After the fire

These are the sort of pictures we are seeing on our tv screens every night. Horrendous. 36 houses lost so far, still no power or water for so many of the people who have managed to get back to their so far unburnt houses. A very nasty day today very hot with much stronger winds. Not nice down here and I constantly walk from one side of the house to the other looking for smoke. Perhaps we will get some relief from the heat and some promised rain. the show for Sunday has been postponed. Very sensibly I think as even if the weather has cooled down and it has rained there are still people with ponies in those areas and who wants to go to a show under these circumstances. To keep busy in the heat I am tidying drawers!

Pencil sketches

I cant exactly say that pencil scans as well as when I sketch in pen, but sometimes it is whatever is handy. At the moment just trying to keep my hand in. The weather is hot and now getting rather humid. The fires raging in the Adelaide hills are not really any better, tomorrow is forcast to be just as hot and with stronger winds but with a hope of some rain over the next few days as well. We are walking early, doing what we have to and then not doing much at all. to me it seems very waste full but I am still embroidering next years Christmas ornaments while I can. John is doing lots of watering while we still have water and I have been potting up more plants, not sure if it is to take with me if we have to sell everything, or just to take my mind off things. I do not like heat and my feet ache, the air con is a help but not the complete answer as evaporative ones dont like it much over 38 degrees and if it is humid makes things worse. Sometimes I think the fan is just as good. So long as you dont move too much or go out in the heat. Things get fed a lot later than normal too and some dont like it at all! Bring on autumn, says she and we have only just got into summer.

Last post for 2014

I drew the gladioli that were in a vase last night, added a bit of colour with aquarelle pencil and then drew a few bugs at the bottom of the page for good measure! I dont seem to have done a lot over the last few days, but I have been busy and yet not. It has been lovely weather and we have walked and I have played a bit in the garden, but the next few days will gradually get hotter and hotter, up to the low 40'd I think although it might be a little cooler down here. We are out tonight for dinner with friends to see the New Year in, so a rest this afternoon. I will sit and sew while I have no doubt John will snore, we are not used to after midnight outings any more! I have been trying to think wether this last year was good or bad, I think I would say it was a mix, and next year with a shoulder replacement in the offing doesnt sound very good either. We take what we can at this stage of our lives. I have been reading Kate Llewelyn's latest book, "a fig at the gate" and smiling to myself about her comments on ageing and how it can suddenly come as rather a shock, even if you do look in the mirror, what you see isnt always what you think you see! I am slowing down and finally realising that this is part of it all, This year the farm, will we hope, sell and get the banks off our back, although how we live or where is still in the future. Maybe we can still have the house and some land but I am not building too much hope on that thought. I have some lovely workshops planned in the next few months I am not sure how I will cope with them, probably not get as much done during them, but more later on when I have time at home. It is all in the planning! I hope all my readers have an exciting and fun filled 2015.

Merry Christmas

I hope all the readers of my blog have a very Merry Christmas and a New Year full of wonderful surprises. I do hope that next year I will have more time and energy to sketch and paint, I feel this blog has been rather neglected in favor of the other one. My gladiolus did well for us this year, bringing color to the house and the vegetable garden. Hey Ho and on we go.

Pennington Bay

I finally found time to do a small and not terribly good painting. we were not going to do this today, but the weather sounds as if it may not be so good tomorrow and John has been desperate to go fishing, so over to one of the loveliest bays in this world, and there was a good gutter and he caught three sea salmon so fish for dinner tonight. I walked the length of the beach and back and then climbed up the very interesting stair way and sat in the car and painted until he came back. so we were both quite pleased with ourselves. I am on my fourth Christmas cake, just waiting for it to finish cooking and then for a much needed nanna nap. we had friends in for drinks last night, so lovely to catch up as it only happens once a year, and more in tonight, It should be dinner but drinks in a lot of ways are easier and I have plenty of nibbles and not much in the way of real food! Yesterday John managed to make 10 mugs of pate, as you can see, no real rest for the wicked we seem to have done nothing but cook and entertain! We were going out to lunch today, but somehow I think it will be tomorrow, well we have already eaten lunch, thank heaven for the ham and my bread maker, ham sandwiches have been going down well and I will turn the fish into a baked fish plaki, ala Elizabeth David, tonight.I will be glad of my comfortable chair when I get home though.

By the ferry landing at Cape Jervis

I usually sit up the top of the ferry waiting for it to go over to Kangaroo Island and sketch, not sure how many times I have sketched this scene, probably most times we come over. I havent had time to do any more sketching, we have been so slack, but I am painting some paper for my blobanimal books I am doing with an online class with Carla Sonheim, slowly, very slowly, if you look at my other blog, back valley seasons (on the side bar) you will see why! Age is catching up and it takes us longer to do things these days. Maybe before we go there will be more.v A huge and noisy and right over the top of us thunderstorm last night, we didnt get a huge amount of sleep so a little slow today although we are aiming to go out to lunch further to the west of the Island after I have boild the fruit for the first of the Christmas cakes, the fruit is soaking as I type. Manyana!

Pencil sketch of alstromelia

I had a lovely bunch of these that I had picked from the garden and as they were about to be thrown out I did a quick sketch of them last night. I was feeling pretty tired so just grabbed a pencil and paper instead of using colour. I don't often use pencil, prefer a pen but I was just happy to be drawing anything.