Port Macquarie - Werrikimbe trip

Boy I'm glad I went last weekend and not this one! The weather was lovely.
I stayed at Port Macquarie youth hostel Friday night with a group of other bushwalkers but I got there early and went and took photos.They had some big seas and wild weather earlier in the week and there was a big swell and a lot of salt in the air which gave quite an atmosphere.I went around the beaches late that afternoon to take some photos that maybe someday will end up as paintings! I took lots of photos but I'll just put a few up here.

We drove up to the Wilderness area..its about 2.30hrs from Port as the last 60 odd kms are 20 - 40km/hr speeds on good forest roads.

Werrikimbee walk

They had about 130mm of rain earlier that week so all the waterfalls were gushing!

The campsite.I was slack and slept in my car..
Amazing what you can do in a little Corolla..LOL"s We didn't see anyone else all weekend and other than the occasional plane overhead it was lovely and quiet,Just what I needed! I need to know there are still places you can get away to that haven't been wrecked or affected by man.

It was just a tad short as my feet touched the back door.. next time I'll put the bed diagonally and it will be perfect!

 Great rainforest no weeds etc.There are only a few walking tracks and they aren't that long. You can do real offtrack walking to experience the wilderness if you want.

About 30 years ago I came up on an overnight bushwalk to do just that. We were supposed to be using an exposed knife edged ridge with a big drop off each side to get down from the top of the mountain to the river below and camp.I'm scared of heights so I was really worried about going down the ridge.We missed the ridge and ended up crawling in the thick undergrowth on our hands and knees for 3/4 hr with big packs on. I was crying by the end of it but at least we found a way down that didn't go down that scary ridge and once down in the creek it was gorgeous!We climbed back up another ridge to the top of the mountain the next day to finish the walk.

 My neck isn't up to carrying a big pack these days although I am improving so maybe this year.. I'm a bit more of a whoose in my old age though so I'd be doing easier walks than the one I just mentioned!

 It was interesting country..rainforest like above and then head high coral fern, banksia and grasstrees like the photo below.

This is another short walk through treeferns to waterfalls.It was gorgeous!

 Me on a bridge 

Fungi and moss

Sue in front of a waterfall

I'll start a new post to show the trip once I went back down into the valley/civilisation again.I stayed a day longer than everyone else as I wanted to paint some landscapes..nothing like telling everyone on Facebook that your going to do something ..It certainly motivated me to get off my bum and paint knowing everyone was expecting something!

Rain!

It's been raining steadily overnight and all today.I did a driveway 'patrol' and cleared the verges so the rain drains on the sides and doesn't wash the drive away. There are sheets of water running down the slopes , our ' creeks ' are running , the 'big' dam is almost filled and looks like a small lake again. Unfortunately so does the arena. We need a diversion drain above it as all the water is just running straight into it.Ok. We've had enough now you can go away rain!..Huh! We haven't even got the flood rains they have predicted yet.Glad we live on  a hill!
 Zeuss was so glad to get breakfast his whinnies went up and down the scale..I suppose it's the one bright spot in his soggy day..LOL"s.
Good day to lie in front of the fire , cook and now get some painting done.
 I'm a bit stuck on Boss. He's brindle and quite dark and I want him colourful and interesting but still darkish..oh well keep plugging away and eventually I'll get it!

Another secret gift portrait I've just completed - Ziggy + Darby

I've done many portraits for Carol who has a security and dog training business
http://www.shadowhawk.com.au/

We were concentrating on her own dogs that had passed away.She intended to do a portrait for her sister at some time.Her sister recently lost Ziggy unexpectedly so Carol moved this portrait forward.She had just taken some photos of both dogs the week before Ziggy died but was disappointed when she saw the photos as both dogs had their eyes in shadow .Always look for things like that when you take photos ( digital cameras are great as you can generally check what you have taken then and there)..Retake them from a different angle to the sun. The photo was also very boring and  B and W in colour - but it WAS sharp!

Reference photo Ziggy at the back and Darby front.

I chose this photo of the two from a lot Carol supplied as I thought it had potential for a nice design in a portrait. Carol said I could enhance the colours and I started her portrait as a demo painting at an event.I changed the postions of the dogs for a better design and it also meant Ziggy ( who passed away) would be at the front. Here is the portrait.

