I WORK WELL UNDER PRESSURE

All guns are firing at the moment

I had booked up an exhibition for October 2012

And then all sorts of things happened

Mainly my youngest daughter decided to get married in October 2012

Somehow the exhibition was almost forgotten

I was sort of thinking pretty seriously about calling it off as life was starting to get a little crazy

But the gallery rang and were all set for my work to hang through October

and as sometimes happens it all seemed to come together

My daughter in law had booked me up to baby sit my beloved and hardly every seen grandson
while she and my son organized and competed in the Roma Campdraft

which just happened to be on the some weekend as the opening of my exhibition.

So that sort of worked

BUT the million dollar question

Have I done enough work

the Gallery isn't that big so that in it's self is good as I don't need a lot of work to fill it
And sometimes well most of the time

 LESS IS MORE

I decided to call it   PINK

because most of my knew stuff is PINK

 I can thank  an old friend who told me quite bluntly that I needed to use more colour

and I think this lot of work is all about colour....and I'm enjoying it

anyway yesterday I got STUCK IN and painted like a women possessed

I finished a painting that had been sitting looking at me for about 2 weeks

I painted another one which just happened and worked of a magpie with attitude

I finished another one which I call Loopy Cow it is a bit of fun

I then did another one of a white/pink Cockatoo flying

I was a little worried about this one but I think I got it in the end

Like I said ...nothing like pressure...

I have another big one planned for to day ......lets hope it comes off

I have my eldest daughter home and she has been a great help

yesterday I shoved a paint brush at her and she took on the job of varnishing all the new paintings

It's all the little things that take the time

Also to day we have to wrap all the paintings and pack the car

just had a phone call from my son wondering if I can bring my saddle!!!

Here is the invite to the exhibition

Love to see all and sundry at the opening on Thursday night

......OMG ..... thats tomorrow night!!!

THOUGHTS ON FRAMING

Just received some small paintings back from the framer
This is one of the highlights of the trade
Sometimes when you have completed a work and it's...so...so
You think well..it's ok
You take it to the framer and if you have a good one, or even one that you can throw ideas about with then that is a great thing
because a good framer can make an average work into some thing special

That;s what I think anyway

I'm not saying that the frame makes the work all the time and probably not even some of the time ...but every now and again it works just like

 MAGIC

Mostly this happens only when framing behind glass
Framing a canvas is a little less exciting because you can't PLAY as much but it is still fun to come up with different ways of making the most of your work.

I am lucky as I have a great framer and we seem to see things in the same way most of the time

As a struggling artist I don't sell enough to be able to let myself go with framing I always have to keep one good eye on the cost......I do dream of the day I can afford NOT to do that.

To Frame or not to Frame

This is a hard one. As an Artist I think some works can stand up on their own with out a frame and others can't
That's what I think as a struggling Artist.....but really to be perfectly honest if I could afford to frame every thing I would

What do you think?

I would love to hear what non artist think about the framing question

Anyway I have praddled on enough
Here are my latest framed small paintings
A good example of the frame making the work....I think anyway


This is

Lady # 1

Acrylic on Canvas board

 And this

Lady # 2
Acrylic on Canvas Board
$200.00

And these

3 Horseman
Acrylic on Canvas Board

And last but not least

Ringer from the Top End
Arcylic on Canvas Board

Red Ringer
Arcylic on Canvas
$200.00

That's all for now

Galah Talk

I have been a little slack with my blogging of late.
But I have an excuse
as my blog is about painting then it is hard to blog when I haven't really been painting much
But I have managed to finish a couple in the past week

2 Galahs
91 cm x 122 cm
Acrylic on Canvas
$1000.00

I enjoyed doing this painting as I did  it quickly with a large brush and tryed not to think too much...just went for it.

But of course before hand I had to do the drawing this I did with a small brush.

 I think some times you are better off drawing in with a brush rather than a pencil as the result is usually less fussy and uncomplicated.

I then mixed up the galah pink and slapped it on with gusto. 

MUCH FUN!

The galah's were finished in no time but then I had awful trouble with the background colour. Probably serves me right for achieving such a fast result with birds.

But I think this is OK

I have promised this painting to be auctioned at the Gaia Women's Festivel Gala Black Tie Event to be held on  the night of the 27th October at the Girls Grammer School Rockhampton

more information contact Jessica Ph 4926 3633

But if anyone falls in love with it before hand... so be it.....let me know

ALSO

Annie
81 cm x 81 cm Square
Acrylic on Canvas
Framed
$500.00

Once again I have painted Annie my dog she is very paintable as you can see and very obliging and that is her exact look

 Kind and Tolerant.

That's it for now

To view more of my paintings and drawings click here

http://www.theoutbackartist.com.au

New Paintings

These are very small

and they are all the same pink

it's just that I have the worst camera

I am having them framed the same so that they will hang together as a set

This one is actually pink and red also small

I know I keep painting Annie but she is the only dog about

and she is rather paintable

Thats all for now

BLACK WHITE & PINK

Having been for a little trip to the Downs recently I was struck by the milking cows on green crops.
They are so striking as you drive along.

I got to thinking that they would be great to paint

They are not only amazingly coloured they also look to have some personality.
This always helps when painting a cow or anything else for that matter

So I have done this painting and then thought that the pink really looks stunning with the black and white

What do you think

cows

I started this blog some time ago and got way laid.

After I did this painting I had the bright idea of doing a whole series of Pink paintings well using some pink or a verison of the colour.

I think that this is a good idea as I probably need to get into some colour so I'm doing it but you will have to wait for the next one as not finished yet

 well it maybe is but I haven't made the absolute decision yet

Until next time

ANOTHER TRIP TO LONGREACH

        Just returned from another trip to Longreach to see my Dad who is in the old peoples home there.


