Playing with paint

It was so hot I was up early and doing the watering and decided to have another try at the far end of the Penneshaw Bay working from a tonal sketch I had made.
Still not satisfied with it but something to put up.

Quick sketch

This is a very quick sketch of the back garden at Penneshaw.
We have been very busy all day and what with house cleaning and going out for a social and very delicious lunch no time for anything.
Probably not much time tomorrow either, I think I will be glad when I have the house to myself!

From Antechabmer Bay

I did this in my sketchbook so it is a bit runkled and it was a photo not a scan but it was of the mainland and the rocks and hillside at the northern end of the bay.
I am totally pooped today, we packed up, it has been very hot, we loaded the car, caught an earlier ferry and drove home and then unpacked the car and I have been unpacking stuff ever since. Jill and John have gone in to get a pizza as I couldnt thin enough to make dinner.
Last nights dinner was so good I dont think I could do another!
Weather is really hotting up, 41degrees for Adelaide on New years Day, so I am not sure what we are going to do, I am not very good if it is too hot, my feet and generally my body doesnt like it.
Photos of the week are on my backvalleyseasons blog.

Aftermath of the fire

Today I painted what had been in my mind all day, the image of burnt trees and fire blackened banksia's. I just wanted to leave the one really burnt looking shrub as that is what had really hit me.
A slow day today catching up on things and friends, tomorrow we leave.

Burnt Banksia's

Today we went to see what the fires in Flinder's Chase had done. We really wanted to go to Cape Borda and Harvey's Return as we have never been down to that far end before.
No sign of fires as we went along the main central road, and not until we got to the Chase did we see it, and then mostly on one side of the road, but there you could see hectares and hectares of burnt scrub.
It even went around the front of the Cape Borda lighthouse.
I have seen the aftermath of many fires but what really got me was the look of the Banksia's with their candles blackened on the blackened bushes. They however are the lucky ones, they need fire to regenerate.There were tales from the fishermen around the coast of dead kangaroos for miles out around that end of the Island as they were driven to the cliffs by the fire. I hate to think of the small birds, lizards etc that didnt make it as almost all of Flinders Chase was burnt and that is a huge area of National Park on the end of the Island.

Merry Christmas, Seasons Greetings from Kangaroo Island

This is the bit of coast we can see from the right hand side of the house.
I painted it yesterday while Jill and John were playing golf.
Merry Christmas to all who read my blog and you are valued for the bits of encouragement you give me throughout the year.
Blowing a gale but blue sky today.
We went exploring some lovely bits we hadnt seen before this morning, over to what is called Redcliffs.We have had a cold lunch and I am girding up to cook the duck tonight.
Jill keeps on complaining of the cold and John and I are revelling in the mild conditions. These Queenslanders are so thin blooded!
Oh bother I have just looked at this and it says the 24th of December and I am actually writing this on the 25th.

Antechamber Bay, Kangaroo Island

I painted this this morning sitting on a low sand dune, while John fished (and caught two nice little mullet) and Jill walked. Not a lot of difference between sea and air and I took a photo so its not the same as using the scanner. It seemed to wash out the centre and the right side.
I didnt quite have the right colours as I was using a very limited palette and a few things happened to it that were not supposed to, but I rather like the very mistyness of it.
Holiday mode is to the fore, we are walking, eating, sleeping, playing pool and drinking we hope in moderation!
I have another painting I would like to do tomorrow but I have to go to Kingscote and shop while Jill and John play golf so we will see and we have friends in tomorrow night. The cook has responsibilities!!

Yesterday

With no scanner the sketches will have to wait but I did want to put up a few photos, the first was taken at about 9 pm from the front of our little house and the other was of John on his birthday holding our youngest grandchild Millie with me looking on.
We are having a wonderful time and holiday mode has now set in.

Where I am

I took the first photo this morning in mid Gulf this morning and the second from outside the house we rent on Kangaroo Island at Penneshaw.
I know they are not sketches I did actually manage a small painting on the ferry this morning but we dont have a scanner here so they will have to wait until I get home on the 28th.
We are over here for John's 70th tomorrow and some of the family are coming over for the day, the forecast doesnt sound very promising but it was a lovely day today. We will then relax and have Christmas here and a few days afterwards, not sure how much exploring we will do this time as a lot of the island conservation parks were burnt out in the last few weeks.
I cant believe John will be 70, he certainly doesnt look it or behave like it.

