Thursday 5 May 2016

Souping and gooping.

I've decided to not paint birds for a little while.
That's mainly because I was seeing them in my sleep
and all that fluttering and squawking was keeping me awake.
Now I have the dilemma of what to paint.
The water lily painting was okay and so
I'm embarking on a wet, dribbly, abstracty,
pondy sort of series.


Okay, I admit it was only cos I just couldn't think
 what else to paint.
I tried flowers but the old flower in a vase just isn't me.
I love the ones that other people do
 but I'm too much of a bull at a gate type of person
 to get that delicate look.
Then there was the landscape idea, it lasted two seconds.
Sorry, I just don't do landscapes.  
In fact I got a headache just sitting in front of the computer
trying to find something to paint.
So I thought stuff it....
I went into my painting room, picked up some old canvasses,
well one old one and one new one that just didn't work,
and just started to have some fun.
Hey, what does it matter if it doesn't work,
they were poopy paintings anyway.

All I had in my mind was loose lilies and dribbles,
well mind mind is pretty much all dribbles but now it's dribblier.
First I had to slop gesso over the  paintings, 
then the fun began.  
 


Remember this one, well it just wasn't doin' it for me,
so I went through my old bags of goop
and decided to use some up on the background.

Normally I'd be panicking and worried about getting everything just right
but this time I just let loose and had some fun.
There was goop going everywhere,
 I even got some on the canvas.

This is layer 692, if you count 
all the layers on the old painting.
Looks kind of yuk but I'm havin' fun and 
there's a long way to go.
Check out those delicious cracks that formed in the gesso.
Either the whole thing will fall off when I ink it or 
I could get some fabulous texture peeking through.
 
This is a hideous painting I did many years ago,
I know, what was I thinking.....
 
I slopped a little gesso on, mainly to stop her looking at me,
and then got out my old bags of gesso soup (secret recipe)
and had a ball.
 
Yep, that's quite a mess but oh the possibilities.
 
Now for the painful part, waiting for it to dry
sigh.........
 
Only 200 more layers to go and they're finished.
Simple!
 


 
 


Monday 29 February 2016

And now for something completely different.....

This weekend I had some time
to myself, which is really not the norm
in my household.
Well the truth is, I decided it was too
hot for housework, so I went into
my art room and played.
I've been toying with the idea of doing a really loose
almost (but not quite) abstract painting, just to see if 
my tightwad brain will allow my hand to do it. 
Of course I didn't know where to start, so I picked up my 
"left overs" canvas.  
I'm sure you all have one somewhere around.
It's the little canvas that you put all your left over goop,
inks and bits of stuff that are left over
 but you don't want to waste.
Mine was looking like this
 
 Yep, I'm with you, eww, ick and poo, so I got out
 my nice bright goop and did this.
(It's brighter than the photo but you know my crappy photography skills)
Now I have to say that I'm really proud of my brain for
 allowing my hand to slop that stuff on so loosely and not try to make it all perfect and pretty.
Mind you I did have Queen playing super loud, much to my teenage daughter's (she has no taste) disgust. I always think the loud noise cancels out the brain noise. 
Then came the hard part (for me anyway), 
the chocking under the little canvas.
You'd think I'd could get it right as it's only about 45cm across but no, I had to go and stuff it up as usual.  Too many lumps under the canvas, in hindsight I only needed one chock in the middle but there you go.
The ink was looking good at first ....
starting to flow nicely, so I added the other colours and 
the chocking disaster showed through. 
 The ink was flowing away from the chocked bits and
 straight off the canvas. After some rather colourful language I
 added some side packing and lots more ink.
It's dried better than I thought it would
 
and I have the most delicious ripples and
 bumpy wumpy things happening.


I'll probably play with it to brighten it up a bit 
(much to my teacher's disgust I'm sure). 
 But, I'll keep it loose.
Now for the hard part.... I might try this on a big canvas.

Oh boy, this could get really interesting and super scary.
There could be an almighty battle going on between little blonde, super tight arse brain and little left hand. 
 I'm going to have to have the music pumping at extreme levels.....my apologies to the neighbours.  




Wednesday 11 November 2015

Goop, slops and inks for WOYWW

Wow, I can't believe two months have gone
by since I last posted, time flies.
I've been painting and gooping up a storm
and I'm currently working on 
six canvasses. 
Here is one room full of desks,
 There are five on the go in here,
one is hiding, that's the portrait of my girls.


 and one in here.  This is zombie bird, until I paint in the face.
There are lots of pics on the desk, that's where I put
things together to make ideas for canvasses.

