two more blog awards and my new nokia E51

....makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

thank you, linda for the 'your blog is divine' award.

and, thank you, janet for the 'e for excellent' award.

i am going to follow janet's lead by saying that i too find it difficult to pick and choose between all my wonderful blog friends so.......i bestow this award upon all of you! that's right, if you are reading this, have a blog, and would like an award, please feel free to take one or both. i think you are all deserving ~

i spent a couple of hair-raising hours last night setting up my new nokia E51 mobile phone. mine is the 'copper rose' colour. i was due to renew my contract with my service provider and the new contract (for one year) came with a free mobile phone upgrade......how could i resist?! i've had the previous phone for two years now so this new beast took a little getting used to. at first, i hated it but, after only one day, i'm lovin' it! it has a lot of great features but i was disappointed to find that it had no games installed so, today i downloaded the game bejeweled for the mobile. I LOVE bejeweled! i play the computer version a lot. i also love the computer game - moraff's morejong. do you have a favourite computer or mobile phone game you just can't resist?

vegan burgers, studio progress and a woolly situation

thanks for sharing your day with me. it's always nice to hear what others have been up to.

last night was vegan night, where once a week i cook a vegan meal for the 'whole' household to partake of. after catching up with a few of my favourite vegan blogs, i couldn't go past the voracious vegan's tempting bombay burgers. instead of having them on a bread roll, i served them with mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, carrots and broad (fava) beans on the side. they were a real hit so i will definitely be making them again. thanks, VV!

then today, i put a layer of texture on the canvas using matisse gel medium.

then, i popped to spotlight for some craft bits and pieces and, after lunch, i watched chapter six of a new earth with oprah and eckhart tolle. i am reading each chapter of the book and then watching the corresponding chapter on the computer.

later in the afternoon, i pottered around in the studio playing with different layouts for my tags.....still deciding on them. anyways, when i got up to come through to start dinner, this is was greeted me on the floor of the studio -

my darling cody had been at it again! up to mischief! and, of course, he wanted to turn it into a game so took off with the wool, down the hall and into Brad's room leaving a trail behind him.
then, he raced back into the studio to find something new to play with - ....never a dull moment with cody around.

more projects

yesterday, i painted a couple of coats of gesso on the next canvas project. this one is a gift for my nephew's birthday next month. it will be a large, chinese symbol on a textured background - 24"x24". my nephew's favourite colour is orange....can't seem to get away from that colour! lol

i also put a coat of gesso on some papier mache tags which is part of a project ro organised for our email group. while ro doesn't have the tag project on her blog, she does have another one which is on my 'to do' list also. pop on over there if you want to check it out. you won't be disappointed.

.....and today, i woke with a rotten headache that hasn't wanted to leave me all day despite taking medication. anyways, i basecoated the tags and now they are ready for the fun part.....decorating! aaron is doing his own set but hasn't decided on his colours yet.

what did you get up to today? keep it clean now ~ :)

zebra painting - work in progress - FINAL

WHOO HOO! i'm calling this finished. beau loves it so, as long as he is happy, that's the main thing. all that remains for me to do now is the varnishing. YAY! jessica, you will be pleased to know that there is even a hint of green in the foreground grasses though it doesn't show up too well in the pic. i think it does add a nice touch so thanks for the suggestion. thank you to all my loyal readers who have encouraged and supported me throughout the process.

zebra sunset - 30"x24" gallery wrapped canvas - matisse professional quality acrylic paintsclick on image to enlarge

jim denevan

what a gifted and talented artist! he literally draws these massive geometric designs - freehand - in the sand with just a rake for a tool. INCREDIBLE!!! take a look-see yourself -



i recently visited fran menelay's blog and found this post about jim denevan. he also hosts dinners called 'outstanding in the field' where guests literally eat out in a farmer's field. fran was lucky enough to attend one and shares her experience with lots of interesting titbits and pics if you are interested in checking it out.

zebra update - it's finally finished! YAY! but i am waiting for a clear, sunny day to take a decent pic as the past couple of days have been overcast and gloomy.

books i'm reading

it's a cold, bleak day here in brissie! brrrrrrrr! the perfect weather to curl up in bed with a good book. i love to read and i can have up to five books on the go at any given time. currently, the books on my bedside table are eat, pray, love by elizabeth gilbert, a new earth by eckhart tolle, a creative journal by lucia capacchione and awaken the giant within by anthony robbins. eagerly waiting in the wings to be promoted to my bedside table are into the wild by jon krakauer, a thousand splendid suns by khaled hosseini, stillness speaks by eckhart tolle and creating a life worth living by carol lloyd. what can i say? i LOVE books!

