Back again

beautiful vintage hard art pastels,
found in my father's storage boxes

I've been a bit missing in action here for a while....my online & social media self has been overtaken by other business related social media accounts and content.  But this was a great little blog to post my explorations in painting and artwork, and a bit of lifestyle content too.  I'm reviewing what to do here...do I update and start carrying on again ?  or do I archive these posts and find ways to refer to them from other newer feeds and platforms ?

More soon, as I ponder & consider what next

Bluebirds Continued

Always & Forever Bluebirds,
oils on canvas, Feb 2014

We have been moving right along….and I realise that I did not post the completed Blue Birds painting. Here it is, turned out fab and I really love it !  Always & Forever Bluebirds, oil on canvas, Feb 2014.  Shown here in our shop Valentines & early Feb window display

And it would become a gift, except turns out it is a bit too large to carry in a checked bag, even in large suitcase.  A few cm too big in both dimensions.  In May I have a trip to get out and about, and among other things meet a new grand-daughter.  My daughter Karen and her partner Mike expect her arrival any day now (literally !)  Karen really liked the BlueBirds painting (and earlier did ask if I would do a painting for the baby's nursery) and so I have started a second one, this one on a slightly smaller canvas that I know fits in the suitcase I will take along.  So, Bluebirds 2 !

construction on enclosing of the studio as resumed--Yeay !

I am really enjoying the painting in the studio to be.  Ian's fingers have healed and in mid-February he started back on construction work to enclose and finish the space.  Its such a nice area, great light and now all four windows are in place.  Plus a new beam for the back door, the one that leads up steps to the clothes line (a good ole Hills Hoist, an aussie icon !).  And he recently put in the new door too (it isn't painted yet, that minty green door you see is it).

I do have to share the workbench (my workbench !) with tools and all manner of bits and pieces used for work on the enclosure during the week.  I can honestly say, it takes more time to set up, and then pack up/put away as I spend on the painting session each Sunday.  I will love it when done, because I will be able to have some painting things out (neatly.  kind of.  maybe !) and will not have to put away and set up every painting session.  I am hoping this will get me into more painting.  Because, I have a big pipeline of ideas to turn into artworks !

sketching the composition
for Bluebirds 2 on the canvas

working on underpainting:
Bluebirds2

Anyhow, back to Bluebirds 2.  First, Bluebirds 1 got its typography and I couldn't be happier with it.  Though, it was not easy to do, I found a good way to get the spacing and shape for the lettering onto the canvas and then used black paint and a whisker fine paint brush to paint it in.  With some later little touch ups when the paint was dry, it looked great.   For Blue Birds 2, I made a few changes.  Actually thinking the composition looks a bit better than the first one.  I like the big heart frame on this size canvas.  5 small hearts, instead of 10, but I really like the look.  Birds and big centre heart frame same size as on BB1.  I sketched out the composition and spent a painting session doing an underpainting in thinned oils.  Again, working in water soluble oils, paints by Daniel Smith and also Lukas Berlin.  I am IN LOVE with the texture and workability of the Lukas Berlin water soluble oil paints.  Outstanding !  And I am delighted I can mix the Daniel Smith ones in too.  This allows me to extent my collection of paints & colour.

end of Bluebirds1 Session 1:
underpainting done, but
much more to do !

Bluebirds 2, Painting
Session 2

I knew that BlueBirds 2 would require 5 or 6 painting sessions and then dry time before packing and traveling.  So I planned weekly painting sessions, on Sunday afternoons, which have been glorious for painting and are a bit of free time for me.  The second painting session for Bluebirds 2 focused on everything actually, but lots of time spent on the birds.  And flower sprays, big heart frame and edging, and smaller hearts.  I decided to use some lighter/brighter colours.  Miss Baby Grand-Daughter's nursery has been painted a tropical coral colour (walls) and so I decided to use colours that would go with that and also the baby quilt I am making her, which has aqua and periwinkle blues, coral and soft tangerine, fresh spring greens and charcoal & black (it looks better than this may sound !).  So Bluebirds2 got more Quinacridone Coral (hearts), and Cerulean (birds).

Bluebirds 1 shown right, Blue Birds 2 on left, during
painting session 3 and just after I got the lettering
painted on.  Looking good !  (see how I must share the
art workbench with construction tools
like saw and level ?!)

