silvereye photograph

Today I was blessed to have an instant of a stationary silver eye in the guava tree that I snuck up on and took a shot of.

One chance - and thankfully the camera behaved and took the shot.

Eight Bells

Last year a captain of a fishing boat was kind enough to give me a couple of snapper so I have finally finished a sketch for him of his vessel. Needs to be 'fixed' then can post it off on Monday.

I love the idea of 'fair exchange'

Will send him the one on the left and work on the other one another day or perhaps leave it as is - not yet decided...

I am SO behind in my work - lately there has been so much stress in my life and so much pressure from all angles it has been really hard to get into a frame of mind to create - my mind is so overloaded with other things.
And the time I have being 'up' each day (out of bed) has been used up with other things.
I just have to set aside time now to work and try and not let all the other pressures andcommittments and deadlines intrude, otherwise it will add more stress and pressure to an already difficult situation.

SO today I have set my timer and just worked. When the timer went off I did a little bit more and put the phone back on the hook then have had to stop for the day. Feeling really ill at them moment so it's back to bed for the afternoon - hopeing tonight I have some more 'together' time so can start work on the next thing that needs to be done.

EARTH HOUR HAS BEGUN

Well it is 9.10pm here in New Zealand and my lights are out and candles glimmering very pleasently as I do my bit for the planet.

As always we're the first in the world so wonder how many others will follow.

today has been an 'in bed' day again apart from a breif period of being up early this afternoon to see someone off who called in.

I am SO greatful for the rehab table over the bed as this evening I was able to be lying down working on some things whilst watching an artschool video.

It continues to make such a difference in my life.

Tomorrow hopefully i will hear from artschool what hours i have remaining to do in each subject area so I can select what to focus in on in particular - i am so full of ideas and things to do that this is really vital otherwise I will end up not completing my hours in one area because i have spent my all time in another.

If I don't hear i am going to paint up some backgrounds ready for drawings I need to get done for various people - some are WAY overdue - like the drawing of a fishing boat that the captain gave me two large snapper for last year - I must get onto that and send it off to him - very much into an equal exchange process where you and the other person swap things of an equal value and worth.

I am also very inspired by some of the visual ideas generated min my head when listening to various sermons in cHurch - one in particular really needs to be done as an oil painting - but am wondering - should I finish all my unfinished work first before starting something new - have several things waiting for completion at the moment.

Tomorrow I have NO meetings and only one committment later on in the afternoon so hoping for a decent block of working time. I lOVE Tuesdays!

quoting Steph

"I occasionally dip a toe into the inviting waters of spontaneity but regret it pretty quickly"

Steph. March 11, 2009

Beautiful piece of writing Steph - well done. {Grin}

And Tim - {waves} an official HI!

Recycling Damask and Sketching snappers

Was given a snapper this morning so FINALLY took the plunge and made an apron from an old damask table cloth that should have been in the rag bag years ago and used indian ink to sketch the snapper onto it in several different positions.

An acheivement 1. Because it is the first time i have done any sewing (I swapped a painting for a machine a while back now and first time I have used it) and 2. because I've wanted to work on facric for a long time but have held off because I did not want to risk ruining something by using the wrong materials.

I trialled on a waste peice before starting to use the indian ink on the apron peice. Really thrilled with the result - it looks like professionally printed fabric - not like a first time one off piece.

I'd love to explore this idea more - it seems most practical to have 'functional' one off art works.

Bathsheba's Bath (the sin of a King)

2 Samuel 11

Bathsheba's Bath - the sin of a King

(chalk pastel on cartridge)

David and Bathsheba

1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah.

But David remained in Jerusalem.

2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace.

From the roof he saw a woman bathing.

The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?"

4 Then David sent messengers to get her. {My notes - He was the King - she had to obey him - to not do so would have meant death}

She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home.

5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, "I am pregnant."

6 So David sent this word to Joab: "Send me Uriah the Hittite." And Joab sent him to David.

When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going.

8 Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house and wash your feet." So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him.

But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master's servants and did not go down to his house. {My notes - David was trying to get him to sleep with his wife so they could say the baby was his - it had been conceived while he was away at war and if he didn't have intercourse with his wife he would know it was someone elses. David's sin would remain hidden if he thought he was the father}

When David was told, "Uriah did not go home," he asked him, "Haven't you just come from a distance? Why didn't you go home?"

Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my lord's men are camped in the open fields.

How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!" {My notes: this was an honourable man}

Then David said to him, "Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.

At David's invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk.

But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master's servants; he did not go home.

In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In it he wrote, "Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die." {My notes - what a JERK!}

So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David's army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.

