a week in May

My head has been full of bugs this weekend... they don't seem to be getting any better or any worse, just hanging out in my head.

(don't wait another day)

(I'm going where the weather suits my clothes)

Well, these are last weeks pieces... I started doing some smaller ones but they just weren't working so on Thursday I went back to the format I used for the Brighton girls and I am liking the longness of them. I have always had the idea that images in the background or above the girls heads are connected to their thoughts.
This idea came from a few lines from a Barbara Kingsolver book that I think I have blogged about before, but here it is again:

"she sits up in bed to get a closer look at her thoughts which have collected above her in the dark"

It really conjurers up good images in my head. So anyway, lately I have been using words inside thought bubbles instead of images. I like the look of the pure white speech bubble thoughts, will be interesting to hear any thoughts on this new idea.

I have been reading Sarah Ahearn's Blog lately and I like her idea of listing 8 things about her day... as I am a list girl too I have decided to do the same although I am going to list 5 things to start off with.

so today's list of five things:

1... It is warm and sunny today. I read in the weekend paper that with two weeks till winter we are having warmer weather then the Northern hemisphere going into summer.

2... My paintings arrived safely in Timaru for the annual plunket auction in June, such a relief!

3... Getting my pieces framed for the above show made me realise that I can't actually afford my own art work... how sad is that.

4... My daughter is nearly 16 and I am a few years away from 40... how on earth did that happen???

5... It is coming up to 1 year since I started selling on Etsy!!! I might have to have a giveaway to celebrate.

Ben on Brighton Pier

I just had to post this video of Ben doing his boogie on Brighton Pier... it was something that he started while we were away. We would be somewhere, a pub, in town, at our new home etc... and he would hear a piece of music he quite liked and would get up and do his little boogie and then get back to what he was doing before. It is like the music moved him...

Two girls in Brighton

We've had a bit of a thing in Napier on Thursday and through the weekend... A man with a gun shot and killed a policeman and wounded two others and a civilian after they tried to search his house for drugs. He had been holed up in his house for 50 hours and they had to cordon off streets, the whole town was on police alert. Rather scary, I heard gunshots on Friday afternoon as the police tried to retrieve the body of the slain policeman, which was lying on the lawn where he had fallen... they didn't get to him till Saturday afternoon. Really horrible for the policeman's family. Anyway all is over now and although some people are still not allowed to go back to their homes as the police are still investigating the scene, life for us is getting back to normal.

(I like it here can I stay)

I had Brighton on my mind when doing these two last week... There is a different light in England to what we have here in Hawke's Bay, ours is a little more intense. These two are a bit smaller then the last series I did, but have longer bodies.

People have been commenting on how or whether my work will change after my trip... I am not sure that it will so much, I think it will be the things in the background may change more? the buildings, the colours, the sky, landmarks??? will be interesting to see.

I have decided to keep up with the two paintings a week that I did before we went away, it is good to have a small goal each week to work towards. I have also booked in an exhibition next year in October so I am looking forward to that, nice enough distance away that it still seems like a really good idea.

I went to see the Topp twins movie on Friday night with a few friends, was good, I came out feeling proud to be a kiwi.

One last thing, Happy Birthday to the best Mum in the world and in space!!!

The first week in England

I can't believe it is over a week now since we have been back, funny how life settles back so quickly...

(Paris through my taxi window)

Our journey to England was very, very, long, I remember thinking when we got to Singapore that we were only a third of the way into our journey!!! I am glad we did it the way we did though as I have now had a glimpse of Germany and France. I loved all the little villages we passed on the train, all the houses clustered around tall church spires. (building materials are different in this part of the world compared to ours). In Paris all the trees were just coming into leaf and the city was so beautiful as it whisked past my window on the way to the bus stop ( I thought of my friend Carine not so far away). I was trying very hard to see the French countryside go by as we headed towards the tunnel to England but my eyes were finding it very hard to stay open. 48 hours of traveling had taken its tole.

