Hard Sun. Long Nights.

nearly a week gone already. first few days at the art centre went well.
the Desert Mob festival in Alice Springs runs each year in September. Jane is starting to organise which works the art centre will be submitting, and the women are painting to get things finished. Basil Hall Editions, a print studio in Darwin is organising for each of the 38 art centres around alice to submit a woodblock, carved by one of their leading artists, which they will print and have on display and for sale at the festival in september. Jane had chosen who she wanted to do Tapatjatjaka art centres block - Christobelle Briscoe, who drew on the block and then went and disappeared, which apparently isnt that unusual for her. apparently i'd been talked up as a 'master' at woodcarving, so jane had saved the block till i arrived and got me to carve the drawing. it was only 3 and a half months overdue, and i only had a set of $3 tools to work with. ironically i had taken my good tools out of my bag the night before i left thinking it was ridiculous and i wouldnt need or use them. i worked with what i had however, took 2 full days, and carving 90% of the block away with blunt tools, but its finished, and jane said still looked like her work, so i guess that is all that matters.
the women at the centre are friendly but fairly closed off to begin with, although intrigued about the carving and want to know how its done, i'll show them more next week. theres 3 young guys in their early 20's that jane employes in the office area. she also wants me to show them how to screenprint. really looking forward to that, they've got a lot of designs and drawings that will translate well onto screen, mostly things about their football team, Titjikala eagles, their jumpers etc.
starting to get used to living so remotely. the temperature isnt too bad during the day but drops very rapidly after about 4pm. the power is all from these pre-paid cards that you put into a box on the side of the house, like a pay phone. went back into town yesterday to get a tax file number etc for one of the young guys so the art centre can pay him. took best part of the day, nearly impossible to get things like that and open bank accounts when there is very little recorded information about your past. finally tracked down a birth certificate for him which helped, just another thing ive realised we take for granted. after a few hours in town all i wanted was to get back out to titjikala. as we were leaving we were approached by two drunk aboriginal women who jane knew as the mother and friend of someone from the art centre, they didnt live at titjikala but wanted a lift out there to visit.. after making a few calls jane reluctantly agreed, so made for an interesting trip home! the community is an alcohol free zone and seems to have a lot of people living here that have moved to escape the alcohol problems of the city or other communities.
the art centre is closed at weekends, so i spent today in the sun with a book, then a long walk off down a track into the desert. its a hard life....

over and out.