Art for Heart's Sake

MORNING! Groan...

Giggle - hi it's Saturday morning and I'm feeling a little jaded - oh I wonder why??!!  Could it be the champagne and lovely shiraz I drank last night.. I fear so!  We had a lovely dinner at our neighbours' - roast pork followed by chocolate, date and walnut cake that John got our favourite cafe to make for me.  It was a beautiful cake, really rich but beautiful. 

It's raining again today and I don't mind a bit!  I really need to get out to the farmshed and give my potting area an incredibly good clean up.  I'm hoping this will enthuse me to split up a few perennials and get some repotted for Spring.  Since I've had this job my motivation to work with my plants has dwindled and I am determined to rekindle that side of my life again - I'm not whole without it!  At least when it's raining I can still be outside in my potting area, under cover but getting fresh air.  Yay!  Now I just need to find the energy to do it.. giggle, that will teach me!

More tomorrow... Smiles..

It's 4.07pm!!

Hi, yikes it's Friday, my birthday and I have around 50 minutes before I turn 51!! I was born on Easter Thursday 1962 at 4.50pm.  For some strange reason I am thankful I wasn't born in the very early hours of the morning (perhaps for my Mum's sake?).

I've had a lovely day - it started with one heck of a rush.  John wasn't expecting to start work next door until 8.30 but they rang him at 7.35am saying they needed him straight away.  Slight panic because that meant he had to rush out the door and I had to get myself sorted bigtime to leave for work at 8.30am and walk the dog in the meantime - hence no post until now!

Post that I had a lovely morning and even got to try new gelato flavours while at work - the gelato shop across that way were doing taste tests and I got to do a few which was a real treat!  We got back from a delicious lunch at a local vineyard around 30 mins!! ago.. and we are heading next door for dinner about 5.30pm. 

A major highlight of today was talking to my dearest friend, Garry, who is like a little brother to me.  He phoned me when I was on my way to work so I phoned him back - he'd just landed in Auckland after a holiday with his partner, Donna so I was especially touched that he bothered to phone me right then.  I also had a call from my sister before I left home and my brother, in Sydney, has phoned me a couple of times but I was at work, so I'm about to phone him.  All in all, a good day!

More tomorrow after a scrumptious (I'm sure!) dinner of roast pork, yum.  I'm taknig homemade spray free apple sauce with no sugar added!  Yum..  Smiles...

The Sun's Out.. Sort of!

Hi, well it's 10.45am on Thursday morning here and I've been busy, busy, busy outside.  The sun is sort of out but showers are meant to return this pm and then rain for the NEXT FIVE DAYS (or so they predict).  How amazing!

One funny thing - I went to take Chester for a walk this morning - out the back door, to the back gate on the verandah (he was lying in the open entrance to his dog area which is also on the back verandah.  Hmmm do you think he would come to me when I asked him to by the back gate to walk him. NO NO NO.  He's done this quite a few times before to me (he prefers John to walk him) so today I just thought ''right, you don't want to come with me, we won't go''.  I'm bothered if I'm going to have to get stressed coaxing him to go for a walk.  How ridiculous - his loss I say!  Silly dog.

I went for a wander in the paddock instead and spotted a few more mushrooms, then I climbed over the fence and put my nursery sign out.  After that I cleared out the outdoor area of the chook houses, gave them fresh greens as well as filling the woodbox, sorting some small bits in a bag to start the fire, doing a funghi hunt in the dog area (so Chester won't eat any) and hanging out the washing!!!  Phew, I'm pooped!  Giggle. 

I'm about to have a cup of tea and then I might start sorting my sturmer apples.  We have a lovely little sturmer tree in the kitchen garden and it was laden this year with gorgeous apples.  I noticed yesterday that the pukekos were starting to eat them so we harvested them all yesterday pm.  I'm going to dry the good ones, place them in tissue in wooden boxes and store them in our cool garage.  I'm not sure how I'll keep the rats from getting to them though.  Maybe they won't notice them (giggle, hmmm tempting fate I fear!).

I still haven't taken a photo of the printer letters I told you about yesterday but I'm off back down there briefly this pm to get a few letters for words such as dream, cherish, artist, dance etc.  I want large italic script and large ordinary script.  I'll take a photo when I get home this pm.  Time for a cup of tea.. ooh and it's my last day being 50 years old.. tomorrow late pm I'm 51 (I was born at 4.50pm). Wow.  Smiles...

 

Hi, Yay It's Wednesday!

Hi there, it's Wednesday mid-am and I've just walked the dog and wandered round the paddock in light rain collecting mushrooms again.  It rained for most of the pm here although the rain was fairly erratic down in Richmond where I was working.  Looking at the weather forecast it's pretty much rain today and then rain from Friday through to Tuesday!  Of course, this will change because it always does.

