STRONG MAN COMPETITIONS!

There are many things that are springing to mind lately that do not make sense. Things that were ok when I was young - they were apart of the everyday like bad teeth and hair. Of course I am referring to the 1970's yet again my grey matter can barely contemplate what went on back then and just this morning I thought of strongman competitions. Men using their mouths and bodies to create super human efforts.

This guy is clearly thin with but sports neck muscles and gums that are incredibly ripped.

I recall men pulling aeroplanes and trucks with this sort of apparatus...
and that was a good idea!

Sitting in front of the TV with my own bad teeth (before I wore braces) my gympie grin in front of my thugs of brothers belied my true confusion.

Whats going on here? My tiny brain would scream as I backed out of the room as the testosterone threatened to seep into my thin girly skin.

I knew there were men that did look like this but did I want to know one?

Was lifting a train axle that much of a good idea?

Who took the axle to that venue?

Train axle + strongman = event .... In whose brain?

I was so confused.

Many hours were spent trying to purge these images from my mind. I kept my small hands busy and hoped the memories would fade.

Today it all came back to me.

This guy Vasily Alekseyev a famous athlete the sport of weightlifting. From 1970 through 1977 he was undefeated in every major international competition and claimed 22 titles, including eight consecutive world championships and two Olympic gold medals. 

Umm okay. I still don't get it.

Now I can see how this kick might warrant some true talent and strength and am not sure If I myself copped a few in my time - little sisters don't always get off easily.

Now as far as strongman activities go I am not sure what it takes but surely the mind is saying "Look this is really not such a great idea - just stop it" Surely the brain is saying a lot of stuff like that or was it just mine?

This cant be fun...surely.
Like I understand how lifting this enormous dumbbell might theoretically look alright in a Popeye Comic sense but in real life?

And I don't want either of these guys knocking at my door (or on my TV these days).

Ok I actually am at a loss at what to say about the rock but you certainly would not want to drop it.


Its not very sophisticated is it? 

I know I may have totally missed the point and am sure it is a skill and a talent to manage these feats and not just achieve them but commit to them mentally and physically without doing any permanent damage to the body. I don't know how they do it.

You can't tell me this guys having a good time.

Well good luck to him. Meanwhile I just hope my sons never find footage of these events and if they do I will surely dissuade them from being amateur Strongmen, my only hope for them is that they become goodmen.

CARS, BABY CARS AND THE LOVELY MR IMPERIAL

Once upon a time when I was young, foolhardy and far too young to drive I fancied one of these. A giant boisterous cruiser.

Classic and Vintage cars have always been something I have appreciated my entire life but lately they keep me up at night. They call and tempt me I am flushed with compelling desire and its all about chrome, head or tail lights, streamlining and paintwork. Dashboards and instrumentation feature heavily. I imagine the luxurious interior, the possibility of pinhole vinyl, leather quilting, mahogany inlays or a faux timber veneer its all good as long as its not rigid formed plastic like the cars of today.  I really should avoid car shows and put blinkers on while I drive.

Sexy tail lights, like fluttering lashes to me.

Check out this loveliness!
Faux timber 70's dash inlay....ahhh and check the tail.

Now while my expectation may have not been met I did love my first car...

Ahh she handled like a giant majestic tank, slow and heavy on the ground, ahh the 3 on the tree gear lever, ahh the huge square red leather seats, the stunning mahogany dash - she was a gentle wide beaut! After much time and money though the 1965 Humber Vogue had to make room for a very practical substitute and so its been ever since.


Now call it madness but I have a thoroughly divided and intense band of focus it involves the following.

The small fugly car. The kind of car I never really understood - they made me snigger Escorts, Cortinas, Datsuns etc. I didnt get the guys that loved them in the 80's dropped an oversized or rotary engine in them spent a fortune on wheels and pimped them, I thought they were small comical cars - a tall woman unfolding from an acorn of a car...not me.

I have actually seen cars like this with roll cages and racing harnesses namely in the northern suburbs but really as a concept what's with that? Where are you going? Whats going on? I simply did not get it at all. Please don't mention Calder please or use the word 'Drag' as in racing - cringe shudder.

