Snotfest 2016...

 I have been away from the blog for a couple of weeks

  due to our whole family participating in Snotfest 2016

 talk about being seriously gross

   we have been expertly building walls of tissues

 sneezing loudly enough to cause avalanches of the same walls of tissues

 not so quietly  bringing up lungs from coughing

 and happily infecting most of the southeast corner of the state

 actually we are all well and truly on the mend but nothing wrong with a bit of  creative exaggeration is there...

In amongst all the fun and drama I have squeezed in illustration work 

 and done some more cuppa paintings and some light sketching

but gross snotiness has been reigning supreme until the last day or two

 The only one clear of grossness has been Barry the cat

 though he has developed the habit of coming in and jumping on the bed in the morning and  just placing one foot on my forehead

 not with force or any weight... he just lets it lay there

which makes me think he is either attempting to do some sort of mind control

which requires actual physical contact

or he is just weird

 weird probably wins out

Part of the reason I think weird may win out is because he has begun jumping up on the sofa and lying on his back and meowing ... loudly

like cat screaming until we cover him with a blanket and then he stretches his arms above his head and goes into a deep sleep

it looks hilarious and is half adorable

Plus this same cat who is scared of cauliflower happens to like cauliflower soup

Phants has decided it is because it has been beaten into submission 

kind of makes sense when you think about it as pretty much anything is no threat if it is cooked until soft then pureed

I mean even a T-rex would be little threat in that situation

and talking about dinosaurs... how cool is that blue dino-planter

I am seriously wanting one for the studio

hence the drawing at the top

I think it would be just the thing to chase the last of the cold and flu blues away

I think he would be called Phillip... or Greg

or maybe he looks a bit like a Frank... or a Stanley

happy painting all...xx

Making Lemonade...

This week it has all been about making lemonade

 A whole frickin tree of lemons has been coming our way

 but I am pollyanna-ing their butts like crazy

 so lemonade it is

I could be stressing that Phants is patient zero for the current head-cold-ageddon

and is making all in her path generate unholy amounts of snot as she happily infects us?

. but I am choosing to see her as our own personal flu shot

and is helping us get the flu/ head cold out of the way early in the season

okay so maybe this one is pushing it as she really does appear to be patient zero despite her swearing it is Sinus and referring to him as Typhoid Mary under her breath

My poor Dad also had to have back surgery

which happily went well so don't stress

 plus he told my Mum and sister he was buying us all new Mercedes while drugged up to the eyeballs... he also wanted to know why they were wearing clothes

which is something I don't want to go anywhere near

but a new car brightens the week considerably

and the only downside is the sister didn't get it on camera

he is sooo going to try to weedle his way out of that one

Mug photo from Susanne Vargas

Barry the cat managed to jump/sit or otherwise bury his foot in mud

which then dried to the consistency of concrete

which has led to him walking around demanding we somehow remove it with what we assume are our magical powers as we aren't allowed to touch it

it is dislodging bit by bit and the upside is that he constantly walks around shaking his foot

 step step shake... step step shake... step step stop and lick it a bit... then shake

I shouldn't laugh and our cat whisperer is coming in to help us sort it out

but in the meantime... hilarious

mug photo provided by donna Browning-Damm

I still haven't found the missing left shoe I have been hunting for

but have decided it is a sign that I should buy new shoes

total lemonade there people

I dropped everything that I put in my hands

but that meant the floors are gleaming and have been washed more in the last week

than they were in the last month

I am thinking of serving dinner on them they are so shiny

We bought a gold painted garden gnome to put in the lounge room

no downside there...pure unadulterated genius from the top of his gnomey hat to his adorable golden feet

Mug photo from birthday girl and one of my Delicious Painters... Lynn Pauly

The Index-Card-a-Day challenge started 

so I got to get stuck into a couple of cuppa paintings

plus I am working on an illustration job 

that has involved me doing  some exploratory lemon paintings

which I kind of love despite the fact that they aren't usable for the actual job

and I have to get my head down and butt up and get moving on them as the deadline looms

but it has served as a good make lemonade reminder!!!

Happy painting all...xx