Yesterday after work I had around 2.5 hours to kill before I met my friends for a drink at a local bar in Richmond.  I decided to head to the really good (and full of everything imaginable) antique shop not far from the bar and then I was going to go on to the mall for a wander around.  Ahem, I ended up being at the antique shop the ENTIRE 2 hours because when I walked in, there were heaps of printers' cabinets full of (yes you guessed it) printer's lead block things.  You know - the tiny letters, and sometimes large letters, they used to print newspapers etc many years ago.  I spent most of my time trying to find an entire alphabet of one sort of print.  This took me ages because several times I ended up with all the letters except two and no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't find them.  I did manage to get one full alphabet except for the letter 'F' so I've taken an extra ''E'' and John will grind the bottom bit from it to make an F.  I am so excited because I've always wanted a set of these wonderful creatures to use in my art and my gift tags etc.  I am going to go back and get several ''words'' from the different fonts because they are so special and cheap!  I'll take a photo of them today and post it tomorrow for you.

I met my friends for a drink and got home around 6.20pm which is really late for me - gosh I was tired, having woken up at 6am.  John was at quiz night so I quickly got myself some dinner and sat and caught up on some of the tv programmes I tape.  Tuesday night is the only chance I get to do that so I make the most of it.

Today I'm going to go through my wardrobe and swap over from summer to autumn/winter.  We have a bit of an issue with our wardrobes - certain things seem to end up smelling really musty - it's almost a stale doggy smell but the clothes in question generally have been nowhere near the dog!  Hummppphhh so frustrating so we are planning on cleaning our wardrobe out thoroughly, vacuuming the floor and generally wiping down all the drawers etc.  Today seems like a good day to make a start, even if I just get out things that smell musty and put them in the wash.  It's very odd because the wardrobes were new around 8 years ago (hmmm giggle, have we ever wiped them down?? - NO NO NO, EEEEK), hmmm now I've typed that 8 years seems like a REALLY long time!  Giggle..   Hi ho, off I go.   Smiles...

A Quick Post, It's Tuesday!

Hi, just a really quick post today because it's Tuesday and I have to leave for work in about 10 minutes.  I'm meeting friends for a drink at around 4.30pm so I won't be coming home when I finish work at 2pm, but will be looking around a local antiquey store just for fun and treating myself to a coffee.  That's the thing when you live in a rural area, even though it's only 10mins drive or so down the road it really puts me off coming home and then going out again later in the afternoon.  Waste of petrol too!

Work was pretty boring yesterday afternoon but I did see a few people I knew and it was lovely to chat to them.  That's the good part of being in a mall - heaven knows there isn't much else to get excited about, giggle!

I must fly, have a great day/night wherever you are.  Smiles..

Seed Raising Tray Excitement!

Hi, here I am on Monday morning, about to go and record my radio show.  I ought to have done it yesterday and emailed it off to the radio station but we got sidetracked after a phone call from a dear older lady in Richmond who had lots of small plant pots and some seed raising trays to give away (I think I told you that yesterday?).

After a divine breakfast we trotted or rather drove off with dog in tow - John to walk Chester and me to go and pick up the pots.  I was stunned when I arrived at Bev's house - there were HEAPS of pots and wait, what did I see, WOODEN seed raising trays!  In a gardener's world here in NZ, nothing compares to the sight of wooden seed raising trays - they are like gold dust and VERY hard to find.  I was so excited.  Needless to say we took those first and then I got rid of the rest of the compost in the trailer and we went back in the afternoon.  We loaded up the trailer with more trays and pots and then moved everything aside out of her driveway (and John swept up a pile of dirt) so she could get some wood delivered this week.  It would have taken her a few weeks to clean up the area because she's not very well. 

Needless to say I now have a PILE of seed raising trays and pots (including some gorgeous small old-fashioned terracotta ones, perfect for cuttings and impossible to find in NZ either) in the potting area of the farmshed.  My next task is to spring or autumn! clean the potting area so I can fit everything in tidily.  I'm aiming to do that on the next rainy day when I'm not working.

Here is the face I drew on Saturday night - John thinks she looks like Gail from Coronation Street, giggle. 

My studio is calling so I'd better go and record my show.  Smiles.... p.s. working this pm.

Triple Squeee, I Drew a Face!

Hi, it's Sunday morning and we've just finished a delicious breakfast of bbq'd bacon, tomatoes and fresh field mushrooms - a true treat! 

We had another unexpected treat yesterday - it rained in the afternoon.  Beautiful, soft, steady rain.. aaahhh bliss!  (Ruth honey, I know you'll think I'm mad for loving rain so much, giggle).  I spent some time in my studio and I just love listening to the rain on the roof, so therapeutic and relaxing.

I've primed another larger canvas and I can't wait to get started on it.  I have no idea what I'm going to do but I'm sure it will come.  This will be the first time I've tackled an 18x16" canvas... eeeek. 

