Kate's garden

I did this very quickly yesterday morning while I was still at Kate's, a part of her courtyard that when you are inside you can see from her sitting room and her doll creating room. I did this from outside.
Spent most of the day cleaning up after yesterdays gale force winds. We had nearly 7 mm of rain overnight and it is cool and pleasant today, now we all feel tired after the battering we got yesterday.
Pop into my other blog (in the links) and see what else has been affecting us (horse flu).

Adelaide airport

I am home from my 3 days in Adelaide very tired but it was fun. This was sketched while I was waiting at the airport to collect cloth dollmaker Patti Culea who I was having lessons with and who I was looking after for a few days.
The city and hills in the background and odd bits of planes and walkways, a hasty sketch but actually does give the impression from the airport.
A dreadful day on Monday, high temperatures and gale force winds, ditto for today but hotter, we broke records for August temperatures and it is so dry it is dreadfully worrying. Not any rain to speak of forecast for at least another week as well.
I have watered the pots and now have a bad case of hay fever, runny eyes and nose.
I dont know when my doll will be finished but finished she will be eventually. A doll that really couldnt be finished in a 2 day workshop as there is so much beading to do but it was fun and we had a lovely few days. I collect her on Sunday and then we will have a few days together before she heads east again.

Wright Island and the Bluff

I went walking along the bay this morning after dropping John off as he was going fishing. It was such a beautiful morning I sat and sketched this and I walked for about an hour so came home feeling very virtuous. Now I ache what with yesterday heaving pots around and todays long walk!
I have planted the lettuce and got together most of the stuff for tomorrow, I am doing a doll making class, something I havent done for ages and dont really feel ready for it.
I will be in Adelaide until Thursday so dont expect much from me as I wont have the computer.

Near my back door

Today John and I got stuck into cleaning up the pots and surroundings that are near, well opposite the back door. There is an area with a rainwater tank that was desperately needing the jasmine cut back and then the garage and then a couple of cages, one large one which has the bantams in it and one smaller one that odd pots get put into.
Well I can now hardly move and John is not much better but the whole area looks ready for summer now so I stood by the door and did a quick sketch which I then threw some paint at. The odd looking bird is a terracotta penguin with a silly look on his face who I love.
The pots are mostly succulents and herbs as it gets very hot there in summer. There is also a pencil pine in a huge pot, my Mediterranean garden.
A full on day but nice to have at least that bit of the garden organised.

Boats on the river at Frankston

I was hoping to have time to paint today but what with shopping and cleaning the day ran away so I sketched these boats instead. Again taken from a photo and I would like to translate it into paint.
I had a lovely walk this evening out past the mare and foal and the fillies, collected an interesting rock and a feather, still quite warm, no rain although there were some black clouds.
We are back to being in a worrying time of year, we would like rain every week, and one big one but it looks as if that wont happen.

Melbourne city street

I spent a long and tiring day in Adelaide yesterday, a report on my mother is in my other blog.
The foal is out with its mother and drinking well and cavorting as only foals do.
I spent a lot of time today washing and ironing and tidying the house, still not vacuumed tho', I hate vacuuming.
I wanted to do something a bit different and needed to get back to the watercolours, I can dash of a sketch very quickly but paint is a different matter. I had taken a photo of this scene while we were in Melbourne and want to practice doing street scenes a bit more. At least the perspective is sort of there.

The vegetable garden

We had a foal born this morning and I wasnt fast enough to get them together and as this was a first foal Mum wasnt keen on letting her child nurse so after we had given the filly a drink I sat outside and watched her for an hour or so to see if she could nurse on her own. So I sat in the vegetable garden and sketched what was there while keeping an eye on what proved to be an uncooperative mother.
We got her into a yard and made sure she had a drink every 2 hours until she could drink on her own and without her mother knocking her out of the way.
A much better prognosis than the last foal and this is a gorgeous filly.