Wednesday 29 August 2012

Barking mad for WOYWW

What a week I've had
and it wasn't a good one.

My hubby had to go to hospital,
he collapsed at work on monday.
He's fine, ended up being a blood pressure thing
as a result of squishing some bones in his neck
carrying too heavy a load.

He was in emergency until 8.30pm and
had to go back for more tests on tuesday
but all is fine now and he just has to have 
physio to release the neck bones from the nerve.

Then this morning
there was a loud fizz, bang, pop
and my fridge had blown up!!

Spent all day trying to find a new fridge, easier said than done.
We have a big white fridge (which I love)
but you can't get big white fridges anymore
and so I have a smaller stainless steel one coming tomorrow.
I have a white kitchen, stainless steel yuk,
but at least it's a fridge.

To my desk, my sanctuary normally
but not this week.
I am still practising pets and they are driving me nuts,
but I am determined to get the hang of them.


This is my stepson Sam's new puppy at his mothers house.
It presented quite a challenge, getting it dark and light, 
with the extra colours.


This pic took at least a day to complete (putting times together over a few days).

I'm thinking of trying to sell commissioned pet portraits,
when I'm good enough.

I would really appreciated some feedback
if you have the time.

If you wanted to get a painting of your pet,
would you pay $50.00 - $60.00 AUD
(approx 32.00 - 39.00 British Pounds)
for one like this and the one I did for Tracey
(in the last post)?

They are A4 size (app 12" X 8.25") 300gsm watercolour paper.
 
I would ask the person to email me a regular - high res photo
of the pets face and would paint from that.

What do you think, am I asking too high a price?

Here is the next one I'm working on
belongs to my mums neighbour.

The photo is an indication only, I am actually using the computer screen for the real colours.





He has curly hair, so it's quite a challenge.

Still have to try cats yet.
Anyone have a cat that likes its photo taken???
I need a clear bright close up with the eyes open, if anybody is interested
send me a comment and I will give you my email address.

Won't get to APR this week (sorry Jenn), I will have my work cut out
getting the new fridge hooked up the the water supply
and filling it up with food and getting rid of the old fridge.

To see some happier desks around the world on this
work desk wednesday,
hop on over to Julia's
Stamping Ground, it's great fun.

 
 
 




Thursday 23 August 2012

Humutts for Artists Playroom

This weeks Artist's Playroom
theme is
Illustrate a Word.

I've gone one better
and made up a word to illustrate,
just had to be different.

My word is humutt,
(pronounced hewmutt)
it's a cross between a human and a mutt (say it with love).
Now a mutt doesn't have to be a dog,
(as it's commonly known)
it can be a parrot.

Oh yes, a parrot can easily be a mutt,
just take mine.

He loves to play ball

toss that ball




Even plays football


and has his spot on the couch.
He is a humutt in so many ways
but I think you get the idea.

I was going to break up the illustration into two words,
humutt for dogs and humrot for parrots
but humrot sounds too much like
something you would put hemorrhoid cream on,
so humutt for both it is.

You've seen my portrait of Charlie parrot
a few times, so I decided to paint Tracey Fletcher Kings
doggy.

Okay, I've made Tracey wait long enough now.

This painting is a gift for you, Trace.

I did a one hour (made it a time limit)
watercolour of Tracey's gorgeous
little woofy dog,
Mushu.

Gee, after all the teasing I hope it isn't disappointing Trace.

Ladies and gentlemen I give you
humutt, my very first doggy painting!!
(Shame about the lousy photo,
this is shot no. 2343483754 and still can't get his @#%@#  brown eyes to come out )




A close up







I used a photo from Tracey's blog
(thanks for letting me Trace)
so had to improvise a bit.
I've seen the real thing and I can tell you,
he's the cutest little fellow,
even if Traces often calls him Snart!!

So there you have it,
an illustration of the word
humutt.

Cos, if you own a pet
you know that they are all
part human.
Actually I know some humans
who are part mutt!!
Not bloggers of course!!

