Here are 3 mini panoramas that I am in the process of painting, one of these views could be what I will paint for my One World One Heart giveaway this year, either on good quality paper or a canvas board, for ease of sending from Australia. It is now the 24th and I still haven't started on it but I will asap

One World One Heart

Hello all, step on the magic carpet for a journey into other people's lives, come meet folk from all around the world, and let them into yours.
(Wooops just found out this is 10 days early, for some reason I had the 15th in mind as the date.....at least that gives me more time to start painting my giveaway, lol)

Welcome to my blog which has grown a bit since my first involvement with the very interesting One World One Heart giveaway.

Maybe not many posts, but some quite lengthy posts about by life and art. I was 'caught up' and busy with a protest last year, and all I have learnt about connecting online, was very useful.

But it didn't leave me much time for other online pursuits, such as returning to the interesting blogs I found in last years OWOH. Hopefully this year I will be able to spend more time reading.

At the moment, I am thinking that my Giveaway this year will be a painting, a landscape of this beautiful area and it's dramatic weather. I haven't painted it yet, as I get this post ready on the 11 /01/10, (Hmmmm interesting numbers !), but I will commence soon and I will blog about it's progress, as it occurs.

If there are any views in here, or here that you think would be good as the painting to be selected, please let me know,

Last year I arranged to send out three giveaways, getting carried away in the fun of it, only to find , when I came to send them, that they were quite heavy, and the cost of postage overseas, was quite high. Luckily for me the third person selected by Random Generator, never got back to me with her mailing address, so I only had to send out two.

I have enjoyed finally getting back into my art on canvas recently, while we have had some pleasantly cool weather, a break from heat and high humidity thru October, November, and up until just before christmas.

For the last two years my energy has been nearly non-existent, as I battle with fibroids and the energy drain they inflict on me. So my creative energy wanes with my lack of physical energy. I am considering buying a Magnetic Pulsing machine to try and 'fix' all the various ailments, currently assailing me........and become once again a vibrant artist capable of boundless energy.

If you would like to see the art wares in my shop have a look in here, and if you would just like to see some other photos of some stunning weather and the like Click here.

Please leave a comment about in the post posted on the 25th of January to be included in the give away.......something you have read in here, or another post, and don't forget to also include a way you can be contacted or your email.

For those of you who don't know about the 'One World One Heart' give away please click here , or on the Magic Carpet picture at the top of this post.

I will draw my winner on the 15th of February Australian Time so 14th US time is the cut off time, to leave me a comment and a link.

Have fun meeting a wide variety of people.

Sunrise Silhouettes

Nothing could be cuter than a newborn in a stunning sunrise silhouette shirt, or could there......???


What about an 80 year old bear rock and tree climbing in a sunrise shirt .......



Check out 'Bobby' he is just as active as my 79 year old mother, who inherited this bear from a neighbour after he died at a tragically young age.











Both the shirts are available from my etsy shop and are 'On Sale' for the month of January, as part of the DUST Team's Brand New sale

Warning Sunrise Mists Arising

Took the plunge, and got out the other large canvas that has been staring at me for over a year saying, "So what are you going to paint on me ? Huh !"


Again I am deviating from the true colours of my original painting....but since I began painting, (the original) just after sunrise, and didn't finish till 11:30 am, the colours and shadows changed all the time. As the sun moved up I gradually was able to distinguish all the ridges of the inner caldera ring that earlier were lost in a darker haze.
Speaking of haze.....I now have a good 'hazy' photo of the stage before this pic above, that I took as a photo doco of the painting progress, forgetting the camera was still set on Macro (found an amazing Funky Forest of Fungi just after sunrise this morning!!)



I normally don't start 'blocking in the horizon until I've sorted out the sky, but as I was cleaning up my pallette container, I mixed up all the shades of green,brown, and black on a bed of dried blues, and loved the dusky shade of Turquoise that appeared....tipped off the excess water, and proceeded to use it to block in the mountain with it instead of just going with a more neutral greyish, which will be added in later I think.

This photo while a write off for my records, IS a reminder to try and keep the painting hazy with the morning misty brightness....Hmmmmm can I actually make this happen....


Then I had great fun painting in a glowing golden dawning sky, such as has awoken me on many of the mornings that I have camped at this glorious spot in our van over the years.
Having spent so many years painting what I saw, as it was, trying to recapture every detail in the landscape before me, it is quite invigorating/rerfeshing to 'allow' myself total freedom, in how I paint these memories onto canvas.



