Hello May!

Better late than never, here is the 2nd painting I did for the Don Whyte 'Offcuts"show - which I blogged about last time.

So April flew past and May is going the same way. I'm working towards a group show that opens on the 5th June, I'll keep the finished work under wraps for now, but here are some of my drawings working out ideas.

As always I've been finding it hard to knuckle down and get things finished, so I'm hoping a few things will come together at the last minute!!

The dry season is here with beautiful cool nights - I planted some tomato seedlings about a month ago and they're on the verge of flowering...

My oldest son is in year 12 at school, I feel him flexing his wings, about to launch into adulthood, imagining possibilities beyond 'boring Darwin'. (Wherever you grew up seems boring I suppose!) During poetry month I got a Sharon Olds poem "High School Senior" in my inbox, which expresses beautifully some of what I'm feeling.

I've been reading, reading, reading. Favorite reads of the year so far are -
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell - (just finished last night and loved it)
Also recommended -
We are all completely beside ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
I'd love to hear what you've been reading.

This Sunday I'll be at the waterfront craft fair, do drop by and say hello.

Where are you now and what do you love?

Over on Kat McNally's blog she is hosting August Moon a fortnight of writing prompts. This post is in response to two of those...

The second prompt is what are you doing right now? Maybe to record what you do through the days so you can see patterns emerging, habits, see things you can change maybe. I feel like I need to spend time on this prompt, particularly to keep track of what I do on my 3 days off (I don't feel there's much room to move on my work days...)

It's already made me consider ... We've been on economy drive this year, I've been baking more so that we don't spend so much on biscuits, treats, museli bars that seem to take up half my trolley. BUT if I'm spending prime time Saturday morning baking muffins instead of painting, or catching up with a friend for a cuppa, or dragging the kids out of the house somewhere, is it really the best use of my time? Could I be slotting the baking in somewhere else? It will be interesting to see what else comes up from this exercise.

some of the sketchbooks I have on the go

The third prompt asks what do you love? I love books, I buy poetry books and don't read them, I have such a backlog, I get a poem a day in my inbox and struggle to get to them... I love art supplies, I'm addicted to sketchbooks and journals - there's so much potential in a blank sketchbook or notebook - all the things I might fill it with, the projects I might start, they are hard to resist.

I love music, love going to choir, but don't listen to much at all anymore, the kids have their music on and they drag me to watch some you tube video or other, and my partner plays guitar, practicing a lot at the moment and sounding good, so there is music around me all the time. What I love is to listen to radio national while I'm painting or doing housework, I listen to books and arts daily the music show, science show... anything except politics!! on my old school portable radio.  I love the idea of gardening, but don't do that much, it's something I need to make time for.

What we have around the house is too much stuff!! We're a household of hoarders, and could do with a good cleanup and chuck out, but who's got time for that?

Detours

I am still getting nowhere fast with painting. So here are some drawings from recent visits to my friend Alison's studio. Often we do a lot of talking and tea drinking and not much art making - just a couple of quick line drawings and then time to go home! If nothing else I'll draw the tea things!

Last time my daughter came too so I did some sketches of her (not a great likeness!)

Last Monday I caught an exhibition of lino-prints (the day after it closed) at Framed Gallery. One artist had already packed up, but Anna Curtis's prints were gorgeous, exciting to see her new still lifes. And fascinating to see Margaret Lees work using lino but an intaglio method rather than relief print, lots of layers gave a result similar to etching but maybe softer. Very beautiful.

Inspired by those and glad to take a break from the frustrations of painting I've started chiselling a lino, here is a corner of it still in progress.