Merry Christmas...

Phantom, Sinus and I hope you all have a magical holiday season filled with 

 a grand haul of gifts

  friends and family who think you are special

 a clear run to the checkouts at the grocery shop

 a house that magically cleans itself

no fail recipes and pinterest worthy wrapping

no traffic jams, or surly shop attendants

 a table laden with food that sends your least favourite relative home with a complex

fifty squillion fairy lights

quiet time to catch your breath

a never empty glass of something bubbly to calm the nerves

that the annoying uncle who drives you all nuts falls asleep at an opportune time

and most importantly

that no one gifts you slipper socks... or a foot spa... or regifts what you gave them last year

thanks you for being my tribe and making my life amazing

safe and happy holidays and happy painting xx

My Sort Of Christmas Colours...

The last few days have seen me pondering the whole christmas cheer thing

 I am a bit of a boots and all girl when it comes to Christmas usually

 the cookbooks come out early and complex and in depth menu planning commences

 which is then followed by me cooking the same things as usual of course

 the decorations go up, present lists are drawn up and all the bits and bobs get put out

 after all I like my Christmas to be served with a nice big old helping of kitch

 no colour coordinated, military operation here

 we have a crooked tree and weird and wonderful singing and moving animatronic things

we live in a mish mash of dodgy decorations and slightly sad strings of lights hung at a height that could take off your head if you aren't careful

which I can't tease Sinus about because it was just recent history where Phants and I ended up putting scorch marks on the ceiling of the dining room after our attempts to create a ceiling of fairy lights... turns out you can have too many fairy lights... who knew right

 but this year things haven't felt quite Christmassy

despite the fun challenge of a Christmas light obstacle course to get to the front gate

So I decided to attempt to paint myself into some Christmas cheer 

and every day has been all about the seasonal themed sketch to warm up

which saw me painting up some baubles the other day

followed by a deer head with some gold bits for lights

and it was mildly working... the first stirrings of humming carols started to emerge

and then I got an email suggesting it might feel a bit more Christmassy if I used Christmas colours because otherwise baubles just looked like balls with knobs on them

now I don't know about you but if you find your balls are bright colours and have knobs on them then you should get to the doc pronto because that just doesn't seem right

but that health warning aside it got me thinking

The whole red and green thing does my head in a touch

 and I have used it on occasion but it isn't my favourite pairing

and while I can go the white and icy blue as a great colour combo at any time

it just doesn't scream Christmas to me

for me Christmas has a whole other colour palette

To me Christmas isn't about red and green and snow scenes

I only see red and green together when I am cutting up watermelon

and the only ice is what goes into the blender for frozen margaritas or iced tea slushies

to me it is a season about the deep cerulean blue of the pool and the summer sky

the orange of mangos, peaches, apricots and papaya

not to mention that wonderful red/ orange/ pink of piles of prawns

it is the yellow of pineapples and the sun

the green of the bamboo and palm fronds, and pine lime splice ice blocks

it is the bright colours of the bougainvillea, frangipani trees

and deep pinks of the dragon fruit, and the purples of hydrangeas and agapanthus

it is the red of cherries and lychees

of getting sun kissed and burning your butt on the leather seats when you get in the car

it is the smell of bug spray, and sun tan lotion, the sound of pool splashes and cricket balls

it is all about Christmas cracker paper hats sticking to your sweaty forehead

and groaning at the bad jokes within those same crackers

it is being sticky from eating mangoes and trying to wade through the god awful humidity

and long afternoon naps before being woken by the rumble of afternoon storms

to me that is the sound and colour palette of Christmas and I am sticking with it

happy painting all...xx

PS I am very excited about this challenge next year... have you checked it out yet?

Peonies...

