The best camera is the one you have with you...

 ...is something Mr. Millicent Crow likes to say.  So here are some quick, blurry photos I've snapped on my phone that I think sum up February, on the last day of summer.

More from Splore

 One of the things I loved about Splore was the colourful decorations everywhere.  Flags in the trees, installations, and brightly coloured fake flowers tucked into unexpected places.  Here are some of the details.

Signs and arrows

Dunedin was a visual feast of hand-lettered and neon signs...here are some beautiful fading ones:

 

 

 

 Having just seen the Sign Painters movie I was very excited!

Dunedin buildings

One of the things I love most about Dunedin is the way it feels like being in a fairy tale, with beautiful old buildings covered in rambling roses, iron lace and fretwork.  When I was down there last week I had my camera pretty much glued to my eye the whole time taking photos of all the pretties.  Here are some of my favourites, some of them taken on the way to an uncharacteristically early morning swim!

 

You can see the turret of the house from the movie Scarfies peeking out behind this one!

Blue iron lace.  So beautiful.

And another thing I love about Dunedin is this view!

Say it with flowers

 

I was running up a street near my house the other day when I found an apology written in daisies in somebody's garden.  It intrigued me...I hope the apology worked!

Wolves and bears, oh my!

 

I was in town today wandering along taking a few photos of green things.  And triangles.  

 

And plants. 

And nice buildings....when I stumbled upon this beautiful mural I'd never seen before.  It's by Mica Still, who has decorated much of Wellington with brightly coloured animals I do believe. 

 

A good reason to take a little detour! 

Wellington walls

 I spent most of last week in Wellington and while I didn't end up taking as many photos as I'd hoped I did snap a few Wellington walls on my way into town.  This exploding pohutukawa mural is in my old stomping ground of Mt Cook; I used to live above it in a house with scenes from Where the Wild Things Are painted all over the walls of the lounge and a cat with a metal leg.  The wild things are long gone but I'm glad the pohutukawa's still there. 

If you find the good oil let us know

That's the cryptic inscription on the under-renovation Govett Brewster art gallery in New Plymouth.  I spent Wednesday night in New Plymouth, where Mr. Millicent Crow was playing at the Taranaki Arts Festival.  I stayed in a hotel for the first time in my life, played the ukulele under a bridge and got to see my artwork projected on the big screen at the Mayfair.  New Plymouth has especially beautiful street art so I wandered around in the rain taking some photos while the band sound checked.

 Walking around at night we stumbled upon Tiffany Singh's beautiful installation What is the Colour of the Breeze, a carpark taken over with a rainbow of windchimes that she had got kids to decorate.  At night they were chiming gently but the next day when I went to take photos of the rainbow colours in the light they were rattling in a frenzy.  Beautiful.  Tiffany Singh also did this installation in Aotea Square back in the summer.

 So long New Plymouth, it was a lovely adventure!