#House painters North Sydney

[bobspaintingau]

How to Choose the Right House Painters in North Sydney

Painting your home is one of the most effective ways to give it a fresh new look, increase its curb appeal, and protect it from wear and tear. Whether you are looking to paint the exterior or interior, choosing the right house painters is crucial for achieving high-quality results that last. In North Sydney, where weather conditions and architectural styles vary, selecting the right painters can make a significant difference in the longevity and appearance of your property.

In this blog, we’ll walk you through the essential steps to choosing the right house painters in North Sydney, ensuring you find professionals who meet your needs, fit your budget, and deliver great results.

1. Start with Research

The first step in choosing the right house painters & Commercial painters Sydney is to do your homework. With a variety of painting companies and contractors available in North Sydney, you'll want to narrow down your options based on factors such as experience, customer reviews, and services offered.

Online Reviews and Testimonials: Check online platforms for reviews from previous customers. Sites that allow users to leave feedback can give you a sense of the overall reputation of the painting company. Look for patterns in the reviews—if multiple customers mention a painter’s punctuality, professionalism, or quality of work, it’s a good sign that these traits are consistent.

Local Recommendations: Word of mouth is another excellent way to find reliable house painters. Ask friends, family, or neighbors who’ve had painting work done recently for recommendations. Personal experiences are invaluable in assessing how well a painter performed and whether they delivered on their promises.

Portfolio and Experience: Review the painter’s portfolio to assess their experience. Painters with a solid portfolio of completed projects can showcase the range of services they offer and provide insight into the quality of their work.

2. Check for Proper Licensing and Insurance

When choosing a house painter, it’s essential to confirm that they are licensed and insured. In North Sydney, painters are required to hold specific licenses that ensure they are qualified to carry out professional work. Licensing serves as a guarantee that the painter has met the industry standards and possesses the skills necessary for the job.

Licensing: Ask the painters to provide their license number. You can cross-check their credentials through local regulatory bodies. A licensed painter ensures that you are working with a qualified professional, protecting you from subpar work or potential legal issues.

Insurance: Accidents can happen on any job site, so you want to make sure that the painter you hire has both liability insurance and workers’ compensation. Liability insurance protects your home in case any damage occurs during the painting process, while workers' compensation covers the workers in the event of an injury.

3. Get Multiple Quotes and Compare

Obtaining several quotes from different Professional painters Sydney will give you a better understanding of the market price for your project. While it might be tempting to go with the cheapest option, you should not base your decision solely on price. Instead, consider the following:

Itemized Quotes: Ensure that the quotes are itemized, breaking down the cost of labor, materials, prep work, and any other associated expenses. This will help you compare apples to apples and understand where the money is going.

Quality of Materials: Ask the painters what type of paint and materials they will be using. The quality of paint can significantly impact the longevity and finish of your job. Higher-quality paints may be more expensive, but they often last longer and provide better coverage, reducing the need for touch-ups.

Scope of Work: Review the scope of the project with each painter, including prep work, the number of coats, and whether clean-up is included. Make sure all painters are quoting for the same level of work to ensure a fair comparison.

4. Evaluate Communication and Professionalism

Effective communication is key to a smooth and successful painting project. Pay attention to how the painters communicate during the initial stages of inquiry and consultation.

Responsiveness: Do they respond promptly to your calls or emails? Are they eager to address your questions and concerns? A painter who is difficult to reach or takes a long time to get back to you could be unreliable when it comes to deadlines and project updates.

Professionalism: Look for signs of professionalism in how the painters conduct themselves. Do they arrive on time for the initial consultation? Do they dress appropriately and carry themselves in a courteous manner? These early indicators can give you an idea of how they will behave on the job site.

Willingness to Discuss Your Needs: A good house painter will take the time to listen to your needs and discuss your expectations. They should be able to provide suggestions on color schemes, finishes, and techniques based on their experience while still respecting your preferences.

5. Ask for a Written Contract

Once you have selected your painter, it's crucial to formalize the agreement with a written contract. This contract should clearly outline the scope of the work, the materials to be used, the timeline, the cost, and any warranty or guarantees.

Scope of Work: Ensure the contract includes a detailed description of the project, including surface preparation, the number of coats to be applied, and any special requests you may have.

Timeline: The contract should specify the start and completion dates for the project. While weather conditions or unforeseen issues can sometimes cause delays, having an agreed-upon timeline will help manage expectations and keep the project on track.

Payment Schedule: It’s common for painters to request a deposit before starting work, but be wary of any painter who demands full payment upfront. Instead, agree on a payment schedule that aligns with the progression of the work.

6. Inspect the Finished Job

Once the painting is complete, take the time to inspect the work carefully before making the final payment. Look for any imperfections, such as missed spots, uneven coverage, or drips. Professional painters should be willing to address any issues or touch up areas that don’t meet your satisfaction.

Final Walkthrough: Arrange a final walkthrough with the painter to ensure all the work has been completed to your standards. During this walkthrough, you can discuss any areas that need attention and ensure that clean-up has been properly handled.

