Day 10 of the Inktober Challenge and the prompt word is “crabby”.
Sometimes when you are feeling crappy, you feel crabby.
I hope you are feeling well and un-crabby.
Cheers from Patricia (www.pjpaintings.com)
Crabby
funny
Messy Hair Day
I brought my original painting titled “Messy Hair Day” to display at Peppercorn Gallery in Richmond, Tasmania, and it sold! đ
Wishing you a safe week and wonderful Easter weekend.
Cheers, Patricia (PJ)
Salamanca Market Update, March 27, 2021
Rain at 6 am, 7 am and at 3 pm was forecasted and unfortunately, I must report, that the weather was predicted correctly. Rain book-ended the market, wet setting up and wet taking down.
I met many visitors from the mainland of Australia today. A couple who took the ferry from Victoria, and she experienced sea sickness for the first time, purchased an A-3 sized print of âJoyrideâ.
Salamanca Saturdays was purchased as a souvenir by a couple visiting from Brisbane.
https://pjpaintings.com/collections/the-world/products/salamanca-saturdays
Another couple bought a penguin card for their Venezuelan son-in-law who is fanatical about penguins.
https://pjpaintings.com/collections/realistic-animals/products/copy-of-down-under-view-koala-watercolour
A couple, who bought one of my prints a few years ago, for their former Argentinian exchange student’s first child, has come back to buy a print for their second child. Theyâll be posting to Switzerland, where the family is now living, a âDuck Crossingâ print for the second child and a Duck Crossing pencil case filled with crayons and the like for the older sibling . The older sibling has one of my prints hanging in her bedroom and now the younger sibling will have Duck Crossing in their bedroom.
https://pjpaintings.com/collections/emus/products/cheer-em-up-series-duck-crossing-ii
A mother visiting from Canberra bought âGraduation Siestaâ for her daughter who has just graduated and now has a Medical Radiation Science degree.
Two international students, studying at the University of Tasmania, accounting and engineering, bought some cards and small A-5 sized prints. A group visiting from Taiwan, only spending four days in Tassie, bought âHanging Outâ. They liked that the gum leaves and gum nuts make sort of the same shape as Tasmania.
A lady, visiting from Sydney, chose an âEmu Ice Capadesâ greeting card. I remarked that it was unusual for somebody to choose an ice-skating card. She said that she and all her children ice skate. Now thatâs unusual!! In Tasmania, there is only one ice skating rink for the whole island and the owners have recently retired, so Iâm not sure if we still have an ice rink. Tasmanians may have to go to the mainland to have an ice-skating experience now! https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-13/tasmania-only-ice-skating-rink-for-sale-glenorchy/12869448
Are you from the northern hemisphere, I asked? She was born in Australia, and they just spoke German at home, and then they moved to Germany when she was 5 years old. Then they moved back to Australia when she was eight and she couldnât speak any English when she started school in Australia. Then the family moved back to Germany when she was twelve and then back to Australia when she was sixteen. Needless to say, sheâs had an interesting childhood and is fluent in both German and English.
I started packing up early, so that some of the things that had dried, like the sides of the gazebo and table cloths, wouldnât get wet again.
Time to put my feet up and enjoy a cup of tea.
Wishing you an awesome weekend and Iâll be back at the market next week, April 3rd.
An #Inktober Flurry
The prompt word for day 13 is “dune”. I drew some emus having a gleeful time driving a dune buggy. There’s not a sign of apprehension on their faces, despite steering with their feet due having wingless bodies. They know how to ignore potential limitations and experience adventures.
Day 14’s prompt word is “armor”. I drew a male fairy wren sitting on an abandoned helmet. The Superb fairy-wren was voted Australia’s favourite bird, which is no surprise being such a lovely shaped, little bird with a bright turquoise crown. https://birdlife.org.au/bird-profile/superb-fairy-wren
I combined day 15 and 16’s prompt words: “outpost” and “rocket”.
Day 17 and the prompt word is “storm”. This emu is hurrying to get inside before she gets caught in a storm.
I’m all caught up. Hooray!
Thanks for stopping by. Take care, from Pj Paintings http://www.pjpaintings.com
HOPE
Day 10’s prompt word of the #inktober challenge is HOPE. I drew an emu practicing some challenging roller blading moves. While practicing she was “hoping” like mad that she didn’t stack it again. She doesn’t want another crumpled-beak injury. Having a crumpled beak made it really difficult for her to forage for seeds, berries, fresh grasses and insects, not to mention swallowing small stones to help her digestive system grind up the plant material in her tummy. Drinking was easier than eating but with the ten minutes of drinking water at a time, her beak got very sore.
For more emu facts, visit https://www.theanimalfacts.com/birds/emu/
Thanks for visiting!
Cheers, Patricia (PJ) Hopwood-Wade
What a combination
Today’s prompt word for the #InktoberChallenge2020 is RADIO. I have decided to combine Day 4 and Day 27 with this drawing: radio (Day 4’s prompt word) and music (Day 27’s prompt word), by drawing fairy penguins having a bit of a bop to some music they are hearing on the radio.
