Fiona

Today's model was Fiona who was plump and dark skinned with heavy hooded eyes. Lovely. You wouldn't gather she's dark skinned from my pictures though! Pina introduced colour today and because I paint, this isn't new.


These were done on brown paper using soft conte and charcoal.


Another development is the 2010 Goya (get off your arts) competition. My friend Jodie runs this event and strong-armed me and my daughter to enter. She's also having Sarina as a burlesque model and invited me and a couple of others to draw. We are the 'live' installation so to speak. Bit of a challenge to do art in front of lots of sticky beaks, however must view this as a promotional opportunity. Plus a chance to draw the lovely Sarina for free! For more info see GetOffYourArts

Before The Race

Came across this trio at my favourite people watching spot Wylies Bath; who were going to have a swimming race. The one on the left is an off duty lifeguard and all three look like they are very physically fit.


I snapped a photo of them and only recently dug into the archives because I needed to replace a painting sold from my Coogee series (a blank spot on the wall; recently a common occurrence that I'm enjoying).

Second live drawing class with Pina

Murtim was our male model this week. He's Turkish, young, slender but muscular. Lovely physique. Has hair that is long and wavy which Pina requested he bunched up.

Drawing a man is quite different from a woman, Pina suggested we used straight lines and that was most successful with Murtim. Friends are amused and envious of my legit excuse to purve at a nice male body. Doreen has offered to dangle the bunch of grapes artfully.

Not wanting to focus overly on his dangling bits, I've succeeded only in making the omission obvious!


This last sketch was fairly long pose but it's hard to get the proportions of figures lying down right. That took much of the time with no time for delicate shading.

Land's End Again

Catherine was the kind critic who advised that the house in the Land's End painting needed to be darker. It was the same colour as the sky which made it look queer; as if it were transparent. She also suggested shadows on the house.

Here it is again. It's one of those paintings that I like but not love if you know what I mean.

Last day of exhibition

We took down the paintings today from the gallery cafe. Sold 5 out of 7 and Cath sold 4 out of 7. We did very well all things considered. I'm out of beachscapes aside from the Wylies series that I'm developing further. These were such a bugger to complete due to the structure of the kiosk that I refused to entertain parting with them. Besides they are a series although I'm not sure if anybody would buy the lot in one go.

So what did I learn from a first exhibition?

1. People like beachscapes. It reminds them where they would rather be.

2. People really liked the picture of the kids jumping waves. I always wondered if it was too sentimental but that had wide appeal and I probably could have charged more.

3. The picture of a boulevard of trees went very quickly. The depth of field, perspective and serene feel impressed the audience.

4. Nudes are not as popular. I guess you can't hang it anywhere. Could be offensive.

5. We didn't charge enough. Of course I had no previous yardstick. But we could have upped the price by another 20-30% for many pieces.

6. Reproduction is key to future profit without the pain. Of course the price you can charge is less but the possibility of selling more than one could make this more profitable.

Lands End Kiama

This painting has been a while in gestation and even now I'm unsure if it is complete. A house on the headland in Kiama, South Coast is perched precariously. The sandstone cliff is coloured orangey red and the sea is calm. I would love to live there, the views and the ability to go swimming in ocean pools and beaches. What a lifestyle!

Burlesque live drawing at Double Bay

Received an invitation to attend a free burlesque live drawing session at the Double Bay Food and Art Festival, featuring the lovely Sarina del Feugo and effervescent Tim Gratton. My friend Sue also signed up and we went together.

Sarina was clad in corsetry, fishnet, long gloves and feathers. She looked remarkably saucy. Because we were late, we ended up at the side but that was actually good as interesting foreshortening results. Of course such poses are generally acknowledged as being a challenge to a novice but I like to think that I've moved on from a beginner. The angles from a sideview are also usually more interesting.

Sue told Tim, who was rushing around giving tips to all, about my success with painting water which Tim said "but I taught you how to!" Rightly so... He did!

We also spoke to a woman from Queensland who was entering a body painting contest. Curious to know who her 'canvas' is, we found out that it was her hubby. The poor man went through a full body wax (ouch!) so that he'd be a better canvas! I am sure my husband would never consent to do the same for me!!! I'm quite certain also that no nudity would be permitted at a public festival, so the bodies would have to at least leave their knickers on. She assured us that her dearest would wear proper knickers to hide his buns of steel....

These few frenetic artistic days have made me lose several items; misplaced my hat and thermos mug and probably lost several more things that I haven't discovered yet. Meantime I've been painting a scene inspired by a house in Kiama which is slowly coming along. I hope to post it up soon!