Workdesk Wednesday

Loving what is on my workdesk at the moment

I have a pic that I painted yesterday

which I kind of didn't like so much

so am having a play with it

which is fun because it really doesn't matter if it becomes

a complete disaster

so I can go a bit mad with it

and not worry about results

always fun right...

and some drawings of some yummy iced tea

which tastes so much better because it is in pretty bottles

and on the other side of the studio

I have lots of cards and notebooks to finish off

which is very rewarding

 because I get to see my latest work turned into things

pretty things

not just up on the wall

and the glass tiles I made from my peony painting 

are just going to look amazing

as necklaces

if I do say so myself...

Only thing that isn't wonderful this week

is I am still without regular internet

which is driving me a bit mad

and I have to continue to rely on the dongle

and this is a touch temperamental

perhaps he doesn't like that I called him Douglas

though I always quite liked the name Douglas

maybe if I re-name him Dave he will become reliable and a bit boring

of course I apologise to all boring but reliable Daves

 who I have offended with the previous statement

so if I don't get to you all I apologise in advance

or if I get to you in dribs and drabs

sorry  for dribbing and drabbing I suppose

and

I have been assured by the phone company that all will be well

this time next week and of course

we all trust the phone companies word don't we

wish me luck...

Squeaking Giraffes and Lady Grey

Had grand plans of doing some great work this morning

despite the start...

Mushu had left me a toy giraffe to stand on as I got out of bed

have to say you wake up pretty quick when your foot hits

something soft and furry at 5am...

not to mention the heart starter that is the squeak

as you stand on it

quite an effective wake up it turns out

I would love to say I was awake enough

to go mad on him

but he left it as a gift I am sure

so just stumbled into the start of the day instead

and don't seem to have caught up since

already deep into Lady Grey territory 

and starting to check my nails to see if they are turning blue like the label

that would be kind of cool...

did I tell you that my toe nails reacted 

with the chemicals in the pool when we were on hols

and turned the brightest blue

like flouro blue

didn't last

but kind of cool at the time

and not so cool to think it was probably because of  some fungus

but hey blue nails!!!!

So I am painting a little tribute to my sanity saver

and fall back tea

when all else in the world is like a giraffe squeaking at 5am

it is there to make it all seem okay

even if it doesn't turn my nails blue....xx

Head over to visit Kimmie and her band of Tea lovers at 

http://artinredwagons.blogspot.com.au/

Sunday Sketch

Finally it is here

the last weekend of summer

and instead of doing something suitably summery

and I am still trying to set myself the goal 

of attacking some back and white drawings using just line

and I am finding it challenging but fun at the same time

and after the masochistic week I had with the peony painting

it is nice to think in black and white and not be concerned with layering colour 

and creating tone through colour

It is like giving my poor brain a bit of a breather

I was going to do some drawing of the bamboo

which has grown in triffid like spurts

since we planted it in the late winter

and after a rather hot and very wet summer

it appears to be growing almost as I sit at my table and look out at it

It is going to create the most wonderful green wall

and block the horrid western sun

so next summer my studio is going to be much cooler 

and I am looking forward to that quiet clacking of the stems

and I thought it would make a great black and white subject 

but when I looked at the photos I had taken 

I decided that I didn't have the brain power 

to attack such a complex subject

and so I resorted to swivelling my chair and drawing one of the cubby hole

shelves in the studio

so much more calming,

not to mention cooler...

Head over to Sunday Sketches 

and see what everyone else has been drawing

xx

Pearl Jam Peony

The Peony is finished

finally

after a very messy week full of stops and starts

and all sorts of distractions

I am putting a fork in it

cause it is done baby!!!!

well not scanned properly yet and maybe needs a bit of cleaning up and fine tuning

but close enough....

It all started with this photo

which I took quite some time ago

and the desire to tune up my botanical skills...

So I jumped in and started a peony

which have always been some of my favourite flowers

but deciding to not be a complete masochist

I decided to simplify it and make it like a single huge bloom

simplify my ass...

What was I thinking...

In the past I have really relished doing intense botanical work

okay maybe there has been some bitching and moaning along the way

but by and large I have found the

repetitive nature and close concentration required

to be quite therapeutic in an odd way

It would appear though that that ship has now sailed

frustration and distraction appear to be the key words

and any sort of powers to stick in there 

and concentrate for extended periods of time

has somehow fallen out of my brain

or perhaps it

has been obliterated by the madhouse that my house has veered into

The highlight for the madhouse portion of my week was just the other evening

I am quietly trying to get in and do 

some pencil colouring over the watercolour layer

well maybe not exactly quietly doing it as I was singing along

to some Pearl Jam at the same time

hence its title

Pearl Jam Peony

and on that note 

it turns out Pearl Jam is not that conducive to fine delicate pencil work

perhaps something slightly more restful and calming would have been more appropriate

you live and learn these things...

aaannnyway...

