Frog This to This

Been on a bit of a painting craze at the moment..... sadly means my sewing UFOs are still just that but hey, when your in the mood your in the mood!

So my latest painting venture has been a little green frog - a Wallace's Flying Frog to be exact .... lol. B11's son has taken an interest in painting and as it was his birthday last week I sent him an assortment of painting things - brushes, paints, pencils, erasers, pad, etc - and he was asking me about using watercolours. I told him the most important thing to remember is - paint the dark things LAST!!

Sadly this news came too late for his first venture - a snow leopard whose spots and shadows went on first but at least his next effort with be primed with the knowledge he has now learnt first hand ....lol.

Anyway, I decided I would take a picture of the work in progress of the frog and show him what it looked like with the first coat of paint and what the finished work looked like.

I sent off the first picture and his response was "mm doesn't look much like a real frog." .... rotfl.


So then over the next week I labouriously painted layers of colour to make my little frog look just a tad more realistic for him.

Finally he (the frog) is at that stage where you are not sure whether to do any more or to just leave well alone. He is now sitting alongside the Aboriginal elder's portrait and the beautifully coloured Hawkesbury River rock while I decide if any of them are finished yet.

Now I am hunting around trying to decide what to paint next. Have gone through all the pictures I took on my river trip and found a few more interesting rocks and a couple of beautiful trees. Also found a lovely picture of an litle Australian sugar glider. Who knows what I will end up painting but I do know I have this bug in my system and it won't rest until I have produced a few dozen more......rotfl.

I did pin up the hem on a UFO of a supper cloth - finished the embroidery on it and now with the hem pinned it only needs stitching around. At least that did assuaged any guilt feelings (at least for a day or so) I had about not tackling my UFOs for a while.

Lest We Forget

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,

Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

Excerpt from For The Fallen by Laurence Binyon (1869-1943)

Also please visit this ANZAC site which shows the memorial place at ANZAC Cove by the Turkish government.

These are the words of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Turkey's first President, at the Anzac Cove.

Those heroes that shed their blood

and lost their lives…

you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.

Therefore rest in peace.

There is no difference between the Johnnies

and the Mehmets where they lie side by side

here in this country of ours…

You the mothers

who sent their sons from far away countries,

wipe away your tears.

Your sons are now lying in our bosom

and are in peace.

Having lost their lives on this land

they have become our sons as well.




Visit the ANZACS

Of Portraits and Rocks .......

Been working on a portrait.

I have never been successful in painting people's faces. Okay I admit to only ever trying three times of which two were absolute failures. That was many years ago and I have never had the guts to try again.

B11 (those who followed my dating blog know who I mean) is very much taken by the fact that his girlfriend considers herself an artist. He was discussing various works that I had done recently which were all of torsos. "Why headless?"

So there I was preening under his praise when he asked the one question I hoped he wouldn't....lol. I explained about my brush with heads and his response was "that was when you were a kid now you are wiser and have more talent." Awww don't you love it!

Well, it spurred me on and I was itching to try a portrait. But what to do? Found a picture of a wonderful native Australian elder who was so regal looking and interesting and decided to give it a go.

I have to admit to being pleasantly surprised by how he is looking. I am at a stage now where I have to decide whether to stop or to fine tune him. Bit of a quandary actually.

There are a lot of things wrong with him but overall I am pleased with my attempt. I don't know that I will do a lot of portraits - they still have that scare factor attached to them; but at least I put the boogie to bed and was reasonably successful in my attempt.

I have put him to one side while I consider which way to go with him and am now working on a picture of a rock .... lol. It that the proverbial rock and a hard place one sometimes get between?

Took lots of pics on my recent houseboat holiday with B11 and did some sketches in watercolour, charcoal, pencils and pastels. Now transferring them into detailed work.

The area is full of Hawkesbury River Sandstone which has marvellous colours and shapes as it is exposed to the elements. There are lovely purples, yellows, oranges and golds not to mention blues and greys and reds.

They just sang out to the artist in me and I took photo after photo. At the beginning of the cruise B11 thought I was crazy whenever I would go into raptures over a rock we sailed passed but by the end of our trip he was seeing them through my eyes and pointing them out to me so I wouldn't miss them.

So I have begun a small watercolour of the rock to the left - the colour isn't as vivid in the pic but you get the idea.

I have just completed the fourth 'pass' of wash and colour. I will start the final highlights - the oyster shells, lichen on the rocks, grasses, etc in a bit more detail.

B11 laughs at me - I took over 90 pictures of rocks or rocks and trees and about 10 of the houseboat, him steering or other boats......rotfl; he tells me I have enough inspiration for dozens of paintings - I tell him I need to go on another outing to find more.....