Arting about.

So this week starts my first week of not having Squishy boy. He’s started childcare in preparation for next week when we are on our Big Lap for two months. So after doing a few bits and pieces and cleaning the house I spent the afternoon doing arty stuff.

I had to finish off my course “Raw simplicity” with  Mindy Lacefield. Click on her name and see the online classes she has on sale. “Raw Simplicity” like its name suggests is going back to basics, so being rustic and not so fussy, seems easy right? yeah, well not for me. I understood the basic idea, and yet I found it hard to stop fiddling. There was too imperfect stuff that I felt like I wanted to fix.. *slaps my own hand*! So I did the last lesson in that class which featured Artist Norwenn Petitbois I’ve seen her name listed in facebook groups and online classes but I had never actually “met her” until yesterday. I loved her class she has a very heavy french accent and her style was fun. she showed me a new technique with coffee filters.

So “Miss Attitude” evolved from Norwenn’s class.

Then recently I signed up for “Brave Girls University” (OK so I liked the name and my teacher Mindy Lacefield is teaching there, Plus it’s probably the ONLY university I will ever go to) The deal is you pay $29.00 a month and you have access to 100 plus teachers of online classes in many different techniques. So I followed Mindy… slightly stalkerish I know!

Ok at Brave Girls University I found Mindy who is currently teaching one class there which is called “Paint your story”  and comes with this intro… “A nostalgic journey of remembering how to paint with the heart of a 7 year old. Come play with me as we explore art making with paint, oil pastel, watercolor, inks, and other fun media”  So I had spare time I decided to start the class and I’m so glad I did what fun!

One of our first excersizes was to used “black and white“

This one was called “Make marks” and we had to use different mediums and make marks like we were five years old.. I used my left hand and realized that it’s fun using my non dominate hand and not only that it looked ok!

“Making Marks” page two… different colours.

This page was about “Symbols” I used a mixture of left and hand and mediums. These pages can later on become background pages for future pieces of art, or as they are in my art journal, maybe they will become references for future pieces.

So today-  Day two of no baby sitting duties I planned to do more of the same but so far I’ve taken Ambrosia back to the vet.. Remember last week I wrote this about Ambrosia going to the Vet. She continues to surprise me, not a tooth in her head and yet she eats everything in sight and never complains, well except today when the Vet wanted to look inside her mouth, but I needed the “all clear” so I can take her to the groomer, her fringe is too long and she keep bumping into stuff, so today she is wearing a pony tail..rather than me hack it off as I usually do.

Her face is messy, she’s over due for grooming and I refused to touch her face because it’s stressing her out. So awaiting the call from the groomer so I can make an appointment to get her prettified.

So this morning as I checked my daily emails I found this one from Tam.. who is over at Willowing…announcing the soon to be open for registration “Life book 2016” as Tam says “the entire year only costs £80 GBP (approx $120 USD)” every year I read this email with excitement and every year I cringe I cannot afford that.. because the Aussie dollar is pretty low at the moment so US $29.00 cost me $34.00 OUCH! So I hate to figure out what US $120 would be in AU dollars! Or worse yet in British Pounds. So I just delete the email and move on… this year I took a different option, I went to the link and shared the link in every available place and NOW also on my blog, in the hope that I can win a place in the course.

Or…. a scholarship! you can click on that link if you want any more details it’s amazing all the teachers and all the work that the “Lifebookers” produce, but I am “just a Grandma” and I get paid in love which in the real world doesn’t have much value for currency!  So if any of you lovely people would like to nominate me for a scholarship for the LifeBook 2016 series, please email Tam..

LIFE BOOK 2016 SCHOLARSHIPS!

Now then, as if I’m not having enough fun already, we are also giving away 10 scholarships!

These scholarships have been made available for those who struggle financially and would not be able to join Life Book without financial support.

How to apply for a scholarship

You can apply for yourself OR you can nominate a friend who you think could really use a course like Life Book in their lives.

