A few new works in my etsy shop...

After cleaning my very dirty stamps and brayers I piled them on my table. Looking at them made me smile, they are like friends to me, they are a part of a happy time in my day.

I am in the middle of restocking my galleries for the Christmas period... A busy time. We have two weeks holiday starting next week and then it will be the last term, which will be very hectic and then very quiet. So I am hoping to get a bit of work done during the next couple of weeks... whether it will happen or not is another thing.

So if you don't hear from me for two weeks that is because I am either very busy doing more work or very busy doing nothing.

I got too excited and now I have a headache

New Zealand silver fern (koru)

We went to Boundary Stream on Saturday and had such a lovely walk (although I don't think Ben did too much walking) through the native New Zealand bush. It was amazingly cool under the canopy, very quiet and you could almost taste the quality of the oxygen. So many different birds chirping and singing and we saw bugs... I love bugs.

It has inspired me to add some of this beautiful flora and fauna around me to my work. The koru, which is often used in Māori art as a symbol of creation, it is based on the shape of an unfurling fern frond. Its circular shape conveys the idea of constant movement, and its inward coil suggests a return to the point of origin. The koru symbolizes the way in which life both changes and stays the same.

I have had a lot of comments in the past that my work has a northern hemisphere 'feel' to it. Which I always thought was kind of cool since I have never been further north then the top of New Zealand... but now I feel I want people to know where I come from, know who I am.

I am excited about the idea of giving my work and girls a sense of belonging... my brain is starting to work overtime and now I have a headache.

There's a dream still in my heart

I did a bit of shopping the other day and found these cute little doilies stickers... you can just see one in the top left hand corner of this piece. I also found this new paper called cherish, it's just so beautiful, it has all the colours I love, swirls and heart shapes (hearts are very important to me, I had a heart attack about 10 years ago. There was an extra bit on my heart and I had to have an operation to fix it).

I used to have hearts in my work all the time, they were the final important part to a piece of work, but I have noticed lately that I've not been using them so much? This one above is the first in a long time.

I got the piece of work featured in the magazine from the framers yesterday, it looks really good, the Gilded Leaf always do a wonderful job. I will take a digi pic of it this weekend and post it here on monday.

This whole making art thing is such a roller coaster of a ride, lots of ups and downs all within a few hours, and sometimes minutes. One stroke of the brush can change everything. I really do feel that my daily mood depends on what is happening with my art work. I am not sure whether that is a bad thing or not? I guess it is just the way it is as it is a part of me and who I am. It is what truly makes me happy, it is my bliss. I couldn't imagine not ever being on that roller coaster.

My five minutes of fame...

A picture of my art work ended up in a magazine!!!

A funny story... I found an article about this woman's art exhibition called WAX and wondering whether I should enter or not I sent the coordinator an email asking all about it and also sent her a pic of one of my works... she emailed me some info and an entry form.

Well months passed and I had received a few emails from her asking if I was still interested. I was but there was a $25 entry fee for each piece and I just hadn't got around to doing anything about it.

Then yesterday I got another email asking if I could please enter as she had sent some images of works to the Next magazine (a NZ lifestyle mag) as advertising to put into the calendar feature of their magazine. Mine was one of the images she sent... and guess what it was mine they picked for the magazine!!!

So I kind of felt I had to enter now, and she said since I was picked for the magazine I could have free entry... wow!!! So off to the picture framers I went with my famous piece of art work and a smile on my face enjoying my five minutes of fame.

I will let you know how I get on in the competition.

(my famous piece of work hee hee)

32 good things...

(view from the car coming home from Wellington)


32 good things and a funny taste

we had such a lovely time
none of us wanted to come back
the weather was just gorgeous
good company, really good company
so much laughing and giggling
23 toilet stops
lots of walking... good for the heart
but not so good for the feet
we went to 5 galleries
and 59 shops
Iko Iko was the best
creative ideas were flowing
ate amazing food at amazing places
my favourite was monsoon poon
we drank vodka and cocktails
hair brained schemes were thought up
we saw a play at the Circa theatre
it was called 'some girls'
it was about a boy
I love Wellington at night
I don't love Wellington's water
we talked
then went to bed
woke up and talked some more
I snored (apparently)... but just softly
we visited an old friend
a rainbow followed us down to Wellington
we thought it was a sign so bought a lotto ticket
we had wonderful ideas of what we would do with
14 million
we didn't win the big one
but we won a bonus ticket for next week
I got confused about the Royal family

Swirly trio

A lovely day today, nice and warm... spring is on it's way.Last night I did these on three little mdf boards with my new swirly stamp. Stuart said it looked like his Grandmothers wallpaper. I am taking that as a compliment even though I don't think it was meant to be (I might have over done the stamping a wee bit)? I have really been enjoying Kelly Rae's book "taking flight" it is a wonderful resource of ideas that you can adapt and apply to what you already know.