A small bit of seasonal finery

I have at last made it back to a sketch of sorts. It has been a mad few days, baby sitting the grumpy baby, setting up the decorations, all to be seen on the back valley seasons blog and a frantic day today with a feeling of awful (cant spell It!!) nausia ok, sickness, I think it was watching Sarah's effort on an old video I get sea sick and car sick at the drop of a hat, so video' s do it to me too!! any way this hit in the middle of the afternoon, dont ask!!
Any way this is the smaller secondary tree on top of the butlers what not, dont know what it is called but that is what we call it.
I had to do something this blog has been sadly neglected.
It has finally cooled down and we have had a totally useless shower of rain, a few heavy spots, and the weather bureau was so far out on their estimated temperatures today it wasnt funny.
My poor chooks have been fed at night not the morning, and tomorrow I think we will be off all day, delivering presents far and wide! The only window of opportunity. I dont give many but only to very old and dear friends but they dont exactly live near by.

Kangaroo Paws from the garden

Love Kangaroo Paws, and so do the honey eaters, I felt rather bad about cutting these for the house but I need something inside.
Still cool and damp, fires still raging on the Island, hope your place is ok Tony.
About to go out so getting this up in a hurry.
Pre Christmas is hitting with a rush.

This morning in Victor

I had a blood test this morning which means being in at 8 am with no breakfast. I do this about every 3 months.
John wanted the mail and I needed some things from the shops, some of which didnt open until 9 am so I went down to the beach near the Hindmarsh River opening to the sea and sat and sketched these groins which are rotting away. Had a walk and got a damp and sandy bottom. It was quite cool but very pleasant, the odd person walking a dog who obviously thought I was mad sitting with sketch and painting stuff on my knee.
Well I have made a Christmas (boiled fruit) cake and done some washing and am progressing with Millies first Christmas ornament, which is taking more time than I thought.
With awful fires on Kangaroo Island I am wondering what it will be like when we get over there next week.

Agaves at Aldinga Beach

John was going fishing with D'Arry today and as they were going off Aldinga Beach I went too and spent some of the time with a friend. I sketched these agaves on the cliff just near the boat launching area. I love the way they send their flower spikes up to the sky but dont like their spiky leaves. Some people call them century plants as they believe they only flower once a century but this is not correct.
A lovely day for the beach and the fellows came in with some lovely fish and a squid which we had for dinner tonight, crumbed with a salad.

From my sketchbook

I have been playing around with some faces, possibly for some new dolls I want to make.
Very very hot today, fires all over, I could smell the smoke when I went out to water the pots and put some water in the hanging pot for the willy wagtail family who are nesting in the tree close by.
I had a lunch to go to today, and John had one at another venue so it worked out reasonably well.
I am trying to find a cheap stamp album for my youngest grand son, I dont think people collect stamps any more, the toy shop and newsagent had nothing, the post office a bit but no albums. How odd, one of the best ways of learning where countries are.

Cliffs near Ardrossan

I love using these strong colours, our cliffs are sand or rock but these wonderful red ones blew me away.
Too busy for much today, boy will I be glad when all this Festive season is over.

Part of Paddy's garden

A very quick sketch yesterday with a bit of colour added today. I am not in the mood for doing anything that requires thought!
The build up for Christmas is getting worse with more and more things being thrown at both of us, I cant see that I will have everything done in time, but the Christmas cards are now done, one to mentally cross off the list.
Now to make a cake, and finish off some more decorations.

