Salamanca Market July 30, 2022

July 30, 2022 ~ theunfurlingartist ~ 4 Comments

It was a bit chilly today but there was no rain or wind, so there are no complaints from me. 😊

A couple from Melbourne visited my stall very early in the morning and purchased two original paintings: “Off with the Owls” and a platypus painting. Later in the day, they returned, and bought a framed “Family Outing” print and four A-5 sized prints.

An original painting, titled “Off with the Owls”

Then a Salamanca Market volunteer bought an original “Holding Hands” painting. She wanted to buy one a few weeks ago, but when she returned to buy it, somebody had bought it while she was away. She asked me to paint another one.

An original painting, titled, “Holding Hands”

A young couple from Sydney received instructions from his mother to visit my stall and buy her an A-3 sized print of “Iconic Aussies”, which he did.

“Iconic Aussie”
quality prints available at https://pjpaintings.com/collections/birds

An expectant couple, from Melbourne, bought three A-3 sized prints for their nursery for their first baby

An expectant couple, from Melbourne, bought three A-3 sized prints for their nursery for their first baby . They purchased Spiky Bunk Beds”, “Hammock Life”, and “Devilish Siesta”.

A lady, wearing flared pants, bought the original painting titled, “Flower Girl”, who is also wearing flared pants.

the original of “Flower Girl” was purchased today.
Quality prints of Flower Girl are available at https://pjpaintings.com/collections/emus

Another lady bought an original painting of an emu enjoying the snow.

A lady from Sydney bought a “Salamanca Saturdays” print and then returned with her friend, who bought two “Salamanca Saturdays” print, one an A-3 size, the other an A-4 size.

Salamanca Saturdays
quality prints available at https://pjpaintings.com/collections/the-world/products/salamanca-saturdays

A Sydney family, exploring Tasmania for two weeks, purchased a “Hanging Out” print. Two girlfriends visited the stall, and one bought a framed “Unwinding” print. Both are available at https://pjpaintings.com/collections/wombats

A family from New Zealand bought “The Three Amigos II”, “White Face Scops Owls” and a “Salamanca Saturdays” print. A family visiting from Western Australia also bought a “The Three Amigos II” print.

The Three Amigos II
high quality prints available at https://pjpaintings.com/collections/birds/products/the-three-amigos

Once again, as fun as it is interacting with such a diverse crowd and hearing interesting stories, it is always good to get home and put my feet up.

I hope that the upcoming week goes well for you and that you are able to make time for your creative outlet. Cheers, Patricia (PJ) Hopwood-Wade

Come Dream with Me

July 27, 2022July 28, 2022 ~ theunfurlingartist ~ 2 Comments

About 7 years ago, when I was in Sweden, sitting on a stool in a hotel, wearing my nightie and a knitted rabbit hat with floppy ears, I caught a glimpse of myself in a hallway mirror and it intrigued me, so I drew a quick sketch of myself. This gave birth to a host of ideas that have been whirring around in my head for many years, one of them being, “Come Dream with Me”.

Come Dream with Me
Quality prints are available at https://pjpaintings.com/collections/realistic-animals/products/come-dream-with-me

I delivered “Come Dream with Me” to the Long Gallery, Salamanca Place, Tasmania, for The Art Society of Tasmania Inc 138th Members’ Exhibition. The exhibition will be running from Saturday, July 30th through to Sunday, August 7th from 10 am – 4 pm daily.

The development of my painting.

I look forward to attending the opening night, catching up with fellow artists and seeing the fabulous work on display.

Thank you for reading and following me. I look forward to sharing my next painting with you soon.

Until then, take care, Patricia (PJ) Hopwood-Wade

The Tasmanian Wedge-tailed eagle

July 25, 2022July 27, 2022 ~ theunfurlingartist ~ 2 Comments

Hello everybody. I hope your week is off to a good start.

I’m working on a painting which features many Tasmanian birds. I’ve painted the Tasmanian nativehens, a Cape Barren goose, Superb Fairy-wren, Scarlet robin, Pink robin and Australian magpie. I’ve drawn a Wedge-tailed eagle into the painting too. I have never painted a Wedge-tailed eagle. Just in case I can’t paint one (they look complicated and challenging to paint!!), and I don’t want to ruin what I have painted so far, I drew a trial one on an A-4 size paper.

Here’s what I have painted so far.