The face - well this was an unexpected surprise.  I watched my usual Donna Downey inspiration Wednesday online video this week and she was drawing a face for the second time in her life.  I watched with complete fascination as the face progressed and wondered whether I'd be able to do the same.  When I was at school art classes always petrified me because I felt completely inadequate and useless at everything!  My stick figures were horrid and as for actual people or faces.. GUFFAW!!  I was stunned when I managed to draw a fairly reasonable face last night, first pop!  I could see what Donna had done in my mind's eye which was wonderful and helped a lot.  The faces aren't meant to look like anybody in particular and they can look slightly surreal too for that matter.  Mine are just pencil sketches and I am a bit terrified to add colour to them because that's when they could go horribly wrong.  I've taken a photo but I haven't uploaded it to my laptop yet so I'll share it tomorrow.

This morning we are off down to Richmond because a lovely lady has offered me a lot of pots that are just the right size for my tomato seedlings etc in Spring, plus some seed raising trays.  This also reiterated to me how much I adore anything! to do with gardening and plants - I got so excited about these pots, giggle, sick puppy!  Smiles..

Squeeee Look At This!

Hi, ahem, yes this just makes me happy.  I did this double page in my new art journal last night (well I did the background on Thursday afternoon) and I am so happy with it!  I could add lots more to it but I just love it as it is:

This quite simply makes me really happy!  I pencilled in the poppies, then outlined them roughly in black and added acrylic paint.  I love the way they just flowed out of me!

It's cloudy today so I'm hoping to get some gardening done.  Toss up - kitchen garden or flower garden.. hmmmm not sure which!  Both need me badly!  Ack!  Half in half - not me, the gardening!  Giggle.    It's drizzling off and on too so maybe if it starts to rain properly I could sneak back into my studio!  

I'd love it if you would leave a comment and tell me what's been happening in your neck of the woods.  What have you been doing?  Big smiles and off for a cup of tea...

Heading off to Work!

Hi, it's 8.20am and I'm about to head off to work for the morning.  I'm wearing something really different for me - a cute sleeveless jacket with a ruffled collar in fairly stiff material (i.e. it tends to have a life of its own) with screenprinted birds and  writing around the bottom of it.  It was an unfinished piece I got at the outlet store for NZ$16 and my neighbour has sewn ribbon that almost matches the ruffled collar, folded over around the edge of the raw sleeves (the unfinished part).  It looks fabulous!  We added a gorgeous bling button I got in Harrogate, UK last year (thank you John honey for sewing it on for me - I can do it of course but I love that he loves to do it for me, bless him).  Yay I feel so good in it!  Yikes must take a photo of it for you too!

I had a good sleep last night with no ''events'' like the night before thank heavens.  I was a bit concerned about it happening again.  Here's hoping it stays away!! 

This pm it is meant to be raining so I'm hoping to spend some time in my studio.  I want to start another canvas and I'm working on a couple of pages in my new art journal. 

Ok, I must fly .. flap, flap, flap.. off to work... Smiles..

Catching up with a School Friend!

Hi, this morning I had a great catch up with a school friend.  We haven't seen each other for 35 years and because of facebook we have reconnected.  Stephanie is in NZ on her honeymoon and I'm so happy they were staying in our area (they're leaving it today).  We had a great chat about our school days and she hasn't changed one bit!

I had a slightly gnarly experience in the  middle of the night last night.  I think I posted about having an odd pain in my chest/upper back/jaw back in August 2011, well it happened again in the early hours of this morning.  I'd woken up and gone to the bathroom and when I lay back down in bed on my side I felt the strange sensation starting in my jaw and then my upper back and (I think my chest, not sure now).  It lasted for quite a while and I have to tell you it completely freaked me out!  I lay there wondering if I was having a heart attack and at one stage wondered whether I ought to phone an ambulance.  I lay on my back and it gradually went away.  When I went to the doctor the last time she thought it was very unlikely to be a heart attack type of thing because of my symptoms.  There is a cervical nerve that passes through the spinal cord in the neck and this can become compressed, causing these exact symptoms.  I phoned the practice nurse this morning and spoke to her about it and basically if it happens again I'm to come in for some tests.  Shish kebab, I have to tell you I don't need this sort of thing right now.  I'm a little pale this morning but I think that's from the anxiety of it all rather than anything else.  Crikey body, get a grip!!! 

I have a local tv film crew turning up early this pm (unless they call to postpone it) so there's not much chance of my relaxing today unfortunately.  I'm not sure if I told you about that yesterday so I won't write more now in case!  Giggle.

I think I'm going to go for a relaxing walk around our property and see if I can spy any more mushrooms.  Part of me hopes not because we are a bit mushroomed-out!  Giggle..  Please keep strong thoughts for my wallyish health.  I think the stress I've been under over the past 8 weeks is taking it's toll a bit.  I need to find a way to overcome it!  Smiles...