PjPaintings at Salamanca Market June 30, 2018

I left in the dark for the market taking comfort in the knowledge that the days in the southern hemisphere are now getting longer (sorry northern hemisphere). It was rather chilly setting up and I was glad I was wearing three layers of everything. The rain and wind stayed away and it ended up being a rather busy day.

Two girls visiting Tasmania, one from Melbourne and the other from Brisbane, hurriedly bought a print in the morning because they had an extremely busy day planned; firstly, Salamanca Market, then travelling to MONA, Mount Wellington and Wineglass Bay in their hired campervan.

A rather large group of year 6 students from Ballarat visited the market. A family visiting from Philadelphia, USA bought a little original painting of a wombat and platypus as their Tasmanian souvenir and a couple from Salt Lake City, Utah, USA purchased a ‘Suspended’ and ‘Weightless’ print.

A quality print of a humpback whale. https://pjpaintings.com/collections/whales/products/weightlessness

A young lady got a print for her friend’s 18th birthday and showed me some of her step dad’s cow drawings. He’s writing a children’s book. They are very cool and funny drawings. Two ballerinas from the mainland, performing tonight at the Theatre Royal in the Snow White production, visited. They are playing many parts requiring heaps of costume changes. A lady, originally from the UK, now living in Adelaide, loved the print ‘Who, Who, Who are You? II’ and is taking it back with her. 

Suspended

Who, Who, Who are You?II

A lady connected with ‘Salamanca Fresh’ because three generations of her family visited Salamanca Market often when they lived here. The three emus represented the three generations.

Salamanca Fresh

A young lady couldn’t decide between ‘Sea Life’ or ‘Suspended’. She returned with four family members to get assistance with the decision but they weren’t much help because two chose ‘Sea Life’ and the other two ‘Suspended’. Then there was the suggestion that I just pick one, wrap it up and they will open it when they get back home. Eventually, she settled on ‘Suspended’.

A ‘bird watching’ card was bought for a retired boss, living in Queensland, who raised an emu and had a wide range of animals.

A ‘Three Amigos’ print was bought by a young lady for her father’s birthday.

The Three Amigos

This week’s most popular print was ’39 Keys to Life’. I gave it this title because I painted 39 piano keys in this painting.

39 Keys to Life

 A thought to ponder: “Create with the heart; build with the mind.” ― Criss Jami, Killosophy

Wishing you a creative, happy week,

from the Pjpaintings stall #30 at Salamanca Market

21 + 4 = Day 25 of 30×30 challenge

Hello everybody!  I’m somehow keeping up with producing a direct water colour painting every day but have fallen behind in the posting, hence five paintings in one post.  Most days I’ve painted things in my comfort zone due to lack of time and/or motivation.  Last week, I tackled a never-been-painted-by-me-before octopus and this week I’ve attempted to paint some little beasties.

But, firstly, for Day #21, I painted a humpback whale with swirly, plant-like unfurling things.

Day #21

On Day 22, I revisited echidnas.  I drew little ants on some of the quills again.

Day #22

On Day 23, I decided to try to paint a bumble bee.  I looked up the anatomy of a bumble bee.  It basically has three parts, a strange looking long tongue, which I chose to omit, a large compound eye, hairy legs with definite connection points and wings.  I was hoping to produce a watery, fluid looking bumble bee but have yet to achieve this.

The first bumble bee on day 23 was, and is, a disaster.  The paper was too damp and everything went yuck.

Day #23

Another day, another attempt.  This one worked better but it’s too tight for my liking.

Day #24

… and the painting I just finished less than an hour ago.  I’m not happy with the legs but it is what it is.  Another attempt is required…

Day #25

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope your week goes well.

 

 

PjPaintings at Salamanca Market June 23, 2018

Hobart is feeling energized by redness and Dark Mofo. The procession to burn a massive sculpted spider that has been collecting the written fears of Hobartians and visitors alike takes place tonight. The procession will be snaking its way around the waterfront to the ceremonial fire, where ogoh-ogoh, and our fears with it, shall meet their fiery end.  I’ll be putting on my ‘Salamanca Market’ layers to attend this lively event tonight.