Sinus comes in and announces he is going to the bathroom

as only men do

to which I replied with the standard

have fun 

and turned back to my work all the while marvelling at the need for men 

to share these sorts of things with us

next I know I hear a squeal from the kitchen

a yell of its all over me which had emanated from a rather

distressingly high pitched male voice

and then these words uttered by the daughter

Well if you need an emergency appendectomy, that is where you want to land....

I did sit for a minute and consider all the possible scenarios 

that could have led to this statement

but in the end I abandoned my work and headed to the kitchen to find 

Matt dancing around trying to get something off his shirt 

from under his arm mind you

like all down the side of this shirt

and

Phoebe staring at a rather large splodge of hand sanitiser

that had been squirted across the kitchen floor

 She looks up and gestures to it

and says 

again

good place for an emergency appi 

and walks off like that is a completely normal statement

 Matt then spends the next three minutes explaining 

how the kitchen hand sanitiser

had somehow attacked him 

and spewed half its contents across the floor

which was now attracting the attention of the dog

who decides maybe he should taste this goo

and leads to us jumping around trying to shoo him away and clean it up

which he of course thinks is just about the best game ever invented...

this example leads me to the conclusion 

that my life is somewhat out of control

when something as ordinary as a trip to the bathroom by the husband

can lead to this sort of chaos

and why on earth you would need to use the hand sanitiser in the kitchen 

when there is a perfectly good one in the bathroom is beyond me

one of the mysteries of life I suppose

it is a miracle I achieve anything at all really...

So on that note 

I am linking this up with Paint Party Friday

and also 

Paint and Palette

and hope you will head over to have a look at what 

everyone has been up to in their hopefully

much saner worlds...xx

Scribbling Twinks

So I am sitting in a stinking hot

ridiculously humid studio

waiting waiting waiting

for the storm to hurry up already and cool things off

You know those days when it is just so hot and damp 

that you end up in a major grump

and the whole day goes into a holding pattern as the storm builds 

and builds

and the sky gets

darker and darker

and the air gets heavier and heavier

and the paper takes forever to dry

and your new Twinkling H2O's can't be bothered twinkling

because even they are too hot to be assed

it couldn't be that this was my first go with them 

and that I couldn't be patient enough 

to wait for the mica stuff to activate of whatever

and that I rushed to get it done so I could get it up before the 

daughter comes in from school and needs feeding and watering

whatever the reason

 they have a very minimal shimmer

I still want to blame the heat

whatever the reason 

I need a lot more time to get them working in any sort of

appropriately twinkly way

They may also have been rushed

 because I spent way too much time on Scribbler Too

Thanks Lisa Wright Stuff

 for the link

which has led to me blacking out in front of the screen

or something similar

because before I knew it

I had lost about three hours

You should head over to the site and have a play with this free program

because it is serious fun

even if you are about as coordinated with a mouse as I am

it is still fun

and I am figuring the chances of housework happening this week

are pretty minimal until I have driven myself nuts with it...

I actually believe that Lisa should visit

and do my catch up housework

seeing as she will be responsible for

me being a more neglectful wife and parent than usual...

and maybe she will bring some cool weather with her...

Peg Issues

Time to come clean that I have issues

and I know many of you are not surprised by that statement

and I know we all have them

 some of us more than others

but for me I have had one huge issue

that for years

and in different ways has done my head in

I have an issue with pegs...

ordinary clothes pegs have caused me more grief than you can imagine...

It started early with the bizarre family practice

of getting pegged

now I am not sure how this started

but it involves having someone hang a peg 

off the back of your clothes without you knowing

and everyone else laughing at the pegged one

 this was seriously  traumatic as a child

and to this day my dad persists in pegging people 

so we spend half of Christmas lunch 

and every visit

madly checking shirts, skirts and hems

and inevitably I am pegged

every single family function for the last 40 years I have been pegged

I always start off vigilant

but inevitably drop my guard 

and from there I am easy pickings

I have actually headed out to the car to head home

and have had mum stop me because I have half the clothes line

hanging off my clothes

hilarious...

pick on the air head

None of this is helped 

by the fact that they often use different coloured pegs

you see if they used the same colour pegs I could handle it

well, maybe not handle it 

but at least not feel like I am having a complete breakdown

but the thought of different colours next to each other is beyond me

for me if you use pegs you use the same colour pegs 

on the same piece of clothing

none of this one blue peg  and one green on a shirt

and don't even get me started on mixing colours across the different lines

We all have our things that we need to be in order 

and I have a high tolerance for all sorts of things

and in no way could I ever

ever

ever 

in any universe

be described as a neat freak

but messing with pegs

is tantamount to war

so after many years of needing to go out and straighten the pegs on the line

and check that they aren't cross coloured if someone else has 

by some miracle pegged out clothes

I have gone out and bought a line full of green pegs

no more colour issues now

every one of those suckers is the same colours

and problem solved

Now I know I could have thought of this years ago

and I am a touch embarrassed that I haven't thought of it

but they say you get older and wiser

and maybe that is finally kicking in

and to celebrate finally exhibiting wisdom

I have confronted  and celebrated the issue with a drawing

of pegs

not just one drawing

but one drawing and two with colour added to copies

so it is like peg - o - rama on the desk here

Mind you the one with the coloured pegs is safely

tucked underneath the other two....

