kitty art

Frank's back!

2008-04-04T20:52:00.002+10:00

Well it's been a long, long time and we're STILL not finished the renovation. Current ETA is 3 weeks before we move back in. The painters are finishing up and Dallas has been fitting out all the lights and powerpoints etc which has taken ages because there are just so many. I pretty much decided that since these final stages are taking such a long time I wouldn't bother posting photo updates seeing as nothing really changes much from day to day and I can't be bothered actually driving over to see the house anyway now I'm back at uni.

So like the title of the post says, our resident possum who we evicted way back when the reno started has moved back in. Mick the builder blocked the gaps under the eaves with chicken mesh, which apparently dosn't do a hell of a lot to stop a possum when it wants to move into a brand new, wool insulated roof.

Awwwww - aint he just the cutest widdle guy? I happen to love possums actually but once they're in the roof they cause all sorts of issues - chew electrical wires, shit and piss in the insulation etc etc, so unfortunately he has to go. Dallas is going to board up the gaps with timber from the inside of the roof (what the builder should have done in the first place) and the painter is going to lend us a possum trap to catch him. Once he is removed from the roof, he will be relocated to a nice new possum box in a tree courtesy of a couple of apple slices and hopefully live happily ever after...

Uluru

2008-02-24T12:30:00.001+10:00

Oil on canvas 24" x 24"

January Update

2008-02-03T13:27:00.000+10:00

No, I haven't died ha ha - just been really busy! Honestly I can't wait until my vac work is over at the end of the month and I go back to uni - I need the holiday!

The reno from hell has been moving along, but not as fast as we would like. I haven't been over there for a few weeks now but do have some photos to post. To tell the truth, I am really put off by the builder's most recent fuck-up - the back door from the kitchen to the deck IS NOT LEVEL! I mean WTF???!!! How can you not install a door straight for Gods sake. So both Dallas and I are not happy Jan but because it has been nailed in, the builder can't remove it without totally damaging it. Apparently he has done something to make it look more even, but I haven't seen it since then so can't comment. His excuse was that because it is an old house, it is not square. Well derrrr! However this pathetic excuse dosn't explain the fact that the kitchen door is in the part of the house that he built from scratch so it should be bloody well square! Grrrrrrr.

It is not the only thing that is all wonky either. In the main bathroom the builder didn't install the door posts in line with each other - one is about 18mm out of line, so the waterproofer used these posts to line up his metal thingy that holds the tilebed, which is not straight, which means the tiles at the door had to be cut all crooked and it's quite obvious. Double grrrrrrr! Honestly, are there any tradesmen around these days that actually do a half decent job and measure things properly before they install things? My guess is no.

The third gripe is about the kitchen installers. Instead of measuring properly (surprise surprise) they just installed the kitchen units flush against the wall, which is not square (it is one of the original internal walls) so when the stonemason went to measure for the benchtop he basically stated that no way was he going to install a benchtop while the cabinets were all out of line. So we had to get the kitchen installers back in to re-install the cabinets so the fronts were in line, not the backs, and hopefully this has all been done and the stonemason has measured for the benchtop and maybe if we are really lucky it is getting made right now to be installed next week! Phew.

Anyway, here are the most recent photos.

The tiles in the main bathroom. So obviously out of whack. Well, the tiles are straight, but the doorway isn't. Absolutely nothing we can do about it now either.

One side of the kitchen. Dallas is also annoyed that the top of the fridge space is white, and not the same as the cabinets. Apparently it is very obvious. He has a bit of left over panel that he is going to get a cabinet-maker to install so the fridge space looks like the rest of it. Also, Kitchen Connection "forgot" to order the glass door for the microwave cabinet, so we are waiting for that.

The second part of the kitchen where the sink and dishwasher will go. They should all be straightened out by now, hopefully!

The kitchen door - currently about as straight as a dog's hind leg. I have no idea what the builder can do to "fix" it but no way will it be a job well done. Maybe they'll reinstall the cornice on all crooked as well so it's not so obvious.

Some photos of the ensuite bathroom and marble freize. It turned out really well, probably because the tiler is a mate of Dallas's and actually does good work.

Anyway, that's it for now. A whole lot of boring things are happening as well eg gas and stormwater getting connected (whole road had to be dug up for that ha ha!). Plastering is being finished and internal painting will start soon. We (I) picked a neutral wall colour called White Shadow (Wattyl colour) which is a very pale pinky brown to compliment the tiles, carpet and timber floor. We are thinking of doing a feature wall but can't figure out a colour just yet - I'm leaning to a dark browny-red but who knows. Also thinking about doing a very big desert scene in oils (approx 6ft x 4ft) to hang on this wall as well. Framed by deep red it should look good.

Once the carpet is laid in the bedrooms and the walls are painted, the floors will be sanded and polished. Estimated date of us moving back in is early March - right when I go back to uni... good timing huh?

Winter in Graz

2008-01-05T13:58:00.000+10:00

January invitation to paint on Wet Canvas. Not from one of my own photos unfortunately - although I would love to visit one day.

Binnalong Bay

2008-01-01T10:53:00.001+10:00

Binnalong Bay in north eastern Tasmania. One of the prettiest beaches I have ever visited.

Surfers Paradise Skyline

2008-01-01T10:37:00.000+10:00

Surfers Paradise (Gold Coast) with the Q1 building (worlds tallest apartment building) as seen from Coolangatta.

Two more paintings

2007-12-28T13:55:00.000+10:00

My office has pretty much shut down over the Xmas break so I've knocked up two quick beach paintings in my spare time when not doing the Christmas thing.

This is Dallas on the beach at Broadbeach looking south towards Coolangatta from a pic taken earlier this year when we took a day trip to the Gold Coast. Done on watercolour canvas - not an experience I will undertake again. Not only is it rather expensive, but it is difficult to use and the colour lifts off way to easily making it hard to use multi layers of glazes. Finished last week.

I was inspired to drag out some old holiday snaps from our trip to Tassie last year. This is Wineglass Bay from the Hazards Lookout on the eastern coast of Tassie. A truly beautiful part of the world. Finished today.

Anyway, I'll probably do a heap more before I go back to work on Jan 2 since it is raining non-stop at the moment due to a low off the coast that will miraculously disappear as soon as my holidays are over. I was hoping to take a day trip to Moreton Island and get some more pics of the beach and wrecks for some paintings, but that is unlikely since there is no point if it is not nice and sunny. At least Xmas day was partly sunny - enough to drive to Manly and spend it eating huge prawns by the "beach".

The floor is down!

2007-12-16T10:50:00.000+10:00

Woo Hoo! The part I have been waiting and waiting for, apart from the fitout of the kitchen and bathrooms of course. Our new rosewood floor was laid on Friday, and it looks good! The internal stairs are in as well, they were installed earlier in the week and last but not least, the deck railings went on during the week as well. Oh yeah - the wall of doors to the deck and the french door in the second bedroom were installed too. It was obviously a busy week for Michael (our builder) as he probably wants to get as much done before breaking for Xmas.

In other, less exciting news, the waterproofing for all three bathrooms has been laid - very stinky!!! and Pat our tiler will start tiling the top two bathrooms on Friday, because the floor tiles won't arrive from Sydney until Thursday. The wall tiles were delivered by yours truly yesterday, and I can tell you it is not fun unloading 15 boxes of tiles from the back of my Excell all by my little self. The poor Excell didn't think much of transporting that much weight in the back either.

Anyway, enough of the blather - lets see the pics!

Looking up from just inside the main entrance. The stairs are made of Kwila, which is a native timber from Indonesia/Malaysia. Hopefully not from illegal, rainforest logging though.

Looking down the stairs from the living area. This pic still shows the old floor of course. And yes, there will be a handrail and balustrade going in so I don't fall down the stairs in the middle of the night ha ha.

And now for the main event....

The new floor looking in from the upstairs front door, stairwell directly to the right. At the moment it is a pale pinky colour which will darken with age, and also slightly once it is sanded and polished. We are going for a satin finish instead of the usual high-gloss.

The kitchen - looking toward the back door and deck.

From the kitchen again, looking the other way towards the pantry. That wall in front is the only original interior wall still standing and the main bedroom is on the other side.

Looking toward the back, right corner of the house (where the original kitchen was). You can see the doors leading onto the deck and the doorway leads to the main bathroom and two smaller bedrooms.

Looking back towards the wall of doors (there are 5 in all). The kitchen is on the other side of that wall.

Just pics of the floor itself to show the colour and grain.

Looking in towards the front door from the deck. The room on the right is the main bedroom - you can just see the doorway near the stairs.

The deck complete with railings. Dallas chose a "lady's waist" stule of rail which is rounded on top, nipped in the middle and flat on the bottom. I wanted a flat railing so you could set your bevvy down anywhere on the deck without it spilling. We also chose a "tulip" pattern for the feature railings, which are bloody expensive at $7.00 each.

. And finally, the wall of doors from the outside. These will be left open most of the time we are home so we get the cool breezes all through the house, along with the flies and bugs. The thing is, outdoor living is pretty much essential in most places these days, so a house without an indoor/outdoor living area is pretty passe. Now if only it had an ocean view...

Anyway, thats all from the house for now. I don't expect much to be happening with it over the next few weeks due to Christmas / New Years apart from whatever they get completed over the next week eg finishing the plastering and cornices. The bathroom floors should be done by the end of the week, but I doubt the walls will be done before Pat goes on holidays. We'll see.

Reno Update - Week 3026

2007-12-10T20:26:00.001+10:00

Well, that's what it feels like anyway ;-D

Actually, quite a bit has been done in the past few weeks since my last post. The painters got most of the job done before they had to move on to another job. Unfortunately they won't be back now until February. We got them to make sure the front and top story were pretty much done since they needed the scaffolding to do it, and it was removed last weekend. There are still some parts that need weatherboards too, so of course those bits weren't painted.

The front all painted, well except for one wall in the verandah which hasn't been competely boarded up yet. It looks so much better now all the scaffolding has been removed.

The downstairs living room and the entrance hall. All of the granny flat has finally been gyprocked and is much lighter than it was. The internal staircase will be installed next week and will lead up from a doorway just near the front wires sticking out the wall.

Upstairs looking towards the front door from the back deck. The ceiling has all been finished today. The staircase will be where the floorboards have been removed to where the left wall is. Looking forward to having it finally installed.

The main bedroom looking towards the front window and the new walk-in-robe. The ensuite is just to the right.

Saturday was spent choosing tiles, carpet for the bedrooms and interior paint colours. I decided (note the "I") that the upstairs bathrooms will have chocolate floor tiles and a dark brown marble mosaic frieze which dosn't end up being very expensive at all. The vanities Dallas has baught are all white. We also decided on a chocolate brown plush pile carpet for the bedrooms which goes quite well with most floor colours so shouldn't clash with the rosewood floors. Interior walls will be an off-white and we will pick a colour for a feature wall after the floor is laid, if we have a feature wall. I like them, but maybe they are becoming too dated? Not sure yet but the verdict is open at the moment. The downstairs bathroom will be dealt with later - we had to order the upstairs bathroom tiles in a hurry because our tiler has to start the job next Monday before he leaves for Xmas holidays.

Another last minute change that was made (my fault) is that instead of boring old bunker lights on the front verandah I suggested we have traditional coach lights. I walked past a house one evening last week and the coachlights all lit up looked so romantic and old fashioned classy I convinced Dallas we should have them instead. It meant doing a wee bit of moving around of electrical wires, but not a big job. The end effect will be much nicer I think.

At the moment we are sort of on schedule to move back in sometime in February. It won't be totally finished, but it will be about 95% done and what isn't done isn't really important anyway.

Two new paintings

2007-12-09T20:30:00.001+10:00

The Beachwalker - Brooms Head.

This is actually my darling other half painted from one of the pics I took on our short break last summer. There was a bit of an afternoon change coming through which made a dramatic backdrop to the afternoon sun. My favourite part of this painting is the sparkles on the water which turned out surprisingly well I thought. Much better than expected anyway.

Springhouse

This is a quick painting I did this afternoon from a photo reference on WetCanvas. Every month there is an invitation to paint a scene from somewhere in the world, and this one is a springhouse (whatever that is) in Lancaster P.A. Not a scene I would normally choose to paint - way too much bright green foliage and a distinct lack of red desert sand or ocean. The point is to get outside your comfort zone, so in that regard I was successful. Not so much in regards to the actual quality of work though...

The Surfer

2007-11-25T19:33:00.000+10:00

My latest attempt at watercolour. Done from a photo taken during my last visit to dad in Yamba NSW. I'm not happy with the ocean shallows but otherwise I don't hate it too much. Obviously lots more practice is needed though.

View from the top

2007-11-18T08:41:00.001+10:00

Hi again, here is my second attempt at watercolour from a pic Dallas took from the top of Ayers Rock (Uluru) when we visited last year. Yes, it wasn't long before my desert photos came out ha ha. The real difficulty with this was getting the sense of the height of the rock - 318 meters high or 986 ft in the old money. Putting it simply, no way on earth would you get me up there! The pic below gives me vertigo just looking at it... and I was mad at Dallas for going so close to the edge!