At Salamanca Market’s stall #30, a visitor, from the suburb of Devonport, Auckland, New Zealand, purchased a ‘Scarlet Robins’ print for her mother’s Christmas present.  You have to admire people that have a well-in-advance Christmas presents buying methodology/practice.

Scarlet Robins

The original painting of a little octopus attracted a lot of attention very early in the morning and sold before 9 am!

A young mother, who is visiting Tasmania on her own with an under one year old and a four year old, bought ‘Retail Therapy, Salamanca’ to take back to Washington, USA. She told her husband, who stayed behind, that if she ever comes up with the crazy idea to travel on her own to Tasmania with children, to stop her.  She tries to come her every 9 months or so!!!  That is dedication! It is a gruelling, long, long flight.  She must have a family connection here.

Retail Therapy, Salamanca

A woman bought a little 5×7” ‘White Faced Scops Owls’ print for her sister-in-law living in Indonesia.  A young couple, from Sydney, expecting their first child, bought ‘Hayride’ to hang up in the baby’s room. Another young couple, from Hong Kong, bought a ‘Sea Life’ greeting card.  She spent a long time deliberating between two cards.  Even though I couldn’t comprehend the spoken language, I could understand that she wanted to buy the two cards and each time she asked, he told her to choose one. She eventually chose the whale and graciously told me that she loves my art and will treasure the card.

Hayride

The manager of the Tinker Tailor Dancer Trader shop in Mullumbimby, NSW, stopped by.  She has sold out of my art work and wants to order more for her shop. That’s a bit of nice feedback to receive.  🙂

Then sudden and unexpected wind gusts came and wreaked havoc.  Prints flew everywhere and in all directions, a crate of prints and a card stand blew off the table. All sorts of people chased after prints and cards and a thank you to all that I didn’t get a chance to thank during the chaos.  It brought an abrupt end to the day as a quick pack up ensued.  Thankfully, very minimal damage occurred.

This week’s most popular print was ‘Suspended’.

A thought to ponder:  “That’s the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.” ~Ray Bradbury

Thanks for reading. Wishing you a creative, happy week,

from the Pjpaintings stall #30 at Salamanca Market

P.S. Prints of images are available at http://www.pjpaintings.com (except for the octopus.  There are no prints made of this original).

 

Day 20 of the 30×30 direct watercolour challenge

After painting echidnas five days in a row, I felt motivated to try to find something new to paint!  Painting without any pencil drawing makes picking something to paint more difficult.  I thought I would try an octopus.  I’ve never painted one before but I didn’t think you can go too wrong with them seeing as they are squishy, boneless, ever-changing-shaped sea creatures.  Mine has quite an alien looking resemblance.  The photo has accentuated the purple tentacles (they are a little more subdued in the painting).

An Octopus for Day # 20 of the challenge

It’s actually given me an idea for another painting.  Yikes, not another idea!

Thanks for visiting.  Wishing you an awesome rest of the day.

It’s raining Echidnas

Well, one would think that I’d be sick of painting echidnas by now but because they seem to have the upper hand, I still want to keep trying to paint them. I like the echidna I painted for Day 2 of the 30×30 day direct watercolour painting challenge.  I regret selling the little guy, a short-beaked Echidna. It is an Australian egg-laying mammal, a monotreme. It had a face that I fell in love with (photo above).  I don’t often form an emotional attachment with paintings but I did with this one and I miss this little echidna.

On Day #15, I tried to paint his brother or sister with ants fleeing the scene.

Echidna #1

On Day #16, I had another attempt.  Ants are trying to stay out of sight and hiding in the bottom corners.

Echidna #2

Day #17’s echidna is rather a disaster.  For some reason, I thought it was too light and darkened the whole painting.  What was I thinking!!

