MORE BIRDS

This is what I've been up to this week

Smiling Cocky

Family of Swingers

The top painting is mostly white with a lot of bare canvas it is about 60cm x 45cm. He's pretty cute don't you  think.

The Swingers is a very large painting it is appox 1metre x 600cm.

That's all I have time for now.

Until next time

PINK CARDS

Spent Sunday painting 3 small works to be made into PINK CARDS

These will be sold to support Breast Cancer

I will be giving 50% of all sales.

I just thought instead of doing a morning tea or breakfast this would be my way of giving something to a very worthy cause.

I will be taking them to the markets in Warwick this Sunday.
The markets are part of the Jumpers and Jazz Festival .

I have never been before so I am quite excited about it.
I thought I would take a couple of bird paintings also.

So if you are going to be there come and say hello.


These are the 3 paintings that will make up the

                                                          PINK CARDS SERIES

until next time

Commission Complete

The commission I have been working on is now complete

 I was a little worried about it all along . But the lovely lady who commissioned it was very happy with the end result and that makes me very relieved indeed.

It wasn't until I got into the painting that realized just how long it has been since I have painted anything like this, houses and gardens, so I had to change my pallet completely and do green which also made me realize just how long it has been since I have been forced to use that colour

But you do get into ruts and stay with the same colours and I suppose this is why artist work sometimes remains the same and very recognisable.

I tend to fall in love with some colours, this happens mostly because the colour is so " yummy" for want of a better word. It will do just what you want and it never fails you.

Thinking about it this is probably because I like the colour and use it all the time and have learnt it so well I can make it do all that I want from it....so really all colours are Yummy just some are understood more than others......making any sence here?

I tend to paint in a very spur of the moment way. Most of the time I really only have a slight idea in the back of my head as to what the painting will be like when finished, the subject matter usually stays sort of the same but the way it is painted may change, so much so that I sometimes surprise myself with the end result.

 Some of my best paintings have another painting underneath that I have slaved over for days and in the end completely got the poops with and have painted a completely different one over the top.

 The top one has usually been painted  quickly with out any real thought as I'd be in a bad mood , well that is probably an understatement,  and just wanted to get something on the canvas to cover up the awful failure underneath.

So having to stick to the real colours, to stick to the plan and to use colours I'd normally shy away from has done me the world of good. It was a great exercise in getting completely out of my comfort zone.

Not a bad thing for an artist to have to do every now and again


Now back to the art room to do........more!

Not Again

Yesterday morning I woke up to the birds chattering away out side, I heard them before I opened my eyes, probably because I hadn't heard them for a week of so.

This is because every morning it has been raining and birds just don't sing on a miserable wet dawn.
Once I opened my eyes I saw that there was actually sunlight outside

...YIPEEE...!!!

Anyone would think I lived in the north of the northern hemisphere where they have whole winters where they don't see the sun at all.

Yes I do complain but I love the sun and I find it hard to paint when it is gloomy outside and the birds have withdrawn. And as I said in my last post it is too dark a lot of the time when it's raining.

Anyway it's not suppose to rain in this part of the world in the winter...we are a summer rain part of the world.
So getting back to the topic at hand.

 YESTERDAY

Was a beautiful day bright and sunny day and I hit my art room with gusto.

Beautiful light was flooding the space and I went to work on the last of the commission painting. I would love to show you this painting but being  a commission I don't think it is the right thing to do as the person who commissioned it would probably want to see it first...I know I would...but if she consents once she has viewed it then I will share it with you.

I was going hammer for tong when the phone rang,  relatives ( of Tony's) travelling up the Big Bruce and could they call in. So that was the end of painting for the day, but that's fine as I pretty much had finished the picture, and it was nice to sit and relax with nice people. They are over the rain also and think if it doesn't stop they will turn round and head home.

This morning ...guess what ..it's raining again!!

Having been on the land for 32 years I have learnt that you should never complain about the rain as it can stop and not start again for as long as it feels like it, and as my husband says Mother Nature can be at bitch at times...so all the country people reading this please forgive me but...FAIRS FAIR!

Wet Willy

Until next time

BOYOHBOYHOBOYHOBOY

How about this rain?

