Promises, Promises

I said I would post on Tuesday....well I lied! This is the still life which has so many incarnations. Following the painting is the original still life. This is the next one which alsochanged a lot and I suspect has not finished those changes yet. This changed as a result of my great nephew inviting me to go to his school on grandparents' day. It was quite "out of the blue" so I was very touched by it.

New beginnings

I have missed being in the loop with posts on the blog so will begin again. I am heavily involved in my local Artists' Society and am now publishing the newsletter....what an exciting occupation I REALLY LOVE IT! I am learning so much about the computer at the same time, now know how to convert the newsletter for emailing....WOW. Anyway this blog is about art so I thought I may show what I am doing. This is one painting, based on a still life it is not finished yet but will post the finished one . Will send another post tomorrow.

post movies

I discovered the wonder of downloading movies, and much to my amazement I exceeded my allowance on the internet, which has of necessity kept me very quiet, but now into the next month, I will be more circumspect. Here are some more natural dyeing the first was in onion skins and then I scattered some saffron These are some books in various eucalyptus leaves

This inside paper was from an old sketch book of my husbands, he was a watercolourist and some of the water colour shows through as well as the sketching

This book "before" and "after"

Our group meets on Monday and I have to finish off the challenges

On Thursday night I went to a demonstration by a painter called Charlie Tong. He came directly from heaven...his painting was amazing, speedy and dynamic using very wide but thin brushes. I have taken a lot of photos, but I feel I must ask him before I put them on the blog....so hopefully it will be in the next post.

A lovely thing happened.

My mother posted me a book from Adelaide, but put on it the wrong address, Julien, to whom the parcel went, found out my mothers phone number in Adelaide, rang her to find out where I lived, and offered to deliver it to me....I am going down to pick it up shortly, but there really are some very kind people.

All we need to be in this world is "kind" I wonder why it is so difficult some of the time.....there would be no conflict!

Palette Change and stitch

If you are a "butterfly" in the Art/Craft sense (and I am!) one needs a lot of space!

This is my studio, with its new shelves....

No, This is my studio

Collecting the rainwater for the new projects

Remember this

Now with the stitching for the "challenge" for our group.

It is astonishing how the eye adjusts to new sensibilities, is it the inspiration which triggers the change or does the new work influence what you are attracted to for inspiration?

Journey

This was the last challenge from our group....".journey" It is so special being a part of a group that constantly,challenges, encourages and inspires each other....and we laugh as well!

Moving on

Here are 3 more natural dyed pieces.

The first two are in fact very green but my camera (or I) am not very good at representing the true colours.

I do think I belong to the group of artists who are schizophenic, On the one hand, while doing these organic pieces I am making a quilt for my spare room.

We have a lovely shop near us called "Patchwork House" As I am not a manic patchwork person, and indeed I tend to use preloved fabrics, I go infreqently and have seen it through a few owners, but there is a beautiful freshness, like Spring whenever you go in, but indeed the most significant and rewarding element is the tiny pink plastic carrier in the photo.

I am so glad that has remained constant. This Quilt has some significance but more of that later.

Inspired

This morning on a ramble through 'Blogland' I read Annes'(Wild Somerset Child) blog and realised how I had missed all my friends.

I guess we all go through periods when it is more difficult to fit it in!

However

Our group of "the Very Stuff" continues to inspire me so I have taken time off Uni, and am going to get my studio in order and 'PLAY'!

Jo (Mystory) has suffered the same fate as me, in discovery of natural dyes.........

I have been also making books and then dyeing them in red onion skins and eucalyptus leaves

The first one is full of textures fabric ready for the dyepot.

I have some drying...will post again tomorrow.