Blog

After the excitement of an interview on CTV last night, it was hard to settle back down to work on my 80th painting this morning.  The response last night and today has been very encouraging.  Thank you to those of you who watched the programme last night and emailed, rang or texted kind words afterwards.

80 paintings does sound like I've done quite a lot, however, another 20 is still seems a fair few too.

Since my last blog 10 days/paintings ago, I've been on a weekend workshop with my sister Marlene Howie (yes, she flew down to Christchurch again) run by renowned New Zealand watercolourist Brian Millard.  We had two long days of intensive learning with him.  What a fountain of knowledge and experience he has and what an inspiration he is!  With his guidance I was able to tackle a back-country painting (pictured on this blog) on a full sheet of Saunders watercolour paper - my largest watercolour painting by far - roughly 750mm x 500mm.  It took me several days to complete back home in my studio, but I am thrilled with having managed it.  Since then I've been painting a number of watercolours though I'll be back to oils and acrylics again for the next week or so.

Workshops are valuable experiences for artists.  No only do you learn and get inspirational ideas, but also you get to meet other like-minded people who are keen to make progress too.

Spring has sprung in this part of the world - lambs are gamboling around in the paddocks, the daffodils are out and the fruit trees are in blossom.  I hope the weeds in my garden don't race away too quickly before the end of my 100 Day Challenge!

Ruth