If you want to see more words illustrated
just hop on over to Jenn's
Artitst's Playground
and see what everyone else has done.

I'm going to try and get
a decent photo of Mushu,
wish me luck!







Wednesday 22 August 2012

Woyww a sneak peak and more fish

Not a lot got done in the last week.
Life got in the way again,
with running errands
and boys turnings 21,
it got quite hectic.

I did manage to do a 
quick painting
last friday
and you can have a peek at it on my desk today.


I played with my watercolours and only gave myself an hour
to do it, mostly because I was supposed to be cleaning the house,
but also because I want to see what I can do if I don't finish
to a fine detail.
I have to say, I am quite happy with it
but still need lots of practise
at painting these little critters.

I will reveal the whole picture for
this weeks Artist's Playroom
tomorrow.

I painted a little more of my fish 
over the week and that is where I was today.

I have included some step by step 
pics.




You may remember that last week I had drawn up the fish
in these two shots I painted the blue background on
and put in some of the darker blue for the fish.


 Here I have started to rough in the fish.
I find it's here that their character develops.





This is just to place the colour,
nothing is shaded or blended yet.




It's the ugly stage, where they are rough and ready
but starting to come alive.

I was hoping to finish roughing them all in today
but my little miss is home from school
with yet another cold!!

I will be so glad when winter is over,
bring on spring I say.

My desk is spread around when I paint in the family room,
The plastic pastry storers on the desk
are actually my paint palletes.
I squirt the paint in them and it keeps them wet for weeks,
I have a magnifying glass over the book that I am painting from,
brushes are on the desk, over on the kitchen bench and down on the white table
that Smudge the guinea pig lives on.
My boxes of paints are on the floor.

I like to spread out.

Now you have seen my desks for the week,
hop on over to Julia's 
Stamping Ground and see what 
everyone else has on 
their desks this week.

PS. Sorry it's long Julia
but I only do two posts a week :)






Wednesday 15 August 2012

Fun and a new canvas started for WOYWW

I've had a bit of fun this week.
The theme for APR was Make me laugh
and so I did a silly picture
and an even sillier ditty to go with it.
If you want a laugh, have a look

Today is Wednesday and so 
I will show you my desk
actually desks today.


This is where I created my little piece
of fun.
I finally got to use my Inktense pencils
and they were fun but they don't really like 
the rougher texture of my watercolour paper.
I would recommend smooth paper for a better result.


These represent some of my blogger friends
but they are better seen here.


This is what I am currently working on.
No, not cleaning up the mess behind it,
the canvas!!
The mess will be there tomorrow
and the next day, and the next....



I have been wanting to paint these little beauties for so long
and now I have decided it's time to get back to some
serious painting.

I love doing all the quick little fun challenges and I will still do them
but in the background, I will be working on this.

I will share the journey,
warts and all (eek).

So, while I get cracking 
and mixing up paint,
hop on over to Julia's
see what's on the desks
all around the world
on this beautiful sunny day.



Tuesday 14 August 2012

APR - Make Me Laugh- A Ditty

This weeks Artists Playroom theme is
Make Me Laugh.

So here goes.


Four little Blogger friends went to the sea.
Can you guess which one of them is me?

I love the ocean but you won't get me in.
I just like to dress the part, right down to the swim fins.



 There's somebody on the phone,
she comes from down south, where your teeth chatter
and she always loves a NATTER.




Who's that in the chair reading and sipping on her favourite TEA?
She loves to read and paint and lives very near to me.



Last but certainly not the least,
we have a girl who loves TURQUOISE and LIME.
She's wearing togs with maple leaves that are truly sublime.
She comes from the top of the world, you know
and has to come down under, cos we've got the heat and all shes got is snow.



Get us all together and Mad Cows we certainly are.
But Neesie, Trace and Jenn are the most fabulous cows by far.

They make me laugh and keep me going.
Three blogger friends that are certainly worth knowing.

