#InMyStudio... I had a lovely creative weekend.

I didn't expect to have studio time this weekend - every moment I get these days... I'm grateful for it.  I'm trying different things and playing a lot and it's just been so lovely!

Reworked this piece

Gessoed an old canvas and I was too impatient to wait for it to dry - so I started working the paint into it wet - It was so so lovely and beautifully messy and I will def do that again!

Happy findings...

Beautiful tiny little faces... no bigger than coins - such a beautiful exercise

Can't wait to finish this piece... well at least to see where they take me... 

Another rescued canvas that got a coat of gesso.

Just started playing on this one a bit - it's a big canvas and it's up in my hallway.

I'm not done and I still have much to do... 

Loved this creative weekend!

Weekend Bliss - Maximizing the Beautiful weather

The seeds of our creativity require enough solitude and space to grow unhindered - Julia Cameron

Today was utterly perfect - weather wise...  Everything wise.  We had a beautiful slow brekkie, good coffee and cellphone free morning.  And then headed to the forest for a picnic and a ride.  While my beautiful peeps were riding, I had a little walk to the faerie garden and then I went to sit in the beautiful forest gardens to write and have a cup of coffee... finding beautiful solitude.

#InMyStudio - EvolutionOfATexturedBackground...

I first started in landscape but changed to portrait.

Starting to find her...

 I'm already loving her...

#InMyStudio - time in the seat...

This is a new piece I'm working on and I'm totally in love with it already.  I wanted to work on my textured backgrounds today.  I have only done one from FullCircleWorkshop and I loved the result...  Lately I've been working on some offcuts of old paintings and working on an existing background is rather pleasing.  I want to experiment with this more.  I had an idea about the flowers from my last painting (I used that lacy flowr in the dreamcatcher) and I knew I wanted to use it again on a dress and so far - I'm loving where this is going.  Doing a painting from the background forward... feels less pressurised and I have to say a rather enjoyable process.

I've been slowly collecting hand carved Indian wooden stamps and I can't tell you how stoked I am to find one this size... happy dance going on over here.  I plan to take a little train trip down the coast to go get some more... I found a shop that has a whole bunch... can't wait to play with my stamps!

I've been too busy and exhausted to do anything this past week and this piece had stumped me.   It's a big canvas and I wasn't enjoying where it was going.  I tend to paint more seriously and the piece just felt too whimsical for me... so I kept going back to change it.   I didn't do anything on Friday and the whole of Saturday until late - and then I started pulling back, covering and using lots of gesso... (thank goodness for my beloved gesso) but I feel I'm finally happier with her.  I loved her face and still do.  She feels a bit old fashioned.  But for now... I'm happy to be moving on.

Life in General... rather hectic....

It's August and all I can say is it feels like November.  My toughest month of the year... I'm exhausted and I can't afford to be this tired yet.  I still have so much to get through and to do before November.  My weeks are merging into each other and every time I take note of the date - 10 days have past... literally.  This week, I have one month to go until I leave for Italy.  Because our schedules are so hectic we are forcing quiet moments and are stealing moments to connect... early morning coffee dates and no tv 
but quiet evenings together around the table!

I turned around today and spotted my angels sitting together like this... my heart almost burst.  I love it when they are loving each other spontaneously.  They seem to be getting closer with age.  The other shift I'm seeing is that they seem to be finding ways to connect regardless of us.  Today Corks was tutoring Kitty with her Maths - hmmm let me think about that... YESSSSS please and thank you!  Other ways they are connecting at the moment is on their bikes.  Digz has been taking them out on Sundays and it's their father daughter time... and they are raving!  Corks is riding my bike and Kitty got her bike about two weeks ago and they are having a ball in the forest!  So stoked about this new development!!!  I love that we all exercise together!  To me it's a form of playing together.  A family that raves together - stays together.

A beautiful ArtWalkAbout - through the beautiful city streets

Every 1st Thursday of the month - CapeTown has a ArtWalkAbout.

All the Galleries stay open late and you can wander through the beautiful city at night admiring local talent and can meet some of the artists too.  Some galleries offer wine and snacks too.  It's rather special.  There are too many to see in one night but it might be a wonderful thing to do once a month for the next while... I'm so in.

We discovered this incredible wall art and it was definitely love at first sight.

I love the neutral tones and obviously the subject matter too... but the sheer size of this piece - well I just hope that one day I can paint something this big and this beautiful.

It was such a highlight of my night... even though on the way up to the painting I took quite a bad fall and pulled a little muscle in my stomach, bruised my hip and hurt my hand.

I'm pretty stiff and tight today - but all I can say is that it was worth it!

#InMyStudio... Including hands with creative play

"Draw Close to me - I want to tell you the stories of my heart"

So I had some bits of off-cuts from an old painting background lying around #InMyStudio

so when I was tidying up this afternoon - I decided to just mess about on them with my StabiloAllMarks.
I love that pencil.

I first started with this little one below - I stuck to the monochromatic idea, just using the StabiloPencil and TitaniumWhite.  It was mainly a fun exercise to keep it loose and mainly use what paint markings were already on the off-cuts... like the red hints and the patterns in the hair and add to that.  As you can see on the one above... the markings and lines in their dresses is just the background I left showing through!

Another objective of this fun play was including hands.  If you look at all my paintings or drawings, in the past few weeks... I'm trying to include this aspect.  They aren't perfect or realistic and they are mostly indications - but they are emotive... And I'm absolutely loving that!