Please send us an email on willowing.arts [AT] gmail.com

Email topic title: Life Book 2016 Scholarship Application

And please answer the following questions:

1. Have you (or the friend you are nominating) done Life Book before? (answer would be NO)

2. Why do you think you (or the friend you are nominating) are the right candidate for the scholarship (Pls describe this in approx 50-100 words) ( because YOUR friend needs a break from Grandchildren and some art always helps with the distraction)

3. How do you think you (or the friend you are nominating) will benefit from Life Book 2016? (Pls describe this in approx 50-100 words) (in between looking after small grandchildren it would help her to have some “me time” and learn new skills)
4. What’s your favourite art journal background technique or favourite art supply? (If you’re nominating a friend ignore this question) ( drippage, splatter, layers and water colour washes)

So if anyone wants to nominate me.. I’ve given you a clue for some answers LOL….

and finally for today I must remind you all….. 5 more days to go!! WOO HOO!!

9 days to go… down to single digits..

its getting close now,

I’ve been keeping busy with my #sugarfreeseptember challenge..

Have you heard about it?

#SugarfreeSeptember is run bu “live it do it” I can’t even remember how I found out about it.. but it wasn’t yet September so I decided to join, I find that when I have these motivations I can stick them out better… remember last November I did the “salad-a-day challenge” with Reannon over at she who rambles you can read about my version here. Well I had so much fun with that challenge, so now I am doing this #sugarfreeseptember not as easy as it sounds.. day one was a breeze and I cheered myself.. day two I woke up with the WORST headache, I know that whenever you give up something you have to expect “detox headache” or ‘Sugar hangover” I think I read someone call it….the headache was worse than any I had with all the previous detoxes. So I got up and took a pain-killer for my head and then 35 minutes later vomited that right back up… yesterday was not a fun day. Three occasions I came close to getting a can of coke out of the fridge and somewhere along the way my will power was stronger. I resisted.

Today I woke up much happier and thankful that the headache was gone, my tummy feels a bit rocky though. Never mind, I have not had ANY sugar and that glass a coke of a night, yes I miss it but no I am not tempted to drink it. I am going to stick this out and see if I lose any weight before I have to buy a new dress for Jasmin’s wedding.

So each day we get to take a photo of the above listed item.. today was “Hot drink” I don’t drink hot drinks, but I made myself a cup of Chinese tea just to take the photo, I tried to drink it but yuck!!

Chinese tea… but this is what I had for breakfast!!

Poached Eggs on Vegemite toast (soy linseed bread), Green Smoothie and I didn’t even up drinking the tea!

Then since I was feeling much better I decided to finish some art projects I had going… the “Fabulous and Free Art Journal course” which had finished but I had a few more pages to complete.. you can read more about it here

 Number 28 – Office Supplies.

I’ll be the first person to tell you I am a stationary whore.. I cannot go past a stationary place without going in and finding something and yet I really struggled to do this page.. it’s one of about 3 in this challenge I hated.

 Number 29- Just Beachy

I just splashed some paint around and ripped out some photos from magazines and played with collaging letters to form words.. simple!

 Number 30- Water works.

Same but different from “Just Beachy” quick and easy, tah dah! complete!

Next thing I had to complete was Mindy Lacefield’s course “Raw Simplicity” I won the class back in July, but I’ve been bogged down with other stuff, so I have only just been working on it. Mindy’s style is Primitive and I struggle with that but I do like to push myself out of my comfort zone and so here’s a peek at what I’ve been doing..

     

Learning to draw and then paint “primitive faces” mine are much to neat and controlled I need to loosen up! oh No, Mindy didn’t say that I’m saying that!

These little sweeties were drawn on “deli paper” I haven’t quite figured out what it is yet and I didn’t have any obviously so I used what I had a “McDonald’s” McMuffin wrapper… seems to me to be the same thing, anyways I love these cuties, and they card stock I used my Gelli Plate to print that and I love them so sweet!! I’m going to frame them one day!

Next lesson was “Primitive animals” again, mine are a bit too neat a bit too much detail.. Oh well.

These were practice ones that went into our art journals.

I had some coloured card left so I mounted them on that.. again drawing them on the Maccas wrappers.

What we were supposed to do with them was…. create a full-page spread and add the animals to that, I should not rush ahead!! So I created a new set of Animals for my “full-page spread” I did an “Aussie themed Spread” with an Aboriginal and a kangaroo and a koala.

I still think they’re too neat and not primitive enough.. but anyways this is in commemoration of our up coming trip!

Next we had to prepare a board and do a whole piece, well I started the board and the painting and then got visitors so I put her away unfinished.. today I finished her.

Look at all that yummy texture! Made with Gesso.

Little ripples and almost waves.

That was a mistake, but it worked so it’s all good..

