As you can see, I’ve been inspired by Patea Beach this time – and the view out to the cliffs. It really is a beautiful beach on a good day – and miserable on a bad one!
We’ve had Tony’s daughter with us for the weeekend, up from Christchurch, and they got out and about seeing the tourist sites.
Meg’s chemo didn’t go well on Friday and they had to quit the process – so we’ll try again tomorrow.
In the meantime, I’ll just keep painting to sooth my nerves…
I’ve decided to branch out a bit – and take some new “baby steps” towards my art goals. Although already some steps have proved to be more “giant” than “baby”!
I took a giant step in terms of confidence, and sent five paintings for in the Affordable Arts Exhibition in Wellington later in the year. So a bunch of strangers are going to look at them and decide if they are good enough for the show – and it’s a month till I hear back. Good thing I’m not a nail biter.
I joined up with http://www.artfind.co.nz and listed some paintings. Scary stuff – your head can tell you all kinds of things. What of no one likes them? What if people send emails saying they’re no good? Even worse, what if no one cares either way? Imagine facing that- total indifference. I was beginning to think I’d made a serious mistake – then today I got an email from someone interested in buying one of my paintings. Who knows if the sale will go through, but it feels great anyway.
So, onward and upward. Credit card in hand (to pay the fees) I listed a couple with Ebay this morning. I figure at worst, I lose $12US – how bad can that be? On the other hand, I might be able to say I have paintings in private collections in America LOL
One of my newer paintings is a step away from my landscape series. I’ve been watching the sea – we live a few minutes from the beach – and that has inspired me. So I’ve started a new series, thinking about tidal pools, what’s under the water, and what it looks like looking down into the sea.
And, last but not least, Meg is doing really well with her chemotherapy. We got blood tests back today and she’s fine to go ahead with the fourth treatment early next week. And even better, there are no cancer cells in the blood, so now we just have to get the glands completely back to normal. Meg’s a star. And so is my sister, Ailsa, who made Meg two great polar fleece tops because she really feels the cold since she g
ot sick. Thanks Ailsa.
Well, Meg is doing amazingly well on chemo. No side effects, no sickness, no lumps and no cancer cells in the blood tests 🙂 Long may it last … thanks for all the kind messages we’ve received wishing her well.
So, I’m back to painting – with mixed results!! I’ve been playing with different materials – including water soluble oil paint, and oil sticks. In the portrait I was really only interested in capturing this young girl’s amazing hair, not her facial features.
The landscape is one of the on-going series of abstracted landscapes. I’ve sold a couple of these now and have also listed with http://www.artfind.co.nz – so we’ll see what happens.
Whether they sell or not, I‘m having fun and that’s the main reason I paint.
Cath Sheard 