BOOK WEEK and THE SHOW

AFTER A WEEK of painting and climbing up and down the ladder i had a full day of talks and workshops for the end of book week.  Mildura West Primary School, a big noisy fun school with great teaches and kids.

SATURDAY/SUNDAY  the Wentworth Show, it's the best.  the committee asked me to take the photos this year, no pay just free entry but what fun to have an excuse to just wander around taking endless pics of animals, people and food :0)

always a favorite, the
fruit and vegies
made into animals :0)

 memories of my
experience of
judging the 'citrus
gift presentation' -
when they swapped
first and second
around after i'd
chosen them.  show
politics  :-O

these roaming
dinosaurs were
a huge hit,
specially with
young boys

my pilates teacher Lou's kids Ava and Alfie

for the first time there aren't sheep available for the working dog trials - so many people are destocking in the drought, so they tried goats instead.   i don't thing the dogs or goats knew what to make of each other. luckily no dogs were gored

WEARABLE ART  - costumes made out of woolpack fabric, top is a sunset, next a hilarious jar of preserved apricots - gaye is one of the women i deal with at the Wentworth Standard when i send in pics

my occasional hairdresser emily models a steampunk entry

AFTER A FULL DAY in very warm sun on saturday and up early sunday to photograph the dog trials, i headed home at midday and enjoyed not one but two vanilla slices and a G&T on the verandah wearing my new bling from my favorite tent at the show, i like to call it the sparkly tent, full of fabulous very inexpensive jewellery and scarves.

hard to see but these are very 

sparkly rhinestones with silky

tassels,  very glam :0) 

vanilla slices by tonia, she has a business at Yelta which i may have to follow - these are the BEST!! 

KITCHEN PROGRESS

THE NEW COOKTOP is great, first celebratory meal cooked on it, mussels with tomatoey garlicky spaghetti and a martini - well deserved after the disruptive previous few days. 

Now i'm deep into painting the cupboards, getting rid of all that knotty wood and lightening everything up, new brushed S/S doorknobs and i've taken down the dark wooden venetian. it's coming along nicely, i'll be painting every day this week.

I'm buying a new fridge too, realised after ordering it that it's
10cm too high for the cavity - and they don't make them any shorter.
so friend sue with her super duper
power tools, came around and we
moved the cupboard carcasss up.

GIRL POWER!!

COOKING

amongst the 

paint cans, 

the kitchen 

is a complete schemozzle!

trouble is self portrait land,  i've used a transparent medium as a
finish between layers and it's coming through the darks as a chalky bloom.  i had a good chat to steve at Art Stretchers, the maker of the medium and i've used it incorrectly. so now i'm trying to scrub
off a layer or two of black background with turps.  i may have a few unuseable
(more recent and better) little portraits and i need
to enter the RickAmor soon
with a photo.   grrrr

STILL COLD

second last selfie - this one is a problem, i started it last sunday when i was on duty at the makers hall and it just won't come together.  
still working on it

 this is how it is right now, i've scrubbed off a lot of paint

i'll attack it again soon,

with a bit of distance

the portrait above was started on a day with people talking in the makers hall while i worked, it definitely makes a difference, breaks my concentration

LAST WEEK i moved into the loungeroom to paint, not because the studio is cold but because i needed the fire on inside night and day to keep the house warm, so why not paint there.  it was cosy and i got a new aspect to paint a self portrait in.
The new curtain i made
is keeping the warmth in the living area perfectly
:0) 

i spent last weekend with
fire, some champers and
snacks and painting on
the go.  very nice

this is the last of the 8x8 canvases - i can't find
any more in mildura but maybe i've finished these.

bad pic of my new coffee table, just what i was looking for
- good ol' Cheap as Chips

FINALLY this week the cold snap ended and it's been sunny and mild the last few days.  my week has been a bit all over the place with the installation of a new dishwasher and hallelujah!!  a gas cooktop.   cupboards had to be emptied,  the mess at the back of cupboards and three mouse skeletons behind the old dishwasher were all pretty disgusting to deal with and i ended up with cupboard contents all over the benchtops.

goodbye crappy

old electric

cooktop

two days of the plumber in the house with wife and baby in tow was all pretty disruptive so now it's all done i'm delighted.  i'm about to paint all the cupboards a lighter colour and then probably retile the splashbacks, also lighter.  new S/S door handles and it'll be a new kitchen  😊

I'M VERY HAPPY to welcome the Mallee Ring-necked Parrot to my place, they're new arrivals, so brilliantly green in flight

PICTURES OF THE MOON & SKY this week

blossoms in the orchards on the road to mildura

    shining in through the bedroom window, early morning

very chubby little fella down on my riverbank