Warranty and Maintenance: Ask if the painter offers any warranty on their work. A good painter should be confident in their services and provide a guarantee for a certain period. Additionally, ask for maintenance tips to help you keep your newly painted surfaces looking fresh for years to come.

Conclusion

Choosing the right House painters North Sydney is a process that involves careful research, comparing quotes, and ensuring the professionalism and reliability of the contractor. By following these steps, you can ensure that your painting project will be completed with high-quality workmanship, on time, and within your budget. A well-executed paint job can breathe new life into your home, increasing its value and aesthetic appeal, while also protecting it from the elements.

Remember, the goal is to find a painter who meets your expectations, delivers a durable and beautiful finish, and offers a stress-free experience from start to finish. Take your time, ask the right questions, and make an informed decision.

Read Also: Why Choose Professional Residential Painting Services?

[opcpaintings]

How Painting Services Can Make Businesses Successful

How Painting Services Can Make Businesses Successful 

Hire Commercial Painters Who Surpass Your Expectations

If you need to repaint your workplace or store but have no idea where to begin, this is where painters specifically for commercial properties come in to help you. It is difficult to locate and employ a skilled commercial painter. The majority of business painters charge double or triple the usual price quoted by other painters, and you can not even be certain of their work's quality or punctuality. 

OPC Painting North Shore is proud of the superior quality of our Sydney painting contractors. North Shore's business painters accept jobs of any size or scope. So choose professional painters with confidence for your painting requirements.

Most company owners lack the time to alter their building's appearance and atmosphere. Even if you are familiar with North Shore's business painters, you can not be certain of their reliability. The majority of artists excel at one or the other.

What Happens When You Rely on Local Painters

Office or store painting might be a difficult process. You must choose the correct painter, verify that they have the proper insurance, and hope they perform a decent job so that you do not have to repaint in a few months. Discovering and engaging a qualified business painter is a nuisance and a risk. There are several business painters in your area, but they all seem to make the same claims. However, if anything goes wrong, such as the paint flaking off after a few weeks, you are left to deal with it on your own. 

When you trust your local painters' knowledge and experience, you are met with an outcome that will: 

Boost your Business

Improve Employee's Moral 

Catch People's Eyes 

They recognise the necessity of completing work promptly and effectively without sacrificing quality. 

The business painter can also transform the interior of your business when you want to splurge and get interior painting for your place of work to enjoy the three benefits mentioned above. Though if you also want to include exterior painting, painters could help you with that.  

Your house undergoes the process of natural deterioration. You will eventually need interior and exterior paint jobs to give your home a fresh appearance. Eventually, the outside is a mirror of the within. Painting a space is one of the fastest, simplest, and cheapest methods to improve a property's kerb appeal. 

When you rely on business painters, you collaborate closely with customers to ensure that the final product of your interior and exterior matches their expectations. Avoid having second thoughts about needing to invest in business painters. Avoid spending unneeded expenses.

Are Professional Painters Worth The Hire?

Whether it's a building, bistro, workshop, retail, or other commercial location, professional painters know how to get the work done fast and effectively, allowing you to concentrate on operating your company.

They are capable of customising any business painting project in your area. They are able to sit down and discuss it with you, so they are aware of your expectations and you are certain they won't let you down. They have gained our clients' loyalty and created a solid reputation, so you can rely upon that they will always find a method to ensure your complete pleasure. Satisfied customers are evidence that we can provide quality, quickness, and price.

Professionals in the business painting may assist you in achieving your desired designs and colours, by adding the ideal touch of colour to your walls or bringing vibrancy to an otherwise dull place. 

Additionally, The Sydney team offers a comprehensive answer to your business painting requirements. To make you feel comfortable with the commercial painting services, they will arrange a meeting, review your alternatives depending on your budget, present paint colour options, and explain the various materials and equipment that is going to be used.

Business painters have completed the necessary training to become qualified, registered, and licenced to do a painting for commercial work per Australian requirements.

No matter what and where your business is located, painters will take the time to provide you with the best paint jobs for your business because professional painters are always worth the investment. 

Conclusion 

On Point Colour Painting is one of the industry's most experienced commercial painting businesses. Painters there cherishes your time; thus, we strive to complete our work quickly to alleviate your concerns. Business painters in Sydney from On Point Colour Painting can assist alter your space with their skill and experience in delivering results in time for your event or company launch. With our variety of business paint jobs, we are certain you will discover a package that meets your demands without breaking the budget. On Point Colour Painting employs only the best quality paint and products to guarantee the longevity of your home. The crew of skilled painters in North Sydney is dependable and trustworthy, and they will make your company appear fantastic. So trust them now to begin your business makeover now.

[jackpaint321]

Top industrial painters - commercial painters in sydney

hoSydney industrial painters. Our professional painting services include interior, exterior, and commercial painting. We have been developing commercial projects in Sydney. Our commercial painters only use the highest quality paints, and they are all very skilled and willing to help you reach your goals quickly. Visit a website to learn more.