Echidna #3

On Day #18, I attempted to paint another echidna.  I’m not happy with this one either.

Echidna #4

This morning, I painted tomorrow’s painting for Day 19.  I decided to return to my preferred background for watercolour paintings, white paper.  Echidnas mainly eat termites and ants. A few ants thought that hiding on its spines was a wise strategy to avoid becoming a light afternoon snack!

Echidna #5 Products with this little echidna are available at https://www.redbubble.com/people/pjpaintings/shop?asc=u

Thanks for reading and I hope that you aren’t inundated by echidnas in your dreams tonight. 🙂

 

PjPaintings at Salamanca Market June 17, 2018

Kookaburras have made their appearance at the opening of Salamanca Market four Saturdays in a row now. Last week, one perched itself on the court house behind the pjpaintings stall to perform its loud morning cackle. It is a happy iconic Australian sound.  In the afternoon, we had a noisy screeching group of cockatoos visit the market.

Dark Mofo is on but to my eye it didn’t draw many more people to the market.  Maybe the winter temperatures kept people away??  The weather was coolish and there was some light rain, but nothing in comparison to what we had during the night and Sunday morning.  We’ve had very gusty winds and rain.  I think there was hail too.  It sounded like hail pounding against my bedroom window last night.

A grandmother from Victoria bought an original small painting of a wombat and platypus for her niece’s daughter, Hazel, born yesterday, and a grandchild soon to arrive. A little 5×7” ‘Scarlet Robins’ print is heading to Perth.

The grandmother that asked me last week to paint a whale for her grandson returned and purchased a small humpback whale painting and a Salamanca Saturdays tote bag.  The tote bags debuted today.  These were the three at today’s market ($20 each).  There are more coming featuring different pjpaintings images.

A mother purchased a ‘Hayride’ print for her 11 year old son.  They live on a farm in Denmark.

Hayride

I had second thoughts about selling my chaotic-looking echidna because I have developed an emotional attachment to the little guy.  It is one of a kind original painting.  Thankfully the young lady, who bought it, really loves it.  She repeatedly said thank you for it. It is going to the Northern Territory, Australia, where she lives.

Another little original, this time of a humpback whale, framed on-site, was purchased for a 21st birthday. When she came back to pick it up, there were a few others in the stall, and I showed it to her, it drew a gasp and awwwws from everyone. It really did look good framed behind white matting and the white frame.

This week’s most popular prints were ‘Weightless’ and ‘Suspended’.

I had a difficult time choosing this week’s thought to ponder.  There were several that I felt a strong connection with.  I chose this one for today.  There are so many cool shadow effects, patterns in nature, details in buildings, people, poses, birds and more that go unnoticed. A thought to ponder:  “Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.” ~E.B. White―

Wishing you a week filled with smiles,

from the Pjpaintings stall #30 at Salamanca Market.

Day 14 of 30×30 directwatercolour challenge

Today, I didn’t feel like painting.  I have found that sometimes this mind-set, of not feeling like painting, produces extremes: total flops or amazing successes.  Not feeling like painting can help me paint looser, simplify and not overwork things.

It intrigues me how sometimes a painting can reflect that you didn’t feel like painting in a negative way.  How does a painting capture a feeling?  I think the trick is to still muster some caring or feeling among the ‘not feeling’ like painting.

Anyways, while not feeling like painting, I tackled this Cyclamen plant that my daughter gave to me for Mother’s Day 5 or 6 years ago that still flowers prolifically each year.  The soil is contained in a ball of string.  This is my ‘loose’ interpretation, using paint only, for day 14 of June’s  30×30 challenge.  I could add more definition but for now that is all that I feel like doing.

Thanks for stopping by!  🙂

Day 12 & 13 of 30×30 Challenge

I’ve decided to stay with the whale theme and explore what effects using different paper has.

