Artists Blog

Last Friday the lovely Marie and I had coffee and an explore near the Hillarys Lighthouse.

A wander around the Marina with Marie and her camera, then off across the drawbridge to the Marine Research labs.

Behind the doors and windows are tanks with scientists researching our Marine environment.

Sometimes it’s tough knowing who’s checking out whom. This cuttlefish was very intent on eyeballing everyone that went past his window. Very very smart creature this one.

It was feeding time when we were there. Can you make out who’s in the top left hand corner?

That’s his bum up top, and then a From Above view. Yes, it’s a sea turtle.

Next day was Saturday and time for Marie’s Demo at Jackson’s art store.

Marie was fabulous and a wonderfully patient teacher. She is a Full Bottle on all things digital and her mixed media pieces were amazing.

Thanks Marie for sharing your knowledge!

There was an extra guest during Saturday’s pastel workshop. This Southern Old Lady Moth was quite happy to crawl about my pastel stained fingers.

I took her outside and off she flew. Even though her colours were not as brilliant as the moths and butterflies of our last home, her patterns and wing “eyes” were just as captivating as the Ulysses below.

Word has spread about our backyard bounty…..

Sanctuary Acrylic on canvas, 100cm x 100cm (40″ x 40″)

I knew I was tempting Fate when I said aloud “What else can go wrong?” after my recent spate of applicance meltdowns.  I thought nothing could beat the washing machine, phone & computer all going belly up together, until the car and computer (x2) went on strike.  When the car made a loud “pop” under the hood, with strangling noises following, I called for the roadside assist mechanic. “Starter motors’ gone luv.” he said in a strong Irish accent. Odd, considering the youthfulness of the car. Next day at the garage/hospital it was revealed that it was nothing mechanical at all – a computer module was to blame. Some Power-Interface-Control-The-World module had told my car that the starter motor was cactus AND that it was out of fuel, and therefore don’t go awyhere. I also think it had a word to my home computer (you know the one that had it’s power pack replaced last week!), who now refused to allow mouse clicks to open anything. Several hundreds of dollars later, fastforward to today and my world is a much happier place. Fate can go jump.

Happy days on the go again, I finished some paintings, the above is for an upcoming exhibiton. The Quackers are back, but we have the pool blanket on, which rather confused them and me, seeing them walk on the rippling surface just like a water bed. The howling winds soon threw back a corner of the blanket, so happy ducks now as well. (Ssshhh, don’t tell Jeff, he’s not fond of all the mess they make…)

A huge storm is brewing tonight, due to hit in the early hours of the morning. Damaging gale force winds, hail, thunderstorms, abnormally high tides & flooding along the coast with beach erosion forecast. From Beaumaris Beach below, it looked very bleak. Time to snuggle up with a mug of something hot with my feet getting toasty in front of the heater. There’s good chocolate hiding somewhere as well…..

Waves in pastel, from a recent painting.

Bunker Bay, south of Perth, had the most amazing turquoise sets of waves.

 Even though they were breaking close to shore and dumping swimmers in a most unceremonious way, everyone was having fun.

Beautifully formed waves is one reason why Yallingup, just round the Cape from BB,  is so popular.

A bodyboarder enjoying “The Green Room”.

Surfers come here for the long, rolling sets.

They’re certainly a brave bunch, considering the size of the waves.

And that’s not the only thing to take into account when you enter the water.

This fellow was swimming around the ankles of children right at the shoreline.

It was a Wobbegong or Carpet Shark, and was about 1.3 mtrs long.

The kids and the shark crossed paths, he went casually on his way up the beach, the kids ran onto the beach squealing!

You never know what you’ll find in a wave…

You may remember my recent painting of Forest Kingfishers. I’m thrilled the team behind the “And it was very good” art exhibiton have chosen it for March  2012, in a calender they will be producing.

The Forest Kingfisher is my favourite bird to paint – I can’t get enough of those electric blues. Until living in FNQ I had never imagined birds so blue would visit me almost every day in my garden.

They were a constant source of delight and inspiration. And they were q u i e t. Very unlike all the other racket making birds up there – Noisyness ratings as follows – (Nightime) nothing beats the wailing Bush Stone Curlews, a close second were the Orange Footed Scrub Fowl – these guys went ALL night long. (Daytime) Sulphur Crested Cockatoos with young ones begging – sounds like an electricity substation approaching meltdown. Then Scaly Breasted Lorikeets, Kookaburras, and that Singing Assasin the Butcher Bird. All let you know full well they were around. Not the wee Forest Kingfisher. You’d look up and there he’d be, looking you straight in the eye a few feet away.