Henry the fifth

Damn damn damn, I have lost the first part of this post. I hate it when that happens.
Any way I noticed that this afternoon on ABC there was my most favorite film of all time Henry the Fifth with Laurence Olivier.
Well the new TV and probably digitally enhancing of the film made a huge difference. It always amazes me that when I see Shakespere he is so modern in his outlook.
When Henry was doing his bit at night wandering amongst his soldiers and worrying about the outcome, it really could be a modern leader doing the same thing (I wonder if Kevin Rudd has watched it and felt the same!!)
I really get quite emotional about that film, the loss of the boys, and the way the whole thing was done, starting in the Globe theater and then going into almost Breughel like backdrops in France.
So I had a wonderful time getting a lot of hand stitching done, John was away fishing and just me and Larry. My sister actually met him and his then wife Vivien Leigh when they came to Adelaide.
So a few quick scribbles to commemorate a wonderful film. I even found Robert Helpmann there as the Bishop of Ely. The music of the battle is quite magnificent.
I remember seeing it in the theatre, then on our awful small tv and it wasnt a patch on what I saw today.

Irises and strelizia

These Irises are nearly over in the garden and there have been a succession of strelizia flowers.
we have been cool but a bit humid down here, in the low 20's while Adelaide has been in the 30's all week, and we are only about 50 kms away. Amazing, and lovely for us.
I have been so busy getting ready for Christmas, I make a lot of my presents (jewelery for the girls) but there are never enough and as it gets closer I have more to do.
We went out to dinner for the Business Association Awards last night, it was a 60's theme so I hauled out my mothers old wrap around Marimekko skirt, it looked great although it didnt fit as well as it once did! The date on the skirt material was 1967.

Trying faces

I saw this fellow on TV something to do with problems in some part of Africa, i rather liked the shape of his head but he was not on for long enough!
No time for much else, cool down here, hotter in Adelaide, a sea fog came up[ tonight. We had hoped for rain but at least this is better than nothing.
John is watching Inspector Rex, I had better join him.
I spoke to Tabby tonight who had been to see the doctor today who said Millie was a little pig, she had put on more weight than the average, and she is sleeping from 8.30 pm to about 3 am so doing well.

From the beach at Tiddy Widdy

This was looking towards the silos at Ardrossan again but this time in colour.
I am not having much time at the moment, the build up to Christmas is always stressful for me and possibly more so at the moment.
I will try to do the odd sketch and painting but time is not with me.

TiddyWiddy

TiddyWiddy is just north of Ardrossan on York Peninsula in South Australia and I sketched this this morning while walking along the beach towards Ardrossan and those are the cliffs and the silos done in a hurry as it was windy and the flies were appalling.
We had a wonderful few days, mostly doing sewing stuff and I took lots of photos but not much sketching so I will do a few from the photos, plein air was not pleasant as it was pretty windy and as I said, the flies!!
I will try and translate this into paint as the cliffs were a wonderful red, not done justice in my photos as I walked really early around 7 am every morning and the light wasnt too good.

favorite vase

Good Grief I have just come in to write this up and instead of homely Maggie Beer and Simon from the Hyatt in the Cook and the Chef which I love and find the recipes very useful I saw Nigella whatever her name is being sexy with food. The mind boggles as she looks arch over placing paprika on sour cream.
Any way we had 10 mls of lovely rain last night and today I feel tired as it cooled down enormously.
This is the vase Tabby gave me for my birthday, today filled with the lovely lime green ends of branches I cut off the pin oak in the walled garden.Done in a hurry as I am tired after doing a lot of mundane housewifely things today and now John is out for a dinner meeting. I dont much like dinner meetings but not much I can do about it.

Parson's Beach

I did this today, from a photo as today was damp and cool, thank goodness and I was trying to get a host of things out of the way before I go away over the week end. We voted on Saturday so I dont have to worry about that, it will be schoolies week end as well so a good time not to be in Victor.

One of the views while having coffee

This is some ones back yard or rather the back of some flats that I could see while having coffee the other morning.
A fence a rose, some irises and a background of trees and buildings.
I am being very slap dash at the moment as nothing is grabbing me.
I think I am too worried about Christmas coming and all it means, presents, getting it all organised and going away.
Very hot in Adelaide today which is where I was in the morning seeing my mother. We came home for a late lunch and then I didnt seem to do much.
A lovely line quoted by one of our artists Ian Hannaford which was reported to have been said by Picasso, paintings are never finished you abandon it.