But now my cynicism has waned and I see an altogether design before me. This genre of car to me is a unique and fascinating anomaly - they are actually quite cool. Now I must state however my preference is for cars on their original state...strictly production line. I like the Venetians, original interiors and colours.

 

Note the 'Fastback'!

Look at this dignified 1963 Cortina  the grill and lines are quite beautiful for a compact car, they are seriously starting to fascinate me.

Moving right along...

Recently I met and made visual and tactile love to Mr Chrysler Imperial

All it took was one look...

'Hi I'm Chrysler Imperial, pleased to meet you'...swoon. Sounds like a really sexy guys name. Where do I start? Long, lean, streamlined, flamboyant yet elegant and tasteful, like a really classic suit design. I love the badges, I love the chrome, I love the lines of theses vehicles. The little boy in this image with me was a delight to chat to. His grandfather owns the car I was so happy to experience this machine it was truly magnificent. I better go lay down.

PARENTING AND BEING A CHILD 1970's STYLE

In the 70's being a child was an all together different experience than it is today.

Most families remained in the one family home their entire lives and we knew all the people in our street. Shops streets and neighborhoods quietly remained the same. It was a great comfort and to this day I am still assured by the few remaining details in my old neighbor hood that have been left unchanged.

Parents were different too...

Men's pants were unashamedly tight and high at was all at brow height as a small child and just too much to take in. It was unavoidable teachers rocked these pants too!

An innocent visit to the local super market or worse still your friends house was met with the unbridled breasts of your best friends Mum. Thin t shirts and areola were swirling about our innocent heads like looming balloons. It was all wrong.

Even Sesame Street wasn't safe.

Barbecues involved children playing with fire eating carcinogenic blackened meat, parents inhaling Viscount Cigarettes and swilling copious amounts of alcohol.

All this followed by bundling the gang into the family vehicle safety restraint free and if you were really lucky Dad was drunk and made the drive like a visit to Luna Park - flying over railway lines and ditches the car becoming semi airborne was a thrilling treat, Mums near naked boobs slamming you in the temple. You would go home to no air conditioning in summer sleep in the back yard on a divan and smother yourselves in a spray on insect repellent - who knows what that had in it?

No one had food allergies or their child diagnosed with mental issues or challenges, no one had dyslexia, hair straighteners, braces or things like moles removed from their faces - you had what you had and dealt with it. This made for some pretty fascinating school photos its like a shop of horrors or an ugly meet. There were obese children - they got called fat. There were 'slow' kids and smart kids and that was it. Teachers did not implement 'Rock and Water' self esteem building policies if they didn't like what you did they got to hit you with their hand or a wooden rod.

So there was danger sex and violence back then too - it was just all at school.

How did our parents survive with out mobile devices? They made plans and stuck to them. Anticipated and planned them...it didn't matter if we dreaded them we had to go there was no getting out of it besides Dad might drive drunk over the railway tracks so it was always worth it.

Parents and children experienced real ANTICIPATION! Such sweet delight. As a child you would wait all year to perhaps receive your most wanted toy and the parent had the power to either deliver or restrain from giving the object of joy. The parents had the power. Half the joy as a child in the 70's was the agony of the wait, watching the TV commercials all year. Your little heart would race each time you got to drink the visuals in. And meanwhile you went out into the street to play and dodged all the drunk drivers in tight pants and ladies with their boobs out.

You behaved at home and at school or got hit and parents were more than happy to thank the teachers for the great work they were doing.

 I have very fond memories of my childhood and wouldn't change it even if I could.

1970s Food Trends

Thats me on the right.

Lisa @ Arthouse Direct!

I am so pleased to be teaching alongside a great team of talented Artists for Arthouse Direct. Classes to be held in Richmond Victoria Australia starting next month with Children and Adults invited to attend.


Please follow the link for more details and I hope to see you there!

Art Class Brochure

Another thing I do

 Along with sewing and a love of the visual I have always drawn and am happy with about any medium although the soft willow charcoal has its certain charm ink pens and Aquarelle (water soluble pencils) are my tried and true favorites.

My themes are usually people and they have gone through one metamorphose after another. I do find however themes of loneliness or solitude reappear I do not see either state negative I find it can feed the soul re energise and refuel me...another constant is humans embracing and happy families.