we had a lovely weekend. i hope you did too. brad's 25th birthday was on friday so, on sunday, we had michelle, alex, mum and dad over for lunch. i made chicken korma curry with rice for the omnivores and a veggie stir-fry with noodles for me though everyone did try the noodle dish and enjoyed it too.

no painting pics to show you yet so i thought i'd show you a couple of pics of cody. he loves jumping on top of all the throw blankets in my wardrobe and having a snooze while i get ready in the mornings. he leads such a hard life.....poor thing. lol

blogging friends forever - award card

BFF gold card - BFF stands for 'blogging friends forever' - i feel stoked and honoured to have this award card bestowed upon me by nic. nic is not only a wonderful mixed media artist but also a creativity coach. i'm always inspired when i visit her blog. thanks so much, nic!

here are the rules -
1. 5 people are allowed to receive this award.
2. four dedicated followers of your blog.
3. one is to be new to your blog and live in another part of the world.
4. please link back to whoever gave you the award.

as with all the awards i post here, PLEASE know that participation is entirely optional. i would hate for anyone to feel pressured in any way. i have met so many wonderful blog friends since joining the blogosphere and they all mean so much to me but, unfortunately, i am limited to listing just four regular readers and one new reader to my blog.

they are:
maria - a wonderful artist who specialises in abstract and mixed media

jessica - another wonderful artist who i feel privileged to know.

julie - i like to think of julie as 'the succulent queen' as she shares her love of succulents and cacti with the world.

becky - who does such cute illustrations for children's books. a very talented lady.

luci - visiting luci's blog never fails to bring a smile to my face. i love her stories and illustrations.

janet - who inspires me so much as she shares her creativity and growth as an artist.

kate - an amazing photographer. i am always touched in a positive way after visiting her blog.

ro - doll maker extraordinaire! i have known ro for several years and i am grateful to call her my friend. now, ro, I know you stipulated that you won't participate in these blog thingies and you are not expected to but....i just wouldn't feel right if i didn't list you as one of my 'blog friends forever'.

okay people, i know! i can't count......shoot me now! i just couldn't pick and choose between friends, so there! i was tempted to list more but i knew i had to draw the line somewhere.

the new reader to my blog and who i was delighted to find via another bloggy friend (thanks,ro) is linda. i was totally hooked after my first visit to linda's blog.....it's full of variety with great posts and OH, her amazing sculptures and mixed media! a lovely lady all round and i hope linda will always remain a BBF.

zebra painting - work in progress - stage seven

i have the finish line in sight now. still a little more work to be done on the zebras, and ground.....then some foreground grass should put the finishing touch to it. the stance of the baby zebra bugged me a little so i altered it. i had a headache by the time i finished painting in the dark stripes on the baby zebra. lol

click on image to enlarge

meet arnie......

......this big, bad boy is heavy duty stuff! he only accepts heavy duty staples and is sheer HEAVEN to use! for some time now, reece has been complaining about 'wimp' not standing up to the task at hand so it was time for wimp to be replaced. i wish i could say that wimp has served us well but that would be a lie. much to our frustration, he has pretty much been a 'wimp' from day dot.

as you can see, arnie is almost twice wimp's size -

NEWSFLASH - today is the first day in three weeks that i have felt half-human again.....YAY! those supplements sure pack a punch....thanks, mum! but, instead of painting today, i found myself reading blogs....thanks, ro! ;)

as i don't have any more painting progress to show, here is a zentangle i did last month. these are so much fun to do because even i don't know what the outcome will be.

still sick......

.....and hating it!

i have not had a good winter this year with sickness at all. i've been down for the count too much and i have felt very debilitated by it. i'm wondering if i might be anaemic again too which is something i have been prone to before. i'm showing all the symptoms.....sensitivity to smells, nausea, headaches and lack of energy. my darling mum rocked up this morning with a few different vitamin supplements for me to take. here i am, 49, and still being looked after by my mum when i get sick....mum even made sure the supplements were all suitable for vegans. is she a sweetie, or what?!

i woke up on saturday feeling much better which was just as well because beau had another costume party that night and guess who had to do more sewing? this time, he went as a fireman and i had to make and sew the yellow and grey bands on his jacket and pants. not an easy feat to squeeze the jacket sleeves over the sleeve arm of my sewing machine and manoeuvre it, AND the bulk of the jacket, around while i sewed. you seamstresses out there will know what i'm talkin' about. there were many screams of frustration throughout the process. it did turn out quite well though and beau was rapt! he had so many compliments at the clubs they went to. don't you just love his cute, little fire extinguisher and hat?

FIREMAN BEAU -

come sunday and i was feeling sick again. i think i will have to cancel class again tomorrow.

as you may guess, i haven't managed to get any more painting done......hopefully soon....