[longlivebatart]

Hals' Youth with a Skull

Note: Sorry I haven't been around, guys! Life kinda got in the way.

Transcript:

Welcome to Long Live Bat Art, the podcast for art lovers who don’t see art as much as they want to. My name is Sydney and thank you for taking this slow tour through an art gallery with a casual art lover. Today, I’ll be talking about Youth with a Skull by Frans Hals. I hope you enjoy. 

Frans Hals was born somewhere around 1582 in Antwerp. Hals and his family fled Antwerp after the fall of the city to the Spanish when he was around 2 years old. Protestants were given a mere four years to get all their affairs in order before leaving the city. The Hals family moved north to Haarlem in the Netherlands, which was part of the fledgling Dutch Republic. Hals did his studying as an artist under Flemish artist Karel van Mander, though the older painter’s style is barely seen in Hals’ own work. It seems as though Hals worked with portraits exclusively. 

Hals joined the Haarlem Guild of Saint Luke in 1610, when he was in his late twenties, which was considered old to be admitted to the Guild. Once admitted, Hals actually worked as a restorer for the town council, which brought him some amount of money. After the council sold off to Cornelis Claesz van Wieringen, a Guild member and painter, Hals was forced to seek other work. It’s then that Hals decided to try his hand at original work, starting with portraiture. He stuck with religious themes by using a Catholic pastor, Jacobus Zaffius, as a subject in 1611. But it isn’t until 5 years later that he had his first work that gained him some attention when he produced a schutterstuk and painted the officers of the Saint George Militia company. Hals even painted René Descartes in 1649. 

Instead of the usual custom at the time of painters moving from place to place as they were commissioned, often staying in the house or general vicinity of their patrons, Hals remained in Haarlem and his customers came to him. Perhaps it was because he was a devoted father to his 10 children. 

In 1644 he became chairman of the Guild that he was once considered too old to be admitted into. 

Hals was also a musketeer- though sadly not one of the swashbuckling three- in the Saint George civic guard, which was a kind of town guard. After being a musketeer from 1612-15, he served another function in the same guard for nine years. From 1616 to 1624 he was a man after my own heart- he was a second member of an amateur dramatic society whose translated name is The Vine Tendrils. In fact, one of Hals’ earliest known portraits was of a man named Pieter Cornelisz van der Morsch. Van der Morsch apparently was known for his cutting wit. 

Like Vermeer, unfortunately no foundations of Hals have survived.

Frans Hals is considered by many in the art world to be second only to Rembrandt before the last century when Vermeer was re-discovered as a Dutch Master. Hals was especially popular in Paris past 1850. Hals’ often-colorful palette and incredibly bold brushwork was particularly inspiring to Impressionist and Realist painters, even more so than Rembrandt. And you might remember our friend Theophilé Thoré from the Vermeer episode, who was also a fan of Hals. It seems as though Thoré had a very good eye and incredible taste. After Thoré brought Hals back to the public eye, Hals’ work soared in value. His work went from being sold for just over 4 British pounds to 25,000 of the same currency. That’s from about 5 to nearly 31,000 American dollars. 

On the opposite side of the spectrum from Thoré’s flattery and support, the same critic that wrote a quote biography unquote of Steen- Arnold Houbraken- said in 1718, long after the painter’s death, that Hals’ financial struggles later in his life were due to alcoholism. Of course, it might have had nothing to do with the fact artists were rarely appreciated or paid well in their time and his 10 children, but I highly doubt it. To further cast doubt on Houbraken’s biography, it seems as though a scene in the book - where Anthony van Dyke went to visit Hals had to search taverns for the man when he wasn’t at home, painted a picture of Hals who recognized him by the art alone, and how van Dyke tried to get Hals to move to England - was borrowed almost entirely from Pliny the Elder’s Natural History from around the year 78 ACE. Seymour Slive tried to squash those rumors, but they remained persistent for quite a while. People tend to like unsubstantiated gossip more than facts.

Hals had several students once he was established, though the exact number and even names are debated. The ones that are known for sure are Vincent Laurensz van der Vinne and Pieter Gerritsz van Roestraten, the latter of which later married Hals’ daughter Adriaentje. Because of her style, Judith Leyster has been offered as a possible student of Hals. She often signed her work, which was unusual at the time but very helpful today. Her husband, Jan Miense Molenaer, is also a possible student.

Hals’ influence extended far beyond his lifetime- I said before that Impressionists and Realists were influenced by his work. What I didn’t mention was that one of those influenced painters was Claude Monet, and that even Vincent van Gogh admired Hals’ work. Still other painters were able to learn the technicalities of painting due to Hals’ tendency to not hide his brushstrokes as many of his contemporaries did. 

As with most of the painters this season, the exact numbers of surviving painters that have been attributed to Hals differ greatly, depending on which source you draw from. Slive claims 222 works in 1970-74, but in 1989 Claus Grimm, another historian of Hals, attributed only 145. Now for the painting.

The young man depicted in the painting has shaggy and wispy brown hair that extends past his chin, but not by much. It’s unkempt- the right side is fluffed out carelessly. So not a vain young man.

