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!!