I am feeling a kind of anxious energy at the moment as far as my art is concerned. The changes I wanted and have talked about in previous posts are slowly starting to happen. It is all very exciting but I am anxious about leaving my printing inks behind... A few years ago I hated acrylics, they were so frustrating!!! But now I am able to get them to behave and work the way I need, to do the things the inks did but 7 times faster. I see all sorts of possibilities opening up before me, and that in itself is making me a little anxious too.

I am looking forward to going to Wellington tomorrow. I have decided to take the day off work and have a nice restful morning before I get picked up just after lunch. I am not really sure what we are going to see and do but whatever it is I am in!!!

two by two

I started these a while ago and did a bit more on them last night... I had lots of fun and found the acrylic was so easy to work with, it dries fast and if you don't like a bit (if your fast) you can just rub it off. It is forgiving to a certain extent and you can add lots of mediums to create different effects. One thing I have found, is that varnish should really be the final layer. Paint doesn't sit on top very well once it has dried, although it's not impossible.

I have found that my family have been more helpful lately as far as my paintings are concerned. They are giving me their opinions on what they think and advise on changes I should try . Whereas in the past they would say it looks ok and that would be it.

This one has too much of a contrast between the hair and the rest of the painting... (this was Hannah's observation) I have lightened it a bit but think it may need more.

This one has an Autumn feel about it, with the colours and the falling leaves... I think the hair colour is better in this one as the dresses are of a similar tone.

There is a third one which I am going to attack tonight, it has more blue, grey, green tones so will be interesting to see what happens with that.

I am trying to loosen up a little, not be so tight and neat with my work. I think the acrylic lends itself to that as you have to work faster before the paint dries and there is not enough time to be too anal about it.

Wow

I had such a good birthday... Friday night I went to a monthly dinner with a group of fellow artists, we are planning a trip to wellington next weekend to look at galleries and a bit of shopping.

Then Saturday morning Stuart and Ben made bacon and eggs for breakfast and I got to open some lovely presents. Including my copy of Kelly Rae's new book... "taking flight" a truely inspirational piece of work... (I can't believe it arrived on my birthday)!!!. Ben spent the whole morning singing different renditions of "Happy Birthday" in his new found loud voice.

Then I went out for coffee with a friend to the Te Mata cheese factory. After lunch Stuart and I went to a film festival movie called "Empties" was really lovely. Then we went out for tea on the Marine Parade to a Thai place. Yum yum yum!!!
After filling our bellies we went to a house warming up on the hill and stayed out really late and meet up with people from years ago...

On Sunday we went to Havelock to get the kids... Hannah, Mum, Dad and I went to the Pukeora Estate craft festival... I got some lovely jewellery and so did Mum and Hannah, Dad got some whiskey and some smelly cheese... We were all very happy.

So far I am enjoying being 37, it feels good and I feel happy about the way things are going in my life, I feel I am heading down the right path, where I am supposed to be.

I completed this piece last night, spring has certinaly come to Napier... we have blossoms everywhere and the sun is getting some of it's well known Hawke's Bay heat.



I remember the feeling spring brings with it's arrival... feelings of new beginnings and possibilities. And that is how I am feeling at the moment.

37 tomorrow...

I think I am looking forward to being 37 tomorrow (only because they are both odd numbers). But it does feel a bit weird as I still feel in my early 20's. I seem to be living a lot slower then actual time is happening, if that makes sense?

I've got a nice weekend planned for my birthday with a film festival movie called "Empties", a craft festival, a night out without the kids, coffee with a friend and a sleep in.

I have done this piece of work below a wee while ago and have finally finished it but I can't remember what the memory behind it was? (Might be age creeping up on me)



Am thinking now that maybe this was a dream... I have never been on a house boat before?

Well I hope you have a good weekend...

owning the sky

When I was younger I always remembered that we seemed to 'own' a lot of sky... my father was a keen astronomer and I used to love it when he would get his telescope out. He would find the moon and we would see the craters, then he would find a planet, Saturn was my favorite... you could actually see the rings.

Sometimes we would get our beanbags and lie on them in the driveway on summer nights and watch the sky... waiting for shooting stars, or satellites to pass by.

Just remember that I'll always love you...

We had a sunny weekend, so most of the works have dried (the clothes line was a stroke of genius)... I have three of the "memories" series in my etsy shop and there will be more of them coming soon...



But in the meantime I have been working on these above, which are on canvas. A new thing for me and I have had so much fun doing them... They are also in my etsy shop and I am working on a few more that feature two girls together. They remind me of the old photos of relatives from long ago that my grandmother used to call the battle axes. I loved looking through them as a kid, although some of the women in the photos were a little scary.