I'm not entirely happy with my rendition of the Olgas in the distance - not blue enough to show how far away they are but there's nothing I can do about it now so it will have to stay like that. Anyway, all in all I had fun doing this painting - took me around 3 or 4 hours all up so very quick. I think I will go larger from now on so I can really get in details. I'll need to buy bigger brushes tho. The colours I used in this were ultramarine blue, spectrum yellow, spectrum red, yellow ochre, burnt umber and cerulean blue. All Art Spectrum paints. I have a really limited palette at the moment but yesterday I found an American website called Daniel Smith http://www.danielsmith.com/categories/paint/watercolor/ds/default.asp where I placed an order for a whole bunch of exotic sounding colours. They have natural mineral colours which look divine, and very cheap compared to Aussie prices. And with the Aussie almost the same as the $US they are a real bargain. Only drawback is that they'll take 6 - 8 weeks to arrive :( so until then I'm stuck with my current range of 9 colours which is fine because I should be able to mix anything I want from them anyway.

In other news...

2007-11-17T09:58:00.000+10:00

Just a quick update on stuff other than the renovation from hell.

I finally had my last uni exam of the year yesterday, so I am free again. Well free until Monday when I start my summer vacation work at Rio Tinto. I'm a bit nervous about it, as one usually is when starting a new job. More so I think because I have absolutely next to 0 experience with occupational health and safety in a mining environment. Well, I suppose in reality I am working in Brisbane head office so it is not really a mining environment. But still nervous anyway. A few of my uni friends got work experience where they get to go on site - one at Burton Coal for Theiss and another at Goonyella mine for BMA Coal. I'm sort of jealous that I don't get to go anywhere, but there might be a site visit to a refinery or smelter even though it will be in my old hometown of Gladstone so yeah so exciting woo hoo.

In other other news now that I have had some free time I have started painting again, but get this I am dabbling in watercolours and not oils. Strange really because I never used to really like watercolours before but lately I have been getting pretty interested in all the lovely effects that can be achieved in watercolour that are just not possible with oil paints. There are a few other plusses to watercolour as well:

1. The paper is much cheaper than buying canvasses 2. Don't take up so much room to store 3. Can use coffee table or kitchen bench to work on so much more portable 4. No stinky turps 5. Much quicker drying time so I can finish a painting in only a few hours rather than a few weeks. 6. I love the way watercolours can be layered over the top of the previous colour much easier than you can with oil paints.

The one downside I can think of so far is that they are so much more expensive to buy than oil paints, but this is countered by the fact that you use so much less paint. So in the long run they are probably a lot more economical.

Anyway, here is my first attempt at watercolour. It is a picture taken in France from the WetCanvas website where they invite everyone to paint a scene. Very different from my usual subject matter - no bright sunshine or desert in sight. I enjoyed it heaps even though it was a challenge.

The colours are a bit duller in the photo than they are in real life. Also, I only have a limited palette at the moment. Now that I will be working in the city every day I can spend all my hard earned at Eckersleys and pick up more supplies as I need them. I'm using some of my new oil brushes that have not been used yet but obviously need to buy proper watercolour brushes and a whole lot of other "necessities" ;-D

The Roof is Finally Finished!!!

2007-11-17T09:32:00.001+10:00

Well I know it has been a loooonnnnnngggg time between posts, but over the last 2 - 3weeks nothing much has happened because it has been raining, raining and raining. In fact, as soon as parts of the old roof were peeled back so the carpenters could replace the trims and soffits, it started raining on and off - mostly in the mornings so the roofers didn't bother turning up. It is still raining now as I type and is forecast to keep raining all week (not that I care now the roof is on).

Anyway, because of the intermittent rain the roofers took 2 1/2 weeks to do a job that should have been done in 3 days. The granny flat flooded I don't know how many times and we had water pouring down the inside walls into the garage and granny flat. The roof was finally finished in the two fine days we had last week so it is finally all waterproof YAY! Even the deck roof is on!

It looks good too. The only worry is that right under the gables at the front of the house there is no barrier to stop Frank the Possum and his mates moving back in once the ceiling is sheeted so Dallas is thinking he will have to put some bird wire or something in to stop trespassers.

Another "small" issue that we have is that our large 10,000lt rain tank can only collect the run-off from the back portion of the roof + the deck. The whole front and kitchen side has to run off to the front of the house and get wasted. Our plumber specified that the gutters were to slope to the back corner of the house so most of the run off would collect at the back but apparently they weren't able to do that for some reason. Now it looks like the tank won't ever fill from our average rainfall measurements so we will probably still need to mainly rely on town water. Still, at least we have the capacity in case it does rain unusually heavily, but I just hate that so much run off will end up in the stormwater and not be used.

Pics of the old roof being removed. It stayed like this for two weeks while the roofers started on the back of the house so the builder could build the deck frame.

This pic shows where possums can get in to the roof space. Where the slopey roof meets the gutter above it there are big gaps under the eaves that need to be blocked up securely. Once possums get in it is a pain to get them out again and they are damn noisy during breeding season!

Anyway, I'm just glad that bit is over because now the builders can start gyprocking and putting walls up. It is still pretty hard to tell what the house will look like inside with just the studwork. The whole past few weeks has been mega stressful, especially when Dallas had to climb onto the roof and put tarps over what he could cover to keep as much dry as possible.

Reno update - week 8 (I think)

2007-10-29T15:50:00.000+10:00

The house is coming along nicely. Roof is off where the new kitchen, WIR and ensuite will go and hopefully these will be done this week and a new roof put on as it has been raining a bit. The back of the house has been taken out and the beams put it for the folding doors. So much nicer to walk right in off the deck instead of climbing through the old doorway which is mostly over a 13ft drop onto concrete! The scaffolding is all installed as well, so hopefully the new windows and boards will be done soon. At least most of the attractive aluminium sheeting has been taken away!

Front of the house showing new construction - the WIR will be at the front then the ensuite and the kitchen at the back.

The data cable and electrical cabling installed downstairs. The hub/patch panel or whatever it is will be situated under the internal stairs.

The left half of the doorway onto the deck - basically it will be a 5.2 metre wide wall of glass doors.

The right side also showing what will be the kitchen. There will be a seperate door from the kitchen onto the deck. We can see right into the neighbour's kitchen now ha ha, so no privacy for them anymore!

Looking out onto the back yard from the lounge room. Obviously the water tank won't be staying there. It was intended that the beams were to be steel, which would be much thinner but for some reason the builder ordered timber. Not sure yet how the centre beam will look once the ceiling is sheeted up but it dosn't look too bad. We are a little worried that it will hang too low and ruin the effect of the 12ft ceilings.

Looking out to the back yard from the kitchen. It seems quite narrow as the width of the doorway is how wide it will be between the counters. It looked so much wider on the plan.

Our growing pile of rubbish! There have been two full skips taken away so far and this is what is left. No doubt it will get even bigger.

Looking into the kitchen from the back deck. Nothing too exciting to see yet but stay tuned for when the kitchen gets installed - it will be a chef's dream!

Reno update week 7

2007-10-20T17:24:00.000+10:00

Quite a bit has happened with the moneypit over the last 2 weeks. I've just been too busy to update the blog, and most of what has happened is not really photogenic anyway.

So anyway, firstly we have solved the floor problem. What we are going to do is carpet the 3 bedrooms and lay a new hardwood floor everywhere else. Bathrooms will be tiled of course so they don't count. We went to a floor place and as it turns out a new hardwood floor will cost an extra $10,000 or so to lay but it will look great! Dallas has chosen flooded gum also called rose gum which has a nice pinky colour and smooth grain so should look pretty swish. Unfortunately the staircase can't be made in flooded gum so it will be made from a similar timber that I don't know the name of but is also pinky/tan colour. Pic of what floor should look like below...

We also looked at a few vanities for the bathrooms but haven't made any firm decision on those yet. They all sort of look the same these days and I think we'll try to get a style that dosn't date too badly.

All the new doors and windows went in downstairs last week and they look great! Dallas was originally going to paint them white, but they look really nice so he'll probably leave them natural. The front door needs the glass changed as it is frosted and he ordered clear so if someone knocks on the door we can see who it is before we open it. Well I can anyway cause I won't open the door to strangers! Although when you think about it, the video-intercom unit will make it irrelevant anyway. I have pretty much decided that the downstairs living area will be our new computer room and my art studio. It is so nice and cool down there even with the windows shut and there is good light and plenty of room. Also it means that our bulky desks and ugly furniture won't need to be carted upstairs.

Finally, all the upstairs studwork has been installed so it is starting to look like what the plans show. This morning we went around figuring out where all the power and data points and light switches will go as Dallas is wiring them up himself (he is a licenced electrician so don't worry no dodgy electrical work being done). I reckon there will be close to 100 power points and light switches all up which would cost a fortune if we had to pay someone else to do it. The new decking boards have been installed and the front windows have been removed so the front verandah is taking shape as well. Its all getting very exciting now I can see what it will look like when finished and I'm all ready to start picking tile designs, paint colours and carpets...

Just some pics of the downstairs doors and windows. All the external chamferboards have been installed except where the old boards will be replaced. Basically downstairs is all built in now and ready for gyprock.

The main bathroom. This morning we pretty much totally redesigned it because what is drawn on the plans is not really practical in real life. The bath tub was supposed to go in the bay window with a seperate shower in the front corner but in reality this would not leave enough room for the vanity and shitter. So instead there will be a shower over bath and vanity where we have roughly marked out on the floor. The shitter will be in the bay window and there will be heaps of room for a clothes hamper and for mums to bathe the kiddies in the bathtub.

Internal studwork looking first from the back corner which will be the kitchen into the main bedroom and ensuite and part of the kitchen. The second pic shows the internal studwork from the front verandah.

Reno Update Week 5 - The Deck

2007-10-10T11:20:00.000+10:00

The builders have done quite a bit of work on the back deck last week. In QLD's hot climate, a big deck is essential for relaxing and entertaining and this one is big - about the same size as the lounge room! These photos were taken on Sunday and show the progress during the previous week. Eventually there will be handrails of course and a roof but they will be done later on.

This pic is taken from inside the garage looking up. The deck is above the corrugated iron which had to be installed to keep the garage dry from any water that might get onto the deck and leak through. It won't be visible once the garage is completed.

This last pic shows how our previous builder stuffed up the height of the retaining wall. The deck was supposed to be supported by the retaining wall but it was a good 2 courses short so the builder had to stud it to the correct height.

Floor Plans

2007-09-29T13:57:00.000+10:00

I thought it might be a good idea to post the existing floor plan and the proposed floor plans on here so people have an idea of the magnitude of the reno and what the photos show. They are not to scale and the external dimensions of the house do not change apart from the back right hand corner which is added.

Existing floor plan - total living area as there was nothing built in downstairs.

Proposed floor plan. Only one existing wall will remain.

Downstairs granny flat and garage floor plan.

Proposed front view. The thicker weatherboard lines show where new boards will be added.

Reno Update Week 4

2007-09-29T10:29:00.000+10:00

Well the builders have been working hard this past week. Already they have got all the formwork up downstairs and there is a clear bathroom, bedroom/study and living area besides the hallway/laundry area that was already up. Almost half of the exterior weatherboards are on as well as interior sheeting so it really is looking good. They reckon they will have it all locked up downstairs by mid next week and then they will start on the deck because they won't be able to do any more on the granny flat until our plumber gets the bathroom fitted out.

Here are some photos I took yesterday.

The garage and downstairs granny flat.

The front entry door - there will be an internal staircase. The granny flat will have timber french doors opening onto the patio.

Some internal formwork - looking into what will be the downstairs bathroom at the back of the house.

The weatherboards going up on the side of the house. These are properly chamfered boards - not the MDF weatherboard panels you see in many QLDer renovations these days.

Looking out from the granny flat living area into the front yard.

We found out yesterday that it is very unlikely that we will be able to have polished floors upstairs because the original floorboards are in mostly really bad condition. We are still hoping that at least the main bedroom and heavy use areas such as hallways etc will be polished floors but the lounge/dining and smaller bedrooms will probably need to be carpeted. Here are some shots of what we are working with upstairs.

Floorboards - I'm not sure how old they are but they have seen plenty of wear and tear. The original house had these wide oregon floorboards that would have come up a gorgeous golden honey colour while the sleep-out and front verandah had thinner hardwood boards shown below.

The two pics above are of what used to be the sleep-out and original bathroom. More recently it was our ensuite and the second bedroom + ensuite. Eventually it will be an ensuite and walk in robe and the back half will be the new kitchen, so these boards will end up tiled anyway.

Reno update week 3

2007-09-19T13:13:00.000+10:00

Well, finally things are getting off the ground with this reno - the builder starts today. The downstairs "granny flat" will be built in first to get it to lock up stage before he starts on the upstairs. Found out after he inspected the formwork the previous builder put up approx 2 years ago that a lot of it was done bodgy so he will have to remove it and redo it properly. Won't cost any extra apparently as such things are already included in the quote.

Yesterday I had the chore of accompanying the boyfriend to the kitchen designer to get the kitchen sorted. Probably a good thing since I am the one who uses it the most LOL. I have to say it was quite fun, well for the first hour or so anyway. After 3 hours there I never want to see another kitchen ever again! We went to Kitchen Connection and I'm quite impressed with their service and the price of the kitchen - around $15,000 not including appliances which Dallas has already purchased. This includes stone benchtops, self-closing drawers, feature glass fronted cabinets, large double sink with mixer and because he put a deposit on straight away they chuck in a doo-dad LCD TV with DVD player as a carrot to get people to buy. While $15,000 may sound expensive for a kitchen it is a pretty BIG kitchen - 6.8 meters long and 2.4 meters wide galley style. There are a total of 15 drawer and cupboard storage banks (average is 12 - 14 apparently). There will also be a huge walk-in pantry next to the fridge space but that is getting built by the builder much more cheaply than the kitchen place could do it - approx an extra $1,500 for that and a linen press.