I don't think we have seen the sun here since Monday.

I'm not complaining.....well that's probably a lie. But fairs fair. This afternoon it has turned...hot!....well warm....and that's not a good sign if it starts to cool off then it usually means that the rain is over especially in winter but that's not going to happen.

The thing about today which wasn't so good was that it was too dark in my art room to paint and I hate painting under lights or at night.... you just don't get the same natural light
.
I know a lot of artist paint at night but I'm not one on them .

Even drawing I find hard at night, I just can't see as well.

So the commission that I have been working on for the past 2 days, that is almost finished I couldn't do any more on and that is disappointing to say the least.

I just want to get this picture behind me as I have all these other ones ready to go in my head..
The weather channel says that it will rain here until Tuesday.

Maybe I will have to learn to work under lights.

I Never Thought

I never thought the day would come when I would forget about a picture that I have painted.
But that day has come.
My sister Grace visited her old home at Mt Marlow Station at Yaraka last weekend as a guest of the now managers Locky and Ruby Kent who work for CPC, and are very old friends of ours.
Speaking to Grace on her return I asked if she would forward the photo's she had taken of what Ruby had done with the Mt Marlow garden,and also ones she had taken at the Gymkhana.  In the photo's I noticed a painting on the kitchen wall and thought that it wasn't a bad painting and wondered who did it.

That's the painting on the far wall

The next time I spoke to Grace she said what a great painting Ruby had of mine....It was then that I realized it was one of mine....I had completely forgotten about!!

That can't be good!!


Below are some photo's of the Yaraka Gymkhana

My nephew Tom Gray  

Starting instructions

Musical Chairs

Musical Chairs

Tom Gray

PHOTO'S of MT MARLOW STATION

Natural stump sculpture

Turn off to Mt Marlow

Sleeper steps

Tennis Court

Mt Marlow

Just thought I'd share this with you...until next time

Mustering to Wean (part 2)

The second day was spent drafting off the calves and then carting the calves up to the top yards which are close to the house and easy to get to by big semi trucks. 

How's this for a great photo

Heading to the yards

Cows  

Cattle in the yards

Tony shifting cows in the
yards

Some of the cows in the yards

Early the next morning we mustered again, this time we did 3 smaller paddocks. We mustered the cattle though these paddocks which head in the general direction of the yards so that at the end of the muster we have them at the yards as the last paddock joins the yards. We got them to the yards at about 11.00am so started to draft, after a good count of the mob again we were short and had to go back. As luck would have it they were at the last paddock's trough and easily got.

We were still some short so looked in an adjoining paddock and found the 3 bulls we were missing. So we eventually had all cattle mustered. Then Clint carted the calves to the top yards and Tony and I started taking cows back to their paddocks. It is a very noisy time weaning as the cows continually bellow for their calves and the calves moo for their mothers, the cows walk the fence of their paddock trying to get out to find their calves and it usually takes about a week for the cows to eventually give up on finding their calves and every thing settles back to normal again. These cows are already pregnant with their next calves so it all starts over again for them.

Cow waiting for ear tag

Cow getting an ear tag

Now all is back to normal and this is the start of a new week which will find me back in my art room, it is a good thing as this morning it has turned chilly and blowy and wet so a good time to hide away for a while. Here's hoping my next post will be a great work of art!!

Mustering to Wean (part 1)

My horse Menthol

Art took a back step this week with helping Clint who has his cattle here on agistment. For thoes who don't know what agistment is, it means that cattle belonging to someone else are grazed on our property and we charge the owner money per head per week.
Clint then pays us to help him muster and work his cattle. This week he weaned is calves, which consisted of mustering all the cows and calves into the yards, drafting the calves off their mothers.

....see any cows?

When mustering we have to make sure that we get every cow and calve in the paddock this is referred to as getting a paddock clean. Lucky that St Clair is very hilly as this is handy to get a bit of a birds eye view of the paddock and see where the cattle are. As you can see in the above photo Menthol and I are using this to our advantage.

