An Early Birthday Present

I’ve started celebrating my birthday a week early by meeting up with friends to sketch, followed by lunch. I was royally spoiled by receiving a painting of hedges (special significance because a while ago we went around photographing hedges of substance in New Town) and a smooth flowing, beautiful handling fude pen.

My birthday treat: urban sketching, a painting and a pen that will be treasured. I used it to sketch today and it was soooooo nice handling.

We went to Bedford Street, New Town, Tasmania to sketch, which apparently was named after Eleanor Bedford, who was the wife of somebody who subdivided the land in the 1840s. For an interesting read about New Town’s street name history check out this article: http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/05/20/3222620.htm

This house was built in 1905.

One of the many substantial houses on Bedford Street, New Town and the house I chose to draw

Roseville, on the other side of the street, is a huge, ornate house.

Roseville, Bedford Street

It is rare that I draw and paint a picture in plein air. Usually I do the drawing outside and the painting inside, but this time I did it all outside in the breeze and while the birds tweeted the entire time. The tweet-tweets from the birds helped to make it feel really relaxing.

my sketch of a house built in 1905

I have planned a few other events that involve drawing for my birthday . Fun-fun, here I come!

Take care and I hope you’re able to carve some fun activities into this week.

Cheers, from PJ Paintings http://www.pjpaintings.com

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Adorable Emus!

Look at what my friend, Sarah, found on the main street of Hamilton, Tasmania, Australia! Aren’t they just gorgeous!

A very gorgeous couple. Photo taken by Sarah Howe

Hamilton is a small Georgian and early Victorian town in the Derwent Valley, approximately 70 km northwest of Hobart. https://www.aussietowns.com.au/town/hamilton-tas It hasn’t been overly-commercialised and therefore provides the opportunity to get a better feel for what village life was like in the 1830s and 1840s with many well-preserved historic buildings.

It has a population of 300, is of historical significance, has an awesome bakery and now two gorgeous emu residents, which I can’t wait to visit and share a cup of tea with them!

Thank you for stopping by.

16 then 17

I painted the 15th and 16th penguins. Four more to go!

The newest additions – 15 and 16

…and there they are with their penguin family members, and just as surprised as the rest of them to find a wombat lounging in their sleeping quarters!!

Then I have managed to maintain the momentum and paint number 17 penguin. I’ve started drawing more of the nest too. It feels a bit like Doodle Art. That was all the rage when I was a teenager. I’d save up my money to buy the Doodle Art that came in a tube with coloured textas (felt pens). They were themed posters to colour. They are “vintage” now. I’ve coloured in THE SEA and BUTTERFLIES. They are long gone now.

Anyways, the nest reminded me of doodle art days.

can you spot number 17 penguin?

Hope you’re well and can enjoy a spell of mindless and relaxing doodling today.

Thanks for visiting,

Patricia (www.pjpaintings.com)

Salamanca Arts Centre

I have been lucky enough to become a co-op member of Artefacts Inc Gallery, located in the historic Salamanca Place in Hobart, Tasmania.

Inside the Salamanca Arts Centre

The art gallery is located in the docks area of Hobart. It is lined by a long row of Georgian sandstone warehouses that were built in the 1830s by hundreds of convicts, who were used to quarry out the cliffs behind Salamanca Place, cut the stone and build the row of sandstone warehouses to store fruit, grain, wool, whale oil and imported goods from around the world.

I’ve been having some fun drawing the Salamanca Arts Centre.

A loose fun sketch with an black Artline pen and a grey COPIC sketch pen. My favourite of all my sketches of the Arts Centre.

A close up of some of the detail

The Salamanca Arts Centre where Artefacts Inc Gallery is located

Another drawing of the Arts Centre in Salamanca Place, Hobart, Tasmania

Another drawing. This time I didn’t just suggest bricks but drew them in across the whole building.

And last but not least, my second favourite drawing of the Arts Centre.

I hope you get a chance to visit Salamanca Place and see the Georgian built warehouses, kunanyi and the Artefacts Inc Gallery in Hobart, Tasmania.

Wishing you an awesome upcoming week , from PJ Paintings

http://www.pjpaintings.com

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Missing Feet

Eight more penguins to paint

Progress is being made… I still have more penguins to paint, detail to add, not to mention the dreaded background! There are also several penguins with missing feet, including the wombat that needs his foot painted too.

Six more penguins to go!

The missing feet on this painting is not something sinister or mysterious and will soon be rectified, unlike the twenty detached human feet that have washed up on the shores around Vancouver and Vancouver Island, Canada, since 2007. The mystery around these feet, which at one time were thought to be originating from a funeral home, but investigations have since confirmed that the feet come from people who have unfortunately died. The feet detach by the normal decomposition process. The feet were usually found in sneakers. Coroners postulate that the sneakers helped to give the feet buoyancy, enough to eventually be washed ashore, and gave the feet protection from decomposition that helped them to remain relatively intact. The feet have been able to provide some closure for families by DNA matching with the National Missing Persons data base.

I’m going to make a point of enjoying my feet today! I hope that you can too.

Kind regards, from PJ Paintings

Please visit my website for a browse at: http://www.pjpaintings.com

I know you’re not supposed to have favourites but….

I know you are not supposed to have favourites but I have developed an affinity with this little penguin. I think its so cute and I’m quite loving it.

This is my favourite penguin of the family group so far. I still have many more to paint.

I hope that you have been able to enjoy some of your favourite things today. Cheers from Pjpaintings

8 fairy penguins

I started this painting, loosely inspired by the Goldilocks and Three Bears story, a few weeks ago. It feels like it is going to take a year to finish!!

I really like the colours of blue and beige. I think those two colours sing and are lively together. These two dominant colours also attracted me to try to paint this idea of fairy penguins and a wombat that formed in my head about two years ago.

Twelve more penguins to go!

I hope that everybody’s weekend is travelling along well.

Thanks for stopping by and hopefully next time you visit, there’ll be more penguins to see. Cheers from, Pj Paintings

Fairy penguins

I didn’t get much time to paint today but I did add one more fairy penguin to my picture.

Eventually all twenty will be painted. This painting that I’m working on is telling a story similar to that of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but an Tasmanian-ised version. Here in Tasmania, there are no bears, not even koala “bears”, who aren’t bears, rather they are marsupials, so they can quite easily be discounted from this story. But there are our regular fairy penguin visitors, the smallest species of penguins.

You can imagine the surprise when twenty fairy penguins waddle up the beach to discover a wombat in their nest!! (I haven’t drawn the nest as of yet).

I’ll keep bringing more penguins to life over the next few days. Take care and thanks for stopping by, PJ Paintings

Gallery duty

It was my first day back at Artefacts Inc Gallery today. It was slow but that meant that I had some time to draw. This is what I drew today at the gallery.

I still need to do more drawing, add paint and then title it.

This is a brooch that is for sale at the gallery made by Caz Francis. The beads are so small and it is such intricate work.

Enjoy your week, stay safe and thank you for visiting, from PJ Paintings

…and then there were three

I’ve added two to the one I painted yesterday. Only 17 more to go!

Hope that you’ve had time to have a little jig too.

Thanks for visiting and take care, from Pj Paintings