My son, who lives in Canberra, asked me to paint a moth for his project. I’ve rarely painted insects. Last year, I attempted to paint a bee and a butterfly and I think that’s about it.
Who would have thought that moths are so cute!? Or is it just me painting them cute? I never knew that they have such gorgeous little faces, a face that says, “cuddle and love me”.
Isn’t nature a wondrous thing?! Take care everybody and thanks for visiting.
It was a busy day at the market today. Thankfully the wind and weather was kind to us.
Valentine’s Day has past and the focus has moved to “Run the Bridge”, a 10 km running event that will take place tomorrow. The Tasman Bridge will be closed to cars as a record amount of entries will pound the pavement over the Derwent River below, including Olympians, Liam Adams, Ben St. Lawrence, Harry Summers, Milly Clark, Victoria Mitchell and Canadian runner, Andrea Seccafien. Also included, are Tasmanian elite runners, Meriem Daoui and Dejen Gebreselassie. Dejen is of Ethiopian heritage and was born and raised in a Sudanese refugee camp. Meriem is of Moroccan heritage and competes in full length clothes and hijab. She has run 10 km in 34:30 and is only 19 years old!
At 8:30 in the morning, a man from Melbourne, here to celebrate a 50th birthday, which he did last night, bought a ‘Who Says Emus Can’t Fly?!’ print. I was quite impressed that he was up and about so early after a big night!
Two ladies, wearing cool hats, walked by, and when I was at the other end of the market, a wedding party was walking through the market! Frustratingly, I didn’t have my phone on me, so I couldn’t take a photo.
A young girl, about 6 years old, visiting from China, fell in love with the ‘Bunk beds’ print. She didn’t want it put in a paper bag; she wanted to be able to look at the picture unobscured.
A ‘Salamanca Fresh’ tote bag is going back with visitors from Hong Kong and a mother bought an ‘Unfurl’ card because the picture has three rising steam ladies and she has three daughters.
A celebrant, who is performing a wedding at Frogmore Creek in the afternoon, bought a print. A mother bought a ‘Tu-whit and Tu-whoo’ print for her daughter, who loves owls, and for her other daughter, who loves kookaburras, a ‘The Three Amigos’ print.
A Californian dad and son stopped by at the stall. They are going to do the Three Capes walk. A couple, from Savannah, Georgia, USA, who work in the film industry as Production Designers, bought a ‘Rising Above It’ print and ‘Spotty Rest Stop’ and ‘Bird Watching’ cards. Another Californian, from Los Angeles, USA, who was an exchange student in New Zealand decades ago, was visiting Tassie to catch up with a host-brother who moved and lives here now. She also visited New Zealand to visit the rest of the clan. She purchased a ‘Helping Hands’ tote bag.
Two ladies, one from South Australia and the other from Perth, were very excited to find my stall. They were Nursing and Midwifery educators. They had delivered training in Launceston and will be teaching on Monday in Hobart. They bought a small ‘Spotty Rest Stop’ original painting and a ‘Rising Above It’ print.
There was a three way tie for the most popular print this weekend. They were: The Three Amigos, Rising Above It and Salamanca Saturdays.
A thought to ponder: “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind” Dr Suess.
Thanks for stopping by,
from the Pjpaintings stall #30 at Salamanca Market.
Pj Paintings’ prints, tote bags and pouches are available at http://www.pjpaintings.com
Sending everybody warm, happy, mushy and fuzzy feelings for tomorrow.
I didn’t expect to see a “looking for artist” sign at Artefacts, or to be accepted, as I had applied unsuccessfully several times before. But, accepted I was, so four weeks ago, I joined an art co-op, Artefacts Inc Gallery in the Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart, Tasmania. One month on and I’m reflecting on the whirlwind experience it has been so far.
Expect the unexpected, is the theme. Firstly, we are supposed to do a gallery sitting from 9 am – 5 pm three times over a two week period. With one member living in an area that has been threatened by fires for weeks, another that was unwell for a few weeks and being short one member, I have been doing gallery duty above this quota, (an unexpected) in addition to working three days a week and running a market stall on Saturdays. It hasn’t left me with any time to paint at home but thankfully there are times at the gallery where I am able to draw.
While on gallery duty there has been a good mix of time spent drawing and attending to gallery visitors. It is mainly tourists visiting the gallery. I enjoy the company and it’s always interesting meeting the wide range of tourists, ages and nationalities. The nature of being on duty dictates that I mainly draw, but I can paint things that don’t require me painting washes, large areas or wet-in-wet. Painting bobbles are perfect gallery-duty-painting items.
Another unexpected is that more of my art is selling than I had anticipated! I’m re-stocking far more than I thought I would be.
Artefacts is located in an arts centre and it has been really nice to get to know those around me, (another unexpected) especially the staff from Deja Vu Books and Inka Gallery. On Mondays, a fellow Belgian (a big unexpected!) is usually on gallery duty at Inka Gallery. We communicate in French and my rusty old French is becoming a little more lubricated each week. The chap that works at Deja Vu is a bird photographer. He has given me some of his awesome photos that that I can use as a resource to paint from. How good is that!?!
