Acrylic painting on canvas plans.

I will be takinfg an advanced class on how to create a series of  semi realistic to abstract paintings using the local area of Ohinemutu as a reference point.
This is the process
The first step is to take the photos of the area to get a feel for the essence of the place.
These are the important things to me.


                                                 

                                            Ohinemutu church on the shores of Lake Rotorua                  

                                            

                                                 The carvings on the meeting house

The angels that surround and protect the area

                                                      

                                                   the perfect view of Mokoia Island

The passing of the lakeland Queen paddle steamer

                                The carvings protect the white graves that lie above the ground

and watch over

                                                                  the ancestors

                                                                    A peaceful

                                                  and powerful  place

and the  Te Arawa people  who live there are very welcoming.

They are happy for tourists to wander around.

Then I would do a brainstorming map on a piece of paper, writing down my key  ideas and words.

After that  I'd do some quick  thumb nail sketches

Then I would  start painting.

I would be painting the spirit of the place, not a photographic depiction and i would be concentrating on having fun and feeling free.

I would do a series of three to five and I  would expect out of all of them I would really like one,  really hate one and be feeling ok about the others. If I loved all five that would be a miracle but who says miracles can't happen around angels?

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Creative Quotes  of the day

Pay attention to your dreams - God's angels often speak directly to our hearts when we are asleep. ~Quoted in The Angels' Little Instruction Book by Eileen Elias Freeman, 1994

Insight is better than eyesight when it comes to seeing an angel. ~Quoted in The Angels' Little Instruction Book by Eileen Elias Freeman, 1994

If one looks closely enough, one can see angels in every piece of art. ~Terri Guillemets

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Dogs I have met over the past week...

                                                        I used to be scared of all dogs

                                                     Now I'm not

                                        Only some of them


This one is described by his Ohinemutu owner as a big softy, he only looks viscious.
He was ok, my only beef with him was he wouldn't sit still for long enough or look into thecamera.


I would like a little white Scottish Terrier.
They say people choose dogs that look like themselves, good thing I'm not after a pug.


My cat Gary gets jealous if I  spend any time with any other animal apart from him and this sometimes includes my laptop. 

If I survive my husband and my cat I most likely will get a dog for companionship, providing I can afford the dogfood and I haven't become a destitute old bag lady from lack of art sales.

I think it would be easier to find a compatible dog than another compatible husband.

Dogs always adore you; every day to them is a honeymoon.
I recently bought a poetry book by New Zealand poet Siobahn Harvey.
I have had it out of the library about ten times and I saw it in Mcleods Booksellers, it was on sale.
I snapped it up.
Here is the cover.

To Saddler a Puppy
Alistair Te Ariki Campbell



We had to give you away
We couldn't keep you
and your brother.
We already have your mother
your father, your aunt and your big brother.
Two more would have been
two too many-
you had to go.
But when I carried you
to the petshop, feeling like an executioner,
why did you lick me?



Creative dog quotes of the day.
Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot little puppies. ~Gene Hill

My goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am. ~Author Unknown

Shots of Rotorua city by night....

 Janet's Tips and Tricks to  Effective night time photography

1. Take a tripod or all your shots will be shakey
2. Take a torch or you could lose a vital piece of photography equipment like your lens cap.
3. Take warm clothing, it's chillier than you think in the dark.
4. Take a bunch of other people with you for safety, especially if you are a woman.
5. Take a  kind, technically more competent man or woman with you and if they are really nice (thanks Wieland) they will carry your tripod and help you set it up and take it down again.
6. Don't forget to take your camera.
7. Remember any technical difficulites you have will be magnified by night time because you can't see a b----y thing in the dark, even with a torch.
8. Be especially careful with your camera because it would be easy to knock it over in the dark into a fountain and drown it or smash it to bits on the hard concrete.
9. Other than that,  remember to have fun, keep your cursing to a minimum  and take plenty of photos, one in a thousand could be a shot of gold...

                              
                                       Shots of golden light at the Lake front with rippling water

                                                     Park benches along  the lake front.

                                                   

Hospital and oak trees looking pretty ghostly and golden

Fountain  taking  on a pink tinge in the City Focus

                                                                          

                                                                   Candi floss Fountain

Framed fountain with sparkly light

 Flax silhouette among the bubbles.

                                                         Cars with trails of light on Fenton Street


Creativity Quote of the day

I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.
Vincent Van Gogh

Caravan Illustrations courtesy of Christine Hellmuth's style. .

 I have had this book since 2006 and frequently look at it but have not really tried out her style.

 It is  is fine to take inspiration from another artists style but it's important to acknowledge them.

This is one of my favourite mixed media books, I recommend you buy it if you don't already have it because it will change your mixed media life.

As you can see because of my holiday at the beach,  I have a bit of a caravan obsession.

 I feel like making art about women in the 50's caravaning with their dogs and cats.

