Bunnies on my mind

It's coming up to easter after all. An excuse for chocolate and cute floppy eared bunnies.


I had a maddening compulsion to do something arty. So I gave in and broke out the new paintbox.


Finito! (Except it's wanting some thought bubbles, methinks)

PS. I've switched off the comments, peeps. I'm trying to get back to turning this blog into my online journal again, like in the beginning. If you're wanting to say hello, please drop me an email via my profile page.

Slacker is my middle name

I hope everyone had a smashing new year! We all stayed up for the 9 o'clock fireworks, otherwise known as the "nanna" fireworks, walking just around the corner to view them from the local neighbourhood grassy strip. By midnight, everyone was in bed and I had to poke the geezer awake just to look at the fireworks from our bedroom window. We can just see the one closest to Manly.

But there is some art! I finished this outstanding project on the last day of 2007.....the very reason of my slacker-ness. Aren't I a slow-poke? (Hopefully, I've now responded to everyone who I owe an extremely late email.)


This really is a painting I made just for me. Having been creating and giving away all those presents got me all worked up and motivated to finish this before the start of the new year.


I'm eagerly ready for whole new batch of projects. I just need to get better organised. And now that the geezer has gone back to work, we can all go back to our regular routines......and I can hog the computer again. He he he!

Okeydokes! I'm off to use up the rest of nap-time thinking up the next lot of crafty to make. I'm intent on easing into the new year slowly. Hope you have a good week! Cheerio!

Simple pleasures

Today was all about slapping on the paint onto a new piece......about four hours of no geezer and no bub. Bliss!


Just the zen of figuring out which colours went where (I was in the zone!) and the chatter of other like-minded folk.....over cups of tea, of course. We're very civilised.

At home, the status quo is even more simpler. After I left and after her lunch, they both napped.....for three hours! I still think I got the better end of the deal.

A bit of arty

Of all the half-baked projects I've got on my plate, this is the one that's been nagging me lately......'cos its been in an almost-finished state for the last eight months!

I actually finished it last week, but had to leave it at the art studio on account of its being wet and whiffy. Fast forward a week and here 'tis sitting in our kitchen, ready to be hung in our lounge room (better pic of it here).


I tried to take a photo of the bub standing in front of this painting to get an idea of its scale....but she was too grumpy to play along. Anyhow, those are our kitchen benches just behind. You get the idea.

Also, I've just been told by the geezer that this is the last large painting that will enter the flat (the others are stacked up behind the lounge room door) until we move to a bigger place. Yep, I'm cluttering up the shack.

Hope everyone's having a good weekend! Cheerio!

Bits & bobs

The little monkey is a miserable, snotty mess today. The poor bub caught a cold from either myself or the geezer, and isn't her normal sunny self. We thought it may just have been a slight drippy nose and mild fever due to the teething.

But today, she's been honking, snorking, then yelling from the frustration of blocked sinuses. I'm wheeling her up to the doctor this afternoon to see if he could prescribe a quick syrupy fix to the misery of it all.

So, although I've got the second smock ready to go, the fabric still needs to be cut. I promised a friend I'll finish the second one this week and possibly a third one next week for a secret project, but more on that later.

I'll leave you with some random bits from the bub's bedroom.....animal painting I made some time back above her soft toy shelf.....and an elephant bookend.

The march of art

Its been a while since I posted anything artsy. That would be because the progress of my current painting, like everything else it seems, is very slow. However, while I left the geezer and bub to fend on their own today, I did manage to get a lot of layers done on it. If you recall, this was what it looked like a month ago.




I'll need to plan another two escape trips to lay down the final layers then it'll be finished. When its done, I think we'll hang it in the living room.



Onto crafty matters...whilst cutting and piecing the quilt that's engulfed my work table and my free time (have I mentioned THAT quilt enough on this blog? because I'm almost over it now) I've collected a boxful of scrap fabric, which I'm trying to use up with various small projects.....one being the pin cushion from several posts ago and this one being a mini-moopy from Moopy & Me. It was quite a challenge stuffing those narrow arms and legs, since even my pinky finger doesn't fit in the opening, and I have skinny fingers. I had to use a chopstick to push the stuffing down. Methinks I'll use a different colour combination next time. I'd rate this at a diversion factor of two, for two hours from cold start to complete stuffie sitting in the cup.

I was attempting to link to the actual pdf pattern, but it appears not to work anymore. If I manage to link to it later on, I'll update you.

Arrived home this afternoon and was pleasantly surprised to find the bub having a quiet play in her cot. Here she is saying hello!

Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend!

Edit: Carly from Moopy & Me has responded to my email letting me know that she's taken the pattern off line for the time being. So to all hangers-on, me included, she'll advise of updates to the pattern via her blog.