All in all, the first month has been great, but tiring. Hopefully the full Artefacts’ team is back up soon so those picking up extra shifts can have a well deserved rest.
I’ll be doing gallery duty on Sunday Feb 10th and Monday Feb 11th. We are open on public holidays. It would be lovely if you could stop in, have a chat and browse.
Until then, take care, Pj Paintings
Hobart welcomed the cool change after a smoky, roasting hot Friday of 38 degrees Celsius and about 50 fires burning in Tasmania. The fires are still burning. We need rain.
A big cruise ship came in today and there was a rather large ‘Change the Date’ rally on the parliament lawns, next to Salamanca Market, with key speakers Bob Brown and Nick McKim.
In the morning, I met Ashley, who is working on Macquarie Island. She works for the Weather Bureau, tracking the ozone layer among other things. She’s also taken up watercolour painting and it sounds like she’s having rather good success with it. She’s finding the same things difficult that I do, painting backgrounds and shadows.
Three ladies, from Los Angeles, USA, travelling together, stopped at the stall and each of them bought something with the ‘Salamanca Saturday’ image. One bought a tote bag, another a print and another a pouch.
A couple from the Gold Coast, that have been holidaying and house sitting in Tassie for 2 months, purchased ‘Glamour Girls’ and ‘Story time’ (if my memory serves me well). Their son has moved to Tasmania. They didn’t want to overstay their welcome at their son’s house, so they have been house sitting.
A couple purchased two A-3 sized prints of ‘The Three Amigos’ to take to Europe with them for gifts. ‘The Three Amigos’ limited edition print run is quickly nearing its expiration number.
‘Bunk beds’ debut went very well today. It was love at first sight for a young lady from Sydney.
A young Spanish and English couple, living in Ireland, but working six months in Melbourne, and now having a short holiday in Tasmania, bought a ‘Sea Life’ print.
Another young couple, this couple is from Scotland, bought a small ‘Who, Who, Who are You? II’ print and some greeting cards. He said that his dad loves emus. In Scotland, they commissioned an artist to paint an emu with an owl, and the artist painted an ostrich with an owl. To say the least, they were not impressed. It’s a very common error. Despite ostriches being native to Africa, and emus are native to Australia, I am regularly asked if my emus are ostriches. Obviously when children are learning their alphabets, O for Ostrich, must be drummed in beyond saturation, and the poor E for Emu has little-to-no representation.
A couple, from the Czechoslovakia Republic, with a young baby, bought a small Koala and Tasmanian Devil print.
The most popular prints this weekend were: The Three Amigos and Bunk beds
A thought to ponder: “Stay firmly in your path and dare; be wild two hours a day.” Paul Gauguin
Thanks for stopping by,
from the Pjpaintings stall #30 at Salamanca Market.
Pj Paintings’ prints, tote bags and pouches are available at www.pjpaintings.com
Tasmania is burning. There are over 50 fires burning and about 30 of them are out of control. Hobart is shrouded with smoke from fires in the Derwent Valley extending to the inland lakes in central Tasmania, fires south of Huonville and more.
As a consequence, I’ve been called upon to do extra gallery duties at Artefacts Inc Gallery in the Salamanca Arts Centre, while those that are living in the Geeveston area are on ‘watch and act’ status. Gallery visitors were few and far between today, so I was able to pass the time drawing another wombat. I am going to draw in more leaves but this is what I did this morning at the gallery.
I’m thinking that I may just paint the wombat and leave the rest in its ink-only state??
I’ve finished my family of wombats enjoying an afternoon siesta under the cool shade of a gum tree but there’s always one who isn’t feeling sleepy! The prints of this painting, titled “Bunk beds”, are making their debut at Salamanca Market tomorrow (they are also available on my website: http://www.pjpaintings.com under the ‘Animals’ tab and ‘wombats’).
I’ve seen and photographed wombats many times in Tasmania’s wilderness. There’s nothing cuter than seeing a baby wombat running! They’re so cute. They are gentle animals and I try to capture that gentleness and calmness in my paintings of wombats.
Wombats are marsupials native to Tasmania and the mainland of Australia. They are herbivores. Female wombats give birth to a single young in the spring and the young leave the pouch after about six months. They can run fast for short distances. I hope they are managing to escape the Tasmania’s thousands of burning square kilometers.
Stay safe and take care.
I suppose it was about four years ago when I cold canvassed Saddler’s Court Gallery in Richmond, Tasmania. I’d classify myself as a quietly confident but somewhat shy person. I’m very comfortable with the fact that some people aren’t going to be into my art as much as others. Nevertheless, it does feel awkward showing and asking somebody that you’ve never met, if they’d be interested in selling your art. Thankfully, the response was “yes” and ever since that day, I’ve been able to have my prints and greeting cards in a well-regarded, highly esteemed and respected gallery, alongside Tasmanian artists such as: Peter Glover, Terry Gough, David Hopkins, Dana Frey, Steve Howie, Danny Benson, Karen Armstrong, Roger Murphy and more.
Today, I delivered more prints and greeting cards to the gallery. There is stunning art on show. It is really worth the drive.
After the art delivery, I sat across the street and tried to draw the historic building.
Saddler’s Court Gallery was opened in 1968.
All the best and thanks for stopping by.