Here are examples of what it will look like when done...

Sink and dishwasher side with glass fronted cabinets. Can't see myself ever using the dishwasher because we don't have enough crockery to get a full load. Hence the importance of a double sink...

Stove and fridge side. At the end of the kitchen near the sink there will be french doors leading onto the yet to be built huge mofo deck.

3D views of what it will look like when finished.

I am really not a "dream house" sort of person - to me a house is just a house - nothing to get my panties in a twist about unless it is a new IP purchase, but I have to say this whole reno thing is getting quite exciting. Of course, I'm not paying for any of it which makes a difference I suppose ha ha.

Reno update week 2

2007-09-16T08:22:00.000+10:00

Poor Dallas has been working his little butt off at the Raff Ave house this past week stripping the 70's renovation back to the original house so the builder can start work next week. Basically a lot of long long days. I haven't been over to see it yet but once it is all cleaned up today I might mosey on over and do the weekly grocery shop while I'm there. Today the chore is to wash down the inside of the walls, mop the floors etc to get rid of every last bit of asbestos dust so it is safe for someone to go in without a CSI suit and respirator.

Here are some updated photos. The original veejay boards will all be gyprocked over otherwise it would cost an absolute fortune in No-More-Gaps and paint to restore them.

Looking into what used to be the kitchen from the dining room

Looking into the dining room from the kitchen. The room at the far end was the original bathroom but more recently my walk-in robe. All the walls in these two photos will be removed as the kitchen will be relocated.

The kitchen again looking at the side wall where the stove used to be and a previous window that had been covered up. There will be a second bedroom where the kitchen is now.

This shot was taken from where our computer desks used to be looking toward the back wall of the lounge room. The TV was set up along this wall. Note the original fretwork above the door, a common feature in Queenslanders - unfortunately we won't be keeping any of these original bits due to noise/light factors. Note also the sag in the ceiling beam - the beam running vertical along the back wall also bows out quite a bit - a wonder the roof didn't fall in!

Both second bedrooms will be located along this wall with a bathroom in between.

Looking into the main bedroom where the robe used to be and into the ensuite. The faux bricks aren't able to be removed as they are solidly glued onto the veejay boards. They will be gyprocked over so that particular wall will be a solid 5cm thick or so.

Looking toward the front corner of the house where our desks were situated. It is quite obvious here how the previous owner Frank the Crazy German moved a lot of walls to create one huge room. This front section will be restored to its original status as a verandah. The back wall where the bedrooms will be had been totally stripped of veejays and only the outer chamfer boards remain.

Those bags are full of fibreglass insulation - apparently every wall as well as the roof was insulated. Didn't do a damn thing to keep out the summer heat or traffic noise though...

Limbo

2007-09-04T16:23:00.000+10:00

Its been a while since I have posted anything, mainly because I've had nothing to post and I am not one of those people who can just crap on about nothing, unless I'm at a job interview of course. Then I can't shut up when I really should. Anyway, just thought I would update this blog for the hell of it now that I have some news.

Firstly, I got the vacation job I applied for at Rio Tinto Aluminium! Yay! I'm so glad because after that long and very drawn out selection process I am not in the mood to do it all over again for the other 6 or 7 companies I applied for. Now I can relax and concentrate on my uni assessments without worrying whether or not I'll be employed in a meaningful job over summer. The pay is not great - only $826 gross/week but it is the experience of working in Occ Health and Safety for the largest mining company that I am after. The position is in head office right here in Brisbane too, with a site visit or two to probably Yarwun or Boyne Island smelter. I was hoping to get a stint for the three months on site somewhere say, Port Hedland in WA or somewhere equally far away, but that's OK - maybe next year.

Secondly, I have not been able to start my next portrait yet because we are moving on Thursday morning into Dallas's other house. I won't be helping of course, since I have an exam that morning, but it is still inconvenient as I have tonnes of assessments to complete at the moment. I'm looking forward to moving though, as Dallas will finally be starting on the house reno that has been in limbo for 2 years and after it is finished, we will be living in almost a brand new house. I might blog it's progress even though I probably won't see much of it but it will be interesting to see how it goes.

Here are some pics of what it looks like now - it was last renoed in the 70's as you can probably tell...

View from the road of the front

View from the back - there will be a huge mofo deck when it's finished.

The 4-bay garage and laundry area. There will be a seperate living area down here as well as internal stairs.

The kitchen.

The dining area looking in from the lounge room.

The lounge area complete with psycho-kitty.

Our ensuite bathroom which happens to be the only bathroom at the moment. There will be 3 in the finished house.

The workbench er I mean bedroom. Doncha just love the 70s wallpaper and light fittings.

Our study which is really just another corner of the one big lounge/dining room. This area will end up being a front verandah.

The second bedroom which Dallas has already started ripping apart. That's a pile of asbestos sheeting so it is a no-go area unless you are wearing a respirator and sperm suit.

Our resident possum Frank who lives in the ceiling second bedroom. Poor thing - he will be evicted now.

As you can see, the whole house is an absolute mess. We don't usually live in such squalor being solid upper-middle class and all that ha ha but neither of us can be bothered doing housecleaning when it will all be pulled down soon anyway.

Portrait finished - finally!

2007-08-12T14:44:00.000+10:00

Here 'tis at long last. I think a number of new species have evolved in the time it has taken me to complete.

I'm actually quite happy with how it turned out and looking forward to starting my next project which will be a portrait of my sister and her partner in Fiji. I won't be able to post it's progress here, as my sister may sneak a look but I will post the finished version. So expect a lot of posts about crap until then.

Definately Worth a Read

2007-08-12T14:38:00.000+10:00

Was directed to this blog recently . Reading this makes me angry on so many levels, mostly by how our government keeps spending our tax dollars on these absolute losers who should not receive a single cent more of "assistance". It also proves that some people should never be allowed to have children. Ever. Honestly people, get off your goddamn arse and take some responsibility for your own lives instead of blaming everyone else.

As for government policy of letting criminals and lunatics roam the streets, well criminals should be in jail and the mentally ill should be in psychiatric hospitals -end of story. I will gladly pay twice as much tax to support this policy.

As a landlord, I worry that one day my property manager will not vet an application thoroughly and I will be saddled with this type of tenant. If that is ever the case, I guarantee I will not be as nice or understanding as the Department of Housing.

Official Smart Arse

2007-08-08T10:46:00.001+10:00

Well, as of today, people will be telling the absolute truth when they call me a smart arse. I received in the mail, from Griffith University (where I am studying) an official invitation to join the Golden Key International Honours Society which is apparently only extended to students who are in the top 15% of students across all disciplines at that university. So there, I am now an official, recognised smarty-pants.

I must admit, I have never heard of this society before, and at first I thought it might be some sort of scam considering I had to send them $93.00 (+ $13.00 if I wanted a membership pin). But after checking out their website and clarifying with my university I was reassured that no one is playing a trick on me and that I actually am being rewarded for all my "hard work" in the 2006/2007 school year. Doing a dead easy degree has some advantages obviously.

Portrait WIP8

2007-08-05T17:47:00.000+10:00

God, this is dragging on forever isn't it? Here is the latest update. I've started finalising the background and am very, very close to finishing.

Next time I won't bother with the grisaille and just start with the tonal values in flesh colour.

Personality Tests

2007-08-05T17:32:00.000+10:00

I was browsing a couple of blogs today and noticed that there are a few personality test widgets making their way around the blogosphere. A few days ago, I had to take an online personality test as part of my Rio Tinto application, which was not fun at all, so I thought I would give these fun ones a go as well. I have taken psych tests before at my old work and the results of these are pretty much the same - I am still the world's biggest introvert I think ha ha. Anyway, I will post them up here for a bit of fun.

This one is a version of the good old Myers Briggs type indicator along with a multiple intelligence test, which I've never taken before. The results are pretty interesting - my top career matches are things like conservationalist, animal trainer, geologist, ecologist, marine biologist etc etc which are all jobs I would love to have! Artist, architect and psychologist are up there as well. Too late to change careers now though...

Cautious Leader

This next one says I'm a cautions leader with very high authoritarianism, very high agency, very high masculinity and very high confidence. Scroll over the coloured bar to find out more about me...

10 countries I'd like to visit...

2007-07-31T18:27:00.000+10:00

Long time since I've played this, but I was getting the emails on Wednesday morning so no point really. It's Tuesday night here, but technically still Tuesday, so here I go...

1) Kenya - to see the varying landscapes and wildlife of course. I intend to go either this summer, or next winter at the latest.

2) Namibia - same reason as above and especially to see the giant sand dunes.

3) Egypt - still in Africa, but this time to see the Nile and ancient pyramids.

4) Vietnam - especially Halong Bay. It is so close as well!

5) Sumatra - to see the Orang Utan sanctuary and rainforest. As you can probably tell, I love to visit different environments.

6) Thailand - for the spectacular beaches and tropical scenery. And the food of course!

7) New Zealand - I visited the North Island last Xmas, but would love to visit the South Island, particularly to do some tramping around Milford and Doubtful Sound.

8) Chile - I would love to visit the very south and see the high mountains and glaciers in Chile, before they all melt.

9) The Czech Republic - Prague looks like such a beautiful city - all the history! I would love to visit pretty much all of Europe, but Prague the most.

10) Greece/Turkey - I know I know, that is two countries, but the area that I would like to visit most is where they both join up on the Mediterannean Sea. And of course to see Anzac Cove and Gallipoli.

Portrait WIP 7

2007-07-29T14:19:00.000+10:00

As promised here is the current stage of where I'm at. Almost near completion - just another glaze to add to the skin tones, complete the eyes and darken around the eyes, detail on the lips and shirt and finish off the background and I'm done. The eyes will definately be next to get rid of that deer in the headlights look that is freaking my out. I will be very glad to see it completed!

Oh yeah, I still have to add my glasses, which have no frames and are coated in anti reflection stuff on the lenses, so they will probably be quite a challenge to paint accurately.

An award for moi

2007-07-28T14:28:00.000+10:00

Sueblimley of Discovering Blogging has bestowed on me the Rocking Girl Blogger award, so thanks very much Sue, I'm certainly flattered considering I have been so busy doing everything else lately but blog! Make sure you visit Sue's bloggy for some great hints and tips on blogging and lots of other stuff. So now I will pass the award on to a few other worthy rockin' chick bloggers...

1) Diva over at http://diva-days.blogspot.com/ for her services to Business Mums and divas everywhere.
2) Heather over at http://www.eyeflashes.com/blog/ for her hilarious anecdotes about her life, which is even more chaotic than my own.
3) Sailor Girl at http://atlanticoazul.blogspot.com/ (In Portuguese but easily translated via Google) for the beautiful photos of Portugal, sail boats and the ocean.
4) Pencilwizard at http://artwithapencil.blogspot.com/ for her fantastic drawings of wildlife of all kinds.

In other news, an updated post on the portrait from hell will come shortly as soon as it dries enough to photograph it, so hang in there.

In other other news, I had a phone interview for vacation work at Rio Tinto, which I am 99.99% sure I have stuffed up. It has been six years since I have had a job interview of any kind, and christ was I nervous! It didn't help that the interview chick had the strongest Scottish accent I have ever heard and I had to ask her to repeat the questions so many times she probably thinks I'm a retard or didn't listen. Oh well, I have applied for plenty other companies as well and if worse comes to worse and I don't score any vacation work experience then I am planning to do a 5 week volunteer project with lions and elephants in Kenya... so whatever!

I wonder if I can use this blogger award in my resume...

Last days of freedom...

2007-07-22T17:18:00.000+10:00

Instead of working on my portrait or finishing off my taxes, Dallas and I decided to take advantage of a warm sunny winter's day and go bushwalking at Mt Barney national park near Rathdowney and the NSW/QLD border. The scenery is nothing spectacular - mainly dry eucalypt forest and millions of granite boulders but it was lovely to get out of the city and into the fresh air. Most of the walks in the park are of an extreme grade involving unmarked tracks and mountain climbing, but we found an easy 3 hour return walk to a small pool in a granite gorge. I'm thinking of doing a painting in the future of the area incorporating the main shapes of tall skinny trees, round boulders and blackboys.

Tomorrow I will definately get back to the portrait now that I have finished work and don't have to attend classes until Thursday.

Portrait - WIP6

2007-07-15T13:54:00.000+10:00

Not much progress this week - I've been fighting off a headcold and not feeling all that great. A runny nose and sore throat are not conducive to artistic inspiration. The little bit of work I did do was done earlier in the week. I hoped I would be feeling well enough this weekend to add to it before posting, but I don't, so this will be it for this week.

I'm quite happy with the skin tones of my boyfriend's portrait, but I can't get the eyes quite right. No matter what I do, they just don't seem to be focused on the viewer. Even adding a slight reflection onto the surface of the eye does not work. If anyone (Kim!!!) has any ideas on tricks to make it look like the subject is focussing on the viewer it would be greatly appreciated! Other than that, I don't have any major dramas outstanding. Hopefully I will be able to start on my portrait during the week if I feel better and have a day or two off work.