I haven't yet decided on what to do with the background, but mulling this over.  I think  I do like the duck egg ground in BB1, and may do something similar.  But not same-same.  I brought BB1 home to help be sure I got the birds in BB2 equally cute !

BB2 session 3 was yesterday.  I added more yellow to the birds bellies.  They are now nearly done.  I added last touches to the sprays of blue and pink flowers, and the leaves are close to done.  The hearts got some shading.  And I added the Always and Forever quote (in french).  Again, some simple transfer of graphite to the ground to get my spacing and shape of the font lettering correct as I could, then filled in with paint, which was a slow and careful process.  But looking better than BB1 I think !

Bluebirds 2 at end of Painting Session 3, 0
9/03/14

That's it for the week.  Fine-tuning next Sunday.  And actually for days there after.  Then I need to leave well enough alone, and let it dry !

Learning the New Paint

Happy Australia Day !  A fine day here, and lovely celebrations (with a BBQ  !)

Stopping point today.  The Bluebirds painting
with palette (foreground left) and a board
(foreground right) capturing colour
mixing record

I did not get to work on the Bluebirds painting this week until today….but I did call in at a favourite art supply shop earlier in the week and bought some Water Mixable/Soluble Linseed Oil to use with the water soluble oil paints.  The art shop had a brand from Germany by Lukas.  I also bought some of the Lukas Berlin water mixable oil paints, with a view to compare with the Daniel Smith ones, but hopefully to use the two brands together, so I could extend my colour selection.  I needed Cerulean Blue for better mixing (I already had Ultramarine Blue).  I also bought a light bright green, an Earth Brown, and a very large tube of Titanium White.

I found today's use of the paints to go better than last week.  The modified linseed oil medium was very nice and so were the Lukas paints.  Buttery rich and soft consistency, outstanding colours and texture.  I am really impressed with them.  They worked and mixed beautifully.  I was able to mix the two brands of paints well too.

I made a colour record on a piece of board.  Since I'm still learning my way with the new paints, the colour record is a very good idea.….as I am working on mixing, texture, and colour.  It will make a practical record for future reference and use with these paints.

the blue birds, closer up

Today's session focused on the blue birds, getting the flowers and leaves done in the oils, and adding some detail to the background.  Its all coming along.  I must decide on the words for the big heart.  Decisions,  decisions !

Bluebirds Painting--on its way

bluebird detail

The Bluebirds painting was started 2 years ago….and has been asking for its turn to get more done to it.  Today I decided to tackle that, as a warm up to a new painting I will be starting soon.  I also decided to try out the new water soluble oil paints by Daniel Smith that I brought back from USA in December.

the underpainting, my starting
point today

This composition is of an antique Valentine's Day card.  When I did the initial painting 2 years ago, I created a copy of the card at massively expanded scale, so I would have the detail that is in the original card.  However, I did make a few changes in the painting, like leaving off the text that is on the card.  Somewhere I have the antique card, but can't find it at the moment, so the monochrome blow up image is my model for now.  That plus memory.

creating a record of the
colour palette using
the new paints,
along the bottom of the
monochrome copy of the card

Like some other paintings I recently finished in oils, the painting was initially done in acrylics on canvas.  And I wasn't happy with it, and wanted to finish it in oils.  Trying the new DS water soluble oils put the painting's work into experimental territory, as I wasn't sure how the new paints would perform, and how they would behave differently than each acrylics and oils.  It also meant I needed to do some work to colour mix, as I did not have a big collection of the DS paints (and for oils, I do have a good collection of colours).  I enjoy colour mixing, so having to mix colours was quite OK.  As I do for any project where colour mixing is involved, I create a simple record of the colours I create, and this time I put the paint dabs on my monochrome sheet of the card that inspires this composition.

working on the painting

I worked on the background, and warmed it up, with more duck egg blue hues.  I also worked on the borders of the centre heart, and the smaller hearts.   Then I tackled the birds, which were sketched, but only partly painted in.  I wanted the birds to look cute, with sweet faces, as they have in the antique card image.

I like the Daniel Smith water soluble oils, but they dry on the palette faster than regular oils.  They were also a bit dryer on the brush without water in the mix, hard to explain….but seemed so.  I am also not used to using water to thin them, I may need a bit of practice and experimenting with it.  I might get some water soluble linseed oil medium to try with them (I left it behind, as I wasn't sure I could bring it on commercial aircraft).  The clean up is brilliant, EASY water clean up of brushes and also the palette.  Very nice !  All in all, I am pretty impressed and liked the paints.  to learn more about the Daniel Smith water soluble oils, check out www.danielsmith.com

I think the birds came out very well.  They look good and have cute expressions.  They need just some fine tuning to the shadings and highlights on them, and a bit of fine tuning detail on their little faces and also their feet.  I also need to tidy up the background, maybe put in some pattern on the stripes.  The hearts need the white border tidied.  And the flowers and leaves will be some work too.

