A Visit to Carrick House

Robin Rogers and myself approaching Carrick Hill

Inside Carrick Hill

A view from the stairs.of the 

On a recent visit to Adelaide, Deborah's uncle, Robin Rogers, took us to Carrick Hill, the former home of Sir Edward and Lady Ursula Hayward. The Haywards were very wealthy people, and fortunately, they were great art lovers. British and Australian art were their main passions and formed the most part of their collection. They acquired paintings, drawings, prints, furniture, ceramics, glass and etc, just to give you an idea of the breadth of their interests. The British sixteenth-century Jacobean styled house is magnificent and is set amongst a most beautiful garden and a generous acreage of land.

For more information about this amazing property visit HERE

Dorrit Black

Dorrit Black

Deborah and I spent a short time in Adelaide recently and one of the main reasons we went there was to see an exhibition of paintings, prints and drawings by Dorrit Black at the Art Gallery of South Australia, and it was fantastic work. She was one of the first Australian artists to embrace Moderism and her main centres of study were Sydney, where she was interested in late Impressionism, and a little later on in Europe where she embraced a more stylised and geometric form of Moderism. She returned to Australia determined to introduce modernism into our culture and was a strong influence on the Sydney art scene where she formed the Modern Art Centre, becoming the first woman in Australia to run an art gallery. She eventually settled in Adelaide where she not only worked on her art but had a number of students as well. There is a superb catalogue of the exhibition published by the Art Gallery of South Australia and researched and written by Tracy Lock-Weir and Elle Freak. Here are a few examples of her work, but it is worth while to explore further to appreciate the art of Dorrit Black. Just google Dorrit Black artist to view more images and HERE to find out more about her biographical details.

Mirmande, 1928, oil on canvas, 71.5 x 85.7 cm

The Bridge, 1930, oil on canvas board, 75 x 96.5 cm

The Olive Plantation, 1946, oil on canvas, 77 x 100.5 cm

The Double Basses, 1950, oil on canvas, 61 x 40.5 cm

Coast Road, 1942, oil on composition board, 45.5 x 55 cm

Music, 1927-28, colour linocut, 24.1 x 21.2 cm

Black Caviar the Mum

Now for an important announcement - Black Caviar gave birth to her first foal, a filly, on September 13th! Isn't this more exciting than any human royal birth? I love the star on her forehead, maybe a prophecy of things to come. If she has her mother's character then she's already a star.

David Suchet at Melbourne's Comedy Theatre

It was my birthday recently and one of my presents was that Deborah took me to see David Suchet at the Comedy Theatre in the play The Last Confession. It was about the political maneuverings amongst the Cardinals and the events leading up to the newly elected and sudden death, after only 33 days in office, of Pope John Paul 1. David Suchet played Cardinal Benelli, a friend of the deceased Pope and was suspicious that he had been murdered by the powerful Cardinals because he was transferring a number of them away from their positions. It had an international cast and the acting by all of them was of a standard that could not be surpassed. I thought it was a masterpiece of theatre. We are both fans of Agatha Christie's Poirot, portrayed brilliantly by David Suchet, and what a thrill it was to see him live on stage.

What a great present and THANKYOU Deb!

Top 2 images - David Suchet in red as Cardinal Benelli

Me outside the Comedy Theatre