The boohbah's footsies

Ta da! The last of the eight for the summer studio challenge "the bub's tootsies", 25"x25" painting in oils on gallery wrapped canvass. Phew! A bit more high-brow than the few I've been doing lately, but still lots of fun.


Wouldn't you know it, but painting is actually my first love....even before I discovered boys. I love oil painting and I wish I could make a living out of it. I find it hard to part with paintings, can't bear to give them away. I feel that I've vested so much of myself into each one, that handing it out is akin to cutting off my arm or leg. But, I'll have to seriously look into it sometime soon, as the pile of artwork behind the living room door is now cramping our style.

This is another one I started today, the next massive high-brow...just the first layer, and my first abstract ever. I already know how it looks like in my mind. What you see below is missing at least about four more layers, if not more.

Promise to show some crafting next week!

Tweak

After posting the robot painting yesterday, I saw a different perspective and I wanted to touch it some more. So touch it I did......now I'm happy!

Don't know about how it looks on the blog site, though. Inferior light and inferior camera...humpf!

I am a geek

What with it being the "big V day" and all, what do you get when these have been your inspiration for the last few weeks?


A lovesick robot!........see, I told you I'm a geek.

"If I were human", acrylic paint on 5"x7" canvass board and #8 on the summer studio challenge. Woo hoo! I'm thinking that its now finished, but I might still tweak it later on.

Back on the "big V day", the geezer took me out for a nice romantic night out yesterday. We're not usually the lovey-dovey sort. I think I'm too pragmatic and he's too much of a goofer. Anyway, there was mussels bucatini in cauliflower and olive sauce, lightly panfried baby octopus and for dessert, winter berry pannacotta. Mmmm, all very scrummy! I love the man who knows his food, the restaurant was his choice. Well done, mister geezer! Then, it was back to the real life and we picked up the grubby bub from her grandparents. So there you go, a nice and sweet "V day". Hope all of yours are as nice, too!

I'll leave you with a tableaux of unfinished craft projects. I'm itching to get back to it now. Ciao!

The Next Trio

I have something to confess....I'm addicted to Etsy! I was doing my own thing yesterday, restraining myself from the computer, because you know I was actually painting. And anyway after the three blog posts the other day it would just appear bizarre to be adding another so soon. Besides I had nothing much to add here, except a heap of boring stuff.

So I allowed myself a sneak peak at the machine after two hours of solid painting (almost burnt the bub's food!!!) and surfed right on to etsy. No joke! Under 5 minutes I had already racked up 2 purchases, realised what had happened and then I had to unpack my cart.

Anyway, there were a lot more lovelies left, which I'd earmarked, but I'm going to have to ban myself from etsy for the rest of the month.

Onto the actual post topic, I finally finished the set of small canvasses that were languishing on the work table....I had neglected them because I couldn't figure out the colours. For want of a better title, they're called "I love my teddy 1", "...2" and "...3". They're painted on 5"x7" canvass board in acrylic and ink.

Okay, accomplished #3, #4 and #5 for the summer studio challenge. Yay!

I think they look better bunched together!

The Bub's Tootsies

Well, this has got to be a record.......three blog posts in one day! Yeah, while the housework (what housework?!?!) goes out the door.

Just letting the folks at AAF know that I haven't forgotten the challenge and I'm still beavering away with the paintings. So here's my in progress work for #7. I posted about #6 here, and #3, #4, #5 are still being worked on. That's what happens when you do several at once.

This was what it looked like yesterday.


Then after the 4th layer this afternoon. Light's quite poor inside the studio and there was a thunderstorm raging outside at the time, so its much more yellow hued than it should.

I'll be finishing this next week, as I suspect I'll be sick of it by then.

Illustration Friday - Red

Is she well-RED or well-read? I was against colouring the girl, but because of this week's theme I relented. She ended up with red hair and a red dress.

Also this other piece needed to come out of me today. I was about to sit down and do another layer on the little kid pieces, when there was just no inspiration to continue. Instead I was seeing the shape of coriander leaves in my mind. So I shelved the other canvasses for a while and started on this newbie. Number six (#3, #4 and #5, I'll get back to them later) on the summer studio challenge "Reaching for the light", acrylic, ink and paper on 5"x7" canvass board.

Edit: Had to replace the previous photo of the above piece with this one. Too much battle between the actual painting and the bright blue background.

Baby olympics

Our little family was over at another little girl's birthday party on the weekend. She turned two and is so adorable. Anyway, back to the point......... we caught up with some acqaintances who since the last "do" had expanded their families with the addition of several littlies. As mums in groups tend to do, we ended up talking about our bub and their stage on the development charts. Before I knew it, we were unwittingly comparing the sitting, flipping, crawling and flapping milestones with each other. Now, I usually tend to shy away from these discussions, because the grubby bub is slightly behind on the usual baby tricks for her age. Yep, no crawling - not even commando and she's not yet trying to stand up with a prop. She's only very recently started sitting up and we're constantly hearing her falling backwards.......thonk, thonk, thonk. Padded rugs are a godsend. For this very reason, I've decided that mother's groups are not for me. I'd rather feel good for taking this motherhood-guff one day at a time and surviving, than inadequate because the bub's not at the same level as others her age.