These guys have all gone to new homes
and have left me with no stocks, hence the mad
painting frenzy going on.
My teacher invented a new technique which is 
called gesso soup.  I'm currently trying to learn
how to do a good gesso soup but since I'm a hopeless
cook, my soup isn't doing too well.

This background is gesso soup and I'm going to goop the bird,
then ink.  I was having all sorts of problems gooping
the birdies bum today.  Well, I have to say, it's no fun
putting a palette knife up where the sun don't shine!!

 My latest jellies have gesso soup coral.
I think that worked quite well, I just can't get 
a good photo.  It's really bright colours, honestly.

I'll keep it short and sweet this week,
mainly cos little miss has an orthodontics appointment
and I have to go (darn kids).

Now you've seen mine, have a look at some
other desks around the world at
Enjoy!
 




Wednesday 16 September 2015

More sogginess for WOYWW



I had every intention of posting last week
but those rotten gremlins had other ideas.
I had a plumber in to replace the old taps
in the upstairs bathrooms
(you can guess where this is going already can't you)
and the gremlins thought it would be funny 
to make one of the taps leak.
Not just a little leak mind you but a leak of epic proportions!
When the plumber turned on the water it flowed full bore
under the vanity, down through the hole where the pipes go &
down into the floor cavity (as well as into the hallway upstairs
and yes it is carpet).
 Then right out of the closest hole downstairs, which just 
happens to be the chandelier in our dining room.
We had a magnificent waterfall pouring down,
 straight onto my daughter's business computer!!!
You could hear her scream for miles.
We grabbed a bucket and tipped the keyboard 
upside down to drain and would you believe it has
 all dried out and is working perfectly
as is the light, after an electrician played with it.
So thankfully, disaster averted, apart from 
the hours of mopping up.
To my desk....
 I had my secretary/foot model with me today.
He has sore feet (it's a long story) so I've got him with me
to keep an eye on him as well as use his tootsies
 for the painting.  He's also in my bad books cos I went out
 the other day and came home to a pile of black stuff 
all over the carpet.  Turns out he found my
thongs (flip flops to some) under the coffee table and
 chewed them up!
He thinks he's a dog!

I'm painting in the little room at the moment, so that I can 
have a big photo on the computer and keep it nice and clear
for painting the eye and feet.
I've started adding the eyes to my girls' portrait.
 
This is probably the last photo I'll post cos I don't 
like putting kids onto the web, but you can get the gist of it.
However, this is definitely the one
 and only portrait I'll ever do.
It's really doing my head in....the pressure to get it right
and the whinging from the peanut gallery that is
my girls'. 
I'm nearing the end of good photos of lorikeets now,
so if anyone has some fabulous ones and they
 don't mind sharing, I'd love to hear from you. 
I still love doing these bright crazy birds, 
just need good photos of them on Aussie native flowers
 and you all know how bad my photographic skills are!

That's me for this week, it's school pickup time (oh joy), 
 why not go to
and see all the other desks from around the world.








Wednesday 2 September 2015

Gremlins and scary painting for WOYWW

I thought I had missed a couple of weeks
with my blog and wow it's been over 
a month since I last annoyed you all.
Can't have that now can we.
(Warning, lots of catching up to do so WOYWWer's
are welcome to look at desk and run..while you can)
Actually it's me who's been annoyed.
Annoyed by the mess gremlins.
These are the tidier shots, you should see what's on
the floor in the corner.
Now I know what you're thinking...  she's just made the mess
all by herself.  Well I protest.... okay, so maybe some
of it is me but most is those pesky
messy gremlins.
Just look at the ground sheet all wavied up and
trippy overy squishy crumpled.  
There's no way I could have done all that.
I just walk carefully (cough, cough) around from table
to table.  Those gremlins come in at night when I'm not 
around and play twister - I'm sure of it.
And they go into my other room 
and throw paper around onto the floor. 

Those pesky beasts even got into my washing machine
the other day and it wouldn't stop filling.
Of course that happened while I was taking Little Miss
to school, so the floors and anything within a fifty mile radius
had a really thorough clean.
Not content to mess up my washing machine they then
attacked my kettle, which has started leaking water
all over the base plate.
I tell you, they are trying to get me.
I'll either drown while doing the washing,
get electrocuted while making a cuppa or
trip over and clunk my head while walking in my art room.
If anyone knows how to make those devils leave
I'd like to hear from you.

