My Gloriously Messy Week...

I would love to be sitting here telling you I have had this amazing, productive, organised sort of week that is Pinterest worthy... or instagrammable

you know what I mean right, all pretty, carefully curated and collected

and looking like I have sailed through without a hair out of place

 hitting the end of the week feeling nicely accomplished and deserving of some time off

and perhaps a pretty drink with an umbrella in it

but nope I am skidding in with my butt bouncing on the floor

my hair is more akin to a person testing electrical sockets with damp fingers

the studio looks a little like I have held a rave followed by a toddler's birthday party in it

and despite the rest of the house looking surprisingly neat, tidy and visitor ready

I haven't been able to find my left sneaker for two days

and I suspect there is something in the back of the fridge that may actually be growing an appendage... or maybe it is a stray leftover lamb shank 

either way I'm not checking it out and risking it being gross

Sinus can do the honour of delving into the scary fridge leftover zone when he gets home

So despite the deplorable state of the world I inhabit do I get in and put it to rights

nope I am sitting carving a lino block

so let's look at the week shall we

hair was cut and coloured so it looked great for a day

and then old einstein hair made a reappearance

happily a nice fresh light colour, but einstein none the less

Phants turned 20 which is uber scary

not just because she is actually 20... which is seriously grown up

but it also meant a quick trip to the transport department for her to get her learner's permit as she had always thought she would get it before she was twenty

snuck that one in with hours to spare!!!

we have even done our first drive and car, nerves and sanity are all intact

in all honesty she did fabulously well and we only have 12 months and 99 and a half more hours to log before she can sit her test

she also managed to change her profile pic from here twelve year old self to an actual recent photo... Phants is not a huge one for social media you see

so this is big... like momentous big... friends phoning to congratulate her big

Last night we had a birthday dinner which meant lots of cooking, baking

and decorating the dining room which is always fun

even if it is a little fraught with danger as it requires climbing on things to hang those giant paper flower, ball things and other stuff from the ceiling

well I have to cover the scorch marks from the poorly thought out idea to cover the ceiling in fairy lights a few years ago... they looked glorious until the scorching stared though

We also got new curtains which necessitated Sinus using tools

and some light cussing and a couple of hours later the main bedroom is transformed

okay maybe not transformed

but it certainly looks like grown ups live there now

of course Sinus nixed the idea of attempting a ceiling covered in fairy lights up there

despite my assurances that I think I know where I went wrong in the dining room

I have done all sorts of fun-ish work projects

snuck in some sketching time

and eaten ice blocks in the endless summer warmth

we have walked the waterfront and marvelled at the perfection of the 

sky and water at this time of year

and have discovered that Barry the cat  is somewhat scared of certain vegetables

cauliflower seems to scare him, though it turns out broccoli isn't a problem

carrots freak him out and make him hide, but beans just make him curious

cats are weird

So quite frankly you can keep your pinterest, instagram perfection

I like things just as they are

happy painting all...xx

PS thanks to all of you who sent me photos of your cups and mugs for my Cuppa with Friends Project... they are all printed and on the pile waiting for painting to begin

Dreams...

 This week has been all about painting up food

 all of which was quite delicious to draw and paint

 and it was food I would normally eat

 which is great as you can eat your models!!!

 well the burger isn't something I would eat actually, not even close

and I'm not even sure where it came from except maybe as a reaction to all the healthy stuff

which is kind of weird when I think about it as most of the time now 

 I veer towards the gloriously hippy dippy, raw chocolate, wholefoods, courgette noodles, drink your greens end of the spectrum which I love quite frankly

so the burger was a weird blip on the creative radar perhaps

The good stuff for one job was creating illustrations 

for recipe templates for a tortilla company which is a bit of a dream job really

which reminded me that wanting to maybe illustrate a recipe book of my own

 is a good dream to have and maybe I would have  a great time creating one

which then got me thinking about all the things I would like to do one day

like learn to ride a unicycle

no clue why but it kind of defies the laws of all that is possible in the world 

and I like the idea of carrying one around on trains

not saying any of these dreams are normal... they are dreams after all

I would also like to be able to own a mini horse

or perhaps babysit one

the idea of watching tv in the evening with a mini horse curled up at your feet appeals hugely... cleaning up after said mini horse not so much

so perhaps I should be more specific... I would like a house trained mini horse

another dream is to be able to do a backflip on a trampoline

I mean who wouldn't

and this one gets stronger the older I get because being able to rock up to someone's house as a middle aged chickie and then just pop a backflip on the trampoline 

it would make you cool in anyone's eyes I believe

 I would also like to be able to understand and work bloody snapchat

see a drop bear in person

drive a mini dump/tip truck... you know like they have for delivering small loads from the sand and gravel supply places

grow an extra toe... just in case one fell off... I always thought we should have a spare

 and to be able to whistle

and one day... maybe one day I would like to have a book published of all the cuppa paintings I have done for my Cuppa With Friends Project

ICAD 2016 is starting up on June 1

and I am using it to get me to the 150 mark of cups and mugs painted

i am at about 100 now and I figure as the queen of the half arse if I can get 50 more in over the next few months I will have done great

so if you haven't already done so then send me your photos of your favourite

old or new, fancy or funky, chipped or pristine

send my a nice clear photo and I will add it to the pile

there are more details up the top of this page
or maybe you want to share your dreams in the comments... surely I'm not the only one who has such thoughts am I?

happy painting all...xx

Hot Stuff...

I have been a touch quiet on the old blog lately

 work and life have all gotten in the way a bit

 which kind of sucks but it is also great in other ways

in that life is busy and full and work is challenging and fun

Not so fun and also getting in the way of things is that it has been an endless summer

 now for some of you the thought of an endless summer probably sounds fabulous

 but when you are walking around in a near permanent state of hot flashes

 it is not so great and does wear thin after 6 endless months of it

The big problem is I am fine one minute, cruising around looking cool and calm 

and the next minute I am  like a walking furnace

beet red face, damp and dewy skin, or perhaps looking like you have just had a swim in your clothes if it is a bad one

I tell you if I didn't live such a blameless and perfect life I would be worried that I was being hit by punishing bolts from above or smited left right and centre for my sins 

Sometimes I even wonder if in in my menopausal brain haze

 I decided to go stand in a furnace/ oven / kiln

or if I ate chillies instead of chocolate

and of course because cancer induced menopause is the gift that just keeps giving the oncologist informed me last week that I am now postmenopausal which is a great thing cancer wise, unfortunately means the hot flashes continuing are from ongoing medication.

I am facing this joy for another nine years... and you can't take anything for it... all the bloody treatments involve oestrogen raising, and that is the worst thing for me...ah the joys right

so after a few days of cursing the oncologist's every utterance and the bloody horse he rode in on I started to get my head around it all

Because there are advantages to the spontaneous furnace impressions

and that is because this week Autumn has arrived

well at night anyway

so while others are shivering and feeling sorry for themselves 

hauling heating out of garden sheds and wondering if using it will short the wiring

washing and airing blankets while wrestling the unwieldy things onto the clothes line

I am sailing through it all with a smile on the dial

I am getting out of bed without a goosebump in sight

stepping out of the shower with abandon 

and not a shiver is felt as I step onto the deliciously freezing tiles underfoot

plus I am walking around in summer nightwear 

reveling in the cold nights as an instant hot flash buster

bonuses left right and centre it turns out

I just needed summer to take off and leave me to the blessed cool

it is all about the timing it would appear

got to love an upside!

happy painting all...xx

PS how cute is the Barry checking out my new lino block... other than the cat hair everywhere, it is fun seeing how curious he is about everything