Owner: Kitty Art URL:http://forex-kitty.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Thu, 08 Mar 2007 22:14:37 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: A blog about art and life by someone who knows nothing about either. Site statistics:Click here
Mayday Challenge Update 2007-03-07 06:54:00
Another productive day for me. I started to rework this piece after looking at it for the last day or so I could see what needed changing and what didn't sit well with me. Firstly, I cranked up my storm clouds by about 1000000% to make the weather look really ominous. The fact that it is a dark cloudy day today probably helped - it is difficult painting storm clouds when it is bright and sunny outside!
What I want to portray in this piece is the feeling of the children being so engrossed with their sandcastles they don't notice the weather (as is normal for kids). I intend to have the beach part still lit from the bottom left so it looks like it is still sunny in the west, with the storm coming in from the horizon. So far, I am only having trouble with the foam on the receding water, I don't know for the life of me how people can get it to look like foam on water but I will have to just keep trying.
I am starting to actually enjoy doing this piece - I really did think Read more:Mayday
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Mayday Challenge - Update 2007-03-05 04:52:00 This is the first stage of my first Mayday
challenge painting. I changed the composition from the initial sketch, moving the kids to the right corner for balance and adding the third child who will probably be the focus point.
It looks like rubbish at the moment, and I hope it improves as I work on it. If it dosn't, the practice will do me good. I have put a lot more effort and detail in this first stage than I usually do, but there is still a lot more work to go. It is so much harder than it looks to paint the ocean and I will really need to focus and concentrate with it. And I haven't even started with the kiddies yet! What have I gotten myself in for?!? Read more:Challenge
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East Macs - WIP 3 2007-03-05 04:44:00
Boy, have I been busy today! Firstly, here is the latest installment on my Eastern MacDonnell Ranges painting - not much done here, just finishing off the mountain range and the addition of the first stage of the shrubs. Still a lot of work to go on this one, but I'm not in a hurry.
Mayday challenge - concept sketch 2007-03-04 05:45:00
Here is the concept sketch
for my first Mayday
challenge painting. Recently, Mr Kitty and I had a long weekend at Yamba where I took lots of photos of people on the beach with the hope I would have something to paint. The first 2 or 3 challenge paintings will be based on these photos. As mentioned before, I can't paint/draw people realistically at all, and this sketch prooves it lol!
This painting will be based on a number of seperate photos I took, one of an afternoon storm coming over, the tide washing onto the rocks and lastly one of some kids making a sandcastle. My idea for this piece will be two children engrossed in building their sandcastle while an oncoming storm looms ominously on the horizon. I might yet add a third child standing in the water looking toward the others if I can find a good enough photo in my collection to use as a reference.
Now I have the idea down on paper, I will need to do some further sketches of the different components - mainly the childre
Australian Art Forum Mayday Mayday Challenge 2007-03-03 00:51:00 Hello all,
This morning I subscribed myself to the Australian
Art Forum
's Mayday
Mayday challenge. Because I can't paint people or water worth a damn, my challenge is to complete 5 paintings that include both people AND water, are realistic in style, (ie no stick figures or blue wavy lines) and must be larger than 14" x 18" by 1st May 2007, only 2 months away! I will be updating this blog regularly with the works in progress. In addition, I hope to have at least one non-landscape painting, but that's not a given.
I will still complete my current work in progress, which does not fit the criteria unfortunately, and start on some concept sketches today, which I will post here as well, just so people know I'm serious and to stop me from piking out ha ha! Read more:Challenge
, Mayday Challenge
Fatty 2007-02-28 06:30:00
I received an email from a visitor to my blog who liked my kitty icon so I thought I should introduce Fatty
.
I got Fatty from the RSPCA a few years ago when she was two and brought in as a stray. She was so cute and when I walked past her cage she looked me right int the eyes and miaowed as if to say "Take me home, you know you want to" I just had to rescue her then and there big sook that I am. In fact I'm such a sook I rescued a neurotic pure-bred oriental at the same time, much to Fatty's continuing disgust.
