Chaos Unleashed

Finally I got in and had a go at lesson 1

of Doodles Unleashed

over at Strathmore Online Workshops

I was so determined to try to get at least one week done before the month was up

so I just squeaked it in...

still woefully behind in Lifebook

but hey these things happen...

Not so sure I enjoyed the process

and  at times it kind of felt 

as though I was having my fingernails

slowly removed

but there are parts of the finished mess that are kind of okay

and I think I will get in and do some more

so I can make them look more like me

It did make me get in and play a bit more and I started a journal page

just playing with pattern and colour

more my colours mind you...

and of course I could have used my colours in the lesson

but I had this weird sense that I should be good

and listen to what Traci Bautista had to say

maybe that good girl thing is what freaked me out a little bit

and maybe next lesson I will be back to my normal 

half listening, gazing out the window, get distracted self

and it will be a little more comfortable

So I got in and did some colour doodling

and black and white pen doodling

but haven't finished  either...

at least the painting one is

 pretty close but it's not quite there..

But I have the most fantastic excuse

you see I had the bright idea that my little studio

needed to be revamped

it had kind of been growing and morphing in a scary way

and it has moved beyond that eclectic

to just plain haphazard

and as I spend more and more time in here

and with my spectacular levels of un- coordination

I am falling over things 

and stubbing toes

 which leads regular yelps and hopping around on one foot

as well as much muttering and mumbling

and increasingly 

frequent bouts of unladylike cussing

which my ungrateful, thoughtless, oh so coordinated daughter

finds endlessly amusing

and as I am not here to amuse her 

action was called for...

So the long suffering Sinus Man has jumped at the challenge

and I am now sitting in what could only be described

as a bomb site

not a little piece of C4 going off

this is like a nuclear explosion of biblical proportions

I have supplies and bits spread over three rooms

the paint we thought was a match to repaint the wall 

which needed repairs after shelves and things were removed to gaping holes

is

well sort of similar

  but not quite right

but we are hoping it will blend in a somewhat artistic way

or that paintings and frames can cover the worst of it

and just to top off what has been just another

chaotic Monday

Sinus just called me with the wonderful news that

the hardware giant is in stock of every shelf known to man

except

the one we need

of course....

ah... Monday's are a joy!!!

Embracing Randomness

So I got this comment yesterday

or maybe the day before....

Its a good chuckle to read your blog, you come across fairly randomly at times! I do love your art though, it's always so fresh looking.

Now my immediate reaction was.... I'm not random

not even sometimes

I had a bit of a laugh and moved on

this lady has a great blog which I enjoy

and don't get me wrong

I wasn't offended or anything....

just kind of puzzled

especially as I thought I had played the post pretty straight

no talk of snarts or anything...

then while finishing off my painting for the 2012 Colour Challenge

and Paint Party Friday this morning

I started to stop and think about it a bit more

and started to assess some of the things that had popped into my head

in the last day 

So I have thought about the guy who hosts that show Dirty Jobs

is oddly attractive...

got to be the deep voice and laconic kind of charm....

even at 5.30 am 

which is relevant because it is usually on the TV 

when I stumble down the stairs on school days

stumble while muttering incoherently might be a more accurate description

but I start most school days with sound of his voice

describing some thing completely disgusting

very weird but he is rather compelling....

I had wondered what people who design buttons

have as topics at conferences

or do they have conferences????

and do they hate zipper people?????

Not quite sure where that one came from 

but kept my mind busy while putting on the washing

mind you came to no conclusions

button designers remain a mystery

Another was

Why don't people call their kids Gustav anymore

now I can understand not calling a girl Gustav

but kind of a cool name for a boy...

where that one came from is easy as Madame Bovary

is sitting on my desk as part of my painting...

It is a kinda cool name though isn't it....

Another thought was

Does Johnson's baby powder smell different in different countries

because Cadbury's chocolate from the UK tastes different 

from how it tastes here

or from South Africa

and yes I have tried them all...

so if they are the same product but different

does that mean baby powder smells different

so do babies smell different?

Now I used to live in Florida but for the life of me

I couldn't remember if baby powder smells different...

This one kept me thinking all through painting the teapot

So my conclusion from that scary little review of my brain is that

I am indeed fairly random at times

I did think I kept it mostly in my head,

but perhaps it leaks out

and seeing as my word for the year is 

embrace

I am going with it

and am now proudly sharing my randomness

Now you may have guessed that the colour for the colour challenge was

Orange, and no I didn't read the rules completely

and see you aren't supposed to use other colours outside of that spectrum

but I am going to pretend the paper had bits of blue and green 

embedded in it 

just where I wanted it...

I am such a rule breaker aren't I....