He has pale skin and a rosy complexion, mostly around the apples of his cheeks and his nose. His mouth is also very red. He’s looking to his left, the viewer’s right. He’s wearing a bright red hat with a very long red feather on the right side of the image stuck in the front by the quill. The feather extends from the hat to just past the young man’s shoulder, then it drapes down. The fibers of the feather are fluffy. Each strand is a different shade of pink or red. The main vein of the feather is a very pale pink, actually more of a white.

The boy is wearing a loose navy garment wrapped around his front. It- like the feather- is oversized. The folds are realistic. The low points are a deeper blue, the highlights a brighter one. The fabric is actually shaded with a rust color on the left side of the image. The collar of the young man’s clothes peeks over the fabric- his shirt is white. The clothing underneath the fabric, what must be his overcoat, is red. It’s a deeper shade than the hat and the feather. A little closer to burgundy than true red. The young man’s right hand is stretched towards the viewer, his thumb above the others and the rest of his fingers flat, as if he’s going to awkwardly shake hands. His fingers are too spread for a grab. His palm is in shadow, and the backs of his fingers are highlighted. The webbing between his thumb and his hand is also highlighted, and the webbing is detailed. You can see the actual curve of it in front of the rest of his skin. His overcoat is open over his hand, and you can see the button holding the sleeve halves shut on the bottom of his arm. His arm is casting a shadow on the rest of his body. Now for the skull.

The boy is holding it from beneath, his fingers curled around it. There’s no bottom jaw, just the top jaw that’s connected to the rest of the skull. The skull is somewhat in profile- you can see only one half of the teeth, where the cartilage of the nose was, and an eye socket with only part of the other one visible. The right half of the skull is in a gentle shadow. The skull has a pronounced brow ridge, and its cheekbones are pronounced, as well. The skull is shaded in faded yellow and neutral tones, with some blue-toned grays. The gray is concentrated in the hollow above the cheekbone and following the line of it. The eye socket is almost completely in deep black shadow, with some lighter shadows closer to the nose. The opening in the nose where the nostrils were is in deep shadow, as well. The few teeth that remain are whiter than the rest of the skull. The wall behind the boy is a dingy gray with some texture. There is a shadow thrown on it beneath the feather, though not by it. By his head, maybe.

Now for my thoughts.

The boy looks unsure. It’s clear Hals was giving him directions on how to pose himself. He’s looking for assurance that he’s doing it correctly. And at the same time, there’s an innocence about him, even though he’s holding a skull. His mouth is very red. It’s slightly open, too. Just enough to show his front teeth. There’s just something soft about this. And the finality of the skull, the symbol of death, in such a vibrant young man’s hand. Lots of artists used skulls and skeletons as a subject- Van Gogh did the latter with a cigarette hanging from its mouth. And I’ll hopefully describe that baller painting in a later season. 

But the juxtaposition of death and youth is interesting. As much as death is scary, youth is comforting. And both death and youth are important. Without death, we wouldn’t appreciate life. And without youth, we wouldn’t remember where we came from. But as far as youth, people have to be very careful when giving advice, no matter how well-meaning, to people younger than they are. Nostalgia makes us think the past was better, but it isn't. It’s just the past. It only seems better because we’re no longer experiencing it. Time and distance bring wisdom in a lot of situations. 

Here’s today’s challenge- learn one thing from your life. I don’t mean examine every second of your life for a theme, though you’re free to do that and all the more power to you. I mean learn one thing you didn’t know yesterday. It can be a fact about a subject you think you know well, or something from a brand-new one. It can be a joke- the dumber the joke, the better. It can be some new story from a friend or family member. Learn from your life, because life is the best teacher there is, even though it isn’t always the easiest. 

Not only skills take practice- being a human does, too. Learning how to be a better friend to others and yourself takes practice. Learning to communicate your wants and needs takes practice. Trying new things takes practice. And you should dive into practicing whole-heartedly because finding out what makes you happy is a great feeling. And don’t feel like you’re ever done learning- humans are ever-changing beings. Labels can be useful, but boxes are prisons. 

If you liked this episode of Long Live Bat Art, please consider telling a friend and reviewing to help the podcast grow. A link to the transcript of this episode is available in the show notes below. And you can follow me on Twitter at Long Live Bat Art and tumblr at tumblr dot com forward slash Long Live Bat Art. That’s Long Live B-A-T Art. Thank you for listening to this episode, and I will see you in two weeks.

[technicolorpainting]

Painters North Sydney | Technicolor Painting

Technicolor Painting Expert Local Painters North Sydney. Fully Prepared for All type of House and Commercial Properties Painting Since 1990.

[australian-painting-services]

#House Painting Services in Sydney

#House Painting Services in Sydney

Introduction:

Are you in search of top-notch residential painting services in Sydney? Look no further than Australian Painting! As a highly rated painting service business with a presence on platforms like Hipages, ServiceSeeking, and Oneflare, we pride ourselves on delivering exceptional results. Our team of skilled professionals specializes in a wide array of services to cater to all your home transformation needs. Whether it's interior painting, roof spray painting, or any other service, we have the expertise and proficiency to exceed your expectations.

