It's too soon to panic

I have deadlines looming for various exhibitions that I am involved with in this year and I realised I need to seriously get some new work completed so I can be organised, on time and organised. Have I mentioned organised?

Holy Macaroni!

I looked at the timeline and panicked a little. A lot. What is the quantitive description of panicking a lot? A blindness of panic? Well, something like "holy shitballs" emanated from my mouth ( because I am THAT eloquent) when I realised I have 2 months to do a years worth of work!!!!

But you know what, it's too soon to panic. My Dad always says that and you know what, the day before the deadline is a great time to panic, not a few months prior. It's too soon. Deep breaths.

So, head down, brushes up and music turned waaaaaay up, lets do this thing. I just have to do the work and it will all be good because that's where it all comes from, doing the work.

Inspiration of dew on asparagus

Work in progress

inspiration in my front yard

A start

Making my way through a painting

New from the studio

Well, work has resumed. Kids are back at school and I have shooe-ed all the spiders and the cat out of the studio and claimed my space again.

So,here's whats on the easels:

Detail of tree forms 

too much fun!

The top bit of the painting

side view

drying against the wall( hence the reason the cat has been evicted: he likes to rub up against wet paint :-((((

A start on my south island paintings

I am doing some works on drafting film (Mylar) and getting to grips with the way the paint moves on this surface and what I can get it to do without changing any of the paint's archival  qualities. It's part experimentation, part intuition and part balls-to-the-wall courage. No one likes to paint something and then deliberately destroy it, but to see what I can come up with, I have to push some boundaries and be prepared to lose a few paintings in the process. It's a bit like driving a car fast. Sometimes I only have one wheel on the ground! It's thrilling but the insurance companies won't touch me!

I am hoping to return to the South Island in winter to do a bit of plein air painting. It is all in the planning stages, at the moment, but I was so taken with the land and the landscape down there. There is a most unusual light and the colour of the land and rock in that light spoke to something in me that said" you belong here". Maybe when I spend a week in minus 6 degrees temps I will hear other voices, who knows. 

I have downloaded new music and hope to get some painting under my belt this week. I have galleries clamouring for new work and an exhibition or two to get ready for. I am in my happy place. Thank you, Universe.

So, I got distracted....

So, I got distracted by the family holiday to South Island, Otago, to be precise. And trust me, it was well worth being distracted . If you don't know the place, think Hobbit, Lord of the Rings and THAT"S where we went! It is beyond beautiful: rugged, mountainous, valleys, rivers, snow, lakes, wide open vistas, colours ...I loved it all. I took a thousand photos.( you know that's not a joke). I decided that painting on holiday was going to be a bit selfish of me and I was right to give myself that break. So, sorry 30 Paintings in 30 Days, I got halfway and it fell apart a bit.

It was a great holiday but I had to transform into Sporty Spice to keep my boys happy. We biked and hiked and swam and played games and, honestly, I enjoyed it immensely( except for the sore arse from riding a bike!). They refused to do museums or shops! Heathens!

In Queenstown I went to all the galleries I could whilst the boys were doing their downhill bike ride  ( my sore butt was my get-out-of-jail=free card for that one!). I even got to hang out an an archaeological site (my major at university) being excavated on the waterfront. The focus of excitements were the latrines they discovered from the first days of settlements! Glad that was not me doing the digging! I much preferred my digs in Africa! Less historic and more pre-historic.

Anyway, now we are home and I have spent the last week settling my oldest son into high-school. My shattered nerves. I was nervous for him, he was nervous for him and yet I can say after 3 days of high school , he is going to be just fine. In fact, he is going to thrive. Second son starts school this week, so we should all be back to normal routine soon. Frankly, they need to go to school and leave me alone for a while! I have missed my solitude of the studio.(bad mother)

I have, by the way, started a MEET_UP group for plein air painters. This is a group for those who want to paint outdoors in Hamilton and want a little company, a little community. I am hoping to encourage painters of all levels and abilities to join me at various locations around the area, painting together and enjoying the occupation. I have advertised it on the meet up site and around locally, but I hope to encourage a meeting at least once a month , on a weekend. First one is 15 february and is at the Hamilton Lake. Click here for more information. If you are in the Waikato, please join me!
Hamilton Plein air Painters meetup.

Here are some photos of my holiday. You may well see these in a few paintings soon...

Buritos dinner from this retro Caravan then ate them on the beach

Sketching 

Kawerau gorge...yes, that is the colour of the water

Postbox parade

more sketching

strong  shadows

Dart river

lake Hawea

Skipping stones into lake hawea

more pretty

and more

and more

view up the matukituki valley on the way to Rob Roy Glacier

pretty rock

wanaka yacht club

When it's been a hot bike ride, a dip in the lake is the ticket

he swam everywhere

Clutha outlet.....the colour was amazing

I fell in love with this view in Alexandra

Alexandra

Alexandra

Alexandra

and more Alex....

The river at Alex

my tribe

Cromwell

Cromwell 

Port Waikato and the mouth of the river

pretty

Day 16

 Instead of painting, I have made 2 crates to transport paintings to various venues. trust me, Painting is more fun. Making crates sucks.

 Day 16, Acrylic on paper, Black and Blue moo.

Day 14

Working on some heads.....

Acrylic on paper

Day 13

We are housebound because the kids are sick

Acrylic and crayon on paper

A painting intervention and being a bad mommy.

There has been an intervention in my household. It is the height of summer holidays here .My kids and husband have requested I don't paint as much as I am, at present,  whilst they are on holiday. I think this is a fair call. I have been spending WAAAY to much time buried in the studio and not enough time with them. They are still young and need my time, so I am going to step away from the studio for a while and play with them. I might not paint everyday, but I can still sketch. So, if I sketch every day(say, whilst watching them swim) and post it, it should still count and I still create and feel I am doing my thing. I might even go hunt for my travelling watercolour set.....
It's all about the balance and it got out of kilter, recently. Sorry, kids.

This is a bigger work I am working on.

It will have to be the image for today.WIP ( Work in Progress)

My new Rosemary brushes arrived today!

Some long flats, some short flats, a rigger or two, an angles brush.....treasure!  I am excited to give them a trial run( when the kids eventually tire of me and push me back into the studio).


Family time:

We went Blueberry picking yesterday. This is them, under the nets. They ate more than they picked .They joked about having blue poo ( because we are in that humour range, STILL), rescued a few birds trapped in the nets, made smoothies as soon as we returned home and swam for hours.

Picnic at the swimming hole

Walk on the beach with the dogs

I am making up for the lost time!