WOYWW # 156 - The Big Swap *****

This is an exciting day on WOYWW

as it is the week of the big ATC Swap,
Happy 3rd Anniversary Julia.

I have painted 5 ATC's as per

requests and they will be

winging their way around the world shortly.

Due to a very nasty tummy bug

that has been living with me for the last few days,

I haven't done very much this week

and to make it worse,

I have to go out Thursday and

Friday, so  not much chance 

of finishing anything.

I spent this morning finishing the last ATC

and then started on this.

Now, I can hear you saying what on earth is that mess,

well it is the first layer of a close up of

a water droplet on a flower (this weeks APR theme is magnify)

and yes it looks pretty horrible at the moment.

At this stage I just want to get an idea of the

lights and darks.

Then again you could say it's an

abstract of some bananas!

You can just see my last ATC 

peeking out from the paper towel.

Just a quick post this week 

as I have to get a move on with this painting.

Only two afternoons left to finish it.

Hope the person next to me enjoys

my ATC, it will be the rose.

To see the other desks around the world this Wednesday

and to see who gets who's Atc's

hop on over to visit Julia

at The Stamping  Ground.

Bookmarks and a new friend for Artist's Playroom #10

The theme for this weeks Artist's Playroom

is bookmarks or anything to do with books.

Easy I said, just do a bookmark with a pile of books,

covers everything.

I  sat down and drew a pile of books

on a bookmark that I had cut out

and just turned my back for a few seconds

when it happened.

A little face peered out over the pile of books

on my bookmark.

Now I know what you're thinking and 

no, there isn't anything but coffee in my cup!!

The little fellow said his name is

Egbert Bookman

and he loves reading books

but is rather shy .

With each bookmark I drew,

he got a little bolder

but doesn't like scary books.

He might become a problem when 

you're reading

as he gets a bit in your face

and gets a bit

annoying with his opinions

when you're trying to concentrate.

All in all, he is a nice little fellow

and with some tweaking,

I think I might have a 

nice little friend

with which to make saleable

bookmarks.

I was going to add little ribbons etc,

but my little miss spied the bookmarks and

Egbert is now living 

in her bedroom amongst

EJ12 Girl Spy

and

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

books, poor devil.

I guess I will just have to make some more

bookmarks and see if he will appear.

Sorry about the quality of the pictures

but it is black as black

and raining outside

(sunny Queensland my @..$...)!!!

For more fabulous 

bookmarks and themes

head on over to Jenn's 

Artist's Playroom

and I will get back to

making some more bookmarks.

Egberts first appearance for WOYWW

I have created a new character

for The Artist's Playroom

and this is his first

appearance.

He is a little shy

but fun all the same.

Yes, it's Wednesday and time to show our desks all around the world

at Julia's Stamping Ground.

Without  further ado

here is my desk.

The theme for Artists Playground this week is 

make a bookmark and

that is how Egbert Bookman

came into being.

He is still in the early stages and all hand drawn,

with quite a lot still to do.

It was a good excuse to use all of my new goodies 

that I just bought on sale.

 The water pens are fabulous to use with the H2O's.

Thanks to everyone who commented and helped me with my fish painting.

I am happy to report that I found what wasn't right.

After looking deeply at the painting

I noticed that the fishes eyes were bulging

and their cheeks were puffing out.

Then one got really frustrated with me and used his fin to

point just behind his eye

and then it hit me.

I had forgotten to give them GILLS!!!

The poor things had been holding their breath

for all that time, no wonder

their eyes were bulging!!

All is good now, gills are painted in

and they are breathing normally.

Really looking forward to the ATC swap 

next week.

If you want to see the other desks

go on over to Julias.

If you are interested in the bookmarks

I will be posting the finished products

later in the week here

and be sure to check out all the other entries.

My favourite things for the Artist's Playroom.

The theme for this weeks
Artist's Playroom
is My favourite things
in honour of
the lovely
Jenn's birthday.
Happy Birthday Jenn.

Apart from chocolate,

my favourite thing

is my family.

Not just the human one but my 

animal one as well.

I have three kids,

a step son and my two daughters,

plus another son.

My first "born"

son, who is 22 years old.

This is my boy Charlie.
He is a long billed corella,
native here in Australia
(a bit smaller than a cockatoo)
and my gorgeous spoilt boy.

