Studio sale update and some mutterings

Ok, change of dates.

The studio sale will now be on BOTH sat 5th and Sun 6th December.  I had too may people howling in dismay because they were going to miss the sunday for a couple of reasons( best one was the local fishing competition)

So, from 10 am till 4 pm, come on round to the studio and have a look and a chat.

158/2 Gillard road
Ngahinapouri
Hamilton

I have yet to clean my studio because that would be too smart and frankly, I am too interested in painting right now.

I hit a bit of a block. Not a train-smash, just a meh moment. So, I decided to mix things up a little and do everything I have NOT been doing recently.

I painted small
I painted on canvas
I used a palette knife
I chose subject matter that is NOT my norm
I chose colours that are not on my normal palette.

It worked. I feel a lot better and I love what I made.

In the end, isn't that what it's all about?

detail of a painting with palette knife

The Imagined Bouquet

30 x 30 cm

oil on canvas

Studio sale Time

It's time for my annual studio sale. Time to find good homes for many paintings, sketches, framed and unframed works, works on paper, canvas..all sorts.

Come see what my studio looks like and get a glimpse of my working world.

Date: 6 december 2015

Where: My Studio @
158/2 Gillard road, Ngahinapouri, Hamilton, New Zealand

Open 10 am till 4 pm.

If you want to come but cannot make the date, just leave me a comment and your contact details and we can make a plan for another date.

An few examples of what I have to offer...there are LOTS more!

The sculpture park plein air weekend

I was invited to paint with a myriad of other artists at The Sculpture park , in Tauwhare, last weekend. It was only 3 days after my arrival back from South africa and, as if to ease the transition, it was a scorcher of a weekend with temperatures hitting the high 20's.
The sculpture park is the site of an old quarry and the entire park has been lovingly turned from barren quarry into gorgeous arboretum and is positively littered with sculptures.

The crowning jewel has to be the quarry which has since filled up with water and hosts waterlilies and frogs. I knew I wanted to paint there so I hauled all my gear to the top of the park(huffing and puffing) and spent the days painting on a little state projecting out over the water. It was hot but fabulous. Many people traipsed past, some stopped and chatted, most agreeing that it was, indeed, a fabulous place to be and to paint.

The most magical time was pre-people , around 9 am, when the frog chorus was loud and hearty.

I shall try and post photos of the other paintings once I have found them ......I am having technical issues !( most probably all my own fault!)

Since then I have been on a camp with 20 10/11 year olds and 9 adults who all snored in various degrees ranging from "light drone "to " dear god, is he going to start breathing again soon!!!!!!". The walls of the cabins were thin and my earplugs not dense enough.

It was, however, remote and we were all "unplugged" for a week, which was very good. But I missed my music!

Rose amongst thorns

I go walking most mornings here is Somerset West, my childhood hometown. I walk along familiar streets,looking at old haunts, houses of friends long gone and marvelling at the affluence of some areas: palatial residences with swanky Francophile names , high walls, ornate gates and immaculate gardens. It's all slightly mad.

Every now and then, I come across an older home, thatched roof, thick,white plastered walls with an overgrown garden , parched and missing the accessory of neighbouring gardens, the automatic irrigation system.

I think it is all the more beautiful for its abandon. The wild creeps in.


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What's on my easel

A quick note to catch up and let you know what I am up to. I am visit my parents, specifically my mother, who is dicing with chemotherapy. I am also painting.

My mother is doing well and as each day passes and she feels better. What more could I ask for? Coincidentally, whilst I have been here, two friends have lost their father in the last week. It makes me more grateful to spend time with her, even when she insists on making me watch some mental tv programs that are on the " watch by yourself for the shame of it" list.

Here's what I have been up to. Sorry the pics are small, but I am posting this from the Blogger app which is still not my friend. If they are not small, I apologise, Blogger.🙈

















All paintings are on drafting film , also known as Mylar. Oh, I lie, the little square on on the easel is an unfinished canvas.
By unfinished, I mean the painting.I'm thinking about it .

Actually, until they are varnished, they are all unfinished!!!!



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Not even packed, yet

I am leaving for South Africa tomorrow and I have not  packed yet.

Before then, I have to deliver some paintings,attend a site meeting, organise some meals for the family and tie up loose ends...I am useless at macrame!. I have my paints, brushes , various completed and framed paintings and maybe a dress and a pair of shoes. I have some books for my new nieces and a thousand OXO beef stock cubes for my mother( a long story , but they are the thing she requested, so I bring them). But I have little else. I vaguely remember leaving some clothes there last time I visited, but perhaps I shall go shopping.

I painted this in the time I had allocated to packing.

I'm not sorry.

Round and round

I am painting on round boards at the moment.

It all started when I bought, on a whim, a round tabletop at the dump. Yes, I shop at the dump. I am a total dump-freak and I find the best stuff there and then upcycle it or make it into something else or give it back to the dump!

I bought the tabletop, sanded it back, primed and gesso'ed it and then painted it. What fun! I managed to get most of the stickers off the back and some gum, but I left a little there for authenticities sake!Enjoy.

Now I have purchased these paint specific boards ( NOT from the dump! And the price reflects that too..ouch) and have primed and gesso'ed them and am painting them. The new shape is really challenging and exciting to work with and I have to plan the paintings a bit before I start( not something I usually do I often cut boards down to size AFTER I have painted on them. Same with canvas and Mylar). Composition is everything with this shape.

Reflected
800mm
available at ART Expo Nelson 24-26 October

Surface features
oil on table
600mm
Mandarin Tree

SOLD

The latest
800 mm diameter
oil on board

Ready for the close up?

I am off to South Africa to visit my parents again next week. I will be away from the blog for a while (unless I find time to paint and produce anything of worth!)

If you are local to Hamilton , I have an entry in the Arts for Health exhibition at David Lloyd Gallery( 78 Lake Crescent) 16-18 October, 10 am till 4 pm on the sat and sun and opening event 16 October at 5.30 

I also have a diptych ( two paintings acting as one painting, connected by theme) at the Waikato Society of Arts members exhibition at Artspost that opens 15 October and runs for a month.

Then, if you are in Nelson, I have 16 paintings on show! Labour weekend, 24-26 October at Saxton Stadium for ATExpo Nelson. It promises to be a good one!

My works can be found at :

Bread and Butter Gallery, Whitianga

Garden Art Studio, Cambridge

Inspirit Gallery, Tamahere

The Little Gallery of Fine Arts, Tairua

The Mandarin Tree, Gordonton

Artspost, Hamilton