Ngatahi unveiling, art auction and exhibition opening

The NZ Art Guild and the Mental Health Foundation would like to formally invite you to

"Out of the Blue" Charity Art Auction and Exhibition Opening night: Thursday 2nd July 2009 at 6:30pm - Free entry - All welcome Venue: Bruce Mason Centre, Cnr Hurstmere Rd and the Promenade,Takapuna Beach, Auckland Exhibition Open: 2nd - 30th July 2009. Mon to Fri 9 - 5 & Sat 10 - 4

Featuring the NZ Art Guild 2009 Collaborative Art Project "Ngatahi" a fantastic, single artwork created by 61 artists which will be revealed on opening night and auctioned off at this one of a kind, not to missed charity event

Well known NZ artists - Nancy Frazer, Sophia Elise, Tanya Dann, Beate Minderjahn, Jennifer Christiansen, Julia Dungan, LisaSarah, Natahsa Wheeler, Alison Mulgrew, Jane Bold and Terri Dangen - have also donated fantastic artworks which will auctioned.

100% of the proceeds from the art auction will be donated to the Mental Health Foundation of NZ.

To coincide with this event 42 artists from around NZ will be having a month long exhibition of original, diverse artworks depicting "Our Country, Our People, Our Culture"

We would be delighted if you would join us in the opening celebrations of this fantastic charity event - please forward this invitation on to your friends, family, colleagues or anyone else who may be interested. For full details about this event and to view the auction catalogue go to http://www.nzartguild.co.nz/ and click on the MHF Charity Auction button.Or take a virtual tour http://www.gallerycentric.com/ (sponsored by Gallery Centric)

Creative Dreaming

For some reason I am waking up each morning with all these creative dreams swirling in my head. Not just for painting or drawing but all sorts of things. This morning I could see children's t-shirts with screen-prints on them whereas the other day it was women's skirts with layers and embellishments and all sorts. It is inspiring me to try some new things and I really really want to find a screen-printing course as I think that would be heaps of fun.

And if you ever wanted to know how to get a dog to patiently pose for 30 odd photos - hold a tiny teddy biscuit up by the lens and you get some beautiful shots.

Connor will be 8 years old this September and was not my favourite being in the world this morning, nor our cat's favourite being. Yesterday I ran out of cat food so I dragged myself out to the supermarket in the dark and in the rain last night and got a box with 12 pouches in it. Put them on a shelf in the garage about 1.2m up. This morning when Lucy (the cat) summoned the servant (me) to feed her, I found an empty box on the floor to my bemusement. Then I turned to my studio part of the garage with the carpet on the floor to find 12 foil packets of cat food ripped open and completely cleaned out of anything resembling food. So obviously my lovely dog decided he needed a midnight snack last night so decided to get nice and comfy on my carpet to tear open each individual packet to fullfil his need.

And for those of you that say dogs don't remember when they have done wrong - that is a load of crock. When the dog bounds down the stairs with you, gets to the bottom and then suddenly starts slinking and crawling - you know he's done something and has just remembered it. Normally Connor is a really well-behaved dog but when it comes to food, I think he decides the punishment is worth it. And today he is being punished by having to stay home with me and the kids while his father goes to work without him. However given my children's tendency to ensure he gets well fed with anything they don't want, it probably isn't a major punishment.

WIP - Figure in oils

It is a glorious sunny winter's day here in Auckland (yet again) which is such a change from the constant rain we normally get in winter. It does mean that it is colder but I can live with that. I have just had a blissful hour and a half in the studio while my children sleep. That is a biggie this week as naptime has been a battle most days with my son who is going through a stage at the moment (if you read between the lines a "stage" means lots and lots of tantrums as part of the terrible two's).

Normally on a sunny day I like to have the garage door up and sit in the sun to paint, but it is too cold today so instead I had the fan heater at my feet and my ipod on and painted to Wycliff Jean then Tracy Chapman and it was great.

I still have a long long way to go on this one but I am enjoying the slow process of building up the form - it almost feels like I am trying to sculpt it and each time I have a crack at this one, I build her up just a little bit more. I still don't know how I will do the background. I just threw some red paint on today just to see how that would work and I quite like that so I think she will stay sitting on something red but it might look a look different to this. It is a fairly large painting as you can see from my easel (which is not a small easel) in the photo but I am really enjoying the journey with this one.

Tayla's portrait in oils - finished

I finally had a session on this last Friday and managed to finish it. Reasonably happy with it but look forward to future improvements with portraits. I think you just have to do it and each time it gets better (except for the odd one in between which gets thrown out).

Last night my little girl was diagnosed with asthma so that is something that we will be keeping a close eye on. We don't know yet if she will get it mild or bad, so I am just really grateful that my husband is an asthmatic because he picked it up last night when it was a gentle wheeze when I thought it was just a blocked nose. The Doctor said that not many parents pick it up so quickly as he did so I am really grateful for that. I spent the night on a mattress in the kids room so I could listen to her breathing during the night, so needless to say I didn't sleep well, even though she did. I am also grateful that we live in a very warm dry house.

So lots of life challenges going on at the moment which must be all happening for a reason - I would just like to know some of the reasons now rather than waiting for the clarity of hindsight. The Life Coaching Diploma I am currently completing is really great for enforcing some self-reflection. We have to work through the process ourselves that we will use with clients, so that is really interesting and why I am looking for the connections of why things happen, especially when the same type of challenge happens over and over again where there is obviously a lesson to be learnt - I just need to figure out what.

But the sun is shining and it is a crystal clear winter's day here in Auckland - cold, but preferable to the warmer rainy weather that we otherwise get, so while the kids are sleeping (not that they have dropped off yet), I am going to lie in the sun on the couch and listen to my ipod - Bliss.