I decided this year was going to be about attempting to catch every opportunity tossed my way... it turned out that that led to things being beyond mad for most of the year. I have been trying to keep all sorts of creative balls in the air for the last two months especially, and it was inevitable that they would all come crashing down in a heap. I am no good at juggling at the best of times, and  suckers were coming at me like I was in one of those crazy ball enclosures in a play centre. I was drowning in the things. But the great thing is that now I get to decide which balls I want to pick up again. 

painting for me is totally going to be a priority. painting up this watercolour peony was just so perfectly fabulous... I am not letting that drop off again.

plus I am going to focus on more teaching... I really loved teaching delicious paint this year, and I have two others in the works plus a couple of free tutorials and things, so it is exciting to know that 2016 will be all about the classes. If you want to be kept up to date on all the info with them then scroll up to the top of the sidebar and sign up for my newsletter... I promise it won't be coming out too often and spamming your inbox... 

The other big thing I am going to keep doing is the large abstracts that a designer now stocks... I love seeing them in the shop and they are great fun to create... so it is in the mix

So all of this means that time is looking a bit full so I have decided to scale back the illustration and only take on jobs that I really want to do. A couple of companies are so amazing to work with and I love doing work for them so they will continue for as long as they want me, but otherwise I am only taking on jobs that really excite me

The print shop and all that will happen as it happens, and the housework is also being de prioritised as always... it is time to step out of the ball pit and get painting... I am working on scaling up the peony watercolour onto a 3 ft square canvas... it is just starting to emerge

happy painting all...xx

Toasty tongs...

  You know how some people handle being busy with style and grace

 they sort of cruise through it all with all the elegance of a swan gliding on a calm lake

 well that isn't me... I handle it with the same sort of grace as a cat thrown in a pool

 I hiss and freak out, flailing about like a mad thing until I make it to the other side

and then I emerge bedraggled, tired and rather sorry for myself 

Not that I would ever throw a cat in a pool so I am not entirely sure how they would handle it

 but I think it is safe to say they might not be entirely happy.

The last month has been the busiest of my creative life

I have been balancing illustration work, with a huge order of canvases for a designer and a couple of commissions thrown in so it has been quite a ride

but I am happy that the pace is now slowing 

and I have time to appreciate the small things again

like the greatest invention ever... toast tongs

I bloody love these things

I seem to have rather sensitive little fingers

which is not ideal when combined with the truly nuclear temperatures 

that both rice bread and gluten free bread reach when toasted

those slices are hot like they have been toasted on the side of a volcano or the sun, 

or on the black leather seats after the car has been roasting

 in a concrete car park with no shade for ten hours

and my poor little fingers kept getting burnt 

which led to cussing and dancing around the kitchen like a mad thing

but no longer... now I am plucking those little slices of hellfire with abandon

Yes I could have used normal tongs or chopsticks 

though chopsticks are a bit like socks in our house and mysteriously love being single

but his little eggy type face makes me smile

and he is perfectly suited to the task at hand

the only thing that could make him better would be if they managed to somehow incorporate a teeny tiny whoopee cushion into him so when you plucked those slices of pure molten horror from the toaster it made a fart noise... now that would elevate it to genius

happy painting all...xx

 PS... happy thanksgiving to all my US friends...

The Warm- Up Sketch...

Do you remember a couple of months ago I said I had been busier than a blue arsed fly?

 Well that was nothing.

 The last two weeks been crazy busy, hugely fun, completely out of control

 and totally glorious

my brain has been a bit all over the place and jumping from project to project

which led to me drawing this into my sketchbook upside down

but I kind of like it just like that actually

as glorious as it has been it hasn't exactly been blogging friendly

and I haven't had much time for painting just for the fun of it

but the work has been fun so that is ok... sort of

I really miss my friends and blogging when things get a bit mad...

However I did start this little number as a warm up this morning

well it started as a little number

and then it sort of grew until it is kind of large

but I will need warm ups for the next few days so it will pull double or even triple duty...

I love using warm up sketches to start my day

as I get to draw out  any creative stiffness and loosen up and get into the groove

these sort of projects that are a mix of loose paint, and line

with careful, observed tone are just perfect

because it hits all the skills I am going to be using later in the day

plus they often turn out as some of my favourite sketches

amazing what happens when you have no expectations isn't it

now I just have to hope I don't muck this up over the coming days...

happy painting all...xx

My Week In Progress...