On other news I've been busy re-jigging my art/crafting mojo, since it kinda went on holiday for a few days. Don't know what happened but the compulsion to create wasn't there. So because I'm the kind of gal who wouldn't just let this slide, I made something I haven't made before...this pincushion since I needed one.

Then the mojo came back and I managed to put some more paint on my next series of three little pieces. I'll post photos of these when they're finished.

Meanwhile, here's some yummy new fabric for inspiration.....

...and a small painting "Pisces", acrylic and ink on 4"x6" canvas board.

The glavering redux

I've decided I like the original title after all, so here's painting number 2 of 8. I'm not sure the expression on her face was how I initially wanted it, but its finished now. I don't want to touch it anymore. Otherwise, I'll just ruin it.

Progress

I've been working a bit more on the "girl with the mirror" piece and it seems to be getting along okay, but I'm still a slow poke. I calculated early on that I'll need to do about one each week to finish the summer studio challenge. I don't know if I'll be able to achieve the eight by March 2007 target, but well I'm not sure I can hurry the creative outpourings yet. I did have an idea to get around it over the weekend and hopefully it will work.

Just from this vantage I can already see the next set of adjustments I need to make.

- recolour the back of her blouse

- work on the shadings of her face & hands

- start putting some structure on her shoes

- work on the mirror frame detail, and

- go over her head band again

So far today I've failed to go out for a stroll, due to the weather. It's been dark and threatening all day. I also forgot the time and didn't get the bub to bed till 1pm. Normally she's put down for a nap at 12pm. There's the dishes to do and still lots of tidying up waiting, while here I am blogging away. So so bad! Too much painting/blogging perhaps? Nah!

Last photo of the day is one of my work table or rather what's on top. Can't see surface of it nowadays, as its always piled high with stuff. The pile of books make up some of my inpiration sources - some picture books of the bub's, motif source book, colour mixing and some home decoration books. There's some sewing junk as well, since the table is also where the sewing machine lives. Ah, but that's just too messy to show.

The glavering

Well, that was the original title that I had for this when it was still a drawing in my sketchbook. She's looking at herself in the mirror and seeing for the first time the distorted way she viewed the world around her. We all do this, I'm sure! Hence the old question about the tree that falls in a forest where there is no one to see.........did it really fall?

Anyway I might call this "the purple room" instead or maybe "the ornate mirror".

Note that the shadowing is deliberately not centred. I thought it might be more interesting if the piece wasn't too symmetrical. Also, I just noticed now that her left arm is much too long - must fix this for the next pass.

Been busy finishing up a kitty stuffie for a little girl who's turning two at the end of the month. But I now have to make a trip to the local craft shop to stock up on some more buttons, felt and embroidery floss the finish it.

Looks like the weather over at the SCG is nice and sunny.....its blue skies over here out the window. Perhaps the bub and I might for a walk up the road. Yes, that's a good idea.

New year

Happy new year everyone! Hope you were all happy and merry. We sure were, even the grubby bub (minus the bubbly).



Anyway, thought to show you the 1st of eight for the "summer studio challenge", which I finished last Friday. This is called "the toy castle". Probably should've shown it earlier, but I allowed myself to slack off with the blogging for a few days while the geezer was still at home. It always feels like a holiday when the whole family isn't at work. I'm now going to start on the 2nd one today and just lay down the first layer, so long as the little patoutie behaves. Cross your fingers!

Toy castle - 2nd layer

I'm on a roll today and here's the result. I've lengthened the 2nd girl's blouse and can see now that I've messed up her trousers. Her hair is too dark, must fix that. Also changed the colours on the 1st girl's hair so it looks softer. Still a long way to go. Also need to think about the castle figures. May be overkill, but will attempt this anyway.

What needs adjusting:

- shelf back wall shading

- 2nd girl trousers

- 1st girl shirt shading

- actual shelf

- floor

- back wall

Started

This one is for the AAF summer studio challenge. My goal is to finish 8 by March 2007. May be a bit ambitious, but lets see how I go. So the first one is called "toy castle". The two children are supposed to be playing with a toy castle against a wall which is fronting a window - reason for the framing.

It still needs plenty of work, I think. The colours are not quite there and the bottom shelf needs a lot of work (colours and objects). The 1st girl's hair is too fiery, makes her look a bit sinister. The castle is still washed out, but I'll work on that today.

Grubby bub

Here tis! Ta da!!!

Do you reckon she's appreciative???

More like confused.......mummy's a nutter, big time.