Fun in the Studio....!

At last! Here I am with some studio time... I've done dishes and washing and housework-YUK (the rest can wait now!)

Still Life SetUp in Studio

I’m going to paint 2 still life’s in a similar style to “Succulent in Terracotta”- (See pic in the bar at right.) Linda at Edelweiss Gallery has asked me to do a couple and given me some rough guidelines as to what her customer wants. I found a couple of old paintings which I've gessoed over. Some of the textural paint of the original paintings showed through so I used modelling compound to add an even more textured base. It dries a milky white colour so I overpainted that layer with a mix of 2 reds which I'm keen to try out as underpainting!

I’ve been inspired by the work of Katie Trinkle Legge who’s work I saw recently in the Monmo Gallery just north of Auckland NZ. Hers are oils and I noticed taht she used red underpainting. Her sense of colour and light is just fantastic. I would happily hang these in my home!! Wish I could paint like that!

Here are some shots of the progress of the first one!

Textured Red UnderPainting. Basic shapes marked out with pastel pencil and initial blocking out of areas.

Adding a bit of shading.

Adding some base colour

I'm going to use mostly glazes to change colours/shading and then add some finer detail last. Fingers crossed this works out!

of kiwis and a minature horse.

Wow! What a busy few weeks it’s been…..! Hubble and I were lucky enough to go to New Zealand for a short stay. We did a circuit around the tip of the North Island commencing and ending in Auckland (I’d not been to that part before) and we had a totally grand time…! I can recommend NZ as a holiday destination to anyone. It is an amazingly beautiful and diverse country. The people are wonderful, friendly and creative. (I'm not biased because I lived there for 10 years either!! )

Silly me let my driver’s licence expire so I couldn’t help Hubble with the driving (I only realised when we went to sign up for the hire car :< I was more than a little embarrassed and worried about what the process would be to have it renewed once back in Australia. Thankfully it was easy and I’m happy to say I’m a fully licensed driver again!)

Here are a few snaps from our little holiday….

Cape Reinga, the northern most tip of the North Island. Traditional Maori stories of this area are fascinating. Signage describes both the stories and topography brilliantly.

The waves of the Tasman Sea and Pacific Oceans meet here.

Our new favourite place: Mangonui

A historic village right on the sea. Local art and craft; lovely atmoshpere and views to die for!!

We stayed right in the heart of Auckland. This was the view from our hotel room.

Green rolling hills filled with sheep and dairy cows, leading to sand dunes and onwards to the sea.....!

Home again. And here is the latest member of our menagerie…!

SuziQ

Her name is SuziQ and we collected her on Sunday. She’s a miniature horse as opposed to a Shetland Pony and is not quite a year old. She’s quite a wild little thing but I’m sure she’ll get used to Puddleduck Farm and the other creatures and the comings and goings…. And that she’ll settle in beautifully!

On the creative front; I feel like I've hardly had any time to spend on anything slightly creative! I've tried to keep a bit of a journal of our trip. I have a commission for a still life painting. I'm going to do 2 simultaneously... I've prepared the canvases and will hopefully make a start later today or tomorrow before heading back to work on Wednesday. Where are the weeks going? The kids are still in Europe... and having a fabulous time. No doubt they'll have some great stories to share when they get home!!

We gardened most of yesterday. Both of us on mowers; one push mower and one ride-on. We attacked a few of the beds over-run with weeds and the nearly 2 acre house-yard is looking far from perfect but a lot more presentable!

Wishing you all a wonderful and creative week!