Salamanca Market Update, Feb 27, 2021

After a year’s break, I started back at the Salamanca Market, in Hobart, Tasmania, today. www.salamancamarket.com.au I opted for the fortnightly option to ease back into the routine. I didn’t bring everything I usually do, and regardless of the scaled back version, it took me two hours to set up. Despite the long set-up time, it was worth it as everybody seemed happy to see my art and many people commented on how unique it is.

I sold an A-3 sized print of “Scarlet Robins” to a couple who are going to hang it up in one of the Bed & Breakfast’s units they have in Perth, WA.

Scarlet Robins

A lady bought “Silent Disco” and “Suspended” for her daughter in Berlin. I had another lady buy some wombat cards for her daughter in France. She said her grandchildren will probably be teenagers by the time she gets to see them!

Silent Disco

Suspended

My motorbike-riding emus attracted “Auntie Flick’s” eye. Her nieces, nephews and grandchildren love it when she gives them rides on her Triumph motorbike. She’s expecting two more grandchildren that have due dates of two weeks apart from each other. She bought a “Hanging Out’” and a “Spiky Bunk beds” prints for the new arrivals.

Hanging Out

Spiky Bunk beds

A couple came told me that they have a big print of “Bunk beds” hanging up in their lounge room. They love wombats and take care of orphaned wombats. Then she said that she had one with her right now! Wombat “Pip” was so tiny, you would never know that she was carrying her around! She’s been caring for Pip for six weeks now. Pip must have been so teeny, teeny, teeny tiny when she got her.

Baby Pip. I just love their little gnarly feet!

The most popular prints today were the wombat series. I think the most popular greeting card today was “Hair Accessories”.

Hair Accesseries

Art thought for the day: “To my mind a picture should be something pleasant, cheerful and pretty. There are too many unpleasant things in life as it is without creating still more of them.” ― Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Have a good couple of weeks everybody and I’ll be back at the market, stall 30, in a fortnight.

All the prints shown here are available at http://www.pjpaintings.com

Risdon Brook Dam

It’s been several years since I have visited Risdon Brook Dam, which is about 15 minutes from downtown Hobart, Tasmania, but even closer for me because I live on the eastern shore side of the Derwent River. I had forgotten how lovely it is. It was a hot day, 32 degrees, but it felt quite cool walking around the dam.

here I am being “framed” at Risdon Brook Dam

Framed- Risdon Brook Dam, Hobart, Tasmania

Risdon Brook Dam provides much of southern Tasmania’s drinking water. The dam is used to store treated drinking water that is pumped from Bryn Estyn Water Treatment Plant outside of New Norfolk, and its water is used to supply eastern shore homes and businesses with drinking water during the drier months each year (typically summer). When it’s full, the dam can hold 3,640 megalitres of water, or the equivalent of 1,456 Olympic-sized swimming pools!

The Dam was opened in 1968

The track around the reservoir is 4.5 km and takes a leisurely 1.5 hours. There are views to kunanyi / Mount Wellington and Mount Direction from the Eastern side and a variety of bush views.

Along our way, we walked under the shade of trees where,,,,

we spotted a couple of wallabies

… and a flock of noisy yellow-tailed black cockatoos flew over head and settled into a nearby tree. This is a very poor photo but it serves the purpose of recording their visit lol

we passed this stump which is my eyes is an awesome, living piece of beautiful artwork!! I just love it!

The reserve is home to the Recreational Tasmanian Road Runners Group and home of Park Run, a free 5-kilometre run every Saturday morning at 9 a.m., and also the Risdon Brook Radio Yacht Club who sail their little remote-controlled vessels with a great amount of skill and mastery between buoys in miniature regattas.

I love wrinkles on trees!

cliffs and painted old water tanks

It’s nice being with someone who understand your need to try to integrate drawing into your daily activities. I sat by a nice shade try and children’s playground and tried to draw the view. My drawing didn’t do Risdon Brook Dam justice but it was fun and relaxing trying to capture some of the area’s beauty on paper.

Playground at Risdon Brook Dam

the view with the dam wall behind the surveying tower

my sketch

Thanks for visiting and I hope that you can enjoy the outdoors and nature wherever you are.

