OK Just One More, or Two or

I'd hoped to finish this one of Tina (had put it it the price list in optimism) so am pleased I did, as it's a sort of pair with the one of Alicia looking up and with foliage shade on her face.  The camels was a bit of a 'I wonder if I can do bigger paintings on board' which started very badly yesterday but went better today.  I'd picked up some stand oil (thickened linseed oil) that was recommended instead of varnish to give a bit of protection to touch dry paintings that arent ready for proper varnish (which is a 6 month wait that I've not got).  It's almost as cool a discovery as the boards: very slippy and gloopy and nothing like the usual mediums I've used for the last few years (which have been alkalyds a kind of synthetic and much more 'normal' in behaviour).  This one wasnt on the price list, so I might have to do some alterations . . . luckily the room brochure's an in house production so I've probably got a week before it needs final finalising.  One more weekend before the opening . . . a bit more time then . . .

This Should be It

I'd only intended to finish 'The Conversation' and tidy up the ballon and the lakes on these previously 'finished' pieces, and then start playing with ideas for the Alice Prize Exhibition work (due Mid March), but things don't tend to go according to plan . . .

I kept eyeing the boards in the corner yesterday when doing the final touches to the portraits, and then today, instead of doing all the administrative things I need to get done by tomorrow for the exhibition, I had an urge to do 'just a couple more'.  I'd been extolling the wonders of painting on small boards to a friend who has a show in a few months as a great way of going fast and furious and reminded myself of how liberating they are. 

Now I just need to find a way of varnishing them that doesn't seem to take for ever to dry.  (I've even taken off a couple of layers of Damar Varnish on a couple of the stickier boards that simply didnt seem to be hardening up . . . which puts me in mind of the Bowie song with the line about a 'crib on which the paint wont dry'.)  Ok. Here they are and now it's back to putting together the price list and writing the artists' statement (you'd think as an English teacher this would be easy . . .)

Last Dash

That's it really now, as I'm back to school tomorrow and also learning to do the two job juggle (exciting but a bit of learning to do I think).  Been quite productive the last couple of days, finishing some pieces as well a doing all the housekeeping stuff like varnishing, naming, pricing, putting the schedule together for the catalogue.  Portraits still take me longer that other stuff, but I've enjoyed the change of pace the last few days. Finished this one:

Finshed this one:

Fixed the clouds in this one:

Did a last blast landscape on boards:

And finished the faces on this one, which means I should be able to get the feet and background completed next weekend (a bit of a bonus really)

And Again

Portrait week this week . . . some finished, some in progress.

More Portraits

Did some seriously satisfying finishing today:  Frames II (Curtains) which didn't need much doing but could have so easily become overworked, Tree Climber which I knew needed something else, but I wasnt sure what, and (although it still needs a last little bit tomorrow) the portrait of Hugh in the tree, which was hard to get right.  Spent most of this afternoon and early evening on this one, and it (and I) went through some awful moments, but it's almost resolved.  Good good.

Ah yes, the still life on boards . . . tried it yesterday, didn't work . . . did a dog (completed) and a ferris wheel (started) instead.

Portrait Time

Two of these I began last year, and one (red balloon girl) that's been knocking around the studio for what seems like ever. It seems to take me longer to paint on canvas than on board, and of course bigger pics take more time to cover (duh) so I've been pretty pleased to have completed two of these and nearly done the other.  Think I'm starting to see some wall space upstairs now.  Though I missed doing the boards today, I've set up a couple of still life ideas for tomorrow that I can have a play with on my little flat friends.

Some Melbourne pics

Never did get around to sketching in Fed Square, but did spend some time at the beach at St Kilda.  I particularly enjoyed playing with two very different ways of putting on paint in these two.  The two ladies are very impasto-ish, big globs of white in the morning sunlight against the darks.  The beach scene is thinned almost to watercolour consistency and then wiped off to get the whites.  It was really hot and I wanted the narrow tonal range to get that sense of the afternoon heat.

This next one is from Hermansberg (about an hour west of Alice), one I've been meaning to paint for a while.  The solar array catching the last of the evening's light.  Not too sure about the sunset in this one.  Wonder if it's just a bit too brash.  But then I always am a bit iffy when it comes to sunsets.  Clouds, yes, orange light and clouds . . . um.