Back to basics.

 I have long felt that tingle in the cerebellum signalling a need to get back into painting but this is a desire fraught with danger. One wrong stroke of the brush could leave me a whimpering mess. Drawing, doodling, a little half hearted watercolouring, all good, but when it comes to putting acrylic to to canvas?...there lies that nasty little bug in your brain called the EGO!
The logical answer to the problem was to start at the beginning and go on from there. So, this week marked the beginning of a daily painting exercise on very small, teeny tiny canvases (20 by 20 cm that's about eight inches for the non decimals amongst you). What to paint? well I am currently working through the contents of my refrigerator, hey fruits and vegetables are good for you right? Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday went sort of OK and today was my life drawing day but tomorrow I have a big decision, capsicum or lemons!
Sunday's one.

 Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Today as mentioned was life drawing. The model was a particularly athletic young man with wonderful muscle definition, great to draw.

The craft cooperative operating out of our little shop is doing well, we are all bullish and everyone likes our new name "Fancy That", a name which clearly shows that even we are astonished at our audacious venture.

Oh, OK....

Although normally being an average suburban slug I have been speeding around this week propelled by steroids and a desire to get back into the jungle that is life outside of John Hunter Hospital.
Yes that's right, I have been held hostage to my lungs yet again. These visits to the hospital to administer Drano to those pesky organs are like the chorus in a Greek tragedy, repetitive, grisly and ultimately everyone dies!
I escaped though after two weeks and ploughed into it. Wednesday I was discharged in the morning, went to do my shift at the shop, Thursday catching up on stuff, Friday entertained second son and his friend to afternoon tea, Saturday, shop again, Sunday Barbeque with son and friend, Monday to Sydney with them and a hectic visit until Wednesday morning, home in the afternoon and back to the shop and today Life Drawing!
Result; I am pooped!
The hotel in Sydney was amazing, Addams Family revisited. The decor was fun and spooky, retro and funky. Not cheap but worth it being right in the heart of Sydney.

The Lobby, Qt Hotel Sydney.

Heigh ho!

Ups and downs....

A big up this week was getting some little dishes made by a potter friend Ali Sobel-Read http://www.potteryali.com. Ali made the dishes as a favour using an imprint of my little handmade echidna stamp. she tried four different glazes, all are fine but my favourite is the black one, probably because I am used to seeing the stamp impression in black.

Life drawing was very good this week , our model was a lass who had never modelled before but she did an excellent job and she was very lovely as well. Usually I struggle to draw "perfect" bodies but this model was so classically "put together" that I really enjoyed drawing her.

The "down" this week is that the days of the craft shop co-op may be numbered. Difficulty with manning the shop and attracting suitable makers whose work will not clash with other shopkeepers in the building is proving very disappointing. It has been fun while it lasted, the only bright side is that if I am not so involved in making and manning I will finally have time to get famous! I do feel however, that I'm cutting it a bit close, being in my 70th year.
At the very least my forearms and fingers will thank me for it because such has been the demand for the stuff I make, there being fewer people involved, that I have been in danger of repetitive strain injury!  Always look on the bright side!
We shall see...maybe I will have time for that portrait painting group, hmmmnnn.

A long humid Summer..

means a lot of "lounge lizard" (in)activity.
Work for the shop goes on and in between there is life drawing, Urban sketching and finally some etegami.

A little bit cryptic but says a lot of what I feel. Valentine's Day is this weekend  so a heart image seemed appropriate. It sounds a bit dramatic to say that one is misunderstood but there are some who willfully look for a reason to paint you in an unfavourable light...just sayin'.
Anyway, Happy Valentine's Day peeps, I'll be getting my usual nothing (the Prof is not romantic) but it is the other 364 days that matter, not to mention the 51 years of being a wonderful mate.
So, Happy Valentine's Day my love.

The naked truth!

A great session at life drawing and a great model.
Nice to take time out from feverishly making 'stuff' for the Emporium Shop and just indulge in  something that has no need to sell.  It was a bit of a surprise to me then  to find that I had actually sold one of my sketches at the group end of year show! The drawing was one of Angela which I previously published on the blog.
I guess this has emboldened me to publish some more from last week's session;

I choose to take an academic approach because I feel that I don't have to make an Arty statement or produce a finished work, I simply want  to get my 'eye' in. Amazing that this discipline has helped my drawing overall, even the Urban Sketching

51 not out, a little down maybe!

Yep, it is our 51st wedding anniversary today so bear with me while I trip down memory lane.
The  scene; university of Sydney Wheat Research Station, Narrabri  NSW.
Enter, Don, AKA the Prof, a recently graduated fellow now researching root growth in wheat plants (a topic which caused some hilarity among the farm staff), and Carole, recently graduated high school student  filling in time as a research assistant while expecting to go on to greater things.
The plot thickens!
Thrown into close proximity during a long cold winter in the potting shed the two young seekers find warmth in each other's company, the rest is history.
Fifty one years, a Phd, an Art degree, two children and numerous moves and here we are, still providing warmth for each other.
That day 51 years ago (the world was black and white then).