My stopping point today.  Its on its way !

Another UFO (unfinished object, (this one a painting) is now on its way to completion.  I'll post it when done !

Happy New Year 2014

Wishing you a Happy New Year 2014, with prosperity, good health and happiness to all.

We ended our 2013 year here with a bit of the unexpected !  Ian was injured seriously and has one hand injured to the point of needing to take a complete unscheduled break (see 3 January post on placeandtimedesign.blogspot.com.au to see more about this unsked break !).  Thankfully it was not more critical or life threatening, but it was scary, and  loss of good use of a hand to weeks or months of recovery time is a pretty big impact for us (Ian is always busy and uses his hands for his work).

So what to do ?  Well, New Years Eve turned out to be a bit of a quiet evening as you might imagine, with quiet rest and pain killers for Ian.  As for me, I had good fruit on hand and set about to prepare it for the next day.  Something to do while counting down last hours of the year !  January 1st saw me making what has turned out to be a stellar batch of jam !  Apricot-Rose Jam, recipe credit to Blue Chair Jam Cookbook, an awesome reference to follow either literally or use for inspiration.  I don't always (I am often more an "inspired-by" sort of cook !), but this time followed the recipe pretty much to the letter, though with a scaled down quantity of fruit, suiting what I had available in peak condition.  And it has come out well indeed.  Here is a short photo journal of its production.

Apricots macerate in sugar
with lemon juice overnight
under wrap and in fridge

Cracked the apricot pits
to get the soft almond like
kernel inside.  Chopped up
and put in tea strainer to
cook in the jam mix

My gel set test worked great--its perfect !
(used freezer method)

Jam is ready.    Take off the heat now.

jam in jar, jar edge cleaned,
lid about to go on

The end result of the jam was outstanding.   Bright beautiful flavour, perfect colour, and excellent texture and set too.  A good result and sign for a fresh start in 2014, under a New Moon, and channeling healing thoughts and reminders about what is most important.   Ian's injury is healing and now we give it time and rest.  A good time to take stock and clear the decks for the next stage of things around here.   More soon !

Kim's Barossa Apricot-Rose Jam

My Barossa Kitchen: Jam Season

Yours truly, putting the jam into jars.
In a red apron, best for working with red fruit !

A relaxing and peaceful day off.  I love working in the kitchen in this house.  It keeps calling me to bake, cook, try new things.  We have a fridge full of leftovers (having plenty of turkey leftover dinners here !).  And also full of some stunningly beautiful fruit.  Raspberries, red currants, blackberries, strawberries, rhubarb, dark cherries, apricots, nectarines.  We also have on hand lemons, oranges, and a stray grapefruit and banana, plus a few kiwi fruit.  This is my best jam making season, summer fruits are gorgeous.  What jam I make is influenced by what is looking best and available in suitable quantity at the right fair price point.

rinsed red fruit

I planned on using the raspberries and red currants.  The latter would keep, but the raspberries were at their peak and needed to be used before they were lost or past it.  I made a mini batch of raspberry and red currant jam last year, stealing fruit from the Christmas dessert plan (I kept a bit of it plus strawberries and made a different dessert with what I had left !).  It was outstanding, albeit a bit of an accidental plan.  So my plan was to start my jam making season doing this one over, documenting the proportions and making a bigger batch (enough for 5 half pint jars or more).  I knew I could get fantastic raspberries at the Barossa Farmer's Market.  $7.50 for a 200g pun net box.  I got four and had a few extras from the week before that were still good.  I bought blackberries too, as a plan B.  Because I could not find red currants the week or two before Christmas !   Then on Christmas Eve, I found them at Nuriootpa Foodland.  I bought 2 small boxes of 125g each.  I needed about 200g for the jam and the rest was to garnish our Christmas dessert, a Rose Petal & Rhubarb Berry Trifle.

bowls and measuring cup

Had the radio on to hear the Ashes test Cricket on the ABC (I enjoy listening to test cricket on the radio) while I set about getting the work area ready for jam making.   I have a very large stainless steel stockpot with a clear glass lid and a small tray for the bottom to hold the jars off the bottom of the pan.  First thing is to get the water in that and start heating it.  It takes the longest time to heat it to  boiling and the jars then get boiled for 10 minutes to sterilise them.   The same pot and boiling water will be used for the boiling water bath to process the jam once it is put into the jars.  I have a smaller pot to use for sterilising the lids and rings.  That one is kept on hand also for boiling water to dip a clean cloth in for cleaning off the edge of the jars before putting the lid on.

towels & cloths:
red is practical for handling fruit !

