Art on the Back Burner

This last week, I haven't really picked up any brushes.
My heart hasn't been in it.
But now I have started a new painting and will be blogging about it next week.

Not doing anything creative for the week made me wonder about creativity.
I had put a lot into the painting On Eagle's Wings and it was linked to a bereavement, so after it was finished I needed a break - and art was put on the back burner.

It was surprising how quickly my painting time was filled with other things.
Chores seemed to spring from the woodwork!

But, I love painting too much to be away from it for long - how about you?
Does anything stop you creating?

A thousand words

A picture paints a thousand words...

yet only three spring to mind ..

Call of the Wild

or Hoe, Hoe, Hoe!

Spring is well and truly here, the weather has improved no end, we are seeing sunshine and a multitude of weeds coming up in the garden!
Weeds - so many of the little blighters - and all needs removing so I can enjoy the pretty flowers without them being choked.

The quandary for a gardening artist... to paint or weed? Weeding won this weekend and now the garden is beginning to show its treasures - and there are more opportunities to photograph the fleeting flowers for later use in paintings.

Gardening reminds me a lot of painting.
There are paintings which are like evergreens, always there and always loved as they give a backbone and structure to the look of my house.


There are other paintings, which are beautiful when I make them - but are always destined to brighten up someone else's life - like gorgeous flowering perennials they brighten my day- but become evergreens in a different climate - the home they were meant to live in.


And then there are the weeds. How can paintings be weeds, you ask?
Weeds are only plants you don't want in your garden at that time.
Many herbalists would love to have dandelions and cleavers growing, as though weeds to most of us, they are useful little plants, with medicinal purposes.

So it is with many paintings and sketches. They are useful little things - they help me improve my techniques no end. But if I hung them all, you wouldn't see my great ones for the multitude. Of course - just like dandelions - they are great to someone else!


So even when I garden, painting is not far from my mind.
Both are enjoyable and creative.

I hope you managed to do whatever was enjoyable and creative to you, this past weekend.

Bill Tomei : A Celebration

Today is the Service of Celebration for Bill's life.
Whilst we cannot be there in person to offer comfort to his wife and family, we are there in Spirit..

and this is our Celebration of the man we knew and loved

On Eagle's Wings

On Eagle's Wings:

Ride the breeze and soar the sky
On Eagle's Wings, you'll bravely fly.

From up aloft, you'll clearly see
Hearts that beat so tenderly
Full of love and admiration
Together now in celebration.

Relatives, friends and colleagues too
All together, loving you.
Like a jack in your capacity
For love, for life, for loyalty.

Ride the breeze and soar the sky
On Eagle's Wings, you'll bravely fly.

**********************

Exodus 19:4
" I bore you on eagle's wings
and brought you to Myself."

**********************

Football Crazy

We've been having glorious weather - and we've enjoyed it outside with our darling Missy, playing her favourite game!

Oh yes, she's Football Crazy...

On Eagle's Wings

Last week I had a painting forming in my mind of a bird in flight.
Not wanting to paint it straight away, having had a little break, in the back of my mind it stayed - until now.


Here is the first stage of "On Eagle's Wings"

In the Window

Just a small painting to get me back in the swing again.. enjoy :)

In the Window

Alleluia!

Missy's test results have come back - and she is fine!

She only has a proliferation of inflammatory cells and NOT a cancerous tumour.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers ..

But mostly .. Thank you God.... Alleluia!

Missy - my love.

Dogs are such amazing creatures.

Yesterday was understandably a tough one - and Missy stayed by my side all day, pushing right up against me whenever I sat down, offering comfort. She never pestered once for a walk or for treats.

When Paul came home, though, she unleashed all her daily energy on him - so she got to play tuggy and roughty-toughty.



And whilst they played for a good 20 minutes, yet again I sketched with pen and ink..

In the Garden

Bill Tomei

A good friend passed away yesterday.
I got to know him because of our mutual love of Jack Russells.
Flapjack (above) and Jack of Diamonds (below) were his two litter siblings - Bill now joins Jack of Diamonds in Heaven.



God bless you, Bill, you were a friend indeed - and because of you I made many more good friends around the world, whose lives were also touched by jacks.
There's a special place for you in Heaven, for sure.
Our heartfelt sympathies to your family xx

Whilst you were sleeping

Whilst Missy slept,



I picked up my sketchbook and an ink pen and this is the result:

Mountain River

Stumpy Tree

Missy's weekend

Glorious weather we had this weekend, so we made the most of it and were outside a great deal of the time.


