Artists Blog

After showing the work of the weekend pastel students in my last post, it was only fair to show the finished pieces of the weekday group. Above is Kim’s Mindarie Beach, hot off the framer’s workbench.

Joy and Beaumaris Beach.

And the secret to Kelly’s North Hillary’s Beach piece is the being held aloft by Inga! 

You may remember the post about my violet shell which I sketched and unfortunately broke. My lovely husband Jeff found this shell today on his beach travels and left it on the kitchen bench for me to find. It is adorned with goose barnacles, a lovely lilac hue themselves.

That wasn’t the only amazing object to grace the kitchen bench this afternoon…

this GINORMOUS mushroom is slow roasting in the oven for dinner – yum!

The work produced on Saturday’s pastel workshop was just wonderful. The students are really spreading their wings with their paintings. Above is Thea working on Mogo Crater Creek rainforest in the Atherton Tablelands.

Albert proudly shows off his first pastel painting in many many years.

Heather shows us her vision of Quinns Beach, her 2nd painting ever!

Cathy is working in a very fresh and loose style on happy sunflowers from The Continent.

Lil is re-creating a stunning waterlily form Port Douglas.

We all share laughs, stories, tips and chocolate on Workshop days.

With finished paintings at the end to share with a wider audience. Thanks to everyone for sharing their work.

So impressive is the calibre of the students work, we are going to hold an exhibition on the first weekend in Decemeber. Stay tuned for details!

Water’s Journey   Acyrlic on canvas 122cm x 122 cm (48″ x 48″)

The Perth Royal Agricultural Show is fast approaching, with delivery of the Art Award paintings on Sunday. On Saturday I had a niggling feeling that the large painting I had worked on may be a tight squeeze in the car. With tape measure in hand and trepidation in heart I went to the garage. The worst possible outcome – it wasn’t going to fit!

Panic, and even mad thoughts of starting and finishing a whole new painting in a matter of hours filled my head. What a horrible night of tossing and turning I had.

Then a Shining Knight on a White Horse appeared in the form of a loaned mini bus – a huge Thank You to all involved in my rescue!

Detail from top right hand corner below.

Yesterday’s pastel class produced some wonderful work. The subject matter encompassed Mindarie Beach here in the West, through central Australia’s Uluru, right up to FNQ’s Mossman Gorge.

And Joy’s kitty was just beautiful.

All the girls are doing so well on their pastel learning journey. And we mustn’t forget that during class chocolates and coffee are some of your most important painting tools!

Recently I received a pack of Winsor & Newton acrylic paints to trial. These are a different type of acrylic, as they do not change colour as they dry. Regular acrylics do have that horrid habit of drying darker – a real pain when trying to colour match. These new Winsor & Newton paints were rather lovely to work with.

Eternal 91 cm x 91 cm (3′ x 3′)

It’s been a while since I last painted and I really missed it. This is for an upcoming juried exhibition, I’ll find out next week if it’s been accepted.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

On the weekend  the Calligraphy Guild members got together for a Calligraphy on Fabric workshop. It started out with fabric, but calligraphy ended up EVERYWHERE!

We DID actually put down some calligraphy on fabric. Gaye demonstrated with her wonderful transformation of a carry bag with luscious lettering.

Everyone got stuck in with fabric and paint.

We were even treated to some Chinese calligraphy by Edward.

There were some special treats as well. A very talented fellow has kindly offered to hand carve pen holders for us, made from beautiful Australian native timbers. Guess which one I’ve ordered? (The top red one missing it’s label is Jarrah)

If anyone would like to join in the calligraphic fun, we always welcome new members!

Thunderstorms predicted tomorrow, hope the weather where you are is treating you kindly.

Saturday morning I was at Jacksons Art Store giving a pastel demonstration. About 19 eager pastel enthusiasts assembled for instruction and chocolate. Those in my classes know that choclate is essential for hand-eye-art co-ordination!

The image was of Mindarie beach, looking south at sunset.

There was a “Hands on” play session afterwards, which gave everyone a chance to try different pastel brands and papers.

Thanks to all at Jacksons, and to those who came.

Did anyone spot a subtle difference? Yep, I’ve had my hair chopped off. What was going to be fringe only trim turned into totally different style. I feel 3 kilos lighter!

“Serenity” Pastel on Board 100cm x 70cm (framed)  40″ x 28″

You may recall seeing a snippet of this painting from a recent post. It was one of my pieces on show at the Pastel Society’s Annual exhibiton held over the weekend. It has gone to a new home where I hope it brings much joy for many years to come.

Below are some detail images.

Opening Night was great fun. Lots of people passionate about pastels in a beachfront building full of amazing work.

Can hardly wait for next year!

If you’ve ever fancied trying pastels but don’t know where to start, or just want to pop in and say “Hi”, I’ll be doing a  free pastel painting demonstration at Jacksons Art Store tomorrow morning at 11.am. Just RSVP to Jacksons (ph or email details at the end of this post) I’d love to see you there!

Lots to do today with the opening of the Pastel Society’s Annual Exhibiton. It’s right on the beachfront at the Maureen Grierson Centre – directly in line with the Observation Hotel. Opens at 7pm – might see you there as well!

“River’s Journey” Acrylic on Canvas,  91cm x 91 cm (36″ x 36″)

I finally finished my second piece for the City of Belmont’s Art Exhibiton just in time for the official opening this week. Below shows the rambling journey my paintbrush made over the canvas. The exhibiton runs until Saturday 20th August

I am typing this with great difficulty as my right hand is swathed in plasters. I wore my fingreprints out completing a big pastel piece for the upcoming Pastel Society Exhibiton which opens this Friday.  Nothing like a bit of deadline pressure…again! It’s being framed tonight by my long suffering Framing Wizard, who is always co calm in times of Framing Emergencies.

Here’s a sneak peak, will show you the finished piece tomorrow.