Musical Mural

At the end of each year, the Year 7 kids from our school do some sort of 'service' to the school. Leaving their mark in a positive way.

This year they decided to do a mural on the old 'whitehouse', which is a rundown building that houses the music rooms and second-hand clothes room.

And as I am a Year 7 parent, they asked me to design it, and the Year 7's will finish it in colour.  I got the outlines done today - can't wait to see them finish it off!

And here's another slightly blurry photograph from a memory of today, that makes my heart burst.

I love that kid. And he's not bad either.

My Creative Space - it's HUGE!

I've been painting a backdrop for a photographer friend, and it's not a neat process (or a lonely one, obviously,  can see 3 phone handsets in this photo!). I used my Ezibuy catalogues as drip catchers - now I can't buy anything out of them - it's a lack-of-self-control thing, the fact that it's not safe keeping them intact.

This is the end product on the dining room floor.

The rest of the house is stacked with chairs and tables. You'd swear we were moving.

Can I also tell you that this glue is fantastic.Better than Aquadhere.

I used it to glue the two pieces of primed canvas together for this project, and I also used it when I covered my desk in fabric a few months ago (you can see a bit of that desk in this photo, actually).

And I've just realised that I've photographed the French side of the label - there's English on the other side - but that's not quite as exotic, is it? Must be channelling my inner Nathalie!

Now go and get inspired at the home of the Creative Space - kootooyoo!

The Nursery Mural is finished

Yesterday I finished the mural I started earlier this week, (updated animation here) and because I actually recharged my camera, I now have some pics to share. Pictured above is what will be a little reading corner, so the bunny will be peeking over the beanbag that will eventually go there. I think this bunny is my favourite bit. I love how he turned out on the coloured wall. Of course, most things with the Hungry Caterpillar on them look good to me.

And, as animation is my flavour of the moment, here's a little look at the other extra special bits. (I've linked up to the new "Animation Friday" on My Poppet's blog too. Don't let on that it's Saturday, ok.)

Thanks for coming to my show and tell!

My Creative Space - mural progress

Here's the progress of a nursery mural I painted this week -




It's not finished yet - and my camera battery was flat before I finished, but I was so keen to try this animation thing! I've got another two hours or so to do to finish it tomorrow, so I'll update the animation when it's done.
NOTE: it's now done and I've replaced the original animation with the finished one.

The lovely client is having a baby boy in October, and wanted a big autumn tree. Through the progress of the day we added quantities of things that will hopefully be a nice distraction during nappy changes - one dog, two frogs, three rabbits, ... ten bees, twelve ladybugs, etc...

Lots to do today, so I'll post again about the special bits of the mural after I go back with my recharged camera.

This weekend the boys and I are working on Mad Hatter and Fantastic Mr Fox costumes for bookweek. If you have any suggestions for either of those two, please let me know!

For more lovely creative spaces, head over to kootooyoo!

Painting LIVE

The mural is done!

I finished the mural in the mammogram room yesterday and came home and had a very early night. I was totally exhausted. Happy with how it worked out though, and I'm told they've had some lovely comments on it. There'll be an 'opening' of sorts during Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October) so I've been promised an invite. As it's the first mural I've done that was spread out to three sessions there was a bit of pressure to make sure both sides 'matched' sufficiently. But as you can see by my last picture, there was also a lovely sense of satisfaction as I took one last look and closed the door (I was the last to leave!).

I painted in the Park again today, but it was pretty breezy and I left early, trying in vain to avoid the dust storm coming our way. I'm booked for the Street Fair in town tomorrow, but we'll wait and see what the weather's like.

Will be loading more teatowels, as well as new Art Tags, a Craft Kit and Bookplates onto the site this week, so stay tuned.

Stage 2 of Mural

I was able to spend some more time on the mural in the Mammogram Room at the Breast Screen Unit again last Friday, and I got one side finished - with one more session to go, in about a fortnight's time.
Here are some progress shots of the left hand side. I really enjoyed doing this and am delighted with how it's turning out.

Mural Started

I haven't had a mammogram yet myself, but the room looked very clinical and bare before I started. Definitely not reflecting the warmth of the people I met that worked at the Breastscreen Unit.

I only had a few hours to work on it on Friday afternoon, so I concentrated on getting the linework up and adding as many quirky little people as I could. Anything to make it pleasantly distracting for the ladies having their boobs squashed in the machine, or waiting for the results of other important tests.

If you look closely you can just see the pale aqua that I started painting in this last photo. I managed to get the whole background painted in aqua before I left, but as I folded up my apron my phone fell out of my pocket and I thought it had broken so I couldn't take another photo. (I've managed to get it working again now though - thanks David!)
The lights are kept quite dim in this room when it's in use, so this mural will be an exercise in keeping things 'light' - a bit of a change for me.
I think I'll need at least 2 more sessions to add colour, highlights and final details, so I'll keep you up to date as the job progresses.
Artists in Gardens Project
Today I met with the team from the Avant Gardens - Artists in Gardens project. About 9 artists will be painting on easels in the Queens Park Gardens during the upcoming Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers. Weather permitting, I'll be in the park on Saturday 19 Sept 12:30-3:30, Sunday 20 Sept 9:30-12:30, Wed 23 Sep 9:30-3:30 and Sat 26 Sep 12:30-3:30. I'll be painting and have plenty of things for sale, including Art Tags, brand new block prints, teatowels and greeting cards. I do enjoy painting in public - I have no inclination to act or perform in any other way, but paintingin front of people is just terrifying enough to be exciting in a wierd way.
I'll also have paintings in the "Flower Food and Wine Festival" tent, in an exhibition by the members of the Toowoomba Art Society. I usually sell well in this quality exhibition and I'm working on finishing entries for that now so I can have my form in by the end of this week.
Busy busy as usual, but I really enjoy this time of the year, and I'm ready to produce some new work that I'm proud of and make some sales to spread the joy!

New Mural Work

I've just submitted these ideas for the mural in the Mammography Room at the Toowoomba Hospital. I prefer the "Giant Garden" theme and will include lots of little people doing interesting things amongst the huge flowers. A welcome distraction for those who are enduring the process of actually having a mammogram. Looking forward to the feedback from the nurses there.

What a terrific mural

And I love the smiley pillows!

Another mural

The colour is all wrong with this image, and I'll come back and try and fix it tomorrow.
This one was in a hallway at Child Health, and knocked me about for days - I physically couldn't get off the couch the next day! But really enjoyable to do.

Another mural

Still inspired by Quentin Blake's 'Patrick', this mural is in the children's xray room at the Toowoomba Base Hospital. It was a huge day, and I'm told the radiology team is very happy with the end result.

Mural at hospital

This is the mural I completed LATE wed night - it's based on the Quentin Blake picture book, "Patrick", which I love - and is in the children's room at the Day Oncology Ward at the Toowoomba Base Hospital. I really enjoyed doing it and have 4 more planned for various rooms at the hospital.

This one features an 'amazing tree' and I hope the kids who have to lie on the bed for chemo, can lose themselves counting the cupcakes and other ridiculous things that are on the tree, and forget where they are, even for a moment.

The chicken is a little addition to a framed painting that is on the wall at the end of the bed.