          I was joined by my son Bill his wife Kellie and the their new son Charlie, my grand son.


     We took Dad to the Stockman's Hall of Fame and also to the show that is held at the back of the hall every day at 11am.

                  It is called the The Stockman's Show. It was extremely good and well worth a visit.

This is the bloke that does the Stockman's Show.

 One of the horses he calls Red White and Blue Cavier!!

He does amazing work with bullocks  

                                                 Dad was born and breed in Longreach.

 And as happens quite often had been through the Hall when it was first opened some twenty odd years ago, but hadn't been through since.

Dad and Bill

Dad with is grand son Bill and great grand son Charlie

Dad is quite amazing as he has written 3 books about his life. 

He loves to write and can remember things that happened years ago. He can even tell you the names of all the horses he ever rode, all the men he ever worked with , and being a great old sheep man you only have to hold up a random photo of a ram taken 50 years ago and he will tell you it's name and every ribbon it ever won.

Dad was born in the Longreach in 1931 and raised on a station called Strathdarr which is between Longreach and Winton .

This is the Strathdarr Homestead . Sadly it was burnt to the ground in the late 60's.

Interestingly I was born in Longreach as was Bill.

After settling Dad back into the home we drove to Isisford. 

Isisford is a small town south west of Longreach 

It is my husband Tony's hometown.

His father Dick McLean managed both Emmet Downs and Isis Downs when Tony was a child.

They are now owed by CPC.

It is interesting that when Dick was the manager of Isis there were up to 50 or more staff needed to run the 200,000ac property. Now due choppers motorbikes and the fact that Isis Downs now runs cattle instead of sheep the men it takes to run the place has come back to a very few. 

I wanted to show the town and Isis Downs to Bill and Kellie as Kellie had never been there and Bill hadn't been back since he was a pre-schooler. 

After Dick retired he bought the property Mt Grey at Emmet which is not actually a town but a railway siding  on the Blackall / Yaraka line. When Tony and I were first married we lived at Mt Grey. Tony's parents ahd bought the ajoining property Lone Hill and lived there.

Both Bill and Lucy were born while we were at Mt Grey.

The first thing we did on our arrival in Isisford was to have beer in one of the 2 pubs in the town. 

When Tony and I were young and before we were married the watering hole where everyone from the surrounding large stations gathered was the pub with the iconic name of Clancy's Overflow Hotel.  

Sadly it was closed so we had our beer and toasted our return  to Isisford in the Golden West Hotel.

From there we visited a tree which was planted behind the town hall in memory of Tony's father who was Chairman of the Shire from 1976 to 1984.

There was also a tree planted for Tony and I and our 2 children Bill and Lucy

 ( our youngest AJ wasn't born at that stage)

On the same plaque it was also in memory of Tony's brother Ian who was killed in 1976.

Next we drove out to the cemerty where Bill saw for the first time his uncle Ian's grave.

Ian was 21 when struck by lightening and killed while drafting sheep at Isis Downs. 

From there we drove on to Blackall along the Paddy Behan Way. 

On the way we called into Isis Downs which is only 20 odd k's out of Isisford.

We were in Blackall to attend the engagment party of my nephew Andy Picone , my sister Wendy's son.

There I met someone who actually reads my blog!!

I left Bill and Kellie and Charlie to drive home and they to drive home to Stratton Roma.

It was lovely to see little Charlie who is growing like a weed and as cute as a button. 

Next time I see him will be at the Roma Campdraft where I will be baby sitting all weekend while Kellie works and Bill rides.

That's all for now as I am up to date

Check out my art work on my website

http://www.theoutbackartist.com.au

Pink Galah Painting

                              Just thought I would share the process of this painting with you.
                               It is called
                                                      FAMILY OF SWINGERS

                              This is the dreaded blank canvas. It is quite large just over a meter long.

                                  I don't usually use a roller but I did buy one some time ago.

                                              I thought it would be a good and quick      
                                                  way to cover a white canvas.

                                Some times I like to put down a base colour. I do this for
                                                                  2 reasons.

                              No 1  To cover the daunting white.

                         No 2   To have that colour underneath so that it will beep      
                                                     though the painting.

                              When it is finished  it helps to bring the whole thing together.

                                      In this instance it was done for the first reason.

Canvas covered by the roller

I then over layed the first colour with this pink

I then drew in the galah's with a permenant marker pen. 

You can see this was done in a pretty rough manner, I do this on purpose as it stops the drawing from being too neat and controlled. I marked out the length of each bird and where they sat on the wire and then drew them in free hand. This takes some courage as you can ruin the whole thing if you balls up ...well not really but painting over will take time and a lot of paint!!

Have any of you noticed that birds such as galah's always face into the wind when sitting on power lines etc.

When I took this photo I wondered why they were all facing the same way, I even thought of changing them so that there were some with their backs to you. 

But then I looked longer and as it was a very windy day, I realized that I really couldn't to that as that is not what Galah's do!! 

See how their backs are very straight, this is I would think so that they can actually stay on the wire.

 Just a little bit of trivia

Here I have started to paint the birds

Still painting in the birds

The end result.

This was eventually achieved by finishing the birds then going over the back ground with varying degrees of pink, until I thought I had the right contrast with the pink of the birds.

 I also wanted to give the feeling of late in the day with the pink sky.

That's it for now

This painting is for sale $1,200.00. It is 92cm x 122cm.

 Acrylic on canvas.

I ship world wide. Contact me through my website 

http://www.theoutbackartist.com.au