Ziggy and Darby
20 x 50cms
Oil on gallery wrap canvas
Carol hasn't unveiled the portrait yet but said it was ok to show it on the internet. It feels good to be able

to create a portrait like this and I hope it helps ease her sister's grief.

Here is Aymon + Aussie framed.

 " Graeme loved it! It's now hanging above Aymon's piano. Thanks Sue."
Fiona

This photo of the portrait isn't great.There isn't a dark band along the LHS.. that's just the shadow of the frame on the portrait.


I'm starting another portrait of Boss the happy Staffy. He was the star of the happy dog hanging out of the car painting I did a while ago.Now I'm starting his portrait which will be a combined Xmas / birthday gift for Dec.

Heres' one of my latest secret portraits. Aymon and Aussie

Aymon + Aussie

c 40 x 50cms

framed Oil

'I was excited by the idea of having a painting done of my son Aymon and my dog Aussie. With my husbands 50th pending I decided it would be the perfect gift! From my initial enquiry to the finished... painting, Sue has been fantastic! Expert advice, excellent communication and I have a painting that far exceeded my expectations and I will treasure (even though it’s Graeme’s pressie) forever. Thanks Sue.'


Fiona

'Graeme loved the painting!  Not what he was expecting, looks fantastic above Aymon’s piano.'

Fiona

My artworks to feature in the June Human Rights Defender magazine

The Human Rights Defender magazine created by the university of Sydney wants to publish photos of my Australian landscapes in their June magazine.

http://www.ahrcentre.org/hrd_issues.html

Bummer!

I fell and sprained my right ankle badly trying to strap sailboards onto the car.Boy it hurt! I was curled up in agony . The wind was blowing and the board was only half tied on so I had to finish the job so it wouldn't blow off..I thought I'd seize up and not be able to drive home but so far it's remarkably good! ..Time to go and ice it..grr


I'm supposed to be going on a bushwalking car camp with day walks at the weekend and its a 4hr drive so if I seize off that will be off.For the last 7 years I've had a restricted life due to a crook neck that means I get a headache if I sit long.I've been improving so I decided to see if I was up to a 3hr drive..I thought my neck would be the deciding factor but the maybe the ankle will be now.

The rain seems to have prompted a breeding frenzy with the roos!

Some females know that if they get under the front verandah it is too low for the males to follow so they get a bit of a break away from them.Meanwhile the males hang around outside ( up to 1 dozen) and the dominant male grunts and chases the others if they get a bit keen and come to close.When the female breaks out into the open and hops off all the males follow her in a line as she bounds around the paddock.The dominant one courts her when ever she stops until she eventually gives in and lets him have his way.
 Here's some photos of this process.

Some of the boys.. She is under the front of the house out to the left of the photo.

More of the soggy boys..there were heaps of them!

More soggy roos -The rain hasn't cooled their interest! LOL's

Asserting his dominance!

 Ok you win!

The house dam is nicely full after the rain.

General view

Some of them around the housedam.

She's left and the males start to follow

Here she is down the paddock with suitors following..Wouldn't you like to  be this popular..not! LOL's That's only half of them!

I love flood rain!

It's been raining heavily on & off for the last day.We've had 83mm so far ( over 3 ") and set to hang around.Lucky I rode Zeuss a few days ago as the arena is a swimming pool! Our newly regravelled drive is holding up well.2 out of 3 dams are full and our 'big dam ' is half but the creeks are running so its filling slowly.We have seasonal creeks on our place which means they only run in 'flood ' type rains..We live on top of a slight hill so the rain doesn't worry us much although it's soggy at the moment and the rotten male roos have decided to chase a female in heat and fight over her so they have dug up our 'lawn' - grr.
Heres are some pics I just took. Zeuss..not happy Jan

The view outside the studio

View looking out my studio window.. 

Hello..?
The female is under the front verandah and this is one of the males hangin g around.

Here's another one I did yesterday - unfinished

I quite like this one and I'm almost tempted to finish it off but I better catch up on art stuff as I've been away from the studio a lot lately.

Alan
 30 x 40cms
Unfinished 2.30hr Oil from a model

My latest portrait from life - unfinished

Here's my latest portrait done at the portrait group mentioned in the Hunter lifestyle magazine article .Once again it is unfinished. If I was to finish it I'd probably add a bit more orange / red to the LHS of her face , especially her LH forehead, refine things a bit and darken her shirt.

