Artists Blog

Port Douglas was laid back as usual, with people kicking back with coffee and conversation.

Whilst we enjoyed our brews at the Marina, I heard the waitstaff whispering about “the lady who was doing some awesome paintings on the pier”.

I wandered over to say hello, and she surprised me by saying that she knew me! She was doing the watercolour class a few feet away from me at ArtEscape last month.

Her name is Delia and she’s also a member of the Cairns Art Society. After a brief but inspiring chat, I left her to her watercolours. I’m terrible with names, but I did remember talking to her about the class at ArtEscape. My memory definately needs some improving!

Granma & Granpa enjoyed a cuddle on the pier.

At Uni yesterday we got into the more intricate techie side of Photoshop. Here is my lecturer attempting to create 3D images from my photos. Ok, they are actually his sunglasses.

The first canetoad of the season reared it’s ugly (and I mean ugly!) head IN my fishpond.

The Man scooped it out.

Cool as you like it was. They never hurry for anyone.

Later in the evening we caught up for a farewell drink with Kim (Bigblog), her Mum and her Man. You can ask her about the binoculars!

Friday - painting class - continuing our adventures with “oil glazing”. A tiny dab of oil paint  is mixed with fast drying Liquol to produce a thin layer (a glaze) of paint. Many layers of glaze later you have a transparent sheen of paint that looks luminous. Well, that’s the theory anyway.

For many, including myself, it’s our first introduction to oil painting, and a whole new experience. Next week we go hard and thick with the oils with impasto techniques.

This afternoon there was a loud BANG on the kitchen window. The Man of the House had only cleaned the window recently and it had repercussions.

A teenage Chestnut Breasted Mannikin (or Bullfinch?) was not happy with his close encounter. A good excuse to have dirty windows!

(Don’t look at the oil paint under my fingernails).

He didn’t seem to want to fly anywhere, so I popped him in a tree out back. 20 minutes later he was right to join all his mates again.

Peaceful Dove trying to be inconspicuous.

Like all his friends.

Meanwhile, the Bromeliads and gingers are putting on a flamboyant display. Almost like Mardi Gras!

The Art Room has been transformed into the Music Room.

Row upon row of gorgeous xylophones, symbols, tambourines and maracas.

What a job of setting up that was! The music teacher (standing on a ladder) was frantically writing out sheet music on the white board. That’s dedication.

Tomorrow the board will be wiped clean, and the room filled with the smell of turps and oil paints.

We have more lovely visitors escaping the winter chills down south.

Granma & Granpa enjoying a cuddle on the Palm Cove jetty today.

Kim (Hosky from Bigblog) is here in Cairns with her family.

Celebrations began with cocktails down at the harbour.

Kim was delightful. It was like catching up with an old friend.

Another cocktail, just to celebrate you know.

After pre dinner cocktails, it was on to the Esplanade to dine at Rattle & Hum.

Hopefully we’ll see her and her family again this week. More food, more cocktails!

Another whirlwind weekend - starting Friday evening with the opening of the “Titillate” exhibition.

This exhibition was made up of a collection of paintings, sculpture and installations all designed to smile and set the heart racing. Think burlesque meets vaudeville with sexy strip show thrown in.

My lecturer from last semester, Kristin, had work on show, as well as Adrian (from a few posts back).

Kristen made 6 of these groovy vinyl panels, of which I can show 4  here. (the other 2 are perhaps too burlesque for some!)

Same with Adrian, some great artworks, but I can only show the Patchwork piece here.

From a distance the patchwork was photolike.

Same with the mosaic.

Can you see who she is?

The “bouncers” by the door.

Yes, they are ping pong balls.

A quick wander along the Esplanade afterwards was lovely. Fire dancers were wowing the crowd.

I only had the little “Point & Shoot” camera, but being a hybrid, I could still play around with the shutter speed & ISO.

Trippy!

Kim Hosky (from Bigblog) will be here tonight- so dinner and drinks again. I’ll be sure to take the camera.

A visit to my Specialist (Dr B) is unlike any other Dr’s/Specialist’s visit. He could be a Stand Up Comic if he so chose. Dry, dry dry.

He is retiring (sort of), so I will not see him again, unless the old RA really goes wild. Today we talked about why he is retiring - so he can go fishing. And pursue his addiction to fly tying.

