Bush Clown

Hi, it was my birthday today which was a bit depressing. I am not really enjoying getting any older but I had a nice surprise. I went to pick up my paintings from AGRA in their Summer exhibition. This was the first time that I have exhibited and was happily surprised to have received a commended for this piece and to have sold it as well. Happy Birthday to me. May be getting older isn't so bad.

Summer

Merry Christmas to everyone and I hope that you all get a chance to relax and enjoy the moment.

I have been painting another beach scene. I was captivated by the power of the parental bond and child. The protective nature of the father sheltering his child from the impact of the waves. They continue to roll up on the shoreline and churn up the sand in the shallows while dad and baby play in the shallows.

The Red Bucket

I think I have finished now. I have enjoyd this piece a bit of fun.

I just dropped off some work to the Lilydale show. A local agriculture show that we have. They have anything from cooking to art and award ribbons for works. I have entered in to it for the last couple of years. One good thing about it is that it is nice and close. I nearly missed the drop off today as I have lost my entry form and thought the drop off was after 5 but it was meant to be before 4.00pm. I was lucky that the man taking the pieces was still there.

The red bucket WIP

It was a beautiful day today, but a little hot 33 degrees celcius. The gorgeous weather inspired the beginnings of this beach scene. An intimate moment between brother and big sister playing with a bucket on the beach.

Some more work is required to finish, but at least you can see that I have been painting. This is the first piece I have started since working full time. Everyone in my family had gone out for the day which left me with some quiet time. I put some blues music on the stereo and listenend to the sounds of the brass and the beat of the music.

Hi, I have started working full time which is eating into my painting time. This is a small sketch in conte. It is of my niece who is in Engalnd. This was from one of her graduation ball photos.

Today we went to a local market that has moved to Healesville. The new location is really pretty and the crowds were buzzing. It is a craft market and I went there with a purpose. All the grand children and great grandchildren of my granny pat received some money. While I have banked my children's I spent some of mine today on a rustic outdoor seat made from redgum and old rusty wheels. I love it as I love my granny. I hope to have it for a long time to come to remind me of her.

Granny Pat was an outdoor person who loved gardening. She also loved chairs so I am sure she will love my choice of purchase.

I was lucky I think to buy it now because when I asked the man who made it where he got the wheels from, he said his supply was drying up and he was looking to continue with other business endeavours.

Show Time

Hi, I have been having an artistic block. I thought I'd lost my ability to do anything worth showing here. Does anyone else have this sort of trouble? The last couple of pieces I can't even post because they turned out so abysmally. I was beginning to think that I should stop wasting my time. Then I started this piece. It was though it painted itself. I had a clear visual about what I wanted from the start. I kept my colour pallete very limited and I whipped this piece up. It happened so quickly, like with a good book, I felt that I had completed it too quickly.

This piece is from the Royal Melbourne show. I went with my son and some friends on a beautiful spring day. Luckily we did go this particular day as it rained the rest of the week. I think I have captured the fun and excitement of the crowd and the complexities of what was happening.

Hawthorn Studio and Gallery

Hi, yesterday I met with the director of a gallery which is to be opened in Hawthorn in November, with the view of exhibiting some of my work. After a lovely meeting I am pleased to say these three pieces will be exhibitied over the month of November. The gallery details are 635 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn. The web address is www.hawthornstudiogallery.com.au. Angela is the director and her husband Graeme, is a sculptor. He will have his studio on the premises.

Clowning around

Hi, you must know by now how much I love clowns. I think it is because they are so emmotive. Their acts are always exaggerated comedy, tradgedy etc. So, knowing that I am enthralled with clowns, imagine how delighted I was to be able to see a clown act at the Royal Melbourne show last week. We went on a beautiful spring day, which was very lucky as it rained for the rest of the week. This is a preliminary sketch for a painting I intend on depicting.

Universal Studios

This painting was inspired by a trip that we took to America nearly 10 years ago. We visited Florida and were lucky enough to visit a number of theme parks whilst we were there.

I was at a loose end about what to paint and was attracted to the darks and lights in the photo reference.