Had a little fiddle with his eyes again and by widening them slightly he now looks more focussed I think. What do you think? The skin tones were done by applying a very turpsy glaze of Pilbara Red over the areas I wanted redder and then removing with a clean cloth, reapplying and removing etc etc until I got it just right. The beard area was done in the same fashion with a mix of prussian blue and burnt umber.

Anyway, that's it for this week. I've got to start getting my tax in order so I have enough money to see me through the next semester of uni!

Oh yeah, I delivered Ormiston Gorge and Mereenie Loop Track to the RNA stewards today, and got a very positive comment from the lady collecting the paintings. Most of the people delivering paintings were older, say in the 50+ age group with most of the paintings I could see being traditional landscapes and still-lifes and such so I don't know what the competition will be like seeing it is an agricultural show and not a painting show as such. I don't care if I win a prize or not, but I would love to sell them! I'll have to fork out the $25.00 entry fee to the Ekka and have a look around this year.

Portrait - WIP5

2007-07-09T15:16:00.000+10:00

Making some progress on this at last although at times I just want to give up on it! Who would have thought painting people could be so difficult. Still, I will perservere until it is complete even if it kills me.

My portrait on the left is after the first colour glaze, which I used a transparent brown ochre. Looks like I spent way too long in the tanning booth... The portrait of D shows the next coat of colour completed. This was the most difficult step so far I think, and I really almost gave up on it when he ended up looking all wrong halfway through thanks to me stuffing up his nose. I'm happy with how it looks now though (phew!) The colours I used for the skin tone are my burnt umber/prussion blue mix for the shadows and Australian Grey mixed with brown ochre for the flesh tones. In the next glaze I intend to redden the nose and cheek areas a bit and add some highlights as well as a bluey/grey beard shadow around the chin/lower cheeks and upper lip. Due to the slow drying time of the paint at the moment, I won't be able to work me portrait until next weekend as I worked on it yesterday and it is not quite ready for another coat yet. Such a slow process!

Despite the extreme difficulty I have found portraits to be, I am intending to paint my sister and her boyfriend as a Christmas present. She has a lovely photo of them in Fiji with a beautiful sunset. Very challenging indeed, but I'm keen to try. That will be my next painting and as usual, it will be documented here step by step.

Portrait - WIP4

2007-07-02T12:16:00.000+10:00

The latest update on my portrait. Basically just further moulding of the facial features so they're not so blocky. I hoped to get a lot more done this weekend, as I have Monday off, but Saturday was wasted and the paint hadn't dried sufficiently overnight to work on it today. So, it will have to wait until next weekend before I can start the colour glazes. There are still some minor adjustments to make to the faces, mainly my boyfriend's jawline which is bulkier in real life and not so narrow, but I can do that easily enough in the next installment.

Portrait - WIP3

2007-06-24T13:24:00.000+10:00

So this is what I have done today since my last post. This photo shows the detail in the background I mentioned in my last post. The grey I used is a mix of burnt umber, prussian blue and titanium white which are also the main colours used in the background landscape.

I'm actually quite happy with it so far, which is totally unexpected! Of course there are lots of things I want to fix in the next stage eg my dopey looking eye, which is too small and my skin tone which needs all over lightening. My ear looks too small too, so that will be tweaked. If only it were that easy to fix defects in real life LOL. The next stage will be a lot of lightening and highlights added to the grisaille before starting the glazing. Hopefully I will finish this before uni starts up again at the end of July.

Portrait - WIP2

2007-06-24T11:25:00.000+10:00

I did the second pass of the background yesterday, added some more clouds to the sky and some more detail to the foreground. Due to it being so cold and overcast here at the moment the paint is drying a lot slower than usual, so today I won't be able to do anymore on the background and instead will start some basic block-in on the figures.

I will need to do at least one more pass over the background, but that will now have to wait until next weekend, since I am stuck at work during the week (boo!) The photo makes the foreground look a lot darker than it is in real life, and the detail does not show well. Hopefully I will be able to get a more true to life photo along the way.

Portrait - WIP

2007-06-19T11:41:00.000+10:00

Okay, I have started my self portrait. This is the first time I have ever tried to paint a portrait at all, let alone a self portrait, so I have no idea of how it will turn out. Those who have been following this blog for a while will already know I am hopeless at painting people, and prefer landscapes. My intention with this painting is to complete the background landscape first, then do the portraits using the grisaille method, where I paint the tones and values in grey first and then glaze colour over the top. Hopefully this method will allow me to paint a portrait without stuffing it up.

Yesterday I sketched in the faces of me and my partner. I am the one on the left with half my head chopped off. If you are wondering why the funny composition, well it was the best photo I have of myself (ha ha). We were taking a "sunset" camel ride at a camel farm just outside Alice Springs. My partner held the camera out in front of us to take our picture and as you can see, his aim was just a bit off. I quite like the unusual composition though, and I hope it adds rather than detracts from the finished picture.

This is the first colour block-in in the background. As (I hope) you can see, there is strong backlighting with the sun coming from behind the trees. It was just coming into late spring at the time and was overcast nearly every day so the sunset was quite dull and insipid. The sky is a bit muddy at this stage, but that will be fixed when I do the next layer.

Edit - well I just got landed a temp admin assistant job that will go from 3 to 5 weeks starting tomorrow, so I will only be able to paint on weekends now. What a short break that was!

Aussie Tourism Info

2007-06-18T12:19:00.000+10:00

These questions about Australia are from potential visitors. They were posted on an Australian Tourism Website, and the answers are the actual responses by the website officials, who obviously have a sense of humour ...

Q: Does it ever get windy in Australia? I have never seen it rain on TV, how do the plants grow? (UK).
A: We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around watching them die.

Q: Will I be able to see kangaroos in the street? (USA)
A: Depends how much you've been drinking.

Q: I want to walk from Perth to Sydney - can I follow the railroad tracks? (Sweden)
A: Sure, it's only three thousand miles, take lots of water.

Q: Is it safe to run around in the bushes in Australia? (Sweden)
A: So it's true what they say about Swedes.

Q: Are there any ATMs (cash machines) in Australia? Can you send me a list of them in Brisbane, Cairns, Townsville and Hervey Bay? (UK)
A: What did your last slave die of?

Q: Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Australia? (USA)
A: A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe. Aus-tra-lia is that big island in the middle of the Pacific which does not... oh forget it. Sure, the hippo racing is every Tuesday night in Kings Cross. Come naked.

Q: Which direction is North in Australia? (USA)
A: Face south and then turn 180 degrees. Contact us when you get here and we'll send the rest of the directions.

Q: Can I bring cutlery into Australia? (UK)
A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do.

Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys' Choir schedule? (USA)
A: Aus-tri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which is...oh forget it. Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday night in Kings Cross, straight after the hippo races. Come naked.

Q: Can I wear high heels in Australia? (UK)
A: You are a British politician, right?

Q: Are there supermarkets in Sydney and is milk available all year round? (Germany)
A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of vegan hunter/gatherers. Milk is illegal.

Q: Please send a list of all doctors in Australia who can dispense rattlesnake serum. (USA)
A: Rattlesnakes live in A-meri-ca, which is where YOU come from. All Australian snakes are perfectly harmless, can be safely handled and make good pets.

Q: I have a question about a famous animal in Australia, but I forget its name. It's a kind of bear and lives in trees (USA)
A: It's called a Drop Bear. They are so called because they drop out of Gum trees and eat the brains of anyone walking underneath them. You can scare them off by spraying yourself with human urine before you go out walking.

Q: Do you have perfume in Australia? (France)
A: No, WE don't stink.

Q: I have developed a new product that is the fountain of youth. Can you tell me where I can sell it in Australia? (USA)
A: Anywhere significant numbers of Americans gather.

Q: Can you tell me the regions in Tasmania where the female population is smaller than the male population? (Italy)
A: Yes, gay nightclubs.

Q: When do you celebrate Christmas in Australia? (France)
A: Only at Christmas.

Q: I was in Australia in 1969 on R+R, and I want to contact the girl I dated while I was staying in Kings Cross. Can you help? (USA)
A: Yes, and you will still have to pay her by the hour. Come naked.

Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go? (USA)
A: Yes, but you'll have to learn it first

I'm Free I'm Free!!!!

2007-06-18T09:48:00.000+10:00

Halleluja! Finally finished my exams on Saturday afternoon and now I have absolutely no committments. For the first time in months there is nothing I HAVE to do each day, I can do whatever I like without feeling guilty or stressed. Yay! It is like I am finally having a weekend after 15 weeks of working non-stop, because as a full time student that is what I do - non-stop uni work all day every day Monday to Sunday. Now I have 5 weeks of freedom to relax and recoup my energy for next semester.

Anyway, I think I did OK in 2 of my final 3 exams, not so sure about the Government exam but I am past caring about that particular subject. So what did I do yesterday on my first day of freedom? Cleaned the house of course! Do you have any idea of what comes out of 20 year old carpet when it is not vacuumed for a few months? Well you don't want to know! Trust me.

I'm hoping to start a new painting soon, but as yet I don't have any inspiration, so you'll all have to be patient for the meantime. I do want to try a portrait in grisaille though, so that might be what I tackle next.

Ormiston Gorge - complete

2007-06-10T09:13:00.000+10:00

Finally finished Ormiston Gorge yesterday afternoon/evening. This is my first time in painting reflections in water and I don't think it turned out too bad. I am reluctant to do anything further to it unless I ruin it, so I will call this finished! Yay. Once again, the photo is less than great and I will try to get a better one in different light once it is dry.

Quick Update...

2007-06-02T10:03:00.000+10:00

Managed to grap some painting time last night and early this morning, so this is where I'm up to. Now I only need to tackle the reflections and I'm done. I'll do them all in one hit and get it over with I think!

When it rains it pours...

2007-06-01T17:29:00.000+10:00

The vacation work experience application process for various companies has opened finally, so I am busy busy busy getting my applications in to companies like Rio Tinto, BHP, Thiess, Shell and other resources/construction/engineering companies in the hope of scoring 3 months paid work experience over the summer uni vacation. Getting vacation work at these companies pretty much guarantees a spot in their highly sought after graduate programs which in turn guarantee an excellent career path. So, needless to say I have been putting quite a bit of effort into them.

Some of the questions they ask are interesting to say the least. Rio Tinto want to know if I have travelled extensively and what did I learn from it. Well, I have travelled a bit mostly when I was younger. I backpacked around the US and Canada solo in my early 20's. The most important thing I learnt from that was to listen when hostel staff advise you of no-go areas, because they are classed as no-go areas for a damn good reason! Don't know what they are going to do with that information, but maybe they will get a chuckle as they sift through what will probably add up to 100s of applications. Another question they asked was about personal achievements, so this weeks 10 on Tuesday came in real handy for jogging my memory.

Anyway, I probably won't be posting much over the next three weeks as I study for exams, get these applications finished off, try to finish my Ormiston Gorge painting in time to send off to the Ekka by July 13 and organise temporary secretarial employment for the winter break! I'll try to post pics of Ormiston Gorge as I get bits done - not much to do on it now but need to find the time to do it.

Ten things I have accomplished

2007-05-29T20:49:00.000+10:00

Let me start this week by saying, I have not accomplished 10 things of any noteworthyness, so this will be a short list.

1. Not getting knocked up while still at high school like all my friends

2. Playing representative ice-hockey at state level.

3. Getting my previous job as a corporate HR advisor without any prior experience or qualifications. I really impressed them while doing some temping and they asked me to stay. This job turned my life around.

4. Becoming a property/share investor and building wealth in recent years after spending my life in casual and temporary work, living week to week and spending all my money on good times and going out.

5. Not letting my wealth turn me into a greedy, selfish arse who dosn't give a damn about less fortunate people.

6. Getting into a commerce degree as a mature age student after a less than successful high school career. I got a pretty bad TE score which really limited my future job and study prospects at the time.

7. Maintaining and keeping a great relationship with a fantastic bloke for almost 4 years now. A personal record!

I can't think of any others at the moment, but if I do, I'll add them.

Ormiston Gorge - WIP 4

2007-05-27T13:14:00.000+10:00

Took a quick break from exam study today to do some more work on this. After a lot of painting and re-painting I am finally happy with the colour of the sand in the foreground. Other than the sand and the closest rocky outcrop I have added the first layer of colour of the vegetation which will be built up in a series of layers. The reflections in the water will be left until the very last, because I have never tried them before, and am more than a bit nervous of stuffing the whole thing up!

Everyone Has More Sex Than Me

2007-05-26T10:07:00.000+10:00

Check this out. Found it while browsing on the Australian Art Forum website. Great animation and a pretty catchy tune as well, so I just had to share it.

God, whatever did we do before the internet?

Anyway, today I'm taking my better half to check out the Churchie Emerging Art award exhibition in East Brisbane. It is a pretty prestigious art award, and some excellent artists I "know (of)" and admire from various forums such as Sue Beyer and Simon Collins are exhibiting. I can't wait to see their works in real life, along with many other great pieces of art as well. I have never been to a prestigious art award exhibition before, so really looking forward to it.