I painted yesterday’s Orca on Aquarelle 300gsm New Grain Aquafine paper, made by Daler-Rowney, Bracknell, England.  It has a very uniform quilted texture.

 Orca painted on Aquarelle watercolour paper

Today, I painted the whale below on Khadi paper – handmade paper from the Khadi mill in south India. The paper is made from recycled cotton rag and is more absorbent than cold or hot pressed watercolour paper.  The 20 x 20 cm paper is flexible with random unevenness. The watercolour does not travel across the surface of the paper well, which isn’t ideal when you are painting wet-in-wet and wanting colours to bleed.  Nevertheless, I think it worked out quite well but it felt like you were wrestling with it more because the paint didn’t move across the paper with the usual ease.

Orca painted on Khadi paper

I painted this Orca on Arches watercolour Rough 300 gsm 100% cotton paper. This was the easiest paper, out of the three, to paint wet-on-wet.  Watery paint glides over the surface of paper with less effort on your part.

Orca painted on Arches watercolour paper

All in all, each paper variety had slight differences to adjust to but delivered good results.  I think painting fish on the quilted texture of Aquarelle paper would create an eye catching added dimension of scales, if the paint is applied not too thickly.

Now what to paint tomorrow for the 30 day direct watercolour June challenge????

Thanks for visiting.

A well-fed whale for Day 11 of the 30×30 Challenge

At Salamanca Market, a grandmother said that she wanted to buy my small original kookaburra painting (20 x 20cm) for her granddaughter but would also like to buy an original for her grandson, who loves whales. She said she would be back at the markets next weekend, so I told her I’d try to paint one during the week. This is number four whale, a well-fed Orca or Killer Whale, done directly with paint, without using any pencil, to meet the criteria of June’s 30×30 direct watercolour, and grandmother’s, challenge!

The previous whales I painted were Humpbacks.  This is the first time I’ve painted an Orca.  I really loved painting this one.  I’m now going to try to paint it on some different types of paper and see what effects that brings.

Thanks for stopping by. 🙂

Creative Juices are Flowing!!

The car parks, and creativity, were overflowing on a brilliant blue sky winter’s day at Birchs Bay Art Farm’s Sculpture Trail in southern Tasmania.  The farm grows and harvests native pepper, thousands of bunches of Dutch Iris each year and has a large organic vegie patch on its more than 100 acres of diverse native bush land.  It also has a growing and thriving sculpture crop, as each year it purchases and adds to its collection of permanent sculptures.

King Lizard by Jivanta Howard is one of my favourites.  It is made from recycled truck mufflers, mower blades and the toes are trampoline springs.  It is the coolest bench around!!  The farm has purchased two sculptures, this being one of the two.

I love this one too.  It is called Rumple Steelskin, made by Richard Whitaker, stating that “this sculpture possesses no underlying message.”

This is a stunning sculpture.  The photo doesn’t do it justice. There is so much exquisite detail in this piece. Near her hands there is a little person with an umbrella.  This piece, sculpted by by Pirjo Juhola, is titled Weather Girl .  The Kingborough Council purchased this sculpture.

Mr. Pelican by Jivanta Howard is a large fun piece.  The pelican patiently obliged to the many photo requests.

Raven’s Return, made with ceramic, glass, beads and steel, by Wendy Edwards. 

The good old Hills Hoist featuring in this sculpture titled: Remnants of a suburban forest by Dan O’Toole.  Once endemic to Australian backyards these iconic structures are disappearing and becoming an endangered species.  Birchs Farm purchased this piece too.

These steel sculptures made by Mitch Evans is titled Pagan Spirits.  To my eye, they have a Picasso feel to them. Very cool.

The Frame by Anna Williams made with angle iron and steel rod

These are some sculptures from previous years acquired by the farm.

I didn’t get very far trying to draw Sparky the Ewe.

There are many more sculptures.  It’s well worth a visit to see all the works of art.  The bush, trail and art is truly wonderful.

Thanks for visiting.