Out And About

Tuesday this week I finally went to Creative Hastings to see the Cats Copper and Car Parts exhibition. My painting was displayed right in the window so anyone passing by could see it from the footpath which was a thrill. Unfortunately no little red dot to say it had sold. There was such a variety of work displayed at the centre, pictures of cats made from car parts, car radiators painted and hung on the wall, copper abstract sculptures as well as traditional paintings.

Wednesday Gine arrived late at 9.30am but told me she'd been up until 5am working on her large Waikaremoana painting for the Otane Exhibition this weekend. When we got to the old school there were only a few people there putting last minute touches to the displays. There were two amazing jewellery sections,one with garden themed necklaces and earrings, and another with dicotic glass pendants. The building was quite cold so we were relieved to sit out on the front steps and have our lunch. Afterwards everyone left apart from five people, four of whom had decided to paint. As there were no trestle tables in the room we made do with the floor or in my case my knees. Gine managed to finish the edges of her large painting and get it hung before we left in the late afternoon.

Thursday was another early frosty start as we headed to Napier for our one on one mentoring. We collected Martina from the end of my road and within an hour had reached the city with just a few minutes to spare before our appointment. We had thought we would have an hour each but this had been cut down to half an hour so we decided that we would go in as a group. Although we had an interesting discussion there was no new ground covered at all and all we could think of was the petrol we'd wasted getting there.

We emerged at noon and Martina led us down the road to a German bakery so we could get some lunch. I was very good and resisted the chocolate goodies and bought a vegetarian roll with two types of cheese, lettuce and tomato. This held me until we got to Otane at 1.30pm in time for the opening of the exhibition.

Gine and Cedric had been asked to provide music so after the speeches they spent half an hour playing very lively folk music (Irish and Hungarian) while Otane Arts and Crafts members looked at the paintings and walked around the rooms to see the displays put on by the other groups. In the two hours the exhibit was open I sold six cards and the lady who made the dicotic jewellery made a number of sales and got several orders. I showed her the fish paua pendant I was wearing and she told me that she often has little pieces of glass left over from her jewellery making and suggested it might be of use to me. As the colours she uses are so vibrant and irridescent I hope that we can come to some sort of an arrangement. I got home at nearly 5pm and already it was getting dark and cold. I quickly rushed round feeding the animals before heading inside for an evening of nodding off on the sofa!

I read an article on a worldwide barter site in a country newspaper last weekend and decided to join the Hawkes Bay Branch. No money changes hands, instead you accumulate e dollars which you can use to barter for things you might need. I offered manure from the animals plus mentioned I made jewellery and painted. Within a couple of days I had a reply from someone wanting a couple of bags of manure. Yesterday afternoon the lady and her husband arrived to collect these and she also asked to see my paintings. I showed her my small portfolio and she asked for some photos to take away. It turned out she is a journalist and she suggested she write an article about me. She also liked my Patchwork Rabbit No 2 painting and bought it with e-dollars so I am hoping to find something on the site that I desperately need (ie. firewood)

We're due a few days rain this week so I hope I can get back to painting. I have finished a self portrait of myself for TLC and now have to complete a nude without using brushes. I also had the excitement of receiving some materials from school including good oil paints, impasto gel, gesso and modelling compound as well as boards to paint on and four larger canvases. It always feels like Christmas when parcels come from TLC- the greatest excitement in art is contemplating your materials before you wreck them with your artwork!