Regent Park Tasmania - lifestyle of artist in country Tasmania

  <<<this image takes you to youtube We got a few ducks from friends recently and have been learning about them for 2 or 3 months now. The first problem we came across (remember we knew nothing about ducks) was our friends had given us 3 drakes and 1 female.  I soon read up on the fact a drake needs 4-6 females as they are pretty rough on them once the hormones kick in.  So we sourced 3 females and when they turned up, having chosen them from photos, it was obvious the two little call ducks are far too small for the drakes who are campbells cross and twice the size of the little ones.  As spring was kicking in here this past two weeks I noticed the boys were squabbling amongst themselves and quite aggressively.  So .... we created a bachelor pen and moved the 3 drakes out.  My thinking is i also dont want a gazillion ducks where a lot of them might be drakes.  After a short time of settling in we started to find 2 eggs a day - one dropped on t...

 I am doing monthly walks around our place to keep track of changes - monthly, seasonally and annually. this month we received new ducks - 3 girls to add to the 1 girl and 3 drakes.  the drakes are getting angsty as spring is approaching ... we must move two drakes out of the pen as they are fighting regularly. (i lose it in this video!) we may need to move the third drake too as he is very big compared to the new very small call ducks that have arrived.  and within a day 'mini' (the apricot callduck) laid our first egg and has been laying each day.  so sweet.   check out our youtube channel and the playlists which feature various aspects of artist lifestyle in country Tasmania. i am googling and finding suppliers of oyster grit, pea pebbles, pellets and i soon learned (from taking note) they ate the candy (rolled oats, cracked corn, wheat) and ignored the pellets which are more nutritious.  so now i feed only pellets and use the candy as a training t...

 i have got us into quite a pickle - we decided to get ducks rather than chickens thinking ducks are less problematic - they dont need to roost, they dont need a house, and they will just come and go when they begin to free range. well.  we have had them now for around 4 weeks. we received 3 drakes and 1 female who we thought were call ducks.  lesson 1 - too many drakes and not enough females even for a single duck.  so we brought in 3 female call ducks with the intention of moving 2 of the drakes to a bachelor pen.  well ... the new ducks are the 'real' call ducks and they are tiny !!! so i googled yet again and have established our ducks are wels harlequin drakes and duck (Daisy). they are twice the size of the new call ducks so now we have to move all three harlequins to the bachelor pen.   its nudging spring already and the boys are fighting amongst themselves trying to establish territory and the girls have been here 2 days which is not helping te...

George & Archie lots happening in the studio after a #getaway to an art retreat at Enclave organised through Artable .  posts at blackfisharts studio blog about the art retreat here and back in the studio here .   a few drawings on retreat here . a recent published haiku here .  I am an award winning artist/poet working daily out of my studio in Tasmania. in an effort to keep my activities as an artist working daily and living/learning in the country i have blogs dedicated to each area -  my art gallery is at blackfisharts this blog Regents Park is about learning /experiencing #countryliving in Tasmania. a blog about my art, books, printmaking etc is at blackfisharts STUDIO WORK  my poetry is at Emerald13 my favourite recipes (mostly from my mum) - luscious Hungarian fare - as we are heading into winter its time to add a few more. If you are enjoying my blogs do leave a message and let me know and do visit my youtube channel which has playlists featu...

 now to figure out how to get it out! 

 sometimes i am a passenger in my own car so as to give V a go at driving the Diva.  a few images on the road to Burnie using slow exposure.

I am late to post but here it is.  my birthday #getaway this year was a train ride after the road trip to Queenstown. #anyexcuse to drive the Diva. We had to leave very early to make the 9.30am deadline arriving in Queenstown on time, enough to grab a coffee. The road to Queenstown is extremely winding which, needless to say, the Diva handled beautifully and V was quite happy to be driven (notwithstanding he takes calls all the time - running his car hire business on the move).  He did drive a portion of the road to give me a break over the 3.5 hours it takes. We had fun and some nice food, sparkling orange juice and Tassie chocolates.  The weather was (Tasmania) damp, chilly, not uncomfortable with random sunshine. The train trip, of 34 kilometres, on The Wilderness West Coast Railway Tasmania  is very well setup taking us through 'rugged terrain and breathtaking scenery' whilst telling of its history and that of the area.  love that little TOOT at the end We h...