So the whole creative whiplash situation got a bit mad during the week

 I have a tendency to wildly overestimate the amount I can take on and get done

 and it usually end up with me covered in paint and muttering like a madwoman

 while the house dissolves into a mess of unwashed clothes

 half arsed cooking, and a mess of dust bunnies take up residence

 but having said that I still got a shite lot done 

so maybe there is something to be said for impossible lists

I'm not saying that my sanity is intact

or that I have been a complete ray of sunshine

but hey that list took quite a beating so let's say it was a positive week

 Helping me through the whole glorious mess was a few little treats

 like this raw chocolates from Loving Earth, which were awesomely delicious

who knew that healthy type chocolate could be so freakin delicious

plus I got to sugar up on some Arizona iced tea

Now let me explain that a bit because we have been heading down the sugar free road

well not sugar free entirely, let's call our efforts somewhat sugar free

so to have one of these iced teas was like injecting the stuff directly into my veins.

I was hopped up like a toddler who has scoffed a bucketful of red food colouring

I had a chipmunk voice happening and I swear my hair was actually dancing on my head

it was pretty full on actually

The reason I subjected myself and my loved ones to a mad sugar high like that is because

I have a bit of a ritual for each quarterly cancer testing results appointment

because no matter how good you feel and how much you know all is going great

there is always that little whisper at the back of your brain saying maybe the cancer is back

which kind of leads to a stressful few days coming into getting the results

So my ritual for when I get yet another all clear I usually treat myself to an iced tea

it is kind of weird how important those rituals become to getting through the whole process

and I do wish I had a more interesting ritual, maybe one involving getting a massage, or being showered with gifts and and things like that

but the upshot is that I am not very accustomed to the sugar these days

so this was like crazy sweet

and now I am at a bit of a loss loss as to what to do next quarter.

I am not sure I want to face the sugar buzz again

so maybe I will settle for painting the bottles instead

So in between all that fun and games 

I managed to get quite a bit done on a big order of large abstract canvases

there is still a way to go

and 3 foot square canvases are quite a challenge, but it is a fun way to spend the days

I sit outside and paint with a bucket of tea and my ipod jammed in my ears

It is actually quite lovely with the fresh air and breeze 

the only downside is that if I'm not looking at the canvases

 then I am looking at the garden/ jungle which is inspiring a lot of thoughts and ideas based around foliage and those luscious big leaves I am surrounded by

and so the large watercolour at the top of the post is underway

in fact I am going to get back to it now

happy painting all...xx

Creative Whiplash...

To say it has been a manic ten days is an understatement

 I have been alternating illustration work, with some commissions

 and also preparing work for high res scanning to make high quality prints for the website

 plus I have been working on some large abstract-ish canvases for an exciting project

 painting abstracts is something I used to love, but it has been a while

 plus is the total opposite to everything else I have been doing

 which is sort doing the old noggin in big time

One minute I am working in a very controlled manner and working on realism

considering line, light and shade and all that good stuff

painting up this blue leaf for example

then I am printing it out and playing with hand inking them for future prints

I kind of like the idea that even prints can be individual and all a bit unique

then the next minute I am splashing paint like there is no tomorrow

thinking blocks of colour and texture, light and mood

I am getting creative whiplash in a major way

but that is half of the fun right

everything in my day is about opposites

mornings are in the studio working relatively small... A4 to A3 in size

working on keeping my eye in and controlled work

watercolours, and fine brushes, working from light to dark

then afternoons are out on the deck working on 90cm (36") square canvases and bigger

acrylic paint and big brushes and working dark to light

it is like I am two people

but it is kind of fun too...  like serious fun

that kind of maniacal cackling fun

which given our closeness to Halloween seems appropriate

though it may get a touch creepy in a few weeks

My days have taken on a sort of insane creative madness at the moment

I leave teacups all over the house

I don't know whether I am Arthur or Martha, or perhaps some other person I've not even met

my clothes are paint splattered, the floor is lightly speckled

my hair is a birds nest that needs a good hedge trimmer taken to it

my brain hurts half the time, but it is all bloody glorious

The only real downside to creative whiplash and working on large canvases  

is the whole getting them from the art shop into the car

I am not the tallest person and it is decidedly windy today so getting two 3 x 5 foot canvases into the car earlier was quite the experience

I almost took off at one stage

those things are like giant bloody windcatchers

happy painting all.. xx

My Week On A Page #11 and #12...

