'Pukana pots' - photographs of

Yahoo - finished - now drying over the next couple of days so the paint can harden and be weather proof then they will be potted up with the date palms and an appropriate spot found for them outside. The photos showing the koru design is how they look on the back. The one of both pots also shows Theresa Reihana in behind them. She's the artist who ran the workshop and boy oh Boy her work is stunning. For two days it was $25 and just some kai to share with the others there so I was thrilled because i could afford that which meant I was not ruled out because of lack of finances. She talked through doing the portraits and also 'tricks' (as she called them) she uses to make things look really balanced and three dimensional and realistic (although mine still look a bit cartoony I am thrilled with them. Would not like them on my wall though! Good for outside pots!!!!) Her final portrait was amazing.

Road Kill and Pukana pots...

Thanks for the comment Tim- good advice!

I bit the bullet and went out to the workshop with Theresa Reihana today - she was doing a painting of her neice as a model so as I wanted to look at how she works I did the same thing (what her neice is doing in the photo next to the pots is called 'pukana' - where the eyes pop out almost and it's kind of a challenge)

I have too many paintings in the house so I decided to take the opportunity to paint up some large terracotta pots i was given last week along with some date palms to put in them. The palms are really pretty so decided they needed a stunning pot to each go into rather than uninterseting terracotta. With Pukana the face looks quite angry so am calling these my 'Guardian Pots' and they will go at the front entranceway. Did not get finished today os hoping to be well enough to go out tomorrow.

Not sure what conditions date palms like so hope that is OK

Pots are painted with resenes acrylic. Base colours are 'oil' and 'kaitoke green' (?) Each pot also has a green koru design on the back.

Oh - the Road Kill.... On the way I noticed a large turkey on the side of the road. The Marae hosting the workshop has a strong group of the top weavers in the North and I knew they could make good use of the beautiful black and white feathers so turned the car around and picked up the turkey. MAN what a HUGE bird and in very good nick (must have been run over at night or early morning) A BIT pongy though. Have come home with three of the enormous black and white striped wing feathers. The weavers put the birds in the freezer until they are ready to use them (The black feathers especially would be beautiful in a korowai I think or round the top of a Kite or woven basket). Everyone laughed at the workshop when I appeared dangling a dead bird!

Glitches and headaches...and postscript written later on...

In the process of applying for artschool and have hit a glitch that is really stressful. Have to provide full details of costs including block courses with airfares, accommodations etc and the website for the school has none of that information on it at all - not any updated listings of upcoming courses. I am also feeling very stressed because i do not know how i would handle the travel and strange place and accommodations and cold. So I can't do the costings and have to present them to WINZ on Friday.
Glitch #2. My head is so full of wonderful ideas for things I want to do it has become a jumble and feel totally drained and exhausted. I have not even managed to prepare a meal today I am so fatigued and my head hurts so much. Everything has become a grey haze of fatigue. And feel very confused because i do not know how they do their programme - like do I get everything all at once and what if i need more materials and they are not budgetted for??? And how do I do accurate estimates when I have no idea of what I will be actually doing apart from very vague overviews?????
Glitch 3: Everything hurts. Tried to sort papers on Friday and as a result my muscles are now screaming at me. Tomorrow I am booked on a painting workshop with Theresa Reihana and right now so lacking in the ability department. I always really look forward to her workshops because she's such a skilled person yet so down to earth and easy to learn from and you always end up with something really awesome at the end of it. I've double booked with other things and needing to sort that out today. But if i can't stay out of bed then i wont be going anywhere. I am SO frustrated with the CFS.
Glitch 4: The commission work needs to be completed as she is coming to look supposedly tomorrow (yes - that is one of the double bookings). With my printer down have been unable to print out the work I have done for her and unsure of what to do.

Hmm - being an artist is not all creative fun and games!!!!

Post script...having just had an inspiration I am going to talk with someone tomorrow who has done the same programme and find out how much she paid out in extras and postage etc etc etc. Spoke with her husband today and he was very enthusiastic and told me some of the projects she worked on. They had to end up building a studio just to put all of her stuff in!!!!!
So for now i have stopped the brain rolling out ideas because apparently they give you lots of starting points to work from and build upon so pre planning now is a bit time wasting.
Local travel agent gave me a rough estimate of costs for any block courses. Pretty horrific and would far rather spend that money buying a laptop to play the course dvd's on! (All hypothetical as do not have the money anyway)
Was not aware I had no cat food so had to go and buy some so bought some mandarines at the same time and so have had mandarines, chocolate and cheese for dinner. mmm. Healthy!!! But at lease it is something.