Snug Falls is a beautiful high waterfall on Snug River in Tasmania’s south. It’s a 2.1km walk to the falls, about a half hour walk one way. We haven’t had too much rain lately so the waterfall was subdued but still beautiful, peaceful and a nice escape from the heat of the day.
Snug FallsRachel cooling her feet while admiring the waterfall and serenity
While my friend, Rachel, cooled her feet in the water and was gazing upwards at the waterfall, I did a 2 minute line drawing of her.
On our way back to the car we stopped to pick and eat some Native Cherries, which are ripe at this time of year. They’re a little woody in texture but really tasty. Its botanical name is Exocarpos cupressiformis. It has no relation to the European cherry and its fruit is actually swollen red stalk. It is a parasite on the roots of other trees and therefore very difficult to transplant.
Native Cherry or sometimes called Cherry Ballart or Cypress Cherry. Its botanical name is Exocarpos cupressifromis.
Most weeks, I paint a new bunch of platypus to take to the market. My stack of small original paintings is platypus dominated. This weekend I had requests for echidnas, wombats and I had a young lady from Singapore wanting an original drawing of a Spotted-tailed Quoll. This is quite an unusual request and ironically I had three at home that I did for the 2016 Inktober Challenge. I stopped taking them to the market because they just were not selling.
Spotted-tailed Quoll – Quink Ink, reed and water
I thought maybe if I add paint to my ink drawings they may sell better. What do you think?
Spotted-tailed Quoll – Quink Ink, reed, water and with watercolour addedWombat – Quink Ink, reed and waterWombat – Quink Ink, reed, water and with watercolour addedWallaby – Quink Ink, reed and waterWallaby – Quink Ink, reed and water with watercolour added
I number, title and sign prints of my original paintings each week to sell at our local market. The prints are printed on 330 gsm water colour paper which is a rather coarse paper and consequently I have to sharpen my pencil every second print.
I have been on the hunt for a pencil sharpener that sharpens a pencil to a sharp point. I have bought so many disappointing pencil sharpeners.
When I was teaching an English class, one of the students had a pencil with a super sharp point (I notice these things :-)). I asked her about her very pointy pencil and she showed me the sharpener that she had purchased at Woolworths for around $5.
I am very happy with my Woolworths pencil sharpener. I have finally found a sharpener that does what it is supposed to do and does it well. Sometimes price doesn’t reflect the quality of a product. Has anyone else struggled to find a decent pencil sharpener?
Wishing everybody a memorable festive season full on fun, laughs and happiness.
I’ve had such a fun morning painting these cuties. Platypus are one of my favourite things to paint. I go into my relax zone. I don’t have to seriously concentrate, make colour or composition decisions.
These are all heading to Salamanca Market tomorrow if you’d like a closer look (just in case you are visiting Tasmania!). 🙂
Evandale, home to about 1300 residents, is a small town in northern Tasmania. It is a National Trust classified Georgian village boasting many unspoiled heritage buildings. I loved the mixture of humble, simple and chic small houses next to some opulently lavish homes.
Evandale’s main street has an IGA that is still called a General Store with a gorgeous little iron-laced house attached to it.
John Batman lived in Evandale before he founded Melbourne in 1835, Ned Kelly’s father served time as a prisoner in Evandale and the Evandale countryside inspired the Australian landscape artist, John Glover. Maybe one of them lived in one of these houses??
Evandale was founded as a military post in 1811 and has many references to its early beginnings.
The former St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church
The former St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church is noted as one of the most important colonial building in Tasmania that has retained its interior and exterior without significant change to its appearance. It was built in 1839 – 1840. The architect has not been identified and it resembles no other building in the Australian colonies. The building has some similarities to Roman temples, but with a steeper roof and an added bell turret. Reverend Robert Russell was the minister for almost 40 years.
In the town, houses and gardens are well maintained. Lawns are green and there are plenty of well trimmed hedges. Residents must not be afraid to use water.
My purchases at the Evandale Sunday Market, a bird house and a cheese knife.
Evandale is a quaint town, well worth a browse.
Thanks for stopping by, Wishing one-and-all a joyful and peaceful festive season.
