Last year, at Salamanca Market, I met a retired university professor from the US and he is an avid birdwatcher. He has come to Tasmania every year for three or more decades (he’s 83 years old now). He bought virtually all the original paintings of endemic birds I painted. He’s back in Tasmania for more bird watching. He sought me out at the market again and told me that all my paintings are framed and hanging at his residence. He wants more original paintings of birds. “Paint lots!” he said. Yesterday, I painted the Orange-bellied parrot, today it is the Yellow Wattlebird.
The Yellow Wattlebird endemic to Tasmania (thanks to Suart J. Smith for permission to use his photo)
The Yellow Wattlebird occurs only in Tasmania and is Australia’s largest honeyeater. It’s bird call is distinctive and easily identifiable.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope things are chirpy
Yesterday, we had a great turnout, and hence, an invigorating urban sketching session, reinforcing the saying “the more, the merrier” as was such the case. We dispersed, picked our building to tackle and went to work.
I tried this duplex on Elizabeth Street. I took the photo about an hour afterwards, so the shadows had changed somewhat. I still ran into some perspective difficulties, but such is the learning process.
Duplex on Elizabeth Street directly across Lyndhurst AvenueI sat under the shade of a large fig tree to draw the duplex
Afterwards, we had a coffee and our throw-down at the State Cinema, a very cool, stylishly restored cinema that has been screening moving pictures since 1913. Most of the Hobart sketchers group took on the Lyndhurst ornate house (feature photo). We had two new participants and a sketcher return from “their best holiday ever”, visiting Iran. We took turns perusing her amazing travel sketchbook and photo book. Stunning.
Upon my return home, I found myself still in the painting mode. So, I painted an orange-bellied parrot (thanks to Stuart J. Smith for giving me permission to use his photograph). Orange-bellied parrots are critically endangered with less than fifty parrots thought to exist in the wild today. With all the horrible bush fires, I wonder if they’ve fallen victim to the ferocious flames and if that number is even lower now?
They are not endemic to Tasmania but it is one of only three species of parrot to migrate. The orange-bellied parrot breeds in Tasmania and it winters in South Australia and Victoria.
Last year, at Salamanca Market, I met a retired university professor from the US and he is an avid birdwatcher. He has come to Tasmania every year for two or three decades. He bought virtually all the original paintings of endemic birds I painted. He’s back in Tasmania and sought me out at the market on the weekend. He said that all my paintings are framed and hanging at his residence. He’s 83 years old. He told me that they won’t let him rent a car/drive but some Tasmanian University contacts are taking him birdwatching and he’ll be doing some work there. Anyways, he was disappointed I didn’t have any original bird paintings and asked me to paint “lots” during the week. The Orange-bellied parrot is the first. It’s a start…
Walking on Kunyani, the Aboriginal name for Mt. Wellington in Hobart, Tasmania, for me, is like meandering through an art gallery. For some, the highlight of kunyani is scaling the organ pipes or the spectacular views but for me it is kunyani’s sculptural boulders, proud, bold and sculpted by centuries of weather.
A blossoming eucalyptus on kunyanimy quick sketch of a clump of bouldersa field of boulders, one of many on kunyaniMe at the Municipality Cairn, the intersection point of three municipalities: Hobart, Glenorchy and Kingborough
An earlier painting of kunyani boulders.
I introduced water colour painting, adding salt while the paint is still damp to create a grainy look and using a cotton bud and methylated spirits to create a lichen appearance on kunyani boulders to the Men’s Maximum and Medium Security inmates at Risdon Prison. I told them that nobody can say that you’ve drawn a rock wrong, to help them move out of their comfort zone and give painting a try…. and they did…
lichen growing on a kunyani boulder
… including giving writing poems a go. They were really pleased with their efforts. For the poetry writing, I asked them to write five words (nouns) about kunyani and then put some describing words (adjectives) around those words and then ta-da! – poems emerged effortlessly.
dipped in rust, proud large boulders
stunted bendy trees cling onto rocks
tweeting birds diving
buzzing insects darting
snow, sparkling white
… and who put a whale on the mountain!!?!?
