Sometimes emails that make you feel happy for days land in your inbox. Have you had one of those?
Yesterday, I received an email from Javier from Toronto, Canada, that I met at Salamanca Market in November 2022. He sent me some photos of his young daughter’s, Alexandra, really impressive artwork and a photo of his ‘bird corner’, where he hung up my “Leafy Decorum” print. Thank you, Javier for the awesome email.
Alexandra’s vibrant and happy drawing
A bright and lively Christmas cat by Alexandra
Leafy Decorum hanging up in Javier’s bird corner
Leafy Sea Dragons are probably the most ornately camouflaged animals on this earth. They have leaf shaped appendages attached to their entire bodies to superbly camouflage themselves among the seaweed and kelp they live amongst. They are endemic to Tasmania. Leafy Decorum is available at: https://pjpaintings.com/collections/birds
Leafy Decorum
I hope that a happy email lands in your inbox this week, too.
A mother and daughter purchased “Be Whooo You Are” for her son/brother. The sister was keen on getting something for her brother. I commented on how nice that was and the mother said that she is always getting things for her brother. She looked like she was about 10 years old.
Be Whooo You Are
A man bought a small original painting of gum leaves. He was visiting his son and family that lives in Brisbane, Queensland, and they were all holidaying together in Tasmania for two weeks. They were finishing their Tassie holiday tomorrow and he will be spending two more weeks in Brisbane before he returns to the UK.
Original painting of gum leaves
A couple from Orange, NSW, purchased “Afternoons Siesta”, “Devilish Siesta” and “Double Date V”.
Afternoon Siesta
Devilish Siesta
Double Date V
A couple from Sydney bought a “Salamanca Saturdays” print.
A lady, from the UK, visiting her daughter and soon to be attending her grandson’s wedding in Adelaide, purchased a “Maggie & Maggie” print to go with my “Double Date V” print that she purchased at Peppercorn Gallery in Richmond, Tasmania. https://www.peppercorngallery.com.au/
I painted the 15th and 16th penguins. Four more to go!
The newest additions – 15 and 16…and there they are with their penguin family members, and just as surprised as the rest of them to find a wombat lounging in their sleeping quarters!!
Then I have managed to maintain the momentum and paint number 17 penguin. I’ve started drawing more of the nest too. It feels a bit like Doodle Art. That was all the rage when I was a teenager. I’d save up my money to buy the Doodle Art that came in a tube with coloured textas (felt pens). They were themed posters to colour. They are “vintage” now. I’ve coloured in THE SEA and BUTTERFLIES. They are long gone now.
Anyways, the nest reminded me of doodle art days.
can you spot number 17 penguin?
Hope you’re well and can enjoy a spell of mindless and relaxing doodling today.
Thankfully the stormy weather held off until after stall holders were packed up.
Today, I debuted my sister’s, Nadine, adorable and quirky art.
The first visitor to the PJ Paintings stall was an adult son and mother. The mother bought a “Who, Who, Who are You?” tote bag for her sister who lives in South Africa and loves owls. She thought she’d like the quirkiness of the emu in the image. She’s visiting her next year.
A couple, visiting from Melbourne, stopped by and told me that their Mum has quite a few of my prints hanging in her house. They bought her one more: “Family Outing”.
Family Outing
A young couple from Germany, their second day of their two month stay in Australia, debated whether or not to buy “Afternoon Siesta”. They didn’t want to buy too much too soon otherwise they will definitely go over their luggages’ weight allowance. In the end, they couldn’t resist the totally relaxed look of the wombat and made the purchase.
Afternoon Siesta
A lady bought a large “Salamanca Saturdays” zip pouch to store her small camping coffee machine. A couple from Oregan, USA, bought some motorbike riding and dancing emu prints.