String Quartette

This painting was inspired by a photo that I took at a friend's wedding. They had this lovely string quartette playing as they were married on a little jetty over looking a lake. The day was extremely hot. These musicians must have suffered from the heat.

Bush Clown

I did this painting from a black and white picture. I imagined the colors that I wanted and I thought it would be best with a color scheme of green, red and blue. The picture virtually painted itself. Once again I feel a bit more work on the hands but I was excited to publish it on the net and will work on them some more at leisure.

Concentration

Hi, this is another portrait of Aurelio that I have painted. This time from a photo instead of from life. I've been reading a book on Rembrandt and looking at his portraits. I wanted to capture some of the light and dark that Rembrandt used but it didn't work to well on this picture. I need more dramatic lighting in real life to be able to try and attemt this. Over all I a am pleased with this picture. There might need a bit of improvement on the hands yet. What do you think?

Dragon Delight

Hi, this latest painting is from my imagination, which is a tough thing to do when you are used to having references. It was an exercise. I must say I started off dreading doing this and had a bit of a think. Then I did a little sketch to see if it might work out on paper.

I chose a dragon to paint, as I love them. I am an avid sci fi fantasy reader. I enjoy all the stories with dragons and magic and a hero. I thought the dragon looked ferocious and so I drew some scared little fairies that the dragon had perchanced across. I stood there thinking what does scared look like and I thought big startled eyes and a wide open mouth, perhaps racing off screaming.

Critique night at pastel society

I took this painting along to a critique night at the pastel society. What an interesting night. Robert Wade was the artist critiquing. He was a wealth of knowledge and constructive in his opinion. As a result I have tried to tone the background down a bit so it is not fighting with the whole picture. He loves broad strokes and was fond of commenting on them in different pictures. I have utilised lots of lines in this picture which was confliciting to the judges opinion. The main thing is I enjoyed painting this picture, which inthe end is all that matters.

One of my favourite pieces for the night was a painting of a venetian mask with masses of feathers surrounding the mask. The detail in the body of the mask was magnificent with gorgeous contrasting loose feathers enveloping it.

Millgrove Saw Mill

Hi, I feel like I may be channelling Van Gough without the anguished mental state at present. I am really enjoying the looseness and freedom of this scribbly style of painting.

This picture is as titled Millgrove Saw mill. I have previously drawn a small black and white of the mill. We were driving up the road to Warburton where you pass this saw mill. We often enjoy going for drives as a family, especially with the hills and Yarra Valley just on our door step. Actually I don't think the kids think it is that much of a terrific idea, but we enjoy it. I was captivated by the rusticness of the saw mill with all the bits of timber in piles everywhere. I especially liked the pipe that dissects through the picture like a roof top.

I won a third prize at the Ringwood art Society judged competition for my "Aboriginal Children" the other week. So that was excting news. I have paintings going into the Mt. Waverley competition in a week and The Bay side exhibition in Brighton. I am hoping for some sales, which would be nice. I am keeping my fingers crossed for my friends as well. Good luck everyone, lots of red dots please!

Didgeridoo

The didgeridoo, an aboriginal musical instrument that only a amle may play. The sound resonates through the air in a distinct melodic way.

I had lots of fun with this aboriginal man. Once again the source of reference has to be credited to Lyndal Alston.

A game of cricket!

Okay, my previous blog of the work in progress just got stuck. I may go back to it at a later date. This picture of aboriginal children holding a cricket bat is my latest work. They are so animated and full of personality. Once again I have to credit the source of the reference to a friend Lyndal Alston. She is a fabulous photographer and was able to capture so much liveliness.

I really enjoyed the colors in this picture and I had a lot of fun with the animation of the central figure.

Work in Progress

I started this piece yesterday. It is another scene from karunda Markets. I am not sure where it is going, but it will definately be an experimental journey in technique.

Aboriginal children

This is the finished piece. I am still trying to come up with a title for the picture. What do you think about "What are you looking at?".

Aboriginal Children

Hi, I haven't quite finished this piece but what do you think? I was lucky enough to get the reference from Lyndal Alston, a friend and great photographer. Who was working in the outback.

If you can think of a good name for this piece I would apreciate the help in naming it.

