For fun

I like the idea of a painting being on one canvas. The idea if many canvasses for one image has never appealed to me personally...........Until I came across two little 8"x8"black canvasses that I stashed away at the bottom of my canvas- stash- cupboard.So, I had some fun in the 30 minutes between getting home from town and collecting the kids from school.

Cows.Again!

Feeeeesh.......or Koi in a pond

I have had great trouble with this painting and have the feeling it might end up on the fire.

I am very aware that I have to make the mistakes to learn from them(and wow, isn't THAT a frustrating process!) Usually I wipe the canvas clean and start again if it is truly abominable. This time I persevered.

Sometimes it is appropriate to look at the the bad and the ugly to appreciate the good!I shall put this one down to learning.

I have a one in 3 attrition rate of paintings, ie. for every 2 I paint and feel one is a duff!

The Milking Shed

I live in a dairy farming region of New Zealand. There are cows EVERYWHERE!

I am gratefull I do not have to get up to milk them myself and just get to paint them. The early morning light is beautifull ...but it does not make up for the cold and the incredibly antisocial hours one keeps as a dairy farmer!

Cabin fever

It has been a long 4 days of inclement weather and all the boys in this house have cabin fever.And you know what those boys do when they have cabin fever? They bounce off the walls and become very demanding ! Lookatme lookatme lookatme!!!

I need some peace and quiet......so I daydream of this autumn day at the seaside. The colour of the sky in New Zealand is so different from my childhood African sky.

If you look closley, you can see where a ball bounced off this as it was drying.The shared living/painting space thing is a challenge!

Banner sheep

Someone wanted to see the whole of the sheep painting that features in the banner.Tadah!

I really like sheep. I patted some today at the local Fieldays agricultural thingamabob and took some great photos of farmers. Did I mention how much I like farmers?I am sure there must be a mailorder catalogue specialising in farmer fashion and bruskeness...and gumboots and funny hats etc.Anyway, if I could get away with it, I would take more photo's than is sensible or neccesary , but I am carefull not to offend.So, I settle for sheep patting and sly photography

The animal thing again.

It seems to me that, although I have no great affinity for animals, I manage to paint them effectively enough!

This Elephant is a present for dear family friends who kept me entertained as a child with numerous craft projects and introduced me to the world Of Tintin and Asterix and Obelix.

They travel annually to the Kruger National Park with my parents and those trips are often the basis for hilarious stories of baboons raiding the fridge or getting lost in the camps.I hope this painting will remind her of those times. I posted it today.

Pet portraits

I never intended to paint animals. Despite living in the country , the only animals in our house are some small boys and an enormous tomcat.

These two Scotties belong to my dear friend Sarah. She lives on the opposite side of the world to me and is an infrequent correspondent.I painted Douglas for her as a gift and Daisy for myself, to remind me of Sarah.

In the beginning...

This is the painting that makes me want to paint more. This simple little portrait of Morag the black labrador is my best piece of work to date.So why not start with the best?!

I paint when I can. Quite often, I mull ideas over for ages before I lift a brush.In that time, I am doing housework,gardening,playing with my kids or running errands.My life as a MommyGoddess is hard to reconcile with painting,hence The Distracted Painter moniker.