The all important step-out-of-your-comfort-zone start

The Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle is an endemic subspecies of Tasmania. Unfortunately, it is struggling and is listed as endangered. https://nre.tas.gov.au/conservation/threatened-species-and-communities/lists-of-threatened-species/threatened-species-vertebrates/wedge-tailed-eagle

I was surprised to find that I often held my breath when I was painting this. I apply the water colour on a feather, and then wait for it not to be so wet, but not dry, to blend in the next colour into the feather. I’m sure working on small scale makes this more difficult.

more feathers … this eagle has fabulous coloured wings

I’m not looking forward to tackling the feet…. another challenge.

I hope that your week’s challenges are met with success.

Cheers from Patricia (PJ Paintings)

Melbourne Visit

July 18, 2022 ~ theunfurlingartist ~ 2 Comments

We’re off to Melbourne.

Drawn from the Hobart, Tasmania terminal, while waiting for our plane.

After arriving on Friday, we wandered around and settled for a bite to eat in one of the laneways in the city. This was our view from our eating spot.

View from our eating spot in Meyers Lane, Melbourne

The next day started by a visit to the South Melbourne Market and then exploring St Kilda, including this cool community garden.

cool sculptures in various gardeners’ patches

I love buttons for art and decorating. 🙂

The visit to St. Kilda ended with sketching a duplex that caught my eye on Park Street. I love the roofline decorative tiles so many of the older houses have in this area. On Park Street itself, there were quite a few raised garden beds in front of houses.

sketch with paint, Park Street, St. Kilda

Sunday morning, we viewed the amazing Picasso exhibition https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/the-picasso-century/

One of the first exhibition picture on display is Picasso’s second-ever etching titled “Le Repas Frugal”, 1904.

Two of Picasso’s paintings of his first wife, Olga Khokhlova. Despite the Spanish flavour of the 1917 painting, Olga is from Russia, a ballet dancer, with Ukrainian origins. I find it interesting that she is depicted with quite big hands and feet in the first painting. From 1919 to 1929, Olga received over 500 letters from her mother and sister, whom she didn’t see.

“Portrait of a woman” by Pablo Picasso, 1938, oil on canvas Maar and Picasso became lovers and intellectual confidants. Maar was the inspiration for many portraits, including this 1938 canvas

“Weeping woman” oil on canvas by Pablo Picasso, 1937

Pablo Picasso 1881-1973
“Massacre in Korea”
1951 oil on plywood
Picasso painted this work in reaction to the Korean War. Nothing in this painting specifically ties to Korea, not the landscape or people. Picasso said that when he thinks of war he does not think of a particular trait, only that of monstrosity. I agree and think this should be applied to all wars, including the current war being waged on Ukraine.

These are only a fraction of the paintings on display. After the exhibition, we found a spot to sketch the renowned Flinders Station. I was settling nicely into the zone, then the rain disturbed my happy space.

My weekend in Melbourne finished with the fairy tale magic of Cinderella.

Trust that your week is is travelling along magically.

cheers, Patricia

Ungrounded

July 14, 2022 ~ theunfurlingartist ~ 2 Comments

I painted this whimsical and heart warming scene of a Tasmanian Tiger (thylacine) piggybacking a wombat.

I was going to ground it but when I looked at it from a bit of a distance, I liked the way it reminded me of an embroidered table cloth, so I’ve left it suspended.

This watercolour painting is painted on Khadi Mill paper that is made from recycled cotton rags. It is approximately 20 x 15 cm. My full signature is on the back of the painting.

The original painting is available at: https://pjpaintings.com/collections/original-paintings?page=1

Wishing you a great upcoming weekend. 🙂

Cheers, from PJ Paintings

Urban Sketch

July 11, 2022 ~ theunfurlingartist ~ Leave a comment

I felt so inspired and motivated when I left the house but once I arrived at our monthly Hobart urban sketch meet, the inspiration had exited somewhere along the way. I wandered around looking and discounting buildings: too complicated, will take too long, too exposed to the wind, too cold, no where to sit and more excuses were applied to the various sites under consideration.

I finally settled on drawing the entrance of the newly opened hotel on Murray Street, in the city. I drew it standing up with my book awkwardly balancing on my open left hand. The unsteadiness of the book contributed to looseness and wobbliness of the lines. Usually I avoid including cars, but because this one was blocking part of the view of the entrance, I felt compelled to attempt drawing it.

My approximately half an hour drawing of 12 Murray Street, Hobart, Tasmania
I drew some loose guide lines with a watercolour pencil and then drew the rest with a Fude pen.

Wishing you an inspiring week.

Cheers, from Patricia (PJ)

Salamanca Market July 9, 2022

July 9, 2022 ~ theunfurlingartist ~ Leave a comment

I got absolutely saturated setting my stall up during the early hours of this morning. Thankfully the rain did stop by the afternoon. It felt like there weren’t as many people at the market today.

