Red & Green

 

Red & Green For Christmas, 2013

Happy PPF!  :-)

Sunday snaps, and play time

It is so nice to be home after our trip away.  I still have some pics to sort out and upload to share... but I got busy ( already) on other projects so they will be forthcoming shortly :-)

Play time this morning... with a very quiet and empty house, Charlie (the cat) and myself had a play with an ipad app and created this vignette of the re-modeled studio - which I spent all yesterday afternoon working on.   As a continued work in progress I am increasingly happy with the layout, and function of this space... some further touches required!

I received a great bunch of native Australian flowers as a gift... I love the banksia's, and foilage, as when they dry they retain their form, and colours, and are great inspiration to sketch from.  Unfortunately I have no idea what type of plant this is - although I suspect it is a species of Banksia, but I cannot be sure...

This one I did this morning,  being shared for Sunday Sketches...

(Ink tense pencil, water colour, and some pencil touches).

Beautiful weather here today, blue skies, lightest soft breeze, and warm sun... cool enough for a cardi, and  appreciate a hot mocha... without being freezing!  Just love Brisbane's fine warm winter days!

How did you spend your Sunday?

Reflecting on teeth...

Do you ever wonder why?

Why the sky is blue?

why the rain falls the minute you've finished hanging out 2 loads of washing?

 

And why teeth have a use by date less that the average life span?

A sore tooth... And it resulted in needing to have it pulled. Today. I wont bore you with the details. But Ouchy. My husband came with me, and held my hand! Yay! AND has cooked me yummy mashed potatoes. An easy night, and while indulging with watching my fav movie / I doodled this gal - who tells me it'll all be ok ... And a Big reminder to everyone to look after your teeth! Happy PPF!!

A violet on the meaodow grew...

Winds wanders, and dews drip earthward; Rains fall, suns rise and set; Earth whirls, and all but to prosper A poor little violet.

James Russell Lowell Quotes , Source: The Changeling

 

We have had the rain, and today we have the sun!

Sharing this little watercolour sketch for Sunday Sketches

Looks rather pretty in a frame...

Loving this beautiful, SUNNY weather....How are you spending your weekend?
 xo L.

Productive Procrastination

 So where have I been?

Here and there

Working mainly

And every once and a while, I scrounge some time to do something fun...

Real soon... maybe... I might just be lucky... and finish some of these ongoing projects?

Sharing with the old gang at Paint Party Friday!

 and Sunday Sketches  and Creative Everyday!
xo L.

Life, work, art balance...

so... there I was, all stocked up on art supplies

paper at the ready

paints all lined up

studio all sorted, re-organised, and new work bench

trips to the art store to spend christmas money...

and then...

The offer came!

PAID work!!

Yay, and joy

Followed by 2 3 full weeks of

researching, and writing, and planning

which I love to do, BUT...

when do I get back into the studio?

Hopefully

real

soon!
TODAY!







with sepia adjustment - just for fun!  (She's not finished, but with this damp weather I'll have to wait till she's fully dry before playing any further)


Inspired to leave the dirty sheets on the bed, forget about cleaning the bathroom, and have pancakes for dinner, after watching this at breakfast...

Sharing with Sunday Sketches :-)

Hot, sunny watercolours

Today was hot enough for the air con.  

Unfortunately the studio is not air conditioned, and still has rollar doors - which means it is hotter ( or colder  in winter) than the rest of the house.

So - in light of these hot days, and hotter coming... I have taken over part of the dining table

A little spot to doodle, draw, or get out the watercolours.

I am trialling this little set-up with the wooden carry box... if its successful I'll let you know!

For Sunday Sketches - this little sweet butternut pumpkin that I just harvested.

It may well have grown bigger, but the vine was dieing,  and just taking up dead space in the vege patch. 

I don't often just doodle, or art journal anymore... was relaxing and just perfect for a Sunday!

After a busy couple of weeks with Art Every Day - it feels somewhat empty today!
 I have big plans for the house (read it needs a thorough cleaning), Christmas planning, shopping & cooking (so I'm a little late making the pud this year - really no-one will notice!), and three or four major works to start (and finish).  I also have a really interesting book project I am working on... but won't say too much until I have it finished! :-)
So things around here will go back to normal... whatever that is!

Some favourite posts from last weeks:

Whats for Breakfast?

 

 
watercolour with mixed media

Have really loved all your fab comments this week... I am a bit behind it replying to you all, and Thanks for the MS blogs tips! xo L.

Start of new watercolour

 

letting loose with watercolour...

 half a face because that's all that's finished so far; really liking where this is going.  

It's been on my mind now for weeks - 

watercolour, faces, strong line, collage... 

"From the end spring new beginnings." 

Pliny the Elder

sharing with:
Creative Every Day
Inspire Me Monday

pondering with colour

A quiet day

...pondering...

with flowers
what to do?

what to paint?

A simple set-up

a bottle

a glass 

some flowers

maybe a candlestick?

many layers of watery colour

that candle came in handy afterall

Watercolour Splash

Although I came close this morning to giving in and reaching for a coloured pencil, I resisted!

This little watercolour sketch continues my explorations in watercolour in my small sketchbook.  Thinking this will make a nice subject for a larger work?
I Have really enjoyed layering of thin watercolour washes...building colour slowly and thoughtfully
As I don't have any masking fluid... the wax candle was used, just not for inspiration to draw from!