This week I am posting two weeks on a page

 well two weeks... each on a separate page... not two weeks on a single page

 or maybe two pages of weeks on a page

 it is all very confusing to tell you the truth

 but here they are...

 the week just gone was an easy one

 because it is all about the brushes

 I have been painting large again, making a glorious mess

 and getting back to abusing some old favourite brushes

and it has been all consuming so they had to be the stars of the show

Last week was more familiar in style

and I have no clue why I didn't post it

so here it is a week late

too many... coffees with Phants

loving... tea in the huge mug from ikea

coveting... Phant's new sneakers

in love with... Palm House Candle from Laura Ashley

eating.... too many little Gems from Organic Times

smelling.... pineapples

happy painting all...xx

A New Path, Wordy Work In Progress...

As many of you know I have been heading off into all sorts of new directions this year. I made a deal with myself during treatment for cancer to take opportunities and just see where they led me, so it has been quite the ride in lots of ways. I have taken on lots of illustration projects... some huge, some small, most challenging, some I could share, like the amazing teas which are shown below, which totally fell into the fun side of the illustration ledger, and lots of others weren't shareable which has led to there being a lot less work shown on the blog etc. Most of the projects have been fun and challenging and the learning curve was really steep at times, an ant jogging up a mountain steep, but it has been pretty positive, except for one thing... it takes a crazy amount of my time. I work ridiculous hours now and life is one huge juggling act, and I cannot juggle people. I can barely catch one ball let alone the five squillion I have in the air all the time. Add to that launching a website and the opening of the etsy shop and some cracks have started appearing... not little cracks either, more like gaping canyons that need ladders lashed together to get over. I have not been an easy camper to live with at times, and while I still believe I have managed to be the innately charming soul I think have always been, it may have been a stretch to say that I haven't been prone to more than a few moments of behaving like a surly sod.

I am just going to say it... I am not a huge Etsy fan...not because I have only sold one print since it opened a few weeks ago, because I do believe that I would have sales in time because I have sold so many prints over the years, but it is lots of little things... these things are too numerous to discuss as this is wordy enough already, and I know a lot of people have a lot of success there, but it doesn't sit so well with me. I had set up a website as a hub for illustration, classes etc, and the Etsy store doesn't fit easily within it... the pricing structures don't encourage the really high quality prints I would want to buy myself etc... and don't get me started on the need to bombard your Instagram feed etc with your products... it just doesn't feel like me... and I was stressed... seriously stressed... I was finding I had little no time to make any art for myself, for blogging or visiting blogging friends, and I have so many emails waiting for replies I considered actually turfing the computer in the pool and saying it was hit by a freak wave. Instead of painting and doing stuff that makes me bearable to the people who have to live with me, I found myself working on marketing plans and the like, and I am crap at all that... I just don't like it, but I was rolling along sort of half hanging in there, busy being stressed and thinking this is the path at the moment etc. But then in quick succession a few things have happened to make me question that it is the path.

Just for the hell of it I got some professional standard scans and prints done, and the quality was just so lovely, like perfectly lovely.... They were just so much nicer and I was proud of them, and would happily hang them on my wall. Are they pricier....yep... would they be hard to sell on Etsy... dear god yes... do I care... nope... I love the higher quality. I was madly wondering how to go about restructuring etc when an opportunity to apply to sell through a great platform that I love came up... the downside was they require only professional quality prints, which is hardly a downside after seeing the difference a great quality print makes... I can sell through my own website as well, so I was starting to feel a bit excited. I may actually have found the perfect platform... well as perfect as it can be in a commercial setting. Will I look like a bit of a goose because I just set up the Etsy shop, and all that.... probably... but I would rather be a happy goose, than a miserable one so the application process has begun. My nerves are shot, and I am juggling three illustration jobs at the same time, but it is all exciting and it feels more right if you know what I mean.

