It's been a while...

I haven't posted since December 28th so I guess this is HAPPY NEW YEAR from me to you!  

May 2015 bring you lots of love, light, peace, and many blessings.

 We brought in 2015 at Michelle and Alex's place and we made a special toast to Dad shortly after. As you know my Dad hasn't been well and is now classified as Palliative Care so it's been a tough start to the year for us.  They have stopped all his medications and the plan is to keep Dad comfortable and pain-free.  It's not an easy road and this is part of the reason I haven't been posting on my blog, let alone keep up with friends' blogs.  I've been spending a lot of time visiting Dad at the Home.

Here is a recent photo of my beautiful granddaughters, Mikayla and Madelyn,

enjoying a treat while their Poppy sleeps peacefully in the bed beside them.

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Mum had been sleeping over a couple of nights a week from October up until New Year. We're already looking forward to her next sleep-over.  As Mum and I love jigsaw puzzles, I couldn't resist buying one for us to work on together while she was here in December.  I also bought one for her to take home and do by herself.  We became quite addicted I can tell you. 

FINISHED!

It was fairly large too at 1000 pieces.

The total measurement being 700mm/27½" x 500mm/20". 

We were very pleased with ourselves when it was done. 

Bradley even helped here and there too.

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I haven't done a lot of sketching since my last blog post but I will share the ones I have done in future posts.  For now, I wanted to share a work-in-progress I'm painting for Aaron's room. It will be a silhouette of African animals against a rich sunset.

First layer

Second layer

I've had this painting on hold also but I'm hoping to find some time to finish it this month.

Stay tuned for more posts very soon....

Christmas celebrations, choir, and ornaments

I hope you all had a beautiful Christmas!

I was actually quite sick with sinuses and asthma 

but I did manage to put on a smile 

and spend time at my daughter's house 

for Christmas celebrations with my beautiful family.

We all had a lovely time!

 Michelle got a selfie-stick from Alex for Christmas
and it was put to good use on Christmas day.
I want one!

 Michelle wasn't feeling the best either
but we both put on happy faces,
with a little help from some Christmas wine, perhaps?
I only had one, I swear.


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On December 16th, our Mater Sing for Health Choir
sang Christmas Carols in the Mater Mothers Hospital foyer
after only four weeks of practise.
On December 17th and 18th, we repeated our performance
at the two Mater Volunteers' Christmas parties of
approx. 100 people at each.
We were very well received by our audience
and we even had them join in for a Christmas round at the end.
We all had an absolute blast!

 Photo courtesy of Mater Hospital - Queensland


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I haven't been doing much in the way of sketching

but I have been painting.

As always seems to be the way,
I was frantically trying to finish ornaments in time for Christmas.
I had planned to start them early, like in September,
but my life was turned upside down when Dad became ill
and ended up in a high care aged facility,
so I kept putting the ornaments off until later.

Since the birth of my granddaughters,
I started a tradition of painting them a Christmas ornament  each year.

This year, I decided to recycle two light bulbs.
I have done similar in the past
and they are a lot of fun to transform.
Do you like my state-of-the-art bulb holders? hehe
Plastic bottles filled with pebbles for weight,
then the bulbs held in place securely with Blu-tack.
They worked perfectly!

First up, two coats of All Purpose Sealer.
That stuff is fantastic for using on slick surfaces.

Then a few coats of Jo Sonja Warm White.

Now, the fun begins.
Scarves first up.

Then, their little faces.
Brown eyes for Maddy,
Blue eyes for Mikayla.

And, of course the Christmas holly.

All dressed ready for the Christmas tree
wearing polar fleece for hats
adhered with Helmar quick-set Craft glue.

Just hangin'!

You can see the ornaments I painted for previous years
at the following links.

2013
2012
2011
2010
2010 (part 2)

I'm feeling almost human again today
and I'm looking forward to babysitting Mikayla and Maddy
while Michelle and Alex take in a movie at the cinema.

It's been pouring rain since yesterday and I'm loving it!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Any plans for New Year's Eve?

I'm calling it quits...

I made it to number 88 of the 365 daily sketch challenge before calling it quits.

 I just felt way too pressured by it.
 Who knows, I may try the challenge again for 2015.

For now, you will still see regular sketches from me

but I have given myself permission to miss some days here and there.

I will continue to sketch directly with pen unless stated otherwise
 but I plan to vary my sketchbooks a bit.
The sketches below are all done in my Holcroft A6 travel journal.

I bought this little turtle figurine when I called into Mr Toys to buy a jigsaw puzzle. 

Mum, Brad, and I love working on the puzzle together. 

I also bought one for Mum to take home with her to keep her occupied when she's on her own.

Mum said it has helped keep her mind off Dad being in the home.

Our weather has been unbearably hot and humid of late.
So much so, that I invested in an industrial fan,
an evaporator/cooler fan,
and some block-out curtains.
Every little bit helps.
Today is officially the start of our summer.

OH dear, this Buddha does not look very impressed with the sketch I did of him. lol

Bradley and I attended choir practise last week
and look what I spotted in the Mater Children's Hospital foyer.
Bananas in Pyjamas caught with their pants down!

One of the feathers in my collection.

My sister dropped in some little tomato plants for me.
I just need to plant and stake them.
I sure hope  they provide an abundance of tomatoes.
We had a super-storm on Thursday
and it caused a lot of damage right across Brisbane.
Reece said the storm pelted them with golf-ball-sized hailstones in the city.
It was like a war zone in some areas.
Luckily, we only got ½" hail here.

Late again but, this week, I'm linking up to Sunday Sketches HERE.