For some this may not be a big project, but for me this is massive. I have never attempted a landscaping project of this scale before but I’ve started now and I will see this to the finish. These plants came with the house. I don’t know their name.
Apologies in advance to those who find them attractive, and I suppose they could be, if well maintained, but they are time intensive and as far as I’m concerned, time wasters. They always need trimming. It’s hard to prune back their dead leaves and honestly, one month later there are dead leaves again and the monthly cycle is never-ending.
Impossible to keep up with dead-leaf trimming. Take note of the plant in the upper left corner. It’s an unattractive look. In addition to the front of the house, these plants line the driveway and were also planted on each side of the front steps!!
This project is inspired by my succulent garden which, in this space, one of these great big plants used to reside.
There are a lot of varieties of succulents in this fairly small patch of garden.
Here’s a photo of the flowers that my most abundant succulent produces.
Firstly, I have to remove all these big, ugly plants and rocks. Soooooooooooo many rocks!!!
Not quite halfway
Lucky my neighbour lets me use his green bin too because I’m starting to get quite a pile of green waste.
Over flowing green bins is my normal
my rubbish pile which has grown significantly since this photo was taken
I’ve named my blog The Unfurling Artist and have painted cups of teas with “unfurling” steam ladies because I love the look of curled fern frons and the unfurling process.
I’m still working on my painting titled “Goldilocks and the 20 Penguins”. Hopefully I’ll soon be able to announce it finished. It will be well worthy of some celebrating as I’ve spent many, many hours on it.
Today was a fur day. This is the way my finger looks when I’m painting fur.
Wiping excess paint off on my finger so the first stroke of fur is a fine line.
I’ve painted the fur grey, blue, burnt sienna, raw sienna, burnt umber, purple and mixed some of these colours together to create a smoother graduation of colours too. Each time I rinse and put paint on my 000 size paint brush, I wipe off the paint on my finger to ensure the first stroke isn’t too thick. As a consequence of removing most of the paint, I can only do about two or three strokes before I run out of paint on my brush and have to start the process again. It is a time consuming process!
A wombat getting furrier by the hour
I think the wombat is about done, except for the foot. I have to add more shadow. They have such gnarly, gorgeous feet for all the digging they do.
I’m planning to get cracking on the penguins in the next couple of days and I look forward to showing you the finished painting. In the meantime, I hope that you are finding time to relax and rest in the busy lead up to the festive season.
Wishing you a safe festive week, from Patricia (PJ)
Well, to be more exact, Arthur Circus, located in Battery Point, Tasmania. This is where today’s urban sketch-meet took place. It was so peaceful and quiet sketching under the shady trees. Even visitors that came through with their children to use the swings, were telling them to speak quietly. It was like they were entering a library zone. It was quite surreal really.
I drew two cottages located in Arthur Circus.
my first drawing of the day – a heritage listed cottage at Arthur Circus
photo of the cottage I drew
For over 100 years, the crowded working-class cottages in Arthur Circus housed large families whose livelihoods were reliant on the waterfront. Each cottage is now valued over $1,000,000. Battery Point is a postcode held in high esteem, close to the city, waterfront, and in such a quaint, well-kept, prestigious, historical suburb of Hobart, Tasmania. https://www.discovertasmania.com.au/about/articles/battery-point
One of the quaint cottages surrounding the green space of Arthur Circus
Battery Point derived its name from the presence of a battery of cannons placed around the shoreline to protect the Hobart coastline. The cottages surrounded the village green of Arthur Circus, where children used to gather in the 1930s to play marbles. The cottages were built for officers of the garrison. When they were originally built in the 1800s, they probably consisted of just two main rooms.
Houses are built around the green space of Arthur Circus
Arthur Circus is reportedly the only street named “Circus” in Australia. Given the shape of the street, one would think it would have been named Arthur Circle. But, in fact, “Circus” is an appropriate name for this special place because apparently “circus”, in Latin means “circle”, a round open space at a street junction. Who knows, maybe a clown or two visited the grassy area to add to the festivities and fun of the birthday parties hosted there. Piccadilly Circus in London is a busy meeting place, and Arthur Circus seems to serve much the same purpose, especially with urban sketchers as many, many artists paint these cute cottages.
My second drawing of the day, #47 Arthur Circus, Battery Point.
I even drew in part of a car! Unusual for me because I avoid even attempting to draw cars.
A photo of #47 Arthur Circus. This house has a unusual roof. I don’t think I’ve ever seen another like it.
The house and car I drew from a standing position. I drew the first one while sitting on the grass.
Silent discos are a rave that is growing in popularity. Apparently it has been around for some time. I’ve only just recently heard about them.
Glastonbury Festival, UK, has been accredited with coming up with the idea. When new noise limiting laws were imposed, festival organisers were struggling to find a solution. The festival organiser’s daughter suggested silent disco headphones. Festival goers were given headphones when the noise curfew came into play, allowing the the revellers to continue their clubbing experience by having a silent rave. It also allowed people to hear and dance to music while others didn’t have to shout over the music if they wanted to talk to each other.
In 2013, Silent Disco Walking Tours came into being. People are listening to the same playlist, plus hearing fun commentary from the tour guide. It’s about ‘flash mob dancing’, interpretative dancing and singing around local landmarks, keeping fit, community connection and fun. http://www.gurududu.org/silentdisco/
I painted two little penguins enjoying a silent disco on the far-flung ice shelves of Antarctica. Fairy penguins, also called little penguins or little blue penguins, are the smallest of the 17 penguin species. They are about 30 – 33 cm tall.
The drawing before I applied paint.
They come ashore in multiple locations on the island of Tasmania, where I live. I’ve seen them at many different beaches in Tasmania and I get just as excited and enchanted each time I see them. They are beautiful and precious creatures, as all creatures are.
The Unfurling Artist: journalising creative journeying 