Work in Progress

This is what I have been working on. The floral ones are nearly finished but the portrait of Zoe has only just been started today.

Time Demands

There seems to be more demand on my time than ever before. Or is it that I am getting slower and don't realise it? Is it really February already? I took some time off anyway. I went to Naracoorte for the weekend for their annual Taste Festival. And taste I did. I over indulged in food and wine and thoroughly enjoyed letting my hair down. It was good to catch up with my best buddy Vanita. Good food, good wine and good friends ... great combination. Bob stayed home. He felt he couldn't take time off work.

Now its back to business as usual with me running around like a headless chook. The Moran Portrait Prize has come around quickly. I can't believe its been a whole year since I entered it. I really wanted to enter it again this year. I have started a portrait and I will see if I can get it done in time. I only have about 10 days to do it and as I'm not very skilled in portraiture I am not sure how I will go. I'll give it a go anyway. Now how I am going to raise the entry fee and transport costs I don't know. I won't think about that yet. I will just turn up to the easel and see what happens.

SALA (South Australian Living Artist) Festival registrations opened yesterday. I am going to register and have 'open studio' this year. It has been a goal of mine since 2009 and finally this year I am going to do it! I figure if I register I will just have to be ready, no excuses. I have asked a couple of art buddies to join me so it should be fun.

I have a couple of new paintings that are nearly finished and hopefully I will remember to take some pics of them today so I can share them with you.

A full day of juggling home duties, studio time and grandma obligations today. Will I manage to do it all??? Probably not. Will I care??? Nope!

New Backgrounds

Here is a sneak peek at the new backgrounds I have been playing around with. I have been trying out a different technique. Not sure how much detail you can see on the computer screen but I left the pics large for a closer look. I still think I might add some text as it seems to have become one of my trade marks and I do love text whether it be printed or hand written.

For the blue background I plan to paint some red poppies on the top. Of course they will be larger than life. This canvas is what I call my small size 60.9x50.8cm (24"x20").

The red one doesn't seem to show all the detail that can be seen in real life. This one is for a painting of cutlery. A fork, a knife and a spoon with their all important shadows, much larger than life of course as the canvas is 50.8x76.2cm (20"x30"). Again some text still needs to be added using the image transfer method.

With this heat we are having (42.9 degrees Celsius yesterday, thats just over 109 degrees Fahrenheit) I have just been working on backgrounds. Backgrounds are about splashing paint and stamping etc. Its more like intuitive play and that seems to suit these hot days where concentration levels are at a low.