My
place
in
space
high
above
the
kitchen
"We're
all
strangers
here,
on
our
way
to
some
other
place.
These Four
walls
can
never
hold
us,
we're
all
looking
for wide
open
spaces,
high
above
the
kitchen.
So
tell
me,
where
do
you
go?
Do
you
climb
into
space
to
the
world
where
you
live?"
words adapted from Neil Finn's song "World where you live"
whose wonderfully unique, all too relevant lyrics and music continue to
inspire me.
August 2001 - Another year gone by so hello to those who have been keeping up with me on the net. A pretty eventful year for me and one that so far has seen me realise a few passions in my life. Firstly, I finally saw Neil Finn live, at the Metro in Sydney, and what a great night and venue it was. An intimate place where you pay little and see lots. High on my own excitement I couldn't have asked for a better place to see Neil sing. Small, 1,000 people, cheap and you could drink as you watched which made it all the better as inhibitions release pretty quickly after a few wines. As such, dancing was easy and I can almost forget my disappointment at missing him perform at the Olympics. Much more civilised seeing him at the Metro.
Of course, my first great love, Norman Lindsay, took me to the opening of a fabulous exhibition in the past month with one of his former models, Phyllis, opening the proceedings. She was lovely and spoke of her friendship with Norman and how he got her to pose for him in the first place. It was great to be invited and recognised as someone remotely associated with him. So I can thank those who frequent the website, which in turn keeps me going with it, for getting me to this point. I was really appreciative of the invitation and again was on a high when I attended the opening night. Some wonderful work of Norman's that I'd not seen before (I bet there isn't a soul on the earth who has seen them all) and forty odd photos he'd taken of some of his models in the early part of the last century.
I've also begun oil painting myself this year and as such haven't been as regular with the updates on the site, although I do answer my email every day and look forward to hearing from you. But time being the eternal enemy and my self discipline being zip, I find I'm painting every waking moment, so forgive me for not adding new things to the site as often as I used to, but say the word and they'll be there. Painting has been both frustrating and orgasmic, depending on the outcome. I heard it took Norman two years to get used to oil paints. I should be ready in 100. Meantime I am enjoying my feeble attempts at naked ladies but am no threat to any artist, living or dead. YET!!
Have, as always, enjoyed the serendipity this website seems to generate and have had many enjoyable exchanges with visitors to the site, even managed to meet one of them in the flesh at one of the exhibitions this year. Proves we are all real physical human beings, you and me. I'm sure my parents still think the internet is 'rent-a-crowd'. I miss some of the people who were with me at the inception of this site and know that their presence in my life at the time played a big part in what my life is today. I hope old friendships come around again.
All the best for the rest of this year and hopefully we're all still here in August 2002!!
To clear up one thing. The name Desertqueen came from the movie "Pricilla Queen of the Desert". Due to my love of the fabulous dresses the "girls" wore in it and my obvious love of sparkly things, I chose to use it back in the good old days when cyber names were 'kewl'. I am now stuck with it and must admit, I quite love it. I am not, however, a man nor a drag-queen. I am a woman.
Update August 2000: Another year has gone by and I am still just as fascinated with the endless possibilities of the internet. I guess most of my good fortune with it has been related to the Norman Lindsay site. I said it before and a year later I can still vouch for it, people are the same all over the world and when it comes to Norman Lindsay no matter whether they're in places as remote as the Faroe Island, a country as different as Saudi Arabia or someone that lives in a Sydney suburb close by to me, they all have such passion for his art and philosophies that I just wish he was alive today to know it.