Finished Item.. I splashed too much paint and couldn’t wipe it all off, so I incorporated it.. and she’s “Spring Goddess”

The Brown line that descends from the corner of her mouth was added by Miz Sweetpea who is 22 months going on 15 yrs! and is determined she is going to be an artist.. I was going to cover it but I think I’ll leave it because then I can say we collaborated on a piece of art. Under the flower on the left you will notice a bit of bright yellow highlighter.. she did that too.. I covered most of it up!

And then there’s…. 29 faces of September.. another challenge.. it was a facebook group last year which I just stayed in and so here is day 3’s piece…

I am very out of practice and this is done with Charcoal and Gesso.

So my started to September has been a busy one and it seems to be not getting any less busy.

Amber has become a Tupperware consultant and is going to training every Monday and holding parties whenever she can. I am so proud of the commitment she is putting into it.. she’s aiming for manager and the car!

Tonight I paid the deposit for the photographer for Jasmin and Brett’s wedding and so that is another thing that I have organised before I go away. Next Monday I am going to visit the venue with the happy couple and Mother-of- the- Groom Anna. We are going to measure for estimations of decorations and such stuff..

and did I mention only 9 days until we leave on “Big Lap WA 2015” I cannot.Wait!!

Art and such…

This week has been a busy one.

I’ve been working on my detox and doing lots of walking.. so I’m happy with that, I have had a few days where I “cheated” and ate something not ‘totally” acceptable, but life is short, to waste time crying over food… so I’m cutting back and cutting OUT a few things and walking more it’ll all work out for the good. I am aiming to lose weight for my daughters upcoming engagement party and then keep on maintaining it for her upcoming wedding.. so I have time to work on these things.

In the mean time… let’s art!!

My daughter has an idea about doing “Squishy’s” bedroom in Harry Potter theme and so she wanted me to do a name thing for his room, so we decided on one panel for each house colour for his name. I enjoyed the challenge, because I had to free hand all the letters and any of the work I did, so it pushed me out of my comfort zone. I painted the cloud Blue, since the roof was already white and they rent so are not able to paint the roof. Then she came back with the panels to paint in the “Harry Potter” house colours. Then when I thought I was finished she came back with the mobile.. so I got that done as well.. I put some of the “Harry Potter” Symbols on the mobile. As well as trying to catch up on the Challenges I’ve been missing out on Irreversibly Moi I signed up for Susan’s email and ended up enrolling in a free art journaling course, we also have a facebook page, and the Prompts are so interesting to me, I am getting better as I go I think.. plus trying out some new techniques along the way like on this cat…

Challenge #18 “Paws”

I did the back ground in yellow, bronze and white, and I found a stencil that I had brought ages ago and never used it, so I thought I’ll blend the “bronze” down a little bit by stenciling over it in white, then I drew the Cat, and colours most of it white, I had planned to do zentangle inside the cat but when I had a close look, I liked how some of the stencils had left nice marks, these on the body I highlighted in black marker.. I couldn’t ruin it by going over it. I really love my “kitty”

Challenge # 19- “Flower”

The prompt for this one was “flowers” and so Susan gives you ideas of how to incorporate the theme into your page.. and I think I got too carried away with this one. I REALLY should have blended it all down a little with a coat of white gesso to quieten down the background.. but I didn’t and now it is what it is.. I LOVE the dandelions though and I will recreate this on a board as part of my “50 by 50” challenge.

But for me the favourite one for today is….”Bewitched”

Challenge #20- Childhood TV show

I printed off the TV I used to have one just like this growing up and the prompt was “Childhood TV show” and I used to love Samantha in “Bewitched” so I cut the TV screen out and I painted the rest of the scene and then stuck the TV over the top of it. And I think I nailed the heading.. it looks just like the TV show… except don’t look too closely at Sam’s face I kinda messed that up!

It’s Friday.. whaaat?

What on earth is going on this week? I seemed to have blinked and missed it.. there are a few pros and cons to that..

actually they are all PROS!!

A- I have been doing detox week.. I’ve spent most of the week in a headachy mess.. and yet I can see by my Fitbit report I have actually been REALLY busy..

Monday home day, arty day, house work day, 7,575 steps.. failed.