Phew...

Linking up with Sophia at Sunday Sketches...

which is celebrating its second birthday...

which is a very cool achievement

How many bits does it take to post...

End of the school week

weekend just peeking its nose around the corner

and all I have to share is bits...

bits of  paintings not finished

bits of coloured pencil being added

 to bits of the peony

bits of internet connection

bits of chocolate uneaten

whoops cancel that last one....

All in all it has been a bit of a strange week

not completely weird or terrible

but kind of all over the place

and before you all snort and say

what else is new

just give me a chance to explain

you see I have a shiny magnificent new studio

thanks to Sinus who has now been declared Lord of The Allen Key 

in recognition of his achievements

and the studio un- freakin believable

it is absolutely perfect

but kind of scary to work in

there is no falling over stuff

no losing shoes under piles of paper

no jamming of fingers in drawers

no life or death obstacle course to make it to the door

in short

I feel a bit intimidated by my own space

I am hoping I just need a good old fashioned

toe stubbing to get back in the groove

and with my coordination

I am sure that is just around the corner

 Another bit of good news is that the new modem thingy has arrived

to replace poor Murray

and can I pause here to thank you all

for your well wishes

not that the rat deserved them deserting me like that

where was I

ah yes

the new modem... not really working yet

seems that while very pretty and sleek ,

it is a bit temperamental and will require some wrangling to get going

thinking it may be female after all... 

so shiny slightly scary studio

dud internet in said shiny studio

Tea paintings started but not progressing

due to slightly scary nature of gorgeous studio

Watercolour layer complete on Peony

and some coloured pencil being added

but not really at a stage where I am feeling comfortable 

that it is actually going to come together

and not likely to get back to it today

because these little beauties just arrived in the post

so I am off to have a bit of a play and hope that toe stubbing shows up

and that the new modem decides we are worthy of it working

so I can visit everyone I missed last week with Paint Party Friday

and that I find a bit of chocolate I missed under the paper on my desk

how many bits you may ask...

14 if you don't cancel the chocolate at the beginning of the post

but 13 if you did...

and it took me three goes to add those puppies up 

and I'm still slightly unsure if I have it right....

WHAT'S not ON MY WORKDESK THIS WEDNESDAY

What's not on my workdesk this Wednesday

is Arizona blueberry white tea

because it was guzzled in record time

I kind of figured if I skulled it and didn't look at the calories thingy at the back 

then I could pretend it was relatively healthy

this is in fact the diet equivalent of putting your fingers in your ears 

and humming loudly

but hey works for me

and the bottle is now residing in the recycle bin

not before I got in and drew and painted it mind

but it was just screaming to be immortalised

so while not on my desk in person at the moment

the painting means it remains in spirit at least

Also not on my desk

the A Tea C's for the swap with Sandra

which I finally got in the post

it took way too long

and I wish I had a great excuse

but can't quite come up with one at the moment

so lets just pretend I sent it a week or so ago 

and that Australia Post is really really slow...

My desk is also printer free

and I even have some room for folders I use all the time

and a diary

which I of course never use

but like to use as a paperweight to hold down scraps of paper

which hold important things and dates and reminders

which would be better in the diary

but where is the fun in that...

So the printer is now over here

along with some of my treasures

and it is over here

 because

The studio is finally finished

well the outward appearance is finished

there are still some scary draws

but I will get to them soon

Lots of pics and the story is in the previous post

I was going to save it for the weekly desk stalk

but I couldn't wait

so posted about it yesterday

Also not on my desk is a finished painting of a peony

which I really really wanted to have finished for today

but instead it is only part of the way along

which I blame on everything but me

so my submission for the Monthly Painter's Challenge

is a photo

which feels like kind of a cop out

and the topic was Micro/macro

which did my head in

and I was going to paint the Peony

but then I decided a rose would be my subject

after seeing these glorious apricot roses at the florist

and I tried to paint this a million times

okay at least three times

and every time it didn't come close to the photo I took

so I decided the photo would be it...

Hope everyone has an amazing Wednesday 

and head over to WOYWW

hosted by the lovely Julia

to stalk some desks with me

I have missed it terribly in the last few weeks

due to the untimely death of my modem, Murray

so can't wait to have a nose around 

and see what everyone has been up to...xx