Wordpress, bougainvillia and killing or curing a cold by swimming ...

I've been playing around with a wordpress blog and I think I like it (except for the 3 gig uploading space feature).  Wordpress is a lot more complicated to set up and get used to than blogger but I like that you have several different pages right there.  Kind of like another website!  So, I've been playing around with it.  If you visit it, please keep in mind that it's still in the creation stages.  And I've been sick and haven't felt much like doing much. 

But on the up side, I sat outside late this am and painted this.  I was actually drying off after a swim and was reading the latest Watercolor Magazine, then thought, "why am I wasting time reading when I could be painting?" 

So, I did this fast one.  Took about an hour.  It's a bougainvillia tree that is planted in a very large pot.  The total height of tree and pot is about six feet. 

**Some people** think this pot will be brought inside for the winter (it'll never survive outside) but ..... I don't think so.  It'll have to have ALL the soil knocked off the roots first, then potting soil put in.  Know why?  'Cause TOADS burrow into the ground of any of my plantpots and if a toad unearthed himself and hopped around in my house, I'd have to leave.  I seem to attract toads.  They seem to love my pots.  No one I know around here gets toads in their flowerpots but I sure do.  No matter WHERE I live.  There are many things that inspire me.  There are many things that do not.  Toads / frogs fall into the do not section of life.

So, back to this painting.  No drawing - I 'drew' it out with the paintbrush as I went.  1/8 sheet Arches, schmenke paints (that was the paintbox I grabbed on the way out).  I was going to crop out the tiles behind it but I kind of liked the pattern. 

I'm off to put together a Black Forest Trifle then more swimming.  Then .... maybe another painting.  (Don't faint, Teresa!)  Fast ones like this.  Fun - no pressure. 

Hope your day is going good.

Castle Windows

I don't have any progress shots to post today so I thought I'd post a shot from my trip back in April.  My niece spent her first year of Queen's University at Herstmonceux Castle in southern England.  It's closed to the public for tours when school is in session but because she's a student, we were able to walk about mostly at free will.  Needless to say, I took a few hundred photos of the place!  This shot is from a window looking outside into the centre courtyard. 

Even though I'd cleaned up my painting table, the studio room itself was getting messy and cramped so I've been really sorting things out well.  Especially the wall unit that contains a lot of supplies!  That is making it so much nicer to come in here. 

I've also been doing some research on jellyfish.  I'm ready to draw out the painting but was wondering if jellyfish live in an area with sea plants such as kelp.  So I checked it out online, found out they do and will now go ahead with what I'd planned.  I didn't want to put a background of kelp and other plants and then find out it didn't look real because jelly fish didn't live in areas like that.  ;-)  Now, I know.

That's my weekend.  How was your's? 

It's Done and Not Going Anywhere .....

Several awesome artists have told me to not expect every painting to turn out.  This one didn't.  But it DID fill it's purpose of getting me back into painting mode so that makes it a good thing.  ;-)  This is not a good pic - it was extremely difficult to photograph because of reflections.  (I'm not used to photographing acrylics!)  So I finally stuck it in front of this old one so I could adjust colours better.  You can't see the pads too well here but you can see the final outcome. 

I was going to start working on some paintings from my trip to Scotland and England but I might just work on another jellyfish, like the doomed one behind the lilypads.  Then onto the Cheviot Hills or Edinburgh Castle......

Have a nice day - it's raining cats and dogs here!

11" x 14", acrylic with some rice paper collaged on.