Tuesday I walked down town and brought stamps and  easily hit my 10,000 step mark. 10,946 steps. (7.45 kms)

Wednesday Squishy and I walked intentionally… not just the day-to-day stuff we went out of the house and walked.. and yes I have lost my condition because I am now again unfit..10,029 steps 6.8 kilometers.. that’s a long way!

Thursday Again we intentionally walked.. and good timing too we made it home before the weather turned bad.. and I had to force myself to finish my 10,000 steps.. 10,036 steps and I fell into bed exhausted..

Then Suddenly it’s Friday and I’ve not been blogging.. I’ve been doing art, and I’ve been detoxing so I guess it’s all good..Today was the first morning I didn’t wake up with a headache but I have a sore spot between my shoulders and my Star Son is always saying “Let me massage your shoulders” (which I hate!! I’ve always hated my shoulders and neck being massaged maybe I was hung in a previous life?!) and he’s good, so this morning I showed him where it was paining me and he worked his magic.. it’s gone! I do believe my son has found his calling “physio to the stars (And his Mum!)” think of the money I’ll save!!!

I came on here to write a totally different post, and this one unloaded, sometimes that happens… so I guess I’ll be back later to write the one I sat down to write.. about my visit with the Proverbs 31 woman.. this has been an entertaining week!!

This is my art journal with a piece I did last week. I hate it when you do good stuff in your art journal and no one can see it.. so I recreated it onto a board and I think it’s even better, but I prefer the first one for the colours. On the left is the Art journal version, on the right is my first of “50 by 50”

I am super impressed with those praying hands! 

Yesterday’s breakfast, I am a bit over quinoa!

Art and stuff

Quick catch up, I’ve been out of the loop again, my Star Son has bronchitis, and while I thought he’d be “Ok for school” on Monday he really hasn’t been ok. So he’s had this week off school which is not ideal because he has school holidays starting on Friday, but that means he’s been sick for the last 12 weeks! Since the school term is 10 weeks long and he got sick on the start of last school holidays! Then yesterday I spoke to a lady (The Pastors wife) who I have started going to Bible study group with and I was telling her and she said it’s taken her 6 months to recover from Whooping cough then Bronchitis and then Pneumonia which put her in hospital..her advice was “don’t mess with it, let him stay home and recover” and in short I feel validated now for being a “Neurotic mother” when I was lecturing the men of the household about doing sport training in the cold weather..I even started to doubt myself and think maybe I was over reacting.. but now the DR and a friend have said the same thing.. I was right.. nah nah nah!

So Star Son has been home, laying around on the couch or his bed and eating and drinking and taking his medicine and slowly the cough is lessening, at least he’s not complaining about chest pains and telling me “Muuuum I’m having a heart attack” So while our daily routine has changed somewhat, and I wasn’t having Squishy because Jasmin was home from work, I did manage to get some art done! Yay!!

This piece if I am honest with you, I didn’t enjoy. I struggled to sit and watch the clip and I struggled with the doing, not because it was too hard but I wasn’t in love with it.. it’s called “Celebrating Heart connections” progress photo.

Finished piece which in the end of all the classes we bind them into a book, hence the title of the year long class “Life Book”

It took me three days to get this one done I just couldn’t get in to it.. so when I finished that I moved onto “Quirky birds” right way the name of class excited me. Someone suggested that I skip the ones that I didn’t like but I refuse to do that! Specially since my good friend Carrol gifted me the course.

So here’s the start of “Quirky Birds” we had to make an accordion fold book..

Close up of one of the layers I did, with home made sprays… I didn’t have a chance to go shopping so I made my own sprays with Acrylic paint and water.. and the blue “rose” is a piece of curtain fabric I used as a stencil. Also I was gifted some inks from a friend who was moving overseas so I thought I’d experiment with those as well.

Another part of the four piece panel Also used some of my water soluble crayons on the edges to blend in a bit more colour

Long view of the panels… so what happens is it folds up into a kind of book and each of the panels you paint a “quirky bird” I’m hoping to finish it or at least work on it some more today!

Last week I stepped out of my comfort Zone in a huge way. I’ve been doing art since 2008 when I started doing pastel lessons and most of the stuff I’ve done I’ve kept for myself. I did a lizard for my cousin and I did a piece with the Disney princesses for my daughter’s 18th, and recently I did “Pugalicious” for my Mother-in-law but I don’t do anything with my art I file it all away, until I got brave and painted  a piece of “Australiana” for my good friend Terri who lives in the USA. Ever since I started pen palling with Terri she has been fascinated with Kangaroos and so recently she went out of her way to find me some Christian stickers to use in an art group I was in with Bible art journaling and Terri sent me a care package which I was really grateful for so I decided to paint her a kangaroo in return and then I got the courage to post it to her with a 10 page letter.