Found the stragglers 

We mustered and then counted them and found that we were about 20 odd short so had to go back around and find the stragglers. I haven't been on a horse for a few months and the first day in the saddle after a long spell is always hard as I get a hell of a sore bum and a second trip is a for want of a better expression , a pain in the a..se.... but at least this time I am being payed, a very rare thing when you work for your self on the land.

Closing the gate

It was quite late in the day by the time we found the last of the cattle as they were nicely planted at the very back of the paddock and they took a bit of finding. Then it was a walk of about 5k's back to the yards. The photo below shows the cattle crossing the creek on their way to the yards and sun has gone down.
It was just light enough to yard then. But the high light of the day was walking the cattle into the yards with the most perfect full moon rising out of the gap between two hills right in front of the cattle. What a site!! (sorry no photo as camera not good enough.)

Going towards the yards at dusk

To be continued....

Beautiful Winters Day

Oh Thank god I have one follower that is wonderful news, I hope I can keep you entertained!!
Yesterday was spent out of the art room and in the garden.

 After that lovely drop of rain which we all complained about as it was cold and wet and the rain fell like light snow hardly enough to wet you but enough to make you very damp and pissed off. Now the grass is lovely and green and every thing has sprung into life.


So I decided to mow as Tony will be home tomorrow and we have Clint coming to wean his calves and we will be busy all week. Well the mower had 2 flat tyers and was out of fuel!! So as we don't have petrol here only diesel. I went down to the local service station which is about 20k's away and got a jerrycan full and then pumped up the tyres and we were away. It takes awhile as we mow right round the compound as well as round the house and sheds. But the mower was going well has Tony had interviewed it prior to putting it away for the winter, so it only took 2 and a half hours. I wonder how far you travel in that time.

 St Clair garden x 3

This morning when I went out it looked so nice. Now I have to do some cooking for the week as I will be busy mustering and there is nothing worse than working hard all day and getting home on dark with a sore bum from sitting in the saddle and then having to cook dinner while the men kick back sucking on stubbies....so I try to have a stew or something cooked that just needs heating so I too can sit back and relax. It's a man's world in the bush at least for my generation, it is good to see that the younger ones, wives that is don't abide by this tradition!

This blogging is a little bit addictive

That's it for now.

As Promised

Peck on the cheek

As promised the next bird painting as I was saying this one has been hanging round for a while and so I tackled it yesterday and now it is finished so there it is.

Remember if any of these new ones take your fancy please get in contact.

Today's Efforts

Had a good day's painting today

Started out to do the commission what has been hanging over my head but then discovered that the new printer ink I had bought last time I was in town was not for my machine and so I couldn't print out the emails with the photos attached...so that was the end of that.

Sometimes I think it would be nice to live in town so you could just go get the ink and get on with the painting, but only sometime do I think that the rest of the time I love life out here definately no one to annoy you.

So I looked at the canvas that I had sitting up on the easel, for some reason I often sit them up there for a while...and look at them...some time ago they used to scare me but now I get a little excited about the prospect.

I thought I would do a bird painting as I'm for some reason a bit into painting birds at the moment. I have fun giving them a personality, plus I love birds I have so many living in my garden they come and go though the year depending on what trees are in flower. I don't like it when the big cockatoo's come and eat my mangoes!! The guinea fowl love the cockatoo's because they wait under the trees for the mangoes if the cockatoos make a mistake of letting on drop

Cold Stork

Anyway back to the matter at hand. So because this canvas is long and skinny I needed something that is long and skinny so I looked through my reference bird picture's I found one and got into it.

Didn't take very long . Some are like that they happen quickly and I had just downloaded some great old 70's music on to my ipod so that helped.

I then started work on another painting which I had started a few weeks ago but had then got side tracked on to some thing else  This sometimes happens when things are not going too well with the painting and I tend to sometimes loose interest.

Anyway it was sitting there begging for attenion so I put it up on the easel and had a go at it for the rest of the day I then took a photo of it to show you but then this morning when I looked at it I thought no the back ground is all wrong so I painted out the red that it was and made it straight ultra blue and now I think it is worth showing but you will have to wait until the next post as I haven't taken a photo and it is way past my bed time and I'll do it tomorrow.

So until then.....