Eyes, beaks and a little less punk for WOYWW

My desk this week is pretty bare

and waiting for me to start

back on my bird painting

 I've been madly painting

eyes and beaks this week.

My parrots were living up to their

cheeky, naughty reputation

by fighting me all the way.

I just couldn't get the beak right on the front bird,

I was pulling my hair out at one

stage and all that did was hurt,

me, not the bird. 

After a lot of swearing and threatening 

to wring their rotten necks,

they finally started to co-operate

and the faces were in

They'll need a little bit of tinkering but almost there.

I resisted the urge to add rings through the beaks

as I knew their punkness would be toned down

in class today.

Tone down is an understatement.

Those who know me well, know that I really

hate the colour brown, don't know why,

but we discussed this in class today and the 

general thought was that in the eighties, the colour 

for most houses, both walls and fences was

mission brown.  I don't know if you had that colour overseas

but here in Australia it was everywhere.  If it stood still

it was painted mission brown.  

The trouble was mission brown was the dullest

most ugly brown you've ever seen and my parents

loved it (ugh).  

We think my hatred of this colour stems back to

seeing that awful hue everywhere and

having it burned into my retinas.

My lovely teacher, De decided

I should tone down the punk colour with,

you guessed it, brown....

Of course I hated it, so we compromised and

added some purple, much nicer but still very brown.

As usual and I say this with my eyes rolling,

she was right and the colour was just right.

Sorry about the picture angle and the lights shining.

The pic is still very wet and my arms are very short.

Here's one a bit closer.

My punk birds aren't so punky now.

I bet the top bird can't wait to get his feet painted so

he can land on the branch.  I bet his wings are getting tired,

ha, that'll teach him for making it hard to paint the beak!

Next week I'm going to turn up to class with

"Yes De, you were right"

written on my forehead,

that way I can just flash it at her each time she is right,

AGAIN!!   (sigh)

Well, that's my week and desk.

If you visit

Julia's Stamping Ground

you can see what's on the other desks

around the world today.

 

 

Punk birds and splodges for WOYWW

It's been a big week again

with things happening on

four different canvasses.

Firstly to my desks

Some of you may remember that in a

moment of sheer madness a while ago

I cleaned up my studio

(I still shudder at the thought of it).

Well, you will be surprised to know that 

it is still reasonably

 (that might be stretching it a bit)

tidy

 (please note, you can see the floor).

There is just a bit of mess on the desk but it looks 

far worse than it actually is (cough, cough).

All those bits of paper up on the high notice board are

my filing system for phone numbers and

the rest are bits of paper with ideas on and general

junk that lands there.

This is my gooping station, where I put all my goop

in bags to keep it fresh and ready to play with.

Here is my storage area, where my paint, inks and 

all sorts live.  There are a few shelves with my

"pretty things" on.  Whenever I feel flat or I

can't find my mojo, I look at all those lovely things

and it helps with the inspiration.

I haven't shown you all the corners, 

hey a girl has to 

have some secrets!!

So painting wise, I sealed my bird painting,

finished the jelly fish painting and sealed it as well.

Just have to add the hangers when it is really hard.

Most of the week I've been bent over my new bird canvas

and yes my back really aches.

I've nearly finished gooping, just the bird to go now.

I've got so much goop on that sucker

that it's gonna weigh more than me

and that's saying something!!

If you visited me last week you would have

seen my cockatoos (here).

Well they have had a little change in attitude.

I give you the the new

Punk Cockatoos

Oh yeah, this is really in your face type stuff.

I'm starting to really panic now.... 

I trust my teacher but this is pushing the envelope a tad.

There is a lot of glazing to come so it will quieten down some.

If I keep saying that I might convince myself it'll happen.

I am painting in the faces and feet this week,

hmm, wonder if I should paint in some piercings,

maybe on on an eyebrow and one through a beak.

What do you think?

That's my little corner of the world for this week,

why not hop over to 

Julia's Stamping Ground

and visit more desks around the world

this wednesday.

I've got some head banging to do to

get me in the mood to paint these birds. 

 

Tap heaven for WOYWW

I have been madly working on

my jellyfish painting this week.

I'm entering an art show that I thought

was ages away and it turns out it's only a couple

of weeks away (oops).

The Jellies are closest to finished so they are going

in along with my finished bird painting.

My desk is full of inky goodies

with bottles of straight ink and some mixed with clear ink

to make it less dark.  I use a paint brush to glaze areas

that I want darker so the jellies stand out more.