Joab sent David a full account of the battle.

He instructed the messenger: "When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, the king's anger may flare up, and he may ask you, 'Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn't you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? Who killed Abimelech son of Jerub-Besheth ? Didn't a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?' If he asks you this, then say to him, 'Also, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.' "

The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. The messenger said to David, "The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance to the city gate. Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king's men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead."

25 David told the messenger, "Say this to Joab: 'Don't let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.' Say this to encourage Joab."

26 When Uriah's wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.

27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son.


But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.

Wanting to buy a ferry, a home, and a future Wishing I had the finances.

Frustrated at lack of funds when something as ideal as this would be comes along and you realise you have not been able to buy toothpaste this week let alone buy a ferry no matter how ideal it would be.

When I saw it I knew how ideal it would be and I felt quite deeply the gulf betweeen wanting somthing and not having the means to obtain it.

It's the kind of thing I would make come alive, and would be deeply appreciated and cared for,
It would give me a future and a hope. It would give me a means to be able to financially support myself whilst still following the call God has on my life.

Oh - I just looked it up on trade me and found it is operating as a restaurant so it MUST have a certified kitchen. I really really really want this! It's just so ME. It would give me a very 'me' home and a gallery and a teaching space and a legal kitchen for producing food for sale for a gallerycaf and a means of supporting myself all in one as well as a teaching space.

One of the times I wish I had a financial supporter who could turn to me right now and say ; yes , I'll to buy that for you and here's the land to put it on - let me organise it all for you...
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/Boats-marine/Yachts-sail-boats/Moored-boats/auction-204350890.htm

less than a day before the auction closes.

Todays work

I have been doing some drawing work for artschool today using chalk pastels mostly.

I thought each layer would cover up the layer underneath it but as it turns out as soon as you 'fix' them with the spray fixative the underneath layer comes through again - this would be great except that my background for the figure drawing has horizontal red stripes on it (I was using the colours of a Royal Gala apple to create an abstracted background on which to work). So the figures are transparent to a certain extent and the background shows through.

Been trialling the new bed easel and it is FABULOUS! Today I have moved it out so I can lie on the couch in the lounge and work as it's easier to get a good position to work from and the couch is now on wooden blocks so the easel slides right underneath it. Marvelous piece of equipment and SUCH a Godsend. It is SO nice to be able to draw again!

Last evening I went out and took some compositional shots in the cemetery - particularly nice clouds and I found my moving around to different heights and positions you could come up with some very pleasing silhouetted shots. (I was lying down at the time when I discovered by moving slightly the composition changed drastically) These are in the old cemetery - the grave stones were the only thing to remain after fire destroyed everything a few years ago - well before my time. There is a great shot of the angel outlined against the flames that someone took at the time.

ME/CFIDS link

Ive just been reading a friends blog - and he had this link on his site to information on CFIDS/M.E. It's quite comprehensive and explains things far better than I could so I've copied the link to add here in case people want to know about it.

http://www.mecfs.org.au/?q=node/43

another good site for an explanation is

http://www.cfidsselfhelp.org/library/about-chronic-fatigue-syndrome

This is a good site for some helpful keys to deal with coping and on how to live well with long-term illness such as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. can be aplied to other situations also like cancer or sim things. Much of it is practical and constructive.

http://www.cfidsselfhelp.org/library/ten-keys-successful-coping-2005

a quote from a freind of mine in Aus (hope she doesn't mind)

We just need to climb mountains one step at a time, rather than all in one go.

reminds me of the Chinese proverb...

The Journey of a thousand miles
begins with a single step...

rehab team equipment - KA PAI! KIAORA!

today the rehab OT came with some equipment to help around the house - a tilting under the bed table and a kitchen trolley, all good quality enduring materials and on caastors. I am delighted as suddenly a whole rhelm of possibilities has opened up for me. It's been hard the times in bed - being upright is often so draining but now I have a means to be able to continue to work and plan whilst being mostly horizontal and I'm so thrilled. it gives me possibility and hope back instead of hopelessness and frustration.

The table can tilt to almost vertical as well as lie flat - so going to be a useful piece fo equipment whether in bed or not. Very excited about it and the possibilities it opens up both for self and being able to teach. It also means i will be able to have meetings lying down so I can cognitively function far better Nd still eb able to take notes or explain things using a paper shee on the table of I ened to. Yahoo. PTL

Mask making - finding inspiration at 11.40pm

For artschool, as already mentioned, I've just done a plaster bandage mould of my face and a plaster of paris cast from that mould to use as a base for making a mask.

And there it sits.

