When I grow up......

When I grow up......
acrylic on canvas
24x30"

Lost in her own world of dreams a small girl dances, she dreams of beauty and she dreams of grace, and she dreams of the future - her future. She dreams of when she grows up........

This piece was painted for the "Life" auction to be held at the Bruce Mason Centre on Feb 3rd. As it goes to auction I will be having my head shaved to support the Leukaemia and Blood Foundation of NZ.

Painting this piece was harder than I thought, it began with the idea of a child looking forward at all life has to bring. However as I worked it became for me a chance to look back. I used to be that little girl, although for me my love was horses. I'd "saddle" up the verandah with an old towel and use my dressing gown cord for the reins and I'd ride from dusk til dawn. I did eventually work with horses as a trek guide and stable hand. It was never as I pictured it though, I quickly became restless and disillusioned.

This trip down memory lane didnt end there, I began to dwell on missed opportunity and paths not taken. It took a lot of strength to move past that. I had to focus myself in an incredibly strict fashion, and pull back to the original reason behind the painting.

I hesitate to think how deep I could have fallen.

A Little On Life

Well it's been far too long since I was last here - again! I am suffering terribly from painters block, and while I have two projects on the go that MUST be finished by Christmas, I just can't seem to get going. There are several reasons for this, they include sick children, the time of year and even discovering the games on Facebook. I could (and have) blamed these factors among others - even my three yr old has told me to "just get on with it mum".
Now ordinarily I have a couple of wee tricks up my sleeve to deal with the afore mentioned "block". I have in the past tacked a large piece of plywood to my lounge room wall, amped up the sounds and literally thrown paint - incredibly therapeutic (not to mention messy) I've tried turning paintings upside down(an old fav of many) Sometimes pulling out a lump of clay, or playing with some of the kids craft stash can trigger a new painting.......the list goes on......but for the last couple of months - nothing but half finished canvases.
I'm lost, frustrated and stressed!

I've been tagged!

Well actually I was tagged weeks ago but I've been slack with my blog lately and well this afternoon to fight a massive bout of painters block I thought what better way to take my mind off my inability to paint.
I was tagged by fellow artist Chavah Kinloch, check out her fab blog - http://www.chavahkinloch.blogspot.com/

the rules are simple, now I've been tagged I have to list 6 things you don't know about me, so here goes -

1. I hope one day to own a lifestyle block and become semi self sufficient - kind of a "Good Life" thing going on.
2. I am terrified of water I can't see the bottom of - I once went snorkeling to try and overcome the feeling(it was my partner at the times idea) and although I would recommend the experience to everyone - I can't believe how stunningly beautiful it is under water, you'll never catch me doing it again! Before I was frightened because I didnt know whats down there, now I'm scared because I do know - fish people, big freakin fish - lots of them!
3. I have a growing collection of hats - I love em. In fact a girl at my daughters school commented the other day that it was the first time she'd ever seen me without a hat, I've known this child for rather a long time.
4. I have dyed my hair every colour but green - my all time favourite was described by an elderly woman in a craft shop as heliotrope.
5. I like playing with playdough - I find it very therapeutic.
6. My first car was a very very old Honda Civic called Geraldine - I didnt name her she came to me with a sticker on her gear shift that had her name on it. I miss that car it had a dent in every panel and didnt like to go in the rain - but she was cool and it was a sad sad day when I traded her in.

Now I'm tagging these fantastic NZ artists -

Cath Sheard - http://www.cathrs.blogspot.com/

Sharlene Schmidt - http://www.sharleneschmidt.synthasite.com/

Mark Godwin - http://www.pictureitponderitpaintit.co.nz/

Ronda Turk - http://frommypalette.blogspot.com/

Christine Dempster - http://www.freewebs.com/artbycee/

Shelly Van Soest - http://shellyvansoestartist.blogspot.com/

The rules:

1. Link to the person or persons who tagged you.

2. Post the rules on your blog.3. Write six random things about yourself.

4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.

5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.

6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Portrait - Little Green Thumb (work in progress)

So here is my latest work in progress, a portrait of my youngest daughter helping to build a garden at her preschool. As usual I am working in acrylic on canvas. I have just started using a new brand of canvas, it's slightly more expensive than my usual - but well worth it as far as I'm concerned. As you can see I've mostly blocked in the basics, I'm now working on the folds in the sweatshirt and shorts - which are probably the most difficult aspects of this piece. I'm also experimenting with how many layers I can use on the background in the "crackled look" that I've been working on, before I lose the base colours. I'm up to three and I'm thinking that four may be too many....

"Treasure" - acrylic portrait on canvas

So after a rather lovely weekend camping I thought I'd best get back into the swing of things and show you all what I've been up to.......and here it is. The painting is based on the sketch I posted earlier of my daughter. It captures her serious, thoughtful side well and although I'd still like to tweak it here and there I am rather happy with the outcome.

Handmade Decorations for Starship Hospital

These are my take on the Christmas bell - I made them for a fundraising initiative of the NZ Art Guild for Starship Hospital in Auckland. They were a challenge in that I usually work with paint. However as I moved through the process of designing and constructing them I found myself enjoying the change. It was a chance for me to broaden my skills and remember long forgotten ones. There are four of each colour. Sadly photos don't do them justice but the general idea is there.

The Summer Landscape

Just finished this piece is acrylic on boxed canvas and depicts a semi-fictitious landscape. Now there will be farmers out there pulling their hair out at what I'm about to say but here goes anyway........I love the colours of summer!(not the heat but definitely the colours) When the land takes on the parched golden tones there is something awe inspiring about it. The afore mentioned farmers will obviously find nothing attractive about drought season - and this I can totally understand, this is their livelyhood we are talking about, however it does give the landscape a certain rich glow one which I am intent about capturing.