My life as a bird…or a plane

I love this perspective. Up high, looking down.

Bird's eye view
oil on canvas
35 x 45 cm

Truly, perhaps I was a bird in a past life , but I do love this perspective on things.
 On my last trip back from Australia, I almost pulled a muscle in my neck craning around trying to get a good look out the airplane window as we descended over the Manukau harbour and into the city.Seas gave way to rocky coastline, then patchwork farmlands with lifeline roads and the harbour with sandbars that looked like underwater mazes.
I love a view. In fact, I NEED a view. I can sit and look out over a vista for a very long time and not get bored. That is a good thing ,as very little else holds my attention for that long. When I complete a painting on site, after a long day of looking, I am at my most content, even if the painting is a disaster. This is why my house is a mess. I stare out at the view instead of doing the housework!

It is almost school holidays. I am looking forward to no school lunches or timetables but realise that I am going to have to pay my boys for some painting time!!! They have recently become very interested in the power that currency can wield and have discovered Ebay! I am factoring that in  to my expenses! Children and artistic endeavours area dangerous mix, to be handled with care and skill lest it all explodes in one's face.

Oh, this is the view from Mt.Pirongia, the Waipa river and farmlands, as interpreted by my bird-brain.

Friday painting

I was supposed to be assisting at the discus event at my children's inter-school athletics day but it was cancelled due to the weather. Kidlets were devastated. Me, not so much. All day athletics, measuring how far a discus is thrown and avoiding the actual throw (the big ones sometimes aim for you, I swear) in the hot sun, no chair,ugh…..but I do it because it is what needs to be done. You can see how I took the cancellation as a sign to go painting.! I opened the car boot to load the gear (I had already spotted cows lying down in a paddock round the corner) and discovered it was full of biking gear that I have to deliver to Tauranga later today. Stink. So I dragged the easel across the road and painted this.

Towards the city

My version, with greyscale reminding me to keep an eye on values!