A Full Week of Drawing as it Turns Out...

I woke up this morning in a mild panic

that I had to balance the normal Sunday morning 

which is best described as haphazard

and that is on a good day

with getting a drawing complete and a post done

 for Sunday Sketches

hosted by the courageous and always inspiring Alex.

I love Sunday Sketches and

I did have a mild freak out at my lack of finished product

which has not been helped 

by being gassed by Sinus and his deodorant

which always gives me a bit of a head spin.

His bathroom is next to my studio and that stuff is strong

and yes he has his own bathroom

which is the secret to a happy 20 years marriage

in my opinion

except for the deodorant gassing that is

everything has one down side...

Once the gas settled and my head cleared of the manly scent

I realised that I had  had a very full week of drawing

starting with drawing up six canvases last weekend

four of which are now painted and down at The Collective Store

I also got heaps of outlines done for my zine

I like to work in a frenzy once I have a clear idea of what I want it to look like

and I have drawn and discarded pages for the last few weeks

but after being inspired by some pages that the lovely Fran over at Wethree

sent to me from her upcoming zine

I started afresh and actually have a clear idea of where I am going 

and managed to get eight pages planned and outlines drawn

and I am excited to get working on them

so this week is going to be filled with lots of line drawing

which will be therapeutic 

after the painting marathon of the last week

I also managed to draw up some sunflowers on a card 

that I want to paint in for a card for a friend out in the bloggy world

as a thank you for just being her

so all in all I am thinking I have had a great week of drawing

and looking at all this it is no wonder

the floors are unwashed

the ironing pile is looking like it could bury a small child

or unsuspecting dog

the kitchen vaguely resembles a bomb zone

and the fridge is bare of all but inevitable manky lettuce,

three types of mustard and five million jars of jam

So the time has come to leave the studio

and venture back into family life

and domestic duties

or maybe I could just squeeze in a little drawing first...xx

PS here are some pages out of Phantom Steve's sketchbook

can you believe how wasted this child is on a Maths Science load

it is criminal that she doesn't do art isn't it ...

The Random Bark....

I love my studio

and I love my fur baby

but sometimes they just don't mix

usually Mushu sits at my feet

or more often lately 

on my work bench

but in the last two days

for some reason that could only make sense in that brain of his

he has become super protector dog

normally I would applaud this appearance of steely resolve

cause lets face it

in the dictionary beside the word coward

they have a pic of his adorable little face

but this week he is taking on the cat from next door

which is actually relevant to these paintings

just be patient

So the cat from next door is a bit of a piece of work

he comes and sleeps in Mushu's bed at night 

while Mushu is tucked up with one of us

which of course drives him to crying and pawing at your leg

until you shake it out and resettle it for him

But it would appear that this evil feline nemesis

has taken things one step too far

as he now suns himself lying up against the fence that divides our houses

Mushu has decided to fight back 

and reclaim his territory

by emitting random barks in its general direction

not a full on crazy bark like his head is going to explode bark

but a single, somewhat lazy, though very loud and random bark

which has been driving my to the brink

and means that my nerves are shot

my heart rate is somewhat erratic

and I have dropped my brush about fifty gazillion times

I have snorted my tea

slurped it down my front

and knocked over a water container on my desk

so disastrous was one such tea slosh and drop brush incident 

that I had to re work this canvas

and  while on the agapanthus canvas it seemed to not matter too much

especially when I was doing the line work

the tea cup has taken the brunt of it

I'm still not sure it is where I want it to be

so I am abandoning it for now until

the random barks lose their appeal

and Mushu returns to the sloth imitation that is his true talent

All in all I got  a fair bit done given the circumstances

but I feel it is time to stop pushing my luck 

and spend a bit of time cruising other people's Friday work 

over at Paint Party Friday

to settle my nerves

happy painting all ...xx

P.S.

What you may have missed this week...

Body Parts and Book Thieves

Paint, Tea, Paint...

Phantom Steve Gets Messy...

Phantom Steve gets messy...

I have no clue why anyone would whine

about having a teenager

and while I do acknowledge that mood swings

the rampant narcissistic tendencies

 and the endless fascination with reality tv

could be seen as a down side

there is also the most glorious upside

which is the parenting party game called

Torture the Teenager

Which takes on so much more depth and resonance

when you have an given birth to a daughter like mine

who despite being glorious and making me burst with pride most of the time,

 is somewhat uptight

Phantom Steve likes things just so and has a tendency to be 

extremely

precious about things

we are talking she still has games in pristine condition in the box

and she has never

and I say never 

cracked a book's spine

All of this makes her an easy target for Torture the Teenager

just move a few things, shuffle some books out of order

eat with more than one food on your fork at a time

or my personal favourite, 

drag your feet so you don't leave for drop off at exactly 7.51am

and she is almost at breakdown stage

the eyes roll

the head shakes

the lips mutter

and the steam starts pouring from ears

it is 

in short

hilarious!!!

