Chook Treats

P9 feeding the chooks treats to keep them happy during these chilly days and nights. Can't believe how scarily grown up she's looking.

Also, how gorgeous is this chicken?

Endless Drawing Rather Than Proper Photos

I think I really should start an art blog, instead of filling up my kids' blog with pictures. But for today I'll ignore that idea and go ahead anyway.

I did lots of charcoal pictures, which I don't usually do because the feel of it can be a bit fingernails down the blackboard for me.

This one is my favourite. I didn't like her while I was doing her, but as soon as I stopped I fell in love. I had this weird thing going on that wherever I rubbed the charcoal it made these amazing striped tunnels. I took it for granted until I tried to do it again this afternoon in a picture for P9 and I couldn't get it to happen, which made me desperate to achieve it again.  Sigh, to no avail. Must've been some weird chemical thing going on with the surface of my finger?!?

Then I did a quickie black oil pic, which I really liked at the time but now one bit is driving me crazy, but I'll let it dry before I faff around with it, and I really shouldn't point out flaws 'cos that's asking for trouble.

 I like that she spies me when I walk in the room. . .

(My walls are much purpler than that IRL I promise - they look gross here.)

Soccer Boys

L12 looking pensive on the left there.

Photo courtesy of India Francis.

Weekendy Stuff

Painted my bathroom floor.

Ate icecream.

Plants And Paints

I haven't been blogging much, but I have been productive. The other day I went mad taking out all my woes in the garden. I got so much done! 

I put in a punga that was left over from the ones my lovely neighbour bought us for between the doors. I wasn't sure where this one should live, but decided it needed to be somewhere we could see it from above because they are so gorgeous from that angle. 

I put a swamp flax in the swampy bit our ugly-house neighbour has created.

I found this growing rather unsuccessfully in the middle of the bush area next to us, so I rescued him and moved him somewhere I think he'll be happier.

I'm pretty sure he's a camelia and will grow to be completely beautiful?

I put a little bougainvilla in a place I know it's going to be really annoying when it gets bigger, but I couldn't resist climbing it up the chook coop.

There's another that I planted at the back, which I'm hoping is going to go crazy and form a wall of purple.

This is to show my Alder trees now that they have been in for about 5 months. Starting to screen off the ugliest house in the known universe, but still a way to go. Two years. That's the plan. Ug, patience - something I'm so bad at.

Today I did painting, which made me happy. Finished my Three Whimsical Girls. Now I want to do more of them, this time holding knives and guns.

This one made me ridiculously proud. I just wanted to see if I could do a 'proper' portrait. Now it's finished I can see my classic rookie mistake - not dark enough - but I think I've learned lots from it and I'm really happy with my first attempt at real painting (I don't think it's as yellow IRL as it looks in this pic):

Outside Inside

In my recent desperate 'plant purchasing to hide ugly neighbour' jaunts one of the things I bought was an Australian frangipani, which, the label assured me, was able to tolerate moist soils. Moist, it seems, is not the same as wet. The poor tree let me know in days that it was unhappy. (No, before you raise a concern about my mental health, it didn't talk to me - it wilted.) I moved it around the garden for a while (I have a habit of moving trees around more frequently than my furniture) but still it wasn't happy. With a flash of inspiration I decided it wanted to be warm inside with us, and so we now have a very large pot plant inside. I figure what's the point of having a strange house that opens two storeys high unless you are going to grow a potentially 6 metre tall tree in it?

L12 told me it caught his eye and he kept thinking it was daddy.

Monk

I'm feeling a little like 7 Days ". . . and this is my picture." Still, here's my slightly androgynous,
monochromatic monk in the dark. Just for you :)

I still need to add some white highlights, but I'm letting him dry first so I don't mess him up too much.

I Hate to Paint

My picture wall is growing. This is the first time I played with oils - this was oil sticks and turps because I had no clue what I was doing.

 I was inspired enough to buy some actual paint, but since then I've been stuck. No clue what to do. Today I got totally disillusioned and decided in a funk just to use them like my comfortable pencil. Just black and a bit scribbly.

How scary white pages can be.

Book Parade Day

I'm such a geek about book parade. This year we decided not really to do it since the theme was difficult and limiting (dr. suess) and I wasn't in a cheery mood. But last minute the geek in me took over and I couldn't send them in uniform now could I? P9 went as Green Eggs and Ham. She didn't like her costume because "it was itchy and stupid and no-one normal has that sort of costume". I thought she rocked it.

L12 and I talked his costume through a couple of days ago and when I thought we had consensus (what he wanted x what I could produce) I said "that's fine and not too crazy" and he replied that he wanted to be as crazy as possible, so we totally had to rethink. He decided to be Voom. Aunty Iz admitted that she didn't know what Voom was?!? Shocking. Here you go then - from The Cat In The Hat Comes Back:

Ok so it's not a character as such and is a little obscure, but this is our interpretation:

 L12 came up with the idea this morning to throw glitter into the fan on his hat (yes, I sewed a battery into his hat), which would have been awesome, but also have made us extremely unpopular with the school cleaner. I didn't have glitter on hand or I absolutely would have encouraged him to go with it.

Here is L12 winning senior first prize. He had the biggest grin ever.

Blogger doesn't seem to want to publish my photos today. Phooey then. I'm not going to play.

Pens And Pencils

I had four children here this afternoon and still managed to get some drawing done. The grocery shopping, and dinner. . . not so much. Still, this makes me wish I had drawn every day for the last year. It's too late of course, but it's a reminder to draw every day for the next year.

 It's official. I hate noses. They are impossible.

 Cutsie. Someone made brooches that look like this: