Fluffing around with other paintings

This is definitely the "Tiktok made me do it" section of paintings. They all seem so pretty, so I take the fifteen minutes to copy them, it works out fine and it's fun, while I watch something on Netflix .. but I think it might be the junk food of the artist world. Is that a problem? I'm not sure. 

It certainly seems to involve a lot of flowers.

And the occasional landscape.

And ladybirds! I had fun doing these ones, they are very cute.

Weekend at the coast

 The three of us (me, husband, cat) went down to the beach on the weekend - Saturday was windy and cold but Sunday was a perfect clear winter's day. We went for long walks and admired the water.

I also painted a picture from my visit to Albury - I don't think I have those autumn leaves exactly right.

It was a sitting week so nothing but busy here ... leaving the retired person at home with his slippers on! He is being very productive and certainly doing all the household chores so I am not complaining ... except for being a bit jealous. It was -2 degrees when I drove to work on Wednesday. Cold!

More random paintings

I am a bit out of ideas at the moment on the painting front ... this happens sometimes between periods of crazed hyperfocus. So I go back to random things, odd youtube tutorials, peculiar tiktoks. And of course a bit of Gary. A cow.

Bloke with a balloon.

I even went back to Diane Antone, who is still happily making excellent watercolour videos in rural France.

The birds are her idea, the words are mine. It's a song by the Be Good Tanyas although I got the lyrics wrong. I like her way of doing a hibiscus though.

Someone suggested painting over sheet music and I have some that I bought from the op shop for gelli printing back when I was enthusiastic about that for four days.

I don't think it looks very good at all.

1970s maternity top

Here is one of the things I sewed on my last beach trip - not exactly a 1970s maternity top but definitely giving that vibe! It is very flowy and wide, and possibly not long enough, but that is easily fixed for next time.

This is a rayon that's been in the drawer for a while - I was thinking a dress originally but it might be a bit much. So a top it is. 

The pin tucks were interesting - they can be quite fiddly, especially around a curved edge. So what this pattern did was have you cut a square for the front, then sew the pin tucks in, then put another pattern piece on it and cut the curved neckline through the sewn tucks. So much easier! The neck is still quite high, I might drop that down an inch or two next time. 

This is the whole outfit with work-appropriate cardigan and lanyard for Pride Month (although I wear it all the time tbh).

The pattern was McCalls 8325, nothing fabulously adventurous but well-written and did what it said on the tin.

And this is the drawing I did with the urban sketchers. I was so worried about running out of time that I cracked on and took even less care than I usually do - so it's a bit rough and ready! But not bad for sitting on the ground. 

Short work trip

Last week I spent a few days in the Riverina area - between here and Melbourne, about a four hour drive - for various work-related activities. It was nice to drive somewhere rather than fly, although it's inland and even colder than Canberra. 

I went for a walk along the river before breakfast in Albury - lovely, once it stopped sleeting.  I also took a lot of photos of cool old buildings that I will try and sketch.

We ended up on a RAAF base where I took photos of the planes in case my husband was interested (he was), even though that is only the nose cone of an F1-11. I still thought it was quite cool. He spent the time in Brisbane for a high school reunion (42 years!) and catching up with family ... it was 20 degrees  most days and sunny! Nice for some.

Urban sketchers

On the weekend I took a deep breath and actually went along to a meet-up of the Canberra Urban Sketchers! You know how much I don't love groups, and new people, and general joining activities ... but I did it anyway and of course it was lovely. Very welcoming. So once a month they meet up at a place, then wander off for two hours to sketch, then come back, compare drawings and have a coffee. This is the 'throw down' where everyone puts their books on the ground.

I am not very good, but I am also not terribly bad - and there were so many different styles and approaches that it just didn't matter. People used pencils and markers and crayons and stencils in all different sizes and styles, it was great to see. I did this corner with the Deli - I'll post my sketch if I remember.

This meet-up was at some newly opened food markets; it was quite quiet because of the long weekend, which is good for sketching. I thought it might be awkward to sit and draw in public but because there's a group it was fine ... and actually even without a group it probably would have been fine. The demographic was largely women of a certain age but not entirely - there were some younger ones and some men! - which is a step up from Canberra Quilters. I will go again.

Paintings of buildings

Here are some paintings from photos - I am still slightly in despair at the lack of scenic structures in Canberra to paint from life - at least any that are suitably derelict! It is quite fun to paint things that are falling down. Here is an abandoned light-house beacon thing. I am not sure where I got the photo from, probably Unsplash.

Here is another abandoned building in Philadelphia - from the amazing photographs of Austin Hodges here . These two are a little bit bigger and took a little bit more time than some of the other ones. I am still frustrated with the gap between what I want to do and what I actually do but, you know. Just Keep Swimming.

Head cold

That was a very unproductive week - I had a bad cold that I thought was covid or the flu - so I've been sitting miserably at home waiting for it to go away. Which it did in about three days, so definitely not covid or the flu, and I had to go back to work ...

I went down the coast on the weekend which was a bit grey and gloomy but good for long solitary walks on the beach. I went into town to buy some watercolour paper (weirdly, the dollar store has the best cotton paper, I don't know why) and took a photo of the police station, then painted it.

Much more colourful in my painting, which I like. Painting roads and houses would be very dull if I couldn't add unrealistic colour.

I also did one of the Art Gallery from the weekend before. They're not very good but it's fun to have a little record of where you've been.

And in most exciting news, my husband has retired from work! Well, he's on annual leave for a few weeks before he actually retires, but he is not going back to the office .... ever. It hasn't really sunk in yet.