But even this pales beside the opportunities for torture

provided by The Wright Brain Book Group

which is all about Mess

and poor Phantom has been duly traumatised by seeing my efforts

and further compounding her nightmare

is hearing about the horror being inflicted 

on these poor books by others

on the Facebook page

Books have been left out in the rain, buried under snow,

 and generally been mistreated in magnificent ways

our fearless leader Lisa suggested getting her involved

so she did the "perfect" page from the top of the blog

which was a pathetic attempt

so I suggested another

which resulted in her wetting a page

writing on it while wet

and then miracle of miracle she even dripped some ink on it

Of course she wrote yet another smart assed comment

about not writing on a wet book

and all the fun came to a swift halt when she actually get ink dripping down her arm

which led to a very hasty retreat on her part

I later found her in the 

King Family Recovery Position

which involves having a lie down

and consuming a medicinal dose of chocolate

the level of trauma is measured by the chocolate required 

so I am figuring things were pretty bad

from the look of this recovery session

main thing is she survived 

and I had a great time watching her squirm

 which is all that matters

in my 

messy messy book...xx

Paint, Tea, Paint ...

This cup of tea

it is like the twentieth I have had in the last day or so

which means that I am a touch hopped up on the stuff

but I have had a very very busy few days

 gloriously, wonderfully busy

but being someone who can be a touch distracted

even when I have bugger all on my plate

add a squillion different things

into my mildly chaotic existence

and everything goes into complete meltdown

and the only thing that stops my brain from hyperventilating

is tea

well also chocolate

but I have been almost mainlining the stuff for weeks

so tea seems like a more sensible choice

So busy has been the name of the game

and in amongst all the boring busy

and boy was there a bit of that

there was some fun busy

like getting these two canvases done

to be delivered down to The Collective Store

to replace two that sold last week.

I also  have five more started 

and they are in various stages of progress 

ranging from

not looking too bad, I know where this one is going

to

oh my giddy aunt how do I save this sucker

Which is always a bit frustrating

because they all look very promising at the pencil drawing stage

and I am so excited when I first sit down to get stuck into them

and then they all go through the ugly stage

but I am plowing on regardless 

and just pouring more and more tea into my system

and crossing everything that I get them to where I want them

So the rest of the day will be spent

painting, drinking tea, painting, trying to avoid eating chocolate

painting, drinking tea, 

cursing the diuretic effects of drinking fifty million cups of tea, 

painting, and quite possibly drinking more tea...

and Mushu will keep me company

now he has taken to sitting on my desk

and I kind of think he is licking his lips at the thought

of getting his snout into my Lady Grey

which is his favourite

The minute I find one white hair in my cup 

he is back on the floor in disgrace

I don't care how cute he is 

there are limits...xx

Body Parts and Book Thieves

Don't freak out at the Sunday Sketch this week

I haven't gone all serial killer on you

it is actually relevant to what has to be 

the parenting moment of my week

if you like your moments slightly surreal that is

and I kind of do

keeps life interesting...

I have an almost 16 year old daughter

who has her quirks

she likes to change her name for example

and doesn't actually limit these to her correct gender

so it can be a bit of a lottery as to which name she will answer to

though Steve and Phantom still seem to get her attention

don't ask me why 

she has always been like that okay

She is also a tad precious about anything belonging to her

doesn't give two hoots about anyone else's property

trash away

as long as her life and world is kept in pristine order

and without a doubt is the greatest living creeper 

in the history of the world

this girl could creep up and scare the living bejeesus

 out of someone holding a directional mic

she is in permanent stealth mode

Which helps put the following into context...

I am standing at the kitchen sink

when out of nowhere comes a voice at my back

asking if I happen to know where the fist Harry Potter book is?

which of course surprised the life out of me

making me drop the plate I was holding

luckily into a sink of water

and as I tried to calm my now racing heartbeat 

and turned around to find her standing there

smirking and 

holding her life size medical model of a foot

Heart back to its proper rate

I simply asked if she would like help looking for it

accompanied her up the stairs and started scouring the bookcases

which is actually quite a task

as we have a six metre , about 18 ft, wall of shelves filled to the brim

and oh so casually gestured to the foot 

which she still held in her hand

so Phantom, what's the deal there?

Oh yeh, 

she says while thrusting it in my face accusingly

wondering what you did to it to make it sticky?

Like I somehow spend her school hours playing 

with her shelf of body parts and models...