Commissions and Challenges

I’ve finished one commission and I am currently working on another. For the first commission, I was contacted by parents, who wanted an original painting to give to their daughter, at her surprise party, celebrating her graduation from medical school. They requested a sleepy wombat wearing a graduation cap, in a decorated hammock, using safety pins to attach the decorations to the hammock.

the drawing

The painting process has commenced

“Graduation Siesta” finished.

Prints of “Graduation Siesta” have been made as this would be a great gift for anybody graduating/completing any qualification, schooling and/or training. Prints are available at https://pjpaintings.com/collections/wombats/products/copy-of-sleepy-head-series-bunk-beds-wombat-watercolour-1

While I was finishing off this painting, I received a request from somebody who would like to give a friend a painting of her favourite animal …. (I bet you won’t guess what her favourite animal is!!). She has recently left her job as a zookeeper and already has two prints of mine: a wombat and echidnas in hammocks. She wants to make them a feature in the nursery she is setting up, so her friend requested that I paint her favourite animal in a hammock to make it a set of three.

Suspense is over… her favourite animal is the potoroo. I’ve never drawn potoroos. I drew and erased, drew and erased, and drew and erased. I was just about to write an email to say sorry, I can’t draw these little cuties. But something happens when you keep trying and drawing, somehow you start to get to know the curves and proportions in the faces and body and it more or less came together, I think, I hope.

The drawing of potoroos

Adding paint

Adding more paint… and hopefully tomorrow I will be able to add even more paint

Potoroos are a small marsupial. They are a suborder of the kangaroo and wallaby. I’ve seen them in my back yard quite often and most recently while I was walking along the Derwent River in Bellerive, Tasmania, I saw one with its baby in the grass along the side walk. So, so cute!

If you’re looking for a challenge… well here’s one… try drawing and painting these little guy’s noses!

A challenging nose to draw

a closer look at a potoroo’s nose

Thanks for visiting and I hope that life is at a nice level of challenging for you.

Fitzroy Gardens

The Hobart Sketchers Group met at Fitzroy Gardens in South Hobart, Tasmania, today on this Day for Valentines. We had a nice group of ten gather at the beautiful and green gardens, including an urban sketcher from Launceston. kunanyi’s organ pipes were really well-marked and distinctive from this viewpoint. This mountain looks over Hobart and is a feature from many different angles depending which suburb you are viewing it from. The organ pipes could be so clearly seen from here.

our view of kunanyi

I decided to sketch a house on Fitzroy Crescent, number 43. I had a clear view of the house until a car parked in front of me.

and I really liked their street-light arrangement of the bins at the front of the house!!

The house with car parking in front of me. Ahhh, my bins are out of view now!!

Then the owner of the house wandered across the street to have a bit of a sticky beak and was so enthusiastic about what we were doing and our drawings that he moved the car, rubbish bins and even offered to make us a cup of coffee!

He saw my drawing at this stage

Then he offered to take a photo of me drawing. I think it is quite a cool shot with the house so clearly in view. He’s got a photographer’s eye!

Drawing 43 Fitzroy Crescent

I mucked up the bay windows. I didn’t draw them big enough. Next time…..

Finished sketch, with the rubbish bins!

Thanks for visiting and I hope that you make time to draw, drawing outdoors, indoors looking out or indoors looking in.

Take care, from Patricia (PJ Paintings)

Opossum Bay

I love Opossum Bay, located in southern Tasmania. I feel like I’ve travelled to another part of the world but it’s only about a 25 minute drive from my house, and the drive is picturesque too.

I love the shape of the bay and I love what this resident has made from random, lost thongs found on the beach! What an awesome and creative idea.

a photo from the other direction

The stand-out house for me at Opossum Bay is this quirky lighthouse house. Through the darkened lower windows you can catch glimpse of a large wooden boat with a mermaid-like figurehead. It looks impressive from a distance so I can only imagine how much more so close up.

my favourite house along the beach

I was keen to try to draw the lighthouse house. I struggled with the perspective but it was still fun to try.

My sketch

There were a variety of seagulls enjoying the bay too.

Thanks for visiting and stay safe.