Coffee at the Anchorage

I seem to have made the umbrella rather small but I was sketching in the small sketchbook. I have to say the coffee in Pt Lincoln was much much better, and it was hot, the Anchorage stuff was cold and we had to wait for ages. So here is to Del Giorno's of Port Lincoln for the best coffee and view around.
I havent had much time for sketching or painting and it may get worse for a while as with Christmas coming and being away next week end as well there is not much time.

Pt Lincoln

I did these while we were at Pt Lincoln. The first is of the silo's and part of the loading jetty and the second very sketchy sketch is of the loading gantries and jetty, I found them very difficult to do as when it was cooler in the early morning they didnt stand out very well and in the afternoon I discovered that there were two very large ships moored next to that gantry jetty! That is probably not the correct name for it but it will do.
It got very hot so I was continuously trying to find shade or had retired back to the hotel room which did have air conditioning but the only view of the sea, which was advertised was if I stood in a corner of the room, other wise I saw a roof and the sky.
I did a lot of walking and a bit of shopping and quite a bit of sewing while John was at the conference for most of Wednesday afternoon, all of Thursday and all Friday morning.
I did find an excellent coffee shop but the flies were a bit bad and at certain times the sun was on everything.
Some one to talk to would have been nice but all the other wives were at the marina and with no car that was rather a long way away.
Two excellent dinners with lots of lovely fresh sea food made up for it and some reasonable wine.

Elephant ears in my garden

These lovely big aroids have a green flower with the most incredible smell. I always know when they are flowering by the perfume.
A hurried sketch with some paint thrown at it as we had a flat out day.

Morning walk at Normanville

This looks very washed out, I dont know if it is my computer or what but in the flesh it looks much stronger.
It was quite hot this morning, hotter on the gulf side than at home but a lovely drive over and a good hours walk on a beach I knew so well as a child. Things have changed of course as there are now so many houses along that bit of coast but at least not too much in the way of sea weed.
A coffee and we drove home on a road I havent been on for years. Very pleasant.

Unfinished Angels

ed a
Instead of painting scenes or whatever i have been painting faces and colours on these little things. Wings tomorrow.
Hot and dry here and no rain and getting hotter for the next week. the hoses will be on again in the garden.

Obsessed with babies.

This looks nothing like my daughter and grand daughter but I thought I should try and do something!
It was Tab's birthday today and if you want to see photos go to my back valley seasons blog in the links.
I cant get arms right and my faces end up looking like the ones I put on my dolls.

Leg and feet

This is a very strange sketch of my knee leg and feet and a bit of the other leg, I am not good at foreshortening things and i got my lower leg in a rather odd position.
I thought I should sketch something today, I have been a bit slack and the way, they say, to get better is to constantly try. Well I try but sometimes I think I get worse!!Adelaide for the Quilt and craft fair, I bought some of what I had on the list, and also saw Tab and the baby who I think is called Millicent for an hour on my own today which was what I needed, not sure about Tabby.

Melbourne Cup hats

Yesterday was the Melbourne Cup and although it is about horses and a horse race to the women it is all about fashion and in particular, hats.
I had two to choose from and decided on the red straw as against the white one. I have had them both for ages, it is a bit like my clothes, not a lot to choose from on the odd occasion I go out to a toffy lunch.

The new baby

A quick post as I am very tired but here is a photo of the latest grandchild, born this morning a bout 8.30, weighing just under 7 lbs and quite pink and round and gorgeous.
Mother looking tired but pleased with herself father looks very pleased with himself.
I had a full on day with a trip to Adelaide so cant think very well.

Fantasy land

Or I dreamt I was back in Austria.
I had a lot of fun doing this, I just sat and played with shapes and colour and it really did take me back to our skiing days in Austria.
I love house shapes and I am trying to do a few more to translate into some of my textile stuff.
I havent really been able to settle to anything today and I will be so glad when tomorrow is over.
When asked what I thought might win the Melbourne cup I suggested Zipping, as that is what will happen to Tab tomorrow!
It is warming up a bit here now but I still have a fire in.

