Summer Rain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anointing: Summer Rain

61cmW x 76cmH

 

 

Hi there :)  Another mixed media piece to post.  I had fun with this one.  I was trying to capture the heat and light of late summer combined with rain.  I love the smell of rain on a hot day. 

On another level, it's kind of about the cleansing power of water and fire.  The flame cleanses like water, it's not hot, it's cooling, as it cleanses and rejuvenates. 

 Also I have this thing about inner light or an inner flame.  I think I'm preoccupied with this because at times I've felt the fire go out in me.

 

I made this piece with old newspaper, patterned paper, pencil, crayon and acrylic paints.

 

 

Mixed Media

 

 

 

 

Her Heart Is Good As New

41cm W x 51cm H

Mixed media on canvas.

 

Hi there :)  I said a while ago that I was experimenting with mixed media.  This painting is one of the ones I am most happy with.  I had a lot of disasters, including gel medium splitting for some reason and going all goopy (yuck), which completely ruined a work I really liked.  Oh well. 

I was happy with the colours on this one but the mixed media background may have too much going on for my liking.  I'm still learning and really enjoying the random messiness of it all, considering I used to be addicted to being neat and tidy with my art.  I wish I could be that tidy round my house :)

 

 

 

Cat

 

 

 

 

Yes, it's another cat.  This series of small grey animals are not personal work but are being made to produce fridge magnets for Willunga Gallery.  I have a couple more to go.

 

 

 

Lamb

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continuing on the grey animal theme.  I've never really seen a grey sheep so I decided to make a white sheep with shadowing.  It has a night time theme which was appropriate for some insomnia problems that were really doing my head in :(  Thankfully in the past few days the insomnia righted itself and I got some blissful night time sleep at last - yay :).  I think I still have a hangover from all the festivities and grief that was packed into three months the beginning of this year.  I'm not really big on drama, I like a quiet life and I love solitude.  I'm looking forward to a weekend of listening to the rain come down(hopefully), my plants so need it.

 

 

Tomatoes

 

 

Coloured pencil on paper.

 

 

 

Wow, it's been soooooo hot here this week!  Today reached 44C(which is 111.2F) and of course I had to go to Adelaide today, I think it was cooler at home.  It's going to be 46C tomorrow.  The heat feels as red as the tomatoes I have drawn.  Lucky I have a portable air conditioner which does a good enough job of cooling my place down.

 

Trying to get back into the swing of things after Christmas-New Year chaos.  Attempting to do more art but most times lately my mental illness gets in the way.  Have kind of remedied that by taking an extra small dose of medication during the day.  I'm a little bit more drowsy but I can live with that for now.

 

Moving on to something happy.  I drew the tomatoes a while ago and I really enjoyed it.  I love the skin on tomatoes, it's so soft and has a wonderful glow.  I love the depth of colour.  I think I'll try another fruit or vegetable next, see how I go.

 

 

New Year 2014

 

 

Coloured pencil and gold mica on black card

 



Hi there!  Happy New Year!  Okay, so it's not officially the New Year yet but I thought I would get in early.  I feel good about the New Year.  I won't tell you what I'll be getting up to tonight 'cos some people might think it's a bit sad, but I'm happy and that's all that matters right?

 

Christmas turned out okay with lots of yummy food and family.  It was fun watching my niece Phoebe rip open presents with her little hands.  Little James was a bit too young to understand Christmas but seemed to have plenty of fun looking round and taking everything in.

 

I was worried about sensory overload triggering my symptoms but my illness only reared it's head a little and I had some control over that, so I was really glad.  It just seems absurd sometimes, in a humorous way :), the amount of preparations that go into one day, and then it's over, just like that. 

 

till the New Year, bye for now :)

 

 

Christmas Bunny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First of all - Merry Christmas!  This year, for a change, I am actually looking forward to Christmas even though I am partially being dragged under by all the chaos and all the things I need to do.  I seem to soak up everything that floats around in the atmosphere and tend to feel somewhat confused. 

 

I am glad this year is over though.  I turned 40 this year and felt really down about it because for some reason I became faced with the fact of my own mortality and how short life really is.  I feel there is too much to do and not enough time.  In the past month or so I made peace with it all and feel a sense of acceptance about my life.  On top of that I struggled with mental illness troubles and other physical health problems which didn't help very much.  Through all these troubles I think I was able to learn a lot about myself as a person and change my life some in a physical way, like starting to eat healthy foods, getting more exercise and getting some good quality mental rest (eg. turning off loud outside stimulation like the TV and radio for long periods, this has really helped to clear my head, ground me and help me rest mentally and physically).