I'm liking the feeling of this painting so far, as I walk back into the studio, and see the glowing golden sky, it gives me a warm glowing feeling.....quite different from the original in small frame in middle, and the Brummies Lookout Panorama on the right.
Hmmm .....I wonder what that could look like painted in a free form colour sense, like the Blackbutt Lookout ones. ....Food for thought....and another canvas......Hope the shop gets another of same dimensions in soon, and I'll try that too.

Still have two canvasses that I stretched myself, still waiting to be begun, just can't quite decide which aspect of Warning it will be.
I seem to be do a series on the mountain.....I guess it has been a dream of mine for so long, and I am always taking pix of it these days with the digital as we drive around it.
They can't be allowed to build a dam in Byrrill Creek !!! It is too valuable a valley, both for it's wildlife (Koala Crossing), and residents homes and lives, not to mention the Tourism from scenic drives and walks !!!

What do you think? Any comments welcome.......

A work in Progress continues, with a dramatic change.........

The chocolate box image,......going going gone.......


After the celebrations are done with again.....I can get back to painting work.....I had to stop, just when I was on a roll and head out to Mt Warning Hoilday Park where my sister is staying as she wanted to host a birthday party,(mother) cum christmas with our brother, nephew, outlaw nephew, and semi-ex SIL, on the 22nd......that exhausted me!!

Next day had to go shopping for forgotten items from previous shop, and forgot just as much, as my brain just didn't seem to be functioning, (low iron,anaemia!?). Got back, and felt totally stuffed.

But I did receive a second invitation to join 50 local women artists of the Tweed Region, in a specky coffe table book showcase !! Thanks Lesley !!

On the 24th, I got caught up with some minimalist preparations for the 25th, made a new christmas cake....for change and simplicity...a Sienese Italian spicy Panforte, which turned out very well despite my alterations/additions to the recipe,(I don't seem to be able to stick to a recipe, that often, lol)
And found out, I'd had a sale online while I'd be PC Free ! for two days. Yay !

And spent time helping try and make a CD of old family slides into a modern screensaver slideshow to be playable on the larger TV, but the discs refused to play !!! Aaaaaaaah waste of several hours !

Yesterday was another exhausting day.....with just my older sister, who seems to have become perpetually 10 years old, and who did not stop talking from the moment she arrived til the moment she left 10 hours later. Luckily she went and had a short walk around the property between courses. ......!! My mother and I were pleased to have the short break !
Boxing Day and it is another big rain day, with much cooler weather, and only an occasional humid patch.......So after relaxing, with a book in bed after brekky in bed, I spied my Panorama painting in the studio/living room, and decided it was 'Too Chocolate Box' like, and maybe I should paint it with some of the very dramatic thundery Black/Blue clouds we regularly get here.

But first, I read the contract details for the art book promo, and (will attempt to get everything needed for that, done ASAP, Lesley), and I did some digital photo processing work, which can take me longer than normal, as I still wrangle with the new OS that I've recently switched over to.

So here is a radical change from the earlier blue sky.........After I'd put down some dark gray, then some light gray and white......I fingerpainted the blending of the two.......Haven't done that since I first played round with oil paint as a youth.



Cleaned the brush off a bit by spreading some of the grays onto lower section of painting.
As I have been sitting perusing my paintings of late.....I really want to thank one of the best art teachers, I ever worked for, for all the extremely valuable tricks and painting tips I learnt from him as I posed as a Life-Model, for many of his drawing and painting classes, at MSC for 9 years. William Harding, Bill was/is one of the best teachers I had the pleasure of working with, and as a model I got to see a large number in Melbourne in the 80'sand 90's. Thankyou Bill, I applied all your painting tips for nudes and drapery to my landscapes whilst out on the road in the later years.
Life Modeling was great ! A fantastic way to get paid to have free art lessons !!

There is still a long way to go until this one is finished......but that's OK, ......I did start working on this project way back in late '95, on a short stay in the caldera between trips to Tassie.


Originally drawn on 4 sheets of Canson Paper (brought in paris in '79), I walked up to Brummies Lookout, a short but steep climb on the Inner Core Ring of mountains surrounding the Central Core Mt Warning, and sat right on the ledge, across from the Cliffs above Cedar Creek.

An awesome spot to spend an afternoon, watching Goshawks fly from side to side beneath my swinging feet, and trying to manage two sheets of paper when linking the next section......not easy.

But to paint 'plein air' you can only do so when the weather is dry , (and stillish) ! The wonders of digital photography have helped me, by being able to record images to check my first draft, ( I had to compress quite a bit as I had 'stretched some ares quite grossly, in hindsight.) I re-climbed to the lookout twice more, once in 2000, noticing the trees had grown on the skyline and more green moss and creepers adorned some rockfaces; and again last year to escort a new local, this time with a camera, digital no less !!