I recently exhibited at Belgrave Fire Brigade show and was lucky enough to sell two pieces there, "The Chocolate Shop" and "What about me?" Thanks to who ever bought these pieces, especially during recession times. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did painting them. The good thing about this is it gives me a little bit more money to spend on additional framing. This is the really hard part about doing pastel paintings, as they need to be framed under glass and costs a lot of money. If you try and do it cheaply then the whole look of the picture is spoilt.
Now, I have to think about the next show, what to exhibit and maybe get something new framed for it.

George

This is a picture of George, painted in two sessions. The aim was to try and capture the light and dark of his face and of course aiming for a bit of a likeness. It was a great exercise. I enjoy painting from real life sittings, much more satisfying then painting from photos when you are relying on the quality of the photo. I had a ball. I am continuing to use the line technique.

Millgrove Saw Mill

Here is another little sketch that I have completed. I think I may use this as a study for a pastel.

Kuranda Markets

Have you ever been to Cairns? This is where we went for our last holiday. The climate is balmy. Karanda Markets is one of the tourist destinations in Cairns. We travelled up the mountain by steam train and arrived at Karanda. You travel through the tropical rainforest to get there. These markets are situated in little lane ways off the main street. The terrain is hilly and the products are hippie in nature. This picture is one of the areas of the market place. After we visited the markets, we caught the cable car back down the mountain, over the top of the beautiful rainforest.

Pelican

I went to the zoo with my daughter at the start of the year and took lots of photos. I feel sorry for the animals being in captivity, but it is a wonderful place to observe them. This pelican is one of the inhabitants. The picture is in indian ink on 300gsm of water color paper.

This is now the new improved picture of the pelican. As suggested by Wendi, I have dsarkened the area behind the pelican so the pelican stands out from the background a bit.

A Giant Amongst People cont.....

This is finished now and I am pleased with the end result. I will continue to experiment with the same technique. This technique really suits my style anyway and has returned my looseness to my painting. I am very gald that I watched the Max Wilkes DVD.

I just have to be careful about cross hatching and have more random lines.

A giant amongst people-scumbelling cont W.I.P.

Hi, this is my clown piece contiued. I have worked more on the clown. I am finding this technique making my worker fresher with its looseness. I think lately I have been losing that in my work.

I have worked on the people in the crowd on the left and have yet to start onthe people on the right.

Some good news this week. I put three pieces in Camberwell Art show. Two out of the three were selected for hanging and apparently I have sold one as well. Very happy!

Scumbelling

Hi, this is my latest work in progress. It was inspired after watching Max Wilkes video on his pastelling technique, scumbelling. Max Wilkes is an Australian artist, who lives in the Dandenongs.

He starts his pictures off in pink on black paper. I have used blue paper as that is all I had. Then you use lots of lines. Blend colors by using line work over line work. I will keep on posting as this work progresses.

Mirror Image

I asked my husband last night whether he liked this picture and he said that our daughter was beautiful and would look better with the sunglasses off. So I have taken her sunglasses off and I am working on her face. I hope you like the new improved version.

Mirror Image

Just been on a trip to Cairns. Had the best time. We went snorkelling on the outer reef, highlight of the trip. We visited many waterfalls. Went to Green Island and snorkelled there. Swam at Josephine Falls and Mosman Gorge. Visited a Crocodile place.Went to Karunda and visted the markets. Travelled there by train and back by skyrail over the wonders of the tropical forest.

This is a picture of my daughter studying her reflection in the image. I will tweak it a bit further.

Out of Africa

Okay, tell me which one you like better. The picture below or this one. This is another indian ink on 300gm water color paper. The image is once again taken from Sam Mowska's African pictures with permission.

I have been doing these small ink pictures at the moment for an art show coming up and need to choose the better one. What do you think???

Unconditional Love

"Unconditional Love" executed in black ink on water color paper. The reference is from Sam Moskwa's pictures form Africa utilised with permission.

This picture I fell in love with the elephant wrapping his trunk around the mother and it shows the universal bonding of all creatures for thier parents.

I really enjoyed working this picture in black and white and as you can see a different medium for a change.

