Lebenskuenstler

'Midnight Seeds' - from Start to Finish

i have just finished my second painting

'midnight seeds'

and thought i'd share 

how it evolved...

From Flower To Seed Pod...

 

 

i finally found some time to paint

and i didn't like the flower anymore

so i added more colour and then the shape of the lotus seed pod.

paul thinks it looks alien...

 

 

so let's see where this painting will go from here...

Still Painting...

i love this way of painting

and slowly transforming the image

one layer after another...

i find that it takes courage...

courage to try out things that you feel intuitively.

and trust...

trust that there are no mistakes. even when you think 'oh, i shouldn't have done that...'

and patience...

patience to allow the painting to reveal itself.

it's a bit like life, isn't it?

Lilies...

i've just taken lots of close-ups of

lilies

they are so amazing!

and they made their way into my painting...

Painting in Progress...

 

 

 

 

this painting is slowly emerging...

 

can't wait to spend more time painting!

 

 

A Drop of Gold

'a drop of gold'

that's what i ended up calling my first acrylic painting.

here are some of my favourite details...

this amazing layering technique that i learned in flora's online class is so rich

and i am looking for ward to finishing my other four canvases that i started in the workshop.

but for now i have just hung this one.

i want to keep it's company for a while...

Painting again :)

so happy to be painting again :)

Spring Time...

 

spring is here with mild and warm weather and a few showers inbetween.

i've been enjoying our little courtyard which is getting greener every day...

 

 

painting whenever i can...

this is canvas no.1 - still in progress...

 

 

sewing a couple of ikat cushions for the daybed...

 

and eating yummy hand-made pasta!

 

Lightheartedness

after a busy week of working-learning-teaching

the weekend is here with time to

relax-enjoy-create.

so i started two new canvases today.

the painting process felt so much lighter and more joyful

then with the first three canvases.

and i am starting to relax into this

lightheartedness...

wishing you all a 

lighthearted joyful creative weekend!

Transformation

halfway through the online painting class

my first canvas (i've got three going) is starting to transform

from the child-like phase it went through a very frustrating

dark and confused teenage stage

and is now growing into the light...

what an amazing process this is!

apart from learning a new painting technique

i am learing so much about

patience and compassion

trust and intuition

play and lightheartedness

so if ever you want to go an inspiring journey

enrol in one of flora's workshops

Still Blooming...

2 weeks into the 5-week online painting class with flora bowley

and my canvases keep changing and evolving

as i learn to paint from my intuition and playfullness...

the process has been freeing and sometimes frustrating

i have been buzzing with energy and at other times feel very tired

but it is opening up new possibilities artistically and in life in general

and i am very grateful for that

and sometimes painting just makes me plain hungry

and i have a nice healthy and colourful lunch break :)

Bloom True...

 

here's what's happening in the tiny backyard...

 

 

i am paricipating in flora bowley's online class

Bloom True

after hanging the canvas in the 'outdoor studio'

i started painting the first layer - with my eyes closed...

 

 

this afternoon/evening i added another 2 intuitive layers,

just playing with colour

not thinking anything

listening to my favourite music

 

 

can't wait to see how this painting will evolve...

thank you Flora for an amazing start to the course!

 

Dust And Honey

 

dust and honey

is a painting i did a while ago

with home-made milk paint,

ochres that i had collected up north

and pigments.

i hangs on our living room wall

which is also painted with milk paint and ochre.

i love the texture of it

and the little bee

that i drew with charcoal on gold.

 

 

'East Wind Round'

for the last three days (saturday to monday) the 'easterly' was blowing. it's a wind that blows hot and dry from the desert in the summer. the easterly usually starts in the night and stops sometime in the morning. but this time it blew constantly for three days with a weather warning for damaging gusty winds and a severe fire danger warning.

and so i will admit it, that i was feeling more then nervous... i usually don't sleep well when the easterly blows and this time i was very restless. there were two fires burning out of control for two days. one to the south of us and one to the north (both far enough away to not be a danger to us).

by the time everyone had gone to school yesterday in the morning, more then 43 houses had already burned down, the wind was shaking the treetops and i started to panic... to take my mind of my emotions i started working outside, clearing away dead branches, putting leaf litter into bags, moving fire wood piles... by the time everyone came home from school i was thoroughly exhausted and the wind had finally died down!

59 houses, sheds and garages were lost in the fire.

today i was well rested after a quiet night and feeling achy from yesterdays work. in the afternoon i just wanted to paint and decided to start on a new project: paul has asked me to illustrate the song book he has written:

Seasonal Songs of the South-West

'A book of songs for the whole year for children and grown-ups living in "Noongah country": the beautiful south-west corner of Australia'

and so i opened the book and the first three songs are about summer and the hot easterly winds - how appropriate is that???

East wind tells who's now in charge: spirits from the outback harsh,

shouting all night through the trees, 'surrender me your hard-earned leaves!'

On the coast, cool breeze has gone. Desert wind encroaches on.

Green turns to brown, the glare's too bright. East wind will haunt my dreams tonight.

School is Over!

hurray, we've made it through another school year! sebastian came home with all his main lesson books and other school work including his painting folder. and i would like to share some of his art work with you...

all of these are wet-on-wet paintings, a technique used at waldorf schools worldwide, and i chose 7 of his paintings (including these 4) to have greeting cards made of by moo cards.

last night was the annual carols night at our school and sebastian and i got busy making more macaroons in the afternoon to give away as presents for the teachers...

they are so easy to make:

beat 3 egg whites until stiff. mix in 50g of sugar and a pinch of salt and keep beating until sugar has disolved and eggmix looks glossy. fold in another 50g of sugar and a) 350g of almondmeal, b) 350g of hazelnutmeal or c) 200g of dessicated coconut. form into balls, decorate and bake for 10 minutes at 180C. allow to dry for a few hours.

we also made some bougainvillea wrapping paper by placing the petals between two layers of waxed lunch paper and ironing it...

i had bought all these glass stars when we were in bali and we chose some for his favourite teachers and put them into envelopes made from the bougainvillea paper...

the christmas spirit is slowly (or maybe i should say rapidly?) taking hold of us. there are still lots of presents to be made, but with the school holidays here now it seems so much easier. i've just started on some bird ornaments that i found here. i'm hoping that they will be dry soon so i can paint them...

have you been busy baking and crafting too?

the donkey has made it to the nativity scene. he does look a bit tired, but he's another one of our much loved and (almost) vintage knitted animals that comes out every year at this time.

Autumn Morning and Veil Painting

it's a beautiful autumn morning here in the hills outside perth. everything looks fresh and greener after the recent rains...

and this is my beautiful indian runner duck 'sparks' who has a smile on her face this morning...

this morning i'll be organising my workshops and classes for the next two months. here's the first one: a four week art class on a monday night doing

VEIL PAINTING...

these paintings are done with very thin watercolours drying each veil with a blow-dryer before you apply the next veil. we will only use three colours: one to represent the light, one for objects behind the light and one for objects in front of the light. as you can see lots of shades of colours are created by the overlapping veils.

so if you live around perth and are interested in joining us send me an email ... we'll start next monday, the 26th of april.

Autumn Storm

it's autumn here in australia. we've had a long and hot and dry summer and are being promised rain every day now.... as i am writing i can hear the thunder in the distance - but still no rain...

i did this painting yesterday...will it bring some rain?