Stuck

             

I’ve just been playing around lately because I have felt so stuck and not sure about anything I have been doing.  I think I love so many styles and types of art and I know I can’t do everything but I have to find what really makes me feel joy and love deep down, and something I can truly  believe in.  I am reading ‘Find Your Artistic Voice’ by Lisa Congdon and I am getting so much out of it and really starting to understand how to narrow down my interests to areas that essentially resonate with me. Like, I have experimented with expressive painting but I never feel great about what I have done so I think that is an area I will let go of.  Some people might say ‘why don’t you do a bit of everything?’, but unfortunately there isn’t time in life to do everything or fulfill every interest and I would never have the chance to become good at one particular thing.  It’s a lot to think about but I think I am slowly thinking my way out of my stuckness😊 

Being Quiet

‘The Quiet One’

Gouache/Watercolour

6 x 8 inches

I am mostly quiet so I thought I would paint it.  I was kind of subconsciously thinking about 1970’s fashion as well; well of my childhood anyway.  And I think it’s okay to be quiet now; I felt it was a weakness for a really long time but everyone approaches the world differently I guess.

Flowers

I have wanted to make a flower painting for a while now and I finally got around to it.  I’m inspired to make another now, I’m thinking maybe in oil paint this time.  The size of this painting is 8” x 10” and I used Watercolour and Gouache.

Yoga

The solace of Yoga when life is difficult.

The Estuary

‘Her Freedom Was The Estuary At Dusk’

Watercolour/Gouache, 8” x 10”

So this painting seemed to take forever, there were so many details that I wanted to get right.  It was inspired by one of my favourite places at Port Noarlunga, the Onkaparinga River Estuary.  I love to go there, it is such a magical place and teeming with life despite human interference.  I really wanted to capture some of the plants and the Sacred Ibis and try to capture some feeling of what it is like out there on a warm night.  I don’t know if I have succeeded.  It is also a place I feel really free and even though I am alone, I am with all the life out there, so not alone at all.  It is a place where all the demands of the world seem to disappear and I can just be.

Country Life

I made this painting a while ago in an attempt to loosen up a bit.  It is Gouache/Watercolour on Strathmore Watercolour Paper.

Autumn

Autumn is here, Gouache and Watercolour.

Patience

I was looking over my past blog posts and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t made a post about my new cat Patience.  She isn’t really new.  I think I got her in October or November of 2016.  She is a rescue cat and she is about 4 and a half years old, we think, not sure though.  She is a very special cat because of her history.

She was rescued from somewhere by someone in New South Wales and I think she had 4 kittens.  So then she was on death row in an animal shelter in NSW.  Then another person came along and rescued Patience and her kittens from the shelter.  Then for some reason Patience and her kittens were shipped by plane to an animal rescue organisation here in South Australia. 

After a while Patience’ kittens were weaned and she then spent a year in foster care until I found her.  When I went to visit her the first time, the first thing I loved about her was her ears, they are quite big.  She was curled up asleep in a cat run and she was very fat Lol!  She was very well looked after, along with other cats.  I was told that she is very quiet and that she doesn’t really like to do anything and sleeps a lot.  This suited me fine.  I really wanted a chilled out cat.  So I bought her home and she was very quiet for two weeks because she was in a whole new situation but she was really enjoying the backyard.  Over time she became really active and lost all her weight because she was able to get out and about and run and jump and climb.  I discovered she was a great mouser and rat catcher and she could stand her ground with all the other neighbourhood cats.  My Mum still can’t believe that Patience is the same cat we picked up and brought home over two years ago.  She seems so youthful now compared to then.  And she is very patient and slowly she is teaching me patience.  She would have to be patient to put up with me I think.  She is such a gem.  I feel so happy that I can provide a place where she can be active and enjoy herself, though I think she does more for me than I do for her.  I think what I love most about her is that she is a survivor and she is so cool about it and just takes it all in her stride.  I really have come to love her. 

Recharge

When I’m going through a rough patch I find mself living for the sunsets.  It was so beautiful 

at O’Sullivans Beach tonight.  I’m sorry, I am aware of the amount of sunsets I post, please forgive me if they are not interesting, I just love them so much😊

Night Wandering

‘She Wandered ThroughThe Emu Bush At Night’

8” x 10”

Gouache and Watercolour

This painting is about the night and the magic and freedom of the night.  I remember reading diaries by Virginia Woolf and I remember her talking about how, at night, all things are possible.  It is a time for dreams, even if you are awake.

Peace

The Bluff Christies Beach, SA

I don’t think I could live away from nature, there is something about being close to things that are real and alive and so vast that puts everything in perspective and brings so much peace. 

Beach Weather

Fish and Chips At Sunset

8” x 10”

The weather is slowly warming up now and we are almost into beach weather.  I got the idea for this painting a while ago.  Eating fish and chips at the beach as the sun goes down is such an iconic thing to do here and I just wanted to capture that in a painting.  Also there had to be animals, including the little Redcapped Plovers which I see a lot during winter, not so much in summer because there are people everywhere.

Flow Magazine 2019 Calendar

I was so excited to receive this in the mail recently.  It is the Flow Magazine 2019, 365 Day, Tear-Off Calendar in Dutch.  It features a new illustration everyday from Illustrators all over the world.  I feel really fortunate to have one of my own illustrations included in this calendar.  I made this drawing ‘Vineyard Dreams’ a while ago but it is still a favourite of mine.  I really love Flow Magazine, it is always so beautiful to read so this is kind of extra special😌

Mental Health Week

‘Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.’

- Ovid

This is one of my all time favourite quotes.  I’m a person who has way too much going on in her brain, usually at the most inopportune times so properly resting my brain has been a learning curve for me.  I always feel so refreshed after getting some real rest.  I thought I would post this painting for Mental Health Week.

Winter Cat

‘Winter Was Especially Boring’

Because my cat gets so bored in winter.

Spring

I think that finally Spring is arriving. We are having days where the air is warm, even by the ocean in the evening.  The air smells of cut grass and the blossoms on the trees are so fragrant, it takes me back to childhood where life seeemed so free and easy.  

  (The little black marks on the sea are surfers, they seemed so much bigger in real life).

The Cold

It has become the time of year where I am getting tired of the cold.  We have had a lot of rain this week which I was thankful for because it has been a dry winter and it means my peach tree is getting a good drink.  I took this photo of the Bluff at Christies Beach on August 1 last year on a rare evening when it was still and there were few clouds.  I think the sky is prettiest in the winter.