I still can't get the turquoise to come out and it isn't bright blue, it's violet! Argh, cameras hate me!!

I still have a bit of adjusting to do but you have to wait for

it to dry before doing the next layer, drives me nuts

and that's why I don't use oils anymore.

I also had some gooping fun with the bird I drew up last week

Still a long way to go but looking good so far.

My liposuction parrot (from last week) is looking really nice now

she's all inked up and raring to go...

Just need to do a head and foot transplant  :)

Still some poocack to go into the background.

But ... and it's a bit but

the best thing has happened...

I need new taps for our upstairs bathrooms

because the water is coming from the taps instead

 of the spouts and I saw the perfect taps.

What does this tap remind you of????

The clue is standing behind the tap..

But then I saw the name of the tap

Oh yeah, all is right in the world now!!!

Every time I turn on the shower I can yell

EXTERMINATE!!!!!

My hubbie's gonna go nuts (mwa ha ha).

cough, cough.

Well, that's mine for this week,

now why don't you have a look at the other

desks around the world.

Just press here

to go to Julia's Stamping Ground.

There's some ink calling my name, time

to go and play.

 

All sorts for WOYWW

This week has been a week of 

all sorts. I did heaps of

bits n pieces to try and

get some paintings close to finished.

First to my desk,

it's the usual mess

I have my Doctor Who mug, which is a necessity

for creating, my gorgeous art journal cover,

thanks to LLJ and numerous bits of junk 

that just land there.  

Well you don't think I'd leave it there now do you?

In the centre is the photoshopped print of the next painting

I've just started.  You can see I've marked out

 all the points I need to draw it up on the canvas.

Here are the steps I've done so far.

You start with poo,

add a little cack

and you get a poocackarama!!

Then you can start drawing it up.

I'm still drawing, can't rush these things..

I became an art surgeon this week and 

I performed my first artistic liposuction.

Mrs Cockatoo was complaining that she was was

far too fat,

and I had to agree, so I operated

I removed the excess fat and

re-sculpted her tummy to make a much

slimmer lady.

If anyone wants to lose a few pounds,

and doesn't mind being slapped with a soggy wet cloth

  and dug with a pallette knife,

I'm available and kinda cheap

but never easy!

The cockies were inked today and they look great

but you'll have to take my word for it

as stupid here forgot to take a picture.

I could show you all the ink colours used

cos they are still all over my fingers.

I like to try to write down the colours of ink that were used

 and it's a good way to remember,

I just look at my fingers and write it down.

Even then I still can't get the colour right on the next one.

I think I'm colour theory blind!

I inked some more of my jelly fish

Would you believe this is violet and turquoise, it just won't photograph.

slowly adding tentacles but still a way to go.

There was some other paint slopping as well

but nothing exciting.

Well, that bird isn't going to draw itself,

although I wish it would, so

that's it from me,

now how about you go and visit

Julia's Stamping Ground

and see what's on everyone elses

desk this wednesday.

 

Belly stamping for the 300th WOYWW

My desk is all over this week,

here is where I sit and draw etc

 How I ever get to draw amongst that lot I don't

know but it works.

I just pulled all my stuff out of the box 

from art class today, so stuff all over the floor

and here is the lounge that I am slowly taking over.

I'm really gaining control now (mwa ha ha).

The only spot left is to the right of the room

and that is full with our book cases,

full of recipe books that people bought me over the years

(ha, like that is going to make me cook),

a rowing machine and a treadmill.

As you can see the gym stuff is boxed in by old cupboards

 and never used

but I think that just by them being there you can

lose weight (cough, cough).

I've finished my birdies.

I have finally joined the lovely peeps

on WOYWW and started stamping.

Unfortunately my stamping is vastly different

to the talented ladies I visit.

It all started last week when I

ruined yet another perfectly good top

with gloop and paint.

Hubby gave me an old BBQ apron to use

to save what was left of my now very 

colourful, white top.

So, with apron on, I started to goop my birds

I'm always careful to work from right to left and top to bottom

but some things have to go over others and that's when 

I have a little problem, well rather a big problem really,

 it's my belly.

I was leaning over to do the white of the bird at the top

 and my belly was hanging over the canvas

 which squished the yellow flower on the bottom of the

 canvas, all over the apron.

 That's not a problem I hear you say, 

well I didn't know it was all over the

apron and then went around the house, 

getting a glass of water, 

saying hi to the parrot,

 cleaning some bits in the laundry (you get the idea).

To my horror there were bright yellow

belly stamps all over the house, I spent ages trying

 to clean it off

as it had gone hard by then.

