Jean Burman

Cartoon Pen & Watercolour Copyright 2008 Jean Burman

It’s hard to believe it’s all over.

Over the past two weeks we have borne witness to too many awe inspiring record breaking achievements to mention individually here. What has struck me the most has been not so much the Gold medals won… but the individual struggle in the attempt to capture one.

The stories of “almost getting there… but not quite” have been compelling. And the loss wasn’t because the athlete didn’t try hard enough… or wasn’t good enough (sometimes there was just a hair’s breadth between the times or performances)… but because someone has to win. And needless to say… the winner takes all… even if by only a fraction of a millisecond… or by the placement of one foot… deemed to be just millimetres out of line.

Saturday’s synchronised swimming was nothing short of “amazing”. As was the rhythmic gmnastics (with rope apparatus). I didn’t necessarily agree with the judges and believe with all my heart that Belarus did far better than Russia… but so what… it was nonetheless absolutely “wonderful” to see such dedication, discipline, cooperation and commitment to the task at hand.

But these are the traits that must surely be the hallmark of all Olympic achievement.

So did Michael Phelps’ size 14 feet really propel him to greatness? No… not without his years of dedicated training and the will to do it.

Did Kerry Walsh’s height give her an advantage in getting the ball so effectively across the net in the beach volleyball? Sure… but not without her commitment to purpose.

And physical advantage doesn’t explain how little Kristi Harrower… the formidable number 10 with the Opals Australian Women’s Basketball Team… manages to do what she does so well from below the level of everyone else’s armpit!

There was success against the odds… with Anna Meares winning silver… after her massive claw back from a C2 spinal injury endured in a crash during competition just 8 months ago.

And there was terrible loss… with Liu Xiang’s dramatic withdrawal from competition bringing shock and disappointment to billions. Nonetheless… the athlete courageously lined up on the blocks in an attempt to fearlessly carry on… despite a catastrophic achilles heel injury that was set to prevent him from doing the job. Yet… incredibly… the will was still there.

My only small disappointment was Stephanie Rice’s acceptance of Seven network’s $700,000 enticement not to appear on rival network Nine’s 60 minutes program last night along with the rest of the Aussie contingent. And Michael Phelps absence from the closing ceremony due to endorsement commitments elsewhere. Seems that money gets in the way of everything. Shame that.

But all medals and prospective endorsements aside… the Games of the 29th Olympiad have (in my opinion) been a huge success in human terms.

They have given insight into the immense human struggle to reach an individual’s top form. They have given courage and inspiration to those who witnessed that struggle against the odds. They have brought peace and co-operation between countries unheard of through diplomatic or political process. They have shown us how to win with courage… and how to lose with grace… (and in some cases without it!) (grin)

The Olympic Games has brought a country that had previously been little understood out into the spotlight for all to see. We may not agree with all that she does… but China’s entry on to the world stage through the hosting of these Olympics has… in my view… been a complete success. The world’s cultural and ethical differences can only be resolved through openness and understanding… compromise and co-operation.

The Olympic Games… despite the nationalistic emphasis… has gone a very long way toward bridging the gulf that unnecessarily divides us.

One World - One Dream… is no longer a dream.

It really happened.

After a busy Saturday getting stuff done in the city…

A busker in Pitt Street Mall - (think Gypsy Kings and you’ll be close)

it was great to catch up with my brother and his two gorgeous girls on Sunday down by Sydney Harbour. Having the four cousins together is always a treat.

On this sparkling blue skied winter morning… we wandered through the Royal Botanic Gardens down to Farm Cove and around to Mrs. Macquarie’s chair.

Not sure if I ever mentioned that my great great great grandfather (an Irish stonemason) won his pardon from then Governor of New South Wales (Major-General Lachlan Macquarie) by crafting a chair for his wife… hewn from the rock… in her favourite spot overlooking Sydney Harbour. Who’d have thought that almost 200 years later… six of his descendants would still be sitting there? (chuckles)

We enjoyed coffee in the Tea Gardens (a paradox I know) and then an inspired walk through the nearby Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Sunday arvo the girls and I headed down to Bondi Beach for a leisurely lunch… (albeit rugged up against the winter chill whipped up by a stiff sou-easter that I swear was coming straight off the ice sheets of the Southern Ocean). I always knew Bondi was the “chilled out place to be”… but this was kinda ridiculous! (grin)