Unparalleled Service and Workmanship:

At Australian Painting, we take immense pride in being one of the leading house painting contractors in Sydney. We are dedicated to providing exceptional service and unparalleled workmanship. Whether you're looking to revamp your home's exterior with a fresh coat of paint or create a captivating interior ambiance with a vibrant colour scheme, our team is here to assist you every step of the way.

Personalized Approach:

We understand that your home is your sanctuary, and we value the significance it holds for you. That's why we prioritize understanding your requirements and preferences. Our team of local house painters is committed to delivering personalized service and ensuring outstanding results. Your satisfaction is our top priority.

Serving Sydney and Surrounding Suburbs:

Australian Painting proudly serves various suburbs in Sydney, including Homebush, Strathfield, Parramatta, Drummoyne, Gladesville, Macquarie Park, Ryde, Bankstown, Liverpool, Wollongong, Chatswood, Rhodes, Sydney Olympic Park, Marrickville, Sydney, and North Sydney. Wherever you are located in Sydney or other parts of Australia, we are ready to transform your home into a masterpiece that you deserve.

Commercial Painting Services:

In addition to our exceptional residential painting services, we also cater to commercial properties throughout Sydney. Whether you require Sydney roof painting, painters in Mosman, or painting contractors in North Sydney, Australian Painting is the name you can trust. With a proven track record of excellence, we specialize in delivering high-quality painting services for commercial projects of all scales.

Tailored Solutions for Your Needs:

Our comprehensive range of services includes house painters in Sydney's inner west, ensuring that we can cater to diverse client requirements. From small businesses to large-scale commercial projects, we offer tailored solutions to meet your unique needs and specifications.

Experience the Difference with Australian Painting:

When it comes to residential and commercial painting services in Sydney, Australian Painting is your trusted partner. Contact us today to discuss your project and witness the difference our expertise can make. Our dedicated team is ready to transform your property with top-quality painting services in Blacktown and beyond.

Conclusion:

For the best house painter near you in Sydney, look no further than Australian Painting. With our skilled professionals, personalized service, and commitment to excellence, we are here to turn your home into a masterpiece. Whether you're in need of residential or commercial painting services, we have the expertise and experience to deliver outstanding results. Contact us today and let us help you achieve the stunning and stylish home or commercial property you deserve.

https://australianpainting.com.au/

[upscalepainting123]

What are the unique qualities of the painters that make their work tick with people?

Painters are the people who provide a layer of or even layers of protection to the surfaces they are asked to coat. When the surfaces have been coated then those layers are protected from elements of weather including becoming resistant to water falling upon them. The indoors and the outdoors both types of surfaces are coated to give the structural features a long life.

There are the buildings that are completely coated with several layers of paints from time to time making them weather proof so to speak. Painters are the ones that are getting the orders for painting the surfaces inside and outside the homes. When the homes are painted the furniture is protected from the falling drops of paints that are often dripping from the gears used for painting the indoors.

Painting the outdoors of homes requires the painters to have access to the high points. There are often the ladders used for reaching hard to reach places on the walls and the roofs. Roofs are painted in ways that makes them water proof so that the water does not percolate through the roofs into the houses.

Making the roofs water proof requires the equipment that makes the roofs applied with materials that are water proof hence make the roofs water proof. Painters are the ones who are making great moves to make structures not only water proof and weather proof but also beautiful to look at. Painters are the ones who are getting the things right as to the quantity of the paints and the type of paints that are to be applied.

Wooden surfaces require the type of paints that would prevent them from termites as also prevent them from rotting in the rains and the sun. Chemical treatment of wooden houses makes them last longer than the average lifespan of the humans. There are wooden houses and even the wooden palaces that last for several centuries. The house that Shakespeare lived in is still standing and is made from wood that had been painted centuries ago.

There are even the wooden palaces and churches that are standing till date. Cement structures too can last long if painted from time to time. The buildings that were constructed in the nineteenth century are standing as well. Those are the buildings that have been painted from time to time.

Upscale painters are the ones who paint the homes and other structures well enough so that they can last quite long. Upscale painters are the ones equipped with the latest gear in painting they use for painting surfaces. Upscale painters are the ones making the structures worth looking at.

There are the people who train to become the professional painters and these are the painters who are making people proud of their work. House painters are the ones with the aim of making the homes good enough to look at and let the people live well without worries. House painters North Sydney based have their work baskets full as orders are continually pouring in.      

[macypouli]

Get help from trained and experienced Painters Randwick for all your painting needs without any hassle from Master Painting Sydney.

[jessalin13-blog]

Premier painting service company that has been operating successfully as a local business for the past decade and a half

[expertisepainter-blog]

Painting and Decoration in Parramatta-Interior Painting in North Rocks

We are painters with exceptional experience in interior/exterior house painting, fine interior painting and decorative finishing and offering reliable painter services covering all areas of NSW.

http://expertisepainter.com.au/

[sydneypaintingco-blog]

residential painting north shore

To get the best painting job done you have to hire the best painters in North Shore. At Skygroup Painting you will find the best and the most professional painters in North Shore who have worked in this field for many years.

Their expertise is what makes them the best in this market. We hire only those individuals who have served in this field extensively.

To know more about our services or our painters, you can visit our website. You can also ask us about our services at 1300 30 40 49 or send us a mail with your questions at info@sydneypaintingco.com.au.  

[rockislandadultreads]

Psychological Fiction: a thrilling list of books

The Inland Sea by Madeleine Watts

Drifting after her final year in college, a young writer begins working part-time as an emergency dispatch operator in Sydney. Over the course of an eight-hour shift, she is dropped into hundreds of crises, hearing only pieces of each. Callers report car accidents and violent spouses and homes caught up in flame. The work becomes monotonous: answer, transfer, repeat. And yet the stress of listening to far-off disasters seeps into her personal life, and she begins walking home with keys in hand, ready to fight off men disappointed by what they find in neighboring bars. During her free time, she gets black-out drunk, hooks up with strangers, and navigates an affair with an ex-lover whose girlfriend is in their circle of friends. Two centuries earlier, her great-great-great-great-grandfather—the British explorer John Oxley—traversed the wilderness of Australia in search of water. Oxley never found the inland sea, but the myth was taken up by other men, and over the years, search parties walked out into the desert, dying as they tried to find it. Interweaving a woman's self-destructive unraveling with the gradual worsening of the climate crisis, The Inland Sea is charged with unflinching insight into our age of anxiety. At a time when wildfires have swept an entire continent, this novel asks what refuge and comfort looks like in a constant state of emergency.

Someone Knows by Lisa Scottoline

Twenty years ago, in an upscale suburb of Philadelphia, four teenagers spent a summer as closest friends: drinking, sharing secrets, testing boundaries. When a new boy looked to join them, they decided to pull a prank on him, convincing him to play Russian roulette as an initiation into their group. They secretly planned to leave the gun unloaded—but what happened next would change each of them forever. Now three of the four reunite for the first time since that horrible summer. The guilt—and the lingering question about who loaded the gun—drove them apart. But after one of the group apparently commits suicide with a gun, their old secrets come roaring back. One of them is going to figure out if the new suicide is what it seems, and if it connects to the events of that long-ago summer. Someone knows exactly what happened—but who? And how far will they go to keep their secrets buried?

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

Could ten days at a health resort really change you forever? These nine perfect strangers are about to find out... Nine people gather at a remote health resort. Some are here to lose weight, some are here to get a reboot on life, some are here for reasons they can’t even admit to themselves. Amidst all of the luxury and pampering, the mindfulness and meditation, they know these ten days might involve some real work. But none of them could imagine just how challenging the next ten days are going to be. Frances Welty, the formerly best-selling romantic novelist, arrives at Tranquillum House nursing a bad back, a broken heart, and an exquisitely painful paper cut. She’s immediately intrigued by her fellow guests. Most of them don’t look to be in need of a health resort at all. But the person that intrigues her most is the strange and charismatic owner/director of Tranquillum House. Could this person really have the answers Frances didn’t even know she was seeking? Should Frances put aside her doubts and immerse herself in everything Tranquillum House has to offer—or should she run while she still can? It’s not long before every guest at Tranquillum House is asking exactly the same question.

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word. Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London. Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....

[housepaintersydney-blog1]

Cheap House Painters Sydney

House Painters Sydney is a family possessed and worked painting organization in Sydney. Our inside and outside work of painting is of high-quality. Our talented master painters Sydney will leave your home painted quickly with tender loving care. With right around years of experience, we've been around sufficiently long to realize that a strong business is based on Trust and Credibility. Painting Services Sydney remain by our work and constantly try to improve our services and convey extends on schedule and on spending plan.

 Interior Painting Sydney stands up to the heat and our craftsmanship is of extremely high quality. We invest wholeheartedly in each activity we take on, regardless of whether it is commercial and residential. The entirety of our amazing artwork experts have long stretches of involvement with the artistic creation business and we see how to get the best completion.

 Exterior Painting Sydney experience is in both commercial and residential. We have taken a shot at various government ventures including schools and division structures and can work to reclamation rules. Our quality services are suggested for all tasks in all regions including east, west, south and north. Painting Contractors Sydney are completely guaranteed with the right spread to protect your property pr undertaking will get simply the best outcome from an accomplished group of painting professionals.

 Call us today and arrange your prompt free quote online from a painting expert!!

