Farting and belching

Just had three days of lovely warm rain so the farmers will be happy especially in the Waikato region where they have had a long drought though not long in Australian terms. It worries me that dairy farmers (producing our main export) are getting their highest payout for years and so are rapidly converting sheep and cattle farms and forestry into milk production. It's great for the small town economies as the money is filtered down to the service industries but it's hard on the environment. NZ has a clean, green image but as an ex dairy farmer I know how much chemical spray, fertiliser, nitrogen etc is poured onto the land and run off into the streams and rivers let alone all the belching and farting the cows do which adds to global warming. Don't laugh it's our biggest addition to the worlds problem!
It's not going to change because money talks, we will just have to find a silver lining. Like American farmers producing crops for bio fuel which has pushed up the price of food world wide. Surely this will stop them dumping subsidy produced cheap food in poor countries and allow those farmers to get higher prices.
Merlot is whining at the door, it's time for his walk (chase the seagulls) on the beach.

Through having an art gallery in our restaurant the weird and constant struggle to sell art becomes apparent. As an artist my struggle is singular and personal so I enjoy having other artists work on the walls to see what sells and what doesn't and I watch customers when they walk around looking at the paintings to see what holds their interest. I remember Paula McNeil, an artist and friend, telling me once that you need a focal point/s to draw the viewer into the picture then you need to lead them around much as if you are telling them a story. Some paintings have a strong first visual impact but become bland after a few weeks whereas others with a 'story' or mystery continue to 'talk' for years.
One of the biggest influences is price. I had a studio clear out a month ago and reduced my $800 paintings down to $250 and sold seven. This tells me that at least people are happy to have my art on their walls. There is plenty of arguments against lowering the price such as maintaining a price that you think you are worth as a serious artist or working out a wage per hour plus materials but as most of the paintings sold to first time art buyers you are creating a whole new market of people who suddenly see the possibility of having original art on their walls and there is no better advertising.
Another big influence is that most buyers need to be vindicated that they are buying 'good' art. I know there are no rules about what is good or bad but if you are associated with a name gallery then in peoples' eyes you are a good artist because they (the gallery) should know the difference. Sculptor Johnny Turner who came to our first symposium 5 years ago and was selling for around $2000 is now selling similar works up to $20,000 through name galleries.
OK, so if a name gallery won't take me I'll have to find other ways to reassure the public I am a good artist.
Watch this space!

Karen Hunter

Karen Hunter played the last gig of the season on Friday night and as she has been coming to the Egg for a number of years it's been interesting watching her develop into an excellent performer.

Coming to us first as a strident singer/song writer who demanded that you listen to her she now seems completely at ease with her music and who she is and is much better for it. Great guitar playing, wonderful voice and even when she's using her bag of tricks the loop and the harmoniser she knows her skills backwards and forwards which can only come from experience and performing again and again.

I would rate her gig as one of the best of the year.

Not art again!

My art gets mostly put on hold when the cafe is open which is frustrating but strangely that seems to help the creative process. I want to be doing it so my little old mind ticks over all the time and comes up with new ideas.

The small 'vortex' above I made last year and the big one I started in November during our sculpture symposium and then ran out of the wood (macrocarpa, not a native but durable so doesn't have to be treated) and time so only completed it recently, hence the two coloured effect. I love building the big works that make people stop and stare and wonder whether I've gone mad but then they realise I've always been mad so accept what I do. The trouble is I'm seriously running out of room and so have to do the dreaded bit - selling myself!!

Anybody want a job?

60 party

My party on the 3rd Jan? The big 60? It was a blast. Friends, family, music, whisky and food mixed together to make a memorable reunion to Chookstock 98. Daughter Shelley and I kicked the music off, then it was Ronnie and Julie (Avocado Oil), Ian Thorne, PPRS, Rick and Laura, my mostly unmusical mates with a terrible rendition of ' When I'm 64' and a grand finale of Kokomo Blues with Shona Laing.

What better way to celebrate the passing of years.