Still life

I have finally managed to get time to paint, some artichokes which we have eaten, some pears, which we have also eaten some chili and an apple in a bowl.
I took the photo before we ate them!
It has been very wet here and the sun room roof sprung a leak so there has been some cleaning up to be done.
Went over to see Tabby this afternoon and she looks huge and cant wait until Tuesday which is when she will have the baby. I will be glad too, normally I havent worried but she is so much older now.
John and I walked and had a coffee, wonderfully wild waves and we saw a seal.

At the vets stables

We had to take a barely 3 week old foal to Adelaide today to have a melanoma removed from his neck. While waiting in the truck for him to come out of the anaesthetic and be able to go home I sketched the stables in front of the truck.
It was interesting but pouring with rain,all these huge big horses and our tiny little welsh mountain foal.
A tiring day, the truck is not the most comfortable thing in the world.

Lunch today

Sorry about the rather tipsy wine glasses! After hair cuts in Adelaide, and a visit to my mother we headed south to McLaren Vale and lunch, rather a long and slow one but very pleasant. A glass of wine each, oysters for John and a goats cheese souffle for me and a cup of coffee before heading home. This was what was left on Johns plate, a very qick sketch before we ordered the coffee.
Still damp and cool very pleasant.

Japan sketches

This was in the back streets of Kyoto in front of a tiny little cafe, I thought it was a deer scarer but actually it just recycled the water all the time and what I thought was all rock looks more like weathered concrete. Oh well the ferns were nice and the bamboo fencing gave a nice touch. I think we had tea there after walking down the Poets path. A magical morning.
Back to black and white, I dont know why I have this feeling that I must put something up, all those walking and postings for a year I suppose.
Trying to find the time to paint has not been easy and will probably be harder from now until Christmas.
At least Tabby's partner is now down from the territory so we are all a bit more relaxed about when the baby will be born, the 6th if not before and if it is before it is an emergency so better to wait for the 6th.
Another foal born this morning, I think it is another colt, rather nice but a filly would have been better, she is my Nattai mare and tends to cart her foals off for several days so you cant get near them.

Something bright

I havent felt much like painting lately, although I have been painting 3 d figures with acrylics but this is a watercolour and as I have rather a thing about paisley patterns, and something that looks a bit like a tile this is what I did. I was also trying to use only the three colours that are in my small paint tin, and see how good my aged and shaky hands were at doing some slightly finer stuff (not too good!!).
then blogger wouldnt let me load them until now.
Yesterday we went to the Waterhouse Club picnic, a fund raiser for our Adelaide Museum, which was fun but tiring. the guest speaker was the bat man from the museum and he gave us a great and slightly unusual talk, see my other blog!
wet squally and cold.

Japanese bonsai

I have been in Adelaide for my mothers 95th birthday ( see my other blog in the links) and have not had a lot of time to sketch but I did this one.
Raining here after high winds and heat but more rain is forecast. Yipee!
I am also checking constantly on my youngest daughter who is expecting her baby as she is on her own on their small property this week end. With the babies head engaged I may be worrying unduly but cant help it. I will be so glad (and so will she be) when her partner returns on Monday or possibly Tuesday, so long as he doesnt get rained in in the Territory.

Remembering Japan

It is a few years now since we were in Japan but I have been meaning to do some sketches from photos of the things I remember and photos I took. I am also thinking quite seriously of turning some of this into some sort of textile so there will be a few more of these. I really loved the Japan we were in and would love to go back, at least it is old people friendly!
It has been cold with a dampness in the air today and John has rushed out and ordered some millet seed to plant, we have had 13 mm and there is some more rain forecast so anything that cows will eat will be a good thing.
I emailed Patti Culea's husband John in San Diego yesterday to find out how they were fairing in the fires, he tells me she is coming home from Europe, today I think, and he has spent 2 nights in his office as they are on the edge of the evacuation area, so with any luck they will be ok. The fires looked awful, obviously a lot of new housing has gone up since I was there.