Contact us:

Address: Randwick, New South Wales, Australia 2031

Phone No: 0413 012 355 / 0406 122 263

 Useful Links:

Landscapers Sydney

Commercial Builders Townsville

Cleaning Services Cairns

[interiorpainting5-blog]

Cheap Painting Service

Painting Sydney is a family possessed and worked painting organization in Sydney. Our inside and outside work of art is of high-quality. Our talented master painters Sydney will leave your home painted quickly with tender loving care. We’ve been around sufficiently long to realize that a strong business is based on Trust and Believability. Pressure Cleaning Sydney remain by our work and constantly look to improve our services and convey extends on schedule and on spending plan. We invest wholeheartedly in each activity we take on, regardless of whether it is commercial or residential. Industrial Painting Sydney furnish remarkable customized service with our specialists and painters setting aside the effort to comprehend your needs. Painters Sydney control the nature of our service as we gladly don't sub-contract our work out, guaranteeing you have a similar group of Sydney painters from quote to finish. Commercial Painters Sydney offer total help answers for your property, including painting and shading counseling. Call us today and organize your brief free statement online from a composition master.

 We do House Painting Service in areas like Avalon Beach, Bilgola Beach, Carlingford, Castle Hill, Chatswood, Cherrybrook, Collaroy, Cremorne, Crows Nest, Curl Curl, Dee Why, Dural, Five Dock, Forestville, Frenchs Forest, Freshwater, Gordon, Homebush, Hornsby, Killara, Lane Cove, Lavender Bay, Lindfield, Manly, Maroubra, Mascot, Millers Point, Mona Vale, Mosman, Mount Colah, Neutral Bay, Newport, North Rocks, Paddington, Palm Beach, Pennant Hills, Potts Point, Pymble, Ryde, Seaforth, St Ives, Turramurra, Vaucluse, Wahroonga, Warriewood.

Useful Links:

Painters Clayfield

Commercial Painters Hawthorne

Interior Painting Wavell Heights

Painters Kedron

Commercial Painters Indooroopilly

Exterior Painting Everton Park

Commercial Painters Stafford

[technicolor-painting]

Is it time to repaint your house or place of business? Do you require skilled painters in the Upper North Shore? Results from Technicolor Painting & Maintenance are of the finest calibre. We use our skills and knowledge to accomplish projects on schedule and under budget. We have many clients all around Sydney thanks to our diligence, dependability, and honesty. Our suppliers, clients, and staff will all become important business partners. With over 32 years of unparalleled painting services around Sydney, our team of fully qualified and skilled painters, we're not just another painting services provider. Make an appointment with one of the best painters in the Upper North Shore by calling us right away. Visit online for more information.

[ccohanlon]

in byron bay

I saw Byron Bay for the first time three years ago. I was driving north on the coastal highway from Sydney to Brisbane with my wife. The rain had stopped just beyond the town of Ballina, where the highway snakes inland toward the foothills of the northern coastal ranges. By the time we were west of Byron Bay, the iron-gray wedge of cloud had lifted to let the sun cast its warm, early evening light across the undulating grasslands to the flat brown marshes and pale dunes on the ocean's edge. Cape Byron was a distant grass-covered dome surmounted by a white lighthouse. Shafts of sunlight caught the rainfall evaporating from its rocky ledges and the salt-laden spray blowing in from the sea to form a bright rainbow that bridged the shores of the Cape and the patchwork of colored rooftops to the west of it.

The rainbow was enough to make us detour to Byron Bay. We followed a narrow road past marshland and blocks of whitewashed houses to the small town's main street. From there we found our way to the beach. By then it was dusk. A glassy swell rose and broke in even white lines along the sand and dolphins were playing inshore, their dorsal fins tracing lazy arches above the wave crests.

Without rainbows and dolphins, the town itself might appear to be just another of the many old beach communities scattered along the New South Wales coast. It isn't particularly picturesque; off the main street — and behind the motels and new apartment blocks on the beachfront — boxy, fibro’ weekenders with corrugated tin roofs stand eave to eave on an accidental grid of potholed, unguttered streets.

The people are part of what make Byron Bay different. Look at the faces on Jonson Street, the town's main street: bleached-blond surfers with their boards piled on the roofs of battered station wagons; bare-chested country boys in stovepipe jeans and slouch hats guzzling beer in the back of pickup trucks; doe-eyed earth mothers in batik sarongs back-packing suntanned babies; not-so-young survivors of the 60's love generation and dreadlocked white Rastafarians. Together with the pale-skinned holidaymakers from out-of-state, whose money is beginning to turn Byron Bay into something of a fashionable resort, they all hang loose together in an easy subcultural truce. Because of this, Byron Bay is a congenial home to the sorts of ideas about alternative, natural or creative living that took root in the 60's, and the surrounding countryside has become home to various writers, painters, retired rock musicians, film producers — the producer of Crocodile Dundee, for one — gurus, small-time drug dealers and reclusive Vietnam vets.

From the brightly painted timber facade of the community center, the boutique, health food stores, cafes and pubs straggle down Jonson Street to the beach, and the nearness of that broad stretch of sand and warm Pacific surf is what induces Byron Bay's relaxed, almost indolent mood. Most of the town's population, it seems, hits the beach at sunrise. Barefoot joggers pad along the sand. Surfers paddle out through the foam to catch a few smooth, well-formed waves before the sea breeze sets in. And devout sun-worshipers settle their oiled bodies on rattan mats to soak in the earliest rays. Looking across the bay from the beach, the surrounding landscape is reminiscent of the west coasts of Wales and Ireland. As on those Atlantic shores, the fine white sand gives way to grasslands that sweep up to hills dotted with pastures and plantations and, farther inland, thick forests and a sawtooth of dark, low mountains.

