Thursday 18 October 2012

Celestial cheat for APR

That's celestial cheat
not serial cheat,
just wanted to clarify that.

I had planned this ethereal painting
with a nebula all bloggy and gloopy
in the middle of the universe
and a sextant, with a person peering
at the stars, in the bottom corner.

But that didn't happen,
so you get this
for this weeks APR's celestial theme.


Yes that is a lousy cut out sextant just stuck on
and no I didn't get to the person, you will have to use your imagination.

I tried using salt but it didn't work and it got stuck to the painting.
It does make pretty stars though.

 Here's a galaxy of iodised salt stars and




here are some twinkly sea salt stars.

I have good reasons why I didn't have time to finish this painting.

No1 excuse (er reason) is 
look what arrived!!!!!


I know I can't afford them but I got them anyway.
These are Silks Acrylic glazes and they are so bright and pretty.
I can't get the sparkle to come out in the photo, so you will have to take my word for it.
I can't wait to use these to embellish my coral and underwater paintings.
Had to sit and stare at them for a while.

No 2 excuse is:
I finished my commissioned pet portrait (picture of it in my sidebar under pet portraits)
and the lady ordered another one (yippee)
but I had already promised to start this gorgeous little girl
and so I started her today.


It's only at rough in stage.



She doesn't have pimples, they are the dots of gloopy stuff that you put on to stop the white getting coloured.

This beautiful girl is called Berkley and she used to be a pet owned by our lovely
Jenn, so you can see why I have to do her justice and not waste time on salty paintings.

My third and very important excuse is that my Charlie parrot 
(there is a portrait of him on the right hand side of my blog down a ways)
had to have surgery on monday.
The silly boy hurt the inside of his bottom eye lid and had to have surgery to fix it.

Not thinking, I took him to the vet (his first ever visit and he's 22 years old)
in a cardboard box.  Well that was destroyed when we were half way there
and I had to hold him for the rest of the way in the car.
 He fell in love with the ladies at the vet surgery,
the little suck up, and they were all over him, cuddling and tickling.
I didn't think he would want to come home.
We had to go and buy a steel super strength carry cage to bring him home.
That was the easy part, he came through the surgery with flying colours and came home.
They gave me some drops for his eye and a syringe to administer pain killers
via his mouth.  
It's easy they said, just wrap him in a towel and hold his head
and there you go.
Who do they think they are fooling.
That bird knows when it's medicine time and he goes up and hides in his box
(I can't reach it). I even used my little miss as bait to lure him out
(he doesn't like her and attacks if she comes too near).

When I do catch him, and wrap him
I swear he can do a 360 deg turn with his head 
as it just won't stay still.
I have learned to let him grab onto my shirt and quickly squirt the medicine into his mouth
then when he lets go in disgust,
I grab his beak and hold it down just long enough to get a drop in his eye.
An hour later it's all over, but I have to do this two times a day for a week!!!

So you can see I have three valid reasons why I don't have a 
good painting for this weeks theme.
After all, they can't turn out all the time 
can they.

If you're still awake after all that,
hop on over to Jenn's 
and see what 
the others have done for
celestial.






13 comments:

  1. Oh Von, she's so beautiful already!!! You're doing the baby total justice. I recognize that parrot eye, lol. You are a gem and I actually like the salt painting, it's colorful and the salt stuck to the paint looks very starlike. I think with all on your plate you can certainly get a pass but I think your entry stands against all others so I'd keep that pass for when you really need it, like when your boy charlie has made your fingers bleed from nips and you've tried for the hundredth time to mix the meds into a food but he won't eat it. Now THAT sounds like a "Pass" kind of day!!

    Good luck with you portly little fellow, give him hugs and scritches from auntie Jenn. Much love my friend.
    Oh, and congrats on the new commission!! I knew you would be a total success!!
    Hugs
    ~Jenn

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  2. Congratulations on your pet portraits. The business is really coming along! :-) I like the nebula painting. It actually looks very celestial, despite your modest claim of it not working. The parrot is coming on well too. I'm looking forward to seeing it complete. I've seen a similar struggle to get pets to take medicine with my relation's dog. Animals have such characters, don't they? Good luck with the rest of the day!

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  3. Your portraits are so very real looking. You are an amazing artist.
    Just think of those expensive posts as an investment in your busines future! haha
    Your art page looks fine to me!

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  4. stunning painting, really, and I also understand the feeling you have of just NOT time. my Life is hardly so busy, yet I too find myself often stuck BEtween my what I hoped something could BE and what it is. at least Now.

    your portraits are magnificent, truly.

    I am fortunate that Gracie doesn't give me much trouble tending to her hot spots and when she needs ear stuff. she's actually a little bit of glad when she has to take a pill BEcause they ALWAYS are given with food which is how we got into this habit of breakfast and supper!!! Take care and much love to you!!

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  5. OH salt can be so temperamental - I never know if/when it is going to do its thing like I envision it should do it! But I really like how your sky turned out anyway - the freedom and fluidity of your colors are just gorgeous. And poor Charlie...and poor you! A labor of love this whole ordeal is, for sure. May the week pass quickly...

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  6. awesome picture of the nebula! I like it with the salt stuck on! Poor little Charlie! My grandbird is an African Grey Parrot and he can be so onery sometimes I would like to gob smack him. If he decides he is ticked off at me he will do that in the wild screech and I just go outside...bet they can hear him in the next county he is so loud! Thats usually when he wants to stay on the perch and I need to go home and he is going to show me!! Hope Charlie is feeling better soon. Vickie

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  7. I love the nebula for real and your salty one. Fabulous colours Vonny :0)
    Best of luck with the parrot meds :0)

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  8. Having never had (or wanted) a bird pet, I think feeding him meds sounds terrible - what a chore. I'd be totally intimidated by those flapping wings and nipping beak. Though my cat can be a challenge too with claws and hissing/biting when she doesn't want to do something so I guess it's similar. Hope you survive the week with minimal damage. :) And your celestial effort is admirable - I've tried that salt technique and find it to be very temperamental. Your parrot painting is off to a stellar (!) start and I just know it's going to be amazing.

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  9. I think the salt worked out kinda well. You should try dropping sugar in pva glue, that's a really cool effect too.

    The parrot is going to be BEAUTIFUL!!

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  10. Oh my those colors are stunning!! What a lovely background...and such a fantastic looking start on that parrot portrait!! I can hardly wait to see him finished! Poor Charlie, I hope he (and you) survive this ordeal! Doping pets with their medicine is no fun...we've had a belly full of it too with Bear and his surgery!

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  11. I have a very hit and miss history with the salt thing... I think it must be effected by humidity and things maybe... who knows... some times it works and others it doesn't... and Berkley is looking great and Jenn will be thrilled with him I am sure... I have Mushu framed and on the wall at the end of the kitchen and everyone comments on it ... hope Charlie is feeling better...xx

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  12. I have a weak spot for parrots--especially Greys!! Sorry your baby is going through a rough patch. Berkley is looking really good!
    Good excuses all. :):)

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  13. I had no idea parrots could have surgery. You know, the anesthesia, I thought that and birds just wouldn't work out. Shows what I know in my sheltered birdless life. Well, not really birdless, we feed the outside birds and Poppy dreams of eating them and talks to them.

    I had a hamster once who needed medication. I would wrap her in a washcloth and just like Charlie's head, she would spin round and round and round.

    Berkley is looking good, pimples or not. And I like the look of the sea salt on your starry sky piece. I know not what you were after but interesting.

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I really love getting comments but due to a high amount of spam I had to take the anonymous user off of the comments. Sorry to those who can't leave a comment.
Thanks, Von.