New Work - Finally!

I am proud to announce I'm finally back on track after the Christmas disruption. Have had a lovely time at the easel and feel like I'm back in control. I had to leave the coffee cup series because it was giving me grief and went onto something else just to break the ice so to speak. I usually work in bright colours but thought I would give something dark a try. I was aiming for that dark look like the old masters have. I also wanted to keep the objects transparent to let the background show through. For the darker areas I just let more background show through and applied more paint to the lighter areas. I think I will do a few more dark paintings as I thoroughly enjoyed the process. I think I will do one more painting before getting back to the coffee cup series.

She Grew Gourds in Her Garden

mixed media on canvas

50.8cm x 60.9cm (20"x24")

Master Chef auditions were a lot of fun. Julia is happy to announce she did NOT get in. She was really happy to get back to her no stress life. We met some really nice people and saw (and tasted) some very inspiring food. The show will air here in May and I will be interested to see if I recognise any faces.

The Willow Tree

I had a lovely time with my sister and my mum yesterday. We spent most of our day in Ilka's garden. Ilka and her partner Herman moved about 3 months ago. They have settled in now and look like they have lived there for years. They have a big willow tree in the back yard. The tree looks like it had twin trunks at one time. One of the trunks has been cut down and Ilka has placed a cushion on the stump. Its a great place to sit with your back on the remaining trunk surrounded by the dangling branches and leaves. It was a perfect day with lovely weather and good company.

Julia is stressing at the moment hehehe. She put an application in to be part of the show 'Master Chef'. There were 7500 applications in South Australia and only 100 of these get a chance to audition. Julia was one of them. She only got notified on Friday and has to front up at 7.30 Monday morning with a prepared dish. The dish has to be a cold as there are no heating facilities at this stage of the competition. If the audition goes well you go into the next stage which means cooking a dish in front of the cameras on Tuesday. Julia asked me to go with her as her support person. With such short notice I hope I am able to make it.