If you were looking for my website and ended up here it is because I had to take down my website. It has been hacked virtually every other day this month and it is just too compromised to leave it up. So, a brand new website is on its way. In the meantime, if you’d like to order a print, please contact me through email (pjpaintings@gmail.com), Facebook or the comments feature here. All images displayed in the Salamanca Market Diary category are available for purchase.
Thanks so much!
Last week, I did a two-day drawing workshop. In the evenings, I checked out the neighbourhood. It’s one of my favourite things to do, looking at houses and gardens. Some people aren’t afraid to express their individuality, actually they celebrate it.
Some yards had very cool things in it, like this three storey treehouse, with three decks. It is difficult to see the three storeys in my photo, but it has three decks, with each one looking like they are meeting current building regulations.
… and this very cool way to store your firewood.
We had nine participants doing the drawing workshop. Each person is an amazing artist. An impressive range of diverse art skills was represented, pastels, penwork Mandalas, woodwork, some imaginative whimsical art and some unbelievable realism. Often, people that paint life-like portraits wish they could think of imaginative things to paint and lament their ‘lack of creativity’, which isn’t accurate, it’s there, it is just being presented in a less obvious way, and people who have no shortage of quirky ideas, wish they could paint realism, people who paint loose, wish they painted more detailed, people who paint detailed, wish they could paint looser and so on. From my observation, people undervalue their individual style. There will always be people who may not like a particular style, but there will also be heaps who admire and wish they had somebody else’s style or talent. My theory is to celebrate individual style and to not allow negative self-talk interfere with the joy of producing art.
We started the workshop by drawing upside pictures to help engage the right side of our brains.
We went outside to find a splotch to turn into an imaginative character. To my eyes, the blob on the right of the centre looked like a pig with a broken snout.
I’m unsure about this style but it definitely has given me some ideas that I want to explore.
Here’s an unfinished blob from the footpath that I’m transforming into an imaginary creature.
Thanks for visiting and for being ‘you’.
Hello. Hope everybody is travelling along well.
Since 2016’s Inktober Challenge, I have been painting weekly little ink and watercolour paintings on square pieces (approximately 20 x 20 cm and 15 x 15 cm) of paper made 100% from cotton rags and selling them at my stall at Salamanca Market in Hobart, Tasmania.
It’s a difficult balance to achieve, painting these and trying to squeeze some time in the other part of your week to work on larger paintings. Ultimately, one hour per piece is the best but I’m not sure how long I spend on each painting because I am usually working on several at a time and there is the drying time.
I paint the eye and nose and then move onto another painting while that dries and so on. I’m guessing probably just under 2 hours per painting, but maybe more because as the saying goes, ‘time flies when you’re having fun.’
So when it was suggested I paint kookaburra and wombat paintings, to sell on a weekly basis, I was dubious about whether I could do these quickly enough to make it viable. I kept the motto “simplifying” and “not overworking” in the forefront of my mind. I surprised myself at how quickly I managed to paint the kookaburra. The next one will probably be better.
With the wombat, I have discovered that drawing it with a water colour pencil not only speeds up the process but adds a nice additional glow to the painting.
Being made from 100% recycled rags, the paper has imperfections. To cover up some of the blemishes I started adding gum leaves. I love painting these delicate additions. Also it provides a theme to connect all the paintings.
I make the gum-leaf green colour with Raw Sienna and Cobalt Blue.
So, little original paintings of wombats and kookaburras will be a new addition at the Pjpaintings stall.
Something else that is new that I’ve recently taken up is life drawing. Simplifying is critical when you are trying to capture something from the one minute poses and the 10 and 20 minute poses. Here are some of my initial attempts.
One minute poses
10 and 20 minute poses
Something else that is new is that I’ve sadly had to take my website down. It has been hacked virtually every other day this month and it is just too compromised to leave it up. So, a brand new website is on its way. In the meantime, if you’d like to order a print, please contact me through email (pjpaintings@gmail.com), Facebook or the comments feature here. All images displayed in the Salamanca Market Diary category are available for purchase.
Thanks for stopping by. Take care.
