Surf Meets Southwest

"Surf meets southwest? What a mouthful," I thought, as I wandered into a new store in Gibson Road, Noosaville last week. There's all manner of eclecticia from laser cut cow skulls to paintings of Johnny Cash done in a Warhol style, with old boards and fresh surf photos shot from the water in between.

But this is no try hard attempt to plug yet another emerging market during tough economic times. This is the brainchild of a woman raised in the bush, who's worked hard and who has a son who shoots surf - essentially a mother son partnership. 
But one so artfully arranged, this trained photographer thought the layout was the work of a professional visual merchandiser. They are still getting their web thing together. So in the interim, here's an evocative shot and wonderful wordage from Teena Osbourne, the aRtist-mum about the bush and her store. Check it out.

A Few Things That Remind Me of Home...
For me early childhood was a time of seclusion from the rest of the world. I knew the world existed though. Every night at news time dad would connect the TV to the car battery for half an hour so we could all sit and watch the news while we ate dinner. The TV would go off, I was back in my safe place where at bed time, which shortly followed, the sounds of the animals was the music that sent me to sleep,my lullaby.
There were 6 of us living in that beautiful tiny house by the water. My first memories are of my brother and sisters walking up to the gate to catch the bus and me feeling excitement as I would have the day to myself to explore. I must have walked around that property thousands of times through the horses and the cattle making my way to the water looking for turtles.
The animals were how I spent my time… Dad would bring home injured or orphaned animals he found on the property. We would care for them and then release them… I can remember turtles, joeys, dingo pups, a platypus riddled with ticks and one of my favorites is the koala baby that spent a few days perched on the top of the toilet door.
I would collect the jacaranda flowers from the ground and make an arrangement for mum as a way of showing her my love… I often wonder about how I knew that the giving of flowers was a gesture of love. I guess it made sense to me that if they made me feel happy then they would do the same for her. I’ll never forget the way she would reach out to take them like it was the first time she had ever been handed them.. She had a unique way of making everything feel so special.
I can still vividly see in my thoughts things that were in the house. The yellow kerosene fridge, the irons mum would heat on the wood stove to iron my brother’s shirt for school, the string art that dad and my brother spent their spare time making, the mincer that sat permanently attached to the kitchen bench. Drawings done by us kids nailed to the wall. It is memories like this and the texture of the wood and smell of saddles that all contribute to the content of Surf meets Southwest. 

by Teena Osbourne