In bed with China

So we have signed a pact with the devil, NZ being the first country to sign a free trade agreement with China. Because of her terrible human rights abuses (Tibet, capital punishment etc.), increasing pollution (two new coal fired power stations a week etc), flooding the world with cheap and sometimes dangerous products I had my reservations at first and certainly still have some but what is worse, isolating her or opening your borders to show the people another way to live. Change will only come from within with a raised standard of living and an increased awareness of the power of the people not from outside by forcing your will with military might as in Iraq.
We in NZ are certainly not perfect but we have an open society with influences from all around the world and we can choose the best of those ideas (not that we always do!) to weave our social fabric.
Another glorious day here except I have to go to the dentist. How worldly affairs can be brought to the ground with the sound of that damn drill!!

Autumn

Autumn has arrived with her cool hand brushing the trees with rusty gold and a deep stillness as if preparing us for her angry partner winter. The beach is almost always deserted now apart from the birds. More gulls, of course, the occasional blue heron fishing in the shallows, Mr and Mrs Smith the resident oyster catchers with their babies gone, no longer having to attack Merlot the dog, a big caspian tern standing like a weather vane, the noisy spur winged plovers and rarely the little dotterel looking lost and alone.
The sea too seems different. Darker almost thicker with a lazy swell reaching up on the sand trying to take back the wrack of seaweed and driftwood and shells left at high tide. John Dory also are being driven up on the beach from some crazy flaw in their makeup. The gulls get the eyes of the poor creatures but we get the fat, delicate fillets.
I enjoy the different seasons because I like change. When I was younger it used to worry me that I couldn't stick at anything but now I look back and see the experiences that I've had and it's all good.
The earth has just gone down and Sun has been exposed, let's hope she never changes!

Back at last

Hi I'm back and ready to resume my blogging career!! Not that it ever amounted to much but it's a good way to keep my hand in to writing thoughts down.
We are fine though exhausted after our biggest season in ten years. Only three weeks to go until we have our five months off so there will be plenty of time to recuperate and play and at long last we have someone to take over the hard work. We have been trying to sell the business for four years and now my son Jason and his partner Paul are coming back from Sydney and buying the Egg so a dynasty has begun! I will still be chef at night but will have much more time to do the things I love....art music and food. Denise will be able to walk away and live a life of leisure and that makes her very happy.
My plans for the winter are demolish our little house on the hill, sculpture symposium at Lochmara Lodge end of May and hopefully a jaunt through Europe making sculpture and catching up with old friends. I have a yearning to get away by myself with a small backpack and living day to day. I'm peopled out!

A very merry Christmas to family and friends. We have three days off to gather strength for the inundation of holidaymakers and to enjoy Christmas and egg nog with family.

May the New Year bring you all you desire.

Still struggling to keep up my postings. My day starts around 6am when I make the daily bread and cakes and prep for breakfast and lunch with extras such as opening mussels and filleting fish. Then it's feeding the holidaymakers until 3pm when we close the kitchen but are open for coffee and cake while I prep up for dinner service which lasts until the last person leaves, sometimes 10pm, sometimes 1am.
It's hard yakka at this time of year but most satisfying making people happy. About 80% of our customers are regulars or have been recommended so we know we must be doing something right.
Our long range weather forecast is not good with a humid and wet summer and the possibility of a cyclone or two which usually means people don't come to the beach.
Maybe it will be a quiet one and I'll be able to go skinny dipping at Lonely Bay without scaring anybody!

A Pregnant Thought

The winning sculpture 'A Pregnant Thought" by Lauren Kitts which will stay in our permanent collection

'Medusa' by Anna Korver

'Ohinau Sunset' by Donald Buglass

Scene from the balcony with my, as usual,
unfinished wooden sculpture

A few images from the symposium. We are enjoying lovely rain at the moment, washing the dust from the leaves and ripening plums and returning the garden to some semblance of normality

Unexpected visitor

So we were quietly (well we don't do anything quietly!) cleaning the restaurant when this large road roller skidded out of control down into our front garden, coming to rest on Dr. Margot Symes lovely sculpture 'Four Elements' (stone, water, fire, air) which now can be called 'Five Elements' with the addition of steel! After much discussion with the sheepish driver we decided it (the roller) didn't add much to the ascetics of the place so they towed it away leaving a tiny scratch on said sculpture and a large dent on said drivers ego.