A cruise ship sailed into the Derwent River at about 6:30 am and docked close to Salamanca Market. It started its travels in New Zealand, then it is going to Melbourne, Sydney and eventually to Vanuatu. I met several Americans from the ship. A couple from North Carolina, who had visited Richmond in the morning, bought a “Richmond Bridge, Tasmania” and a “Salamanca Saturdays” print for their Tasmanian souvenir. The gentleman was a large and lively personality. A lady off the ship, from Hawaii, was enamoured with “What the Devil!?”
Richmond Bridge, Tasmania, the oldest bridge in all of Australia, built by convictsWhat the Devil!? My painting of a Tasmanian Devil, endemic to Tasmania
A family from Texas that have been living in Canberra on a work exchange, stopped and browsed in the pjpaintings stall. They were heading back to the USA after their Tasmanian visit. They loved their year-long Australian experience. The 14 year old girl particularly liked playing the different team sports while at school here.
A man, enchanted by the dancing emus, ran off to put more money in his parking meter and then returned. He debated long and hard over his choice and eventually decided on “Spanish Eyes (Red) II” and “Spanish Eyes (Yellow)”. He told me it was for his gypsy lover in Ipswich, Queensland.
A Sydneysider purchased an A-3 sized “Duck Crossing” for her 16 week old great nephew. “Barn Owls” is travelling with its new owners back to Scotland. A family with three young boys, living in Dubai, spending Christmas in Tassie, each chose an A-4 sized print. The youngest wanted the red car one “Family Outing” and the other two boys chose an owl print.
Duck Crossing… the emu comes to the rescue!Family Outing
I had a lovely long conversation with three young adults from France. The young man said that I had a good French accent. Yay! 🙂 The little bit of effort to try to speak some French each week is starting to pay off as I was searching less for words.
A couple, currently living in Melbourne, but the young woman is from Russia, bought a “Double Date” and “What the Devil!?” greeting card. A teacher from the Gold Coast, Queensland, purchased a “Yellow Poppy Fields” print and then later in the day returned and also got “Story time”. She was debating whether or not to get on her first visit to the stall.
Yellow Poppy Fields
“Rising Above It” is going to a nurse working at the Royal Hobart Hospital, who has been working a long time with women and the range of health problems encountered in that department, hopefully conquering and rising above illnesses and health conditions.
Rising Above It
A Tasmanian Devil little original is going to Sydney and another Sydneysider is taking “Salamanca Saturdays” and “Who, Who, Who are You? with them. A “Double Date IV” print is going to Perth with somebody who has been enjoying a two week Tasmanian holiday.
The Best Seller today is: Story time
A thought to ponder: Art is not in the …eye of the beholder. It’s in the soul of the artist.”
― Seth Godin
Wishing you a safe, happy and creative week from the Pjpaintings stall at Salamanca Market
Today started quietly and calmly, and maintained this pace for most of the day. A couple from Perth bought a whale print for themselves and “Beachside Chatter” for her brother, who had recently built a new, large house. An exchange student from Iceland purchased “Outback Glamping” to take back with her. She loves Tasmania and will be staying here for about five months. She only has one month left.
Outback Glamping
“Weightless” enticed a couple from New South Wales (NSW) into the stall. They feel a special connection with humpback whales. She was wearing a unique and beautiful necklace of two humpback whales facing each other. They showed photos of a whale coming out of the water really close to their boat in Narooma, NSW. One photo showed the whale looking at them. You can clearly see its eye.
Weightless
A fairly regular visitor to the stall let me know that ‘P’ had passed away just after her 96th birthday. She had bought the original painting of “Who, Who, Who are You? II” when she was 94 years old. Her third great, great grandchild had just been born and the three little owls represented them. I visited ‘P’ in her house and the painting was hanging in direct view from her favourite chair. She said it gave her much pleasure.
Who, Who, Who are You?II
A couple from Melbourne, on their honeymoon, are taking back with them an A-3 sized print of “Duck Crossing” and “White Faced Scops Owls”. A “Weightless” print is off to Brisbane, Qld, and three “Off to the Races” prints are heading to Melbourne. A lady bought them for her three girlfriends. Each year they go to Melbourne’s Spring Carnival together.
Off to the Races! II
Two ladies from Los Angeles, USA bought “Tu-whit and Tu-whoo” , and then later on in the day, they returned to buy more. One of the prints they bought on their return was “Emus can fly!” because it depicted her and her husband. She said that I’ve captured the look she has when she is sitting on the back on the bike.
