Greek Isles

In looking for a new calender for 2009, I found one full of the most wonderful photographs of the Greek Isles. Thought I'd have a go painting one of them.


The photograph...

And my painting.

It has been fun working on something completely different.

Little Nurse

Haven't been especially creative lately. So many ideas, so little oomph. And, yet again, feeling blah about my abilities. Finished little nursey though. She was another commission. A friend of mine who is a nurse-turned-ambo sent me a couple of images of things she liked, and asked for me to make her something.

From looking at her images, it was obvious what I was going to paint, and I had Little Nurse pretty much done in a week. Then Matthew pulled a face about her. And that was that. I was stuck for weeks.

Finally finished her and am actually happy with the result. So was K and that was the most important thing. :-)

Pick up a brush, Maia, pick up a brush.

Chinese Girl. Finished.

I think I am happy with her. I think I am. :-)

More work in progress...

Working slowly on my girl. Not totally happy with my cherry blossoms yet, but am happy with the overall look...

Chinese Girl. Work in Progress.

It started with the silk embroidered girl at the market.




I have been feeling so artistically blah of late, and wondering if I will ever bother to pick up a brush again. Then we saw the girl. Oh my lord. This is just a phone pic, so you only get a vague idea. It was a large work of art. Fully silk embroidered. And she GLOWED. The detail in it, the shading, the endless variety of stitches. I just can't describe. Truly mindblowing. She was $525 which is why she's not hanging on my wall.

Nevertheless, I gazed and gazed and gazed at her, drinking her in. And over the past day the idea for a painting grew. So in my usual style, I browsed the internet for the rest of the stuff I need. (Now I KNOW this is not what real artists do, but it's how I work and so I just have to accept it.) I found the form I wanted and a gorgeous fan....

And suddenly I am painting again. Feels so good. :-)

Bliss - Owls in Tree

This is a large painting - 1mt x 1mt - that was a request from my partner. He has a large bare wall in his loungeroom (yes, we each have our own loungerooms - how luxurious) and he said he wanted me to fill it.

One morning last week, when only the white and beige background was done, we were discussing our day, and he said, "Tonight I will hang your painting on the wall."

Well there was a challenge! I mostly finished it that day too, other than a few details, like the edges and varnish and stuff.

(I have called the painting Bliss because of the CD I was listening to at the time, a compilation of my favourite Mozart concertos which I have named "Bliss".)

The thing I like about this painting is that it is exactly as I wanted it. The tree, the leaves, the flowers... The owls, of course, are me and him. :-)

Monkeys For Bec

In return for some work that Bec did for me (logo and graphics for my website) I said I would paint her a picture.

After much deliberation, she decided upon this one, an old fave of hers - "Apes in the Orangegrove" by Henri Rousseau.




She said she wanted the Maia version.


And the Maia version she got. I really should have taken photos along the way - it is one of the messiest and most complicated things I have painted. First I drew it all in in pencil, then went over it in wishy washy burnt umber (the paint I always seem to use for outlines) then slowly tried to pick each group of leaves in different greens.

I am happy with the result though, as is (more importantly), Bec.