This morning on FB Terri reported that Kevin Kangaroo had arrived safely and she loved him, which made me feel good because the background is Orange and I think Orange is a love it or hate it kind of colour, personally I LOVE IT!! Then I got notification that Terri had commented again, s I went to look and this is what I see..

“No worries. See? He already is framed and jumped right into place in my peach bathroom!
Perfect.”

Not only has Kevin arrived he’s already on her wall! I am so relieved!! and now I can officially say I have a piece of art in America! It’s a kind of nice feeling!! Actually another American friend asked me if I would paint more and sell them, which would be another nice thing because It’s on my bucket list “to sell one piece of art”…

How is your Wednesday? is this week going slow for everyone else?

More ICADS to share..

I’ve been off sick last week with a cold that went to my chest, so I just spent the sick time quietly doing art, no need to talk or use my sore throat, it was lovely.. and as a result (the only GOOD thing to come from being sick) was that I got some lovely art done… sadly no blogging, sorry I’ll try to be better this week..

This is the background collage for a piece I’ll share soon, why I’m showing this is because one of my penfriends does lovely envelope art and I promised her I would use her envelopes in something of mine.. so in this piece I used two.. the right pink in the middle saying “G’day Mate” and the green square and the right yellow and orange pieces are all snippets from Terri’s envelopes… which went on to become this…

our “Mantra and Spirit Animal” class with guest teacher Martice Smith 3, on Sunday Mornings 2 The koala had significance to me at that moment and I’m glad she chose me even though my painting of her didn’t really do HER justice.. Koala stands for according to this site.. http://www.whats-your-sign.com/symbolic-meaning-of-koala-bears.html

The symbolic meaning of koala bears speaks of connection, protection and memory because of their original affinity to ground dwelling life. As burrowers, koala’s shared a special connection with the earth. Aboriginal wisdom recognizes this relationship. Certain Australian myths claim koalas were first earthy clumps of grey clay and slowly crawled from their clay-bound lives in order to bring sacred wisdom to humans. They were also said to teach humans how to climb trees in order to gain a broader view of the grand world in which they live. This is also symbolic of memory.

If you’ve been reading my log for any time you’ll understand my journaling and photo taking etc, I am the “Memory keeper’ for our family unit.

it also says…

Those who resonate with the koala, and share a totemic bond with this fascinating creature will share many common attributes. Koala people are naturally likeable. Friendly, amicable, and content to ‘go with the flow.’ People with koala totems are also protectors and nurturers. They look after their tribe, showing keen interest in their society, and willing to help others in need. They do this casually, with aplomb. Koala people don’t force change, they have scads of patience. Where most people try to shove reform down the throats of society, koala people introduce gentle adjustments into society and take a “wait and see” approach.

Those who share the koala as their totem have calm, contended demeanor. In fact, I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out with some friends who share close connection with their koala totems, and just being in their presence has had a calming effect on me. If your totem is the koala, you likely put people at ease just by your mere presence. Observe this in your surroundings. Have you ever entered a room charged with high-energy (stress, anxiety, etc) only to experience the room settling after your arrival? That’s the effect you have on others. The down-side to this, is that others may have a tendency to suck you dry. They see you as a stabilizer, somebody who is “all together” and often people will rely too heavily on your amiable nature

My Bloke always says to me “Sheila you have the patience of a Saint” I don’t know about that but yes I do have patience, all things in their own time… and I have patience with our babies too because they need to learn to grow and learn from repetition so when I sing the wheels on the bus 47,000 times a day and then see a hand movement or catch the odd word coming out of their mouths I know I’m winning… slow as it might be! Yes I have patience for “MOST” things… there are of course other things I have less patience with people who talk Sh*t are a classic example!

I have also been told many times about my “calming” influence. I just wish I got to sleep for 20 hours a day like a koala!

Back to art….

ICAD day 12- Parsnip and Kiwi.. loved this one.

ICAD day 13- Plum and Blueberry.