                                                                                                                                                                    Who could resist those eyes?

     

I miss my freckles and the gap in my teeth!

    

Thank you for your forbearance!

My life in fuzzy pictures.

Moving into town has certainly given me a new lease on life and a greater involvement in doings outside of my four safe walls.
 During the last couple of weeks I have been up and down the main drag (Hunter St) on the lovely free bus which directly connects me to the local fabric and craft store...pig heaven. The only catch is that I have to cross the rail line using 30 looong steps up and over to catch aforementioned bus. I count it as a compressed form of exercise which surely substitutes for that recommended 30 minutes a day! Regular trips are necessary to top up the supplies for things I make for the craft shop.
My involvement in the Emporium craft shop/gallery is moving right along, I have been busy this last week or so making origami birds and little stuffed bird ornaments and the echidnas are still selling like, well hot echidnas!

Our attempt to Christmas-ify the old space, behind the wall is the ghost of a very ritzy department store.

 Young Madeline arranging my birds on our Aussie Christmas tree!

A sad spot in the week was a gathering at a local pub with other "True Believers" to farewell a grand old man of the Labor Party, Gough Whitlam, who died last week at the great age of 98. He can truly be said to have been a man who changed the face of Australia and implemented many social justice reforms for all especially the indigenous people. Vale Gough.

I made three terrariums (or is that terrarii?) and dressed them for Halloween.

A cruise ship came and went......

I met an Etegami Club friend from Brisbane for the first time. Leeanne was in Newcastle to show off her skills at a Ukelele Festival! We are a diverse lot in the Etegami Fun Club!

And a spot of Urban Sketching to record yet another building which is in the process of demolition, I guess they will keep the facade to give the planned apartments a bit of character.
If they keep repurposing and wrecking these old buildings where will all the funky coffee shops live? (worried look).

Thursday life.

More of the same.....
Life drawing yesterday was  very enjoyable. Our model, a tall African girl was expert at holding poses which made it easy to concentrate on her fine musculature. I do think that going to a life drawing session every week is helping me to see better. Unfortunately it is not helping me with my photography skills.

I am desperate to learn how to photograph my drawings, this is my latest clumsy attempt to  adjust the colour, really the paper is white not blue and the pencil is sanguine!

Looking at a Teddy Bear through a glass darkly.

Rocked up to life drawing class this morning to find that the organizer has quit and we were left to our own devices.
Not all bad, an excuse to stare at my fellow artists and scrutinize each one as they sat for us in 15 minute 'bites'. I was luckily spared the scrutiny.
One downside is that we will no longer be provided with the splendiferous morning tea/lunches that we had come to expect.
Apparently this group have been meeting for many years and until recently had organized themselves, so it is back to the old days and 'bring a plate' (that quaint Aussie expression which has confused many immigrants who didn't realize that there is meant to be something ON the plate!
So, a morning of 15 minute sketches, apologies for the lousy photography!
                                                                   Half sheet

Quarter sheets

 

I have come to the conclusion that I am quite good at drawing teddy bears but terrible at drawing trainers (running shoes)!
For the technically minded I used a big fat 2B graphite stick, a rather blunt instrument but allowing freedom to wobble about.

I have not been idle...

Lately my life has been hijacked by the need to keep up stocks in the craft shop where I sell my stuff. I'm not complaining mind you but I have been working my little fingers to the bone.
I love doing this because it keeps my aging hands nimble, also, I actually feel the need to produce stuff (that's the residue of my Protestant work ethic ) and by sitting in the shop every Saturday I get a lot of feedback and contact with the people who come in.
The shop is one of a group situated in a now defunct  department store in the the dead heart of the city. An enterprising soul thought that it was such a waste to see all of those empty shops and actually did something about it , thus RENEW Newcastle was born and crafty folk and artists can use some of these empty spaces for a peppercorn rent. The new shops and coffee shops (life is nothing sans coffee) have brought new energy to the city precinct but of course it will only last until it has achieved its aim and the wreckers ball moves in to make way for apartments in the revitalized area! Catch 22, (thank you Joseph Heller).
Just a taste of my wares!
Flanders poppy pins (try saying that three times quickly). I though these might be nice given that it is the 100th anniversary of the beginning of The Great War, remember that one?, it was meant to end all wars, sigh.
Next April 25 also marks the 100th anniversary of the battle of Anzac Cove, a defeat that has come to symbolize bravery and sacrifice and is deeply embedded  in the Australian and New Zealand psyches.

Next are a few little birds I have been working on for Christmas ornaments.

Next, a little gathering of Echidnas, freely extrapolated from a Little Cotton Rabbits pattern for hedgehogs ( longer snouts, more spiny yarn.

It is so nice with the warmer weather to be able to sit on my lovely balcony and work, I am blessed!