He has the run of the house
and loves to chase my youngest daughter
and stalk her when she sits on the floor.

My whole family makes me happy
but I am a bit paranoid about
putting faces on the internet
and so it wouldn't be a very interesting picture
with all the heads missing.
Unless you are a bit weird of course.


I also love bright coloured paintings
and water colour pencil drawings.

They might not be my greatest works
but they are bright and happy.

Then on to my absolute favourite thing.

OOPS!

It was going to be a picture
of the chocolates I got
for Mothers Day
but the last one
just jumped
into my mouth.

Sorry about that,
but you all know
what chocolate
looks like anyway.

Now hop on over to
the Artist's Playroom
and see what other
people have as
their favourite things.

Fish sort of finished for WOYWW

Well here we are, It's Wednesday again.

That was the fastest week of all time.

I have been flat out trying to get my fish painting finished

and at last I have done it.

I am not happy with it yet though

and I can't put my finger on what's wrong,

it just isn't right.

I will look at it for a few days 

and hope I can see what 

needs changing.

But, to the job at hand,

here is my desk today.

When I needed a break from the big painting, 

I did another ATC and finished my teapot.

As you can see, I now have four ATC's

and have decided to swap them

with the big swap (week 156) on WOYWW.

I will give the Rose to the next person on the list

for the big swap and if anyone

wants to swap with any of the other three,

just let me know and I will

send them that day also.

The three bright ATC's were done with my H2O's

and the paint pots seem to be going all weird.

Can anyone tell me if this is normal?

They did this 'hole' thing the first time I sprayed them

and it is getting a bit hard to put the brush into the holes to

mix the paint around.  Am I doing something wrong?

If you noticed the card on the desk,

my little miss made that for me for Mothers Day

and my big miss gave me this

I won't be getting paint on this,

it will be safely on another desk in the room.

For anyone interested 

here are my fish.

Title: Full Moon on the Reef.

Can't get a close up as it shines too much.

Sorry about the mess around it,

the weather is so cold around here

that I have been painting in the family room.

Sorry, there is nothing witty in my post,

I am exhausted, just too much

to do around here,

just glad the painting is out of the way.

For some very interesting

desks on this What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday,

hop on over to Julias

and see what everyone else has been up to.

Fruit for Artist's Playroom

I didn't have time for fruit this week

as I am running out of time to

do a painting for an art show

that I am entering.

I have to have this painting finished by next friday.

That may seem easy but out of all

next week, I have 2 1/2 days to paint.

So I have to cheat again for the Artist's Playroom.

I had to dig deep into my pile of pics to find this one.

This was one of my first ever oil paintings and is

on a scrap of canvas.

You can see the two white corners where I stuck the

drawing pins in to keep it up.

It's rather boring but at least

there are some pears and cherries in there.

I did do a journal pic not long ago

of cherries, in watercolour.

But, I'm afraid my mind is on fish at the moment.

I am doing a piece called Full Moon, 

inspired by the light and dark fish I showed last week.

It is still very much in the early stages.

I roughed in the background today,

still have the fish to do and then 

blend the brain coral a little better.

Will really be under the pump to get it finished.

Does anyone fancy babysitting 

two kids and a husband for a week???

I have to warn you though,

my twenty year old daughter isn't well

(tummy ache),

so it's like babysitting 10 little kids!!

It's back to the paint brush for me,

so why no go over to

the Artist's Playroom

and see what everyone else has done.

Different desk for WOYWW

I am using a different desk for WOYWW today

as I have started my canvas at last.

I enter a local art show every year 

 and as usual

I leave it to the last minute to do the paintings.

Of the three I plan to enter,

I have only done two, so I thought I should get started,

since it has to be registered next week!

This is the desk I am using right now.

Sorry about the blurry photo,

I had to stand on a chair to get the shot.

When I use acrylics (in our hot weather)

I find they dry very quickly and a lady taught me this trick.

You use a plastic container (square and flat with a seal lid)

then put in two layers of paper towel and wet it, drain out the excess water,

then cover that with one layer of baking paper.

You blob the paint onto this layer as you would a palette

and mix on there too.

If you put the lid on when finished you can keep the paint

for weeks, works a treat in the heat.  

Dribble a little water onto the paper towel layer 

(not the top layer)

if it starts to dry out.

