Playing With Pages

 Some time ago I had photographed my oil colours that I had painted for the purpose of cataloguing and easy display. Anyway I decided to utilize these to collage some pages so that I could play with a big tin of water colours that one of the ladies at craft was giving away.

 I thought I might try to produce a turtle stamp. Heres the start .

 This page started with the red and pink postcard as inspiration with a copy of my lino print of mother and child and then adding bits and pieces as I found them. Its really hard to capture colour at night without moving the camera.

Weaver Bird

Last night the troupes were not going to go to bed early (which is what I wanted to do). It wasn't even that early being ten o'clock at night. All I could hear were the heavy foot falls of sandshoe covered feet clonking down the hallway. THUD THUD THUD Jack hammers in my head! Rather than get mad and achieve nothing, I decided to paint a little and added to the weaver bird. I'll have to add to the branches as they have bled colour whilst wet.

I've finally started baby blanket number four utilizing the Butterfly Garden pattern found on Yarn Crazy.
The request from mother to be was for a bright blanket.
I've decided soft brights would be the go. I think I would prefer this pattern all in one colour but I'll reserve my judgement until its completed.

It'll need a good stretch to get into shape.
I must say this is an easy pattern to follow and once you've completed a square its easy to do by heart without a pattern.

Weaver Bird

I stopped in at the Salvation Army Recycle shop on the way home on Monday and found an illustrated Children's Book of Wonder that was produced in 1949. A few of the pages are coloured but it makes fascinating reading all the same. I liked this little chap and proceeded to paint him that night at about eleven in the evening, I do have a penchant for staying up late. All those years of late shift nursing and you forget how to go to bed early unless utterly exhausted.

Today I had a  quick little crochet and thought I'd start producing a few flowers which I want to attached to the remaining hand dyed scarfs. We'll see what happens.

I saw on this  blog by Sandra Everton a lovely row of baroquet paper ladies cut out in chain fashion and thought they'd look great decorating the windows of the ward at Christmas. 

(Sorry the pencil outline is hard to see but the picture is worse when I utilized the flash) Follow the link above to see how lovely they are.

I thought this chap could be made into chain work as well. I haven't made any paper chains yet but will do so as soon as I obtain some A3 paper

Back to the crochet for now.

Pomegranates

A little colouring fun after work. I'm still loving pomegranates. injected a little whimsy into the colouring but only a little. I'm thinking that I might have to be a little less constrained and become more fee flowing in my brush work, work with colour and not be so exacting. Exercise the brain and the mind by trying to do things differently.

A fresh bunch for you

The flowers are picked,  now I just have to decorate the vase.

She'll Be Apples

I'm currently painting an bunch or rosy red apples hanging in the tree and then I began thinking about the saying "she'll be apples". It sounds like a very Australian thing to say and having access to the internet I begun to wonder about the origins of the saying. I found on yahoo a description that originates the saying to rhyming slang- Apples and spice and all things nice. The saying she'll be apples came about by dropping the spice. The cite lists the earliest documentation of this saying to be 1943 by the Australian National Dictionary. http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070429031414AACX9zs

I saw a lovely print of the saying here http://naomimurrell.bigcartel.com/product/shell-be-apples-print-red-choc-white

and here is the start of my fruitful  adventure. Back to painting.
Hours Later...

I don't know which orientation I should have this picture, but below is how I painted it.
Just have to wait for the paint to dry to add some finer detail.

I think I'm improving slowly with the use of water colours.?? A couple of smudgy bits but thats the nature of water colour = a little unpredictable.

Sending this to you

Just thought I'd send out a little  Love today. I thought it was as good a reason as any to test run my stamp set that I bought with some of my birthday money

I started with more of a square design which I really love but couldn't resist drawing in the heart.

So a little heart felt love to you all..

And this little fella was inspired by Country Style magazine and my farm stay in Canberra with my sister.

Make much of time

A little dabbling in the watercolour arena over the last weeks and look what I come up with - Make much of time.
What am I trying to tell myself? Make plans , prepare for the future, organize oneself and my life so it perhaps is a little more fulfilling and fruitful ??

The basis of this picture came about whilst looking through some tapestry books. It's  a combination of traditional pattern of the tree evolving from the pot and mirrored patterning each side.

The next picture was inspired when  I saw a pillow on the front cover of Country Style magazine , a floral bouquet. I still like the pillow more but it was a fun exercise in colour

Floral Foray and Sea Urchins

Last night I left off somewhere around here

And have progressed to this. I am unsure as whether to leave it at this or venture into colouring the background to fill the open spaces of white. Sometimes it is best to leave things alone but then again nothing ventured nothing gained. Maybe I should crack opened those acrylic inks that I have bought. I really am enjoying the colour play. Leave it for now and think about it.

Not too bad for a rusty old boiler , if I do say so myself.  Room for improvement but I'm not totally displeased.
On to the next adventure. I was looking at some ocean animals and the sea urchin caught my eye.
My interpretation is leaning to a more floral display, but often the ocean bed is really just a beautiful watery garden.
I asked my daughter Jordana to do a quick cut and paste with the painting and image repeat three times, a little like tiling

Don't you just love cropping out the rubbish but sometimes the whole picture is worth a view too.

Water colour- Leafy Sea Dragon

Rainbow coloured tablets of  colour are now in my procession. I've purchased some tablets of watercolours in a very portable container.

I thought that they could travel with me when I visit my sister in Canberra, they take up virtually no space.

I've also bought some acyclic  inks after reading Genies art blog http://blogdelanine.blogspot.com/ and am inspired to give these a whirl at some stage, bought from here http://www.dickblick.com/products/daler-rowney-fw-acrylic-water-resistant-artists-ink/.

Any way its my first play with water colour in a very very long time. I chose as a subject the leafy sea dragon which is native to South Australian waters and is frequently found in the area of Normanville and the Fleurieu Peninsula. As kids we spent a lot of time holidaying in this region , particularly Second Valley and snorkelled in the seaweed beds and occasionallly found such creatures as the leafy sea dragon and seahorses. It was always a special day when you saw one of these wondrous creatures.

The leafy sea dragon is approximately 28cm in size. It is considered to be an endangered species and is native to south Australian waters.
Marine life sanctuaries are being expanded in Australian waters to protect these and other species. The marine parks will cause some disruption to the habits of recreational fishermen and has become a contentious issue. I am a person whom enjoys fishing but can see the value and worth of preserving the natural habitats of marine life in parks and fishing hatchery areas -  you always hope that you children's children will be able to marvel and wonder at the beauty that is at their doorstep.

 If you are ever in South Australia and are visiting in the Fluerieu Pennisula area there is a large corrugated iron sculpture of the leafy sea dragon, 5m high, between Yankalilla and Normanville (As well as great cheeses, olive oils and wines)  Second Valley (a little further on) has a very safe and pristine beach for young families although small. It has rock to find crabs under and opportunities for snorkelling adventures for the older sibling. I really do love this area.

Bounty of the sea caught from Second Valley jetty. Squid and Tommy Ruff. (Now known as Australian Herring)

 Pristine waters...

For more information on the leafy sea dragon or marine parks the Adelaide Review March 2012 put out an interesting article.

Back to playing with colour before I head off to work. See ya!