England...

(Arlington Row in Bibury)

My head is still buzzing from all that I have seen and experienced... I loved England, it was everything and so much more than I expected it to be. It is nice to be back home but I miss Stuart's Aunt and Uncle who we stayed with and the other family members who were always popping in for visits or to come and take us on trips, I miss them all very much and I appreciate their hospitality and everything they did to make our stay so perfect. I miss the English houses, the brick and stone, rows and rows of the same style house butted up against narrow roads. I miss looking up and always seeing a plane or trails left from planes marking the sky. I miss the feeling of being on the other side of the world, being so far away from home was such an adventure.

(Ben was obsessed with reading the safety procedures pamphlet on each and every plane)

Soon I will post a diary of our trip with more pics, but for now I have a bit of work to catch up on.

ONE more sleep!!!

I don't have any paintings to post today so I thought I would post a pic of Ben's eye, I really love this image. I would die for some of those impossibly long lashes and I just love the soft colour of his eyes, a kind of slate colour. If you look closely you can see our kitchen bench and windows just to the left of his pupil. I said to him the other day, "You have beautiful eyes" and he said "I know".

I have been going through a few of my picture books, I love kids picture books and have a whole stack of them... anyway I have left three of them on my desk as inspiration for when I come back to mix in with thoughts I might get while I am away. I can feel something brewing in my brain, an idea is developing and I don't want to scare it away. So I thought coming home to a clean art table with a few of my favourite inspirational things waiting for my return might get me back into the flow of things.

By the end of today I think we will have most things sorted for our trip... when Ben woke this morning he said to me "is it today mummy" I said "one more sleep"... a big smile spread across his face and he was silent for a while. I think he can comprehend the significance of one more sleep as apposed to 9 more sleeps.

Thanks to everyone for their well wishes for our trip and I will be back soon with lots of pics and stories.

Godspeed to me... I like the word Godspeed, I think if someone wishes you Godspeed, it must be a very important journey indeed.

8 sleeps...

(my business postcard for the UK)

I started packing yesterday and have written a few lists, lists for my carry on bag, a list for what I need in my wallet, lists for my luggage bag, lists for different things inside my luggage bag, a list of works to take with me, a list of hair care essentials... lists for every possible thing I could think of. I have 13.5 lists (one isn't finished yet) I think I am covered for everything.

Ben is starting to get excited, I think he is sensing that his first plane ride is getting closer, on the way to work he asks are we going to England today? One morning very soon the answer will be... yes.

I've been having very restless nights worrying about things, catching a taxi from the train station to the bus station in Paris... I think it is only 6km but I worry we will not find a taxi. I worry about our cat who is a little odd and will probably hibernate under the house for the whole time we are away and and stress out her carers, I worry about how heavy my bag will be, have I thought of everything, will I find somewhere that will like my art work, should I even bother with it? has Ben got enough clothes (he has grown so much in the last year and doesn't fit his trousers and sweaters from last winter), how will I cope with the lack of sleep? how will Ben cope with the monotonous hours on the plane? So those are just a few of the things going through my head at the moment. I think I need to do this though, this internal worrying, more often then not things are way better then what I imagine them to be.

Other then that I am very excited and can't wait for next Wednesday to arrive.

I haven't done any art work the last week and I feel a bit lost. I thought some clear head space before our trip would be a good idea. But I feel like some good friends I had staying have gone home and I miss them, I guess they will be back.

If you were the ocean...

(if you were the ocean, I'd learn to float)


(always remember where you came from)

(collecting thoughts)

I have just listed the above three and a few others in my Etsy shop today. I had a few computer problems, I don't think the right parts were listening to each other? But all is sorted now...

I had the last weekend all to myself... The rest of the family took Uncle Ken (who has been staying with us for a week or so) to Rotorua to see the plop plops... I offered to stay home and get some housework done. It was so nice to do what I wanted when I wanted... I decided to have a little nap at 5:30, just because I could... which would have usually been a very busy time in our house, I watched 3 harry Potter DVD's in a row and ate pickled things, I put my music up loud and sung along at the top of my voice. Was good fun and good for me....

Something wonderful came to me in the weekend, I was picked out to win a encaustic painting by the very clever and talented Beth from tangledskystudio. I have fallen in love with this little piece, it is so precious. I look at it often and I can't help but smile. The other night I went to the loo at about 4 in the morning and had to come out to the kitchen to see it again. So thank you so much Beth, it means a lot to me.