Anyway the mystery of the sticky foot is as yet unresolved

though we suspect the Sinus may have a hand in it

he is quite a tactile person after all

But HP1 is still awol

so maybe we have a sticky handed book thief in the house 

who couldn't resist touching the foot

either way I thought it was appropriate to illustrate this moment

in case someone out there has information 

which may lead us to apprehending this nasty piece of work....xx

The Last Mosquito

The last Mosquito of the summer

is a wily wily fellow

we have spent the week

a stalkin' and a huntin'

and yet somehow he is still alluding us

This bitey bugger is hanging on for dear life

and is starting to take on mythic proportions

so far he has managed to avoid the fly swat 

with all the cunning and wile

of a fox, serpent and road runner all rolled into one

he has even managed to avoid the cushion

which is Sinus' weapon of choice

and involves him using his considerable height to squash all unsuspecting mozzies into the ceiling with the nearest cushion

Needless to say all our cushions are dark coloured to save on washing

and by the end of the summer

the ceiling looks disturbingly like a Quentin Tarantino movie

but there is something oddly satisfying at looking up 

and seeing the evidence of the kills

and I like to leave them there for the summer as a warning to all other mozzies 

as to what fate awaits them if they dare enter

But this mighty adversary

he has laughed in the face of such a warning

  he has spit in the face of practically bathing in aerogard

and has still feasted on toes and necks

in the middle of the night

and generally made sleep all but a distant memory

He has taken one look at Lavender spray 

and dive bombed all victims as though it was a joke

I have sprayed so much around the bedroom 

that if you threw in a few mothballs

I would wake up thinking 

I had somehow done a Rip Van Winkle

and was ready for a retirement home

then again that would mean I had gotten some sleep at least

So the time has come to bring out the big guns

forget the environment

or ever having fully functioning lungs again

I am smoking his annoying, bitey, buzzy ass

with the whole can of spray next time he ventures into the room

I will come out of this coughing and spluttering

and possibly growing an extra appendage due to chemical overload

but I will raise all three arms in a victory salute

the likes of which the house has never witnessed...

and I will then retire happily to the studio 

to visit everyone over at

Paint Party Friday while

I eat Mozart Balls

which were part of the most amazing package of wonderful

from the uber generous Valerie at Bastelmania

who showered me with Tea, and wonderful artworks

which are already framed and gracing my wall

And if all that wasn't special enough

 it included Mozart balls

which she sent in response to my post

 Buddha's last balls 

Valerie assured me that Mozart had it all over Buddha in the ball stakes

and I have to say she was right

these balls are delicious...

which has to be a great line to end on 

especially if someone has just scrolled to the end of the post

so I repeat

These balls are delicious...xx

The Inopportune Sneeze

Week 2 of being messy

with the Wright Brain Book Group

and I have to say I am starting to get into it

I finished off the page of random thoughts

from last week

which only confirmed all my worst suspicions

that I am prone to off with the pixie moments

at very regular intervals...

no huge surprise there I must admit

so after the ease of that little page

I turned to another page and it fell open to one

where you have to put a line of glue along the top

and let it drip down and dry

and then paint over and generally make a mess of it

it also suggested sanding it

but couldn't find sandpaper

and didn't want to enter Sinus' secret man lair to snaffle some of his

because that is the equivalent of a man going through your handbag

and I am not opening that can of worms 

or else he will be stealing pens, raiding my coins purse 

and generally stealing anything that isn't nailed down in there

So I attacked it with graphite powder instead

which is finely ground graphite that comes in a little bottle

and locksmiths use it to loosen locks

and it is incredibly finely ground and spreads like no bodies business

but when it is rubbed over dried glue

it makes it look like molten metal

which is very fun and shimmery

but ridiculously messy

not just messy on the page messy

but all over the desk, floor and shirt messy

especially when you sneeze

and the grounds go everywhere

and then it takes 15 minutes of whining, bitching and moaning

to get it all cleaned up

lucky it looks so cool

much cooler and more shimmery than the photos actually

The only down side to all this fun

other than the bloody graphite powder going everywhere

is that I am a touch suspicious 

that the messy mind set

has infected other areas of my art

and my spring like piece 

based on the wrapper of my favourite soap

was progressing quite well until I realised that I had

in fact coloured one of the rockmelon wedges with background

and I don't think it is salvageable as a whole...

maybe I will just chop it off and save that bit

for another messy project

and try to recycle the top bit

or maybe I will just have a cup of tea and a chocolate

and contemplate it for a while longer

as I blow my nose for the twentieth time 

to try to get the inhaled graphite powder out of my nasal passages

ahhh the joys of being messy....xx