Anyway, Fatty moved right in and made herself at home by beating up Freaky (the oriental) and has pretty much ruled the house since then. In the past few years she has about doubled her bodyweight and has made it her mission to bash up any cat that is unfortunate to live next door to us. Yes, I'm afraid Fatty is a bit of a bogan, in hindsight I should have named her Shazza. When she is not bashing up the neighbours' cats she is either sleeping or eating or vomiting o
New Work in Progress - East MacDonnell Ranges 2007-02-27 02:36:00
My latest work in progress is of a painting I am doing of the Eastern MacDonnell Ranges
, in Central Australia. The Eastern Macs are the range of mountains situated on the eastern (surprise surprise) side of Alice Springs and are less visited but prettier than the more well known Western MacDonnell Ranges.
The reference picture was taken very early in the morning near Corroboree Rock and the morning sun cast strong shadows in the valleys of the mountain range, which I hope to portray realistically. I am thinking about adding some people to this painting, a small party or couple of bushwalkers, using photos of my safari party, but I'll have to see how the painting pans out first. Read more:New Work
Brockie 2007-02-26 08:02:00 This is the finished version of my horse painting - subsequently titled "Brockie".
Really the only changes that have been made are the final coat of the sky and the addition of the horizon through the trees.
Oil on gallery wrap canvas
20" x 30"
SOLD
Almost finished... 2007-02-25 08:27:00 My horse painting is almost finished thank goodness. The two horses are pretty much done and dusted and all I need to do is some small work on the trees and re-do the sky in a lighter blue.
The foal has been quite a challenge, mainly because I have built up the colour in a series of glazes. All in all I am quite happy with it, even though I still haven't thought of a title for it.
I hope to finish it completely in the next day or two but this might be difficult with the new uni year starting tomorrow, and me having to get off my butt and look for some part time work. Hopefully I can squeeze in some painting tomorrow morning. Read more:Almost
Crimson Frangipani - Complete 2007-02-21 02:07:00 Crimson Frangipani
14" x 18"
Oil on gallery wrap canvas
This painting is for sale. Please email for further information if interested. Read more:Crimson
Trip to NSW 2007-02-20 07:52:00 My boyfriend and I went to Maclean last Friday for a few days to visit my dad and his lady friend. Maclean is a tiny cane farming town near Yamba on the NSW north coast, just south of Ballina and it is a beautiful part of the country. We spent most of the days on the beach either in Yamba, Pippi's Beach or Broom's Head and needless to say I got horribly sunburnt and will probably now die of a malignant skin cancer!
Visited two galleries while we were there - the Witzig Gallery in Maclean which showcases modern Papua New Guinean artists and the ArtHouse in Yamba which is a small local gallery but which has some really good pieces - not just local beach scenes, much more than I expected from a local gallery.
This is my boyfriend at Brooms Head beach. In 10 to 20 years this will be wall to wall apartments I reckon and I would buy property here if I could afford it.
This is Yamba beach - they had a surfboat carnival on that day which was interesting to watch - especially all the
Horses - WIP 2007-02-20 07:38:00 Thought I would post a quick update on my horse painting, as yet still untitled. If anyone can think up a name for it it would be a great help! The foal's name is Brockie, so I may just use that...
Anyway, this is it so far. Today I blocked in the foal in dark brown and have done mainly work on the background as I want both horses to be dry before I go any further with them. There is a bit of glare in the right side of the photo which is making it look a lot lighter than it really is. I'm surprised how easily this has come about. I thought I would have a lot of trouble with this one seeing I haven't drawn or painted horses in so long - it all came back as though it were yesterday!
I also did some work on the Frangipani painting, which now only needs a final glaze on the front fence for it to be complete. It has taken longer than expected because I've been away for a few days, but hopefully I will be able to post the completed painting on here tomorrow. Read more:Horses
Valentine's Day 2007-02-13 23:22:00 Happy Valentine
s day to everyone.
I not really all that fussed about Valentines day and I'm not just saying that because I won't be getting anything this year either. Like my single friend Tegan always says, Valentines Day is just an excuse for greeting card companies, florists and fluffy toy manufactures to boost their profits - like hello! Isn't that what Christmas is for?