Update April 1999: Well, its some years since I put this page up and so much has happened in that space of time. I've met so many people via these web pages I wish I'd had the internet when I was a little girl, the friends I'd have to play with! The friendships I've made have been genuine and there seems to be a special sort of bond that "net" friends have. Bit like going to school together or sharing some sort of history that makes you pretty close to them in such a short time. I guess people are more open when they use email, you tend to say more than you would if you were face to face. With this in mind, we seem to get to know each other very quickly and I can't say I've met anyone that wasn't genuinely interested and sincere particularly regarding the Norman Lindsay site. That has been my passion and love for the past two years and changed my whole life, purely because of the influence its had on me and the people I've met, both via email and in person. Considering the nature of his art it is heart-warming to tell you that I've never had any weirdo's or perverts contact me via the site, which can dispel some of the myths about the internet. As long as you take care and act responsibly on it, it will probably be one of the greatest peace makers the world has ever known . The next generation of young adults will have grown up with the internet and made many contacts and friends around the world. In doing that a lot of previously held prejudices and conceptions about other nationalities may finally be ended, how could you declare war on someone you've been chatting to on ICQ for 15 years??
Actually, the only insincere person I've ever had contact with via the internet, I'd actually met in real life first, and then put him on ICQ! Be wary of mixing the two sometimes!! You know who you are!!
Its been great being one of the pioneers.
My story begins, some time in 1997 (I think it was then!)
Up until about four years ago I had never touched a computer. When I left the workforce (as a secretary) the IBM Golfball (with self correcting typex included!) was the latest technology in the most modern of offices. Computers were there of course, but they were all in some mysterious room on some mysterious floor (usually the 13th) and were more like things I'd seen in 1950's sci-fi movies. Then some 10 years later Santa delivered a brand new IBM computer to my children for Christmas. It too was the latest in technology at the time and by comparison now is probably as antiquated as the IBM golf ball!
The kids had lots of fun with their new computer but all I'd hear their father say was "make sure you don't just turn it off, you have to get out of the program you're in first, or else!". So, unlike the TV, when I thought they'd been on it too long, I wasn't game to just go and turn the damn thing off for fear of what this "or else" might entail. I'd heard all sorts of dreadful stories about losing all your programs, losing everything in the memory etc.
So, that big 'or else' killed any interest I may have had in playing with it for quite some time. However, curiosity got the better of me (plus I had to get the upper hand on the kids) and, after arm wrestling with the mouse for a week or so and spending the standard time playing solitaire, I finally learned how to do something on the computer - for a full six months I was totally addicted to sitting up all night playing Mah-Jong and Hearts!
I was doomed to be a closet card player until one day, for no reason other than the fact that my husband can't stand not having the latest technology in the house, he walked in with a little box and a telephone technician. We were hooking up to the internet! In no time at all, after the standard time of worrying sick I was accidentally going to tap into the FBI or the local bank, I began looking forward to hearing that familiar binging, bonging, whirring sound the outside internet connection made when it was in search of lands and people far away.
Finally, I was cured of my secret nightly card games! Instead, it was 24 hour net surfing! Well, being a lover of art, but never having found any great niche for my humble talents, I was fascinated by some of the homepages people had made and began asking the few people I'd met on the net how to do them, as it seemed everyone and his dog had his own homepage (except me!) . Well, in the end I had driven enough of them up the wall to the point that one of my net friends invited me to do an on-line course she had begun running on html and web graphics.
So, after eight weeks of frustration, elation, frustration, anger and exhilaration, I finally learned a little about the technology I'd missed between the IBM golf ball and the internet and made my first web page.
The feeling I got when my first page actually appeared on my screen and even found its way, through the clouds, the planets and the universe to America, was a thrill I will long remember. Such a sense of achievement fell over me that, 12 months later my closet card habit has nothing on my graphics and web page addiction!!
That old IBM computer was worked to the bone, updated and upgraded but eventually became extinct, like its cousin the golf ball, and we now have a new, more powerful one that can handle all my graphics and pages. But I do miss those binging, bonging, whirring sounds that I associate so much with my first ever web page appearing with "http://www" in front of it!
My main project has been putting Norman Lindsay on the internet. An Australian artist who defies explanation. His legacy continues to have a snowball effect on the unsuspecting and a renewed lust on those who have forgotten what it's all about. Doing this web site has become a most absorbing passion. So much so I ended up trying to recreate a little of the magic of Springwood, his home, in my own backyard.
Also ventured into web design for others. If you're interested in having yourself represented on the net, and not necessarily full of stars and sparkles (I can do more conservative pages too). Contact me if you think I can represent you artistically on the net.
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