Barking mad for WOYWW

What a week I've had

and it wasn't a good one.

My hubby had to go to hospital,

he collapsed at work on monday.

He's fine, ended up being a blood pressure thing

as a result of squishing some bones in his neck

carrying too heavy a load.

He was in emergency until 8.30pm and

had to go back for more tests on tuesday

but all is fine now and he just has to have 

physio to release the neck bones from the nerve.

Then this morning

there was a loud fizz, bang, pop

and my fridge had blown up!!

Spent all day trying to find a new fridge, easier said than done.

We have a big white fridge (which I love)

but you can't get big white fridges anymore

and so I have a smaller stainless steel one coming tomorrow.

I have a white kitchen, stainless steel yuk,

but at least it's a fridge.

To my desk, my sanctuary normally

but not this week.

I am still practising pets and they are driving me nuts,

but I am determined to get the hang of them.

This is my stepson Sam's new puppy at his mothers house.

It presented quite a challenge, getting it dark and light, 

with the extra colours.

This pic took at least a day to complete (putting times together over a few days).

I'm thinking of trying to sell commissioned pet portraits,

when I'm good enough.

I would really appreciated some feedback

if you have the time.

If you wanted to get a painting of your pet,

would you pay $50.00 - $60.00 AUD

(approx 32.00 - 39.00 British Pounds)

for one like this and the one I did for Tracey

(in the last post)?

They are A4 size (app 12" X 8.25") 300gsm watercolour paper.

 

I would ask the person to email me a regular - high res photo

of the pets face and would paint from that.

What do you think, am I asking too high a price?

Here is the next one I'm working on

belongs to my mums neighbour.

The photo is an indication only, I am actually using the computer screen for the real colours.

He has curly hair, so it's quite a challenge.

Still have to try cats yet.

Anyone have a cat that likes its photo taken???

I need a clear bright close up with the eyes open, if anybody is interested

send me a comment and I will give you my email address.

Won't get to APR this week (sorry Jenn), I will have my work cut out

getting the new fridge hooked up the the water supply

and filling it up with food and getting rid of the old fridge.

To see some happier desks around the world on this

work desk wednesday,

hop on over to Julia's

Stamping Ground, it's great fun.

 

 

 

Humutts for Artists Playroom

This weeks Artist's Playroom

theme is

Illustrate a Word.

I've gone one better

and made up a word to illustrate,

just had to be different.

My word is humutt,
(pronounced hewmutt)

it's a cross between a human and a mutt (say it with love).

Now a mutt doesn't have to be a dog,

(as it's commonly known)

it can be a parrot.

Oh yes, a parrot can easily be a mutt,

just take mine.

He loves to play ball

toss that ball

Even plays football

and has his spot on the couch.

He is a humutt in so many ways
but I think you get the idea.

I was going to break up the illustration into two words,
humutt for dogs and humrot for parrots
but humrot sounds too much like
something you would put hemorrhoid cream on,
so humutt for both it is.

You've seen my portrait of Charlie parrot
a few times, so I decided to paint Tracey Fletcher Kings
doggy.

Okay, I've made Tracey wait long enough now.

This painting is a gift for you, Trace.

I did a one hour (made it a time limit)
watercolour of Tracey's gorgeous
little woofy dog,
Mushu.

Gee, after all the teasing I hope it isn't disappointing Trace.

Ladies and gentlemen I give you
humutt, my very first doggy painting!!
(Shame about the lousy photo,
this is shot no. 2343483754 and still can't get his @#%@#  brown eyes to come out )

A close up

I used a photo from Tracey's blog
(thanks for letting me Trace)
so had to improvise a bit.
I've seen the real thing and I can tell you,
he's the cutest little fellow,
even if Traces often calls him Snart!!

So there you have it,
an illustration of the word
humutt.

Cos, if you own a pet
you know that they are all
part human.
Actually I know some humans
who are part mutt!!
Not bloggers of course!!