Anyway, I'm not at work anymore so Valentine's Day is useless to me anyway. What is the point in receiving a huge bunch of long-stemmed red roses complete with oversized foil I LUV U balloon unless you are at work and the delivery guy has to lug it through all three floors of your building before he finds you. Receiving your flowers while at home alone in trakky daks doing the vacuuming just dosn't have the same romanticism I'm afraid.
Last year, nearly every girl in the office received flowers except for yours truly. Even the really unfortunate looking ones who I know for a fact were single. My thou
New WIP 2007-02-12 02:00:00 This is my latest work so far. It is about twice the size of my paintings to date and thus has been quite a challenge.
When I was a kid I was obsessed with horses. When I wasn't riding them I was drawing and painting them. This lasted until I was about 16 when my parents decided that getting good marks in high-school was more important than being in the outdoors and getting excersise and fresh air and made me sell my horse. After that, I grew out of my horse obsession and although I would love to own horses again, it is just too expensive and time-consuming when you live in the city.
These are the first horses I have drawn since I was 16 and they are from a photo a lovely friend of mine sent me of two of her horses. Of course, in real life the foal is not headless :D
Crimson Frangipani 2007-02-12 01:43:00 My frangipani painting is finally complete - well 99.9% complete anyway. The only thing left to do is the front fence - it needs to be picketed but I need the painting to be completely dry for that as I will need to rule vertical lines and the post-ball is still a bit wonky as well. Other than those two minor tweaks it is complete.
This painting will be for sale once totally completed so email me for further information if interested.
P.S - the fence-lines are vertical in real life - the angle of the canvas in the photo is not :) Read more:Crimson
Love Potion 2007-02-11 03:10:00 Well girls and guys, it's February, and we all know what that means right? Valentines Day!!! My boyfriend usually takes me out to a really expensive restaurant for V-day, but this year he is rostered on to work, so I won't see him on the day itself. We're planning on visiting my Dad in Maclean NSW over the weekend, so no romantic dinner then either... hmmmm this calls for some serious self indulgence and lucky for me my fave ice-cream store Baskin Robbins introduces a special flavour for all us lonely damsels in distress - Love Potion!
Honestly, this is my favourite thing in the whole world and I wait ALL year for February to get my fix. If you haven't tried it you are missing out on some serious deliciousness - white chocolate ice cream mixed with a rasberry fondue/sherbet, dark chocolate chips and dark chocolate hearts that are filled with raspberry filling... tres romantic!
Work in Progress - Crimson Frangipani 2007-02-06 12:11:00 I have decided to post works in progress as I paint them since it takes such a long time for me to actually finish a painting. Once I finish work, I hope to be able to spend an hour or two every day painting, and get them finished much quicker. At the moment, I can only paint on weekends and I like to do each "layer" at a time and let it dry before continuing - very time consuming!
Anyway, this painting is of a frangipani tree that I pass most afternoons on my walk. The flowers are (will be) a bright red/crimson and absolutely stunning. There is quite a lot of work left to go with this one but I hope to finish it this weekend. Read more:Crimson
Palm Valley Sunrise 2007-01-28 03:46:00 SOLD
This is the walking track along the rim of Palm Valley
. There are no palm trees on the rim - they are all in the gorge where it is wetter.
The reference photo for this painting was taken at midday but I wanted to portray this scene in the cooler light of dawn as the sun first hits the red valley walls.
Palm Valley Sunrise
Oil on gallery wrap canvas 14" x 18"
New Zealand Photos 2007-01-12 06:22:00 I have finally gotten some photos together from my trip to New Zealand
. This has probably been my most successful photo trip so far, with quite a lot more good photos than usual. Of course I still had to take hundreds of shots to get a few good ones.
Mt Ruapehu
This was taken on the most perfect day on the Tama Lakes walk. What more can I say.