Sometimes with dinner in his beak – showing it off to you.

I truly miss them.

This post inspired by Tyto Tony’s blogpost on these beautiful birds.

Over Lake Joondalup – Acrylic on Canvas 100cm x 100cm (40 ” x 40″)

It’s always a little sad when I finish a painting, pack it gently in the car and then deliver it to be hung. It’s like sending a child off into the world – will I see it again? This was sent out into the world this evening in preparation for the City Of Wanneroo Art Awards – opening Friday night at the City’s Cultural Centre.

Detail

I’ve known this lake area ever since I moved to Perth over 25 years ago. It has certainly changed, but in good ways. The birds reckon they’re onto a good thing – so cheeky that they not only feed out of your hand, but will only select sunflower seeds and thumb their nose at lesser seeds!

It’s quite funny to see people’s reaction the the Long Billed Corella (below) digging around their open palm with that very imposing beak!

Hope everyone is off to a great start to the week!

Here are just some of the many birds I saw down the south west corner of Western Australia. Some were shy, some were noisy, some were downright cheeky!

These 28′s (Australian Ringnecks or Port Lincoln parrots) were at my door in the morning ready for breakfast. I’ve so many photos I’ll be happily painting birds for years!

Once back at home, we were alarmed to hear a clatter, clatter BANG on our roof tiles and guttering. Not once, but three times. Running outside and looking up to the roof we saw the culprits. A quick climb up the ladder revealed this:

Apparently ravens find “toys” like this interesting. There have been $000′s damage to glass awnings when they drop their “toys” onto them. There is a large flock of adults and juveniles around here currently. The teenagers will be off soon to establish their own territories. Till then it’s one eye on the sky!

The adults have white eyes, the juvies black. Here they are in my back garden playing King of the Hill. Or water feature.

This is Blue Violet. A luscious colour that I use instead of black in my paintings. Black can deaden a painting, whereas Blue Violet provides the deepest of shadows without being over powerful. When dry it is much darker, as seen below.

I have spent some time on my Mosman Park under-paintings today. The orange will give a lovely glow once I paint the water over the top. Working on two canvases simultaneously means that drying time is no longer an issue, and I can keep colours consistent. The fluffy one has been good company in the studio.

Another unexpected joy with these paintings has been my purple string of brass bells. I took them to the Medieval Fayre and when I got home I was so exhausted I just hung them on the back of the easel and completely forgot about them. When I first began painting with my big expressive brushstrokes, a gentle tinkling accompanied every sweep of my arm. It was such a joyous sound that I made sure every stroke was broad enough to make them ring. Timid strokes just didn’t cut it. It’s certainly stopped me “dabbling” with small brushmarks!

Behind the easel you can see my string of “no-dabbling-bells”. I thoroughly recommend them to anyone who finds themselves getting stuck in the unnecessary details.

I hope everyone has enjoyed their Easter break – stay safe and happy!

What I’m listening to in the studio – School of Seven Bells

Even though it’s officially Autumn, the continued high temperatures and no rain for 8 weeks has the garden firmly stuck in Summer Mode.  The Candy frangipanis are blooming their heads off, filling the air with that musk sugar scent.

The bougainvillea almost blinds you with brilliance as it clambers over everything.

And my Thai chilli bush is now a chilli tree – it’s taller than me!

There are so many dragonflies, bees and butterflies throughout the garden. See if you can spot the hitchhiker on my dinner:

It’s a Skipper butterfly, so named for their quick, darting flying habit.

This little guy would not let go, and happily settled himself for quite a while.

In the end I shook him off (he kept flying back onto the mushroom) and dashed indoors to roast the mushrooms in butter. Yum!

Just when the cat thought she was safe from reptiles, Jeff opened the door and almost trod on a visitor sleeping on the doormat. As a bush block was cleared across the road yesterday, I assume this Bobtail lizard (Shingleback or Sleepy Lizard) used to live there. Also known as a Blue Tongue Lizard for obvious reasons.

After expressing his displeasure at me for humiliatingly picking him up and plonking him in a bucket, it was off to the beach dunes behind us, where colonies of them live.

Jeff wasn’t as happy as me to be close to the lizard. I remember my male neighbour across the road from years back, running over to ask me to ”remove the lizard” from his lawn.

It took some convincing that this was the place for him to be.

Then  v e r y  slowly he crawled into the bush, almost immediatley blending in with his surroundings. Can you spot him?

(here’s the answer). The next photo you’re on your own.

In such a lovely place I’m sure he’ll find friends in no time, although they are monogamous, believe it or not!