Once that big stockpot got going, I assembled the rest of my tools.  A stainless steel funnel, jar tongs, lid tongs, stainless steel spoons of various sizes, timber pot coasters, all the jars and lids (already washed), and vintage glass measuring cups (my favourites).  Small little sauce dishes and small spoons get put into the freezer, for later testing the jam setting.  The funnel and spoons all were clean and got dipped into boiling water.  Then I got a variety of cloths at the ready.  Red and dark pink tea towels are practical, because red fruit stains (an inevitable part of jam making) won't ruin them.  Little dark cherry coloured cloths used for holding and wiping jars.  Silicon coasters for the big brass handles of the jam pan.  I also put on an apron (red, best for working with red fruit).

Red raspberries, red currants,
one lemon plus sugar

Then came the fruit.  First raspberries.  Rinsed and then weighed in a stainless steel bowl, so I could calculate fruit weight and work out how much sugar I would need.  Then red currants, pulled off stems, rinsed and also weighed, then put into a duck egg blue Bisonware ceramic bowl.  The raspberries weighed 816g and the red currants 199g.    With just over a kilo of red fruit I measured out 5 cups of granulated sugar for the jam, dumped that into another  stainless steel bowl.  I had a lemon and cut it, squeezing its juice through a strainer into a small glass measuring cup.

I have a fabulous hammered copper jam pan (Mauviel) .  Fruit put into unlined copper must have sugar mixed in straight away.  So I tipped in the sugar first, then topped it with the red fruit, and poured the lemon juice over the top.  By now the jars and lids were into the boiling water to sterilise, so I turned on the burner under the copper pan.  I mixed the fruit into the sugar and we were off  and running !

red fruit atop sugar, in copper jam pan

Jam heating up, on cooktop

It did not take long for the heat to cause the sugar to dissolve and the fruit was mixed in well by then, taking care not to over  stir the raspberries to the point of breaking them down too fast (they are delicate).   The fruit had the most divine aroma, bright, red, and nice mix of tart-sweet.  Red currants are a perfect partner to raspberries.  Before long the fruit and sugar mix was getting nice and hot and then all of a sudden it bubbled and foamed up.  I used a large spoon to skim the foam off into a separate bowl.  I am still getting used to the copper pan, and am carefully making adjustments to my jam cooking.  The copper pan heats up and stays hot longer than the stainless steel one I used to use.  If care is not taken, the jam can go from set to caramel stage very quickly (which would be ruined).  The jam started to bubble away, foam was skimmed, and it started to reduce.  When it was reduced to half its volume, it was time to test if it was at set or gel point.

Jam bubbles & foams up,
I skimmed off the foam

testing gel & set of the jam,
freezer (spoon/dish) method

I use little dishes and small spoons put in the freezer for a freezer method set/gel test.  I get one of each out of the freezer and carefully use another spoon to get a small bit of the jam mix and pour it into the spoon taken from freezer.  Then the bottom of the cold spoon becomes room temperature, then I carefully pour the jam into the cold dish.  And let it sit a minute or too, then run my finger through it to see if the trail stays separated or the surface wrinkles, both signs of a good set.  Today I had to do 4 set tests in fast succession (2-3 minutes between).  The last one I was pretty sure was it, so I turned off the heat under the jam pot.  I was right, and so the jam pan rested for a few minutes, then got put near where I would jar the jam.