Wow, it’s hard to know where to start. I met so many people today. The day started with a lady from Northern Rivers, NSW, who had just done the Overland Track. She was disappointed that she didn’t see a Pink robin on her trek. They are an elusive little bird but she was going to Binalong, on the east coast of Tasmania, and that is where I saw a Pink robin, Scarlet robins and many Superb Fairy wrens. Hopefully, they’ll make a presence for her too.
A couple from Townsville, that saw my prints hanging up at Saltshakers in Swansea, Tasmania, purchased a Spanish Eyes (Red) print. There are very few of these left before its availability ends when it reaches 100/100 sold.
Last night, I framed “All Ears”, “Duck Crossing” and “Helping Hands” and displayed them today. They certainly caught people’s eye. A frame really does help set off a print.
A couple from MacKay bought a small “Duck Crossing” print. She said that in MacKay, the council put a ‘Beware of Wild Animals’ sign where ducks frequently cross the road. She found that quite funny. A family from China, visiting Tasmania, also purchased a “Duck Crossing” print and an “All Ears” print to make a pair. Another “Duck Crossing” print went to Perth.
The new owners of emus riding a Triumph motorcycle “Bonnie & Me!” are taking the print home to England. An ex-Tasmanian, now living in Los Angeles, running a mobile bicycle rental company at Venice Beach, bought a “Family Outing” print.
A young man, originally from Illinois, USA, now living in Washington, USA, bought a 5” x 7” sized “Who says emus can’t fly?!” print. He said that his mother was really into Harleys when he was young and that she used to sew a lot of appliqué motorcycle scenes. My painting reminded him of her creations.
I met a lovely young lady from Switzerland. She was doing volunteer work on an organic farm, organised through WWOOF. She bought a “Motherly Emutions” greeting card to send to her father. We had a lovely conversation. I also met some French young travellers. They have been travelling around Australia for a year and fruit picking along the way to earn an income.
I met a zoologist from Melbourne. She loves Red-tailed black cockatoos but ended up buying a Yellow-tailed black and Sulphur-crested cockatoo because those were the ones that she connected with, which she was a little surprised about. She said that she has a very large painting of a Red-tailed cockatoo at home. She sporadically sells at a local market near her. She said that she frames and sells things she finds, feathers, sea urchins, shells and the like.
A young couple visiting from Melbourne bought Spanish Eyes (Yellow) to post to his Italian mother, living in Italy. A group of six young women travelling together from Taiwan bought a small whale print and a postcard size print of “Duck Crossing” and “Helping Hands”. A family from Singapore, with extended family members, purchased a small original painting of three emus reading a book. A couple from Laurieton on the NSW’s coast, a small town of a population just under 2000 in the 2011 census, purchased a “Story time” and “Who, Who, Who are You? II” print.
This week’s most popular print is: Salamanca Saturdays
Have fun and good luck to those doing Hobart’s ‘Run the Bridge’ tomorrow.
Take care and have fun pursuing your creative outlet,
from the Pjpaintings stall #30 at Salamanca Market.
When I spent Christmas with girlfriends in Triabunna, Tasmania, an hour’s drive from Hobart, the gallery minder told me that they were having a community art exhibition and encouraged me to participate, so I thought why not. I didn’t read the fine print and after paying and submitting my application, I discovered the drop-off and pick-up is in Swansea, Tasmania!!
Various charities and councils put on community art exhibitions to raise money and provide an opportunity for artists to show their works. I didn’t enter any last year because the painting drop-off is usually on a week day and between 10am – 2pm. I’ve had to take a day off from work and use a day of leave to deliver paintings to the exhibition site. This year, conveniently, Monday, Feb 12th was the drop-off day, a public holiday for southern Tasmania. Swansea is about a 2 hour drive from Hobart and is a bit of a holiday spot so why not linger and explore it.
The paintings “Sea Life” and “Royal Treatment” were packed in large terry cloth pouches (I fold over and sew the sides to make environmentally friendly protective frame pouches) and the painting delivery journey for the Glamorgan Spring Bay Art Prize 2018 at the Swansea Town Hall commenced.
Upon arrival, a stretching of the legs was needed and the Loontitetermairrelehoiner Track was a stunning way to rejuvenate the legs. Imagine if this 25 letter name was your surname! They recommend that children should be able to write their names before they start school. You’d have to set up a fairly intensive program of training several months before school started to master this name!