Warrandyte Art Show

Warrandyte art show was 20-22 March. This picture was painted late last year and it has been hanging in Koko Lime for several months. It sold at the Warrandyte Rotary Art Show. My first sale for the year, which is very nice in these uncertain economic times. I am sure the last thing on people's minds is buying art. I am a little sad to see this picture go because it was one of my favourites. I liked the buzz of the people and the business of the street. Degraves Street, such an interesting alley way in the centre of the city. I hope the purchaser of this painting enjoys it as much as I did painting it. Thanks for buying my art!!! By the way I had taken this painting to Ringwood art Society on Monday night and came first with it in the B category. The judge was Lynette Orzlowski.

I hope this sale prompts more of the same with our exhibition at "Lady Hawke Cafe" continuing to the end of the month and the Yarra Glen show at Easter.

Late for work

What an exhausting weekend. It was my daughter Teone's 15th birthday, which she shared jointly with her girlfriend Jazz. Their birthday's are the same day. They had a disco party in the backyard and the kids behaved really well.

Saturday morning my 96 year old granny died, which is much better for her but very sad just the same. That was my last grandparent left alive. The funeral is on Thursday.

Then Sunday night we had the opening of the Innovision exhibition. There was a large turn out and one painting sold. Wish us good luck for sales for the rest of the exhibition.

Finally this work titled "Late for work" is another city scape done with a metholated spirits underpainting. May need a few tweeks here and there yet.

Innovision

This is my art group. We have called our selves Innovision. There are two members missing from the pictures Wendi and Yumee. We are having an exhibition commencing Sunday the 1st of March at 5.00pm at the Lady Hawke Cafe, Mount Dandenong. If anyone is local and reads my blog please come to the opening. The more the merrier. I am just in the process of trying to work out what paintings to have at the exhibition as it will be up for a month.

The address is 1365 Dandenong Tourist Road, Mount Dandenong (Mel.66 G1). The exhibition will continue from Sun 1st March to Sun 30th March, 9am to 5 pm. Open Thursday to Monday. Closed Tues and Wednesday.

Rush Hour

I really enjoy trying new methods of painting. This one was really fun. Some people in my art group had been to a work shop in this method and so we all tried it. The results were fun and really varied. You first analyse the picture you are to paint. Then you work out two colors for the underpainting. This is painted on white colorfix paper. For dramatic results go for the complimentary colors. Work them in heavily with pastel just blocking in the shapes. Then get a large paint brush soaked in metholated spirits and paint the pastel. Use more metho if you wish to have runs and splash marks in your work. Wait for the under painting to dry. Then you work your painting on top of the underpainting.

I used orange and green for my under painting and then worked red browns and blue over these colors. I liked the fact that the under painting could be used to block in your big shapes. It gives the painting an interconnection.

Try it,it's lots of fun!!!

Life Drawing

Life drawing is such a good discipline. I wish I could always have the time to go. The time limitations, observation techniques required and the wish to create something that half resembles the model makes life drawing exciting and requires great concentration.

This model had a lovely voluptious body which made the painting of her more fun.

Summer Waders-Launching Place

I just whipped this picture up. I fell in love with the colors and reflections in the river. The two people are Teone, my daughter and Jazz her friend. The photo was taken by Laura on Teone's camera. Thanks to the kids I had this ace reference.

I started the picture concentrating on the lights and darks. Then focused on the patterns in the river of colors and shapes.

I finshed the pictureconcentrating on the girls. I love to depict the highlights and try to make sure the figures look animated.

I hope other people like the mystery of the far bank. To me, it was like a magical place, full of shadows and light. Anything could happen on the bank of the river.

Three little gangsters

Hello and a happy new yearto everyone for 2009. Here is my first posting for 2009. I will have to get busy and update a little more often.

This picture was from my 40th birthday party. The party was themed with a 1920's style. So I think you will see more pictures with this theme included. The child in the left is my son Sean and the other boys are Sean and Callum, who are brothers. They were part of the mob from Sydney who stayed with us for the week leading up to my birthday. Unfortunately I over indulged and so the week is a bit blurry but lots of fun.

These three at the beginning of the party hung around in the street. Asking all who were coming to the party for their invitation. If they didn't have an invitation they were hit up for 20 dollars with toy guns. Then another gangster would say, ok we will let you in this time.