For I really struggled for what to put on it - do i turn it into an animal? Do I make a venetian Carnivale Mask? No matter what I thought it just did not want to get made.

Then I had a change of tack and looked at what a mask actually was - its purpose it to hide, to protect, to conceal something underneath, to alter ones perception to the illusion that the person underneath has become entirely something or someone else.

That kind of got me thinking about materials to use to convey that - now please understand it is started to get very complicated at this point.

So - brilliant - suddenly this morning there is clarity - I will design a mask that demonstrates a part of the Character of God. Suddenly i am back on track. Ive ben thinking about this all day and just now sittinglooking at the otherthings I have been working on this week there is lots of light in them, Lots of diffused as well as reflected light. My work is a vessel of light if you will.

So I said to the Lord just now, Father, You are light - HOW on earth do I portray this characteristic of You within the mounds of a papier mache mask.

Jesus said "I am the Light of the World'

So my mask shall become the world, with a single source of light eminating to it from above, through it and exploding from it in a thousand different ways through eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hair folicles.. as believers, we are His light in a world that has very much in these times become lost in darknes and needs the light in us to shine strongly to show people the way 'home'.

Now I know what this mask is desiring to become, and I wll have my world Map I have been looking for, and am keen to start and move onto the next phase. hALLELYUJAH

09.02.14 Silver Lake dreaming

I woke this morning at 7 am with a single image in my head.
I was standing by the shores of a silvery lake (light reflected), overgrown and mostely hidden by a wild array of thick tangled rampant watergrasses. I wasn't right in the clear water but in the damp reedbed overrun at the edge. And I saw myself as though from a distance - a young girl standing amongst the reeds of this barely visable lake. I wasn't doing anything, just standing there, breathing, looking at the lake.

3D work - mask making - and playing with 'paint'

For artschool Ive trotted over to the neighbours recently and we set her dining room up like an operating theatre so she could make a plaster cast of my face (a negative using loads of vaseline and plaster bandages) It was quite pleasent lying there with funky music playing in the background and the hum of voices around me - a little like disassociating i guess - you are aware of where you are but not part of it or able to communicate.

The girls made me laugh just as the bandages were going over my mouth so not only did a little plaster run into my mouth but the cast has set in a nice slight smile which is very pleasing.

Stage two was to make a plaster of paris mixture which was then poured into the mould (once again well vasalined) - I played with it a little too long - did not know it set quite so quickly! SO as I was pourng it in it was already setting so I will need to do another one sometime, however this one will be fine as a base for building up a mask mould with clay before papermache going over the top.

I am finding the process very new and interesting. Sculptural work has many different stages in it's development I am coming to realise - and each one needs to be well done in order for the next to work and therefore a good final product at the end.

A bit like life really!

I've also joined up with a community of Christian Artists' which I will post about at a later stage but it's a timely move for me I think.

Oh - I was given a crayfish yesterday - have cleaned out the shell and thought it would make an interesting vessel - maybe for a coin purse - not sure how exactly to clean it out properly so there is no lingering odour so have set it aside in the meantime on the kitchen bench for the ants to hoe into. hopefully they will do a great cleaning job and solve the problem for me! It is too interesting a thing to just throw away - one cannot help but be in awe of God when you observe the diversity of His creation.

Sketchbook Exercises for January

Today has been a GOOD working day with a break in the middle where I slept like a log for several hours which was WONDERFUL. (I am the woman who doesn't sleep)

I was given a gift voucher a while back now used it to purchase some chalk pastel pencils - LOVELY to work with as you can do all the normal blends but also fine delicate traceries so I am really thrilled with them.

I had not heard of them until a couple of weeks ago and was not sure our little place would even have them but all credit to them for the array of unusual and varied things they stock in terms of art supplies!

I've been really ill of late so rang and they had them ready at the counter for me so I did not have the added 'ugh' of having to find them as were not sure what they looked like.

It means now I can do drawing when I have to be in bed or lying down as they are nice colours but don't have the same dust as the normal stick pastels. So I am THRILLED.

I've been doing some exercises in my sketchbook to get a 'feel' for the new materials - did my first full colour drawn self portrait (took quite some time) - makes me realise how the chronic fatigue syndrome has taken it's toll of late - eyes are exremely weary. The hyperthyroidism makes them wider so the pupils and iris appear staring although they are not - just my eye are open wider so look bigger. Found some lovely strands of silver in my hair too as I was studying my face. So thrilled.

Have spent a few hours today also revamping my business cards as my mobile phone 'died' and the information was outdated. Have used a beautiful photograph of a nautaulis I took last year, all back lit with natural sunlight for a softer effect. Looks very ince on the draft of the cards. Am designing a co-ordinated package of marketing tools so will be interesting to see what they turn out like.

