Progress of the Pears

I had expected to be finished with this painting - it is only small.  But I find myself unable to stand for long at the easel before fatigue sets in so......I'm close but not finished.  Instead of pushing myself this afternoon I've laid down brushes and will take a break.  Here are some progress photos.

 I started today's session  by working on the tonal values that had were rather wishy washy when I finished painting last.

 Further work on the background and definition of tones.  The pear at front needs further work particularly where it's highlights are concerned.   Interestingly the shadows and reflections look far better in the photograph than I believe they look in real life.

So, I need to finish defining the tones, particularly the highlights, put on stalks, fiddle around a bit with the foreground and shadows and straighten the line between the dark background and the lighter bench top.  I keep changing the angle of it which is starting to test my patience if not my sanity!

Remember you can click on the images to see them larger.  I hope you are enjoying watching the pears take shape.  Be brave and leave a comment or question. :)

Back to the brushes....

Our art classes resumed yesterday and it was great to get back into it and so lovely to catch up with the other ladies in the group and our mentors.  Don started us off with a revision exercise very similar to our very first class with him when we started 12 months ago.  In that class with Don we worked on a still life of a pear. At the time it was rather stressful for us.....wasn't it ladies!! We rather thought Don was mad - What? A BIG BRUSH. He's got to be joking.  Drawing a curved object with STRAIGHT LINES.  What have we gotten ourselves into.... But the finished product turned out quite well - much to my surprise.

Yesterday Don took us back to the techniques and subject of still life and had us work on two pears. It was MUCH easier this time around.

Drawing in a quick tonal study and outline with a thin brush and slurry of paint and water.

Not quite finished and I've had little people here today (thank goodness the episode of sibling battery and subsequent blood, swelling and rush to the doctors took place after my sister had picked them up and taken them home...).  I'll finish up over the weekend and post the end result for you. 

Until then stay well and happy.

Sandy xx

Edited to add evidence of sibling battery....

 Now the drama has worn off "I never wanted this to happen ever in my WHOLE LIFE"....Miss R is rather pleased that she looks rather like her beloved Uncle Jeff (see yesterday's post).  Incredible.

Oh that man of mine!

As per his habit Jeff went for a mountain bike ride after work yesterday.  He arrived home earlier than I expected....looking worse for wear I suppose I could say.  Now after many years of almost continual accidents, ahem, strange misadventures, we've had a long and uneventful period.  This lulled me into a false sense of believing that it was all behind us! 

Now, how did this happen?  Careening down a hill at a crazy pace?  Hitting a kangaroo or wallaby with his bike and shooting over the handlebars? No, nothing so adventurous. 

While WALKING up a very steep pinch with his helmet in HIS HAND and his bike on his BACK, Jeff trips on a tree root falls face first into his helmet and the bike whacks him on the back of the head further driving his face into his helmet.  I. Kid. YOU. NOt.  We turned the kitchen bench into a temporary MASH unit and fixed him up.  Once we'd cleaned him up and started repairs we realised he probably needed stitching around the eye but decided to let the butterfly sutures do the job and save a trip to hospital.  No concussion - he made as little sense as ever!   He woke up feeling a bit miserable this morning but is ok.

I start back at art tomorrow......

An Unfinished Year

I've been looking at the many year end reviews on blogs that I follow and reflecting on my own 2013.  Really for me it feels like an unfinished year.  With our difficult family situation requiring so much attention everything that I was doing in my own life seems to have fallen by the wayside.  I've been in the studio cleaning up, doing a monumental declutter and rearranging things.  As I've done so I have come to realize that I have 10 unfinished paintings waiting to be completed.  I have wool and fabric purchased for projects that were abandoned before even starting them.  I have a project book where I write up all the things I'd like to do and barely anything has a wee tick against it. In 2013 I had also wanted to study with Mark Waller and that became impossible too.  Sigh.  With our family situation spilling, unresolved into 2014 I won't pressure myself to get in and finish all of these canvases and projects but I will gently and quietly get started on just one and hopefully make progress from there.  I have decided to continue to study painting with Don Milner and start back with the brushes this week. 