My first sale was a small original painting of a wombat with helpful lady bugs. It’s similar to this one, below.

Parents and their son, from Allandale, NSW, http://www.australias.guide/nsw/location/allandale/ purchased an “Emu Boogie” greeting card for their son’s piano teacher and a large “Salamanca Saturdays” tote bag for themselves.

Parents and their adult daughter stopped at the stall. The daughter really liked the original titled, “Holding Hands”. They left and the father came back and bought it to give to her for her upcoming birthday. Later in the day, a lady who been eyeing the same painting, came back to buy it and was disappointed to discover it had sold.

A mother and daughter, from Poland, bought “The Three Amigos II” and a “Suspended” print. The kookaburra print is going back to Poland but Suspended is going with the daughter to New Zealand where she has done one year of high school. She’s going to do one more year of high school and then start her university degree in New Zealand.

The Three Amigos II available at https://pjpaintings.com/collections/birds

A son and mother purchased A-3 sized prints of “Enchanted Forest I” and “Enchanted Forest II” for their renovated house in Newcastle, NSW.

Enchanted Forest I available at https://pjpaintings.com/collections/birds

A young lady, who has just moved to Hobart to start her university degree in media and marketing, bought “Lost Worlds” and “Poppy Fields” to brighten her room in her share house.

Poppy Fields available at https://pjpaintings.com/collections/unfurling

“Piggyback” is going to the Central Coast, NSW, and a “Hanging Out” tote bag’s destination is going further than NSW. It is a gift for the person taking care of their house in Texas, USA while they are holidaying and travelling the world.

Piggyback available at https://pjpaintings.com/collections/wombats

It was good to get home, hang up the wet things and have a hot, slow-cooked, curry dinner.

Take care.

Cheers, Patricia (PJ) Hopwood-Wade

Off with the Fairies

July 5, 2022July 5, 2022 ~ theunfurlingartist ~ 4 Comments

Well…, not really… she’s Off with the Owls.

Original watercolour painting titled: Off with the Owls

An emu, with a passion for owls, is off. Where are they going? I’m not sure. Maybe to an owl convention, an owl’s birthday party or to find some fairies??

The original painting is available at https://pjpaintings.com/…/products/off-with-the-owls

Wishing you a chirpy day!

Cheers, PJ Paintings

Salamanca Market July 2, 2022

July 2, 2022 ~ theunfurlingartist ~ 2 Comments

I stepped out of the house before 6 am into blackness and 4 degrees Celsius to head off to Salamanca Market, which officially today it returned to “Salamanca Market”. During COVID restrictions it had different rules and was renamed “Tasmanian Own Market”, but everybody still referred to it as Salamanca Market. But now that it “is” Salamanca Market again, all the sites were open and stalls returned to their assigned sites, so there would have been over 300 stalls today.

The Festival of Voices https://festivalofvoices.com/ is on and that could be what was contributing to the busyness today. I wasn’t feeling crash hot today, so I didn’t keep track of too many stories. I started feeling much better as the day went on.

The first customer of the day was from Brisbane, Queensland, a choir performer at the Festival of Voices. She purchased a “Lazy Days” and a “Hanging Out” print.

“Hanging Out” both prints available at https://pjpaintings.com/collections/wombats

A university student bought a “Salamanca Saturday” large tote bag to use to carry her books and study material. Two ladies were walking by, and one of the ladies exclaimed that her son bought her the “Salamanca Saturdays” print (what a lovely son! 😊). She was pleased to meet the artist and told me that she loved it.

A mother and daughter purchased a “Spiky Bunk Beds” and a “Bunk Beds” print to take back to USA with them. They live in New Hampshire.

A grandmother visited the PJ Paintings stall and purchased five prints: “All Ears”, “Helping Hands”, “Scarlet Robin Rescue”, “Friendship Refreshes the Soul” and “Spiky Bunk Beds”. She said that they are going to Manila, Philippines. Then she came back with her daughter and her three children. She bought another print, “Glamour Girls” for another daughter. Her daughter bought three prints of the wombats in hammocks series.

These three prints are from my Cheer ’em Up series, of scenes where emus come to the rescue and save the day. The emu in the painting titled “All Ears” is such a patient listener that the tip of its beak is getting a little crumpled. This series is available at: https://pjpaintings.com/collections/emus

One young lady was drawn to Tu-whit & Tu-whoo because her grandfather, in Ireland, would pick up the dead ones off the side of the road and get them stuffed. He has a long shelf lined with stuffed barn owls.

It was good to get home, warm the toes, and sit down with a cup of tea.

Happy Canada Day!