{Shell's Sunday Snippets}

The exciting news is that I've bought a domain and have decided to do the hosting and website building through weebly.com.  I've actually clicked on publish and have told godaddy about weebly and am waiting to see if I've done it all right.  The site needs tweaking and playing with and info added to it but I just wanted to get it up and running.  Will post the link when it's up and running.

My eldest son is quite sick with glandular fever - is having trouble eating and drinking due to his sore and swollen throat - just trying to get him to sleep and drink lots - poor thing.  :(

My golden girlie - Tessa.

Beautiful sunset....

I painted the windows and doors onto my mini wooden houses - still a bit more to go till they are ready to be displayed.

I'd love to see and hear about your weekend, so join in {Sunday Snippets} and leave me and {tinniegirl} a link. 

{Weekly Wind-Up}

Yay, my internet speed is back to normal, it has been slow for over a week which meant it was difficult to upload photos and download blogs.  I'm so far behind in reading blogs and getting my creative biz off the ground.

Last weekend....

Monday Morning Art Group - I was busy taking my son to his driving test - so I did some painting in the afternoon:

 

I also hung Ribbon Town on my lounge room wall - matches the curtains - very funny!!!!

On Tuesday I took my eldest son to the doctor's - he has tonsillitus - poor manchild - he feels like death warmed up.  My guess is that it's actually glandular fever and he's going to feel yuck for quite a while.

On Wednesday, I went to the hairdressers - good news - they would like to hang 2 of my paintings for sale in the front of their salon - which will mean some great exposure.  I need to get organised with this great opportunity.  Want to see me??

Thursday - yesterday - hmm what did I do???  Ironing, shopping, cleaning - popped into my 'studio' and I use that term very loosely and touched up my painting.  If I'm going to paint for a few hours I bring things out into the kitchen as you can see from the Monday's painting.

I took the above pic just now, sorry the lighting is soooo bad but it's a little dark outside with the rain clouds.

Hope everyone had a great week and will think about joining us on Sunday for {Sunday Snippets} - send me a link to your Sunday Snippets post so I can go read it.  Thanks, have a great weekend wherever you are in the world.

Ribbon Town

Ribbon Town  Acrylic on Canvas 30" x 40" 76cm x 101cm

You:  Wow Shells, you finally finished your painting, it looks great.

Shells:  Thanks, I think I'm finished - was thinking about doing a few more finer details, decorating it but I think I will leave it as it is...

You: So this is the painting you were asking for Help!!! with last week??  What changes have you made?

Shells:  Here's the 'original' painting, which I was never happy so I never varnished it but I did hang it and titled it Ribbons. That is why this is called Ribbon Town.   I started painting it not long after I did the Flora Bowley Painting Workshop in March and I was painting it intuitively.

Then I received my Golden paints from the States so I added some more to the painting:

And it still wasn't working for me so on Monday morning at my art group I blocked out a lot of the painting:

and during the week I painted in an ash pink background that didn't work but you can still see in some parts, I also changed the red to an orange-red and made most of the ovals dome shapes and sort of turned it into another one of my funky towns...

You:  Who were your major inspirations for this painting?

Shells:  Flora Bowley and Rosetta Santuci.  Some people have compared my house paintings to Hundertwasser's style but I have not done much research into him or his paintings.

You:  This painting doesn't remind me of Flora's work.

Shells:  Thank you.  I'm having a real mind battle at the moment with this as my work doesn't look like Flora's and therefore I feel as though I failed her workshop, not that there was a pass or a fail but on the other hand I should be working to develop my own style so it's actually good that it's not like Flora's.  I'm very controlled and need to loosen up a bit.

You:  Who is Rosetta Santucci?

Shells:  She's an Australian artist who's painting was recently shown on an Aust TV series "Offspring" above the main characters bed - and I loved it - she works with colour and layers too.  Check out the link.

You:  What are your favourite parts of this painting?

Shells:  I actually like the fact that the 'houses' are not all in a straight line, a little bit wonky, which to me shows the intuitiveness and unplanning of the painting - how it just happened.  Here are some of my favourite sections...

The top right hand section which I could never paint over..

And these 'haunted houses'...

You:  You said earlier this week that you were feeling overwhelmed, how are you feeling now?

Shells: Better, I caught up on a few chores that I had to do at home and got some painting done.  I had a headache most of the week and was feeling tired and achey and a little down.  My kids used up all our internet allowance so now the speed has slowed down and I'm unable to upload pics so right now I'm at my BFF's house using their internet - love you Sandra - she's a really good artist but it's not her passion.

You:  What will you be working on next? 

Shells:  I have to finish my butterfly window and my mini wooden houses and my butterfly girl too.

You:  Thanks for sharing that with us.

Shells: Thank you and have a great weekend.  Take care and stay safe.

Monday Morning Art Group Update

Every Monday morning I go to an art group at a local community learning centre.  People bring in the art they are working on at home and continue in class.  Everyone is supportive and helpful.

Here's what I'm working on...

More Butterfly Windows....needs a little decorating..

Before....

and I worked on Ribbons - she needed blocking out and less colours...sooo...

Before...

Before that...

Feeling a little overwhelmed by life at the moment with everything that needs to be done and the things that I want to do....ie ironing/pay bills/walk the dog/cleaning vs painting....such is life....

{Shell's Sunday Snippets}

 Went to Muckinbudin over the weekend - a 2 1/2 drive - to stay with friends on their farm.  These are pics of a nearby tourist attractions - Elachbutting Rock and Beringbooding Rock.  More pics on my facebook artist page.

Elachbutting Rock

Elachbutting Rock is a massive granite outcrop, a very popular camping sport for 4x4 wheel clubs and for locals, also a popular site for weddings. The name Elachbutting is thought to mean ‘that things standing’ which is quite feasible as Elachbutting is a large granite rock, a prominent landmark standing out from the surrounding countryside. It has a spectacular colourful wave similar to Hyden’s Wave Rock with the added beauty of ‘Monty’s Pass’, a 30m tunnel caused by a rock slide. An echoing cave similar to an amphitheatre is close by. The 6km track around the rock with its dense trees and shrubs hide many interesting species of flora. The east side is renowned for its masses of Donkey Orchids at the base to the rock.

Beringbooding Rock

Beringbooding Rock has the largest rock water catchment tank in Australia, built in 1937 and holding two and a quarter million gallons. “Sustenance Labour” was used to build the tank at a cost of 10,000 pounds. Beringbooding has an amazing balance boulder, a huge gnamma hole and some of the Kalamaia tribes paintings of hands in a cave at the rear of the rock. Two early pioneer wells are nearby. Spring finds the Pink Ti-tree, Heartshaped Leaf Eucalyptus Melaleuca, Acacia, Grevillea, hakea, Calothamnus, Eromophilia, Cassia, Quandongs, Sandalwood and the native Orchids flowering. Later into October and November the Kunzia Pulchella and One-sided Bottlebrush flower profusely. Many birds inhabit the area.

Help!!!!

I started this painting in April and have painted it intuitively according to Flora's Workshop but now argh.....I know what's wrong with it but am not sure how to fix it....need to block some of the busyness but which bits and what colour??? 

 Here is where it was at before I started this afternoon.

If you have any ideas or thoughts, esp if you have been to Flora's workshop or know about her work then please leave a comment.

Thanks.