Okay, okay, so a poet I am not
but these mad cows are the best of the lot.


That's my terrible take on this weeks APR theme
now hop on over to Jenn's
Artists Playground and see what 
the real people do.


 PS.  Please don't yell at me guys





Thursday 9 August 2012

Turquoise and lime for APR

How yummy does that sound,
turquoise and lime, turquoise and lime
kinda rolls off your tongue.

Makes me think of sipping some
tropical cocktail on a warm sunny beach.
Dang this cold winter, 
I want spring!!

I decided to paint
a summery scene
(even though my fingers are
freezing off)
using the theme colours for this
weeks Artist's Playroom,
yes, you guessed it
turquoise and lime.


Okay, it's pretty obvious that this poor girl
has had some work done.
Fake tan, nose job and too much filler to the lips
but hey that's the way the young girls go these days
(cough, cough, not my bad painting).

I have to admit, I had heaps of fun
and lots of panics with this piece.

I started by playing with goopy stuff
to make it stand out in places and
ended up wearing most of the goop.

Then the horror movie stage
where I add a bit more paint
She looks really freaky
with the white eye.
I'm sure this put me off because
I had lots of little oopsies,
like when I had two palettes on the go
and way too many brushes in my mouth and hands
and used the wrong colour across her cheek.
Then there was the, it's time to get a new 
tube of paint moment, when I squeezed out the paint and
it came out all over my hand, 
cos it has an extra hole in the old tube.

After all the fun and games
she turned out kinda okay

Love those lumpy bits of hair and the eye is okay too.
I might refine the hair more, but I sorta like it straggly.


It was fun painting something I don't normally do,
but I think I will steer clear of people.

I think that she looks better from a distance,
I took this shot first but realised you can see my mess.

So don't look at that
try this one

Looks better from here, than it does up close.

Now I have my goopy stuff I might do some underwater scenes
and have the fish tails standing out and the coral,
Oooh I can feel some more fun coming on.

While I go and find a scene to paint,
why don't you hop on over to Jenn's
Artist's Playroom
and see what everyone else
has done with
turquoise and lime.
Sorry, had to say it just one more time.
Turquoise and lime (he he).



Wednesday 8 August 2012

Gloopy fun for WOYWW

I've been having lots of fun this week.
Lately I've been seeing lots of people
playing with all sorts of mediums
and goops and since I only use
paints or pencils, I decided it's time
to join in the goopy fun.

The good news is that 
goop (moulding paste)
washes off of skin
and out of hair.

I use more than one brush at a time when I paint
and I have a bad habit of holding the paint
brushes that I'm not using
in my mouth.
Starting to get the picture?

I had the brush full of goop and needed to move the canvas
so naturally I put the brush in my mouth
and suddenly I had gooped hair,
panicked and gooped my hand, arm,
you name it I gooped it.

Eventually I got it onto the canvas and
had a great time doing it. 

Once it was hard, I started to paint and that's where my desk is today.

and the rest of it


You can see from this shot, that 
when I think of it, I put the brushes 
in the stand and not my mouth.
(Okay, the truth is, I put them there for the photo,
two of them were in my mouth!)

I wanted to give the hat lady some body 
and that is where the goop came in.


I used a brush and my finger to create the hair
and used some of the non slip plasticy stuff 
you can see under my painting to make the roughness for the hat.

I don't really care how the lady comes out


I just having heaps of fun playing.

Gloopy stuff rocks!!

~~SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT!!~~
Jenn at Just Add Water Silly
has discovered that some of us
(me included) left out a little step when setting up our blogs
and it has resulted in us being
NO REPLY BLOGGERS.
This essentially means that if we send someone a comment
and they reply, we won't receive that reply, it just goes to no mans world.
If you are worried that you might be one of these people
go to Jenns blog 101 and she tells you how to fix it.
Just think of how many lovely thoughts we may have missed out on.

Now you've seen all my fun,
why don't you hop on over to Julia's
and see what the others have done
this wednesday.
You never know what you might learn.