Peekaboo, I See You! (Finished)

Hi There!

I know that I usually wait a couple of days in between posts, but my little peekaboo possum was just so cute, I thought I had to share the finished product with you all!

I hope maybe this makes you smile just a little.

This little picture has been painted in honour of all the wildlife carers out there who take look after our injured native animals.  I can tell you that it takes a very special and incredibly dedicated person to take the time and make the effort to look after these precious creatures in order to give them a second chance of life.  Thank you, from me to all of you! :-)

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Kate
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Peekaboo, I See You! (Part 1)

Hi There!

I hope that you've all had a wonderful week full of fun, love and adventure. (Don't you just love it when I'm in an optimistic mood?  Must be because the kids are actually cooperating this morning as they get ready for school.  A miracle, perhaps?)

Today's offering is the start of a pastel painting I'm creating of a baby possum wrapped in a blanket:

I ask you, what is it about babies being wrapped in a wee little blanket?  It just makes them so adorable!  This little baby has been created using a mix of pastel pencils on Mi Tientes paper, with a violet/grey type hue.  It's taken me around two - three hours to get it to this point so far.  Time flies when you are having fun!

Wish me luck as I continue on with this little artwork.  The next part to tackle is the little knitted blankie that the possum is wrapped in (which is the outline you can see).  Given I've been known to drop the odd stitch or miss a row when I've tried knitting in the past, I have a feeling it might become a bit of a battle.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Kate
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Not Happy, Kate!

Hello

I hope this finds you all well and happy!  Life has been chaotically busy these past few weeks, but after receiving a lovely gift of some oil pastels today, I felt like I really needed a quick art "fix" to restore my equilibrium.  Thank you very much secret gift giver for such a fun gift! :-)

I wasn't sure initially what I was going to paint today, so I was wandering around my house, art pastels and paper pad in hand when I spied my lovely old furry man - Mister Ninny.  Mister Ninny is 96 years old in people years and in his old age is starting to get ever so slightly cantankerous.  When the kids complain about his (c)attitude issues, I remind them that if they were his age, they'd probably be feeling pretty darn well cross at the world too. Particularly when presented with a bowl full of boring old Whiskers day after day.


"Hello, darling Mister Ninny!" I cooed, reaching out my hand for a scratch between the ears.  He promptly gave me an utterly disdainful look and then slowly (he is getting close to receiving a letter from the queen after all) and deliberately turned around and sat stock still, thereby presenting me with his backside.

I knew what he was doing. 

 I'm sure he knew what he was doing.

Mooning me.  

I guess he considers it payback for the seventeen odd children who were running around my house yesterday at one of my children's birthday parties, causing all sorts of noise and disrupting his attempted gentle slumber at the foot of my bed.

Mister Ninny was painted quickly in around 20 minutes today.  I think I'm relatively pleased with the free flow of the painting and I do feel like it has some great energy.  Proportions?  I'm not sure.  Still, I feel pleased to have captured this little moment in our lives.  It's one for the history books, that's for sure.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and seeing what I've been up to.

I'll see you around!

Kate
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Flaming Robins!

Goodness me, what a week.  Day three of the winter school holidays and I'm already spent.

To try and re-centre myself for the next couple of days, I thought I'd try a little pastel painting.  It's my artistic equivalent of "Mummy Meditation".

You know, when I think about it, I reckon all "Mummies" have (or at least should have) some kind of way to escape the world and unwind.  And we all seem to have different ways to achieve that calm, serene, 'all is well with my world' state.  Some meditate; some knit; some run; some have a stiff glass of scotch; some have a cup of peppermint tea; some go and chop fire-wood after drawing the faces of people who have annoyed them on the timber using a sharpie pen....

I bet you are glad I don't have a fireplace here in Brisbane.  Can't you just picture it now... Random person "Hey Kate, this looks like my face on the kindling!  Why's that?"  Kate: "No reason, quick, light the match!". 

I've seen a few of these Flame Robins flittering around my yard these past few days.  My goodness, they are tiny 10 centimetre bundles of gorgeous energy.  Honestly, I wish you could see the orange breast in person - it really is magnificent.

Oh Great.  I realise I now sound like one of those "bird watcher people" that I used to snicker at in my youth.   I tell you, from getting crows feet to suddenly being interested in a crows nest - ageing isn't pretty once it gets underway.

This little painting is shown actual size here, just for you.  (I know, I know, I'm so kind sometimes.)  I painted it on Art Spectrum paper and used a mixture of Derwent, Conte and Faber Castel Pastel Pencils and Conte and Art Spectrum Pastel Sticks.  I tried to put my WetCanvas "Edges" art lesson for the month into practice, sharpening some edges and softening others.  Is it starting to look three dimensional?

I'm not sure.  My five year old told me it was "Super!".  I guess only time will tell.


Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you have a wonderful, calm week.


Kate
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A Wise Old Owl

A wise old owl lived in an oak

The more he saw the less he spoke

The less he spoke the more he heard.

Why can't we all be like that wise old bird? 

Why, indeed.

Hoot-hoot!

Today's artwork is a pencil drawing of the Australian Sooty Owl.  Her name is Sooty-Hoot-Hoot! (Shh! for short.)

Shh! will be the star attraction in my first oil painting which I tentatively started in Ms Kathy's art-class last week.  I figured it would be wise to determine that I could actually draw an owl before I try to paint one.  I'm quite pleased with how this first drawing has worked, so I'm thinking that the actual painting process will be a real hoot.

Hope you enjoyed today's offering.  Hopefully by the time I get around to presenting the finished oil painting, you all won't be 'owling in pain by my various owl renderings over the next little while.

See you soon! :-)

(<Tee-hee> Oh, how I love a really bad pun!)