Emus can Fly!
A young couple from Germany bought a Tasmanian Devil little original painting. They told me that they live about 10km from the Belgian border and often go to Belgium for ‘frites’ (french-fries). They said that Belgium has excellent fries. I agree and their mayonnaise is awesome. It is egg, rather than vinegar, based. This makes all the difference. It is so creamy and delicious.
Original painting of a Tasmanian Devil
The Best Seller today is: White Faced Scops Owls
A thought to ponder: “You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
Wishing you a safe, happy and creative week from the Pjpaintings stall at Salamanca Market
The state of Victoria is getting a lot of rain this weekend, with some areas predicted to get up to 300mm of rain in three days. It started raining in Tassie on Friday, has continued off and on during Saturday but today it is absolutely bucketing. We’ve had 35 mm since midnight. On Friday, the packing of the car for the market was a disjointed task, done in between downpours of rain.
A couple of houses away from us lives an incorrigible Houdini labradoodle, named Trixie. The neighbourhood is quite familiar with her as she regularly escapes. About a week ago, at 10:30 at night, when I was in bed, I heard something bang loudly into the garage door and rubbish bins. Then I heard somebody at the top of the driveway calling Trixie. I thought to myself, ‘oh, it’s just Trixie escaping again’, and wondered why she would crash into the garage door, then forgot about the incident, until yesterday, and a foul smell. I can piece the story together now… Trixie was chasing a wallaby and it was the wallaby that crashed into the garage door, and then died by the garage and back fence. With 34C degrees the day before, it didn’t smell the nicest. It was bagged up and put in a rubbish bin. I thought to myself, when I was growing up in Vancouver, I would have never thought that one day I would be putting a dead wallaby in a big, black rubbish bag.
It was a bleak start to the market but unlike last week the rain stopped for pack up time and then the storms came while driving home. Despite it raining off and on all day, there many tourists at the market. A lady from Norway purchased an ink platypus original painting. The literal translation of platypus in Norwegian is ‘beaked animal’, just like in German, which I learnt last weekend.
Early morning rain at Salamanca Market
I met a young lady from Quebec, Canada. I mentioned that I can speak a little bit of French because I was born in Belgium. It turned out so was she! She had moved to Quebec, and our family, to Vancouver.
Two Belgians at the market
Dairy farmers from Queensland chose several prints, including ‘Hayride’ to hang in the office of their dairy farm. A couple from north of Newcastle, NSW bought a ‘Joyride’ print (emus riding a Ducati). She is writing a children’s book and the story is about an emu! Another motorcycle fan bought a Triumph motorbike print, ‘Bonnie and Me’. She visited the stall last year and purchased ‘Who, Who, Who are You? II’. She said she’ll be back next year. It’s so nice having people return and visit. Speaking of return visitors, Morag, originally from Scotland, came by one more time before she heads back to Adelaide and informed me that the ‘Black & White + One’ print was a big hit. While Morag was visiting the stall, she joined in the conversation I was having with a lady who had moved to Australia when she was three years old, has 9 siblings and is celebrating her 45th wedding anniversary. She is Lebanese and married an Australian, which at the time her parents weren’t too happy about it, but obviously was a wonderful decision as they’ve been enjoying many years together.
A young couple from Sydney, but now living in Melbourne, purchased a whale print. He had green eyes like my eldest son. I asked if they were initially blue and then turned green but he said he had no idea. My son’s eyes were very blue and then ended up being a stunning green.
A young lady from United Kingdom told me that her Mum gave her a ‘Who, Who, Who are You? II’ print. She decided to travel to Australia when she heard from her Mum how wonderful it was. She ended up getting ‘Yellow Poppy Fields’ and some greeting cards.
A family from Brisbane, whose husband played golf in the north of the state, bought an ‘Off to the Races’ print. She is a podiatrist, so I’m not so sure what her verdict would be about the emus’ running footwear. Off to the Races!
The Best Seller today is: Scarlet Robins
Scarlet Robins
A thought to ponder: “Art was as much in the activity as in the results. Works of art were not just the finished product, but the thought, the action, the process that created them.” JEAN M. AUEL, The Mammoth Hunters
Wishing you a safe, happy and creative week from the Pjpaintings stall at Salamanca Market
The Unfurling Artist: journalising creative journeying 