Week 3 our final sketch

We came up with our final sketch. We measured along paint brush with one eye for distance relationships to get the dimentions right. Mary explained that it was good to start off being as accurate as we could to train our eyes to see the subject matter...from there we can move on with our personal interpretations. I got some parts totally wrong and had to overlay bits of paper to redraw them.

Week 2 sketching

We practiced warm up sketching...2 minutes with a thick black pen on news print to get a feel on the shapes and depths of the still life. The pen wasnt to leave the page. We also had a go at blind drawing where we looked only at the subject and not once at our drawing.

Week 2

From week two we began working on this still life. We conferred over a tea break and told Mary what medium we preferred to work in...ummm acrylics? Turns out Mary loves oils and would have everyone use them if she had her way. I was happy to try them out but Barry really wanted to use water colours. Mary gave us a list of the items we'd need. 10% discount from her shop...but man it adds up!

Week 1

This is week One. We chose two colours and painted sheets of newsprint then painted a grid and our initials in each square. We then were split into two groups and had to confer with each other to arrange all our pictures on the floor in an artistic way and present our installation to our audience (the other group). My feeling on this first day was ' wow, I'm actually doing it...i'm actually painting again'.

I'm free!

I am free! I have finally finished all my extra contract tedious I-hate-it work and have passed the test by declining further work when asked under duress. Is that the right word? It was a desperate plea from my old boss who is under pressure and who, I have just discovered, is about to run for council . Hard as it was I have to be strong so the answer was a pathetically apologetic NO.
So anyway enough of that, I am very excited to be going to an art class again. Mary Archibald is my tutor and hubby Barry has joined me for the ride. My plan was to post a picture of each week's achievement but the first term is almost over already so I'm going to post the whole term's class which was all pretty much focused on producing an accurate (as can be) still life for the purpose of learning to see what we are painting before moving on to more expressive stuff and personal preferences.

Happy New Year

We had a wonderful Christmas and New Years with family followed by some time at home getting sorted and tidying up all my stuff. Funny how much I hang out for a break from work yet seem quite ready for it when its time to come back.
My new grandson arrived on Saturday and he is perfect. I adore him already and gave him his first bath. Tom and family are all moving down this week to Wellington which is stressful for them but exciting at the same time. It means I will have a lot more time with my grandsons hopefully. Yah.
Creatively I have a table at home piled with sewing projects and another table piled with writing and business projects and five book cases in my studio - one is for stationery, one for books, one for business stuff, one for art and crafts and one for sewing. It feels good to be organised. I emailed Artisan and told them I definately would NOT be available for any more contract work so as soon as I finish off the two projects I am working on at the moment, that will be it.
I have so many ideas to work on and cant wait.

One more sleep to go

One more sleep til the big fat fella comes down my chimney and gives me presents and drinks my beer...one more sleep til Santa.

I'm at work and not a lot of work is going on. I like my new job though. The people are great and I've been weaning myself off extra work (though still have a bit going on to finish off projects). My work has been more creative than I expected. They had half produced a bunch of resources that need editing, laying out and formatting or 'desk top publishing'. This means I get to do the pretty stuff and everyone has been so impressed. Along with my Yellow Art Awards, I'm now known as the resident artist and given all the arty farty jobs here that need to be done. It's cool. They have even forked out $5000 for the Creative Suite so in the new year I can work with InDesign and Photoshop. Yee haa.

For Chistmas I made a photo montage of childhood photos for Mum and Dad and got these printed on canvas. They turned out great and I think Mum and Dad will be rapt. I also printed off the Yellow Art Award picture and put it in cheap frames for everyone. I still havent got round to painting but I have done a bit of sewing and bought some lovely material for a dress yesterday.

Merry Christmas everyone. XXX