Fairy penguins are the smallest species of penguin. They nest on Bruny Island, Tasmania and in Victoria, Australia. I have seen them in the wild in all three places and it is such a special, magical sight to see them scurrying up the beach to their young ones who are eagerly awaiting their arrival.
Thank you for visiting and I hope that you are enjoying #Inktober!
The Disappearing Emu
Australiaâs early settlers hunted emus for food and as a result the emus that were abundant in Tasmania and Australiaâs east coast disappeared. Today, only one population remains in existence, aside from the thriving Australian inland emus, the coastal emu. The New South Wales (NSW) Government, in 2002, listed the coastal emus as an endangered population as its numbers were, and continues to be, in steep decline.
The coastal emu is genetically distinct from the inland emu and an important seed disperser. It travels large distances and plays an important role in the regeneration of native species. Other species do a similar service but not to the same capacity. If the coastal emu is lost from the ecosystem it will reduce diversity and populations of species that depend on the plants, not to mention the loss of another emu species.
A concerted effort is necessary to save an endangered species with numbers as low as the coastal emu. It is encouraged that sightings of coastal emus and/or nests are reported to The Coastal Emu Register. Identifying nesting sites can help target feral animal control at the local level. Tracking the seasonal movements of the emus, will help build an understanding of the survival rates of adults and chicks, and whether a captive breeding may be required to re-build the number of Coastal Emus found in the wild.
If you are out and about coastal emu spotting, for accuracy sake, please be aware that there are also adventuresome PJ Paintings emus running around.
Take care and thank you for visiting the unfurling artist. đ
PJ Paintings prints are available at http://www.pjpaintings.com
With a Little Help from my Friends
Sometimes I paint something that no matter how hard I rack my brain, I can’t think of a title. I know you can go with the title “Untitled” but I’d rather not.
A good friend of mine, from the northern end of Tasmania, asked me if I could paint an ice skating emu so that she could get a print of the painting to give to her daughter, who LOVES ice skating. She regularly travels to Hobart for that very purpose – to ice skate.
This image is available now for purchase: shop now
Thinking of a title turned out to be more difficult than drawing and painting the picture. Has anyone else had this problem?? Some of the titles I came up with were:
- Spin- ster
- Going for a Spin
- Ice Queen
- Ice Princess
Unhappy with all of the above, I decided it was time to elicit some help from my Facebook friends. Ideas were proposed and I narrowed it down to “Emu Icecapades”. I think this is an awesome title for the painting.
Thank you friends for helping me name this painting!
Prints are available at www.pjpaintings.com
Emus Barred from Bar
The Yaraka Hotel in outback Queensland, Australia, has banned entry to Kevin and Carol emus, and as a consequence gained worldwide notoriety, as the story has gone viral. The world is in need of some light-hearted news during the COVID-19 pandemic and this story seems to be fulfilling some of this demand.
A local Animal Rescuer, Leanne Byrne, found an abandoned emu nest of eggs and raised the clutch of emus. Kevin’s and Carolâs brothers and sisters have moved on, but this pair remained and endeared themselves to the locals and visitors alike.
A rift developed after Kevin and Carol learnt how to climb stairs to gain entry into the pub.
The pair caused havoc by eating guestsâ food and leaving messy, smelly deposits behind, which the pub owner wasn’t too thrilled about having to clean up each time it happened, and apparently emu toileting needs are frequent!
In order to maintain a good working relationship, the owner of the pub set up emu barricades, citing âbad emu behaviourâ as making this a necessary action.
Kevin and Carol aren’t the only emus strutting there stuff around town. I’ve captured other emus in their strutting action too.
Take care everybody and be careful around misbehaving emus.
P.S. Original paintings and prints are available at http://www.pjpaintings.com
Chickens
Panic-buying and hording during pandemics, or times of uncertainty, is nothing new. During the Great Depression or the build-up to Y2K, people were looking for ways to build their self-reliance, whether it was baking their own bread, building emergency shelters or gardening. The Coronavirus pandemic has created a sense of urgency around chickens. Anxiety about the availability of eggs, boredom or just yearning for something to love and nurture have resulted in record numbers of people panic-buying little chicks. Chick purchases in United States have increased by 500% during this current pandemic.
My chicken ownership has increased 300%, from zero to three. I have a friend who moved in to spend the quarantine period with me, and along with her belongings, she brought her three chickens!: Fluffball (the white hen), Ginger (the ginger coloured hen) and Red Hen (the dark hen, which you can barely see). (Chicken names are quite often funny and funky.)
Fluffball, Ginger and Red Hen have been living here for 8 weeks now and have not produced ONE egg yet, not even one! I thought I might be able to sketch them but they are always ducking out of sight under bushes as soon as I come into the backyard, so they are not even being good models.
Here’s another one of my chicken paintings.
Oh well, câest la vie or câest les poulets.
Take care and stay safe.
The Unfurling Artist: journalising creative journeying 