Filling a jar with jam,
through funnel

One by one, I took a sterilised jar out of the hot water in stock pot, tipping the water back into the pot.  The funnel gets put in the jar, next to the jam pan.  I spoon the jam into the jar through the funnel.  When full, I carefully wipe the edge with a clean cloth dipped in boiling water.  Then place a lid and ring on the top.  It is tightened to light finger tight, so air can escape during processing in the boiling water bath.  Then the jar is returned to the stock pot, using the jar tongs.  This process was repeated six times. When all six jars were in the stock pot and water, I turned the heat back up to bring it to boiling.  And processed the jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Each jar was removed from the boiling water bath in turn and placed carefully on a timber coaster to cool.  In very quick succession, the jar lids popped as they cooled, indicating they had a good seal.  Each will have a shelf life of a year (if they last that long !).  When the jars were cool enough, I tightened the rings on them a bit more.  And fixed small labels to each with date of the jam and a best by date of one year hence.

Filled jar of jam being put
in stockpot for boiling
water bath processing

last bits of jam in the pan

The dregs of the jam pan got scooped out and put in a clean small jar for testing tomorrow morning !  There was not enough in the jar to sterilise (a partly empty jar will bob around in the boiling water bath….yes, I have tried this and do know !).  Also, I discarded the foam skimmed off the cooking jam and underneath there was a lovely syrup.  I put the syrup in a another jar.  It will make a nice topping for ice-cream.  The test jam and jam byproduct syrup do not have a long shelf life, they will be used this week and went right into the fridge !

Copper jam pan wash up

clean &ready for next batch !

I clean up all my tools and things right away, so it can all be put away and ready for next batch of jam.  Which might be tomorrow !  

Ashes Raspberry - Red Currant Jam

The cricket had been going pretty well.  So I decided to name this jam Ashes Raspberry - Red Currant Jam.


Looking forward to soon have studio space again for painting.  To see recent progress on the last phase of the renovations, completion of the studio, see placeandtimedesign blog, where I post renovations news and progress.

When Life Gives You….

Cherries !

I saw a great interiors photo of a beautiful kitchen last week and it had in it a cute sign that said Cherries on it.  I decided I would like one for my kitchen.  So I set about to do a prototype sign and work out my composition options, colour palette, and so on.

I have been wanting to integrate typography into my art, but free hand efforts have not looked how I want….so decided to use some form of an image transfer on this sign to get the composition of the letters as I liked before hand painting the lettering in my colour palette.  And last week I was in the middle of doing some experimentation with image transfer techniques and was timing and comparing the use of them, before teaching a variety of methods in a new workshop Brocante in the Barossa NEW Image Transfer on Chalk Paint ™ Workshop in January and March.  So I used an image transfer of the lettering onto the board (and did a time trial on it too).

First, I did a trawl online to see Cherries signs and motifs I liked.  I did not copy these, but definitely was inspired by fruits of the trawl.  I combined elements inspired from a number of sources into my design.  Then, I created the actual motif lettering in Microsoft Word, using WordArt feature, trying a number of fonts and shaping to the word before I found one I liked.  I used a pale colour, because I intended to paint over it all.  Then, printing the word art in reverse (mirror image), I  used Annie Sloan's Decoupage Glue/Varnish to apply the word "CHERRIES" to a board painted in Chalk Paint ™ decorative paint by Annie Sloan (colour of ground is Old White).

I began to paint over the lettering by hand and used Chalk Paint ™ by Annie Sloan in Primer Red, Emperor's Silk and a bit of Graphite for a little shadowing effect on the letters.  This took awhile and it does have a hand painted look to it.  I was as steady as I could though and used small taklon (4 and 6) flat and bright paint brushes for the painting work.

Then with small (2 and 4) bristle brushes, I used Antibes Green, and a more emerald looking mix of Antibes and Florence to create some leaves around the lettering.  I did leaves free hand.  I put in some shadows with  Graphite, so the lettering would stand out more and to give the leaves a look of part shadiness.  I used the darker red Primer Red to paint on some clusters of cherries amidst the foliage.  Emperor's Silk is a brighter red and was used for the brighter parts of the cherries, along with it mixed with a very bit of Old White (to make a quite bright warm pink).  To complete the cherries, I lightly put in some Old White highlights where the light would dance on the cherries.

To finish my prototype sign, I used Annie Sloan Soft Wax, first in Clear, then in Dark.  I gave the sign a bit of distressing with sandpaper.  And I rubbed back a bit of the dark wax, especially on the white bits around the letters, to brighten it up.

I like the sign.  I want to make a bigger one and will be planning that.  My immediate design dilemma:  How big should the sign for the kitchen be ?!