Update: Really enjoyed the exhibition. There were some really excellent works there, both paintings and sculpture. I quite liked the winner, which was this digital print/painting by Penelope Francis Cain. The only thing that sort of spoiled it for me was the digital print on canvas part. The overall effect and style of the piece was very good though, in my (totally uneducated) view. The other pieces can be seen here .

Robbed!

2007-05-24T14:42:00.001+10:00

No, I'm not talking about who won/lost the State of Origin last night. Watching a bunch of overpaid gorillas chasing a ball around for an hour or so is not my idea of entertainment.

No, I'm talking about something much more important - the atrocious mark I received for my Government-Business Relations assignment. Today, guys and gals, is the first time in the history of my university career where I have received a credit! Yes, a credit!!! I am beside myself with shock. I have on the rare occasion, well, once, received a distinction, but it was so close to a High Distinction (note caps) I didn't feel I needed to redress it. But never before have I fallen into the pool of averageness that is a credit.

Of course this means war and you can bet I will be excersising my democratic right for an independant remark. I've made an appointment with my tutor for next week to "discuss" this gross act of unfairness. I ask you, how can an assignment that is written in the same style and structure as the multitude of HD assignments I have submitted over the past 4 years only receive a credit? It beggars belief. Not only that, but this is a first year subject as well, and the other two assignments I have received back to date are second year assignments and they got HDs!!! I mean, come on! Where's the consistency?

These are my tutor's comments, written in RED pen!
[my name], Good research, but poor essay structure. A better ability to paragraph would get you a much higher mark.

What the? Poor essay structure!?!? And yet only one red arrow in the body of the assignment to indicate where two paragraphs should be joined - nothing else. There is absolutely nothing wrong with my assignment structure - it meets every single criteria in the course outline. I will be very interested in hearing what he has to say in his defence next week, considering that he hasn't actually seen fit to define or explain what he means by "poor essay structure", or tell me what is wrong with the paragraph structure.

Not. Happy. Jan.

Uluru Trees - New WIP

2007-05-22T11:19:00.000+10:00

Here is the initial concept sketch for my next Winter Challenge painting. I snapped these trees when I did the walk around the base of Uluru, or Ayers Rock. The charcoal will be covered completely by paint as I work, but it still serves to get an idea of where things will be. I'm not sure about the tiny bit of sky in the top left hand corner either. I think I will make the whole top third of the painting the rock and not have any sky at all.

This is the photo reference. I think I will have a lot more of the light falling on the actual rock to brighten the background and keep the foreground in shadow as it is. I don't know how it will turn out, as the photo is pretty bland. I will probably have to use quite a bit of artistic license in this one I think.

Ormiston Gorge - WIP 3

2007-05-20T13:06:00.001+10:00

Some more work done on my other work in progress as well today. Now that 99.9% of my uni assignments are done and dusted, I am getting a lot more painting time in as well - at least until I have to start swotting for exams next week that is.

The brights in the photo are quite blown out, so the yellows in the rocks and the pale sky are not that bright at all. I think my camera was confused with the darks in the bottom half of the painting and over compensated for them. There is a bit of glare also as it is still wet.

I blocked in the water and sand with a mix of pthalo blue, burnt umber and titanium white, but the final result won't be this mucky grey. I need the sand to be cool though, so some blue/violet tones perhaps. The paler sand in the mid ground will be warm tones. The water will of course have reflections, which I am not looking forward to doing at all!

Mereenie Loop - complete

2007-05-20T09:35:00.000+10:00

All done. I'm happy enough with this, although I would have liked it to be a little more looser than it turned out. I still feel I'm too anal with the details but hopefully over time this will resolve itself. If not, I guess I'll have to learn to live with it and develop my style around it.

I've decided I will enter this one and Ormiston Gorge in the Fine Arts competition at the Ekka this year. I don't know if they will be good enough or not, as I don't know the class of work that shows at the Ekka. No doubt it is quite a high standard being a Royal show and all. I don't expect to come anywhere or win any prizemoney, but just want them to be viewed by people in real life and have them hanging in a public space.

Mereenie Loop - WIP 5

2007-05-18T17:34:00.001+10:00

Almost done! I have already darkened the road slightly and the only other things to do is to glaze the foreground bushes with Italian Pink and do the tree trunks in the middle distance. Hopefully I can finish it over the weekend.

Mum's Big Trip

2007-05-17T16:58:00.000+10:00

My 76 year old mum left on her 60 day around the world holiday this afternoon. My sister and I took her out to dinner again last night as a final farewell. It was touch and go there for a while, as she hadn't received her passport and visa's back from the tour organisers in Perth until yesterday afternoon, so she was understandably anxious! Apparently they told her they had posted them two weeks ago, so we all assumed they posted them in the regular mail, not priority next-day delivery. As it turned out, they did post them priority, but the girl, who we shall call Sarah (because that is her name) forgot to sign the No Dangerous Goods declaration so the package had to go by road.

Of course mum phoned the tour company to give Sarah "a piece of her mind" about this oversight which could have easily meant she had to rebook the trip, but luckily for her (Sarah that is) she was on holidays so mum had to make a rather longwinded complaint to the manager instead.

Anyway, it all turned out OK in the end despite the unnecessary stress and she flew out this afternoon for Singapore where apparently a cousin of mine lives. Next stop Beijing and the Great Wall of China. I can't wait for the first update and hopefully some photos very soon, although if past experience is anything to go by, I won't hear from her until it's time to pick her up from the airport...

10 Songs that make me sad

2007-05-16T07:49:00.000+10:00

In no particular order...

1. Angie - The Rolling Stones. Song about love going wrong?

2. Beth - KISS. Poor Beth, home all alone while her rockstar husband is out with the band... Oh Beth, what can he do?

3. I Was Only 19 - Redgum/The Herd. I think The Herd's version is sadder for some reason. Song about Vietnam vets and how the war has affected their life.

4. Tears in Heaven - Eric Clapton. Song about his young son who died. How could it not make anyone sad!

5. Glory Days - Bruce Springsteen. Nothing sadder than remembering your glory days and all that unfulfilled potential.

6. Boys of Summer - Glenn Frey (sp). This song reminds me of the long summer school holidays spent hanging out on the beach.

7. Jack and Diane - John Cougar Melancholy (ha ha). This reminds me of Year 12 at school, I found it sad because Jack and Diane seemed to be doomed for a dead-end life in a small town, and I was scared the same was going to happen to me.

8. Make Me Pure - Robbie Williams. This is sad because it seems to be about his battle to stay clean from drugs and alcohol.

9. Candle in the Wind - Elton John. The Princess Diana version. Such a tragic thing to happen to a beautiful person.

10. Love the One You're With - Can't remember who sings it. Reminds me of when I was going out with a lovely guy but I didn't love him and I had to break up with him.

I'm a little bit teary now! sniffle sniffle.

Ormiston Gorge WIP2

2007-05-15T12:33:00.000+10:00

Apologies for the blurry photo. Completed a little more on the gorge walls and sky. There will be a need for another layer or two of lighter values in the rocks before I start on the middle and foreground. I anticipate that this painting will actually take a while to complete as it is quite a complicated set-up.

New World High Jump Record

2007-05-15T10:20:00.000+10:00

RECORD HIGH JUMP FROM A KNEELING POSITION

A new world's record in the high jump from a kneeling position was set last week at a beach in southern France.

The picture below was taken just three seconds before the jump took place!

Another reason cats are better than dogs!

I've been tagged

2007-05-13T12:24:00.000+10:00

Kim from Laketrees has tagged me for a meme, so I will do my best not to stuff it up. I have to list
1. Four of my favourite jobs
2. Four of my favorite local places
3. Four of my favourite foods
4. Four of my favorite international places and
four people who I am tagging.

Here goes...
Jobs: Beside my corporate HR career I've only had crap jobs, but in hindsight they were a lot more fun!
Night shift at McDonalds Cremorne drive-thru - A fun social atmosphere
Receptionist at Grafikstyles Pre-press services - great employer and cruisy job
Temping at various companies - no stress, no office politics, no hassles
Site secretary for Bovis Lendlease during the Warringah Mall redevelopment - another fun job with long Friday afternoon lunches, and lots of good looking construction workers ;)

Local places
Noosa - well worth the drive for the National Park, beautiful beaches and yummy restaurants
Stanthorpe - the best wines in the world!
Lamington National Park - a really great day trip in the rainforest.
Eckersleys art supplies in the City. I get lost in there for hours.

Foods
lamb - don't care how it is prepared, I love it
a nice thick juicy steak
any seafood except mussels
Japanese food

International places
Bay of Islands in New Zealand - lovely weather and scenery
Tongariro National Park (New Zealand)- a variety of landscapes and great tramping through over live volcanos
Santa Fe in New Mexico - a lovely arty place with beautiful desert scenery
Tofino in Canada - Unspoilt wilderness and coastal scenery (well it was unspoilt 14 years ago!)

The four lucky people I'm tagging are:
Diva from Diva Days in Melbourne
Lisa G from A Day in the Life of an Animal Portraitist in Canada
Sailor Girl from Atlantico Azul in Portugal
Lynda from Lulu's Bay in Syd-a-ney!

Have fun ladies!

Happy Mum's Day

2007-05-13T10:06:00.000+10:00

Happy Mothers Day to all the mums out there, especially to my friend Lisa who is celebrating her first mothers day this year. I hope you are being spoilt rotten and get taken somewhere really posh and expensive! My own mother will receive some perfume, a crossword scratchy and two 1GB memory cards for her upcoming trip to China, Russia, Finland and Canada. She leaves on Thursday for 2 or 3 months (at the age of 76 and with chronic back problems), so our mothers day dinner tonight will also be a bon voyage dinner. I booked a table at the Tibetan Kitchen, which is a Nepalese/Tibetan restaurant in West End, right near where she lives. They have some really yummy food and an authentic atmosphere, so it should be a great night out.

I hope all you other mums have an equally lovely day with your families!

Ormiston Gorge WIP

2007-05-12T13:30:00.000+10:00

My painting of Ormiston Gorge so far, just an initial sketch in turpsy paint, and a very rough block in. Again in this one I will be trying to keep it quite rough and use a knife wherever possible.

WIP 4

2007-05-12T13:01:00.000+10:00

Latest update. Started blocking in the vegetation which will end up being a lot lighter than this. Also, I've changed the foreground a bit to make it look like the viewer is a lot higher than in the reference photo where the road is flat. Not too much more to do on this one, just some detail on the vegetation and road in the foreground and it is all over red rover!

I have also started work on my next piece which will be a painting of Ormiston Gorge, also in the Northern Territory. I'll post about that one seperately though.

I've been reviewed!

2007-05-11T15:55:00.000+10:00

I stumbled upon a great site recently called Skeet's Stuff where I had a go at the Tuesday Teaser contest where you have to try and guess an object from a very close-up photo and I won! Well not only is it pretty much the only thing I have ever won, but I won a lovely review of this bloggy which was really nice. I feel so warm and fuzzy inside now hee hee, although that could be attributed to the margarita I've just had to help me finish off my second last uni assignment...

Anyway, I got these photos in an email this morning and thought I'd share. And no, they're not rude for a change LOL. I can't imagine the amount of work that would go into making one of these incredible sculptures, but they really look great.

Pretty incredible hey? Apparently they are lifesize and made from driftwood.

Celebrity Gossip - a short break in reality

2007-05-09T15:55:00.000+10:00

Well I have to admit, I don't usually pay any attention whatsoever to "celebrity" gossip and the rest of it, but yesterday I was stuck in a rather long line at Coles checkout when Woman's Day magazine caught my eye.

"Brad Back in Jen's Arms" the headline screamed with a short byline underneath "I never stopped loving you" claims Brad. Ummm don't you mean "I never stopped loving you even though I had sex with that skanky Angelina in her trailer while we were still married and then dumped you for her when I knocked her up"? Hello! Am I missing something here?

Being a girl, I was immediately intrigued at this juicy development. Every one of us who has been dumped by lying, cheating, ratscum boyfriends or husbands who decide that the neighbourhood bike is a much more exciting ride than their significant others knows exactly what poor Jen needs to hear right now, and I for one urge you Jen, if you ever happen to Google yourself and come across this blog -"DON'T TAKE HIM BACK!!!"

My God, who reads this drivel anyway...

10 things most people don't know about me

2007-05-08T19:13:00.001+10:00

1. I am absolutely terrified of flying in planes. Like Mr T, I almost have to be sedated.

2. I love horror movies - the scarier the better.

3. I play a pretty good game of no limit hold-em, but suck at all other forms of poker.

4. I suck at chess too.

5. I don't believe in religion, God or an afterlife, but I do believe in ghosts and aliens.

6. While on the ghost tour at Port Arthur, I believe I experienced an "otherworldly experience". Either that or there were some bloody huge possums in the roof!

7. I used to play competitive ice-hockey. In Queensland. On real ice.

8. No matter what time I go to bed at night, I will always wake up at around 8.00am.

9. I really wanted to be in the police force when I was younger. I am asthmatic though so couldn't join. Like those fat coppers can run anyway.