My good friend Anne Michelle made a suggestion about adding a little bit of white to my girls eyes... which I have done to these three and I think it has made a big difference to them, such a clever thing she is... thanks for that wise piece of advise.

I have just bought a new digital camera to take away with me (two weeks tomorrow)!!! My old one was getting on a bit and quite bulky compared to my new slimline one. So I am looking forward to taking some pictures of the wonderful sights waiting for me.

I don't plan to do any more works in the next few weeks, but you never know... I am planning however to get a new business card done and maybe some giveaway postcards to take with me.

A small note to mother nature...I really like autumn, but I like to ease into it not be thrust into it like a raging bull!!!

three is my favourite number

(In my heart there's something telling me)

(sometimes the words don't come out quite right)

Well it is three weeks as of right about now that we will start hopping on planes. I have not planned anything yet, I haven't written any lists or organised anything into piles...!!! I think I am actually rather scared of the whole adventure and am trying not to think too much about it just yet. I find myself looking forward to small things, like the little pottles of water on the plane, deciding what to watch on my own in flight entertainment screen, seeing what colour the dirt is in Paris (oh yes, we might be going through Paris again)? feeling what the air is like in England and a few other things. I think if I concentrate on these little things the whole thought of going to the other side of the world will not seem so scary. I know once I have done it I will be hooked and want to do it again and again, it is the unknown that gets me.

These two above are two I finished last week... am a bit behind with things on the art front at the moment. We have Stuart's Uncle staying with us for 10 days, so I have been busy listening to him talk (he likes to talk).

Someone commented about the girls faces, how they have changed, now I look closely at them, I see that they have. They seem to have things on their minds, or maybe a little more thoughtful looking?

A girl that's not me...

(A girl heading to Paris)

Well this girl is heading to Paris, but she's not me... the trains to Paris are full at the time we are wanting to go so we will probably be going through Brussels instead.

(I love cardigans)

Life at the moment seems to be full of very exciting things and sad, bad things...

Falling

(falling into you)

I finished this piece late last week and I think it will be the first of the ones I will take to the UK with me. I am not sure what else I will do but am planning to get a few more done this week so I will post pics of them later in the week.

We got Ben's passport in the mail the other day and he looks like a kindergarten convict. I am not sure if there is anyone who reads this, who lives in Kent or anyone who would know what the weathers like there in April? What do I pack?

On Friday night I went to see a friend, Michael Hawkesworth's exhibition opening. Just loved his new work, I could have spent hours looking at each piece. I am fond of him as he helped me when I was pregnant with Ben... I am not very tall, about 5 foot and not much more. Well I was about 7 months and Ben was starting to take up quite a bit of room, it was weird every morning about 10:30 I would start to feel faint and a little dizzy. Well this one day while Michael was in my office he asked me a question and I answered and then promptly fell off my chair. I had fainted and he looked after me until the nurse came. The doctor said he wasn't sure what we could do about this fainting problem... I told him I thought a good cure might be giving birth.

Anyway I hope everyone had a good or is having a good weekend...

and the winner is...

Carine!!!

(a bit hard to read in the pic) I got Ben to empty his fire truck and we put all the names inside and he picked the winner (after a bit of an argument as he wanted to put his own pieces of paper in the fire truck).




Carine if you send me your address to katherine.quinn@paradise.net.nz and the title of your favourite print from my etsy shop www.sleepandhersisters.etsy.com I will get it sent away to you.

I want to say thank you to everyone who left a comment, I really enjoyed reading them all and it was great to 'meet' some new people.. It was so much fun I might do another one soon.

I hope everyone has a good weekend, I am off to a hen's night this evening...

A giveaway because...

I have finally listed new works in my etsy shop!!!

So if you leave a comment at the end of this post by Friday midnight (New Zealand time) I will pick a winner first thing Saturday morning. The winner can pick any print from my shop and will get a few extra goodies.

Well, we had a very wet start to the weekend. It was nice to spend the day indoors mucking around (especially playing with 'ello') and our gardens really needed the rain. The above pic was the result of some of my mucking around... it isn't quite finished yet. I am calling this series of works "Nowhere I'd rather be..." as this is how I feel when I'm painting them.

I am thinking I might spend March doing some works to take with me to England to see whether there is a gallery or cafe or something that might be interested in selling them.

I'm having lunch in Paris!!!