So I might not be a stamper in the ordinary sense

but I am a belly stamper.

Hmm, that could make an interesting canvas,

multi coloured belly stamps but why stop there,

how about bum stamps as well.

Who am I kidding, there isn't a canvas

 big enough for that!!

I was really late with my post last week,

it was on Friday,

so if you want a giggle

have a look here

and you can have a look at the other desks

around the world

on this very special 300th

WOYWW

right here.

Slopping, slapping and dribbling madness.

It's been quite a week

with lots of things to play with.

I've been both in mad scientist mode

and delicate painting mode.

I think the mad scientist is more fun.

Speaking of delicate, I threw a little tanty

in class and was hyperventilating.

Yes that teacher of mine just loves 

to scare the living daylights out of me.

Picture me, almost finished a painting and carefully

 spattering little bits of ink all happy and gentle, 

then up from the depths comes a hand which grabs my brush.

My eyes get wider and then it happens,

spatter, spatter spatter with careless abandon

Panic sets in, screams (just little tanty ones)

and then the hyperventilating starts.

All while there is an evil glean in my teachers eye

as she beats up on my dainty painting.

Down on the floor it's tossed (well, placed carefully really)  

and

oh, that looks great.

The green splots really look good.

My teacher, (yes, I bet you're still giggling at me)

has decided that I'm not a loose woman yet and

I need to be prodded sometimes.  Either that

or she is really just a sadist.....

 

I've been dribbling ink on my jelly fish canvas

I think my camera has cataracts,

as the canvas is the most beautiful turquoise,

violet, blue and green and the photo just looks blah.

The camera seems to pick out the white,

which is really quite subdued on the canvas, weird that.

Now to my fun.

  You may remember this or maybe I didn't show

a pic of this monstrosity

Hmmm, seems I disliked it so much that I didn't take a photo

of it either.  Take my word for it, it was yukky, all brown

and poocacky so I put it away.

Well I got it out and did a mad scientist bit on it and

now I'm starting to like it.

Don't you find you can just go nuts on a canvas you don't like.

  You can see the brownness (yuk) here but I've started

to add gloop squiggles to the background

and here is more gloop, oooh I'm havin so much fun

with this stuff and there is still a load more to do.

I know why scientists, especially the mad ones,

 wear lab coats. 

 I've got the stuff all up the wall (cleaned for the pic) 

and all over my white top.  Yes, I know, why would you wear 

white when you are gooping, it's a blonde thing and

anyway now I have more of a leopard print top

 where  my big belly kept touching it.

I could start a new fashion trend, gooped up tops!!

To keep the momentum going I like to do three or four

 canvasses at once and so I drew up my next project,

 another Mr P.

I'm going to get out some more goop and slop it around

mwa ha ha.

Happy painting all,

linking up to

PPF

 

If you want to see the fabulous work that my

art teacher does, check out her website

here, 

she's fabulous both as an artist and a teacher.

Even if she is evil :)

 

Eyes and poo for WOYWW.

I've been working on my bird this week

I painted the bloomin eye and then had to paint over it and move it to the right. Drives me crazy when that happens.

and here is that desk to date.

 Nothing exciting really, just my paints and my paint pot.

To keep the acrylics damp I put in paper towel and wet it,

then put baking paper over that.  I put the paint on and then 

when I finish for the day I just put the lid on.

The paint stays fresh for weeks but it does pong a bit

 after a while.

This is my actual desk.  Full of stuff, as usual.

In the middle right is a gorgeous piece of mail art

from Terrie in USA.  Thanks so much Terrie and under the

ipad you can see my beautiful journal cover made by

Lunch Lady Jan.

NEWSFLASH.....

TEACHER MAKES STUDENT POO ON CANVAS!!!

Okay, so maybe that's a little over the top but it did happen.

I took my boat canvas to class today and

I was made (yes, De had me in an arm lock)

to put poocack all over my gorgeous bright colours.

But just when I thought all was lost,

she let me play with the bright yellow ink

and it looks fabulous.

Yes, I know, it looks terrible here and half of it is missing.

I used my phone camera and I'm too short

to get my arms up high enough to get it all in.

The ink was still sloppy and it had to stay flat

but you can get an idea of how it looks. 

The poocack is all down the side bits but it makes

the yellow pop.

If you bend your head to the right, stick out your tongue

and stand on one foot, it actually looks pretty good.

I dare you to try it...

That's my desks for this week,

for more desks around the world

go to 

Julia's Stamping Ground

 and join in the fun.