ranunculus - watercolour on paper

last images before my painting mojo died....

Ranunculus. I bought these at the market a week before I got around to painting them... in that time the leaves grew spidery and unruly and the stems got longer: some wilted and some twisted into new shapes.

Painted silk scarves

well it had to happen.... my three months of painting frenzy is over....

You see I lost my painting mojo. It is a cyclical thing - comes and goes for a couple of months then nothing for another few months....

but before it went I managed to paint some more silk.

Quite like turquoise/brown combinations.

Have a great weekend everyone.

more silver bangles with dangles and silver stack rings

I'd neglected silversmithing for a while as I have been painting furiously for these exhibitions.... I think my painting mojo has run out for a while so am working on some stack rings and more silver charm bangles.

Soldering and hammering metal is extremely satisfying.

Poppies - watercolour on paper

poppies for a Wednesday....

I quite like the pinks in these - of course the real colours were very bright red and orange... I toned them down because I like the softness of the baby pinks on crinkly petals. It was difficult to capture the crinkliness and the hairiness of the stems and bud coverings.

magnolias - watercolour on paper

Whod've thought winter flowers would be so fabulous?

Agave flower spike - watercolour on paper

There are some agaves growing in a clump outside our front gate. Under cover of darkness I cut the smallest spike to paint.

The flowers are full of nectar - it spilt all over the kitchen table - no wonder birds love them. they smell a bit odd - yeasty, beery even a hint of old socks.

And they're not all green either - the stamens are a dark plum withering to a rich brown when they die.

scampi - watercolour on paper

Scampi or Dublin Bay Prawns. This is from NZ and was beautifully pink and rosy with a row of glistening blue eggs when I bought it one Sunday from the Sydney fish market.

I've since cooked it and it didn't change colour unlike crabs and prawns.

camellias watercolour on paper

I'm sure you know that tea comes from a species of camellia...

These flower in the Sydney winter - they look so beautiful but they don't last - they start to disintegrate as soon as you pick them.

prawn and a teacup watercolour on paper

Here's a prawn for the weekend...

this one was finished for my new friend Penny Robson in the UK.

Have a lovely weekend all

Sydney Art fair

I found out today that I got accepted for the Sydney Art Fair 22-25 October 2009.


Woooooohooooooo


I'm so excited.

peony - watercolour on paper

here is the partner picture to the Peony pair I painted earlier...

The petals are dropping and it's in it's last stage of glory before fading.

strelitzia - watercolour on paper

I bought a strelitzia plant on ebay. I have been nurturing a plant in the courtyard for a couple of years but I think it's too cool in there to flower.

I left all the dying bits on the flower heads. I am trying to avoid the too-perfect chocolate box effect.

Him indoors complained about these - since they are double the size of all the others they are difficult to scan....

blue swimmer crab - watercolour on paper

I've had a bit of work on lately so the painting has taken a bit of a back seat of late. However, I try and do what I can in between work and waiting for emails. Shellfish doesn't stay fresh very long and now the freezer is filling up with crustacea in varying states of decay.

Yes, I'll admit they don't smell too good.

This swimmer crab was stunning in the shades of blue and purple. It has since been boiled to multiple hues of red and pink - pictures to come.

And no, I won't be feeding these to him indoors.