He thought he should look serious in this shot, which really freaked me out - not him at all. The walls of his practice are covered in trophies of his fishing exploits. His flies are rather wonderful. Wen I asked him if I could take photos of his flies, he giggled and said I was being naughty. “Oh, those flies!” he said.

Some of these are constructed from a single spine from a pheasant’s tail feather. Wool and other feathers are also dyed and used.

These flies are miniscule. (That’s Dr B’s finger). They are so life like, and sit on top of the water surface for unsuspecting trout.

The one he is pointing to is called a “Tup’s Indispensable”. I had to ask why. In England, a ram is also called a Tup (Dr B is English). The wool that is used for the fishing fly is from a Tup’s testicles. Tricky job shearing that wool.

Dr B with his collection of assorted bones. 

He even showed me his Catfish battle scar today. I’ll miss him.

I do apologise for the bad scan of this illo - it was done some years back for an interactive CD package for schools. The original watercolour had rainbow holographic glitter featured all over the sail.

It ended up on the DVD cover (I apologise again, when I resized this the text Drop Shadows went wild!):

The illustration for the first story (of 20), featured the Woodlum (the animal’s “ark”) in the background. Not such a fantastic scan either!

I’m just in the door from the movies - we saw “Wanted”, with Angelina Jolie at her gun totin’ best. I had planned to do a watercolour of a big & beautiful sail fish for this week’s topic, but the movie won out over sitting at the drawing desk!

Lots of work to do before painting class tomorrow, I believe I’m to be introduced to oil paints - very exciting!

In the pre-dawn light I followed the flight of this bee, who with a single mindedness of purpose, gathered pollen from the waterlillies. No other bees about, just herself and her determination.

From the land of Buddha, my best friend in the whole world is flying home to me tonight. Thousands of miles to be crossed, but he was never really far away.

I asked for him to bring me back a reclining Buddha, it’s one that I don’t have in my collection. I light candles near my Buddhas, casting a serene glow over all.

Today was day of firsts.

First time I’ve used a Mac (Very impressive new Mac lab it was too).

First time I’ve used the Adobe CS3 suite.

First time I spoke frankly and openly with my senior lecturer - where do I really want to go? I’ve only just discovered my full marks and ranking from first semester’s subjects.

First time I bought a passionfruit cheesecake slice and enjoyed it’s creamy deliciousness without a shred of guilt.

I think I like Firsts. I should try more of them.

I’ve had such a busy week that I’ve only just sat down to read Wednesday’s paper (and the rest!) this evening. What a nice surprise to see one of my photos being used in the paper:

The original photo and story behind this OCD Sunbird and it’s pooping ways all over my car can be found by clicking here.

I’ve had a few emails asking for some “behind the scenes of the kingfisher painting. Everything I’ve learnt regarding this method has been taught to me by a wonderful bird artist, Paul Margocsy.

I’ve used Clayboard for this piece, but any illustration board (smooth or toothed), and even Matt board (for framing) is OK.

Step1 - After sketching onto my clayboard, I mask the birds and foliage. Using my airbrush, I lay down washes of background colour. I have the board tilted up at an angle, which is better for airbrushing, but not so good for wayward drips!

Airbrushing is really forgiving, I made a heap of mistakes here. The consequence is that the background gets darker and darker. I need to adjust the pressure to a lower setting so that it’s not like a rifle going off!

I use a finger or eraser to gently peel off the dried masking fluid. I’ve used a water soluable wash pencil for the sketch. I touched up some of the birds with the same pencil at this stage.

Time to block in rough areas of colour with a big brush. After this step, I go over and lay in the fine details with a tiny brush. Good eyes and a steady hand an advantage - I don’t have either! I wouldn’t call this method “over-the-top-difficult”, but more “methodical”. I find the feathers/foliage gets rather tedious after a while, but a quick walk or cuppa soon revives my momentum.

And the finished peice you saw 2 posts back. No 8 in using this method, not that I’m counting!

Did anyone sit through the whole Opening Ceremony last night? I admit I flagged after 12.30, but was able to catch the replay this morning. I think of all the artists involved in so many aspects, the costumes, the calligraphy, the lighting, the props, the digital art (stupendous!) and the list goes on. Just FABULOUS!