 

On the plus side I became an Aunty twice this year which was really exciting!  I really adore these two new little munchkins, they're so cute and loveable.  Also got some art done even though illnesses made that quite difficult.

 

Well, this year I am having a Portuguese and somewhat German Christmas.  I think it's going to be 24 hours of Christmas and I'll be sneaking off to take a nap somewhere Christmas day.  I'm looking forward to all the naughty food as I've been eating healthy for nearly two months and it will be a nice break.

 

I know it's not Easter but I had to do a bunny picture.  I've got this thing about bunnies at the moment, they're so cute!(glad my cat can't read this)  I made some cards from this picture to give to family and friends. I put silver mica on the baubles and the edges of the cards.

 

Well, I hope Christmas doesn't treat you all too badly and there is some good stuff in there for you!

 

Bye for now :)

 

 

 

 

Wake Up!

 

 

 

This one is for all the people who can't get out of bed in the morning.

 

If she can't wake me up by meowing, my cat will get up on the bed head and make a flying leap onto my stomach, then meow right in my face.  This of course wakes me with a huge shock and makes me grumpy.  It's pretty funny when I think about it later though :)

 

 

 

 

Spring (sort of)

 

 

 

 

 

Spring has arrived and I say sort of because we are still having rain and storms while it is trying very hard to warm up.  I did get out for a walk today, it was so warm and felt good to wear a t shirt again.  Thought I would post this photo of new spring Ranunculus which have really cheered me up.

 

I still have illness hanging around, though things aren't as bad as they were in winter.  Just trying to drag myself out of the mental and physical hole I have been in this year.  I have felt artistically confused all year also which hasn't helped things.  Just trying to work out which road I want to go down next.  Which brings me to a drawing I made a while ago.

 

 

I was talking to someone last week about this drawing.  I thought I had done my research and had drawn a Crow like the ones I see everywhere but apparently they aren't Crows they are Ravens.  I'll have to do more research and find out more about it.  I really love them.  They perch on the power pole outside my yard and I sit and watch them.  I read that they are extremely intelligent and capable of tool making.  I watched some amazing videos about it, it was so fascinating. 

 

Bye for now :)

 

 

 



Lamb and Blue Wren

 

 

 

 

Oh wow.  This month has been so trying!  The weather is absolute crap, raining every day which makes it hard to get out and do any exercise.  My yard is a mess of weeds and I feel embarrassed every time I look at it.  I am definitely on the verge of getting out there and making it look nice again.  Feeling not so good mentally or physically.  Just waiting for some sunlight of the physical and metaphorical kind. 

 

This picture is one of my latest body of work.  I love lambs and it's lambing season right about now.  I also love Blue Wrens.  There was a Blue Wren that used to jump around the garden outside the kitchen window at my Nanna's house.  When I was on holiday there I would sit at the kitchen table and marvel at it's beautiful black and blue plumage.

 

 

This drawing was made with colour pencil on board.

 

 



Cats

 

 

 

'Besties'

 

 

 

 

 

'Frenemies'

 

 

 

 

I love drawing cats.  I wouldn't say I'm a 'cat mad' person but I have one and she is so mysterious to me that I feel compelled to draw versions of her.  She's so aloof yet loves to follow me around and get involved with whatever I'm doing, especially gardening.

These drawings were made with coloured pencil. 

  

Jungle Animals

 

 

 

                   

 

Oh wow, two posts in two days.  I think that's some kind of record for me. 

I just finished this coloured pencil drawing for my new baby niece, Phoebe.  My sister inlaw, Steph said she wanted an artwork featuring jungle animals.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  I wanted it to be bright and interesting, I'm hoping that they will like it.  

 

I'm not sure what I will do next, I'm having lots of new ideas lately which is great.  I'm eager to start working on those and see how that turns out.  At the moment I'm in the middle of giving my house a massive clean, so have been distracted by that.  I can't wait til I can settle into some new work again.

 

 

 

Lizards

 

 

 

 

Hi there!  It's been a while but yes, I'm still here (just)!  Just thought I'd post this quick ACEO I made for a card that I made for my brother for his birthday.  He loves lizards.  I love lizards too but not as much as him.  I love the little Geckos that come and live in the house over summer. 

Before the drought, I had a few Blue Tongue Lizards living in my backyard.  Once, I had left the back door open for the cat to come in and out and one of the lizards came inside and hid behind the washing machine.  I had to feel where he was and gently wrestle him out!  My cat just sits and looks at them with a perplexed look on her face - it's really funny :)

 

 

 

 

 

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 :)