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1/600s
The Pinnacles - Mt Ruapehu
Taken early in the morning on our last day from the road in Whakapapa Village. It was the coldest day so far, and I'm pretty sure those clouds were full of snow. The weather deteriorated from there and it rained until we left - still, the restaurant at the Chateau was open and served a really fantastic lunch with great wine....
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Silica Rapids
Taken on one of the shorter walks through the National Park to Silica Rapids which is a mineral rich stream. The silica is deposited onto the rocks by the water leaving a white coating.
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Mt Ngauruhoe at Sunset
Taken from the pub at Nati... 2007-01-12 06:13:00 Mt Ngauruhoe at SunsetTaken
from the pub at National Park just before dinner - around 8.30pm or so. There has been some manipulation with layers and the curves tool in photoshop and I had to clone out the top of a sign on the highway that I couldn't crop out, but other than that it is how it looked at the time.
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Mt Ruapehu at Sunrise
Another double exposure taken early one morning on the highway near our hostel. It was very rare to see the mountains without a solid cloud cover.
Moon over Paihia Jetty
This was a double exposur... 2007-01-12 06:09:00 Moon over Paihia Jetty
This was a double
exposure taken very early in the morning on the beach at Paihia in the Bay of Islands. The pic of the moon was taken with a very fast shutter speed and small aperature and then cut and pasted onto the main photo which had a much longer exposure.
Kidney Ferns
This was taken on Rangitoto Island ... 2007-01-12 05:28:00 KidneyFerns
This was taken on Rangitoto Island
in Auckland. There is a nice walk to the top of the volcano along a lush track. These cute little plants curl up tightly when it is dry and unfurl when it rains. The only problem is that because it was so overcast and raining, I didn't have my polarising filter on, so there is some glare on the leaves.
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Stay tuned for more NZ pics to come...
Uluru Safari - October 2006 2007-01-08 02:12:00
All the photos below were taken with a Fuji Finepix camera on auto setting.
The Olgas
Taken from the sunset viewing area in the 5 minutes of sunshine that day. Honestly - hard to believe this country is in drought as it seems to rain whenever I want to photograph a stunning sunset! There was some manipulation of layers and curves with this image to give a boost to the dull foreground colours and improve contrast.
West MacDonnell Ranges
Taken from a rest stop on the Mereenie Loop Track on the way to Glen Helen Gorge. I think it looks like a painting by Albert Namatjira.
Gosse Bluff Crater
Taken from the viewing lookout on the Mereenie Loop Track again on the way to Glen Helen Gorge. While it looks like a pretty grassy area, the grass is in fact spinifex which is like long needles and impossible to walk in unless you are wearing thick pants and sturdy boots.
Dead Tree - Ayers Rock
This was taken on the walk around the Rock. Although it rained the night before - this d Read more:Safari
, October
Tasmania April 2006 2007-01-08 01:41:00
Port Arthur Penitentiary
Taken through the window of the harbour cruise boat during a spontaneous burst of sunshine on a rainy day. The original photo was quite bland, so I had to do some cropping and manipulation with layers in Photoshop to bring out the warmth of the sandstone.
Dove Lake (with Cradle Mountain in the background)
This photo was taken at the start of the Dove Lake walk. Although it had been very misty and snowing even during the shuttle bus ride to the car park, it magically cleared away almost instantly once we got there.
Cataract Gorge Park - Launceston
This was taken in the gardens in Launceston - again it was raining but it reminded me of the grand old gardens in New Orleans with the foliage and mist.
Cascade Brewery
The Cascade Brewery building in Hobart lit up at night. This (like the others) was taken with a Canon Ixus snappy snap camera. Read more:Tasmania
, April
Paintings 2006-12-24 07:51:00
I recently had a few weeks off work and to stave off boredom I went and bought some paint and other art gear and did a few small paintings. Since high school (too many years ago to count) I have only done one painting, which is not too bad but won't be shared here... That was two years ago as well, so really it has been a long long long time since I picked up a brush other than while renovating of course.
Now, my "thing" is photography, which I really enjoy, but I felt inspired for a change and here is the result. My personal thoughts are that they are quite amateurish, but it is to be expected after such a long time away from painting. Hopefully I will continue to improve and remain inspired.