Luckily I haven't broken any rules

set by Kristin and Eva over at Paint Party Friday

at least I don't think I have

and I think I am pretty sure I am cool for 

Paint and Palette 

off to make a cup of tea

and consider why when we have so many products

from other countries

one of them isn't Bounce Drier sheets

love the smell of those things...

Paperweights and lazy rainy days

It has been a few weeks since I have played along with

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday

hosted by Julia Dunnit over at 

http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/

partly because I was on holidays

and also because I have done very little

which isn't my fault entirely

okay it is 

but I kind of like the idea of being delusional sometimes

I am laying the blame

at the feet of the weather  which in the last few days

has been horrid rain and more rain

flash flooding and constantly wet dog rain

so that means it is reading and drinking tea weather

not sitting in the studio and watch the pool overflow weather

I started doing a painting of my desk yesterday

because that was a great project a few weeks ago and I liked the idea

of having a painted record of my desk for the year

But staring to paint in my orange coffee cup is about as far as I got

and I got distracted with making some paperweights

which I love by the way

but that rain just told me to go

and cuddle on the lounge with the dog

and a cuppa

and Book Four in the Song of Fire and Ice series of books

so the paint water remains

at that not quite science experiment stage

Paints remain untouched

I am still three weeks behind in this class

and soon to be four

if I keep going the way I am

and haven't even started these yet...

though I have watched the the weeks 1 and 2 lessons

over at Doodles Unleashed

I haven't put together the cards and gift cards

and notebooks 

to go down to restock my shelf at 

The Collective Store

in fact I am sure the only thing I will be able to say I have achieved is

going to visit some other WOYWW blogs

and hopefully I will be shamed into getting stuck in and doing some work

BUT

On a totally different tack

 I was lucky enough to win a draw over at

Vicki Holdwick over at Faint Heart Art

so there will be a zine by Andrea Joseph 

coming my way which is very exciting

and of course it isn't like I did anything special to get it

but just so excited because I never win anything

head on over and have a look at what Vicki is doing

I will post some pics when it arrives so you can all be jealous...

The lounge and book are calling...

Happy Creating...xx

The Most Glorious Sunday of the Summer

So it is that most glorious Sunday

beloved by parents all over the fair state of Queensland

the last Sunday of the Summer break....

tomorrow all the poor little sods

head back off to school

no more cartoon channel blaring at all hours

no more standing and gazing into the fridge

no more shrieking that if they don't get off the lounge 

you are going to staple gun them to it....

which 

in my defence was only used after a particularly trying stint of MTV

and I am quite proud that this year 

I actually never hid the remote in the freezer

which 

it turns out

is a very effective strategy for parenting both teenagers 

and annoying sport watching husbands 

of course if they are quick learners 

and as such

 the freezer proves ineffective

try the vegetable crisper in the fridge

cause we all know they never crack that sucker...

So by this time next week I will again be whining

about the nightmare that is

alarms going at ridiculous hours

school lunch boxes

and uniforms

and 

 pick up zones and 

the fact that fathers have no clue how to work a drop off zone...

the insanity of school timetabling

juggling extra curriculas

and

the ridiculous idea that almost 16 year old girls 

are in fact human beings....

but for this one glorious day none of it matters

I happily hummed to myself as I moved the summer uniforms into the laundry

checked that school bag hadn't magically been 

swallowed whole by the broom closet 

over the last two

endless

mind sapping

and at times 

nightmarish two months....

So I happily jumped in the car and headed

off to buy school lunch supplies

reassured that I wasn't evil for celebrating this day

by all the other smiling parents

and glum and down at mouth suckers...

the nightmare of the parking lot couldn't even touch my joy 

and barely able to contain my glee any longer

I sang all the way home

at the top of my lungs

and gloriously off key

after which I

 happily made my way to my studio to draw up my idea

for 

the first

The challenge colour is this amazing orange

and so lends itself perfectly to a mixed media painting 

centring around

 my coffee mug, penguin classics and an orange teapot

Now because I was happy and relaxed

the drawing came together with lightning speed

almost like it knows that I will soon

again find myself in possession of time and

will be able to play in peace....

So I am linking this puppy up to Sunday Sketches

and looking forward to a glorious Monday where

 thanks to the wonder of time zones

I will get to spend  gloriously uninterrupted time 

checking out what drawings people have done...

The snart culprit himself

PS It would appear from your comments from

Snart or Snuffy?

that Snart is the preferred terminology...

got me thinking that perhaps fluffy is an Australian ism....

In our house the question was asked as to

who let fluffy off his chain?

Curious as to what other terms people have...

not the most ladylike topic 

but my brain kind of works that way sometimes...

Snart or Snuffy????

So this painting being finished is actually a miracle...

now I know it may not look like it,

but believe me this is right up there

with all sorts of family miracles

like the daughter unpacking the dishwasher

without a reminder

Sinus Man not snoring

or me smiling and speaking coherently at 5am....