Bondi waves courtesy of Uge at Aquabumps.com

How fellow-blogger and photographer (Eugene) over at Aqua Bumps gets out there every morning at 7am to photograph the waves on his favourite surfing beach in the whole wide world… I have absolutely no idea. Nevertheless… he does… come hell or high water. I have however lately noticed a few pictures sneaking into his newsletter from the far flung (slightly) warmer climes of the Maldives Madagascar and Fiji! I wonder if even he too is feeling the cold? LOL

Later that night… we flew home in radiant moonlight…

Cool photo of the full moon through glass -

(obviously not superstitious at all… well not much) LOL

but not before buying a small box of Krispy Kremes to take on the journey with us. I had never tasted them before… (we don’t have such “apparent” luxuries at home)… and the queue to the counter at the airport outlet was as long as your arm. Sheesh… all that fuss over a tiny deep fried cake with a hole! (grin)

As we filed onto the aircraft for the journey home… I noticed that the rather largish gentleman settling into the seat diagonally opposite had some too. Five jumbo boxes in fact. I watched as he lovingly stowed them into the overhead locker. Ahhh… another satisfied customer. (grin)

I wondered what it was about these overly sweet imported morsels that had our population queueing for days?

Whatever happened to good old Aussie vegemite then… or Arnotts Arrowroot biscuits for that matter… lashed with butter and dunked unceremoniously into hot billy tea?

Wearily contemplating the loss… I closed my eyes and stretched my legs out beneath the seat in front of me as the plane lifted into the night sky.

“Here you go Mum… have one… you’re gonna love ‘em!” she offered with a nudge.

I broke off a tiny piece and popped it into my mouth.

Yep… she was right… I did

Another cartoon. Just got the photo in before the daylight faded! Phew.

Oops… looks like it’s too big! Oh well… I’ll fix it when I get back…

Cartoon Pen & Watercolour Copyright 2008 Jean Burman

I am off to Sydney in the morning but will be back Sunday night.

C u all then!

PS: Hope you like this latest addition

- inspired by gymnasts “of every stripe” who bravely took on the beam!

Cartoon Pen & Watercolour Copyright 2008 Jean Burman

Another incredible day of human achievement. I don’t quite know what’s come over me as I am not generally given to watching much television…. and definitely not sporting events… especially as a non participating couch potato!

But this week has been different.

Not that my viewing has been all that “couch potato-esque”… most of it comes in fleeting snapshots as I pass by the tellie. But then it happens that something captures my attention… and I am sucked helpless (like a moth to the flame) into the next event!

“Oh hang it all… there’s always next week to get something done”

I attribute my newfound interest in the Olympics to advances in technology and the huge leap in the way television is delivered to us today. With innovative camera work (capturing with subtlety a single water droplet) and insightful commentary from programs like the Seven Network’s “Yum Cha” (check out Episode 3 so funny)… the focus has been not only on the winners… but also on the stories of personal triumph that… after all the hard work… don’t always translate into success.

It strikes me that there are metaphors for life everywhere in the Olympics. And there are lessons to learn in watching how these dedicated professionals deal with triumph and disaster in their own individual way.

Moreover… there are lessons for the world (at large) to learn… in how to deal effectively with each other in a moderate way… having respect for our differences whilst at the same time celebrating those things that we do have in common. No… not everyone gets it right… but there are lessons in not getting it right too! LOL

This cartoon was inspired by Libby Trickett’s individual gold medal win in the 100 metres butterfly event. It wasn’t the win that inspired me so much as the humanity shown at the end of the race when the silver medal winner Christine Magnuson from the US… bobbed spontaneously under the rope and wholeheartedly embraced her rival. What an awesome example of friendship, tolerance and understanding.

I hope our political leaders are taking note… and paying attention to more than just the scores!

Cartoon Pen & Watercolour

Copyright 2008 Jean Burman

The Olympics are off and running… and despite the naysayers and all the grave predictions and warnings to the contrary… the Games of the 29th Olympiad in Beijing look set to be a huge success.

So far the sky has not fallen… nor has the smog overwhelmed. The clouds weren’t tampered with… because the rain came anyway. It bucketed down… everyone got wet… and nobody gave a hoot.

So maybe… just maybe… there was no bogey man in the cupboard afterall. The internet is working… the intense security is doing it’s job… and all’s quiet in Tiananmen Square. So much hot air over nothing.

I don’t understand the media predilection for the weather… the security… the smog… the drugs… the human rights… (I could go on) over the past three days. It’s not as if they had nothing else to talk about. I’m so glad they’ve finally gotten over it and… all is as it should be… with all eyes on the athletes and the brilliant performances they have already begun to deliver!