Never a dull moment!

Wow what a week! 17 sculptors with 9 inch grinders competing with graders and rollers fixing the road. We feel like we have been in a quarry and now are praying for rain to wash all the dust away. We've sold six pieces so far, not brilliant but only one behind last year and the quality is better than ever so are confident of more sales. A customer last night asked how much it would be to ship a big head (1200kg!) to California. I shudder to think but it's worth a try. I am in the process of placing them in suitable positions round the garden.
I started a big wooden sculpture but ran out of wood so started on stone but with feeding and looking after a group of tempremental artists didn't get anything finished as per usual. They aren't really difficult. As a group they work hard and get on very well and we had some wonderful nights of music and fun.
Hope to have some images tomorrow.

Sailing

Four boats, one beach, 100 kids and lots of wind all add up to thrills and spills and screams and beams.

The Waterwise programme has been around a while teaching kids how to sail and become wise on the water. With our very long coastline, I'm guessing about 4500 kilometres, having fun on the water is a big part of our Kiwi life and the ocean can be very unforgiving as our drowning stastictics show. Our own Hot Water Beach is the second worst in NZ for drowning because inexperienced people become hot in the pools and then rush into the surf and are carried away in the undertow.

So the local Whenuakite School invited donations to buy four boats and Eggsentric is proudly displayed on one sail and I trained to be an instructor. The kids get 90 minutes each time and learn to rig the boat, go through it's safety features and their own such as life vest, sun block, warm clothes etc. and understand a little of how to read the weather such as clouds and wind on the water.

But the real fun and for some the real terror is on the water when they are in control of a bucking little boat with the wind whipping the sails. We teach them to capsize, right the boat again and bail the water out and that usually gives them confidence when they realise nothing bad can happen.

The real joy for me is when they finally get a feel for it and I can take them out into the Bay where the wind is true. A line of little boats with grinning skippers

Lauren Kitts working on her piece that is now a headstone in the local cemetry

The stone delivery - what potential!

Naughty boy, I haven't posted for a week. It's amazing how running a restaurant fills up your days and nights. Plus I had to deliver an address to artists this week about owning a gallery, teach kids from the local school sailing, arrange the rock delivery for the smposium, tutor at the art school and read the paper! Merlot the dog and I are both putting on weight because our walks in the morning are getting shorter and shorter.

It's always an exciting time when the lovely blue/green rock from Maratoto arrives. I choose the pieces in the quarry but it's not until they are here away from the quarry that they really start talking. When the sculptors come and choose a rock they are of two schools. Some have an idea in their mind and choose a rock to suit that idea, others look at a rock and see an idea. The former is perhaps the safest way because it's not easy working under your peers and the publics eyes. You have to have something finished and acceptable at the end of the week. I am one of the latter but I get it easy, if I don't finish it I blame the sculptors for having to look after their every whim and feed them and listen to their stories. My last years effort is still sitting under the trees, I'll have to hide it and pretend it was sold over the summer!

We are not looking forward to the fine talcum powder like dust that spreads through everything because the gardens are looking fantastic at the moment but it's all part of what we do and who we are.

Still have time

Beautiful this morning after three days of rain. The sun has just come up (ie. the earth's gone down) and the tide is full and still and clear. My coffee is hot and long and the list for today is mercifully short.

I'm still finding time for sculpture so have the best of both worlds - able to feed the family and indulge in fantasy at the same time!- hopefully one day the art will do both.

I designed the arches above to sit flush as an entrance to my exhibition but after storing them in the basement staggered I like them much better. They seem to compel you to walk under them, cathedral like.

The other picture is a new design leaving gaps in the timber, feeling much lighter and the shadows make it change as you walk around it. The front figure will be taller when I get my errant nail gun back from the doctor and I will probably add three more figures, two smaller as if children.

The design permutations are endless. Perhaps I can be laid to rest in a box made from little pieces of wood!

Rage against the night

Pictured above are the committee, with my seat vacant of course, testing the wine and the venue for my upcoming 60th on Jan 3rd and the picture of a picture above that is Chookstock 1998.