This was promptly followed by an out of left field opportunity to do with my painting... like a once in a blue moon chance that made my heart beat faster and has started an avalanche of painting ideas erupting out of every orifice like crazy. I have spent months saying I will have time for them soon, and taking illustration jobs, but all of a sudden I have to choose. I have to decide whether to wind back illustration... I have some contracts I have to honour, and there are some companies that I love working with and wouldn't change that for the world, but I can't do anywhere near the number of jobs I do now and chase the painting opportunity. It isn't really a contest and even though the chances of pulling it off are kind of slim-ish concerning this new opportunity I am taking it with both hands baby. Paint is starting to fly, my brain is fizzing and I actually feel happy... well happy and scared shiteless all rolled into one. So I have been playing with Inktober when I can squeeze it in, doing some watercolours like the coral and leaf above. These are very much works in progress at this stage, but I want to play a bit and start getting some painting mojo back while sketchbooks are filling with thumbnails and ideas and canvases are being primed. I am facing very little sleep in the next few weeks, but what else is new... So I am now a new path, work in progress, happy goose facing possible failure and creative humiliation on an epic scale... which adds up to all being right in the world in my books... 

happy painting all.. xx

Some Inspired Random Thoughts...

Inspired by Kristin, our intrepid PPF leader's Wednesday post

I am sharing some random thoughts as well...

my long suffering paint splattered keyboard died during the week

but the new/old one I am using has a very clattery sounding keyboard

which makes me feel kind of efficient and typist worthy

I can't type to save myself

I bought this little collection of gorgeous tea cups from T2 to give as gifts

but now I am have been madly drawing and painting them 

I am thinking it might be rude to send them on now

or is it?

I am the worst bagel slicer in the world

Sinus is living up to his nickname at the moment

I painted my lightbox mint green

not sure it was a genius move as photoshop seems to hate it

or maybe photoshop is just tired of my dodgy photography 

and is spitting the dummy so to speak

a dummy is our name for a binky or pacifier to my US friends

Phantom said something so funny yesterday when we were at the mall

I snorted my green juice

that is not a pretty sight coming out of your nose in public let me tell you

I have a collection of half dead pens that I love

because it means that I can draw and get nice scratchy lines

I love my new phone a scary amount

I am attempting to set up photos of my prints for the etsy shop

and using props and things

this may not be my greatest talent lol

But the candle smells incredible

like good enough to eat incredible

but I won't be snacking on it any time soon

because it is time to get back to it

happy painting all...xx

My Week On A Page # 9 ...

My week on a page in tea and infusers...

 Earl of Grey in a lollipop infuser

   Oolong in the dagger

  Boulder Breakfast in the Tardis

 Pink Lemonade Green in the birdy

 Earl Of Grey again in the strawberry

 Summer in Provence in the little weird yellow thingy

 White Tea with Cucumber in the heart

 they grew across the page each day like a line up

 and I can't see a line up without thinking about The Usual Suspects

happy painting all...xx

The Big Drip...

I have been known to have flighty weeks every now and again

  okay... pretty regularly if I am completely honest

  but this week has been all over the place mentally

  I haven't been able to settle to any one thing 

  my brain has been flitting from thought to thought like a hummingbird on roids

I blame the drippy chairs for this sad state of affairs

I have spent all week trying to work out how to scale them up and paint larger versions

without having to do the whole soak and stretch paper to keep it flat

but have been plagued by paper buckles

which could be graded from mild in some cases all the way through to truly mountainous

