Happy Friday!

Winter in Canberra? This is it! Sun shining outside and not a breath of wind. I went for a run along  Ginninderra Creek and then made myself this plate of steamed brown rice with lightly stir fried onion, mushroom and greens with fresh oregano and a sprinkling of black pepper...and sat and ate it in the sun shining through the window. Life is good :-)

At my painting class this week Janet inspired me to paint some goldfish. I looked them up and found a pet shop that described goldfish as 'peaceful and intelligent'. I had not thought of goldfish in this way previously but this description has intrigued me - no wonder they can cope with swimming around in circles all day and night! In fact they must also have a deeply zen attitude to life, considering that their natural medium - lakes, rivers and so on - is virtually boundless and a fishbowl is, well, pretty much as bounded as a fish can be and still be alive. 

The first part of the fish that I paint is the eyes, then they seem to beg to be liberated from the page, I think that is why they are all looking out at me!

Time to get back to the goldfish.

Welcome back!

It has been a busy few weeks with the most exciting development being that I have quit my job as a teacher to focus on creative pursuits. Much as I love teaching, it sucked me dry in terms of energy and creativity and the time had come to move on.

Last evening I attended the unveiling of Barbara Van der Linden's portrait of Canberra designer Frank Arnold. Barb is engaged in an epic portrait painting project which will culminate, in 2013, in an exhibition of 25 portraits  called 'Faces of Canberra' at M16 Gallery. The exhibition will be part of Canberra's centenary celebrations.

The whole portrait can be seen here.  The portrait is very strong and created a terrific impression. It was unveiled by Frank's mum who charmed the assorted arty crowd with her direct and loving take on life as Frank's mum.

The venue for the unveiling changed at the last minute to the M16 Gallery and, while there I looked at an exhibition by Elisa Crossing. Many large paintings, mostly of interiors without people or anything living in them, so far as I remember. Some of them have the curious quality of following one around the room and invited one to enter and explore. Very interesting.

On that note, off to the studio...

Artist's block - eeeek!

I am posting this pastel that I did of my daughter Max many years ago to remind me that I can draw, yes I can!
My creative muse has totally abandoned me of late. I have spent some considerable time in the studio painting, rubbing out, starting over, fiddling with stuff, singing along with my favourite music (Mountain Goats, you rock!), but precious little 'real' work unfortunately :-(

on the importance of a warm neck.....

Winter is on it's way and I am once again faced with the dilemma of how to have a warm neck without looking like a relic from the 70's in a roll neck skivvie. Never mind that I am in fact a relic from the 70's, nobody wants to look like one. Enter 'Ravelry' and my rediscovery of the pleasures of knitting!  I have knitted myself a lacy 'cowl' which has a slightly vintage look about it courtesy of Ann Hanson, a designer who I discovered through Rav, which is a knitters heaven and a fantastic example of how to create a friendly, interesting and dynamic social networking/database/information website.

This was  a quick knit too - maximum effect and minimal work!!
If you are interested in beautiful and effective knitted pieces have a look at Ann's blog Knitspot, apart from providing access to her knitting patterns, she is an entertaining writer and lover of the natural world.

I am knitting a pair of socks now - warm toes are important too

A great day to be alive

Perfect late April day, more garden pics :-)

Autumn skies shine down on...

The roses have been fabulous this year and are still showing their last lovely faces

and there are myriad colours,

and the last of the summer vegetables

It has been quite warm here for the last few days although we have had quite a few cold ones too. Soon we will be putting in a winter vege crop, the seedlings are ready to go.