Beijing looks amazing! The facilities are second to none. The mood from all reports is “pumping”.

I can’t help but feel we are witnessing history here. These games will change the world… or at least… the way we perceive it into the future. China is making her entrance. And she appears to be doing so with great pride and enthusiasm from her people… and what they have achieved with the staging of these Games.

Yes… it could be said that China has a way to go in some areas… but I think this “opening up” will be the first step toward a greater leap in global consciousness… what’s acceptable in the global village… and what’s not.

The world is changing. The best message heralded by these games is that we can change in a positive way… through peaceful interaction… healthy competition… engaged cooperation… and purposeful understanding.

The atheletes are already accomplishing this. We need only follow their excellent example.

Okay… what’s next? Pass me the TV guide would you? This stuff’s addictive… (grin)

PS: Hope you like the cartoon! I am planning a small Olympic series.

On Friday we drove up to Brisbane to visit Picasso & His Collection at the Gallery of Modern Art. As it turned out Picasso himself wasn’t able to attend due to his being largely indisposed (chuckles)… but nonetheless we enjoyed High Tea without him in the Gallery Cafe before viewing the show.

High Tea!

This was an exhibition of Picasso’s personal collection “on tour” from the Musee National Picasso in Paris. It included not only Picasso’s own works but many important pieces acquired throughout his life from artist friends and colleagues… and included paintings, drawings and prints by artists such as Chardin, Matisse, Renoir, Cézanne, Rousseau, Miró, Modigliani (just one) and Braque as well as a selection of Oceanic and African works.

Gallery Cafe @ GOMA Brisbane

Although exceptionally well put together I initially found it difficult to get excited about much of the art. However… as this was Picasso’s personal collection I tried my best to understand what might have compelled this man to collect these particular works.

The conclusion I came to was that the collection comprised works that had “meaning” for him… works by friends and colleagues who had shared the same time and place in history… and a common experience of life in early 20th century Paris. Once I reconciled this… I found a new appreciation.

I admire Picasso’s work but none of it has ever really moved me. Perhaps this could be perceived as some grave failure on my part… but I do know what I like! So for me… only one painting in the whole collection truly resonated. Interestingly… it was the only Modigliani in the collection.

Poorly reproduced here - this image bears little resemblance to the original

Modigliani’s “Seated Dark Haired Girl” (painted in 1918 two years before his untimely death and acquired by Picasso two years after it) literally sucked me in from across the room and held me spellbound.

So simply executed… so profoundly beautiful… so “achingly” human.

I have long admired Modigliani’s work… the big shapes… the deceptively simple execution… but never before had I so completely “got it”. The emotional content was palpable. Tears welled in my eyes. Odd that they did… for Modigliani wasn’t given to painting eyes! But in this painting there was something about them…

The story goes that when Jeanne Hebuterne (Modigliani’s beautiful companion and muse) asked him why he never painted her eyes… Modigliani enigmatically replied

“I will paint your eyes when I know your soul”

I wonder though if this really explains it. Why would a painter choose not to paint his sitter’s eyes? (especially when his earlier work proved him more than capable of doing so.

To me… there seems to have been a creeping cynicism in the artwork from around this time. And this exhibition showed it was not isolated to Modigliani’s work either.

For Modigliani… a potent combination of illness poverty and substance abuse had created a pervasive atmosphere of despair and competitive rivalry with his peers (in particular Picasso). He was reportedly burned out by this time in his career… and through the haze of substance abuse (perhaps) he grew tired and cynical… too tired to look his subjects in the eye… let alone look deeply into their souls!

I believe this is what makes this particular painting all the more extraordinary. It’s as though the artist dug “especially deep” to produce it. How amazing that a stranger might stand before it all these years later and feel the impact of that struggle!

I cast my eyes around the room searching the walls of perfectly rendered images that said… virtually nothing to me… and never before had I been so acutely aware that it matters not what subject the painter paints… nor how technically correct the rendering might be… nor how zealously or slavishly he or she pursues literal perfection, detail or correctness.

What matters most of all is that the work captures the soul of the subject and the spirit of the artist [within it]. When those two forces meet the earth moves and the heavens open up!

To me… that is what is essential. And in the end it’s the only thing that matters… and the only thing worth striving for.

Only rose petals left… (grin)

I should have liked it if Picasso and Modigliani could have joined us for tea (or perhaps in their case something just a tad stronger)… but nonetheless we ate all the sandwiches and cakes… drank copious quantities of coffee and tea and toasted those raucous heady days in the cafes of Montparnasse and the times that defined them all!