I tried a new hairstyle on my girls last night... a short crop type thing. I am liking the colour combinations of this piece, I have never used dark blue as a dress colour before and I think it works quite well. I showed my family last night and Hannah said if she saw it somewhere she wouldn't recognise it as a Katherine Quinn. It has got me thinking about how my work is changing and whether it is a good thing or not?... Stuart said it isn't a good thing or a bad thing it is just a thing that has happened.

As I have enlarged my girls over the last month (why I have felt compelled to do this I am not too sure, it just happened one day). As they have grown I've needed to put more detail into their faces, therefore their look has changed. But I do think there is still that vague Katherine Quinn stare that my girls sometimes tend to have. I am ok with the change so far and am enjoying experimenting with what is happening.

On other news... as the title of this post states I am having lunch in Paris!!! The tickets are being purchased today and we go on the 8th April. We are leaving from Auckland and going to Sydney then Singapore for a fuel stop and then stopping in Frankfurt. From there we will catch a fast train to Paris for lunch... and then on to England, Kent to be exact to stay with Stuart's family. Ben and I were practicing saying "Oh my" on the way to work today as we contemplate flying to the other side of the world...

So much for art deco weekend...

We decided to go camping at Waipataki Beach (about 37 minutes drive away from home) but man it felt like we had been away for ages. I kept expecting people at work to have really missed me and wonder how my trip was because I had been gone so long... but it was just a weekend.

the view down to our little beach from the road up the top

New Zealand flag
it was actually quite windy when I took this but I must have clicked the button when the wind stopped for a split second

We spent hours watching the stars at night (we owned a lot, A LOT, of sky) we saw about 20 satellites doing their thing and we are pretty sure we spotted some undiscovered galaxies. We swam in the sea and we played in the little lagoon making plop plop towers with the sand and building dams to change the flow of the water as the tide came in.

A funny story... while swimming in the sea I was standing with my back to the water looking towards the hills and a big wave caught me by surprise, it was so strong I nearly lost my false teeth (the false teeth are a result of a birth defect).

It was a good time away and will be going back...

(am still working on the background)

(this is the one I fixed the face on)

These are what I did last night, neither are finished but both are coming along nicely. I am slowly getting the hang of painting the backgrounds and getting the effect I am wanting. One thing I am really loving is the new chalk pastels from Pebbles Inc I got a few weeks ago, the ones I think I mentioned that are like a blusher makeup kit. They are so much fun and easy to use especially with the little pom poms and applicator tool. I feel like a make up artist as I apply shadows and cheeks on my girls.

I don't know if any of you know of the Pebeo brand (I think it is French)? but they have a wonderful gloss varnish... Well, on the face I touched and wrecked late last week while waiting for the varnish to dry I was able to sand it and re-apply some of the chalk pastels and then do another coat of varnish and it looks pretty good. It comes in a gloss and a mat, but I find the gloss a lot easier to apply an even coat.

I am really enjoying this experimenting with mediums and materials, in the past I think I had such tunnel vision. I didn't seek out new things, thought they were a waste of time as I thought I knew all I needed to know to get what I wanted onto paper. But telling myself it is ok to experiment and play has been the most unwaste of time ever.

We are thinking of the possibility of going to England in the next school holidays (easter time) to visit my partners family. I am quite excited (very excited in fact) at the thought and a little scared as well. I am interested to see what the stars are like up in that part of the world.

Art Deco Weekend

(the second finished piece from last week)

Well I found her missing arm... I think this is the first girl I have done with bare arms, usually they have long sleeves? I have also done a few more faces, but mucked them up when brushing on the gloss varnish. Was trying a new thing with the hair and got a bit heavy handed. The others were fine but then I was compelled to touch them before they were dry and now they all have finger marks in them! Luckily I have learnt from that wee exercise... TO BE MORE PATIENT!!!

(sorting through the rubble after the earthquake)

We are celebrating Art Deco Weekend this week, where a whole lot of people come to Napier for a big celebration of the Art Deconess of our town. On 3 February 1931 there was a large earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale (New Zealand's deadliest natural disaster). The ground heaved upwards, swayed and 30 seconds later, there was a downward movement and violent shaking. Most of the town was destroyed and some land was raised from the sea (our airport has been built on land that was under the sea before the quake). It was all rebuilt in art deco which was the style of the time. The wall around our house was built using bricks from the rubble left from the quake, the house itself was built in 1929.

Anyway there will be a lot of people visiting Napier this weekend so I am franticly getting work ready for the two galleries I supply in town. I was pleased with the amount of work I got done last night, being cooler it is a lot easier to work.