If you want to see more words illustrated
just hop on over to Jenn's
Artitst's Playground
and see what everyone else has done.

I'm going to try and get
a decent photo of Mushu,
wish me luck!

Woyww a sneak peak and more fish

Not a lot got done in the last week.

Life got in the way again,

with running errands

and boys turnings 21,

it got quite hectic.

I did manage to do a 

quick painting

last friday

and you can have a peek at it on my desk today.

I played with my watercolours and only gave myself an hour

to do it, mostly because I was supposed to be cleaning the house,

but also because I want to see what I can do if I don't finish

to a fine detail.

I have to say, I am quite happy with it

but still need lots of practise

at painting these little critters.

I will reveal the whole picture for

this weeks Artist's Playroom

tomorrow.

I painted a little more of my fish 

over the week and that is where I was today.

I have included some step by step 

pics.

You may remember that last week I had drawn up the fish

in these two shots I painted the blue background on

and put in some of the darker blue for the fish.

 Here I have started to rough in the fish.

I find it's here that their character develops.

 

This is just to place the colour,

nothing is shaded or blended yet.

It's the ugly stage, where they are rough and ready

but starting to come alive.

I was hoping to finish roughing them all in today

but my little miss is home from school

with yet another cold!!

I will be so glad when winter is over,

bring on spring I say.

My desk is spread around when I paint in the family room,

The plastic pastry storers on the desk

are actually my paint palletes.

I squirt the paint in them and it keeps them wet for weeks,

I have a magnifying glass over the book that I am painting from,

brushes are on the desk, over on the kitchen bench and down on the white table

that Smudge the guinea pig lives on.

My boxes of paints are on the floor.

I like to spread out.

Now you have seen my desks for the week,

hop on over to Julia's 

Stamping Ground and see what 

everyone else has on 

their desks this week.

PS. Sorry it's long Julia
but I only do two posts a week :)

Fun and a new canvas started for WOYWW

I've had a bit of fun this week.

The theme for APR was Make me laugh

and so I did a silly picture

and an even sillier ditty to go with it.

If you want a laugh, have a look

at my previous post, ditty and all.

Today is Wednesday and so 

I will show you my desk

actually desks today.

This is where I created my little piece

of fun.

I finally got to use my Inktense pencils

and they were fun but they don't really like 

the rougher texture of my watercolour paper.

I would recommend smooth paper for a better result.

These represent some of my blogger friends

but they are better seen here.

This is what I am currently working on.

No, not cleaning up the mess behind it,

the canvas!!

The mess will be there tomorrow

and the next day, and the next....

I have been wanting to paint these little beauties for so long

and now I have decided it's time to get back to some

serious painting.

I love doing all the quick little fun challenges and I will still do them

but in the background, I will be working on this.

I will share the journey,

warts and all (eek).

So, while I get cracking 

and mixing up paint,

hop on over to Julia's

Stamping Ground and

see what's on the desks

all around the world

on this beautiful sunny day.

APR - Make Me Laugh- A Ditty

This weeks Artists Playroom theme is

Make Me Laugh.

So here goes.

 

Four little Blogger friends went to the sea.

Can you guess which one of them is me?

I love the ocean but you won't get me in.

I just like to dress the part, right down to the swim fins.

 There's somebody on the phone,

she comes from down south, where your teeth chatter

and she always loves a NATTER.

 

Who's that in the chair reading and sipping on her favourite TEA?

She loves to read and paint and lives very near to me.

Last but certainly not the least,

we have a girl who loves TURQUOISE and LIME.

She's wearing togs with maple leaves that are truly sublime.

She comes from the top of the world, you know

and has to come down under, cos we've got the heat and all shes got is snow.

 

Get us all together and Mad Cows we certainly are.

But Neesie, Trace and Jenn are the most fabulous cows by far.

They make me laugh and keep me going.

Three blogger friends that are certainly worth knowing.