Painting Again

completing Unfinished Paintings:
Golden Celebration (yellow roses)

I have been away from blog posting, but only because life, working full-time and running a local business have kept me rather busy !  Also, I don't yet have a proper studio space.  Though, good news, now that the weather has improved, Ian is working on that.  Meantime, I do have the al fresco (under cover) work area, and during the week it is busy fixing furniture or building things.  On the weekend I can sometimes commandeer it myself.  And today that is exactly what I did !

Lovely warm weather, about 31 C, or about 88 F.   I decided to finish, or add to two previous works, so they can go to their new places or homes (this actually has yet to be determined).  But too many partly done or not how I am happy with them things is getting in the way of pursuing fresh projects and paintings.

Magnificent Sunflower 2010 (before)

First I decided to fix the background of Magnificent Sunflower, a painting I did in Jan 2010.  It was painted from life and its subject was an un-opened sunflower.  I love this painting and I liked its background, but it was a bit uneven, lacking in balance (even I admit that).  One side had a dripped paint treatment in the background and the other side did not.  I liked the dripped paint background, it was fun to do.  But maybe it is not best suited to this composition, as most people who see it like the not-side (without the dripped paint).  I decided to unify the background, so the painting can be more balanced.  I worked in oils, as this painting was given an oil glaze several years ago.  Oils were very easy to work and I finished this in half hour, maybe a bit less.  I gave it a softer look, framed by fresh greens and yellows, plus white. Not quite impressionistic, but with a romantic soft frame of colour.  It did not need much and I am happy with its new look.

Detail of new background

Magnificent Sunflower, with new background

Golden Celebration, 2010 (before)

Then, with a bit more paint on my palette and a whole bunch of things that need to be transformed, completed, or painted over to start anew, I picked a painting of Yellow Roses that I call Golden Celebration.  They are yellow roses of the David Austin type 'Golden Celebration' .  I did a photo shoot of them in Dec 2009 and painted this originally in May or so of 2010.  I also have a version of it--also almost finished-- in my US West Coast "studio"  (my parents home in Nevada).  I will be there in November and will be finishing that one too.  Three-year paintings !

Golden Celebration, during

So what did the Australian version of Golden Celebration need ?  Well, actually a fair bit of fine tuning.  Edges in the composition could be better and neater, with better colour.   Colours needed a bit more tonal definition.  I wanted the painting to have more light playing in it too, so it would not look 'flat.'  As with Magnificent Sunflower, I decided to work in oils.  Golden Celebration also had been painted in Acrylics and then given an oil glaze.  I had struggled with the edges of the petals, and getting them right.  Painting vivid yellows is harder than it looks, shadows and edges are particularly tricky.  Bright pigments like Cadmium Yellow are a bit "bossy" and easily domineer everything around them.  Which isn't very interesting.  How to keep the yellows clear and looking right and get edges, shadows, and such from looking murky or muddy ?!  That was the challenge at hand.

I worked slowly with size 6 and a size 4 flat brushes.  My oil brushes were so happy to get some action ! I used pure gum turps with my oils and a very light hand as I wanted to refine the painting, not do it over.  Three times I declared I was done.  OK, the third time it was really so !  The previous two times I considered and photographed the painting and found it not quite as I wished it.

Golden Celebration, 2013 (after)

For the flowers, I used Titanium White, Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Yellow, Australian Red-Gold (by Art Spectrum), and only a small bit of Raw Umber.  For the foliage and dark shadows among them I used Sap Green, Australian Gold Green (Art Spectrum), a bit of Titanium White and Lemon Yellow, Raw Umber, and for a bit of high lights, Art Spectrum's Tasman Blue.

Time flew on by and seemed to be very short.  However, I spent 2.5 hours on this, with only one break to put out a load of clean clothes on the line.  I worked without music, listening to bird sounds and the Sunday afternoon sunshine instead.  There were native parrot chirps, chooks (chickens) up next door clucking loudly about the eggs they were laying, and the junior magpie (young bird) was squawking really noisily.  I asked Ian if this is what it sounds like here during the weekdays when I am in the shop and he said it was !

Golden Celebration, completed 2013
(shown leaned against one of the new studio doors !)

I like how this turned out.  It needs some dry time now.  But it is worthy of being displayed now....I will be tackling more unfinished paintings soon, then will be starting some new works.  I may integrated multimedia techniques, as in the shop I have been experimenting with transfers.  I also acquired an old fashioned overhead projector (ex govt) and have gotten transparency sheets for use with ink jet printers.  I will use either or both for lettering or finely detailed images that I am not confident about doing freehand.

More soon :)