I have plans now for an exhibition at home in July again so thinking through the advertising and invitation designs now also and also the theme for the main body of work which will be in the studio. I loved a couple of years ago having my first 'in house' exhibition where the entire house was set up as a functioning gallery/exhibition and work space apart from the room where we sleep (I was going to use that also but it was too much visual stimulation and not indicative of rest so canned the idea)

My biggest hurdle at the moment is trying to establish some sort of working routine for art school projects. A long drive out to the GP the other day has put a big unexpected spanner in the works and as set me back quite a way in terms of managing to stand or sit for more than a few moments at a time before I am feeling like I will black out from the pain and that pain is in itself so draining - so it's quite an interruption the creative process. Have been contenting myself with bursts of very intersive work followed by lying down and igniting the creative juices by going over and over the dvd notes.

How wonderful it would to not have this M.E . To be well would be such a gift that one could do so much with.

Clay sculpting and sketches Jan 09

'On Growing Up' - #1/3

Have been doing a fair bit of sketching of late

Today however decided to try my hand at clay sculpting with quite interesting results...

The clay was far softer than I thought it was going to be (having not really worked with it before I thought it would be quite leathery and firm but it was like sculpting with soft butter to a certain extent.)

I've done 4 peices -

The first titled 'knowledge' talks about how as human beings we are always learning, somtimes that learning comes at pivotal points or steps in our lives, other times it seems interwoven in the very fabric of our existence. There are 'ah - ha' moments, like stepping stones in our path, but always we strive higher, to learn more, to understand more, to be more enligtened (hence the arrow pointing upwards at the pinnacle of the peice)

The other three are a series that started out to be about 'greif' but as I had the urge to drive nails through the sides of them (3 in each representing childhood, youth and adulthood) the work became about 'growing up' and the pain there is in that process but how if we walk on above that pain to the next stage at the final stage of our life we truely begin to blossom, I've done three in differing heights and widths and wondering why this was I asked myself about it when they were completed and i realised it was about that not everyones life spans are the same, some people have a short life span (though no less valid or of worth) whereas others live longer and therefore have more lifeline and perhaps differing points of pain in their lives.

Inspite of pain, inspite of wounding, all of us have the potential within us to stand uprightly and blossom. It is our time to bloom and no longer to be hidden within ourselves or advised on how to be by the pain we went through at differing times in our lives.

3D work using fibre and shell

I did these the other day - an idea I had been playing with - some of which were sent to my parents for their Christmas Gifts - made with shredded flax and shells from one of the local beaches...

I am VERY much into natural products, things that preserve - and don't harm our environment in their creating or their disposal, and that influence is becoming more and more important to me the older I get so I love the idea of creating an artwork like these using 100% natural and biodegradable things to work with that will benefit the ground when they eventually return to it.

Currently i have several palm tree spathes soaking in the bath also - the word is getting out that I am making lovely containers with them and the other afternoon I woke to find some Kind Person had dropped some off on the porch ready for me to use (thanks).
You soak them to soften the wood so it becomes flexible and also so you can pierce holes in it more easily. The water laden wood seems to 'fold around' whatever you are piercing it with rather than splitting lengthways so you get a smooth hole, not a tear, in the wood.

Thankfully this person had also copped off the fronds for me which makes them much easier to work with - this one in the bath is not pre chopped and was very hard to remove the main frond stem.

hooray - sold one of the Kete

Just received a wee cheque from the Wellington exhibition with a lovely letter to say 'wild and wooly' sold at exhibition

Here's the link to the post where I talk about making it and the symbolism.
http://the-art-of-hope.blogspot.com/2008/11/portfolio-and-exhibition-work-off-today.html

I am SO thrilled, had a grin from ear to ear when I got the mail! Not sure what happened to the other Kete I sent down - no doubt I will find out soon.

Between that and the exhibition up here I was able to put quite a bit away into the fundraising account for my trip away next year. It is great to see the $ creeping up and knowing I am getting closer to my goal. Quite a way to go yet but am getting there.

Gosh, it's so encouraging!

Artistic Pet Project for Artschool fun

My mentor set a project to do some artistic shots of our pets so here goes...

Hedgewick, the baby Hedgepig




Opal the Cat




I have a 'part time cat', Harry, who visits when he feels like biscuits. He bought me this charming Goldfinch not so long back.

