As a little break from making Granny Squares I have been playing with felty bits.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Felty Times and Twiddle Sticks.
As a little break from making Granny Squares I have been playing with felty bits.
A Granny A Day? Ok.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Garden and Cosmos Exhibition: Indian paintings from a Royal Collection
Jallandharnath and Princess Padmini fly over King Padam’s palace (detail), folio 19 from the Suraj Prakash, Amardas Bhatti, 1830; 23.3 x 38.6 cm. Mehrangarh Museum Trust
A rare chance to see paintings from the royal collection of the Mehrangarh Museum Trust, Jodhpur and to experience the unique art tradition that flourished in the royal courts between the 17th and 19th centuries.
During this period, the region of Jodhpur – in modern-day Rajasthan – produced a distinctive and inventive painting style. Paintings produced for the private enjoyment of the maharaja and his court brought together traditional Rajasthani styles and combined them with styles developed in the imperial court of the Mughals.
The paintings included in the exhibition range from a handful of miniatures to monumental artworks depicting the palaces, wives and families of the Jodhpur rulers.
Later works depict epic narratives and demonstrate the devotion of Maharaja Man Singh to an esoteric yogic tradition. Jodhpur artists rose to the challenge of creating images for metaphysical concepts and yoga narratives which had never previously been the focus of the region's court art.
Makes me want to go to India. I am saving money, believe it or not. Had to hold off on buying the catalogue. Oh well, in memory and recorded here.
Death of Vali; Rama and Lakshmana wait out the monsoon. Illustration from the Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas (1532–1623) Jodhpur, c1775 © Mehrangarh Museum Trust
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Granny go lucky
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Meet Me At Mikes - A Granny a Day Craft Challenge. What Have I Got Myself Into?
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Looky Cooky Booky
Monday, January 18, 2010
A Blog I Love
My Favourite Things - Part 2
I fell in love with this painting at a beautiful antique shop in rural Victoria. I bargained down from $150 to $130. It is hard to see as the photo is not great but it is a watercolour original and painted very very well. I usually spend very little on my pretty finds but this was too good to leave behind.
A darling ditty
Friday, January 15, 2010
Collecting treasure
We, yes we, just keep finding 'stuff'. I wish I could say it was just me, but no, it is both of us which means double the 'stuff'. Slight problem. If I had a big place to live and somewhere to put all of these neat finds it would be ok, but my rental is the size of a shoebox.
This is what the man brought home the other day. I do like these finds though. The painting is from the 70s and looks like it is from the 70s, and the mirrors, well, someone's trash is definitely my treasure.
Maybe I will pair down the paint on the mirrors and paint them shabby chic white. Who knows. For now they will sit in the corner...
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Somewhat dotty
This is my current work. It has taken quite a long time, with all the dots and fine detail. Whilst I am using oil paints, I am treating the paints very much like I do gouache with very little blending and bold blocks of colour. Old habits die hard I guess - I have used gouache since high school - small scale, very opaque, using little tiny brushes.
It is on the same size wooden block as the finches. I will stick with this size for quite a while as I have had a whole heap of boards cut.
I am not sure about this work and despite wiping it once and almost wiping it a second time, I like it enough to now keep going. Will keep you posted.
Bless
x
Unlucky
I kept looking at the fish bowl expecting fishy to be there, and felt very sad when he wasn't. It doesn't take long for animals to grow on me. There are two possible reasons for the death of the fish. Firstly, we have had really hot weather, almost heatwave conditions. And he was placed next to the stove top where I cooked many sausages, etc. Secondly, I think both the man and I were feeding the poor thing when we both agreed he would feed him. I just can't let go.
I really am an animal lover so the loss of dear fishy was quite traumatic. Seriously.
Our friends have littlies and I would hate them to return to an empty bowl. So here is the replacement. He looks not very much like the other one. I don't think I will say anything until they ask. I just hope I can keep him alive for the next three days until they return.
We're all going on a summer holiday...
My last holiday was in winter in the Alpine region of NSW. Snowboarding very badly and spending more time lying on my back then traveling down a mountain. It is amazing how the landscape can change in just a few months.
This summer...
After an exiting but exhausting first year of teaching art to high school boys, I so needed to get away. I LOVE my new job and am so grateful I spent so many studying years being in a high state of stress and anxiety to be able to do what I am doing now. By the end I actually found I loved being at uni, but this year it was time to get a 'real job'. By Christmas however, I realised I hadn't really breathed much in a year. Time to flee...
My first ever proper road trip, where the car is packed and a vague route is marked on the map, was amazing. Probably because there were no expectations of where we were headed and when we would get there. Avoiding the cities and traveling through the countryside gave me just the break I needed. And while the man drove, I typed my honours thesis. Go the multi-tasker!!!
Here are some pics of some of the pretty things we saw...
This is the same Alpine area as the photos above, this time with no snow. Beautiful snow gums, pretty wild flowers and rare alpine orchids - orchids that people from Europe come to see. What you can't see in the photos is the giant blow flies the size of 5 cent pieces. Arrrggghhhh.
Christmas dinner. Rainbow trout stuffed with herbs and looked with local olive oil and lemon. Yes, we finally caught one fish (the small one in the middle) and went to a trout farm to get the two big ones. To be honest, the wild trout in the middle caught by the man was more delicious than the farmed ones.
I am loathe to think I have only two weeks left of holidays although I can't complain - yes, teachers get the best holidays.