Roses by the front of the house

This is rosy cushion or some such name, I know the rendition is pretty scrappy but to be quite honest I dont feel much like painting as I am trying to do a lot of fibre stuff, getting ready for Christmas.
I also ache in every joint so I suppose there is a nasty low in the atmosphere annoying me, the rain was lovely but the after affects on me are not.

Painted and embossed washers

Well I know this isnt exactly with my boots and sketchbook but I did paint them and then emboss them so it sort of comes under the category.
I am not quite sure what I am going to do with them, possibly add to jewelery or small quilts or some thing but they were fun to make.
We had 13 mm overnight and yesterday and still damp and overcast and cool today. Not good for those harvesting or doing hay but in a year like this you do not say bad things about any rain.

More from Glenelg

Wonderful news, it is raining and has been off and on for most of the day, at least 10mm up to about 4 pm and it has been slow and steady, I just hope it keeps up for a bit longer. I think things in the garden have grown at least 6 inches, we may have to hack our way out. It is so lovely to see and smell it.
This is another bit of cast iron, no where near as fancy as some of the others with an interesting old house behind.

Cheese Festival

Today John and I went over to McLaren Vale for the cheese festival. As dairy farmers it is good to try some of the end product, although some does come from goat and I was really pleased to find that our neighbours down the road are back making cheese from their goats as they had a lovely very french style chevrotan that I have always liked and missed when they stopped a few years ago.
I did this quick sketch while waiting for John to bring to the table I had managed to snaffle some oysters and a glass of white wine, cheese always go with wine, and the oysters are the last for this year.
We got there very early as it was hot, 35 degrees and windy and thought we would be before the crowds, which we were so had time to talk to the cheese makers get a good park and were on our way by 12.
Another colt was born before we got home, he is very nice, but this makes 9 colts and 2 fillies, with 2 more to foal, and possible 2 more very late. I wonder if this is natures way of telling us we are in for a very nasty drought.
Oh and I have played a little bit with new backgrounds for my blogs. I think I like this one, my other blog has a different one.

More Lace

I made a bit of a mess of this one as it was hard to see where the designs began and ended but I think you get the general idea.
Very hot today, sounds as if it will be worse tomorrow.
I spent most of the day painting material, both with sun prints and transfer dyes and then I started doing odd things with washers, more of that when I get them finished.
Oscar had just banged on the bedroom door to be let in, in case you didnt know my computer is in what we used to call the dressing room but now has my office in it on one side and clothes on the other and a door to the outside and Oscar has discovered that if he hangs off the screen door and meows I will let him in, too bad when I am not in here, he doesnt know what to do and as he is supposed to be an inside cat and doesnt go out often, that happens all the time.
Not a lot else happened today but I kept being on the go despite that.
Sound confused, so am I!!! Probably the extra half glass of white I drank while making the Laksa tonight.

More cast iron and a feather, oh and I have been tagged

Here is another cast iron gate, I love the way they are all so different. I know some stuff was shipped out from the UK but there were also I believe local manufacturers. I had a book which I think my son has but the history is probably pretty involved.
I picked the feather up while walking and loved it. Sorry I lost the feather and now it has come in first, bother.
I have been tagged by Karen and being computer illiterate I dont know how to put her name in and see it come up as a clickable form any way all my favorite bloggers have been tagged and I dont dare ask them again, but here are 7 things about me you may never need to know!
1 I have 4 children and 10, nearly 11 grand children, the oldest 22.
2 I met John at 15, married at 19 and our 50th wedding anniversary will be in 2009 (and I am not sure I need to know that!!)
3 We live on a dairy farm drought ridden at the moment, but I also breed Welsh Ponies, all sections, and have been President of the Australian Society, that for the Welsh in Karen!
4 I only started sketching less than 5 years ago.
5 I started making cloth dolls in 1995 , went to America twice to Doll U, and have progressed on to textiles and doing the Playways course with Dale Rolleson, now starting Module 5 and have learnt so much, too late, but who cares.
6 I used to ski and scuba dive, now I walk.
7 I love my garden but it is getting too much now that we have water problems with the drought, I read, I love food and wine and talking to friends.
And an extra, I value the people I have met through the internet and blogging and the giving caring people who are all over this wonderful world of ours.