Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Spring is Here!

Happy Spring everybody!
There is so much to do in Brisbane and the regions this month which makes it hard to decide what I can do and what I just won't have time to fit in.
The Brisbane Festival starts this Saturday, 4 September and my favourite - Riverfire is on Saturday night. It is rumoured that this is will definitely be the last time the F111's will be doing the famous dump and burn over Brissie.
I also want to find the time to drive down the Gold Coast and check out the Swell Sculpture Exhibition at Currumbin Beach from 10 - 19 September.
Creeping up quickly on the tail of all these exciting events are the Queensland September/October school holidays - Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo HERE WE COME!
And for all my artist friends, see you at the Monthly BAD Co-op Meeting is on this Saturday!! Gotta love September!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Wonderful Winter Weekend (and then comes Spring)

On this last winter weekend for the year, the sun was shining and the sky beautiful.
Dave built a trailer for the ride-on so I can more easily collect firewood or horse poo.
The kids did what they do best, played and played and played.
And rode and rode and rode.
And Millie was more than happy to give everyone a different kinda ride.
She's a real darling and even motorbike loving Jesse has a ride.
Hunter is gaining greater balance, everytime he gets on.
Ally can ride without being led now.
Brooke and Millie, perfect fit!

Friday, August 20, 2010

Painting Bowls

A beautiful late winter morning greeted me this morning and I knew how I wanted to spend this day. Alone in my studio, music playing, coffee brewing and painting. I'm still working on a series involving bowls (click HERE and HERE for previous post and pictures) and have sold 3 bowl paintings so far through the Dayboro Art Gallery.

I often get asked about painting and thought I'd blog about how I go about it. Here are the canvas's, drafted up with where I want to situate the bowls. To do this, I mix a little oil paint (burnt umber) and turpentine and plot directly onto the canvas with a paint brush.
The long painting leaning against the bottom of my easel is one I started earlier this year, on a canvas that my father made for me (thanks Dad!), but was not happy with the background colour. There is a photograph clipped to the top, left hand side of the easel, of my very creative friend Candy's (click HERE and check out her wonderful blog) hand built saggar bowls that I am working from.
I think the lighter background colour makes this painting look better already, the bowls will stand out much more.
After I finish working out where I want the bowls, I start by painting in the background colour, fairly thin, loose and light, and then add a bit of shadow. Following this I know I have to step back for a little while, because my biggest problem is not giving enough thought to each step of the developing painting, so I am going to go and have a cuppa and ponder colour, theme, etc. I find I need to take breaks, because taking time and pondering helps me capture those ideas flickering around the corners of my mind, and if I keep going, I miss these opportunities to include this stuff in my paintings. Hope that makes sense!

Monday, August 16, 2010

Pit Fire

The waiting is over, I finally attempted a pit firing of my own on Saturday arvo. The weather was perfect, there are no fire bans so I decided to tackle it with the assistance of Dave and the kids.
We attached the trailer to the ride-on and collected fallen branches from around the property and piled it all into the pit fire constructed out of besser blocks (I couldn't dig a hole in the ground out here, its all shale and rock).
Before I thought to take photos, I had already put the pieces in the pit fire, added some seaweed, egg shells, horse poo (compliments of Millie and Khaleef), rock salt, sawdust and leaf matter and piled wood on top. Once the fire had burnt down a little, we put corrugated iron sheets on top to seal in the heat.

Its now Monday, and this afternoon, the pit fire had finally cooled down enough to take the lid off and reveal the fired pieces.

These are the pieces, straight out of the pit fire, I have yet to scrub them but first impressions are good.
This is the bottom side of all the pieces. The two smaller bowls are Emma's and the round one at top (in the middle) is Dylan's.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Our Ekkacelent Day!

Its that time again, the Ekka is on in Brisbane (also known as the Royal National Association Show). The kids and I waited anxiously yesterday for the weather to break and it did, so we excitedly headed off at lunchtime for a day of sensory overload!!

Thats my little poppets up there, closest to the bottom left hand corner of this photo. Emma was so pleased she faced her fear of heights and went on as she could see for miles up there.
Dylan has no fear when it comes to Sideshow Alley rides and gets totally high on the rush he gets from them!
The Pirate Water Rollercoaster ride was a firm favourite, here Dylan and Emma are waiting for their turn with a motley looking character.

I love the Ekka, I love Sideshow Alley with all its noise, colour and excitement.
We also went to see the cows, horses and baby animals. When we were nearly worn out we bought sample bags and sat in the main grandstand for hours and watched all our favourite things, horse jumping, monster trucks, precision cars, motocross stunt bikes and fireworks. Totally awesome (and exhausting) day.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Artists of the Month - August - Dayboro Art Gallery

Warren Watson and Avril Towerton are the Artists of the Month at the Dayboro Community Art Gallery.One of Warren's amazing paintings.
Avril's beautiful glassware.

Come in and check out more of their amazing work at the Gallery, available for viewing 7 days a week, 10am to 3pm, 7 days a week, until the end of August.