The country didn't always look this way. In 1770, when Capt. James Cook explored this coast — and named Byron Bay after the poet's grandfather, Vice Adm. John Byron — the now treeless foothills were overgrown with tall timber and dense subtropical scrub. The Big Scrub, as it became known, was the largest tract of rain forest in the state, covering tens of thousands of acres southwest of the bay. Loggers began clearing the forest in 1842 to reach the valuable red cedar trees within it and they were followed by farmers who cleared more land for grazing and crops. Within 60 years the Big Scrub was reduced to a mere 484 acres west of Byron Bay, next to what is now the Rocky Creek Dam. It's an eerie feeling to enter the surviving rain forest, where a footfall is deadened by a thick carpet of decaying leaves fallen from trees that might be 1,500 years old.

After a good rainfall — more than 70 inches are recorded in an average year — the inland forests and pastures turn rich, contrasting shades of green and amber. South of the Brunswick Valley township of Mullumbimby, a 15-minute drive from Byron Bay, the Coolamon Road unravels like a black ribbon over the hill slopes. In the humid morning hours after rain, the road provides heart-stopping views of hillocks scarfed with mist and valleys studded with the glistening red and silver roofs of farm buildings.

At Montecollum, the Coolamon Road forks farther inland to Cooper's and Repentance Creeks. From there a rough gravel side road ascends a forested ridge to Minyon Falls, its waters plunging 100 yards down volcanic cliffs to a palm-fringed gorge. A little farther west, other gravel roads — most of them impassable after a heavy rain — lead to the sparse eucalyptus and red cedars of the Whian Whian State Forest, to the last of the Big Scrub and to the high, brush-covered slopes and cool grassy valleys of Nightcap National Park.

Except for local traffic in such small communities as Rosebank, Eureka, Federal or Dorroughby, which are often little more than a general store and a community hall, these inland roads are empty, even in summer. On hot days, the sandy-bottomed creeks are welcome oases, their water sweet to taste and comfortably tepid. Swimsuits aren't always required for a quick dip. Once, while crossing Cooper's Creek, I saw a young man stretched out naked on a log in the middle of the creek, his clothes neatly folded on the seat of a motorbike parked on the bank.

But on hot days, who would want to stray far from the bay? Especially if the wind and swell are in the right directions and the Pass is working. The Pass is a wave well-known to Australian surfers that breaks continously from the tip of Watego's Gap, an outcrop of jagged rocks east of the town, to the sandbanks off the main beachfront.

Since the early 60's, when board-riders first claimed this northern coast, the waves at Byron Bay have been legendary. Nowadays, though, the near-perfect breaks have become crowded and uncomfortably competitive, with surfers jostling for position on every wave at the Pass, at Watego's Beach to the east and on the fast left-hander that breaks just west of the beachfront car park at the end of Jonson Street. The car park is next to the the half-submerged rudder section of the Wollongbar, a 1,965-ton passenger steamer that was wrecked in a sudden gale in 1921. Swimmers and body surfers avoid confrontations with aggressive board-riders by going to Main Beach, just west of the car park. The scrubland around the base of Cape Byron is a place where one can retreat from the beach for a couple of hours' solitude.

From the car park at Palm Valley, near Watego's Gap (the site of Cavanbah, the bay's first settlement in the late 1870's), there is a walking track that winds northeast across Watego's Beach to the end of the Cape. Standing on this crumbling knuckle just below the easternmost point of the continent, I have watched the shadowy wings of large rays glide across the clear sand on the ocean's bottom and sharks — big bronze whalers, tigers, and hammerheads — weave predatory patterns off Little Watego's Beach. Whales, too, can sometimes be spotted out at sea, although they keep their distance from the bay, maybe because of an atavistic memory of the whaling done from here from 1954 to 1962.

Atop the cape stands the 85-year-old lighthouse, one of the last still manned in the state. From the lighthouse keeper's grounds, the view north and west is expansive, even a little humbling: trace the long crescent of empty beach from Byron Bay town to Brunswick and farther north, past New Brighton and Wooynung, and the mountains that stand like battlements beneath the deep blue sky – from the Nightcaps in the west to the ranges that form the Tweed Valley caldera around the cathedral-like Mount Warning.

The lighthouse grounds close just before sunset. But days end slowly in Byron Bay. There is time yet to have a last surf ride at the Pass, where the breakers become gentle and glassy as the sea breeze dies, or to sit on the beach and watch the ocean turn pink, then pale gray-blue as the sun dissolves into the inland hills. You might even get lucky and see dolphins, their sleek gray backs glistening in the last of the sunlight as they meander across the bay.

First published in The New York Times’ Travel & Leisure section, USA, 1988.