Just finished the art and craft show - Dec 08

I am feeling very encouraged at the moment – 2 of the postcard-sized life drawings I did the other day sold at exhibition this morning – Indian ink and oil pastel. So that was encouraging –I loved them but did not know if anyone else would. Also sold a lot of cards of my work that I had produced last year and some names down to do some weekend workshops with me in 2009.
Heaps of feedback also on a container I made this week from a palm spathe, flax and paua – really thrilled with it myself – it did not sell at exhibition BUT one of the people coming through loved it and took a photo to send to her sister who runs a gallery in Kerikeri as she might be interested in exhibiting my work so that was good. If nothing comes of it – I have lost nothing – but perhaps something WILL come of it and then I will have gained.
I would have loved to have sold some of the bigger works – but not to be this time around – although have an offer on one that I did not take down to the exhibition that I think I will accept.
The car is full of stuff from the exhibition so that will be a big job in the morning to unpack and put everything away. I've had to call it quits tonight but I’ve treated myself to some blue cheese with pesto on crackers and also frozen yoghurt to end the week in a nice way. Very tired but very content.

Oh – a wonderful thing occurred – i had fresh flowers from the garden just to add to the 'look' of my space each day – and the woman doing the catering loved them so much that I was able to swap her a fresh bunch of flowers for lunch yesterday and today. What a good system! Today she went home with a HUGE bunch of lime green and scarlet alstromeria so she was thrilled.

Portfolio and exhibition work off today Yahoo

Above is the really beautiful spider that was on the flax as we were weaving on Friday! Apparently an Ausi import!
Have sent in my final lot of work for the year to artschool and also packedged up the 2 Kete I have made in the last couple of weeks to go to exhibition and hopefully sell.
The trickiest thing was to pack them so they didn't get crushed -
Filled 'Feels Like Home' with a shopping bag full of shells and sand from a nearby beach to help it hold it's shape.
'Wild and Woolly' I made last week using Natural fibres, sheep wool from a friends farm fence and polished discs of bone and packed that with what was left of the wool so hoping that works. I had to wrap the long ends of shredded flax carefully so they did not bend and loose their shape.
Thankfully everything fitted nicely in my art portfolio so did not have extra courier fees.

It took two hours yesterday to tie off the bone disc handle on 'Wild and Woolly' so it was just right!

There are also 12 bone discs threaded into the rim for the twelve tribes of Israel, the shredded flax forms a huge mane around the Kete (Jesus referred to as the Lion of the tribe of Judah) and sheep wool also talking about His being known as the sacrificial Lamb of God, covering and paying for our sins.

I have also started working on some decoupage pieces in the last few weeks. At the moment working on an old suitcase and my hakere fridge (good inside but not so great outside). - very time consuming but quite absorbing. Enjoying the challenge of something new.

Traditional Maori Flax Basket (Kete)

Last week I called into a friends for a coffee and she had a pile of beautiful baskets she had just finished weaving so in passing i asked if she could teach me, next minute she had a pair of cutting tools in her hand and off down the garden we went where she cut long leaves of flax and showed me how to strip and soften them and then we both worked side by side on a basket each so she could show me what to do. I made a pipi-picking kete a while ago but didn't really know what I was doing (and Tangaroa ended up being gifted with it after a big wave slapped me from behind whilst I was bent over gathering Pipis (Grin)).

I am thrilled with mine - after we had woven down the top edges I was concerned that they might unravel as the Kete dried and I had the inspiration to shred the flax and then knot the different strands together right around the rim. I've also threaded some slipper shells on some strands from one of the local beaches. It's drying a lovely golden yellow almost so very pleased. On Friday we are meeting again to weave together - I have already made some grass handles for the next Kete so can't wait to try them and see if they work.

Have called the work "Feels Like Home"

Illustrators workshop end of day two pics

I worked on four paintings over the two days of the illustrators workshop
Revamped the native Parrot Fish painting (of the pororae) in acrylic by adding some koru designs and repainting the background. Did some more work on 'Arohanui' also.

The two new paintings were the Paua with Koru design in green tones (acrylic on canvas) and 'HineMoana with the net of the faeries' (actually started as a self portrait) in acrylic, wood glue and beach sand.

Illustrators Workshop - Sept 08

Today I have been out on an Illustrators workshop with Theresa Reihana. She spoke with me about the symbolism for womanhood, nurturing which is like a seed pod with seeds inside being protected and nurtured and she also showed me how to do the patterned spaces using repeating koru themes. Spent the day working between several paintings – one she drew the koru patterns on then I darkened the inbetween spaces leaving the koru in the original colours.

Doing koru is quite therapeutic – so curved and flowing and smooth.

Came home and used the TLC drawing exercises to start work on a self portrait – going to ‘sand’ it in the morning at the course to texturise some parts (you use wood glue and shake sand over the top.