We finally arrived in England and were told to get off the bus at a bus stop in the middle of nowhere as the bus driver didn't go to Folkestone where we were getting picked up from anymore!!! It is funny now as I look back but a bit scary before we were finally found by Stuart's Aunt and Uncle.

(Ben waiting in the middle of nowhere waiting to be picked up and you can see Stuart way off down the road trying to find where we were)

We finally got to Stuart's Aunt and Uncle's at about 9:30pm Thursday night, I told Ben this was going to be our new home for the next few weeks and as we walked in the door so did the cat and Ben said our cat has changed colour!

We spent the next few days hanging around home, visiting relatives, and a friends parents and going to the supermarket... they are so much cooler then ours!!! I LOVE ASDAS! I didn't seem to suffer from jet lag so much but I felt quite wobbly, like when you have been skating and you take your skates off and you still feel like your feet are moving, weird feeling. We spent Easter Sunday at home with a lot of family visiting for tea. It was really nice to meet everyone, and see some again that I hadn't seen for a while.

On Monday we took the train to Royal Tunbridge Wells to meet a friend of Stuart's who he used to teach with... She took us to her home in Five Ashes and fed us a lovely meal (I love the names of the towns in England). Then we did a tour around the places Stuart used to teach and visit when he was living there. And I saw a piles of dirt left by moles (we don't have moles in New Zealand so this was rather exciting). One thing I have noticed about England is that most houses are built of stone or brick, whereas in New Zealand ours are usually wood.

(shopping in The Pantiles)

On Tuesday Uncle Denis came and picked us up and we went to see the Cotswolds! I was so very excited, I had been wanting to go here for a very long time. It took about 3 hours and I could tell we were there, the houses changed from orange/red brick to the light coloured stone I had seen in so many pictures. It felt just amazing to be surrounded by them and so old, there were so many houses that were built hundreds of years ago. We came to the Slaughters, a place I had saved on our map at home to go see one day. We stopped in Lower Slaughter, after spying and chasing a squirrel through the St Mary's graveyard we had a look through the Church. Just beautiful! Every little village we went through was just so perfect, you could spend weeks discovering little towns down the hedged lanes.

(Lower Slaughter)

On Wednesday we went up to Ludlow castle, what an amazing ruin, you could spend the whole day here looking around. The day was rather bleak which I think suited the castle, it gave it a whole lot of atmosphere. I bought two coffee cups at the gift shop here and I meet the potter who made them, he was pleased his cups were traveling to New Zealand.

(Ludlow Castle)


(castle doors)

After Ludlow castle we went to a place called Bridgenorth where they had a train that went up hill to Upper Bridgenorth. Once off the train there was this wall that went around a walkway with doors here and there, I loved it. You got a small glimpse of the garden beyond the wall by what was sprouting above. Further around there was a castle ruin, just a wall really that looked as though it was about to fall over.

(you can look over the fence on the right down to Lower Bridgenorth)

(I found this little plaque which interested me... it says "This cave was occupied as a dwelling until the year 1856")


On Thursday we stopped in a few other little villages in the Cotswolds, Stow on the wold and Bibury (really beautiful little village, pic from the last blog post) and I had my first cider in a real thatched roof English pub.

(The Black Horse first cider in a thatched pub)

(a house, Stow on the wold)

(shops in Burton on the Water)

We made our way back to London stopping at one of the many Swan pubs for tea ('The Swan' and 'The Kings head' seem to be very popular names for pubs).

On Friday Uncle Ken took us to Rye a little seaside village with cobbled streets. It too had a castle but when we were going to look the gates were closed for lunch... Most of Rye seemed to close for lunch, a lot of the shops had signs saying be back in an hour. But we had fun window shopping anyway.

(cobbled steet in Rye, a bit hard on the feet)


(Ben and the cannons and cannon balls)

(a little tudor style house in Rye across the road from a graveyard)

After Rye we went to see an old friend of Stuart's Gran, she lived a small drive from New Romney. A very desolate place, lots of marshes and some kind of army type training ground or something like that with high fences? Very moody.

Well that is pretty much the first week of our trip... will post the next week in a few days.

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.