 This is what I'm working on,

no it's not some kind of weird abstract,

just at the rough in stage.

You can see a photo of brightly coloured fish on my desk (above).

I am changing that picture to look like it is taken at night

by moonlight.

I have done a few paintings like this and they look really good.

If you want to see some finished ones they are in this post.

It still has a long way to go,

just hope I get it finished in time.

Last of all,

I have started another ATC.

I used plenty of water with the Twinkling H2O's

but they just went mushy, so will have to play with it more.

 

It will be a brightly coloured teapot,

I hope!!

Now you've seen mine,

go on over to Julia's

and see all the other desks

around the world 

on this fine wednesday.

Quite handy for Inspiration Avenue challenge

Well someone had to use the pun!!

I haven't been doing the Inspiration Avenue Challenges

for a while but when I saw the theme (hands)

this week, I had to look over my shoulder.

Someone must be watching me.

Just recently, I have been sitting in my car for the school pickup.

When little miss was in the junior section of her school,

I had to walk in (usually in my painty clothes)

and be sighted by the teacher before I could take her home

but now she is in Middle school, I don't have to.

So, okay, as the overprotective mum I am,

I have been going up to get her amid

whinges of Oh mum, I'm big enough now,

but no more. 

I have given in and let her walk to the car on her own.

This has produced a problem,

I'M BORED, just sitting there waiting, waiting,

while she meanders her way down to the car,

 so I have been taking my art journal

with me.  

Then is the problem of what to draw.

Of course, my hand is always hanging around holding

the journal, so I have been drawing that for the

last few days.

It's as if someone from Inspiration Ave has been

looking over my should and wants to let everyone laugh

 at my wrinkly right hand

(I'm left handed, in case you were wondering).

So, I can take it,

here for a laugh

is my right hand,

scribbled in many ways

and never finished

as little miss comes and I have to stop,

then can't get my hand back into the same position.

Perhaps, today I will draw my foot.

That should draw some attention,

seeing and old fart sitting in the car, 

with her leg up in the air

drawing her foot.

Little ATC's on WOYWW

Since the big third anniversary 

for WOYWW

is coming up fast,

I thought I should practise

doing ATC's, for the big swap

(now I know what they are),

so my desk today has two.

The first one I did was a rose in acrylic

and I have to say,

it is really hard trying to paint so tiny.

The second is my Shaggy Cat 

that I made up years ago.

He is painted in something special

that I got in the mail this week.

My Twinkling H2O's.

I did mess him up as I discovered the hard way

that you should wet the paper first

or it goes hard and dark

very quickly.

I wet it to try and mop some off

but it wouldn't budge.

Lesson Learned!!

He does shimmer though.

For those that are interested

here is my finished 

bunch of flowers from last week.

 

 

Up close warts'n'all.

I am going to make a few ATC's and that way the person next on the list for the

third anniversary won't know which one they will get, so it's still a surprise.

If you don't know what I'm on about, go over here

to Julia's Stamping Ground

and you will find desks from all around the world

for What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday.

Darkness and light for the Artist's Playroom #7

As soon as I read the theme

 for this weeks Artist's Playroom,

two paintings came to mind.

I had painted them 

some time ago

when I still had the patience 

to wait for oils to dry.

Here are my 

darkness and light paintings.

 

They are each 2 feet x 3 feet

and sold at a local art exhibition,

in fact I had to paint another

Out of the Darkness,

as two people wanted it.

They don't look much as small photos

but they really make an impact

when you see them actual size.

I would have done a painting

for this week but my Twinkling H2O's have arrived

and I really want to play with them,

or as probably will be more accurate,

make a real mess with them..

I don't know about you

but I tend to wear more paint

than I get on the paper.

As a left hander, I always manage to put

my arm or hand in something wet

and I have a bad habit of putting the paintbrush

in my mouth, which usually

results in technicolour hair.

I'm sure half the mothers

at school pickup think I'm

some sort of weird daggy lady

as I am usually running late

and turn up in my painting clothes 

with paint in my hair and

all over my arms and face.

At least I'm not

trying to compete

with their designer

clothes and cars.

Rather be a daggy lady any day.

I'm off to spritz

 and splosh paint, 

so why don't you

go and see the other

entries for this weeks 

Artists Playroom.