Day 15- New Week, this week we are using “Collage” anything found… the Prompt was “Route 66”

Day 16- Greeting Card- I wasn’t in the mood, so I just threw something together to “get it done”

Day 17- Wabi Sabi- I had no idea what that even meant, thank goodness for “google” LOL

Also new for this week is Bible study is back and e are doing the Book of Proverbs, which I really like, today is day 4, it took me a few days to get back into the routine, so I have decided next time the “group” have a break I am not going to because I lose my momentum and then it takes me a week to get back into the flow of my morning pages.

In my art class “Sunday Mornings 2” I did..

Our final class was this one called…

“Wonderfully made” by guest teacher  Jeanette Montero, I used Psalm 139:17
“How precious to me are your thoughts God! How vast the sum of them!”

So that brings us up to today.. I am now officially finished the “Sunday Mornings 2” class with Mindy, and I will get started on my classes with Tam’s Lifebook, that were gifted to me by good friend Carrol.

Also today, in fact right as I speak, 9;12am, my daughter Amber is out doing her driving test, she left at 7;30am to do one more driving lesson pre test.. fingers crossed that she passes because my Bloke has found her a car, through one of his work colleagues. I know I have told you all before but I am SO very proud of my daughters, they are so much more than I ever was at their ages, so much more outgoing, lively, adventurous and open to new things, by the time I was Amber’s age I’d only just gotten my license but I never and still don’t drive, where as she is excited by the thought of having a car and being able to go! Also by the time I was Amber’s age I had been married 4 years and had two small daughters, and a house mortgage, so I think I like HER way better. The one thing I promised myself when I had my girls was “they will never turn out like me” and they surely have NOT!! So that is one parenting goal I have met and succeeded on.

I hope your Thursday is full of adventures..

Busy Art Day

I’m sick (again) I started off with a head cold it’s gone into my chest.. I’m sore from coughing, and my voice is husky (the Bloke likes it that way!) but it means I can’t talk loud or yell, the children LOVE that!

Today, my eldest daughter arranged for Squishy to stay home with his “Dada” and give me a rest, so I put my “rest day” to good use..

First of all I did this double page spread for “Sunday mornings 2” we had a guest teacher called Kimberley Hope..

it’s called “God is God” The lyrics of a song by Steven Curtis Chapman. I love how it turned out.

Next I worked on my ICAD cards, http://daisyyellowart.com/vividlife/icad-2015-index

 I’ve gotten a bit behind so I’ve spent an hour or two catching up.

Day 8– Prompt was “Cherry and Grapefruit”

Day 9– “Carrot and Lemon”. I loved this one.

Day 10– “Eggplant and Ginger”- I liked this one too.

But then I did Day 11– “Lime and Mango”.. I think this is my fave for today!!

So that caught me up with that project…

Yesterday I did art too.. in between babies

This was also from “Sunday Mornings 2” and this was called “Resurrection“

I also did another one

Shonna Bucaroff was the guest teacher and I call this one “Praise Him”

And that babies were so good and let me get some art done.. and they were so quiet so Amber went to check and them and this is why….

They decided to be “Artists” like Grandma the only difference being Grandma doesn’t use the walls! (yet!)

So we had to scrub the walls and made Sweetpea help…

She thought it was very amusing to say the least!!

It certainly was a fun day!! I’ve had Star Son home Tuesday and Wednesday he went back to school today, and he has a curriculum day off tomorrow… go figure!

How is your Thursday??

Busy long weekend. Update, Book reviews, photos.

This weekend was a long weekend, which simply means that it was a public holiday today for the Queens Birthday..like most long weekends in Australia it’s just an excuse to go away and party or in our case relax!

We spent the weekend at our holiday place in St.Leonards and I’ve written lots about that so I won’t bore you again, instead I’m going to tell you how amazing I am that I got so much done this weekend. Its amazing really when I have some baby free time how much I can achieve. I had a stack of penpal letters to reply to so I took those along, seven letters to be truthful and so I got ALL of those written and posted! Yay! that in itself is a job well done, because I hand write all my letters and  they are usually 4 or more pages long.

Next on my list of “to do” was to finish a book I started back in April it was called “Adams Empire” by Even Green..

Mine was a different cover, but this is the one “god reads” has on display..