I've finished a few paintings since I last posted,
there was the commission piece 
(which is the reason for my absence from the blogosphere)
The dull green is actually a lovely turquoise in real life, just can't get the camera to see it.
 Then I finished my bird painting

and I'm a bit further with my other bird painting

Lots of squidly didlyness there but still a long way to go.

You can see my hanging bird in the second picture up the top.
He's looking really scary cos his face is in it's underwear.
I've just started mapping it out and he's rather naked
and scary looking.
Speaking of scary, I'm currently doing the 
most scary thing ever.
A portrait of my girls ( cue Phycho shower scene violin music).
Now don't panic, I'm not going to plaster them all over the
 screen and turn you off in droves, you know the Oh no,
 not another mother putting up the kids photos, sort of thing.
I'm a bit funny about them being up for the world to
 look at so I don't put any photos of them up or paintings.
Not that I'm blowing my own horn and saying that
 it is a great likeness or anything...mainly cos it isn't
 and boy is it hard  to draw them.
I've waffled on a bit already so I'll tell you all about
the pain that is my portrait painting next week.
Of course that's assuming I haven't lost my temper
and put my foot through it.
Now you've heard my long winded tale,
why not hop over to
and see what the others have been up to 
on their desks.
I need a cuppa....just hope I don't get a free perm doing it!





Wednesday 15 July 2015

Icicles for paintbrushes on WOYWW.

Every Wednesday people from all 
around the world show what's on their desk
to see them. 
Here's my desk from the lovely tropical
 Brisbane, Australia.

Well, maybe that's a slight exaggeration but there has
been snow right up to the Queensland border.
It went down to 4 degrees last night & it's 
only 17 in the house now
and I'm sure I saw a polar bear walk down the street!!! 

Okay, here's my desk but first let me wipe the 
icicles from my nose.
The picture might be a little blurry as my knees are knocking from the cold.
I'm painting birds in this room and
gooping and inking in this room tomorrow.
(If you look carefully you might catch a glimpse
 of that polar bear in the street).

I have a whole new respect for the people who live way up
the top of the northern hemisphere. 
 How do you stay warm???
There aren't enough clothes in the city to keep me warm.
Goodness, if this keeps up I'll have to buy a heater!!!

Winter school holidays have put a dent in my painting time
but I have managed to do some more to the birds.
 This is a step away from my usual bright paintings
and I've gotta say, it just isn't me. 
I like in your face bright colour and this is just
a tad too pookcack for me.
Personally I blame that darn "Polar Vortex"
(that's what the newspapers are calling it).
It's so cold that my brain had a white out moment
and created snow in the background.
When I get the feeling back into my frozen fingers
I'm going to brighten up the birds and the front flowers
and never do an over poocacked painting again!

To my friends up there in England,
yes you know who you are (LLJ).
You've had your fun, now give us back
our nice hot weather and take back your
rotten cold stuff before something
snaps off, like my nose!!







Wednesday 10 June 2015

Gooping the soup for WOYWW

I'm playing in the big room today
cos it's freezing in the 
small one.
You can see all the bits n pieces 
I'm playing with
I've prepped a canvas on the long table,
in the front left is a half gooped canvas and the
finished canvas is on the easel.
I love being able to spread out. 
 I'm over at the desk by the window 
gooping a bird in poocack colours.
Yes you read that right, I'm doing
this poor bird in poocack.
You can't see much yet, it's the little bluey blobs
bottom left. Here are the mixed colours of goop
Some of you may say they are bright but
I see mud and dirty colours.
Even my mouth turns down when I put this stuff on.
It's my own fault that I have to make it poocack,
you see I got carried away with the 
gesso soup and the flowers are too big,
so I have to make the birdie move back
to stay in perspective.
I will paint the flying bird nice and bright.
I've started adding cockies tootsies.  He might be able to land soon.

A few posts ago
here if you missed it
I mentioned that I was getting
graduated (multifocal) glasses.
I picked them up and oh dear.
Follow my nose they said, 
that would have been fine if I could see my nose!
I couldn't see a thing, total blur out.
The only way I knew
 I'd missed the doorway and hit the wall
was if it hurt!!
I was really starting to think I was a true blonde but
it turns out the lady didn't fit the glasses to my eyes.
A trip back to the optometrist and a few bends
and melting of plastic and
I can see!!!
I feel drunk if I move my head too quickly
but I'm getting there.
Maybe I should have left them blurred
while I'm doing the poocack bird,
might have been easier on my nerves.

Well that's mine for this week.
Have a look at some other desks
around the world at
this Workdesk Wednesday