians!

http://flokot.redbubble.com/sets/107560/works

Heritage Vegetable Gardening information can be found at The Diggers Club website.

Hey hey!

Well, it’s been a while but with the much needed arrival of mid-year holidays at university, plus mostly recovering from an unpleasant virus, I can say that I will be working on some new posts on this blog and they will hopefully appear soon. Thanks to everyone for your encouraging feedback!