Blueys*

Welcome back to the Inter-Universe Beauty Pageant, tan-tan-taraaah! It’s been a while since we last tuned in.

First up we have Helta Higgins who hails from Fantasia. A rather horsey looking creature, Helta is an airline hostess, and calls the capital, Fairyflod home. The population of Fantasia is quite small: only two thousand on the last census. Not counting the little people, that is. They are quite small, but great in number.

Miss Georgianna Dan is a blue-haired, blue-skinned (no relation to the inhabitants of Pandora) waitress from Kiteia (pronounced Kye-tey-aa), servicing the industries constructing a dome that will encircle the entire planet. It’s all a bit Total Recall really.

Rane’s erudite representative Gladys Hallman is a life biologist. Rane, apparently, is very like Canada. They even have track trees, similar to the maple. No mention of syrup though. Surely that would be a virtue? 

Until next time, when we’ll see a final four contestants and learn the results of the galaxy-wide voting … I can hardly wait, can you?

Don’t forget, you can enjoy full viewing pleasure of the Galaxy Gallery here!

* Bluey is an Aussie slang term for a redhead

Shadowplay

Reflections / DottyI love to photograph textures. Whenever I am out and about with my camera, I’m zooming in close on interesting surfaces, from lichen and rockpools to shadows and swimming pools. Here’s a little collection I snapped in the Dandenong Mountains one sunny Saturday while celebrating a forthcoming wedding at a girlfriend’s hen’s party. 

Click for detailed images.

(Clockwise) Lichen / Lace / Silver / Pool

Happy-Go-Lucky Land

Look what I found amongst a stack of childhood memorabilia! This happy little land is full of creatures fantastical and exotic: strange little monsters snarl and sneak cookies from the cookie shrub in company with exotic beasts from faraway lands: elephants, seals, penguins. Kitties and a spotty frog sunbathe; an owl sleepily stares from its hollow; a yellow bird is surprised in its treehouse. A snail and a caterpillar exchange greetings out on the morning crawl. Butterflies cavort and lovebunnies float out of the shimmering sea.

I drew a series of these pictures, but this seems to be the only survivor of the years. The only other one I recall distinctly was a snowy winter scene, peering through the windows into a cosy room lit up for Christmas. What a smile this gave me, and how quickly the years have gone by.

Fearless Fillies of the Universe

From the agricultural sector of the universe come a trio of intrepid young ladies. The cool blue and lavender skin tones denote their origin from a single solar system, although all three hail from different planets.

Gretal, the fearless teacher, is from colonial Panama. She is as beautiful and kind as she is blue. She must daily battle both bad beasts and wicked men of the wilds to reach her students on her noble quest to impart knowledge and protect her charges from constant hazards. Under her gracious and unassuming exterior hides the fierce heart of a warrior, the courage and strength of a lioness!

It is Dani, as huntress, who of the three lives closest to the land – her heart beats as one with it. Her libertarian home planets, Dromada and Dromana are forever twinlocked, and share their capital in the spaceship Queen Doon II that is placed in geosynchronous orbit between both planets. When she is not killing and eating wild prey (or tanning their hides to make garments), her favourite hobbies are knitting, and brushing her hair.

Torris, the most civilised and utopian of the three planets, is also the most developed. Its weather systems are entirely controlled by its inhabitants, and therefore the climate is mild all year round, everywhere – except on designated ‘snow holidays’ during the Winter Festival. Purple-haired Goldie leads a quiet and idyllic life as a florist, and is here wearing a dress in emulation of her favourite puff flowers, similar to the Terran wattle or mimosa.

But who will capture the hearts of our judges – I wonder? 

A Starr is Born

Well it’s been a while since we last heard from the contestants of the Inter-Universe Beauty Pageant. Today we have the Misses Starr, Moon, and Amazon.

I have to laugh at the descriptive blurbs I’ve given for these lasses’ home planets: Miss Starr says, “I live near the Milky Way. My only companion is Miss Comet, but she is always moving. Shining is boring but views of old Earth are interesting.” Her outfit is composed of many petals, and that afterthought is her arm waving graciously to us, not a giant paintbrush.

Our lunar visitor Miss Lisa Brown, much prefers Earth to her home on the desolate satellite, except for the fact that there are far more poisonous things on Earth. Guess she wasn’t thinking about the lack of atmosphere on the moon. Can’t say much about her sense of style either!

Miss Amazon informs us that Amazon is like Earth, so she really doesn’t have much else to say – except for the fact that all the men were stolen in a war with II Amazon, so she doesn’t know much about those strange creatures. I think she is so tanned because, being an Amazon, she spends all her time outdoors, horseback riding and the like. 

Check out the Galaxy Gallery for earlier contestants.