Emma

30 x 40cms

Oil

Why do things always happen when you don't have the time to deal with them!?

I don't think I'm destined to go this weekend..I ordered a canvas made to paint on and it came back inside out so now I have to spend an hour priming it etc before I can draw the dogs on it. Now the screws on my roof racks have stripped so the rack is unsafe and somehow I have to find room inside for lattice and supports.If you've seen my car packed ready to go you'd realise that it not going to be easy..Argh! much hair pulling..better get back and see whether the canvas is ready for another coat yet.

Myall lakes kayak trip

My partner & I went kayaking on Myall Lakes on the mid north coast NSW yesterday. After we left the launching spot we had the place all to ourselves.The only sound was the sounds of bird life and the booming of distant surf. It was lovely!

This is probably 1/3rd of the way across and 6-8' deep but you can still see the weed underneath.

The water was very cold.You wouldn't want to fall in but it was very clear. It was weird being halfway across the lake and you could see the weed on the bottom ..probably 12 foot below.It was a sunny day but cool with a light wind.

View from Shelley beach

Going across to the islands in the middle

Two of the islands which were too rocky to land on

We had lunch on an isolated island .With lunch came the only downside of the day..The @## army decided to have a jet dog fight over the lakes .It was deafening for about 30mins..NOT impressed.Why can't they go out to sea where they won't affect anyone.It also grates that there are so few areas where you can get away from the hustle and bustle and yet they have this sort of activity that wrecks the ambience of national parks.

At least the rest of the day was peaceful ( other than when I was distracted looking for a distant jet I could hear & grounded on a large rock sticking out of the deep water..ouch..luckily only a few deep scratches on the underside of the kayak..)




 

Almost back 

 It was beautiful at the end with hundreds of black swans all honking around us.

I was aching at the end but I was quite happy with myself as it was 17.5kms and I haven't paddled for 3 weeks.

Portrait of Bridie

 Bridie

20 x 25cm

framed Oil

Robyn said she could never capture Bridie in a photo so she decided a painting would do it better. Bridie is geting on a bit she's 12 now and been diabetic since she was young.She's the boss of the other dogs but very loyal and placid, she's never been destructive. I made her a little younger in her gaze.

Here is the secret mothers day portrait I did of Aarky

Arky was a Russian blue cat .Jessica's mum was horrified when Aarky was run over a month ago . Jessica thought that a portrait would help her mum deal with his death and be a moving mothers day gift.
 She didn't have any good photos and the one she first suggested wasn't usable. I managed to use a blurry flashed out head photo and place it on another photo of his body to come up with a portrait.

Here is the first photo that Jessica provided.

I didn't want to  paint from this photo as it is too far away , dark and featureless and I knew the portrait wouldn't be very good.
After looking through other photos Jessica found I suggested using this head

This photo wasn't very good either as it wasn't sharp and his eyes are ruined by the flash but it was the only one that might be usable to add to this body..which is a lovely photo of his blue coat but you can't see Aarky's lovely green eyes. Jessica wanted me to show his blue colour and green eyes .

Here is the final portrait .

Aarky 

 20 x 25cms framed Pastel

' Yes mum loved the portrait!  She cried. He's now hanging in our living room. '

Jessica

I'm painting as much as I can!

Panic stations this week as although I'll be around the next few weeks I won't be able to spend much time in the studio. I'm getting as much painting done as I can! I'll be checking emails but I won't be posting as often either.Time to paint an Oil portrait of Bridie a red cattle dog!

The creation of 'A big day"

I haven't posted any progressive photos of a painting for a while so here's one I did a while ago. I had taken photos of all the cats for a large portrait . We didn't use this one of Gabrielle the kitten but I thought it would be a fun one to paint .

Sketch

Early stages

Getting there! 

Finished!

 Sold

A big day!

Pastel

c 46 x 68cms framed

Have a Pastel created of your pet !

Click on the links at the top LHS to contact me.

My portrait of mum just won an Artshow award !

It won an award in the Oil painting section at the Dobell Artshow in Lake Macquarie.

Betty Linton OAM

The young boy and his dog portrait is progressing

I've just spent a few hours doing the background for the boy and dog portrait.It's finally coming together.It's suprising what a change of background can do.I was going to change the colour of his face but now it looks much more interesting.Still a fair way to go though. The two horse portrait is SO close..it's annoying that it's the last little tweaks which take so long and you can't hurry them!