We were back on the farm when I turned 50 and I built a big stage and organised 5 bands and called it Chookstock! We had a water slide down the hill and a bouncy castle and B-B-Qs and 450 people turned up with their tents and caravans. It was a blast.

Now 10 years later and 3rd Jan is one of the busiest days of our restaurant year with 200 lunches and 100 dinners so the possibility of much organisation is very small. However we are going to close for the day and my fellow musos are going to perform on the outside stage with hopefully Kokomo Blues who played 10 years ago rocking us late into the night.

What more can a man ask for as he 'rages against the night' than friends and relatives and music and madness and mayhem

Sex on the Beach

A beautiful patch of weather has finally arrived chasing away memories of incessant cold winds. Swam yesterday in Flaxmills cool, clear waters, bracing to be sure but so good to be alive. Son Sam got offered a ride on a charter boat today to the Alderman Islands (named by Cook after his local councillors at home) 15 km off shore and after a successful (for him!) debate of school or fishing he said "Man I've got a good life". At 16 we have to be happy with that. He wants to get his first crayfish free diving and of course big snapper and kingfish on his rod.
The first shining cuckoo made his presence felt this week. They winter in the Solomon Islands and after the long flight their distinctive whistle is a sign that summer is on its way. Lots of other pairings on the beach also. The oyster catchers are long time residents, Mr Smith still favouring his gammy leg, hatching a brood every year. The mallard ducks have already hatched, not sure about the paradise ducks, the white headed female and dark male with their alternate hee haw honks are still flying around. Our little rare dotterels are back this week. They are the same colour as sand and shells and it's only when they move that you can see them. It was a real success for us to see them hatch last year. Many other seagulls and terns but they nest elsewhere and use the water and beach as their dinner table.
So the seasons change, as do the tides of life....

Memory

I've always had trouble with childhood memories and reading Janet Frame, one of our best writers, I am amazed how she seemed to have total recall, showing the world through a childs' eyes.
I remember my elder sister and I, we were very young, coming home and into the kitchen where Father was cutting a big loaf of white bread saying your mother wants to see you in the bedroom.
Mother was sitting up straight backed in bed in a blue nightie with a dead baby, our little brother John, in her arms. It was a wasp sting she said perhaps because menengitis was too unpalatable and that day was never mentioned again even though Mother and Father are long gone. It's strange that I can't see the face of John, only the big loaf of bread.
I remember too Father saying no to me using the dinghy and I got up early and dragged the heavy boat inch by inch into the estuary that bordered the farm and tried to row upstream. They found me gone and I couldn't understand the fuss.
And the anger and beating and no dinner when I walked home 7 miles in the dark after rugby practice.
And my younger sister rolling in the surf at Buffalo beach with her eyes closed and thick sand in her hair and Mother running down the beach... running... running.
I understand the anger now of course, coming from the desperation of losing a child, but then it only created a distance of misunderstanding.
Now I see it in other mothers eyes, that quiet, watchful desperation of loss

Eating and Drinking

The weather has been very cold and windy and traditionally people come down for the long weekend just gone, open up their summer houses, dust off the barby and have the first swim of the season. Yeah right! Just too cold. Didn't stop them coming though with a 7 kilometre wait at the one way Kopu Bridge on the way home. We had a big weekend with a wonderful buzz of conversation and eating reminding me of why we are in the business of providing food and drink for the masses. It's an appreciative business, when you get it right they tell you and come back and they pay before they leave. Also most of them are on holiday away from their busy city lives with no agenda and so are pretty easily pleased.
My menu has been working OK but what seemed a good idea on paper doesn't necessarily work when the pressure is on. I changed the fish dish yesterday to seared bluenose on risotto cake with lemon carrots, wilted spinach and chilli prawns and it sold well. Bluenose is a type of groper and being a big fish has nice thick fillets which I can cook medium rare. Must work on my duck croquettes today they are not selling. Sometimes it only takes a change in the wording and away they will go. The scallop entree is still the most favourite with a lot of people having them as a main.
Well back to the bread dough.....