okay what'sthe date?

It is the 12th of August and I am finding more and more wonderful things to do with my words and art. I have been participating in a desultory manner in the Nerdy chicks Kidlit summer school, in fact for a while I have been desultory about a lot of things but I am finding my 'mojo' again.

The term 'mojo' has an interesting history.  If you would like to know more, I suggest reading this blog post:  http://www.patheos.com/blogs/voodoouniverse/2013/12/mojo-juju-mumbo-jumbo-what-does-it-mean/

So with my new burst of energy I have managed to write and revise a new picture book manuscript, finish the art works I had agreed on, complete my Derwent art classes and so much more.

 I learned a new word this week sgraffito.
Wikipedia has this to say about it:

Sgraffito (plural: sgraffiti; sometimes spelled scraffito) is a technique either of wall decor, produced by applying layers of plaster tinted in contrasting colours to a moistened surface, or in ceramics, by applying to an unfired ceramic body two successive layers of contrasting slip, and then in either case scratching so as to produce an outline drawing.

Sgraffito and sgraffiti come from the Italian word graffiare ("to scratch"), ultimately from the Greek γράφειν (gráphein) "to write". Related terms include graffito and graffiti.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sgraffito

For me it was about the lesson in which we were supposed to coat our surface with thick layers of coloured oil pastel then go over it all with black pastel and finally scratch off the black to form the image . I do not currently own oil pastels so I used scratch paper instead and then used chalk pastels to give a softening affect to the colours. I am looking forward to having some oil pastels to try it.

Class five was about landscapes with water colour. I quite enjoyed mixing the colour on the paper and allowing the water to give interesting patterns to the bark and leaves.

I am loving finding classes to stretch my skills.











Then we had a copyright infringement issue in the 52 week challenge and Tania McCartney issued a strongly worded disclaimer that the onus was on the individual artist to ensure they acknowledged their inspiration if it was someone else's art or photography and since I had someone compare my piece for the week with another artist I wanted to make sure mine did not too closely resemble that artist. I had glanced at hundreds of images online when trying to decide on my piece of work for the theme Psychadelic.  I started off with an image pencilled onto paper and then filled in with cheap crayons. I quite liked the effect.

when I looked at other art by Googling  Lips + Psychadelic I found hundreds but none the same and most with four upper teeth. There is a gorgeous digital piece that is glossy and something I aspire to if I ever learn how to do digital art  ( http://www.123rf.com/photo_16511396_sensual-lips-psychedelic-rainbow.html) which is the most like mine.   I then went on to remake the image with Copic markers (sob sob boo hoo I have finally returned them). Sigh. I did two images, one with and one without fine liner.

The vibrancy of the colour is delicious and when I pinned them to the wall I realised that the paper underneath that I used to protect the craft board was just as interesting for the theme.

Oh the artist I was compared to is Peter Max artist which, after looking at his very vibrant pop art, I find very complimentary. http://www.petermax.com/

Okay what else has been happening apart from art? Plenty. I spent two whole hours with a baby and of course after a bit of gooing and gurgling and a nappy change he slept the whole time in my arms. What a lovely feeling and what a lovely way to while away two hours.

I started the opening of a new novel, had another rejection for a novel subbed to a competition, wrote several picture book ideas out and completed the first draft of one and two revisions. I sent the first 250 words into the 12 x 12 forum and have had some helpful feedback on it. I need a more dedicated critique group to bounce my ideas off.
I attended the WWG(Warrnambool writers' group) and we decided to change the name of our upcoming anthology to 'Flotsam and Jetsam' to better reflect the mixture of stories and poetry from seaside writers.  I am also responsible for developing a critique sheet to guide critiques by group members and for getting our FB group up and running. This has been fun. I borrowed a photograph by a local girl and although she gave me permission to use it ages ago for another purpose I have to let her know I am using it as the banner for the writing group. Once I let her know I will let them know who the photographer is. A bit backwards I know but I will get it right.

I have had to have a lot of work done on my car lately. It needed a heater tap, timing belt, new tyres and a service. All up a big dent in my small savings but I do need to be able to traverse this giant country of mine and my little car needed the love.

I have begun a regular meditation practice and opted for a quick fix beginners 7 minute tone up. Just like the 7 minute exercise apps only calmer. I tried one of those 7 minute apps for exercise recently and spent the next three days unable to walk - literally. I returned to my much more sensible physiotherapy exercises and yogalates(yoga and pilates mixed). The meditation is a brilliant way for me to relax and calm my frenzied creativity at the end of the day so I can sleep and be refreshed without being bombarded by characters during the night.

 My favourite relaxation is to listen to the music of the cosmos. NASA converted the electromagnetic pulses all the planets and the sun make, into sounds and the resultant pulsing noises are as individual as fingerprints and collectively are the most magnificent music my heart could yearn for. I sometimes play all of the youtube videos at once so I can hear the collective swell of sound that our solar system can fill me with. Of course the CDs are available for purchase but they don't do the all at once sound.  The recordings were marketed as Symphonies of the Planets.

Oh and I have begun to make myself some new clothes. My patterns came in the mail. I had bought them to make a Tauriel(she-elf The Hobbit) costume for my daughter but have decided that first I will make myself some beautiful things to wear. With my new haircut and extra energy I should be able to cut a fine figure when I am out and about as a writer and artist. Grin.


I am off to a webinar(Seminar online) in two minutes so I will sign off and turn off my Pirates of the Carribean soundtrack and get studious. Have a wonderful day wherever you are in the world. Love and Hugs.