10. I am scared of heights and can't even walk over bridges if they are more than 1 or 2 storeys high.

WIP 3

2007-05-08T15:06:00.000+10:00

Another update! I'm powering along with this one - might even be finished by next week at this rate! I don't know why, but I am finding that my paint is drying really quickly of late. I last worked on this last night, and today it was pretty much touch dry, and these are oil paints. I might let it stand for a few days to really dry off properly before the next stage though. The foreground and road are a mix of AAS Pilbara Red, Australian Red Gold and Zinc white if anyone is interested. It looks a lot redder in this photo than in real life though. I will use these colours mixed with the prussian and cerulean blues to make my greens when I do the foliage, so that all the colours are harmonious.

Whoops! Profanity warning!

2007-05-08T08:48:00.000+10:00

Got sent these photos in an email and found them quite amusing. I think the first one is faked though, as the letters "rre" could not possibly fit into the tiny bit of obscured car door.

Mereenie Loop Track - Stage 2

2007-05-07T15:46:00.000+10:00

I've been fiddling off and on with this over the past few days while trying to knock over my uni assignments. There are still a lot of issues with the mountains which I need to fix - colour is still too bright etc, but hopefully they will be resolved as I go on. I'm liking the colours though, so that's one thing at least I am happy with.

Mereenie Loop Track - Work in Progress

2007-05-04T15:08:00.000+10:00

I have started work on my first Winter Challenge painting. It is from a photo I took last October on our Ayers Rock safari. This dirt road is the Mereenie Loop Track, a 300 odd kilometre "shortcut" from Ayers Rock to Kings Canyon, which runs alongside and through the West MacDonnell Ranges and some really beautiful desert country.

As you can see, I have blurred the photo to get rid of most of the detail so it dosn't distract me from the main colours and shapes.

This is the painting so far. All I have done is block in the main colours of the ground, mountains and sky. There will be a fair bit more detail than this in the finished work though, and the addition of trees and shrubs should give it more depth and distance (I hope). What you see here took me about half an hour, so I am well pleased with my progress so far. As usual, I will let it dry before going on to the next layer.

New Challenge

2007-05-03T15:51:00.000+10:00

Australian Art Forum are having another art challenge and I have decided to participate again despite failing dismally at my previous challenge. That's OK though as it did get me out of my comfort zone for a little bit.

My next challenge is to attempt to paint more expressively and not concentrate on details. I actually hope to move away from a realistic style and paint more abstractly (is that a word?) while still painting landscapes and seascapes. I also hope to do at least one painting outside en plein air, at least start one anyway, if I finish it inside thats OK too. I'm going to be quite flexible with it all and see how it pans out.

My goal with this challenge is to train myself not to get so hung up with the little details of a scene, but to try and paint the essence of it, rather than replicate it from photos. I have found lately since trying to become more realistic and fussy, that I am not enjoying it as much. I have also found that I become more frightened about getting things wrong which deters me from experimenting with new techniques etc. So I want to chuck all that out and just paint what I feel and see, rather than worry about whether the painting looks like the photo, because really - who gives a shit?

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Took these photos yesterday, and I liked them enough to post them here. The first one is Fatty having her morning nap with my boyfriend's computer mouse as a pillow. She loves resting her head when she naps and can usually be found sleeping on shoes, handbags, mobile phones and the like.

This second one is of the sunset we had last night. It's the first really spectacular sunset we have had all year, because usually there are no clouds to reflect the sun. It was overcast most of yesterday, so we got a really nice show. This was taken by leaning out of the front window and twisting around.

10 Political figures and what I think of them

2007-05-02T08:43:00.000+10:00

I wasn't going to participate in this topic, mainly because I don't think about politics very much despite studying a Politics subject at Uni this semester. These are my opinions only - no debate will be entered into either, so don't even try :D

1. John Howard (Australian Prime Minister). I don't like him for so many reasons - mainly his (lack of) policies on climate change and unfair workchoices legislation. I don't like the way he is slowly Americanising our health, education and industrial relations systems by stealth, when they are (were) some of the best public systems in the Western world.

2. Kevin Rudd (Australian Opposition Leader). I'm still not sure if I will vote for Kev in this year's election. It is tempting because he is my local federal member (I live in Greenslopes electorate), so it will be the only time I will ever actually get to vote for the Prime Minister, and I think he has more charisma than Howard, but some of Labour's policies are just watered down versions of Liberal policies and I am still not sure about their IR policies at all.

3. Peter Beattie (QLD Premier). I don't really have any strong opinion on Pete either way. I do think he needs to implement some policies to stop the rest of Australia immigrating to South East QLD though - at least until there are the resources and infrastructure to cope! He also needs to wean himself off the idea that we can keep damming productive farmland to supply our water needs.

4. Pauline Hanson. How could I not include her? I might get flamed thoroughly for this, but I didn't think her policies were all that bad at all, just misunderstood. I don't think she was a racist at all but I do think she was a victim of a very well thought out hate campaign against her because Howard could see how popular she was becoming and needed to cut her down quick smart.

5. Senator Bob Brown. I am unashamedly a "greeny" and I think he has done so much for getting the Greens in a position where they can make a difference. I will always vote Green for the senate because anyone with half a brain knows you can't have a robust economy without an environment.

6. George Bush - his foreign policies suck. End of story. He needs to start thinking of people from all religions/races/countries as human beings who share this planet, not as "collateral damage" to be eliminated in his quest to control the Middle East's oil reserves.

7. Princess Mary of Denmark. Australia's very own royal. OK, not a politician really, but what the hey. Who dosn't love Princess Mary? Now can we disassociate ourselves from that other (dysfunctional) royal family? Please?

8. Tony Blair. I don't really know enough about him to have a strong opinion, but he seems to be more flexible in his foreign policies than Bush or Howard. He is also the better looking out of the three ha ha!

9. Imelda Marcos. How can anyone want to own so many shoes? And her treatment of her people was horrendous too. Maybe that is why she went shoe shopping all the time - to get the taste of torture and whatever out of her mouth.

10. Arnold Schwartzenegger. From what news filters down to us here in OZ it's hard to figure out if he has any clue or not, but I love that "economic girly-man" phrase he used. He does seem to be very chauvenistic though.

Clownfish - work in progress

2007-04-27T09:25:00.000+10:00

This is the work I've done so far on my Clownfish painting. I managed to find some time yesterday to paint the anemone. At this stage, I think I will make the background lighter despite it being this colour in the reference photo. I'll wait until the fish are done though to make sure the colour is harmonious with both the fish and the anemone, probably a lighter more greeny blue. Below is a detailed photo of the fish. With such a dark background it is hard to get a decent photo.

In other news. I found out today that the MoneyPit needs a new hot-water system. I got my rates notices the other day and the house that has just been re-tenanted had water usage of 800 kilolitres per day which is way above the 140kl per person target they are trying to get everyone on due to extreme drought and Level 5 water restrictions here. As it turns out the hot water system and the shower head have been leaking for God knows how long while the previous dumb-arse tenants didn't do a thing about it or call the PM to get a plumber organised. I mean derrrrr! Who lets taps keep on dripping during a drought for Gods sake!?! Thankfully the new tenants have let me know (probably because they have no hot water). Anyway, it's going to cost me at least $950 for the new system + whatever it costs to install a water saving shower head and fix any other leaks. Thank God it is almost tax time and I can claim some of it back. And my car is in for a service today as well so hopefully that won't cost my other arm and leg!

Top 10 Things I Like to do Alone

2007-04-24T19:22:00.001+10:00

Hmmmm, I like to do most things alone so this shouldn't be too hard...

1. Paint. I hate painting when other people are around because of the distractions of comments or questions about what I'm painting. I get so much more done when I'm by myself.

2. Study. I can't concentrate unless I'm on my own and I hate doing group-work.

3. Read. I feel guilty if I'm lying on the couch with a novel and my boyfriend is home doing stuff around the house.

4. Shopping. I am not one of those girls who gets together with a group of friends to hit the mall. I am a shopping sniper - in and out again in about 20 minutes.

5. Drive. I turn into the worlds worst driver if someone is in the car with me. Especially my mother who is the ultimate back-seat driver.

6. Go to the toilet. I'm talking about public toilets here, but obviously this applies at home too LOL. I hate going to the loo in a crowded public facility.

7. Sleep. Ummm. I find it hard to get a really good sleep when my boyfriend is home.

That's about it I'm afraid. I can only think of 8 right now. Will update if something else comes to mind.

Finally! A post about art...

2007-04-23T13:19:00.000+10:00

It's been a while now since I posted anything about art, but as you can see I have been beavering away and have finally finished my beach painting, which no longer has any bikini girls. Anywhere. I did try to put a shrunken bikini girl in the water, but it didn't look right - the scale just didn't fit and it made the painting look flat like there was no distance. So instead I put in a small yacht which was easy and I think looks great. First time I have ever painted a boat and I am real happy with the result. The waves on the other hand gave me a bit of grief, and I'm not 100% happy with them but I really don't think I can do any more to them without ruining it so I will leave them alone.

I have also started on my next painting, the clownfishes. These are Western Clownfish also known as false clownfish or Amphiprion Ocellaris and the most common clownfish in the aquarium trade, commonly found from the East Andaman Sea, Indonesia South East Asia, The Philippines, Taiwan to Rykkyu Islands (Japan), and south to north western Australia only. Nemo on the other hand, would have been an Eastern or true clownfish which are found on the Great Barrier Reef. I will also do a painting of them in the future.

Who says you don't learn anything from blogs!

Big Brother - Big Bore

2007-04-22T08:30:00.000+10:00

Skanky, skanky, skanky

*Groan* the new season of Big Brother starts tonight much to my disgust. I hate this show with an irrational passion and whenever a new season starts it means I have to avoid Channel 10 like the plague until it's over. This is not usually too difficult, as there are only two shows worth watching on Ch 10 anyway, but it means I have to tape them so I'm not bombarded with Big Brother ads. I mean really, is Australia the only country that keeps airing this juvenile drivel? Surely not.

I'm not sure why I hate this show so much to tell the truth - it's not just because of the vapid, air-headed bimbos and himbos they inevitably stock the house with every year, and it's not only because of the ageing, mutton-dressed-as-lamb skanky ho "host" Gretel Killeen who they keep letting in front of the camera every year to present it (although this is the major reason), and it's not only because it is so far removed from "reality" that it might as well be filmed on Pluto. But hate it I do. I am proud to say I have never in it's entire 5 long years of running, watched a single episode of this trash. And thankfully now that I am not working, I won't be subjected to any more complete word for word he-said-she-said rehashes of the previous night's episode and of who tried to shag who or who stripped in the shower etc etc at the water cooler every day. Thank God!

In my opinion, if Ch 10 really wanted to make an interesting "reality" show about a bunch of young people living in a house they should make it more like a real sharehouse situation. I have a few suggestions, based on real-life experiences from when I was living in a share-house. The resulting tensions and blow-ups among the housemates was well worth televising.

1. make one of the contestants the lease-holder who is responsible for collecting the rent and expenses from the other housemates each week. The other housemates invariably do not have any money until the following week/fortnight and thus the rent is always in arrears. The leaseholder then becomes increasingly stressed with every demand letter from the landlord.

2. Instead of building a purpose-built luxury house on the Gold Coast, they should make them live in an original 3 bedroom/1 bathroom Queenslander which was constructed in 1891 and never renovated, with bad plumbing, faulty wiring and ancient carpet.

3. The hot water system should never allow for more than two 5-minute showers each day. Under any circumstances should there be a dishwasher.

4. Only half of the housemates are single. The other half will constantly have their partners over for days on end who use all the hot water, eat all the food in the fridge and have sex on the couch. The housemates with partners will not pay extra rent/bills to compensate the single housemates.

5. The fridge will be a third-hand clunker with a faulty seal and only have enough room for the foodstuffs of three people. This is fine because there is only ever 1 person who buys groceries. All food in the fridge will be labelled with that person's name, but no-one else will care (or be able to read) and eat it anyway.

6. There will be at least 1 housemate (a female of course) who hogs the only bathroom for hours each morning and evening and locks the door and won't let you use the loo. So you have to go to work without a shower. In summer.

I'm sure I could think of others, but these are the situations that I remember most vividly from my share-house days. If anyone has others, please feel free to add them in a comment. I like to live vicariously.

Cat Vomit Update

2007-04-20T15:20:00.000+10:00

Thought I would do a quick update on my vomiting cat saga. It seems as though there are quite a few people out there in cyberland who have vomiting cats.

Since taking the continuous feeder away I have been letting Fatty (and my other cat) eat as much dry food as she wants in one sitting at breakfast time and as soon as she is done, I take the food away. I'll give her a bit more dry food at around lunch time and then for dinner they get tinned food and thats it for the day. So far so good - no more vomiting. It seems as though she dosn't eat very much in one sitting, she just has a lot of sittings during the day!

It's quite funny though - I keep the dry food in a small tupperware container on top of the fridge in between meals but one of the cats, I am inclined to think it was the skinny one because Fatty dosn't leave the ground very often, has been getting on top of the fridge and eating the food when I'm not around. Easily solved by putting a lid on the container although I have just found the container thrown (hurled?) onto the floor when I came home today.

So there you have it cat lovers. Before rushing your kitty off to the vet, first try cutting it's food down to see if overeating is the problem, but only if kitty is acting normal and healthy in every other way.

When the Naughty Chair Doesn't Work

2007-04-18T09:22:00.000+10:00

Bwaahahahahahaha! Is this what parents are forced to resort to now that smacking is illegal?

P.S - this is not my child, repeat - Not. My. Child.