These are two of my favorite images they are framed beautifully although this is not shown and do illustrate isolation beautifully to me, they are painted on small canvas boards and I used oil paints - my first try. After they were complete I took some lessons in oil painting but preferred my own methods.

This image MY VIEW FROM THE MOON was inspired by friend of mine.

This is more a self portrait

CLARA TAKES ON THE WORLD

I must have been feeling brave that day.
A favorite style and image of mine based on friendship is the following its a hand drawn collage featuring text, painted and refined digitally - but enjoy creating in a hands on way.

MATILDA AND SCARLETT

Then there are the love and hugs as mushy as it gets
TARRED WITH THE SAME BRUSH

AUTUMN IN YOUR ARMS is a part of a series of vintage inspired works that can be seen and purchased as cards and prints here THAT CERTAIN KIND OF CHARM 

and here is a new kind of theme coming through another palette.

COME ALONG LITTLE ONE
I still love to draw and its mostly for myself, to relax - completely, I love the smell of paper, the ink, the pencil sharpening the dirty paint water the mess the drips, I even enjoy the cleaning up afterwards, there is little that comes close to that sort of quiet meditation - its a good kind of solitude.

But we all love company.

LONNY AND SPROCKET

For a broader overview you can see the entire portfolio here

CHANGE vs FEELING SHORT CHANGED

Change vs feeling short changed...lets start with change, the changes that occur as a result of simply being human, human development takes place largely unbeknown to the individual during life's early stages. A child learns to reach, sit up crawl, walk and speak within the first 2 years of its life although for the most part the individual is completely unaware of the giant progression and leaps taken forward in this nubile stage. The childhood years and teen years are full of milestones we are all aware of from reading and writing to physicality and rights of passage, running races, ticking off each school year and phase - again all vast and broad changes and stages of development mark these years although during this time we are much more aware.

Change in adulthood...I always touted myself or thought as myself as an individual who embraced and welcomed change, and for the most part I have even when the cards did not play out as anticipated I brightly took on what I was dealt good bad or indifferent. Now people I am by no ways a fatalist I am definitely a determinist which leads me to the resistance I am feeling in changing at present, or dually present frustration at not changing fast enough.

Being aware of change, initiating it, pushing for it is all fine and good but sometimes life and our brains are resistant - thus the rub...a comfortable rut.

So what leads us to true change, even minute?
Feeling short changed : That discomfort the grit, either it gets the better of you or you use it for impetus to change. I have personally witnessed individuals that have let a knock back or knock on their tail mar them permanently. 'It was all good till'...'If only it had have gone my way'...etc. Just as I have known persons with mammoth burdens and life challenges to have great bright spirits and get on all the same. So what about us mere mortals with only the self to instigate the change either we get comfortable in the discomfort and have an unhealthy relationship with  the resentment it builds within or we action the desired change. Behavior is so clear and easy to speak of until the heart and mind meet bringing us to emotion.

The 'rub' needs to be of enough discomfort or the change is rewarding so that we move towards it without resistance, so why when this is true do we sometimes waste time and rob ourselves, short changing ourselves of the benefits of positive change? I think its the rut, the hammy wheel, the wind is breezing through our little hamster feet and we feel we are moving, such effort, around and around, stepping of requires a wee leap of faith, but I imagine the hamster me landing then rolling and and writhing the spine back and forth like a dog face up on the lawn, then perhaps some bounding, tongue lagging out the side of the mouth happily panting after it, so I am morphing from hamster to dog - stick with me.

I have certainly had enough 'rub and grit' to require change so I will continue to embrace change and sometimes have to accept its sluggish rate.

This portrait of me taken by a talented friend - its more about reach, the pose, the tentative balance, the metal stretch. Perhaps this is required so we do not short change ourselves.

I will bend over backwards for myself like I used to for others and I will make the changes for me...so I can better embrace life. Amen.

LISA DEFAZIO STYLIST

Over the past five or so years I have had the good fortune to work with some of the best photographers in Melbourne. From Styling to Fashion to modeling for more Emotive & Conceptual works this new site is to promote that - its short but sweet, I shall add to it and fill you all in.

 Lisa Defazio Stylist Designer