Girl With A Hack Saw

I seem to have fluffed about a bit too much this past week although I did finally get a folder of work away to TLC as well as completing a gift for a friend's birthday (a small brooch fashioned after her deceased foxy "Fred").

At painting group at Otane I heard that I'd sold quite a few cards at the exhibition but unfortunately no paintings. Overall seven works sold for other people which is wonderful considering how bad the economy is at the moment. One of the painters suggested to me that I need to paint local landscapes if I want to sell and I have to admit he's right as CHB does tend to favour the traditional/rural painting rather than anything whimsical and out there (which I think sums me up!)

After art last Wednesday Gine, Gay and I went to see Glenys who is still unwell and not able to come to the group. We spent a lovely two hours with her in front of the fire and admired some of the pictures on her walls including a very old painting of Tikokino Church which apparently fell out from behind an old family photo. What a shame that the building was pulled down and replaced by a very boring concrete ediface that adds nothing to the area's charm. Glenys also has a book on Tikokino's history and Gine found a picture of my place in there. Apparently this farm originally belonged to the Matheson Family (after whom the road is named) but in the 1930s a combination of scrub and rabbit infestation forced them to walk off the land and the place remained unihavited until my landlord's father took the farm over in the 1950s.

Thursday was Gine's birthday and she invited me along to Pukehou to a woman's group that was holding a "Drawing With The Right Side Of Your Brain" workshop. Fourteen women attended and we partnered to draw portraits in white crayon without looking at the paper before covering it with dye and having a good laugh at the Picasso style monsters we'd drawn. Funnily enough I met the daughter in law of my mother's best friend while I was there. I had heard so much about Matilda over the years but had never met her. I told her how her mother in law was at boarding school with my mother and that they'd been friends for well over sixty years before Betty passed away a few years ago. Talk about a small world.

For lunch Gine and I went to the Paper Mulberry where we met her husband Gareth and five of her friends. We were there over two hours and enjoyed a lovely meal while Gine opened her presents before heading home in the late afternoon. This cafe is a great place to meet and has an array of interesting paintings and collectables for sale and is a firm favourite of ours.

Friday I went to portrait class, freezing in the old school room despite the fact that there were three heaters on. Our model was a beautiful looking lady who has Multiple Sclerosis so she couldn't stand for long periods of time. I really enjoyed drawing her though as she had such beautiful eyes.

And I have finally begun work on the marquette for my sculpture in Oamaru stone. I have a sunny place to work at the back of the house and spent half an hour trying to cut a small piece off the main stone so I can prepare a mock up of my larger piece in order to correct any mistakes. In 30 minutes I managed to cut three inches down into the stone but soon realised that this is going to be a larger job than I originally thought as I am just using a hack saw. I am also togged up in a scarf, shirt, safety goggles and dust mask which makes for steamy work. The chickens were mightily amused at the sight of me and even the cats fell about laughing.