Bart Bear's Blog

One sort of compensating thing about having the chance of travel severely restricted - there is a lot more time for craft. We have looked at several possible trips, but each time we are ready to go interstate the borders shut again so craft is a sanity-saver. Mum and I have made dozens of cards since my last post. Here are 4 of my favourites. The top 2 remind me of the Oldies' snorkelling trips. They actually saw some giant jellyfish near one of the Barrier Reef islands. Seahorses are much harder to find because they hide among the seaweed and stay still while snorkellers are nearby. The bottom 2 celebrate special people. They are Charlie Chaplin, who my grandfathers liked, and Frida Kahlo, a Mexican artist that Mum likes a lot. Now I have to go to the other side of the room and see what Mum is working on next. She will no doubt need my help.

Labels: Canberra, cards

Well, Canberra is slowly coming out of COVID restrictions. We are able to travel around the ACT and NSW, but not other states yet. So the output of craft stuff is still our main way of filling in time. Mum and I have been making 2 sorts of cards. There are some pretty arty cards like the flowers one, and some crazy ones like the one with the snarky cat. I really like the snarky cat series and am bothering Mum to do more of them. Dad and I are building more ships, all 1/700 scale. The first photo has 3 ships that are important in the history of Pearl Harbour. The small one is the destroyer USS Ward, which sunk a Japanese midget submarine just outside the harbour on the morning of the attack. The middle-sized ship is USS Arizona, the battleship whose wreck is the centrepiece of the Arizona Memorial (see my post of Jan 11, 2014 for images of the site). The largest is USS Missouri the battleship that Dad and I were able to clamber over when we were at Pearl (see the post from Jan 15, 2014 for images of her). And for those who thought that RMS Titanic was the largest ship ever built, just compare it with the Queen Mary 2. The QM2 is not even the largest ship today as many tankers, container ships and aircraft carriers are longer and heavier. However, it is the largest ship that this small bear has ever been on (there are lots of images of that trip, just type Queen Mary in the search box at the top of the page).

Labels: boats, cards, models

Gosh, it has been a month since the last post and what a month it has been. Here in Australia we are in self-isolation due to the virus which is causing disaster all over the world. So far our extended family is safe and staying home as much as possible. We are keeping "cabin fever" at bay thanks to our hobbies, DVD library and "wine cellar". Mum and I have been creating cards and learning new techniques. Backgrounds like the one for the butterfly have been spectacular and Dad has taken one that he classes as art and he won't let me add anything else to it. The book cover with all the added things on it is our first attempt at mixed-media journals. I think it is a great first attempt and so do Mum's craft club ladies who have seen it on FB. Meanwhile Dad has been busy with card and plastic kits making castles and ships. This is one of the castles he makes and gives to neighbour kids. The ships are what he calls "isolation jobs" completed since home isolation was imposed. The paint jobs are his first attempts at painting the camouflage patterns the ships wore at particular dates, rather than the various shades of grey they were at some stages of their service.
I hope that all of my readers are coping with this horrible time and have hobbies to help them cope with "cabin fever".

Labels: boats, Canberra, cards, castle, craft