Our lovely neighbours had lots of children over for a birthday party - and Missy adores children, so whilst we were in the front garden, she was having a fuss from each and every one. She loved it :)

Later on we were playing with the football in the back garden, which she loves equally as much.


We also took a trip over to see Beryl, which meant a whole new garden to explore and mark - which Missy did with great efficiency!

To this little girl, everything is enjoyable. The joy she has in life is wonderful to see - and you can't help but smile with her.

MissyChief

MissyChief had a trip to the vet yesterday for an unexplained lump.

Sadly it was not an age related fatty lump, so cells have been taken and sent to the lab.
The test results should be back in a week.
Whilst we wait for the results, painting is taking a back seat and the computer is taking a back seat.

We hope to be back soon with good news .

Finding Time for Art

Its a busy world.
We all have work to do, chores to do and time to spend with those we love.

So how does anyone find time for art?
I find time by going to an art club once a week, for two hours.
The chores get forgotten and Weds eve is just for me.
Otherwise, my enjoyment might get forgotten.

I have seen many women sacrifice their enjoyment for family, friends, and chores. But strangely enough, if their hubby has a day off, he still manages to fit in a round of golf!

Every couple of months, my friend Beryl and I make a date for a day of painting, usually on a Sunday. The men cope for themselves on that day - they can you know! In fact, my hubby has even taken to cooking the dinner on my painting Sunday, so its a day of pure relaxation for me.

This painting was made at art club:



So, how do you fit your art into your schedule?

Going Up

Just the painting, for you to enjoy:

Going Up

This painting will be added to my permanent gallery site
Pat Elliott Paintings

Creative Instruction

Do you, like me, love to create something?
Do you take instruction in any way?
I remember one of my early tutors in one class being asked which books she'd recommend for people new to watercolours.
Her reply was that people buy too many instructional books and don't paint enough!

Sometimes I feel guilty of that, but books are just so delicious - and I always do at least two of the demos in each book. New ideas spring from different techniques .
Can you have too many books so you get creatively stifled? Can you?

The first painting holiday I went on was a mixture of nerves and fun!
Oh, I was full of nerves to start with, but once the sketching and the washes started, nerves were forgotten :)
I was so worried I would be the dunce of the class, you know - but everyone was so different in their style, that not one could be compared to another. All lovely in their own way. What a relief!

Taking painting holidays can be pricey, so in my last house I had a summerhouse converted to an art studio


- I would take a week off from work, take an instructional book and my painting kit down there and create.. with no expectation of perfection - just the joy of creating.
Another studio is planned for this new house :)


On one of these weeks, I created these...




Do you go on creative weekends or weeks? Do you have a studio?
Tell me all about it...

The Sweetest Easter Chick

The sweetest Easter chick flew into my life over Easter - and cherished it will be.

She came sitting on her own little egg -of the Cadbury's Creme variety -
and she was made for me by my good friend Beryl.


Little Easter Chick is going to be named Goldie - after Golden Beryl - one of the Beryllium family of precious gems.. click here to read more on the gems

for truly the chick is a gem - as is my friend, Beryl xx



I hope all my readers had a great Easter!

Set Upon Your Sands

And here is the finished painting :

Set Upon Your Sands

This painting will be added to my permanent gallery site
Pat Elliott Paintings

Pharaoh

Now I paint the Pharaoh.

Eyes are painted black, with a hint of light in them, hopefully giving him a surprised expression.
The rest of him is painted using a shadow mix, enough to give the suggestion of form.

Peeling plaster completed

In this stage, I have finished painting all of the peeling plaster, which shows the terracotta underneath.

Adding shadows helps to give the illusion of the plaster peeling away with time..

Terracotta and plaster sarcophagus

Every now and then, my head likes to have a complete flight of fancy in a painting.
This is that painting.

It started with a sarcophagus, terracotta in construction and with paler plaster over the top, with traces of gold left upon it.

Then my imagination kicked in..

I can't show you the drawing as all of this was drawn and painted within my two hour stint at art club..

Getting excited..

over plumbing!
We bought a house that needs some improvements made; one we decided to make was to put a space saving toilet upstairs between the two bedrooms.
It should only take a day and a half, according to the plumber.

This is exciting to me because I use one of the bedrooms for painting - and having an upstairs facility means I don't have to traipse all the way up and down stairs for water ( or the convenience) when I paint :)

I also painted this acrylic painting to brighten up a dull corner in our living room. I was never going to show you a painting of a toilet, now was I?