The land in this area is dry and rocky, hence dry rock walls are plentiful. I think they look so awesome. I like the tree trunks in the cemetery photo. They look like people.
I came across these really big gum nuts.
I didn’t have the chance to thoroughly explore the suburbs. I love looking at houses, seeing how people have landscaped their gardens, if they have a vegie patch or not, what decorations they have, equipment, chairs on the porch and so on. Here’s a few of the neighbourhood’s buildings.
The white house has pressed tin window awnings and the other house has dry rock work under their front veranda.
I had dinner at The Bark Mill Tavern and left feeling stuffed like these people deep in conversation under a house veranda on the main street of Swansea.
On the Main Street is the General Store that, like its name designates, sells just about everything. There’s a room that displays their historic relics, one being, an old ledger book with handwritten names and purchase amounts from the mid-1800s.
And on the docks, which is on the other side of the main street, there was a fishing guide. I was surprised that you don’t have to throw back a salmon if it is 25 cm. Twenty-five centimeters seems quite small.
Dolphin Sands Nine Mile Beach is perfect for a stroll at any time of the day or evening.
A random deposit of shells and nature’s sculpture on Nine Mile Beach
A delicious cheese platter made by French Sophie at Milton Vineyard. The olive raspberry jam was delicious, actually it all was. It was superb.
Another winery, the Craigie Knowe vineyard, and then home to deliver three paintings for the 2018 Kingborough Art Prize, Kingston Tasmania. Paintings have to be picked up on the same day for both exhibitions so I’ll have to get a friend to pick up the paintings at Kingston while I drive back to Swansea! or dare I flirt with the idea that somebody may purchase them.
The Glamorgan Spring Bay Art Prize 2018 have 93 entries. The exhibition is open to the public for viewing February 17th and 18th from 10 am – 4 pm at the Swansea Town Hall.
The 2018 Kingborough Art Prize is open to the public 10 am – 4 pm from Thursday February 15th – Sunday February 18th at the Kingston Beach Hall.
Thanks for visiting and take care. 🙂
I got the inspiration for this painting from this house in Canada with the dandelion front yard .
Despite spending a significant portion of the night unwillingly listening to a barking dog, I was at the market just before 7 am, ready to start setting up for the day. The morning started off slowly. The first person to the stall was a young lady who has recently moved to Tasmania from Melbourne. She moved to Hobart because she got a job here. She’s a prosthetist. Her husband is Belgian (Flemish).
Before the day started heating up, I met a couple and he was wearing an Australian Football League (AFL) Tiger’s scarf wrapped several times around his neck. I remarked that the footy season hasn’t even started yet and he answered he’s still celebrating, which I reckon after a 37-year premiership drought you are entitled to. 
A couple, one from the UK and the other from Scotland, who moved to Melbourne last year, bought a Yellow-tailed black cockatoo painting. They saw one when visiting the Bay of Fires on the north eastern coast of Tasmania. They said that the road was above the bush that the bird was in and that it was a bit strange viewing the bird from this perspective.
I enjoyed my chat with a high school art teacher from Chile, South America. She is here for three weeks, visiting her sister. She found the way I use water colour quite different. She thought it was another medium because she said that she hasn’t seen such detail and vibrant colours made with water colour. She is taking home with her “Salamanca Saturdays”. Her sister, who has been living in Hobart for around 15 years, also has a stall at Salamanca Market, called ‘Cantina Latina’. I often buy my lunch from her stall, very yummy food.
A daughter bought a red mini greeting card for her father. She told me that he has over 300 Mini model cars!!
A mother and daughter from France bought “Off to the Races! II” and a young gentleman from Italy, purchased “Spanish Eyes (Yellow)”. “Tu-whit & Tu-whoo” is going to Canberra to someone who loves owls, “All ears” to Sydney, “Poppy Fields” to Brisbane and “The Three Amigos” to Perth.
This week’s most popular print is “Spanish Eyes (Yellow)”.
A thought to ponder: “There is no must in art because art is free.” – Wassily Kandinsky
Take care from the Pjpaintings stall #30 at Salamanca Market.
The Unfurling Artist: journalising creative journeying 