So far our 2014 has been startlingly busy and I am somewhat bemused to find myself writing January 14th in my journal.  Just HOW did it get to be January 14th already?  We've hosted more sleepovers, this time with our two youngest nephews. They were just so good. It was a joy to spend time with them and watch them enjoy time together (they are cousins).   The sun tent cubby house with fairy lights once again proved to be a huge hit.  You may note the sunshine coming in the window to the top right.  It took much work to convince these little ones that they didn't really have to go to bed 'right now', it would still be here later when it was dark and indeed bedtime!  Funny things.

The next morning Uncle Jeff and the boys went for a hike up a local lookout for some boy time.  Kids loved it and were very chuffed to have walked up the lookout.

They returned full of beans and dove into building a sheet cubby house. 

Over a period of 3 days we also celebrated two special birthdays.

Captain Jack Sparrow turned a very exciting six years old and I earned 'much loved Aunty' points for providing the gift of a spectacular wig and accompanying pirate items.  So funny.

Shortly after my own sweet boy celebrated his 40th with chocolate cake (of course - if you know Jeff you know this is a MUST). 

You are NEVER too old to like the cake mix out of the bowl (notice the chocolate on his shirt).....

or the icing out of it's mixing bowl. 

Wishing that your 40th year is your best year ever.

love Sandy. xxxx

When You Least Expect It...

You sell a painting....

I finished this back in March and it has hung on my wall ever since patiently waiting to steal someone's heart.  On Christmas day my Mum brought her neighbour along to our celebrations so she wouldn't be alone for the day.  This lovely lady, who is a fun 93 years old, fell in love with the painting and purchased it.  I went around today and hung it on her wall for her and she is absolutely delighted which is lovely. It's so much fun to have a part in making people happy!

The Days Around Christmas 2014

We've been dressing up.  The two pirates were shy and were not to be photographed as that would show people where the treasure was. If you look carefully you can see one pirate in the background of the bottom photo.

Jigsaw puzzles and the building of Bilbo Baggins Bag End in lego.  The children flitted in and out of these activities. Running, chasing, swimming, hide and seek with Aunty Sandy were more to their taste on the day.

Poppy and the boys.

Some quiet time amid the chaos and fun.  Uncle Poh (from Kung Fu Panda) is hiding in the back of his ute in the front yard to scratch his scratchies.  Peace....

The kids made their own orange juice slushies with gifts from my sister.  Pretty awesome little inventions. You freeze the cups then add juice, softdrink, flavoured milk - whatever takes your fancy.  Then squeeze the cup repeatedly and a slushy appears in the middle.  Voila!

Chalk love letters to family.  So very sweet.

Glow sticks in the pool for Mr J and Miss S on their Boxing day sleepover.  SO... MUCH....FUN...

Camping out in in the playroom and watching a movie on the big screen.  Kids thrilled and the old peoples home they put Jeff and I in has just improved in quality!!  ha ha.

To cap it all off a HUGE branch came down on the neighbours driveway and over the road.  The top photo is after extensive chainsawing, pushing and pulling to get the bottom half of the branch off the driveway. Yes this is only half of the branch.  The whole thing was probably 20m long perhaps more and came off the tree you see on the right edge of the driveway in the bottom photograph.  It's the second big branch to drop from this tree in 3 weeks. The bloke in the red ute who narrowly missed having the branch fall on him as he drove past got his Christmas miracle.

I hope you are all having a safe and happy holiday period and that work is being kind to you if you are back on the job.

Tree Day

For the past 8 or so years since I first became an aunty I have hosted Tree Day here at my house.  Being married to the Grinch I wanted to share the joy of decorating for Christmas with my niece and nephews while giving them a tradition to share with their cousins.  Each year I give them a new decoration to hang on the tree and it's always fun to choose the decorations each year.  As I was so involved in the day - supervising tinsel, dogs, children etc I didn't take photos. My sister Susan stepped into the gap though and even wrote a lovely blog post about it (I feel very teary).  Head on over and read about our Tree Day at Daydream in Colour.  Hope you enjoy it.