This is a painting of the Olgas or Kata-Tjuta done from a photo I took on a recent trip to Alice Springs. I'll post all my photos back up here once I get back to work in mid Jan.
SOLD
This is looking over a clifftop at Bryon Bay on the way to the lighthouse. I took a few liberties with th Read more:Paintings
Mayday Challenge Update 4 2007-03-10 07:30:00
Another update for today. I'm eager to get this one finished and have loosened up a little which feels much better. I hope I get the water all done and dusted tomorrow because franky, I am over it!
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Mayday Challenge Update 3 2007-03-10 00:39:00
I've had a niggling crick in my neck for the last few days which I attributed to either sleeping funny, or to Ju-Jitsu training but after a few hours at the easle yesterday afternoon working on this piece, I could hardly move my neck, so there - I am now officially suffering for my art. Workplace Health and Safety would have a field day in my "studio" I'm sure.
Nevertheless - I have managed to do some more work on this. The clouds have been altered for the third time, and I am finally happy with them. The waves I'm not too fussed on, but I don't know how to make them better, so they will probably stay as they are for now. The foam I'm quite happy with as well, although you can see the rough drawing on the right hand backwash where I intend to extend it futher up the beach.
I have to go into uni this morning to start researching my first lot of assignments which are due at the end of this month (EEK!) but I hope to do some more work on it either this afternoon, or tomorrow, Read more:Mayday
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Landlord Blues 2007-03-10 00:21:00 I had a phone call from my property manager yesterday. The tenants in one of my properties are giving notice after only 9 months. It's funny how this particular house has had more tenants than I've had hot dinners in the time I've owned it, and yet my others all have the same tenants that were in when I bought them. I call it the Jinx House, because there is not one single reason I can think of why these tenants keep leaving after 6/9/12 months.
And not only is there a continual procession of tenants coming and going, but they all seem to be the destructive kind. I have had to do at least 3 times the maintenance on that property than on any other and each time has been due to the tenant's carelessness ie holes in the walls from door handles when doors slammed, cigarette burns on brand new carpet (tenant had to pay for whole new carpet in that case ha ha), lino in kitchen had to be repaired because tenant couldn't be bothered moving their fridge properly and dragged it across Read more:Landlord
, Blues
No Update Just Passing Time 2007-03-12 06:35:00
Haven't done any work on my beach scene for 2 days now - it has just been way too hot to even think about painting, or anything else for that matter. The temperature yesterday apparently reached a high of 38 c, which means it probably got to about 45 c in the house and despite a forecast of 29 today, it has to be at least high 30's again. Don't know what that is in F for you overseas people - maybe 150? This is the one and only thing I miss about not working full time anymore (apart from the money of course) - no aircon!
Anyway, I'm at uni studying again today ("yeah obviously" I hear you say) but only because they have sweet sweet aircon and my boyfriend's house dosn't. Well it does in the bedrooms, but they are box units about 30 years old and can't cope with daytime heat over 30c so are pretty much useless.
Anyway, hopefully I might get to do some painting tonight when I get home so I can get the bloody thing finished.
Read more:Update
Flavour of the Month - March :: Balsamic Glaze 2007-03-13 04:24:00
Have you ever been to one of those really nice, modern restaurants where they offer a selection of breads for a starter? If you have, you may have been lucky enough to run into BalsamicGlaze
. It is used with olive oil (extra virgin of course) as a dipping sauce for breads. What you do, or rather what the chef does, is put a small amount of Balsamic Glaze into one of those tiny ceramic bowls and then add olive oil to it. They seperate, so you have a bowl full of olive oil with this black stuff in the bottom. Just dip your bread in, making sure you get to the balsamic glaze and yummo - it is a real treat - a sweet/tart flavour that really compliments the richness of the olive oil and fresh baked bread.
After looking high and low for this stuff for simply ages, I finally came across it in Coles of all places (in the condiments aisle). Don't get it mixed up with the normal balsamic vinegar whatever you do, as they are two different things altogether. The glaze is thicker and m Read more:Flavour
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