This one's for my dad

The thing I love about Wellington is that it's beautiful.
And not just the natural amenities either - the gorgeous views, rugged hills, sparkly harbour and amazing sunrises - no, it's all the little bits added to make it extra lovely.
The curly little bronze - don't drive through here - barriers in the city could just be ugly barriers. But they're not. They're totally cool little koru spirals that happily sit looking friendly and comforting along the streets,, the roading drain covers have amazing designs carved into them, the library roof is held up by a line of steel nikau palms, the entire waterfront is a homage to amazing nz poetry - even if you have to be a little adventurous in trying to find all the sneaky little places the word have been hidden - and scuptures... Hello! The most amazing sculptures EVERYWHERE.
My favourite installation is the fern globe which floats in the air above civic square.
Everytime I see it I just have to stop and stare.
And that's pretty cool.
When I was young I didn't really see the benefit of being an artist.
My dad was an artist and he painted amazing paintings. But surely it was all a bit frivolous, just drawing and painting all day? I even asked dad once why he did what he did...and he said because emotion was the most important thing in the world (and what's more he loved painting more than anything!) But I still didn't get it.
It wasn't until I grew up that I realised that beautiful things make people feel better and that's important in itself.
That artists create things that make people happy, or more importantly they create things that make people feel something is amazing.  Creations that move people, change their consciousness even if only for a split second, just by looking at them, or listening to them, or watching them, or feeling them .... or tasting them if you're a food artist, are a key to us being happy humans.

For me, whatever is happening in my life when I see the floaty globe, for just that moment I always feel inspired and free.
So then, how nice for me to be in the square looking at my favourite globe and taking a piccy when this bird flew past.
A perfect pair - and my sweet shot of the day :)