Okay, okay, so a poet I am not

but these mad cows are the best of the lot.

That's my terrible take on this weeks APR theme

now hop on over to Jenn's

Artists Playground and see what 

the real people do.

 PS.  Please don't yell at me guys

Turquoise and lime for APR

How yummy does that sound,

turquoise and lime, turquoise and lime

kinda rolls off your tongue.

Makes me think of sipping some

tropical cocktail on a warm sunny beach.

Dang this cold winter, 

I want spring!!

I decided to paint

a summery scene

(even though my fingers are

freezing off)

using the theme colours for this

weeks Artist's Playroom,

yes, you guessed it

turquoise and lime.

Okay, it's pretty obvious that this poor girl

has had some work done.

Fake tan, nose job and too much filler to the lips

but hey that's the way the young girls go these days

(cough, cough, not my bad painting).

I have to admit, I had heaps of fun

and lots of panics with this piece.

I started by playing with goopy stuff

to make it stand out in places and

ended up wearing most of the goop.

Then the horror movie stage

where I add a bit more paint

She looks really freaky

with the white eye.

I'm sure this put me off because

I had lots of little oopsies,

like when I had two palettes on the go

and way too many brushes in my mouth and hands

and used the wrong colour across her cheek.

Then there was the, it's time to get a new 

tube of paint moment, when I squeezed out the paint and

it came out all over my hand, 

cos it has an extra hole in the old tube.

After all the fun and games

she turned out kinda okay

Love those lumpy bits of hair and the eye is okay too.
I might refine the hair more, but I sorta like it straggly.

It was fun painting something I don't normally do,
but I think I will steer clear of people.

I think that she looks better from a distance,
I took this shot first but realised you can see my mess.

So don't look at that
try this one

Looks better from here, than it does up close.

Now I have my goopy stuff I might do some underwater scenes
and have the fish tails standing out and the coral,
Oooh I can feel some more fun coming on.

While I go and find a scene to paint,
why don't you hop on over to Jenn's
Artist's Playroom
and see what everyone else
has done with
turquoise and lime.
Sorry, had to say it just one more time.
Turquoise and lime (he he).

Gloopy fun for WOYWW

I've been having lots of fun this week.

Lately I've been seeing lots of people

playing with all sorts of mediums

and goops and since I only use

paints or pencils, I decided it's time

to join in the goopy fun.

The good news is that 

goop (moulding paste)

washes off of skin

and out of hair.

I use more than one brush at a time when I paint

and I have a bad habit of holding the paint

brushes that I'm not using

in my mouth.

Starting to get the picture?

I had the brush full of goop and needed to move the canvas

so naturally I put the brush in my mouth

and suddenly I had gooped hair,

panicked and gooped my hand, arm,

you name it I gooped it.

Eventually I got it onto the canvas and

had a great time doing it. 

Once it was hard, I started to paint and that's where my desk is today.

and the rest of it

You can see from this shot, that 

when I think of it, I put the brushes 

in the stand and not my mouth.

(Okay, the truth is, I put them there for the photo,

two of them were in my mouth!)

I wanted to give the hat lady some body 

and that is where the goop came in.

 

I used a brush and my finger to create the hair

and used some of the non slip plasticy stuff 

you can see under my painting to make the roughness for the hat.

I don't really care how the lady comes out

I just having heaps of fun playing.

Gloopy stuff rocks!!

~~SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT!!~~

Jenn at Just Add Water Silly

has discovered that some of us

(me included) left out a little step when setting up our blogs

and it has resulted in us being

NO REPLY BLOGGERS.

This essentially means that if we send someone a comment

and they reply, we won't receive that reply, it just goes to no mans world.

If you are worried that you might be one of these people

go to Jenns blog 101 and she tells you how to fix it.

Just think of how many lovely thoughts we may have missed out on.

Now you've seen all my fun,

why don't you hop on over to Julia's

Stamping ground

and see what the others have done

this wednesday.

You never know what you might learn.