10 on Tuesday - 10 Idols/Heros When You Were a Kid

2007-04-17T20:49:00.000+10:00

This week's 10 on Tuesday - my 10 heroes/idols from when I was a kid. I don't know if I will be able to think of 10, but I'll give it a shot.

1. My Dad (of course). He did pretty much anything and everything for my sister and I from taking us to the library, fishing, driving me and my friend miles each weekend to ride our horses and taking my sister and I to the park most afternoons to "catch" magpies with the bird traps he showed us how to make. Of course I realise that no way on earth would we ever catch any, but he was always more than happy to take us. On top of that he did most of the housework and cooking and worked a 48 hour week to put food on our table. And he put up with my mother. That really deserves a medal!

2. The unnamed lifesaver who rescued my sister and I from the surf after we got caught in a rip on our surf mattress. I still remember the embarassment of being hauled onto the beach like a drowned rat to this day.

3. Wonder Woman. I loved her. I loved her outfit, her golden lasso and of course her invisible plane. I loved the way she made glasses look cool. Very important for a geeky kid who wore glasses.

4. Charlies Angels. Fabulous hair, fabulous outfits, fabulous boots. And they got to carry guns! I wanted to be a Charlies Angel when I grew up, but alas it was not to be.

5. The 6 million dollar man. Can't quite remember why, but I thought he was the greatest. I also thought he was real. I was and still am a very gullible person.

6. The bionic woman. Ditto to the above. However, I was terribly jealous when she married the 6 million dollar man and struck her off my hero list.

7. KISS. Dynasty was my very first ever album. I was 7 and it was the start of a long lasting love affair with glam rock. I saw them live a couple of years ago and was not disappointed.

8. The Fonz. I wasn't sure if I wanted him as a big brother or boyfriend, but he sure was cool.

9. Suzy Quatro. She was a rebel rock chick in black leather and we all wanted to be just like her.

10. Skippy the bush Kangaroo. It was a close call between Skip and Miss Piggy, but Skip won hands down in the end. I mean really, how could I not include Skippy? I still remember trying to do the bush whistle on a gum leaf and am convinced it is simply not possible.

As an aside, it is a bit sad to see that all my heroes are American imports - were there really no Aussie heroes at all during the 70's?

Bikini Girl :: Stage 4

2007-04-16T09:14:00.000+10:00

Here is the current version of Bikini Girl. I decided that the painting does need a figure, but instead of a large figure in the foreground, I will put her in the surf as per my photoshop mock-up. There is still a lot of work to do on this, but it is getting there slowly. I think what I need to do is practise on smaller figures and slowly move up in size until I can paint the skin tones and shadows/highlights correctly.

Link to previous post in this series

TV Gripe - Prison Break

2007-04-14T09:22:00.000+10:00

I don't write about television programs as a rule, mainly because I don't really watch all that much worthwhile TV and totally avoid any type of "reality" TV like the plague. However, I do love to watch Prison Break, if only for the fact that Michael Schofield (Wentworth Miller) is hot hot hot! Due to this fact alone, I have been able to ignore the obvious flaws in the plot (particularly the one where T-Bag carries his severed hand around for God knows how long then gets a vet to re-attach it and dosn't die of septecaemia/blood loss) and not question the impossibilities that have occurred so far.

However, after watching my taped episode of Prison Break last night, I can't ignore it any longer.

WTF is wrong with the writers of these shows!?!? I mean really, if you are going to go to all the trouble of making an interesting, exciting, edge of your seat TV drama, then surely it is not too much trouble to get off your fat arses and do some simple research. I'm talking about the episode where T-Bag "escapes" from being handcuffed to the heater in the empty house by somehow detaching his re-attached hand (which looks like something out of Dawn of the Dead by the way) then somehow making his way to a fancy hotel room looking like something thrown up by the sewer system and killing the ex-prison guard who is much larger than him and in possesion of both his hands. I mean come on! How stupid do TV people think we viewers are? You don't need a medical degree to know this is impossible for way too many reasons to list here.

Firstly, after ripping/cutting/ off his hand he would have bled out in about - oh less than a minute or so and died pretty much soon after that considering he would have had to sever a MAJOR ARTERY! Not to mention he would have passed out from the shock/pain and no way on earth would he have been able to leave the hand tucked neatly behind the heater - still in the handcuffs - in the 10 seconds he had available before the police burst into the room, all without spilling a SINGLE drop of blood. Let alone being able to stay alive/conscious for long enough to actually walk to wherever the fancy hotel is and kill a rather large able bodied man - all with one hand which by the way is holding the magical towel to the stump which obviously somehow not only soaks up litres of blood but manages to pump it back into his body, thus keeping him alive.

Man, that episode makes the original Star Trek episodes seem like reality TV. I think its time the Prison Break writers schedule a meeting with the writers of CSI, ER and Amazing Medical Mysteries. Or they could just have Schofield wear a lot less clothes...

My new website

2007-04-12T21:27:00.000+10:00

I finally got my new website up and running sort of. You may recall I was thinking of setting up a proper one apart from this blog, and I have. It's one of those easy-peasy ones you do yourself and I bought it through Mr Site.

If you are interested - it is here. Please check it out and tell me what you think so far. It is not finished yet, and I guess will be a work in progress for quite some time. As soon as I have a painting to sell, I will add a PayPal shop.

Please don't ask me why I called it The Naked Planet. I have absolutely no idea. I had to think up a name before I could get started on the design and I didn't like any of the names I came up with over the past week or so. The Naked Planet just popped into my head mainly because I like landscape and seascapes so I thought it sounded OK. Of course, I didn't check Google first did I, so please don't get my Naked Planet confused with Spike's Naked Planet, because you will end up at a gay nude beach website for men.

What on earth was I thinking!!!!!

10 on Tuesday - 10 High School Memories

2007-04-11T13:50:00.000+10:00

I have subscribed to one of those blog things that people love to do. So this week it is 10 highschool memories...hmmm, not sure I can remember back that far!

First some background information. I went to Gladstone State High School in Gladstone QLD from year 8 in 1982 to year 12 in 1987. OK, here goes.

1. Being accused of plagarism by my Year 12 English teacher Mr Veith (yeah you still suck arsehole!!!)and subsequently getting a Low Achievement on my Senior Certificate. As you can see I have soooo gotten over it.

2. My year 12 formal (which we called the prom like in America for some unknown reason). My dress was a hideous ensemble of turquoise green satin with black lace and I had that Nick Rhodes short sides but boofy on top hairstyle and big plastic earrings. Well in my defence it was 1987...

3. Addidas sneakers - they were so in back then. You know - the simple black ones with the gum soles. I had to beg my mum from year 9 right through to year 11 before she finally baught me a pair.

4. The school musical. In year 11 and 12 we had a double period where we could pick an activity to do other than lessons and my "friends" conned me into joining the musical insisting that "you never have to actually do anything - its just a bludge for 2 hours on Fridays". Yeah right - that year they made EVERYONE be part of it and I ended up as Townsfolk #3 with a speaking part. Thanks guys.

5. Having thin thighs and long legs. Our school uniforms were really short and we used to roll up our skirts at the waist to make them even shorter. Don't know what the hell happened but they are long gone now.

6. Duran Duran. I got into trouble on the first day of year 9 science for discussing Duran Duran's live appearance on Countdown with the girl sitting next to me. My sister, a friend and I went and saw them live only 2 years ago when they toured here. They were still hot too and didn't look a year older than back in the 80's. Must have had a whole lot of makeup on to pull that off!

7. In year 8 when my science teacher Mr Wecker smashed a kid's head against a brick wall for mucking up in class. Of course it wasn't like blood and brains everywhere or anything, but it made him cry and we all were real well behaved after that. No juvenile delinquents at my school no siree.

8. Corkscrew perms. The less said the better I think. Everyone had one, except for me since I had short boy-hair.

9. The US Marines and Navy. In my senior year it was the first year of joint US and Australian military excersices in Shoalhaven and the US Navy stopped off in Gladstone on their way there. They used to pass our school oval and hang over the fence chatting up any girls within earshot and the teachers used to come running to chase them off and defend our chastity. Absolutely hilarious! Of course I now realise most of them were probably gay.

10. Just hanging out with my group of friends, one of whom I am still real close to even though we live far apart. Back then it was a lot less strict on underage drinking so we used to go to a nearby pub at big-lunch for rum and cokes.

Holy Fuck!!!

2007-04-11T09:33:00.000+10:00

Oh my fucking God!!! You will never believe it but I have actually sold a painting over the internet!!!!! Got an email this morning that someone in New Jersey has purchased my East MacDonnell Ranges painting at BoundlessGallery.com!!! I'm pretty stoked, and flabbergasted at the same time because I really didn't think I had much chance of actually selling anything through that website, especially after only a week or two since being listed. I'm really excited as you can probably tell by the excessive use of bad language, but there is no other word in the English language that appropriately describes what I am feeling right now - woohoo!!! Guess I had better sign it and paint the edges of the canvas today and get it ready for shipping. This is really inspiring me to finish my beach painting too.

On another note, I have made a start on my next painting, a more "decorative" work of a pair of clownfish and an anemone. I used to do a fair bit of scuba diving when I lived in Sydney, and I used to see these guys all the time when diving off Coffs Harbour, along with blue tang and a whole bunch of other tropical and temperate water fish. Coffs Harbour is where the warm tropical water mixes with the cooler temperate waters of the southern oceans, and you would get to see fish from both the tropics and temperate zones all in the one place - it was amazing! Anyway, I recently visited an aquarium near me and they let me take some pics of their tanks which I am inspired to paint a series of. These little guys are so cute, but my favourite tropical marine fish is the boxfish, which look like tiny little yellow cubes with fins in their juvenile state.

I mean, how cute is that!!!

Cat Vomit

2007-04-10T08:42:00.000+10:00

No, this is not the theme or title of my next painting...

As you may or may not know, I have a couple of cats one of whom is rather large in the waistline, but comfortable with her weight, who we call Fatty. Fatty has always been a spewer, throwing up on average of maybe once every fortnight or so. Recently however, over the past few months she has been throwing up more frequently and now it has gotten so frequent that if we wake up in the morning and not find any kitty surprises on the carpet right in front of the bedroom door (where we inevitably step right in it) it is going to be a good day.

So, today Fatty is going for a little visit to the vet - what fun!($$$$).

"What!!!" I hear you scream, "your precious kitty has been vomiting for months and you are only now taking her to the vet?!?" Yeah yeah I know - I'm a BAD MUM. But she hasn't shown any signs of ill-health at all. She still has a very healthy appetite, is still very active, is not losing weight at all, and is not sore in the stomach. I figure she might be allergic to something in the dry food we buy her, as she dosn't throw up wet food, and only throws up if she eats dry food at night, so I'm not thinking she has a tumor or anything serious.

Who knows, maybe she is trying to diet and sticks her paw down her throat every night in order to slim down a bit... "Do I look sick to you?"

I know I'm a slacker...

2007-04-08T14:49:00.000+10:00

I know I haven't posted hardly a thing for a few days now, but honestly, I'm up to my neck in research for an assignment that is due in next week, as well as studying for an exam I have next Monday. I guess that will serve me right for putting it all off until the last minute!

As you can see from the attached pic, I have finished my East MacDonnell Ranges painting. So that is one out of the way at least. I have had a small attempt at doing some more work on bikini girl, but it was rubbish and I have made the decision to just have the beach and ocean, with no bikini girl at all. Obviously, I'll need to change the name of it now... Painting people is one thing I am just no good at, and not interested enough in to practice and improve upon. I guess we all have our individual interests and at my stage of life I don't see any reason to do something I am just not interested in ie painting people. I do have some great ideas for future paintings though - and not landscapes either. Hopefully I will have some time to finish Ex-Bikini Girl next week depending how I go with this assignment.

Happy Easter from Rover!

2007-04-04T11:32:00.000+10:00

Two Things

2007-04-01T09:35:00.000+10:00

First thing

I had planned to go and visit the Gold Coast Art Expo today to check out local and perhaps no so local artists, and to check out the event itself with the view of actually being an exhibitor next year. Unfortunately, I totally forgot about it until late last night when I remembered that today was April 1st and I hadn't made enough progress on my uni assignment that is due in on Wednesday to be able to take the day off and make the trip down to the GC for the expo. If I had been more organised and prepared, I would have made sure I finished my assignment yesterday. As it is, I will be lucky to finish it by Wednesday, so no further slacking is allowed. Still, I do still intend to exhibit my work next year, providing I have a decent enough body of work by then and it is not too expensive to rent a stall.

Second thing

I am thinking of changing the name of this blog. There are a number of reasons for this; One, there seems to be a dearth of references to web sites with the terms "Kitty" and "Art", and I have no wish to be part of a crowd, especially on Google. Two, I am thinking about setting up my own proper website, and really don't want to call it Kitty Art for the abovementioned reason. I also want it to sound at least a little bit professional, and be unique in google searches. Three, the current name does not really fit my current works. I don't paint pet portraits or cats for a start nor am I affilliated in any way with Hello Kitty. In fact, the name Kitty was inherited from my previous blog and in my opinion is past it's use-by date.

So don't be alarmed when one day soon there is no more Kitty Art header. It will still be the same blog (unfortunately) and everything else will remain the same. Once I think of a decent name that is.

