Christmas Cat

 

 

 

 

 

Hi there!  This is my Christmas drawing for Mental Health Coalition, South Australia.  I thought I would do a Christmas cat, inspired by a couple of great people who work at the Mental Health Coalition.  I also noticed on the Mindshare website last year that some people weren't looking forward to Christmas.  I know Christmas can be stressful when you have an illness to deal with.  So this drawing is about Christmas not going quite right. 

 

I'm not too stressed about Christmas yet.  As long as I have somewhere to take a nap on Christmas Day(after 2 days of food preparation!) I'm okay.

 

 

 

 

Spring Flower Inspiration

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love Spring, even though the weather is still coolish.  Just had to share some of the plants flowering away in my garden at the moment.

 

Flowers always inspire me when I'm not feeling particularly creative.

Dark Horse

This is my latest illustration 'Dark Horse'.  It's coloured pencil on board and the size is  36 H x 52 W.

It's kind of a snapshot of how I was feeling a couple of months ago - defiantly trudging along through life.  :)

I really enjoyed working on this one.  I enjoyed drawing and colouring all the little details.

On another topic, the South Australian Living Artists Festival (SALA) has just begun and I'm looking forward to getting out to see some art.  There is a retrospective of the work of Anna Platten (one of my fave artists'!) on at the Art Gallery of SA which I am really keen to see.

Well, for me it's back to painting and giving my garden a much needed clean up to get rid of all those winter weeds!

bye for now :)

Sketchbook Drawing

Hi there!  Yes, I have posted much later unfortunately.  Lots of excuses but that's boring stuff (including a bout of flu - yuck!).

Have been trying to keep warm in this frosty weather.  I am usually spending time walking down the beach this time of year but illness has prevented that.  Winter is the best time to be down there as there aren't as many people and I can drift off into my own little nature world while I'm walking.

As you can see I've been drawing in my sketchbook.  I drew this from a photograph of Lanie Lane on a magazine cover but she kind of morphed into a totally different girl.  This happens to me a lot when trying to draw people and faces.  It's like there are all these people inside of me, bursting to get onto the page.  In the photograph of Lanie, her eyes were more intense, but I feel this girls eyes are wistful, dreaming eyes.  

I don't usually show these types of drawings, I only do them to keep my mind sharp.  I'm working on an illustration at the moment which I had hoped would be finished and posted by now but isn't.  Hopefully soon.

Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my mum.  Our whole family are going out to lunch tomorrow and I hope mum has a fantastic day.  I am really looking forward to some yummy food and seeing my family!

Bye for now :)

Autumn

'Why does the end hurt so beautiful?'

Yes, it's Autumn here in Adelaide.  We had the most beautiful, warm, golden days up until a couple of weeks ago.  Since then it has been cold and there has been rain, which I always look forward to because we were in drought with water restrictions for so long.

I wanted to do an autumn artwork.  I was thinking about endings and how sometimes when some things end, it really hurts but the hurt is intertwined with memories and there is this beautiful kind of melancholy(though still awful), kind of like the beautifully coloured leaves and dimmed light of autumn.  Also sometimes, I just don't want things to end and don't want to let go but I have to.

My health has been improving lately and I'm hoping to get much more art done.  I'm so grateful when my head is clear and I can think clearly about creativity and what I'm doing.

Well, I hope to post again sooner rather than later!

Bye for now :)

Easter

Hi there!  It's been a long while (again!).  I've been under the weather for quite a while but things seem to be improving a bit.  I've been reading when I can.  I bought 'My Life In a Column' by Tracey Emin.  It's a collection of column entries she wrote for the Independent newspaper.  It's so good.  She has such enthusiasm for life and seems to feel so free.  I wish I could let myself be a bit more free (too much worrying!).  I also love the stories she tells about her cat 'Docket'.  When I've been low, I read it and she always cheers me up a bit!   I've also been looking at art books and magazines, mostly contemporary art.  There are so many great artists out there.

As you can see I have made an Easter inspired artwork for mindshare.  It kind of has many meanings hard to put into words.  I don't like to talk much about what my art means because I like others to take their own meanings from it.  It isn't meant to be a religious work.  I guess I was thinking about when I was a child and I felt so unfettered and 'New'.  I was thinking, 'how do I get back to there?'.