Tip for the day: try allowing one layer to dry ( or use a hairdryer) then add another wash over the top to intensify or modulate the colours.   i.e. green over green makes a darker shade, or red over green, will make a dark, rich green, or a browny shade, etc.  experiment and see what results!

Exciting News yesterday - I sold a painting! yay!!

Dream Sold!

This little girl has been ever so patiently waiting for the right family to go home with at Willow & Fox.   Now prints only available... when I get my act together :-)   Hmmm, now what art supplies do I need?

'Happy' and 'I wish...' have now gone to visit with Willow & Fox too, but if any readers wish to purchase - contact me! ($160 + postage)

A big hello, and a huge thankyou to all the lovely comments I received from last weeks feature post at Paint Party Friday!  Blown away by all your fantastic support :-) It is greatly appreciated. 

A big shout out to Paint Party Friday 

and also linking to In the Studio Sneak Peak Friday , and of course Creative Every Day!

Teacups and chooks watercolour

Wednesday has come and gone, and although I should have posted yesterday, technical difficulties got in the way.  Who knew camera batteries do indeed need recharging? I discovered this fact when trying to download the photos, so I could upload them, and write this post.  Needless to say I was having a  blond well honey blond,  o.k bottle blond, a senior moment until I figured out why nothing was happening.... so long story short no post yesterday even though I had this sketch all ready to go!

 Juicy watercolours? just spritz with water before starting...

 graphite free - pen sketch to start...

My favourite teacup is this Robert Gordon design, that has a shabby chic mix-up saucer and plate to match...we also had two mugs, but we used them so much they developed chips in the rim... one is now delegated to holding pencils in the studio - so I still get to look at its pretty design.

Would love to re-do this design on better paper, and take more time!

Just for Jennifer at Artist Playroom, where the Theme is..... Turkey Art!  We don't have a huge Turkey following here in Oz... more like a roast chook groove.  I do like my chickens though, and have had several goes at Chicken Raising ( not to be confused with barn raising, although very similar to Bairn* Raising!)

Happy Thanks giving to everyone, and here's a live Chook Sketch - I think she looks very thankful not to be on someones dinner plate! -  to celebrate your day of sharing!

A shout out to everyone visiting from  Whats on your workdesk Wednesday
and a wave to  Creative Every Day 

* bairn is Scottish for a small child

Thanks to everyone for your lovely comments, and a big hello to all the lovely folk who are following this blog now :-)  Thank so Much!!

Dreaming of Tuscany

If I were to make a wish list for this Christmas it would include:

Double French doors for my garage, with a view out the studio, oh but that means moving to somewhere picturesque, hmmm maybe the mountains? But then I don't like the cold, so maybe sub tropical, oh but then they get storms, and if I'm making a wish list lets make it worthy, 

so how about a...

farm house in Tuscany with a gorgeous view over fields of lavender

...with a gardener to look after the organic garden and free range chickens, and our house cow

...and an ideally located studio

 Coming back to reality for just one moment - 

my wish list for Christmas is simple: 

great food, family, friends, and relaxing with a great book, with peace and calm, and coolness, while sipping Shiraz from the fridge to the funky jazz softly playing the background...

Watercolour Splash 1

AEDM, (day #20)...As the first start to my self imposed watercolour restriction, I have three quick 'play' sketches.

Flowers seem to be a current theme... It is almost summer after all

don't try to use neocolour II crayons for watercolour wash background on cheap paper

Discoveries so far:

- o.k. first the obvious- watercolour loves water! Pre wetting the paper ( either a little or a lot), then dropping the pure colour on the page, and allowing it to self blend gets great results.

- this requires a certain amount of patience! No fiddling allowed - 

walk away and just let it do its thing!

- although you can use any sketch book, or paper, you really do get better results on 

watercolour paper. 

-I really like adding the loose black lines - sometimes first, sometimes after

These three sketches were in my small cheapy sketchbook... Good enough for experimenting, but when it came to the neocolor II's they wouldn't dissolve into watery colour, it stayed flat.

 Also the pilot V pen which normally runs with water, just wouldn't at all! (see daisys above ) 

Tip: The better the paper the more water you can use! 

To find out why I started Watercolour Splash - read it here

How's everyone going with AEDM? Whew -  visiting as many creative folk as I can!  

Its been great to get my butt brush in action :-)

A big shout out to  Aimee @ List it Tuesday
Leah @ AEDM: Creative Every Day

Art Intervention Watercolour Spash Challenge!

List of projects to try just seems to grow...


 

watercolour & gouache 

 encaustic anyone?

oils or acrylic?
cards

printing
designing
sketching
painting.... help!!

so... how do I limit myself to just one?

And should I?

Experimentation is fun, and creative, etc... but to develop skill in one area, before moving on, 
 makes more sense, in a developmental and skills building way.

My challenge to myself (and anyone else who needs Art Intervention): Watercolour Splash!

I will try (see, I already have committment issues!) 

between now and Christmas, to ONLY  use watercolour and sketching 

(the two naturally go together anyway)  

In watercolour I am going to include: gouache, and acryllic ink, and watercolour pencils - is that cheating?  (My rules so I can do as I want!)

BUT Only 1 new watercolour tool/supply/ added each week.

(man that's going to be HARD!)

hmmm - wish me luck!

Along the way I hope to share what worked, what didn't, tools, tricks, and things I discover :-)  

To make sure you don't miss out - remember to join the blog here, or like me on FB!

 

linking to Creative Every Day