  I love the idea of caravans the smell of them, the confinement, the fact that there is no housework to do and the fact that they creak when you walk in them.

As a family we always went to our bach at lake Taupo or camping beside lakes,  

 so we never really had many caravaning experiences, which probably was a good thing due to snoring.

Whenever I can I get away to the sea because I love its refreshing energy.

Often I go away to Tauranga for an art weekend retreat and hire out a cabin which is almost a caravan.

I love watching different people arriving to the camping ground at Ohiwa in their motorhomes, seeing them cook their dinners on camp ovens and eating to the sight of the setting sun over the pounding sea.

Sausages and lamb chops smell  divine on other people's bbq's don't they?

Why does food always taste better outside? 

At Ohiwa people are able sometimes to bring their dogs and cats to the camping ground in off season. While I was there a young grey and whitecat adopted me.

I was so sad to leave him behind.

I'd love to have a motorhome and go adventuring around New Zealand, but I'd have to take my cat, and also have some sort of portable studio so that I could paint and write poetry every day as well as manipulate photos in photoshop on my laptop.

One day Graham and I are going to hire a campervan and see if we like it. 

We will  be able to sit in the middle of the road and hog it  like Mr and Mrs Magoo and watch people zoom by in a rage past us while we are only going 80Kms an hour.
What fun.

I could do some illustrations about road hogs.

What's the latest camp gossip and have you seen my poodle?

Where are all my dogs?

Who ate all the dog bones?

As an illustrator I think it' important to have a number of styles you can experiment with.
I get bored easily so I need variety.
I am going to force myself to do 20 paintings in this style and if it's not driving me mad, 20 others.
Watch this space....

This is the background to a piece I haven't finished yet.

Its like looking at a caravan scene through binoculars or a camera lens.

 I'm almost tempted to leave it like it is, maybe I will, afterall less is more isn't it.

This is an aerial view of caravans on the beach, it is a background so figures are coming in some time soon.

Maybe figures in a boat fishing.

Putting them on the blog I can see mistakes more easily.

For instance there is something wrong with this island, it will need to be smaller and less intense.

Caravans on a hill, background, at the moment they look like eastereggs.

 I'll show you the finished illustrations on a later blog post.

Because of all this royal wedding publicity I have suddenly developed a cupcake and high tea obsession.

I am dying to make a scene with women with crowns on their heads tucking into cucumber sandwiches, cup cakes on plate stands and passing food to their spoilt pooches and indulged cats.

Creative quotes of the day

Faith is an oasis in the heart which will never be reached by the caravan of thinking.
Khalil Gibran

“Friends are like cupcakes in my pantry of memories.”
- Anonymous

More funky photos,Favourite subjects.

In praise of being  funky and  eclectic.
Often as an artist there is pressure to conform, work thematically, tone things down, please others sense of the ordinary when all you want to do is please yourself and be really different.
Why not give it a go step outside your comfort zone and create something bizarre.
Too bad if it doesn't match or work to a theme.

I bought this mannequin off Trade Me a year ago, intending to mosaic her but I decided she is more useful to me as she is as a photographic model.

The Rotorua Museum, the most amazing building in Rotorua

Kinloch marina the view from the balcony of  the family bach
I have lots of photos of this.

Pelicans I photograph at Noosa

                                                           Irrestistable parrots in Noosa

                                               Fingerlings at the Fisheries in Paradice Valley

Alpacas on a farm near Hamurana

Okere falls water abstracted.

I've always seen myself as sort of this funky, eclectic artist.

Suzy Bogguss

Funky Photo's

Ever wondered how people get those colourful pop arty style segmented shots on facebook?
I found a site by accident called funky photo's.
It's easier to manipulate your photos here than in photoshop if you just want to have some fun and play around.

It's free, have a go, have a creative time with your photo's.

or even your artwork

You can also cartoonise your favourite photo's like this...

Kids will love it.

                                      Even  a trip to the dump can be beautiful

Who would know these were Rafters on the Kaituna River?
Turn your photo's into great backgrounds for your art journaling, never worry about copyright issues again.

Make your photo's look painterly

Grungy

out of focus

Impressionist

mysterious, what is this?

or scatchy

The world of making manipulated photo's is only a couple of clicks away...

Creativity quote of the day
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.”


Scott Adams

Creative Doggy treats...

On Saturday I went to the local food market to get some samosas and I took photos of this delightful doggy stand, it is so artistic.
 These people are from Matamata  and they make all their  healthy doggy treats by hand.
If I  had a dog I would definitley buy it a treat like this.
They look good enough to eat yourself...

                                          

                                                       

                                          
                                     
                                  Their laborador dog helps them on their stand as well.

Creative quotes of the day
Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot little puppies."


- Gene Hill

"If your dog doesn't like someone you probably shouldn't either."


- Unknown