Almost finished - Tayla's portrait

I had a good session on Tayla's portrait today and I think one more session will finish it. I still need some final glazes on her face to get the skintone right and the eyes need more work (including adding eyelashes) and the clothes need some more work as well. I'm not happy with the hair either - I think some of the problem with that is that in the photo her hair has quite a reddish strawberry tinge but in real life she is a real wee blondie now so I will play around with that some more.

Felt so damn good to get a brush into oil paint again though......

Hunger

I am hungry - I want to paint and I want to draw and I want to create.

Today is the first day I have felt well in a week. My husband and I were struck down with a horrendous bug and were very very sick. Was a slow process to feel better each day and manage something more than a supplies trip to the supermarket. Today I feel good and I have just meandered around in my studio, moving things around, putting things away in preparation for fulfilling this hunger I have to create. I am craving it, I want a pencil in my hand, I want to be mixing colours with oil paint (isn't oil paint just the yummiest texture ever).

There are so many other priorities that are calling me right now - things that didn't get completed while I was sick, so I won't start anything right this minute even though the pull is so so strong, but perhaps, just perhaps, if I do some of what I have to do and tick off some of the to do list, tonight might be the night to put the heater on, pull on my apron and paint.

resin resin resin

Another week has passed (flown by) and life is full. Highlights included my first teleconference for the life coaching diploma I have started and my hometown rugby team (the Canterbury Crusaders) winning their match against the Auckland Blues last night. Even though this year will mark a decade living in Auckland, once you are a Cantab, you can never ever ever support Auckland in any sport. Just gets ingrained in you if you are raised in Christchurch. Must be something in the water (which is a damn sight tastier than Auckland water - must be those provincial pride additives they sneak in).

Lowlights involved being a bit concerned about Carter as he is looking pale at the moment but the Dr has ruled out anything serious being wrong and we are off to the Naturopath this week as I think it is food intolerance's again. He has a sensitive system like his mother.

This piece above is the largest resin piece to go into Cafe Apollo (hopefully this week) when I do the next swap around. I have some extra pieces left to resin but most are done and all ready to go except for titles. Think I will be placing them all around the walls and throwing names at them to see what sticks. They look so pretty all stacked together with the glossiness of the resin and the different colours. Lots of small ones, so will be interesting to see if they sell in this market (the market where a huge amount of people have not been directly affected financially in any way but are so hooked into what "the media" says that they have changed their spending behaviour and actually dragging NZ into this recession). Soapbox speech over. Talk soon.

Ngatahi - NZ Art Giuld collaborative project 2009

Each year the NZ Art Guild does a collaborative project which is made up of a number of small pieces by individual artists which all together form one larger image. This year I will once again be painting 2 pieces for this, and this is one of them. I can't show the other piece yet as it is a critical piece for the overall image and I think it would let the cat out of the bag so to speak if I did.

This is Shag Rock, down on Sumner beach in Christchurch. The title of the Collaborative project is Ngatahi (which means Together in Maori) and the theme is Our Land. Christchurch is where I grew up and this particular beach has many memories for me from my childhood, teenagehood and adulthood. So it is a part of this beautiful country that I love dearly. I also love the ocean and I think with New Zealand being so small and narrow, that going to the beach is part of life. I find it hard to comprehend when I think about people who live in the middle of large land-locked countries who potentially may never experience the ocean in their lives and I feel grateful that it is part of mine.

This year, the entire proceeds from the auction of Ngatahi will be going to the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand which is a fantastic charity to support. Also, my lovely husband will be assisting Sophia Elise (Manager of the NZ Art Guild ) and I with doing the practical building of the frame for this. Damn useful being married to a builder. Tomorrow I will be heading over to Sophia's to do the initial putting together of Ngatahi. I can't wait to see all the small paintings that have been sent back. They are all 150 x 150mm.

and why you should never have a white duvet when you have a black dog

Just a quick photo taken with my blackberry when I headed up to bed the other night. Why I bought a white duvet, I just don't know. I think it was better to be in blissful ignorance of just how much dog hair there is, rather than all the extra washing I do now in my battle to rid myself of black dog hairs from our bed linen.

I know, we could kick him off the bed, but he is getting older (8 this year) and it is getting colder and we are soft.

life is good!

It is May, almost half way through the year and life is busy and great. I am juggling lots of things at the moment and managing those successfully by being slack in some other areas, ie updating my blog. However I have just had a really good session during nap time when I resined 6 pieces - 4 small, 1 medium and 1 large.

As the resin is currently setting and will probably take a bit longer than normal due to how colddddddd (teeth chattering) it is here in Auckland today, I had to take some photos of the pieces lying down but you can get the picture.

After I resined, I got some more work done on Tayla's portrait. This is a very ugly stage and there is heaps and heaps to do on this, but I thought you might be interested in the progress. I did the background today because it is heaps easier to do the hair after the background is laid in as I learnt from Carter's portrait that green hair just doesn't work.

My new business is all coming along really really well and I am immersed in research and workshop development. I start a diploma in Life Coaching next week as well to provide additional skills for my career coaching programme and I am so excited about that. I hope to have a website developed and up and running in the near future for my business.

Art is still happening, but it is my relaxer (if I can invent a word) rather than my work. I truly believe it is so important to have passions and art is that for me, but this new direction I am going with my business is also a passion and I don't feel that either is exclusive to the other. In fact, feeling inspired and fulfilled by my art, my work and my family brings me my balance and it is really important to me that I maintain that as I am determined not to lose it after searching for it for so many years.