I could try the old iron and heavy book trick

but I am always scared of doing that and the whole possible burning down the house thing

so I am trying to find just the right combination of paper weight and paint application

these paintings take a lot of moisture to create 

and finding the right combination is meaning lots of experimenting

which is never a bad thing, though there has been moments of insane frustration

followed quickly by awesome yowzer moments, followed by more frustration

ahhh the joys the are the rollercoaster of creation right

I could have made my life easier

and used the 640 gr hot pressed paper that I favour for huge watercolours

those suckers take more abuse than any paper known to man

and stay so flat and perfect it is mildly freaky

but for some reason in my brain I decided that it just wasn't white enough

so I have tried creating them with different papers

both stretched and unstretched

thick smooth white paper in 5 different weights and brands,

 and even a lighter weight paper... as if that was ever going to bloody work

and finally even had a play on Yupo

but to be honest Yupo sort of does my head in a bit

something about that plastic surface just feels mildly wrong

I even tried different paints

high pigmented ones

normal ones

and finally even the Peerless liquid colours

I even hunted out some inks

and played with different combinations of all of the above

the studio has been looking like some giant threw up paint everywhere

my hands look like I am wearing technicolour gloves

and most of the clothes I have worked in this week

have little dots of colour splattered in lovely outlines

courtesy of my apron just not being up to the task

so these are the closest I have gotten to results that don't make my brain hurt

Of course you know what I am going to do next don't you

yep this morning I have pulled out the 640 gr paper

and it is quite white actually

so I am going to get in and do some on there

which is what I should have done in the first place

but then where would be the fun in that

happy painting all...xx

My Week On A Page #8...

dreaming of a Mexican themed Christmas 

No Mexican Christmas would be compete without ceramic cacti right 

scoffing...Phantom's pecan biscuits/cookies

Loving... My Steep and Go iced tea tumbler

Genius!

Coveting... Tiny tea cups

I bought them for presents and now really want to keep them

Adoring... Spring poppies

Things I Love...

There are a lot of things that I love

  Tea, chocolate, Sinus and Phantom

  Not necessarily in that order

  Sometimes Sinus is rather annoying

But here is a bit of a list of others...

I love drinks with umbrellas in them

Doesn't matter what they are 

They could be turkey gizzard smoothies with a sprinkling of dead ants

But if it has an umbrella then I am going to be smacking many lips like crazy

I love the mini horse down the road

 it is elusive to spot

but makes my day everytime I see it

I love the word synecdoche 

I also like the words, trope, bouillabaisse and antiestablishmentarian

I love the banner I made for the website and etsy shop

no clue how to attach it in the right size etc

but love it none the less

Novelty duct tape

especially duct tape that has ducks on it... duck duct tape is a perfect item

I looove the bottom sheet of the bed to be perfectly smooth and tight

Like crazy smooth and tight

Forget bouncing a coin on that sucker

I want to be able to bounce an elephant

Or a small car

Top sheets can do what they like but the bottom sheet has to be perfect

Puppies

They make my ovaries quiver

My sunburst granny squares

great colours and haphazard crochet all rolled into one

Lip balm

Burts Bees peppermint lip balm to be exact

I have always been lip balm crazy

The misplacement of such item is a cause for search parties

raised blood pressure and panicked voices in our house

I would love lip balm with GPS markers built in

The song Drive All Night by Glen Hansard

yes it is a Bruce Springsteen song but I love Glen Hansard

and he is backed by Eddie Vedder... doesn't get much better than that

I would drive all night again...Just to buy you some shoes.... 

Why thank you very much Glen... I take a size ten

yes I have whopping huge feet... get over it

Kale

I love creaming butter and sugar together

Always the start of great baking

but also there is something about the grainy, lumpy beginning

Turning into that light smooth loveliness that is satisfying

I love segmenting oranges, or grapefruits

you get that fan type membrane insides left that you can flap about a bit

Weirdly fun

And my new pineapple mason jar drinking cup thing

I drew it up as part of my Week on a Page from Tuesday...

If I could work out how to add an umbrella to it it would be perfect

Happy painting all... xx