The Colourguru

The House of Dying

Moving on from all of the 'metallness' I wus telling you about in the last post - now my house kinda looks like a Chinese laundry!!!!  I am doing a whole lot of dying, packaging up beautiful threads, embroideries & fabrics in preparation for a fabulous Creative Soul retreat.  My classes are with Stephanie Lee & DJ Pettitt, which I am JUST ACHING for - Bernie Berlin is also going to be there spreading her cleverness to everything she touches!  It's only three weeks away now, I booked in SUCH a long time ago, and finally it is here.  My hubbie is EXTREMELY easy going to put up with this - there is hardly a surface that doesn't have a bowl on it with dye in it, or things being laid out to cut up - or some other mess!  There are some benefits to having a messy husband - at the times when you are happy to have things messy - he's cool and it doesn't worry him.  I found out a long time ago, as long as it doesn't disrupt eating or sleeping - he doesn't care what I'm doing!  LOL!!!

Project 365 May 2008

Here are my daily photos from May for project 365.  This has been a VERY grevious month (apart from the highlight of the Art Retreat with Misty & Nina) as I have helplessly lost my grip on something really important to me and have watched a significant professional dream of mine fade & die.  I am arting a little bit,  but don't feel like chatting.

While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates.  You must wait till it be digested, and then amusement will dissipate the remains of it.  ~Samuel Johnson

Project 365 - APRIL

As I begin to write this post, I am thinking how this will sound as an archive, each month as I post my photos from 365 project I am saying the same thing!  WHERE DID THIS MONTH GO??????  Another month of my life just passed........this month, I haven't missed a day's photograph for the first time.  I must say it has caused more than a little anxt with DH & my family, but so what.........the pictures will still be here when I am not & they will tell tales of me!  Being a visual person, I find having photographs from each day a clear reminder of some of that day and working out what my 'image of the day' will be has made me much more aware of my surroundings........I look in more detail..........I observe more thoroughly.......less satisfied with a casual glance........My grandbabies are literally growing up before my eyes........our little Princess is now speaking in 3 and 4 word sentances........& our little man is running & hammering & helping with everything......he loves to be outside & his MOST fav. person in the world is his DAD! (our son)...........This month there are alot of studio & garden shots.  This is for two reasons, firstly my mobility has been limited by the injury to my knee, but secondly, I have been preparing for our Art Retreat with Misty Mawn & Nina Bagley.  I am having 4 VERY special new art friends staying with me & I have been making lots of preparations for that.  It is VERY thrilling, 18 months in the planning & finally we are down to the wire!  You would think I would be cleaning my house - but NO - DH has decided to do some plastering, so everything is in chaos & covered in a layer of plaster dust - YUK - I am locking myself in my studio with my ipod tonight & hope that the housework fairies come over night to dust everything!  LOL!!  What do you think of my chances?????  Any volunteers?????

Gothic Arch - Transition

We are in a glorious transition between Summer & Autumn - although the days are shortening, & day light savings has ended, we are having some wonderful sunny days. The sunset this evening was simply spectacular, this is the view off our front verandah......it lit the sky on fire.....I never tire of the beauty found in the colours in the sky.  Moving on from there though, I have decided I CAN be a bit obsessive!  Last week rubber, the week before catching up on skinny book (which I haven't touched since) and THIS week, it is gothic arches.  I just didn't realize that I had missed these little beauties!!  I am SUPPOSED to be creating something else, but I am TOTALLY stuck with it, so I am arching away - catching up on all of the topics that I have missed between a trip to NZ & a torn ligament in my knee!  OH how I HATE being so debilitated, EVERYTHING is an issue & it is 14 steps up to our front door, so especially going out of the house is an issue!  This topic was called 'Transitions' & I think that many of the  artists were concerntrating on the turning of the seasons we are currently experiencing.  That is fascinating me as well, Autumn is one of my favourite seasons because of all of the stunning colours everywhere you look.  I have already done an Autumn arch last year, so I wanted to do something different.  I have created art around the transition a car makes from a new shiny 'city slicker' to a rusty old wreck in a bush paddock.  (AND what a discovery they are for those interested in photography when you come across one - MORE about that later!)  I painted the arches with black gesso, then on the front, made stripes of oil pastel that I blended together.  Then with a stylus, I scraped a city silhouette in to the soft pastel.  The car is one of my favs.......the new beefy looking Chrysler.............I have 'doctored' the pic on the back using Golden paints to accentuate the rust & 'forlorn' look of the scene.

I am not sure where in the world you are viewing this from, so I just wanted to explain a 'paddock'....a paddock is a vacant block of land that is relatively unworked,  these are some of the things I have found in paddocks on my travels.  All of these shots were taken in Australia.

Project 365 - march 2008

WOW - where did March go????  Well, as scary as it sounds, I can look at each one of these pictures & almost remember the whole month......I am not really sure whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, but there it is, a month of my life gone by......thinking about when & where I took the photo & how it came about & what I was doing when I took it makes the time past seem less transient & vapour like...........

Project 365 February

here is my first Project 365 post - My photo a day for the remainder of February - on St. Valentine's day - the 14th I seemed to have missed filing 15th & 20th & I can't remember what I took pics of.......so they may be filled later......  I have decided just to post them here once a month as a slide show.......Obviously having been on holidays in New Zealand, it wasn't hard to be photographing every day & have some interesting topics to choose from, we will see how that goes now that I am back home............so far, so good ....... if you double click inside one of the pics it will open it at Slide.com & it's bigger if you would like to see it in more detail.......oh & I have about 15 more houses to post if you are not tired of them.........more tomorrow or the next day......actually I have to go to the dentist tomorrow which is the most challenging experience I face as an adult due to childhood dental trauma.........so I may not be up to sitting at the computer tomorrow evening........we'll see how I feel.........

Spring is unfurling

I have never been able to decide what is my favourite season: Autumn OR Spring.  I have the same reason for adoring them both.........the colour that is constantly before my face in nature, in the garden, lining the streets.  Autumn has all of it's gorgeous colours from my fav. palette of rich gold, muted greens, russets running into wine & port ........then there's (ah.....) Spring.....with it's luscious fresh greens, crisp whites & delicate blossom colours......and volulptous fat raindrops on everything.....constantly reminding me of New Birth & Creation.  Of course the onset of spring brings with it my birthday, & my special art friend Jenene's birthday..........(AND for her....a precious first grandbaby...... how special!!!) AND for us THIS year.........our youngest daughter's 21st....... she was born on the first day of spring so is our spring blessing!  I had a really busy weekend, however I felt compelled to stop & capture the season on several occasions, where ever I was all weekend I saw big fat droplets of Spring rain........(so desparately needed here) precious buds, bulbs pushing up through the earth, blossoms & leaves unfurling........  THIS year for my birthday........DH has bought me new stamps from Character Constructions (the artwork of Catherine Moore) so that WILL be a fun parcel arriving in a few weeks (hopefully in time for the appropriate date)......I can't wait to use them.  Catherine has such a whimsical look about her work and I think this will be the beginning of some fun pieces..... OH....AND.......I finally have found a local supplier of drill bits for my Dremel.........SO LOOK out........there will be NO stopping me now.......Anything that is standing still will have holes in it & hanging bits attached to it!!!  LOL!!!

PS I am SORRY the formatting of this post is all over the shop.........I just DON'T have anymore time (GRRRRRRR........[what a WASTE of time!!!]) to play with it this morning......The Colourguru IS NOT The Blog Guru!!!  VERY frustrating process!