From Publishers Weekly
The protagonist of this robust and sprawling saga set in the untamed Australia of the first half of this century is a true child of the outback. Orphaned at age nine, at home under the stars, completely unschooled, Adam uses his fists and his wits to rise from poverty to prosperity. He befriends an aborigine, performs dangerous work in the opal mines, falls in love with a sensual half-caste, has a run-in with a murderous policeman, marries a cold and manipulative beauty and finally treks west to carve himself an empire. This striking first novel tells a colorful and entertaining story, vividly evoking a vigorous, multiethnic society and a beautiful, diverse, often dangerous land. Green is a journalist and the author of Alice to Nowhere.

Nine-year old Adam is orphaned when his father is buried during an Australian desert sandstorm. A childhood of roaming the outback with his father’s drilling partner instills in him a fierce determination to have a place of his own. In this fast-paced, gripping saga, the reader follows the hard-working Adam and his mates, Jimmy, the practical aboriginal, and Josef, the impetuous young German immigrant, from the opal mines to the desert. They feint with death in mine disasters, at the hands of Mailey, the revenge-seeking law officer, and in the ravages of flash floods. A more deadly threat for Adam is his beautiful, calculating, near-mad wife, but a seductive half-caste woman lends her own type of danger to all of the men.

Taken from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4116936-adam-s-empire

So it had 780 pages and normally that doesn’t phase me but I’ve been so busy it’s taken me almost three months to read it all.. shame on me.. but to be honest I did read other things in between..I loved this book which started in 1919 and went up to I think about 1940’s so a nice long-span of time, and I like that it mentioned places we have been as a family. I enjoyed it but it was time to finish it and move on… I’m giving this one a 4 out of 5 star rating

So I wiped that off by Saturday morning and then, my cousin Lee went to a charity shop to look for bargains because it’s kind of a thing we do whenever we are down there together, and while we were there we heard about a BOOK SALE! at the St. James church. They have two a year one in January and this one in June, and this year I missed the January one because it was star son’s 13th birthday party weekend.

So we went to St.James in Drysdale and spent an hour wandering through endless rows and tables and shelves of books! I love it! I was able to replenish my supply of “Christian books” and I was very pleased about that and I ended up with about 10 books or sets of books for only $8.50! Bargain!

So while I was book shopping I found another book which was “Australian” for my “Read Australian Authors” challenge..

This  book was called “Diamonds and Dust” by Sheryl McCorry

Sheryl McCorry grew up in the outback carrying crocodiles to school for show and tell. When she was 18 her family moved to Broome, and it was the first time she’d ever used a telephone or seen a television.

A year later, only hours after being railroaded into marriage by a fast-talking Yank, Sheryl locked eyes with Bob McCorry, a drover and buffalo shooter. When her marriage ended after only a few months, they began a love affair that would last a lifetime and take them to the Kimberley’s harshest frontiers.

Sheryl became the only woman in a team of stockmen. She soon learned how to run rogue bulls and to outsmart the neighbours in the toughest game of all mustering cattle. The playing field was a million acres of unfenced, unmarked boundaries.

Sheryl went on to become the first woman in the Kimberley to run two million-acre cattle stations, but her life was not without its share of tragedy. Her story is an epic saga of life in one of the toughest and most beautiful terrains in Australia a story of hardship, drought, joy and triumph.

Taken from: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11864222-diamonds-and-dust

This one was much easier to read it’s a true story and therefore fascinating to me a “City Slicker” I loved it and finised reading it this afternoon! I’m giving this a 4 out of 5 star rating.

Another thing on my “to do” list was.. “do some art”

I had downloaded the video clips at home while I had the internet connection and so I was able to just watch them from my lap top computer down there, Last week I mentioned about a friend of mine who had gifted me some art classes… you can read about it here: https://kimlhine.wordpress.com/2015/06/01/im-back/

So I wanted to do some of the art classes Carrol had gifted me.. first class I did was from the 2013 version of LifeBook the “Tam Edition” which was “Celebration and Journey”

I forgot to take progress photos! Never mind here she is finished.. the Clouds are things we are grateful for and the flowers are things we want to journey towards.

Next up in the series was “our art guardian” and here’s how she turned out..

More info about Tam’s courses here: http://willowing.ning.com/group/lb2013-tam-edition

I also had downloaded a few of Mindy’s lessons from “Sunday Mornings 2” and So I also got done a double pages spread titled “The Crucifixion” This is the second time in the past three or so weeks I’ve painted on this theme and both times it made me cry. Maybe because I understand the background of the disciples deserting him in his time of need.

