something fishy this way comes...

It's been a fairly busy month and I even did some painting. Aaron, my son wanted an aquarium scene done for his bedroom and, typical of Aaron, it had to be done 'yesterday'. 

So it was rush-rush...and not a small piece either. I designed it on the go over three days...

Aaron wanted it done in a similar style to the previous fish painting I did for him years ago....so NOT my usual style. 

 

Background first....

Then painting in some of the elements

Some refining of the pebble base with more elements...

Some fish, refining rocks and more plants...

This (see below) is where Aaron called it finished because he just wanted it on his wall. lol You will spot the Angel fish and the Betta fish. However, the Neon Tetras (upper-mid right) and Corydoras (lower left) are not so easy to see in the pic but more visible in reality. A Bristlenose Catfish and some Epistogramma Cichlids were also planned but I didn't get the chance to paint them in. Maybe at a later date...

 In its new spot on the wall 

In keeping with the fishy theme, I thought you might like to see some of the goldfish in Aaron's pond on the back patio.

 

There are Shubunkin, Oranda and a couple of Telescope-eyed, butterfly fish — all goldfish species.

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On another note, are any of you participating in Sketchbook Revival hosted by Karen Abend? I've been watching the videos and doing a little here and there. Some are not my cup of tea but I do like to watch the videos regardless. Inspiration can be found everywhere. 

Anyway, that wraps up my post for today. I hope you are all keeping well. 

Love, Light and Peace

 

AEDM - Day 28 - Fish and Flowers

Hi everyone, 

We had a fun night at cards and I did win a few rounds. YAY! I crawled into bed around just after 2am and was back up again at 4:30am. Needless to say I'm feeling very tired and zombie-like right now (8:30pm) so it will be a photo post today. 

My Desert Rose (Adenium Obesum) is in bloom so thought you might like to see some pics. I'm a big fan of succulents and this beauty is around 13 years old. It started out as a small cutting from my Mum's Desert Rose. After nearly three years, it barely grew at all and never flowered to the point where I nearly gave up on it. 

Then the following year, it just took off and look at it now!

Its bulbous belly has fattened up quite a lot over the years.

In January last year, Aaron (son) set up a fish pond under our pergola 

You can't see it in the pic but there is an aerator (bubbler) in the pond. 

He bought 1 Shubunkin Goldfish and 2 Oranda Goldfish to live there. 

They have grown quite a bit since then. 

I took the following photos a couple of weeks ago.

 The Shubunkin is the darker one with black markings

When they see me coming with their food each day, 

they gather at the edge of the pond 

with their mouths open. 

It's really hard to get decent photos of them as they are 

constantly moving plus the water is very reflective. 

To see what others have posted for AEDM today, click HERE.

See you tomorrow...

Love, Light and Peace to All.

Tuesday round-up

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to get back into the flow of regular blogging where I want to get back to posting bits and bobs of my life, not just my sketchbooks. I miss doing that.

So for starters, meet some of our feathered family -

Chico — formerly known as Phoenix — likes to snooze in my studio while I work.

And below are the awesome foursome! I won't tell you all their names because my son changed their names that many times, I've lost track. However I still call the green budgie, Jacob. He is the second eldest at around 9 years old. The blue one, Malik, is our eldest boy at 10 years old. That's very good going for budgies in captivity. Our vet said to keep on doing whatever we're doing. They are a happy bunch and love their mini-aviary.

Since becoming vegan, I have to say that I'm not overly comfortable owning birds in captivity. That said, these lovelies were here before I became vegan so not much I can do about that now plus I do love them.  They are very well cared for and they pretty much have the run of the house throughout the day as we open their cage roofs of a morning. They are all hand-tamed. I know there are differing opinions on this but, yes, my son does clip some of their flight feathers purely for their own safety. They can still fly, just not high enough or too fast where they can injure themselves on ceiling fans, walls, or glass doors. It is much safer for them and they still get to exercise.

We also get daily visits from the Butcherbirds who I'm sure would love to have our birds for supper. When our birds get noisy chattering, a Butcherbird will sometimes perch on the fence looking in through the window. They are aggressive predators feasting on insects, lizards, and small animals including birds. They have been known to hook and pull a small bird from its cage. They are called Butcherbirds because they often impale their victims against fences or tree limbs to render them helpless. Butcherbirds are native to Australia and protected by law.

The one pictured below is a juvenile Grey Butcherbird which perched on the fence outside my studio as it could hear Chico chirping. The adults have a black crown and face, with a white collar. Their wings also dark grey rather than brown.  (Sorry, not a great photo as it was taken from behind a security fly-screen.)

And the beauty below is of the fin variety, not feathered.  He is my son's Siamese Fighting fish also known as a Betta fish. This one is a Crown-tail Betta. I must sketch him one day.

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I've been trying to get back into regular sketching and, back in mid-February, I signed up to Sktchy to draw a daily face....then the pain and depression hit so no sketching. I plan to do ALL the faces in order and yesterdays efforts are below. Reference Image is Adam Vitry, another Sktchy artist/member.  I sketched him with a purple pencil and a purple ballpoint pen...not quite finished yet. I'm going to experiment more as I go along.

On a sad note, today marks three years since my Dad's passing. 

Still miss him every day.
Love you, Dad xo

That's it from me for today. 

See you tomorrow for Scribble Picnic. 

Decorating with turtles and fish...

If you have been following my blog for some time, 

you will already know that I am very big into animal rights and welfare.
I've sponsored bears in the past and I have donated to animal causes worldwide
ever since I was a working teen.
This year, I'm going to adopt a baby orangutan.
No, no....it won't come to live with me in Australia. hehe
The baby orangutan will stay in it's own habitat
 but my annual adoption fee will go towards it's care and support.
More details on that in a later post.

Lately, I've been wondering about ways I can use my art to help
or bring awareness to animal causes 

OR whether it would be better to keep the two separate. 

Well, I think I received my answer the other day.

I was in the studio painting a sea turtle canvas for my kitchen 

when a knock came at the door. 

It turned out to be a guy from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) 

and he was collecting donations for their latest rescue cause...

Green Sea Turtles in Northern Queensland!

How uncanny is that?!

I've NEVER had anyone from WWF knock at my door before
and, there I was, painting a sea turtle....the very thing he was promoting! 

I'm thinking there is definitely a message in there for me 

considering the timing.

Here is the turtle canvas I was working on.

I changed the colour scheme in my kitchen from reds to blues, greens, and purples
which is my favourite colour combo.

 I already had some metal fish tea-light ornaments from Bali
so decided to go with a fishy/sea theme too. 

The blue in the pic below is more true to the actual colour.

And I did not stop there....

Aaron liked my fish art so much he asked if I could do one for his room.
Lucky for him, he caught me while I was on a roll.

So the one below was done very quickly to keep him happy.
It looks great in his bedroom where he also has an aquarium.

IT ARRIVED!!!

My artistic license validating my completion of the 75 day sketch challenge.
I still can't believe I did it.

75 pencil-free sketches using only pen or ink in 75 consecutive days!

Brenda Swenson, the host of the 75 day challenge,
sent me one of her art cards too. Lovely!

I was going to post pics of my kitchen with it's new decor colours
but I'll leave that for another day as this post has become over-long.

I hope you all had a wonderful start to the week.

~ Love, light and peace ~