Zora, from Germany, who has finished a stint of working on a sheep farm in Tasmania and is now going to be a tourist before working again, in Sydney, bought a “Christmas Siesta” greeting card. She wants to buy a card from each city she visits because they’re affordable and portable souvenirs. Her Australia trip is an 18th birthday present from her grandparents.
Christmas Siesta
Then I met a New Zealander, who’s playing in the finals of the Ladies Badminton tournament being held in South Hobart. I wished her good luck despite she is playing against a Tasmanian pair. She purchased “Who, Who, Who are You?II” and “Outback Glamping”.
Cool badminton competition shirts
The most popular print today was “Who, Who, Who are You? II”.
A thought to ponder: “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it”, Pablo Picasso.
The saying “music to my ears” usually rings truer than “music to my eyes” but on this occasion both sayings were equally accurate. Normally the audience is in darkness while listening to an orchestra play but the Liz Steel & Mike Botton team organised a private performance by the Aries Wind Quintet so that we could draw music.
I’m not confident drawing people but I think the ‘100 people in 5 days’ challenges are paying off. I signed up for the challenge in 2017 and 2018. I didn’t do it this year but I should sign up again next year because I do think I am reaping some positive benefits from it. Drawing changing and moving faces, as musicians inhale and exhale deeply, was a challenge and a privilege. My favourite piece that the orchestra played was “Carmen”.
I was going to paint the music stands and the clarinet player’s outfit but I decided not to because I thought it might make the picture too heavy by adding more black, and that it could lose some of the liveliness being conveyed. There is so much decision-making required with art!
Aries Wind Quintet, Montone, Italy
I find the composition pleasing with this drawing. The chair and musician don’t quite all fit on the page. I enjoyed exaggerating the size of Micoto. In most orchestras, the flute section is predominantly female. He’s a little outside the box by choosing the flute and the drawing is reflecting this and telling a ‘story’. I’m thinking of leaving this drawing as a pen sketch. Or do you think I should add paint?
A cruise ship from Sydney was in Hobart today. I had conversations with quite a few of the passengers. One, who saw my “Duck Crossing” print in the Made in Tasmania shop, and when she saw it at my stall, said that she wanted to buy it for her 5 year old daughter because she loves ducklings. While perusing the stall, she spotted “All Ears” and decided she was buying an A-3 sized print of “All Ears” for herself instead.
Another cruise ship passenger came at the end of the day and bought herself a “Scarlet Robins” print to cheer herself up she told me. Another passenger bought three dancing emu prints to put in her office. She said that her clients like to see different and engaging art.
Spanish Eyes II (Red) with treble clef collage work on Mr Emu’s waistcoat and the top of Ms Emu’s dress.
A couple touring Tasmania on a motorbike bought “Joy ride!”. They’re riding a similar Italian framed Ducati motorcycle. She said that it will be sitting on their piano in Cronulla, Sydney.
Joy ride!
A lovely couple re-visited my stall. They told me that they had bought a “White Faced Scops Owls” print for their cousin’s granddaughter, 8 year old Holly, living in Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. Holly loves owls. A large stuffed owl also accompanied the print. Needless to say, Holly was a very happy girl when these arrived. I collected postage stamps when I was a child and I remember that Guernsey in particular had stunning stamps.
White Faced Scops Owls
A grandfather, 76 years old, daughter 46, son 44 and 12 year old grandson were back from doing The Three Capes walk. The grandfather had been training to improve his fitness so that he could do the walk. He was pretty pleased. It’s now a lovely memory for the three generations. The “Double Date IV” print will also serve as a lovely Salamanca Market memory.
Double Date IV
A lady, living locally, bought an A-3 sized print of Yellow Poppy Fields. She said that her lounge room is the same orange as the orange highlights in the painting. It will pop on an orange wall.
