I went for a long stroll in Paddington which is one of the most charming areas in Sydney. It has retained its old victorian terraces and colonial looking houses. Narrow streets and big trees, it feels like a village in the city.

I finished my exploration at the Roslyn Oxley9 gallery which has been the subject of many of my contemplations throughout the years.

My favourite photographer of all time is Bill Henson, an australian artist I came accross randomly on my last trip, 11 years ago, while in a small art gallery in Tasmania. His historical gallery is Roslyn Oxley9. He has since had a big retrospective at the NSW Art Gallery and worldwide acclaim but his work has almost never been showed in a big way in Europe or the US – I mean in a museum. He has another gallery in New York and another one in Switzerland, but he’s not represented in Paris at all.

Roslyn’s website still holds the most comprehensive collection of his work and I’ve spent countless hours browsing through these fascinating images. I cannot express how much I love this work and it’s safe to say that due to my over-exposition to photography for the last few years I have become a very difficult audience. These are incredibly mysterious, deep, timeless; they move me profoundly.

A couple of years ago I contacted the gallery to enquire about the price of the photographs. One of my very few materialistic dreams is to purchase one of them. They were expensive at the time but as I entered the gallery today and looked at  the catalog I found out that prices had raised again. I wish I had bought some work 10 years ago!  (Well, I never would have, I was so broke!!)

As the conversation went on about some of his past work (my favourites are from 1983-1990), the lovely gallery staff took me to the back office to show me some of his archives. I felt a child-like excitement that I clumsily tried to conceal…

So I saw for the first time some of his triptych / diptych from 1983 which I worship and only ever had seen on a computer screen… I was blown away.

The irony is that his pictures cost around AUS$ 30 000 each (editions of 10 / 76 x 63 cm) (note to self) and my absolute favourites are those who come together as a group of 2 or 3, which obviously means that this tryptich above is AUS$ 90 000. Hum… Not gonna be able to afford that just yet. Not yet.

Then they took out some of his Lux & Now serie for me which is probably his most famous work. They are all around AUS$ 30 000 (editions of 5 + 2 AP/ 128 x 180 cm) apart from what I call the “American” serie which are these and only cost AUS$ 12 000 (editions of 20/ 128 x 100 cm)

I had been looking forward to finally setting foot in this beautiful gallery but having been shown these works was unexpected. Next time I will be purchasing one of these.

After a pretty bad April with constant problems with my back, I’m happy to welcome May and make the most of every day as I seem to be getting better. I’ve been waking up really early everyday and enjoying the sunrise. Autumn is really pleasant, it’s still very warm and the main change is the length of days: the sun sets at about 5:30 ish.

Palm Beach

Darling Harbour

1. Albums must BE NO LONGER THAN 42 MINUTES PRODUCTION MUST BE AMAZING, RICH, BUT WITH SPACE, NOT OVERLAYERED, LESS TRACKS, MORE QUALITY.

2. GROOVE AND SWING Drums/rhythm are the most crucial thing to concentrate on; diff. between bittersweet and science of silence

3. COMPUTERS ARE INSTRUMENTS. NOT RECORDING AIDS.

4. IMAGERY MUST BE CLASSIC, COLOURFUL AND DIFFERENT. COME BACK IN GLORIOUS TECHNICOLOUR.

5. MAKE SURE VIDEOS AND PICTURES ARE GREAT BEFORE SETTING RELEASE DATE. And highly original.

6. ALWAYS KEEP MYSTERY. Not many interviews

7. GROOVE AND SWING. RHYTHMS AND SOUNDS MUST ALWAYS BE AS ORIGINAL AS POSSIBLE. Once song has melody, twist it and weird it sonical

8. Promo/review copies to be on VINYL. Stops copying problem, sounds and looks better.

9. Jaqueline sabriado, ns p cc, face forward

10. Think about what to do with charity account. Set up something small but really enabling and constructive

Finally!

Sorry for the silence. I’ve finally moved to what will be my flat for the next few months. This is the fourth time I’ve moved since getting here and it’s quite a relief to settle down.

It’s a two bedroom appartment on the 3rd floor with a huge “L” shaped balcony overlooking the sea – it even has a barbecue. The beach is only a few meters away, merely a 1 minute walk.

It all feels quite perfect.

One thing I’ve always been interested in is how to structure my days in order to achieve as much as possible and be as energetic as can be. In the past I’ve often lacked the discipline to enforce these decisions. Now, here, it’s just me and I have no obstacle to experiment with my lifestyle.

So I’m starting today my April 30-day-challenge implementing all the rules of I want to live by – some very basic (getting up and going to sleep times), some more challenging like exercising every day, some more creative.

There are a number of things I’ve been wanting to do for years but didn’t have the head space or money for. Things I’ve been wanting to do since teenagehood. Things I want to take with me in the second half of my life. Things I regret not doing. I have no more time for regrets in this life. It’s starting today.

This is the view from Maïté’s appartment in Rose Bay. Wouldn’t you like a garden on the beach? Must admit I could easily spend the rest of my life here. Care free…