I am so loving this piece!

Here is the previous “crucifixion” painting I did- I am calling it “Mary’s tears”

But you know what I am finding annoying? I am doing all these lovely pieces in my art journal! Arghhhh.. I had a Facebook friend ask me “how much for a signed copy”? and I replied “Priceless it’s in my art journal” so now I need to do it again and send it to him! I found this weekend that whatever I was touching was turning out nicely!!

More info about Sunday Mornings 2 here: https://app.ruzuku.com/courses/7987/overview

I also got caught up on my ICAD project…

This week the prompts are

and you can find out more about this challenge at: http://daisyyellowart.com/vividlife/icad-2015-index

Tam’s and Mindy’s classes are at a cost.. and the ICAD is a free challenge.

Today we got back home and took Star Son’s friend home, we took a friend down to the holiday place to keep him occupied and once we had dropped the friend home, we un packed the car and went to visit my Mother-in-law at her facility, we took Sweetpea with us which is always fun because she’s so tiny and doll-like people just cant help but love her.. the Oldies adore her and she’s happy to perform for them, today’s little game was taking off Star Son’s hat and putting it back on each of us in turn, at one point she dropped the hat and as clear as a bell she said “oh shit!” I guess that means now we will all have to watch what we say!!

I wish she’d say Grandma like that!!

How was your weekend?

Book Review…Walk About by Aaron Fletcher

Although mine has a different cover, none the less…

Taken from the Blurb at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/298487.Walkabout

Wrested from the primordial Australian wilderness, Tibooburra Station has taken the blood, sweat, and tears of generations of Kerricks and given them a magnificent heritage in return. But now the golden legacy of the outback station is threatened by the disappearance of the young boy who will one day inherit it all. Fleeing the pain of being abandoned by his mother, eight-year-old Jeremy Kerrick wanders the rough-and-ready gold towns of the frontier and comes to manhood among the primitive Aborigines of the vast, unexplored interior. At one with the land, he draws from it an indomitable strength that enables him to win the woman of his dreams. Together, they will meet the challenge of the outback or die trying.”

So first of all let me confess i love these multi generational books… because I like the idea of family and owned land, so I was probably always going to like this book. One other reviewer said ( and I only just read that when I finished reading the book) that she got a bit disinterested (read bored) in the second part and I did also.. they changed the focus of the story onto another family member who was less than thrilling, it all weaves back into each other later on and I’m glad I kept reading.. The other bit of this book I liked was the time frame, I like history and I especially love reading about how in the 1800’s they had to make do with what they had and they survived, I feel like I want to tell my children “You don’t even know how good you’ve got it!” And of course the location, a lot of places mentioned in the book The Bloke and I have been even camping on the banks of the same river.. last November we spent a week on the banks of the Darling River, which features a lot in this book. So I like to be able to say “we’ve been there!” because it’s not a common place where most people would choose to go, which is why we went! Over all I’m giving this book a 4 stars out of 5… I didn’t love the middle bit so that stops it being a 5, but the characters were great. this was my 11th Australian book for the challenge.

So exciting!!

Tonight I got an email from Malini Parker.. pictured below…

http://www.maliniparker.com/

She started off my New Year very exciting!!

Her email said:

Hi Kim

 I hope the new year is going well so far… we’re 5 days in and already I feel like it’s running away from me 🙂

 I have some news  that might bring on a smile for you –

I’d very much like Lee AND YOU to come along as my guest to my Melbourne workshop on Saturday, Feb 28^th.

If you can both make it, I’d be delighted, and I can’t wait to meet you both 🙂

 To accept, just send me a reply and include both of your mobile numbers.

I will then enter your details and you will receive an automated welcome message from my bookings platform, WeTeachMe.com. All done!

 Hoping to hear from you soon 🙂

By the way, I haven’t got in touch with Lee – I thought you can be the one to let her know, as you nominated her!

 Congratulations and Hugs from me!

 Malini

 I cannot tell you how excited I was.. I ran to get my phone to call my cousin, and she didn’t answer her phone! But she called me back!

We are off to the Abbotsford Convent to attend an art class with Malini, who is coming to Melbourne from Perth for a two-day’s of Art classes. Lee and I have won places at the Saturday Class and I am so excited!!

This is some of the work that Malini has done http://www.maliniparker.com/buy-a-painting/

Did I mention I’m excited?!