Two new prints - unique, one-of-a-kind, available, float mounted (edges are shown) ready to take to your framer.  #workingeveryday  hellebore1 Updating online art gallery with new monoprints and small collages for sale (with free postage anywhere in the world - small collage series only).   I created a bundle of collages as part of a #freebie #giveaway to my subscribers of  the art gallery.   and kept creating them. hellebore2 I have also updated the look of the site so that artworks can be seen as a whole across the screen with a quick, easy look at the detail. ... let me know what you think

These two are funny ... Millie is his baby - and the only female of 4 cats.  We have two black and whites and two gingers.  check out the building of their outdoor facility where they go each day, if the weather is not foul.  the playlist of videos for the cat run are here .   some of my favourites : Archie escaping the pen which caused us to put up electric wiring - needless to say he tried to escape again, only once.   Millie was the first to come down the ramp leading out of the house and to go into the big tunnel (under the road) to get to the pen - her first time. our youtube channel is regularly updated with experiences in the studio,#countryliving, #tasmania, artworks including artist books and more including #Snowcone - a dariy cow in retirement that lives with us. she has her own playlist that she shares with our turbo chooks and #George - the old cat i would love to hear about the animals you may live with

This tiny bird was caught up in the 'v' of the bird stand - you can see i have plugged it with a little vase at the moment.  the bird was stuck in the bottom of the V shape with each wing splayed around two legs.  fortunately it did not struggle while i lifted it out by its two little wings.  it was extreme luck i was passing having just walked up to the house to get a cup of coffee. .   with eyes closed and shock kicking in i put it into a shoe box with the lid askew in the studio for an hour.  checking a couple of times its little body was breathing heavily while it recovered. and thankfully, recover it did!  it was bright eyed and alert when i put the box outside without the lid.  with other bird sounds around, the little mite chirped loudly and i saw an adult come over to the box.  the little one soon flew off with the adult.  so good. is it a house sparrow ? i googled but i cannot see any images with the  yellow marks on either...

Early Spring our couple of Turbo Chooks that live on the block outside the studio had 6 chicks; they managed to raise 4 to young teenage status and 3 days ago the whole family of 4 teens and 2 adults marched 6 new little chicks out across the lawn.  so lovely to see how they all pitch in. (images below and you tube video below images)

Occasionally i send out a newsletter to my subscribers and have posted here the latest sent out this week.  There is a free gift promised that will be sent out after Christmas.  See the newsletter here . Subscribe to my list here . (in the left hand column) AND A CHRISTMAS haiku written today

Blackfisharts Gallery is a new place where i have been placing artworks made available and selling now.  It is being regularly updated as i find, record and load artworks.  A few artworks are up on  blackfisharts tasmania site  -  there are  paintings  across media such as acrylic, oil, pastel featuring abstracts,  pears  and landscape. and  prints , most being one of a kind monoprints or digital.  Textiles  are new to the site - years of slow stitching at night culminate in wall hangings such as these.  The section  Collage  includes the textiles due to the way they are worked - a few analogue collages are loaded on the site.

Turos Teszta  - pasta with cream cheese I love the simplicity of this dish that speaks of winter comfort.    My mum taught me this recipe in my teens when my sister and I had to take turns to cook each weekend.- it is usually made with fettuccini, bacon, sour cream and cream cheese. I made this dish last night and have, over the. years, adapted it to bring in a range of extras. i dont use a measure and go by quantities i want for the number of people,   adjusting the additions accordingly with regard to balance and taste.    This recipe is well-suited to being a vegetarian dish by leaving out the bacon and sausage and adding other vegetables.  Questions? ask away. INGREDIENTS Fettuccini - i used Guzzi egg fettuccini (half a pack) smoked bacon - chopped into squares chorizo - chopped into half circles red onion - thinly sliced   carrot - chopped into squares or half circles mushroom - chopped into small squares broccoli tops - finely chopped cream ...

