abscent without leave

I am swamped by demand from my other responsibilties so much that I have found little space for painting. I had a horrendous spell of wiping canvasses clean( 3 in one session...I almost drank the damned turps!). but then my eldest son,Lucien,told me he recognized my frustration and I knew that this was a perfect opportunity to model some ideal behavior for him. so, once I stopped swearing, I calmed down and told him how I felt and we agreed that a good tactic would be to imagine frustration as a person, welcome him into the room, ask him to take a seat and then explain that no matter what, we were going to continue until we had succeeded, whether he stayed or went. It was great to work it through with him, sharing frustrating experinces( he is learning to draw objects and finding the whole job of practice frustrating too) and I hope this visualization exercise benefits is both.

I finished a commission piece just as school went back and have not painted since, so tomorrow is D-Day for a start.Let me go make sure I have seat for my guest, in case he arrives.....!

I went AWOL to Auckland to visit the refurbished Auckland Art gallery( a must if you are in Auckland) and really enjoyed the wide range of art they had on exhibition. some is just plain mad and other is just plain beautifull. I like to have a balance of beauty and challenge in my art, but not necessarily in the same piece.Then I went to some smaller galleries to view their collections. I also savoured shopping at an independent art store,drinking coffee in lovely cafe,s overlooking the sea, catchin up with friends and eating fudge.My friend Shaun has a company that makes fudge...real, smooth ,gorgeous fudge in fabulous flavours like Almond and honey,ginger and, the most mind boggling best,liquorice! so, as you can imagine, I gave myself. Over to taste testing!!!!


Now home, a gazillion things to do in my garden that is fast becoming a jungle( the cat is delighted with the long hunting friendly grass. the rabbits and birds,not so much), school, and extra mural activities and an impending Xmas part for 100 people to be held herein 3 weeks time( suddenly need to lie down in a darkened room ).

but tomorrow is a date with the paint. definite.