Saturday, June 26, 2010

a couple of new paintings


Here are a couple of (blurry) photos of new paintings. I did these 2 or 3 weeks ago. The one of the woman in the boat was sparked by my 7 year old asking why did boats have those old tyres ?...
They are supposed to be for the craft fair that's coming up fast in 3 weeks! But the boat painting sold already. So I'm busy at the moment finishing off little birds, fridge magnets and lots and lots of cards. Hopefully I'll squeeze in a couple more paintings too.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Catching up on a bit of reading!

I finished reading Wolf Hall, and really enjoyed it. I was a bit perplexed at the end that she chose to stop there, it didn't feel like an ending. I don't think this will spoil it if you haven't read it yet, to know that there is going to be a second book.

Tim Flannery came to Darwin for Wordstorm unfortunately I didn't get to the events he spoke at, but I thought it was about time I read his book The Weather Makers (before I dive into another novel). It's a really important book about climate change, and pretty depressing reading. The science is made interesting and relatively easy to understand. My natural reaction to anything bad is to bury my head in the sand. This book is arguing against that attitude - that accepting global warming is a fact is the first step towards doing something about it. He does give a note of optimism - 'the most important thing to realise is that we can all make a difference and help combat climate change at almost no cost to our lifestyle...'

Kind of in the same vein, I came across a great article by Jeanette Winterson in the Guardian online which is also about the individual making a difference. (Just by the way, the Guardian book blogs discusses a poem each week, if you haven't come across it it's great to read new and old poems with a brief intro, and discussion via comments.)

I'll be back soon with a post with some pictures!
Hope you're having a great week.

Monday, June 14, 2010

On the run!

I didn't post last week as we've been busy with visitors. Oh we're terrible creatures of habit at this house, so it's a good shock to the system to have lovely friends come to stay, and make us go to the markets and the wildlife park, and out to dinner; and to remind us that there is life going on outside Darwin!
Now we're back to normal for a week, but then school holidays will mean more chaos!

I have done a couple of new paintings, but haven't uploaded photos yet. So instead here's my favourite batch of cards I made from recent monoprints.