Bikini Girl :: Stage 3

2007-03-30T08:56:00.000+10:00

The background ocean, sky, beach and waves are now completed. I have the sun low in the western sky behind the figure which will light her up in a delicious golden glow (hopefully).

Now I have to let the painting sit for a few days until it is completely dry in order to remove the masking fluid which has reacted with the oil paint and become weak. Instead of just pulling it off in a stretchy strand, the parts that have been covered in paint need to be scraped off with a palette knife and then the residue removed with turps. Although it is a bit of a pain, I think that it still really helps to mask the figure first.

The next stage once the mask is removed is to start painting the figure with tonal values and then work it up in glazes from there.

Link to previous post in this series...

View from my window

2007-03-29T20:18:00.000+10:00

Fuel My Blog blog directory is running a competition for photos of a view from your window, and I thought I would enter just for fun, since I have about as much chance of winning a photo competition as David Hicks has of getting a fair trial.

This photo was taken last October from the back of a 4WD troop carrier while we were driving to the sunset viewing area at Kata Tjuta. The rain clouds broke apart for a split second and the afternoon sun shone through. Our lovely guide, Tezza, kindly stopped the truck so we could open the windows and snap some shots. By the time we got to the viewing area, it was raining again, and that my friends, is the story of my life when it comes to sunset photos while on holidays.

To see the other entries go HERE

Hasta La Vista Billy

2007-03-27T11:46:00.000+10:00

Haven't posted anything for a few days due to being struck down by some weird viral affliction that has given me a continuous migraine and neck, shoulder and back pain. I now know what it would feel like to be ejected from a trendy nightclub and bashed by Tongan bouncers. Sitting down, lying down and walking are all excruciating and gobbling down 8 - 10 Herrons a day has only dulled the pain enough to enable me to drag myself out of bed and to the 'puter for short bursts of internet remedy. Finally after 3 days the headache has subsided and the pain is going, although I dream long, luxurious massages.

Anyway, now I'm able to sit for more than 5 minutes I thought I would post about my recent experience with everyone's favourite operating system - Vista, after reading this interesting article . I recently purchased a new desktop computer from Dell which came preloaded with Vista, which I was already wary of, but thought I could easily uninstall and load with a copy of XP I have. The fact that Dell was selling XP loaded computers for a lot more than the Vista ones was the first clue as to the horrors that awaited me...

To make a long story short, Vista drove me completely stark raving mad for the few weeks I had it by questioning each and every command I gave, much like an overbearing but well-meaning elderly aunt, not allowing me to install a number of software programs, particularly the pirated ones and then making absurd excuses as to why it couldn't. The default internet security settings are tougher than the border security between North and South Korea and in the end I bit the bullet and attempted to uninstall the damn thing, which of course didn't work because it is pretty much like an insidious virus and repaired itself after each attempt. So, I had resigned myself to suffering being treated like a retard by my own computer, when during a normal restart, I got the wonderful message on a black screen saying "Missing Operating System", which proves that there is a God, somewhere, and He will answer your prayers eventually. Finally was able to install XP, but unfortunately had to format the hard disk first and lost a lot of photos that I had not backed up. So there you have it, would I recommend upgrading? Not on your nelly!

When Graphic Designers Get Bored

2007-03-25T08:33:00.000+10:00

During my usual morning internet surfing session I found this video on this blog. Definately worth a look IMO. When I lived in Sydney, I used to work in for a company that did the photoshop work for major advertising companies and the stuff they did with photoshop was amazing!

Being a die-hard KISS fan, I have to say, the Panda's are my favourite.

Bikini Girl :: Stage 2

2007-03-24T15:09:00.000+10:00

Did some more work on Bikini Girl today - mainly adding some detail into the waves and ocean, and brightening up the sky. Still needs quite a bit more detail in the water, but I am pretty happy with it so far. I need to finish off the background soon though, as the watercolour masking fluid is starting to disintegrate.

Link to previous post in this series...

Landlord Blues #2

2007-03-23T14:42:00.000+10:00

Got another phone call from my PM today. Vacating tenants have moved out as notified, but due to a "family emergency" in NSW left without cleaning or making the repairs they were supposed to. Once again, there are cigarette burns on my 2 year old carpet - this time in the lounge, paint chips off the walls, security screen is busted and needs the lock replaced etc etc etc - total comes to around $1000 worth of repairs. Their bond will cover most of it including brand new carpet and thankfully the girl, who was the good tenant is sending the PM a cheque to cover the remainder, no doubt out of her money, for the damage her boyfriend did.

It turns out that the neighbours have had to put up with the unemployed boyfriend sitting around the house all day playing his music really loud and generally being a nuisance. They hardly ever saw her because she worked like 10 hours a day supporting his lazy arse, but apparently she was always lovely and well mannered when she was around. Why these nice girls hitch up with low lifes who stub their fags out on other people's carpets and don't give a shit beats me. He had a job when they first took on the lease (otherwise I wouldn't have signed it), but obviously lost it and didn't try or want to get another. Anyway, I'm sure the old nannas of the neighbourhood are glad he's gone. It always seems to be the boyfriend who is the troublemaker with the girls usually pretty good.

There are two tenant possibilities lined up, one is a single dad who owned his own house before moving to QLD and who is currently renting through Mission Australia. He has three kids ages 8, 12 and 14 I think who are apparently well behaved, and a little dog. I don't mind tenants with pets, as long as they are looked after and are not allowed to run amok and do damage, so the little dog dosn't bother me, and the kids are past the drawing on walls age, so they would be OK too, not that I am allowed to discriminate against people with kids....

The second possibility is a young couple, age 17 and 19 who are currently living with his aunt who is a current tenant through the property manager I am using, and she is a good tenant. The kids pay $100 each a week board, so they would be able to cover the rent no problems. She is a student and he works and earns good money.

So, I will maybe have a choice between the two. At this point in time I am leaning towards the single Dad, as he may be the more stable of the two, and having owned his own house, he will hopefully have some respect for mine. Either way, I am putting a clause in the lease that stipulates no smoking in the house!

In other news, I am working on my East Macs painting while Bikini Girl dries enough to start on the next stage. Stay tuned for the updates on both these paintings!

Link to previous post in this series...

Bikini Girl - Stage 1

2007-03-22T14:40:00.000+10:00

Added the first stage of the background. The sky I will make much brighter in the final work-over as it looks a bit dull, and of course the sand will be much lighter. Not much else to explain really - I thought about maybe adding a figure in the surf or something out in the ocean, but probably won't as I don't want to specify what my figure is looking at - I'll let the viewer wonder about it instead.

I hope to do the next stage either tomorrow or on the weekend if I have time. I have two assignments due next week and a couple of lunch appointments with friends I haven't seen since I left work, so I will be short on painting time :(

Link to previous post in this series:

Mayday Challenge Painting #2 :: Bikini Girl

2007-03-21T18:55:00.000+10:00

Today I started the second painting in the Mayday Challenge. Firstly I traced the image onto the canvas via a photocopy of the image and a sheet of carbon paper. I could have drawn the image directly onto the canvas, but I wanted it to be as realistic and correct as possible.

In order to maintain the integrity of the image I am masking it with watercolour masking fluid, which seems to work equally well with oils (so far). My aim with this is to have the figure as the focal point, so it is pretty important that it is as realistic as possible.

My Visual DNA

2007-03-20T13:47:00.000+10:00

I have seen these on a few blogs now, and though it looked interesting enough to do myself. The results are quite interesting, but I don't know how accurate they are, for example, it says: "When it comes to art you like to think you've got a good eye and some knowledge too..." Well that's a load of bollocks! I know what I like but as for knowledge, no way! Wonder what it would have said if I had picked the Mona Lisa..... Anyway, give it a go for yourselves, it's a bit of fun if nothing else.

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Firefox Users - Feedback Please!

2007-03-19T15:41:00.000+10:00

OK, I have just gone back and edited all my previous posts on this page and I think I finally found the glitch that stuffed everything up for Firefox users. I think it all works allright now, but if anyone using Firefox comes across any glitches, can you please let me know.

Happy browsing!!!

Symptoms of being over 30

2007-03-18T12:37:00.000+10:00

A friend sent me this via email. It's scary how most if not all actually apply to me now I'm over 30, although I am still proud of the fact I was a hard-core clubber until my late 20's. I stopped then, because after a certain age (27), it dosn't look cool anymore so much as pathetic (mutton dressed as lamb anyone?) I know you are all nodding and smiling as you read these too, so don't deny it!

1. You leave clubs before the end to "beat the rush".

2. You get more excited about having a roast on a Sunday than going clubbing the night before.

3. You stop dreaming of becoming a professional athlete and start dreaming of having a son who might instead.

4. Before throwing the local paper away, you look through the property section.

5. All of a sudden, middle aged people are not 46, they are only 46.

6. Before going out anywhere, you ask whether there is anywhere to park.

7. Rather than throw a knackered pair of trainers out, you keep them because they'll be alright for the DIY or in the garden.

8. You buy T-shirts without anything written on them.

9. Instead of laughing at the innovations catalogue that falls out of the newspaper, you suddenly see both the benefit and money saving properties of most of the things that are in it.

10. You start to worry about your parents' health.

11. You have more disposable income, but everything you want or need to buy costs between $200 and $500.

12. You don't get funny looks when you buy a Disney video or a Wallace And Gromit bubble bath, as the sales assistant assumes they are for your children.

13. Pop music all starts to sound the same.

14. You opt for gourmet pizza over Pizza Hut because they do a really nice half-bottle of house red.

15. You always have enough milk in.

16. To compensate for the fact that you have little desire to go clubbing, you instead frequent trendy bars and restaurants in the mistaken belief that you have not turned into your parents.

17. While flicking through the TV channels, you happen upon Grumpy Old Women on the ABC. You get drawn in.

18. The benefits of superannuation become clear.

19. You go out of your way to pick up a colour chart from Bunnings

20. You wish you had a shed.

21. You have a shed.

22. You actually find yourself saying "They don't make 'em like that anymore" and "I remember when there were only 2 TV channels" and "Not in my day...."

23. Triple M play more songs you know than Triple J - and Oprah has some really interesting guests on.

24. Instead of tutting at old people who take ages to get off the bus, you tut at rowdy school children.

25. When sitting outside a pub you admire their hanging baskets.

26.You find yourself saying "is it cold in here or is it just me.

Mayday Challenge - first painting complete.

2007-03-17T16:04:00.000+10:00

Yay finally! My beach painting is finished! As you can see there have been a number of changes to my original concept sketch but I think it looks OK. Still not happy with the water, but the addition of the figure really helps the whole composition I think, and she wasn't very difficult to paint either (thank God!). I decided to kill off the kiddies building sandcastles, because I really didn't want to fiddle with three figures.

Thank you to everyone who encouraged me to finish the darn thing - I was quite prepared to shove it in a dark cupboard somewhere.

New Toy!

2007-03-16T16:13:00.000+10:00

With nothing more interesting to do today, I went shopping and purchased myself a new doo-dad - a cute little Canon PowerShot A710. I already have a camera of course, but it is so big and heavy I hate actually taking it anywhere, which sort of defeats the purpose I guess.

What I love about my new toy:

Light and easy to carry - can just slip it in my pocket; Discreet so as to avoid the "camera police"*; Image stability to stop the blurries; Can take lens attachments and additional lenses such as macro or telephoto; A range of manual functions for added creativity; Under $500.00 AUD so cheap cheap cheap!

and a whole lot more I haven't discovered yet.

One thing I don't like however, is the length of time it takes for the flash to recharge so you can take another pic - would be good if it were quicker.

Here is a test shot - compared to the other camera I have been using to take photos of my paintings (my boyfriend's ancient Canon IXUS), this one takes sharp and clear shots without the need to edit in photoshop, and which can be enlarged to A3 size without losing clarity. I'm pretty darn impressed I can tell you!

*anyone who agrees that taking photos in public is only done by terrorists or perverts and has vowed to put an end to this dangerous practice, ie surf life savers, security guards, and the Attorney General.

East Macs WIP 4

2007-03-14T14:02:00.000+10:00

I've done some more work on my East Macdonnell Ranges painting today, because I just can't get motivated to do any further work on my Mayday Challenge one. I need to put it aside for a while I think, despite the timeline. Anyway, I have added some trees/shrubs and started on the first layer of the spinifex. The vegetation looks bluer in the photo than it is in the actual painting but it is still too blue.

I have found that lately, in the past few days or so, I am less and less motivated to paint, or in fact to do much else either. I am seriously the laziest person on this planet (just ask my ex-boss) and the worst procrastinator ever. I know I've got to do work on my uni assignments, but I keep putting it off, and then I say, well do some work on those paintings, and I keep putting that off as well. I am spending way too much time on the internet which is sucking out any motivation I might have to actually get off my arse and do something useful.

Flavour of the Month - March :: Balsamic Glaze

2007-03-13T13:24:00.000+10:00

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 Balsamic Glaze. 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 much sweeter, while the normal balsamic is quite watery and vinegary. Make sure if you buy it that it is the thick stuff and not runny. This small bottle cost me around $8.00AUD and is well worth it - I've been having it on pretty much everything I cook apart from ice-cream.

No Update Just Passing Time

2007-03-12T15:35:00.000+10:00

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.

Mayday Challenge Update 4

2007-03-10T16:30:00.000+10:00

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!