February painting

 

 

Haven't been up to much craft and painting wise for a while now - but my acrylics painting class restarted last week. On the gardening side, I am very busy with teaching two classes, and planning and planting my garden, and the school garden, so there's not much energy remaining for this side of things.

However, these two painting got finished today, and I have to say that I am quite pleased with both of them.

Neck Gaiters

This is what happens when you leave your camera in the car overnight - and try to take photos inside before it warms up.

Neck gaiter as a scarf:

 

As an ear warmer

 

As a face warmer

 

As a hat

 

Final painting of the year

Photo taken near Mount Leinster at the end of October.

 

Painting made in December - from a monochrome image of the pgoto, so I was a bit creative with the colours.

 

Picture has now gone to New York - hope the new owners are happy with it...

Gifts from Geraldine.

Nicola's Christmas swap has come through for me -

 

 

 

 

above is the overwhelming bounty from my swap partner Geraldine. Beautiful and innovative wreath – too nice to put outside, lavender pouch made from an embroidered handkerchief, a book of dutch recipes, and letter chocolates for the boys – they were delighted with them. Another brilliant swap – thanks Nicola!

Show report

So, the show opened on Wednesday last - about 18 artists work altogether, so a big crowd of friends and families. My family came - my mother briefly, Dara nad Leo, and Brian in between ferrying people around and attend Choir meetings. My brother Joe also showed up, and a few of the mothers form the school. We headed off for drinks afterward to celebrate.

So no sales as of yet, but the show is open till the 20th, and this weekend sees the invasion of Mullingar by Joe Dolan fans, for the unveiling of his statue. So maybe....

Update: I counted, and there are actually 30 artists, and a total of 54 paintings.

Crafting with the kids

Dara has been wanting to learn to sew, so this weekend we decided to give it a go. We started with making a neck gaiter - a scarf that doesn't have dangly bits, that turns into a hat if necessary. We used one of DHs for a pattern. We will post photos of those later. So once Dara had got that hang of using the machine, he wanted to make something he designed himself.

 

And this is what he ended up with. He cut rectangles of flannelette and fleece, got the hang of right side and wrong side, and pinned them together. He knew that he neede to leave a part open when sewing, which I though was rather clever of him, and I helped with the sewing. We turned it inside out, filled it with rice, and sewed the end - and voila - a little heat pack/pillow for his teddies.

 

Brother Leo - not to be outdone - wanted a pillow also. We ended up using material with 'the shape of a shed' which turns out to be a pretty nice shape for a neck warmer.

 

And it tickles! one side is purple polar fleece

 

The other is a cotton with elephants on it.

They have both gone to bed with their pillows heated up (by the microwave). Fast asleep....

In A Show!

 

While this is technically not my first show - I had some etchings in a show when I was doing a night course in NCAD - it's the first show in my new/old home, and it feels great.

2 painting were selected - Ben Bulben - and a hay painting which I entered right after painting, and didn't get a chance to take a photo of. Fingers crossed that I will get some interest in my work from this - I had some personal business cards printed to leave at the show - with a different title than my usual Engineering Manager or Tools and Process Manager - this one says Artist and Gardener - I like how that sounds....

As you can see from the invite, the show goes on till almost Christmas, which is great from a shopping point of view.