I hope that one day you can experience the kunyani magic.
Wishing everybody a joyful, relaxing and peaceful festive season. Thank you for accompanying me on my art journey. I wish you an awesome upcoming New Year, for every day of 2020!
Apparently there are many correct answers to this question. One could be a green-grey colour if you’re a statue guarding a house in Bellerive, Tasmania.
or one could be white if you’re the white emu photographed by Nicola Thiele in Snowy Monaro, NSW.
A rare white emu spotted
According to University of Sydney Associate Professor of avian and zoological medicine, Lorenzo Crosta, the emu is a rare sight but it is not an albino emu. An animal with albinism displays absolute evidence of melanin in the body, including the legs, which would be pinkish or very light in colour. Lorenzo’s explanation of the white emu is that it has leucism, which is a partial lack of melanin, and thus the white feathers.
If you’re an emu that I paint, your feathers could be beige, blue, black and turquoise…
and you’re pretty good at dancing the Charleston!
Cheers. Hope you’re having fun and kicking up your heels wherever you are.
I did gallery duty today and after doing all the gallery-type jobs, I settled down to paint in between serving customers. I thought I would paint a matching pair for this painting that I painted for the Inktober prompt word “frail”. I wanted to paint one with a different coloured butterfly and looking the opposite direction so that they could be looking at each other .
Unexpected Guest
While I was painting the blue butterfly painting, a man bought it. He’s going to give it to his mother, who loves butterflies, for Christmas.
The emu with the orange butterfly was also sold and it is going to be hanging in a Aged Care Residential Centre.
Wishing everybody a peaceful and rejuvenating weekend. Cheers, from PjPaintings
The Inktober Challenge for 2019, involving drawing a picture with some form of ink each day of the month of October from a prompt list provided, produced a variety of artwork. Here are some before and after shots of some of the drawings I did for the challenge.
FragileFragileFor the prompt word was ‘husky’ I drew a “Husky Wombat”Husky Wombat For the prompt word ‘overgrown’ I drew an emu who has outgrown his bed!Out grownFor the prompt word ‘dark’ I drew a touching moment between an emu and a twinkling starDark
Which do you prefer, before or after paint is added?
I did gallery duty today (Sunday) at Artefacts Gallery located in the Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart, Tasmania. After cleaning shelves, changing displays and pricing art work, I settled down behind the desk and got my paints out. There were very few people about, so painting some of my Inktober drawings seemed like it would be a good use of my time.
A couple from the mainland of Australia came in and he, in particular, was curious and asked me questions about my prints and then about what I was painting. I explained the Inktober Challenge to him, where we receive a prompt word for each day of the month. I was painting the drawings for Day #10 “pattern” and Day #11 “snow”. He said he really liked “pattern” and asked me if he could buy it? “But, I haven’t finished painting it”, I said. He didn’t want anymore paint added to it. He liked it as it was. “Would you like me to paint the hat?” “No,” was his reply. “The boots?” “Nope”. So, it was pronounced – SOLD after I took a quick photo of it.
finished or unfinished “pattern”
Has anyone else ever sold a painting before they consider it finished???
He left and returned a few minutes later asking if I could paint “snow” and they would come back in two hours for it. So, in between serving customers I painted. When they returned, they both said “wow” when they saw it and commented on how much difference colour made. Another Inktober drawing pronounced, SOLD. That’s six Inktober paintings in two days.
Painting for the prompt word “snow”
Thanks for stopping by. Hope the upcoming week goes well for everyone. PJ Paintings
For Inktober’s prompt word “dragon”, surprise-surprise, I drew a dragon (lol).
Dragon Escape
For the prompt word “Ash” I drew emus bushwalking through an Eucalyptus regnans forest. These trees are commonly called Mountain Ash.
the happy wanderers
The following prompt word for Day 14 of the Inktober Challenge is “overgrown”. Those of you have tall children can probably relate to this drawing. I have two tall sons and we had to cut away the end boards of their beds to accommodate their long legs!
I hope you are enjoying Inktober as much as I am. It certainly gets your creative juices flowing! Take care and thanks for stopping by, PJ Paintings.