Yellow Poppy Fields
A young couple, living in Canberra, bought “G’day”. A couple, who are 7 months into their world trip, bought an original small framed platypus painting to give to their Tasmanian host. They are on their way to Bali, Singapore, the Philippines and then back to the UK. An x-Canadian, from Toronto, who is living in Brisbane, Queensland for the past three years, purchased “Sea Life”. A lady visiting from United States bought five greeting cards to take back with her and a couple from Adelaide bought ten Christmas greeting cards. The cards made them chuckle aloud.
Sea Life
This week’s most popular print is: Thunder!
Thunder!
A thought to ponder: “If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes” ― Pablo Picasso. This rings so true for me when I am urban sketching. My brain so often convinces and tricks me into believing that an angle couldn’t possibly be that severe. Listening to it, rather than trusting what my eye sees, is a frequent source of frustration.
On Monday, the OneWeek100People challenge commences. Good luck to all those taking up the challenge. I will be. I plan to post some of my drawings on Facebook and on my blog:www.theunfurlingartist.wordpress.com
P.S. My website is still down because it has been hacked. It should be back up in a few weeks. Please feel free to contact me through Facebook, blog or email: pjpaintings@gmail.com
Take care and have fun taking a line for a walk,
from the Pjpaintings stall #30 at Salamanca Market.
Despite spending a significant portion of the night unwillingly listening to a barking dog, I was at the market just before 7 am, ready to start setting up for the day. The morning started off slowly. The first person to the stall was a young lady who has recently moved to Tasmania from Melbourne. She moved to Hobart because she got a job here. She’s a prosthetist. Her husband is Belgian (Flemish).
Before the day started heating up, I met a couple and he was wearing an Australian Football League (AFL) Tiger’s scarf wrapped several times around his neck. I remarked that the footy season hasn’t even started yet and he answered he’s still celebrating, which I reckon after a 37-year premiership drought you are entitled to.
A couple, one from the UK and the other from Scotland, who moved to Melbourne last year, bought a Yellow-tailed black cockatoo painting. They saw one when visiting the Bay of Fires on the north eastern coast of Tasmania. They said that the road was above the bush that the bird was in and that it was a bit strange viewing the bird from this perspective.
They chose this Yellow-tailed black cockatoo because they liked the way it looked like it was smiling
I enjoyed my chat with a high school art teacher from Chile, South America. She is here for three weeks, visiting her sister. She found the way I use water colour quite different. She thought it was another medium because she said that she hasn’t seen such detail and vibrant colours made with water colour. She is taking home with her “Salamanca Saturdays”. Her sister, who has been living in Hobart for around 15 years, also has a stall at Salamanca Market, called ‘Cantina Latina’. I often buy my lunch from her stall, very yummy food.
Salamanca Saturdays
A daughter bought a red mini greeting card for her father. She told me that he has over 300 Mini model cars!!
Family Outing
A mother and daughter from France bought “Off to the Races! II” and a young gentleman from Italy, purchased “Spanish Eyes (Yellow)”. “Tu-whit & Tu-whoo” is going to Canberra to someone who loves owls, “All ears” to Sydney, “Poppy Fields” to Brisbane and “The Three Amigos” to Perth.
Off to the Races! II
This week’s most popular print is “Spanish Eyes (Yellow)”.
Spanish Eyes (Yellow)
A thought to ponder: “There is no must in art because art is free.” – Wassily Kandinsky
Take care from the Pjpaintings stall #30 at Salamanca Market.
The word that characterises today is “rain”. Thankfully it came intermittently and there were only a couple torrential, bucketing down rain periods, and no wind. People came out when the rain subsided. I met market-goers from Brazil, Chicago, Portugal, Germany and many different parts of Australia. I may have met some runners who are taking part in tomorrow’s Cadbury Marathon too.
I painted three cockatoos during the week and all three went today. The Yellow-tailed black cockatoo to a young lady from Bulgaria, the Sulphur Crested Cockatoo to a lady living on the mainland of Australia and the female Red-tailed black cockatoo to a lady from Ontario, Canada. So, all three will be flying to their new homes.