My day started nice and early,

despite it being the last week of holidays and by rights 

this should mean lazy sleep ins,

and even given  that I was actually relatively cheery...

made my way down to the kitchen 

and was waylaid by the adorable sight of Mushu spreadeagled on the lounge

just waiting for his tummy to be rubbed...

now maybe I was moving in stealth mode and gave him a fright

or maybe he was just being a dog

but no sooner had I placed my hand on his adorable little tummy 

when he did what may be the world's biggest

most snot filled sneeze ever...

now I am no stranger to dog snot, 

but this one came with a not so wonderful doggy exclamation point

from his butt...

So is that a dog snart, or a snuffy, or what exactly would be the term????

How do you combine a dog sneeze with a fluffy

or fart

depending on your family terminology in these things....

because let me tell you this needs its own term to describe the eye watering

cringe inducing disgustingness of it...

I do know that it is actually one of the greatest grump inducing ways to start your day

of course not helped by uproarious laughter from the daughter figure 

she is truly starting to get on my nerves

school can't come quick enough...

as punishment for her distinct lack of appropriate sympathy

 I have nabbed the necklace that Lori Moon sent me as a present recently

back from the ungrateful little wench 

and it is now residing in the studio where I can enjoy it....

Heading into the studio after that to tackle butterflies was quite a stretch

Inspiration Avenue have set that as the theme this week

and it took quite a bit of muttering and mumbling to get my head in a space

that would do justice to the delicate beauty of those winged creatures...

of course it did get me wondering what a butterfly snuffy would be like

maybe Rose Petals

or maybe it is actually pretty nasty...

maybe it is one of the great secrets of the animal world and there are

moths and critters sitting in an insect bar someone talking 

about the whopper that Monach dropped the other day...

either way I abandoned pretty and went a bit earthier

I  read The John Fowles book The Collector

when we were up at the beach 

and it was about a pretty freaky

butterfly collector

so it seemed appropriate to the tone of the day

and so Inspiration Avenue 

and Paint Party Friday

are lucky enough to get to share the miracle with me

as much as I would have liked to share the snart with you all

I am just too nice to do that...

I am also sharing my palette with Tracey Grgic Potter over at Paint and Palette

and hope that many of you will do the same

and check out all these wonderful links

by people who probably didn't start their day the same way I did....

Torture and Treasure

So I am posting holiday pics...

something I always swore I would never do

but hey New Year and all that...

of course

that's the torture part of the whole deal for you guys

there is nothing worse than someone else's holiday pics

even if the beach is perfect...

and the walkway back yields your favourite Pandanus Palm 

that you have drawn and painted them many 

many times...

so many times that you aren't sure you should inflict more of them on people 

I actually started another sketch like the one I showed in the last post

but it is just too unfinished...

and there is a limit to how much torture I am willing to inflict...

and further on

the walkway offers up lovely perspective

and gorgeous filtered light

which offsets the disgustingness

of your pride and joy

abusing a cup of tea by dunking a green snake in it

and then eating it

and then drinking the tea

she tortured me with this all week...

torture comes in many forms my friends....

many forms...

The other torture we endured

and torture is possibly a bit strong a use of the term here....

is staying in what was possible the whitest, most reflective house

in history...

If the blinds at the end of the wall were open you needed sunglasses

to stop it being so blinding you run into things...

and I couldn't take a shot

so I had to close the blinds

it was seriously that white

it was like someone forgot all the colour

and you kept seeing movement out of the corner of your eye

not ghosts...

just reflections of yourself

or the dog

or the snake girl...

very offputting... 

and weirdly unsettling...

summing up the whole week though is the fact that Mushu

spent half his time

sitting on the top step of the pool

smiling...

I have like four shots and he is smiling in every one....

scruffily smiling....

but hey he has beach head after running around in the surf....

none of us look our best with beach hair...

Of course all thing must come to an end

even the torture of holiday pics...

As a reward for hanging in there for so long

I will happily share the treasure with you

I came home to this beautiful print of a photo

taken by the talented and lovely

Lori Moon...

This was one of my favourite images of Art Every Day Month last year

and we organised a Swap

and it is even more beautiful that I thought it would be

and looks so perfectly at home on the wall of my studio...

Lori also included one of her beautiful necklaces....

more treasure...

 yes I am spoilt...

though it would appear that Snake Girl has nabbed it

and I can't seem to get it back....

not even to take a proper shot of it...

So to see more of the treasures that Lori makes you will have to head over to

 http://lorimoonstudio.blogspot.com/

I am off to gloat at Snake Girl that she only has a few days left of Summer break...

payback for tea abuse is a beautiful thing...