In need of a canoe and a clone.

It was a busy and wet week.

Firstly, here is the wet.

new meaning to "overflowing drains"
(all the farms around me are on peat and dig drains between paddocks to drain water...supposedly)

Rosy, I swear I saw a periscope!

Then there is the busy:

I delivered paintings to various galleries on monday and some to the framers. I had an interview with a local journalist from Cambridge and it proved to be an interesting experience.  Midweek saw me return to my student occupation of waitress  at Fieldays, the largest agricultural show in the southern Hemisphere. Tractors, cows, effluent systems, milking systems, pumps, sprays, feed, etc etc. its amazing.  I did this as a fundraiser for my son's school....the company  paid us to be their waitrons in their stand and it was heaving! I have never served as many coffee and pies as yesterday! This was the day after my dominatrix trainer decided a leg day would be nothing without 100 squats, 50 lunges and an assortment of other tried and tested tortures in the name of fitness.
I ran non-stop from 9 am till 3 pm. Then I ran no more. I came home, sat still and caught up on some Breaking Bad ( I am still on season 2...no spoilers,please!) as my legs twitched like some zombie attachments.

Tractor pull and display of tractors

I did not have time to take photos..these were at the exit as I waited for the bus to take me to my car.

Today my boys are home as it is a teachers only day at school. I also have a few extra's, but that actually helps. We went into town to have sushi lunch, ok some frames and walk the dogs.

Not complete yet.

What I need is a clone.Anyone know how close the science is yet?

Everyday I'm shuffling....

I spent a good deal of today driving and hanging paintngs and then driving some more. I am tired but very excited . I delivered 13 paintings to the Garden Art gallery and 11 to the Riverlea gallery, received news I had sold two more paintings and delivered 6 more to the framers!

On the way to Cambridge I ran into these gals.They were being moved from one farm to another along the road, herded by farmers on four wheelers and in a truck, with a cheery grin and a wave!

Life in the country, eh. Always something to marvel at.

I wanted to share some of the paintings that are off to galleries.

Fenceline
61 x 31 cm
oil on canvas
$440

Fog, morning light and pines
41 x54 cm
oil on boards
$510

Town and Country
Oil on canvas
31 x 61 cm
$440

Square Route
61 x 61 cm
oil on canvas
$900

Haze
oil on board
32 x 32 cm
$240

Autumn
20 x 41 cm
oil on canvas
$190

Blue Barn
oil on board
20 x 28 cm
$135

Getting my moody on

I have been painting with a palette knife a lot recently. I still start and block in the paint with a brush, but I seem to finish with a palette knife or whatever flat surfaced thing comes to hand...credit card, spatulas ,paint-shapers....they have all taken a bow at the end and pulled the painting together with their magic marks.

I painted this over a disaster painting. God moves in strange ways. Sometimes I swear I paint like a twit just so that I have something to paint over the next day!

I called it " Shelter-belt and shed" 25 x 35 cm, oil on canvas.

Toot toot(blowing my own trumpet)

I sold 3 of my 4 pieces I submitted to The Original Art sale. The one I though was a sure thing did not sell! Seems like I don't know my own market.

But I hope whoever bought them enjoys them . I loved painting them.

I wrote a bit about painting

I was approached to write an article for an online magazine called " Life as a Human". I was asked to contribute an article about my art or something of that nature. Essentially, share something about my art that was readable!

I thought about what it was I should to write and then ignored that and wrote down what I would want to read! I decided to write a bit about my personal  painting process. It is still an evolving process, but it is a subject I find myself drawn to with other artists. I love reading how other creatives behave and the way they structure their approach to painting. For some it is a specific routine, for others a sudden urge, but for the most part, their experiences echo my own. Just show up in the studio and start. Start anything, just start. Showing up is half the problem!

If you want to read it, please follow this link http://lifeasahuman.com/2014/virtual-art-gallery/sway/

And so this got me to internet trawling and I listened to some amazing talks on creativity and read some  clever quotes , read some interesting interviews and watched some videos of artists in action. Then I had to stop wasting time and just get on with it and write! I showed up, stumped up with my thought and now I have something that I can review in a few years time and see what( if anything) will change in the way I approach my painting process.

It was an interesting experience in a good way. I have become quite mindful of the process and that mindfulness is paying off with a series of paintings that have all evolved from one experience.

But right now, I have to stop this writing experience and collect kids from school, feed them and take them to hockey practise, feed them again and do homework with them and then feed them again. Just as well I love cooking or all this feeding would be a problem. BOYS!

Too cold to swim

Too cold to swim,
oil on board,
122cm w x 100 h

It's autumn...well and truly autumn. The days are short, the nights are cold, the fires are lit, the stews are simmering.....You get the picture.

Not my kids. My kids went swimming in the neighbour's pool. They dared each other to stay in as long as possible, timing each other.

They turned blue.Their teeth chattered. Their speech staccato-d into gibberish.

I left them to it .

Note on the door: Gone shopping

School holidays are over, troll boys are occupied with the workings of the world, lovely husband is still tied to his 9 to five( although it's more like 7 till 6 these days)....and I needed to breathe deeply and enter the world again.

I drove up to Auckland to drop paintings off at The Original art Sale (16-18 May, Telstraclear centre, Auckland), then on to buy some studio lights and then lunch in POnsonby. It's as pretentious and fabulous as a name such as Ponsonby WOULD be. I took Christine, a friend from pilates class, with me for the ride.. We trawled design shops, small exhibitions of oddities and several places I swore were not anything but turned out to be something. She made me laugh ...she touched EVERYTHING and would ask, quite loudly, " Now what is THIS all about?!" at some conceptual pieces. Very refreshing. It would appear that a highly groomed dog is the "in" thing to have in a design gallery. Nearly every one we entered sported this intellectual breed.

Feeling peckish, we strolled  up a flight of stairs, through some seriously S&M chain curtain ..."uh-oh," I thought, "shady as f..." ......into an asian food court and it was fabulous. I had a vietnamese noodle salad that was beyond a delight.I could have chosen from Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, India.....but the vietnamese family group cooking(yes, I decided they were a family. Let me have my fairytale.) were the happiest and the food looked amazing..and it was.Grandpa took my order and money(in that order) Sister suzy cooked as her brother chopped some mint, shredded carrots and chopped chillies. Grandma brought me the delicious offering. I asked to be adopted.I am not sure the language barrier didn't work in their favour.

So, tummies full, we sauntered down Ponsonby Road, popping into galleries, decor shops, art stores, some one's office(whoops! Sorry!) and generally having a good look at just about everything. I felt very much like a country mouse but it was fine, It is what it is. I love that the big smoke leaves me giddy. Everything is so shiny and so grimy...all at the same time.

Too soon ,the clock chimed. Soon we would have to collect our pumpkins from school and resume our life. We drove home in a chatter of ideas and "note-to-self" moment.

I love my lights.4 x  35 watt 5500 kelvin daylight bulbs, on a tall stand.......yeah, baby! It's Showtime!! Now I can paint instead of sleep. Nah, don't think that will happen, but it could if I wanted.Just saying.

Yummy lunch

Easel solicitation

Dog tie at shop front