A Yellow-tailed black cockatoo, the only black cockatoo native to Tasmania
A Sulphur crested cockatoo, not native to Tasmania but here in abundance nevertheless
A female Red-tailed black cockatoo
A Tasmanian, who is travelling to Germany next week, purchased “All Ears” to take as a gift for one of her friends. “Scarlet Robins” is going to Chicago as a souvenir of Tasmania. “Double Date” is going to settle in Orange, NSW.
All Ears
A lovely young couple, that unfortunately, on their second day in Tassie, at a bush walk rest area in Bicheno, she slipped and broke her arm. It was a really bad arm break that also pushed her hand out of position. They had to walk two hours back out of the bush to their car, which thankfully they had because they came across the Bass Strait on the Spirit of Tasmania ferry. They went to the Bicheno Hospital, where they were told they had to get it treated at the Launceston Hospital, which is a more than a two hour drive away. Then they had to drive back to Bicheno. They said that they drove most of the way back at 40kmph because there was so much wildlife around. They even saw a young Tasmanian Devil along the road. That is a rare sight.
A man, wanting to surprise his wife, daughter and granddaughter, snuck in and bought prints featuring birds for his daughter and granddaughter and “Thunder” for his wife. He said that his daughter and granddaughter were born one week apart, January 18th and January 26th.
Thunder!
The most popular prints today were the whale and glamour girls prints.
A thought to ponder: “Creativity is allowing oneself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” — Scott Adams, The Dilbert Principle
Warm wishes of creativity from the Pjpaintings stall #30 at Salamanca Market.
There seems to be more than usual happening in Hobart this weekend. Firstly, a big cruise ship sailed into the harbour last night.
A cruise ship entering the Derwent River on the evening of Jan 5, 2018.
The past few days I’ve been watching the extra amount of boats on the Derwent River practicing for this weekend’s SB20 World Championship.
yachts on the Derwent River on January 5, 2018
Also, the Hobart International Tennis Women’s Singles championships are commencing tomorrow, along with women’s and men’s 20/20 cricket games at Blundstone Oval.
Blundstone Oval with the Derwent River behind it
The morning started a little on the cool side with a brief shower and then the day heated up to 36 degrees Celsius. The inside of the gazebo felt a little like a sauna! Thankfully, the wind and storm-like conditions made its presence felt in the evening, not during the market.
Early in the morning, a young girl gravitated to the “Garden Roses” print because her name is Rose. Her Grandpa told me that she loves roses and collects rose items. Her grandfather bought her the print. Another visitor, later in the day, bought a “Richmond Bridge, Tasmania” print because she collected Richmond Bridge things.
The little frog original painting I did and a print of “Kiss me please” went off to Leslievale, Tasmania. Another “Kiss me please” with a small original platypus painting will be making its home in Hong Kong, and an original painting of a Yellow-tailed black cockatoo will be settling into a home in Mauritius.
Parents purchased “Family Outing” for their daughter, as a red mini is her dream car (we have that in common). She lives on Hamilton Island, Queensland. Another set of parents bought “Helping Hands” to give to their daughter’s pre-school teacher.
Recently engaged Emily Pitchford, from Adelaide, visited the stall. She has completed a two year Graphic Arts, specialising in illustration, TAFE course. Growing up on a farm, her artwork features gloriously quirky farm animals. Her web address is Emily@pitchfordfarms.com.au. She settled on the “Helping Hands” print to take back to Adelaide with her.
Emily’s business card
A lady, who visited the Pjpaintings stall and bought some prints four years ago, returned and bought two little original platypus paintings. Kelly and Kirsty, that were married on Wednesday at Sisters Beach, the first Tasmanian gay wedding, bought a “Scarlet Robins” print. A quiet gentleman bought “Salamanca Saturdays” to take back with him to South Korea. A Tasmanian couple, that are already enjoying three Pjpaintings in their house, bought an original painting of a platypus. They said that they’re able to double enjoy the prints because where they are hanging they are reflected in mirrors. They commented on how they like living with the happy images and that their visitors enjoy the happiness that they convey too.
