Artists Blog

I think the electrical pixies have been partying hard at my house – victims include the washing machine, telephone and my computer. Which would be most annoying to you?

 I finally got my computer back (it’s chewed through 3 power packs!), but I had more fun and games with mouse, keyboard, printer & modem refusing to co-operate. Fingers crossed it’s all sorted now.  But it’s not been all bad, my Calligraphy & Pastel students have been a shining light through the gloom.

Brush lettering with watercolours and gouache was a lot of fun.

Working with size and metallic powders, one student remarked that it was like the writing was appearing by magic. His piece above emerged from beneath a cloud of brilliant blue.

The chocolate and shortbread are essential tools of calligraphic learning.

The Pastel Workshop was a lot of fun and the students really shone on the day.

Some students managed more than one painting, even with no previous pastel experience.

Stained fingers are all part of the initiation, as well as remembering to wear an apron next time!

Thanks to everyone who made the day such fun – happy painting!

I’ve been on the ”loose end mend”, meaning finishing and tidying up the unloved and unfinished, both inside and out.  Going through my studio I found this old demo piece  from the summer waiting patiently.

I had left this months ago as a quick pastel sketch, just blocks of colour.

Refining the tones of the ocean, suggesting the rolling waves with turquoise on top and pthalo blue beneath.

Deepening the dune shadows with Ultramarine and Prussian Blues. Plants and grasses taking shape.

Morning sunlight shining on leaves.

And here is the afternoon sunlight shining through the leaves on my Chinese Tallow Tree outside my kitchen.

Most of them have ended up in the fish pond over the weekend with the storms. Beautiful leaf boats on the water, with the fish in Hide-and-Seek heaven. Autumn has finally given over to Winter, with huge drifts of mulberry, manchurian pear, and frangipani leaves all through the garden.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week of “doing”.

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.

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.

I’m just in the door from an impromptu few days down south, revelling in a Tree and Sea change. Before I left I was able to get more work done on my Mosman Park piece. Here’s a closer look at the river ripples.

The brushwork becomes a meditation after a while.

Still lots more to be done. I’ve invested in a new, thicker groundsheet in anticiaption of painting all the reeds. I loathe having to clean paint from windows and floortiles, as well as palette and brushes!

I’ll include my photos from my very inspiring trip away in my next few posts. Special moments include a wonderful visit to a secluded artist’s handbuilt studio, sharks, seals, surf and cheeky birds. Below is a special place just east of Cape Naturalist, Shelley Cove, where the sand is replaced by shells.

Each footstep made a delightful crunching sound.

And joy of joys, it FINALLY rained. The grateful garden gave a huge sigh of relief.

You may recall this watercolour that I’m working on. Progress is slow, with so many other things stealing away my painting time.

One bird down, two to go.

I’m determined to have this piece finished before the weekend, so stay tuned…

A singing visitor returned to greet us the other night. Right up to the kitchen window he came.

You may remember the amusing song he sings from this previous post.

Yes, the Motorbike Frog is BACK!

I’m getting together some watercolour paintings for an Arts Society and was looking back through some pieces from 1993 when I was first learning. One piece caught my eye – I didn’t finish it and always meant to get around to it. Work, having a baby, travelling to far flung places – life got so busy and I forgot about watercolours for many many years. Today I finally got round to it.

Turnberry  11″ x 14″ (27cm x 37cm)

The top image is the completed piece (finally!). This is the view from the 10th hole at Turnberry Golf Course, Scotland.

Tomorrow is opening night for a large exhibition at the Wanneroo Cultural Centre. Myself and some of my students have pieces on display, so come along for a glass of bubbles, a visual feast and a chance to say “Hi” to the artists behind the brush. Doors open 7pm, venue opp. the Council Chambers.

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!

A kind of madness takes over in Spring. An overload of sunshine and hormones. The bees in our mauve Convolvulus are all doing headstands. They burrow in that hard to get at the pollen they fall over backwards, covered in it.

A different kind of Painted Lady for this blog – the native Australian one.

The Carrion Flower (or Dead Horse plant from this earlier post) has outdone itself with a massive flower bud. The smell will be unbelievably disgusting.

And just when you thought “no-one could be that silly”, here’s a new plant available to buy at the garden nursey.

That price says $3.99 (faded in the sunlight). By my calculations my garden is already worth $319 in those plants alone!