And as I have been constantly taking stunning photos of the dramatic storms we experience here in the Mt Warning Caldera, I decided this one needs to 'Go Dramatic'........

I wonder what the next instalment will produce.....laptop battery is now low, so I'll post this and head back into studio and hence out of wireless broadband range.

To see the earlier stages of this painting click Here and Here

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Aaaaaah I feel I have crawled out of the wilderness.....I have begun to paint again ! It has been sooooo long since I have had the energy and motivation to be creative.....which is quite unusual for me.

Don't know how long I'll be able to keep it going.....but while I have my studio all to myself, I feel like I can........as I can choose to do what I want, when and IF I want !

Managed to paint one whole new painting that I will give to my mother today for her Summer Solstice Birthday....(see above) This is the original painting I did back in '95, from Blackbutt Lookout, on the Border Rangesfrom Sunrise til 11:30 am.
And the two different versions together



Happy Solstice to you all, shortest night last night........(down Unda)

Recommenced painting my Landscape Panorama canvas.......



Have 4 wearable art Sunset Silhouettes, nearly ready for heat setting.......

Handmade vs Imported Sweat Shop Work

When we undersell our own work, we also devalue other Artisans


Today I began a correspondence with someone making fine crocheted juggling balls, in the hacky sack style, I checked her shop out as I wondered if they were imported from a third world country, with the seller still making a small profit, as they were so cheaply priced.

But no, she had made them herself and was only asking $10 for 3 of them, the sort of price you might pay for them in a discount store.

I asked her how long each ball had taken her to make, her reply was probably 2 or more hours each.
She states, "I take a lot of time and put a lot of care into each piece that I make."

So $10, for six hours time and labour, less than $10, because there are still the costs of the yarn, the listing fees, the commission for Etsy, the fee for Paypal, the time to photograph and list her work, and then the time to promote her work.

She asked me what I would charge if I were making them...... I replied
" If I was making them I think I would charge at least $7 or $8 each, with 3 for $20 or $22.50 maybe, which is still way under the time factor but I agree you can't really charge for the full amount of time. That's why I don't make them, when we have to compete with $4 hacky sacks from Guatemala :(
It's very tricky. But think on this.....if you got three orders for 3 more sets to be ready by a certain date or just asap, would you, still feel OK about working your fingers off, to make them to order at that price?"

When I first started making and selling my hats, back in the late '80's, I had prices like $8- and $10- on them, they did sell well, but it wasn't until I was making orders that I began to realise the value of my own work.

To have 3 or 4 hats ordered one week, when I was only charging a small amount, I began to calculate a little bit more into the time factor. Was it worth my while to spend 6+ hours on one hat, usually longer and get paid $1-$2- per hour or so. No way. So, hat prices went up to $30- $50 and more people started buying them.
One sale at $40, was heaps better for my fingers and neck, than 4 x that work-time, making four hats.

But it wasn't until I entered my first Beaniefest Competition that I began to price them for their individuality, creativity, skil, time, etc.etc. because my partner said "put proper prices on them "

I couldn't have sat behind the counter, with a price of $220-, and had to take a BIG breath before I wrote it on the entry form, before sending off to Alice Springs, but it, and another at $180-, but both sold !! (see below)



Fibre artists using the medium of Knitting and Crocheting have the added stigma attached to this work, 'that women do it' and normally don't get paid to do it. Little old ladies crochet hats and donate them to charity shops to sell for $3- !

I feel this must change ! If I make an artwork/craftwork that takes me 5 hours of my time, I am going to charge appropriately. There are hidden costs involved there too, in the time it takes to source the wool and yarn that make my hats unique. There are countless hours unravelleling jumpers and scarves, after washing them first, to find certain colours, and rolling the new commercial 'loose winds' of wool into 'balls' that enable me to work more easily. It is also a meditative process to get wound up for work

If I was a silversmith/jeweller, people might value my time for much smaller pieces that may, have taken less time to create


I have just made and listed, some small clothes for pre-loved teddy bears, the two smallest ones are really priced a bit below what I should ask for them as they took hours of my time,( worked with a small hook), the other 3 (the larger ones), are made with a bigger hook and I switched from small fiddly to faster and quicker styles. I just wanted something to put in our DUST Team (Down Under Street Team)'s monthly sale 'Stocking Stuffers' to try and get back into promotion and marketing after being busy elsewhere for quite awhile. See the full sale Here
After the sale, the two small ones will go back up to a more realistic price.



When we undersell our own work, we also devalue other Artisans