Baby turbo chooks happening all over the place .. these live outside the studio - they started with 6 and unfortunately lost 2 to goshawks.  These 4 have been doing okay - the image was taken 2 weeks ago.  We have kept fallen trees along the edge of the creek which is providing shelter and hiding spots for them.  so good. so cute. Did you know we have a youtube channel that has a playlist for monthly diary walk arounds and living with fauna (among others). - here's one.  October diary walk 2025  and this one (September creek after rains)  

Happy Birthday to V - i took him on a mystery tour encompassing 1.5 hours drive one way, that he guessed just 15 minutes from leaving home. Seahorse World at Beauty Point - a lovely drive, new vistas to take in and  Aussie eats beginning to our trip - pie and sausage roll. stopped at Exeter Bakery enroute. We keep getting the signage wrong in taking photos - happy birthday V The Diva - #anyexcuse 

  Normally we would not see the daily machinations of the native hens (turbo chooks) that live with us however, we have a pair of turbo chooks that have set up house on our front lawn - they have been there for 3 years and have not yet grown their babies to adulthood.   Its fast becoming the most stressful time of the year for us.  This poor little bundle was picked up by a goshawk, turbo chook mum and i went hollering across the hill and the hawk dropped the chick. If it were not for the talons i wonder if the chick would have survived.  She is now buried under a shrub.   This little one (above) was part of 6 day old chicks and as of today we are down to 4with one that is hopping having hurt a leg.  Today has been the most stressful as goshawks have come and gone and now a crow has noticed the little one that is not walking well. Mum has chased it away twice and it is just upsetting to think of the battle these little ones endure daily. a short v...

 if you follow me you may know that i am in the studio every day and work across media including collage, painting, slow stitching, photomedia, printmaking and poetry. The image above is from my exhibition held at the Wilderness Gallery Cradle Mountain a couple of years ago - acrylic & gesso on paper.  90x110cm framed in a simple genuine hardwood (eucalypt). Images of the works in the exhibition can be seen here . With over 120 published works of poetry I have created and am slowly bringing the site up to date here . Writing is a big part of my arts practice and poetry is an extension of that writing.  I enjoy mostly short form such as haiku, haiga, haibun, tanka and some free verse. I was fortunate to be a part of a fabulous forum, in the day when there were forums, where some of the world's top poets in short form guided new poets like myself through the maze of information and bias of the various forms. This kind of support in writing and being published was key t...

 Its a beautiful Spring day here - intermittent showers with sunny moments in between.  The Camellia which was planted before we came is in full flower again.  Unusually, i think, its turned two-tone - quite lovely. The studio is lovely and clean - V & I mopped the floor a week ago - huge job (18x12 metres in and around tables and benches) and i swept it up this morning in readiness for our workshop.  A small group (as i like it) and a day of making this book and this one. I dont have workshops often as i work a lot on my own projects but i do enjoy when i hold them. Usually they are held in winter or winter's end but i am open to any time of year if groups organise themselves - bring 1 or 2 friends with you and email me your dates if you wish to have a workshop. I have placed the book workshops here. Updated my poetry site a little yesterday - big job - onward with regular updates to post in one place all my (mainly published) poetry but also some of my favour...

The birds, in mobs, are racing around, chasing, being chased, singing and heralding. The creek is high from recent rains, chinese cabbage and brocoli have bolted, the mini nectarine is already in full flower and if there was any doubt at all .....   the wattles are out. and then there is #Snowcone ... such a sweet girl - our dairy cow in retirement  find her on our youtube channel here ... and check out this hilarious one where she got out and i had not a clue what to do !