Morag’s, originally from Scotland, who I met at the market and has been a wonderful supporter of my art ever since, son dropped by with instructions to buy the Yellow-tailed black cockatoo, but it had already sold. Sorry Alistair and Morag. L I painted it yesterday (Jan 5th). I’ll try to paint two this week. J
All the A-4 sized prints of “Sea Life” sold today. The last one went to a young lady from Townsville, Queensland, who said that she already had a frame waiting at home for it. “Emus can Fly!” and “Salamanca Fresh” is heading to Western Australia.
The most popular print today was: Sea Life
A thought to ponder: “The reason that art is valuable is precisely why I can’t tell you how to do it. If there were a map, there’d be no art, because art is the act of navigating without a map.” ~Seth Godin
Thanks for visiting. Happy New Year from the Pjpaintings stall at Salamanca Market.
A cruise ship sailed into the Derwent River at about 6:30 am and docked close to Salamanca Market. It started its travels in New Zealand, then it is going to Melbourne, Sydney and eventually to Vanuatu. I met several Americans from the ship. A couple from North Carolina, who had visited Richmond in the morning, bought a “Richmond Bridge, Tasmania” and a “Salamanca Saturdays” print for their Tasmanian souvenir. The gentleman was a large and lively personality. A lady off the ship, from Hawaii, was enamoured with “What the Devil!?”
Richmond Bridge, Tasmania, the oldest bridge in all of Australia, built by convicts
What the Devil!? My painting of a Tasmanian Devil, endemic to Tasmania
A family from Texas that have been living in Canberra on a work exchange, stopped and browsed in the pjpaintings stall. They were heading back to the USA after their Tasmanian visit. They loved their year-long Australian experience. The 14 year old girl particularly liked playing the different team sports while at school here.
A man, enchanted by the dancing emus, ran off to put more money in his parking meter and then returned. He debated long and hard over his choice and eventually decided on “Spanish Eyes (Red) II” and “Spanish Eyes (Yellow)”. He told me it was for his gypsy lover in Ipswich, Queensland.
A Sydneysider purchased an A-3 sized “Duck Crossing” for her 16 week old great nephew. “Barn Owls” is travelling with its new owners back to Scotland. A family with three young boys, living in Dubai, spending Christmas in Tassie, each chose an A-4 sized print. The youngest wanted the red car one “Family Outing” and the other two boys chose an owl print.
Duck Crossing… the emu comes to the rescue!
Family Outing
I had a lovely long conversation with three young adults from France. The young man said that I had a good French accent. Yay! 🙂 The little bit of effort to try to speak some French each week is starting to pay off as I was searching less for words.
A couple, currently living in Melbourne, but the young woman is from Russia, bought a “Double Date” and “What the Devil!?” greeting card. A teacher from the Gold Coast, Queensland, purchased a “Yellow Poppy Fields” print and then later in the day returned and also got “Story time”. She was debating whether or not to get on her first visit to the stall.
Yellow Poppy Fields
“Rising Above It” is going to a nurse working at the Royal Hobart Hospital, who has been working a long time with women and the range of health problems encountered in that department, hopefully conquering and rising above illnesses and health conditions.
Rising Above It
A Tasmanian Devil little original is going to Sydney and another Sydneysider is taking “Salamanca Saturdays” and “Who, Who, Who are You? with them. A “Double Date IV” print is going to Perth with somebody who has been enjoying a two week Tasmanian holiday.
The Best Seller today is: Story time
A thought to ponder: Art is not in the …eye of the beholder. It’s in the soul of the artist.”
― Seth Godin
Wishing you a safe, happy and creative week from the Pjpaintings stall at Salamanca Market
The Unfurling Artist: journalising creative journeying 