Romantic Country Magazine

Earlier this year a surprise email turned up in my inbox!  It was from the editor of Romantic Country Magazine asking me if I’d be interested in being featured as one of their artists in their “People & Places” section.
Urmmm… yes please that would be nice, says me bursting at the seams with excitement.


Mary was wonderful to work with and I think the article she produced is absolutely wonderful……



Some of my artwork featured in the article is available from our website here
Warm Easter Wishes to you all!
Gail

Putting my Beach Cap on

I’m a little late this year starting work on my Beach themed treasures. I guess due to the fact we haven’t been selling at our usual Markets, cause we’ve been busily keeping up stocking our Shop and Website.

I do have a few Original Beach Paintings and other “One of a Kind” treasures nearly ready….and just to prove it, here they are:

 

My Original painting is nearly finished

Thanks also for your well wishes on the arrival of our darling little Grandson Xavier, I can’t believe he’s already 3 weeks Old!  I make every excuse possible to pop down and see the precious little bundle,  of course with Camera in hand..

poor little baby is probably thinking…

"Oh no here she is again with the Camera!”

 

~ Gail ~

Beach!

Thanks for the feedback on my latest Seaside Rosy Painting theme from my previous post.

Tony came home last night with some wonderful old chippy white boards he'd found, he'd cut them up and sanded them back for me ready to paint. I couldn't resist starting on them today - I knew the photo of the seagull I'd taken at the beach during the summer would come in handy - and here it is on the chippy board - I quite like the simplicity - click on the seagull for details of iton our website.

I've also listed a shabby timber boat

below

is the photo I based my painting on, I wanted to retain the great chippy white background

Continuing in with the Sea/Ocean theme

below

is a photo of Todd (son) with his massive 36 kg Yellow skin Tuna he caught

We're very much looking forward to tasting part of the catch in the next few days!!!

Thanks for coming over to see what we've been up to

Summer Breeze in Autumn

I was scrounging in our Linen Press for a Doona Cover and found one I'd bought at a Garage Sale ages ago, I'd forgotten all about it, although I love the contrast of different styles, I couldn't quite imagine this doona cover fitting in with my Shabby Chic Bedroom theme I have currently going, you can see photos of it below. The best thing about having neutral coloured walls and trim is you can quickly change your theme in no time at all. I think the photos took longer to take than the actual change over. I must say I still love my old look bedroom, but this was a nice fresh change. I can change it back next time I change my Doona Cover!!!


Because we have a Loft Bedroom, no one walks past it and looks in the door, you have to make a special trip up the stairs to our bedroom, which means it doesn't have to fit in with the rest of the house, mind you not that anything else does anyway!

This is my before bedroom, which I must say I did love, you can click on the photo to read about my makeover on this theme

Nearly all of the accessories I've used I already had - quite a few are ones I plan to sell on my website or with Tony at the Antique Centre. The Candelabra in the photo above was my last weekend Garage Sale find, I've been cleaning my brush I paint my frames with on it....that's the best look, just sort of flick the paint on, preferable different shades of white and cream, then after awhile when the paint's built up, give it a bit of a sand off to let the rusty bits show through. I'm now thinking it's very heavy and hoping either Tony or I don't have a Nightmare and knock ourselves out sitting up quickly or the bracket I hung it on might collapse!

above and below

Prints from my Original Shell Painting series I've framed - I will have these up for sale on our website in the next few days. One of my gift cards sits happily below in my window shutter

and below

My sweet little 'Gone to the beach" sign which is available from our website too

The Photo above looks a bitty tatty, never mind I don't have time to run upstairs for one in a better light - goodness me taking photos is hard work!






Speaking of work, here's my nearly finished Original Painting, it's in a beautiful Ornate, metal/brass frame, which I've painted and distressed, I should have it finished and framed ready for sale on our website tomorrow

Thanks for coming over

and thankyou also for the comments left, very much appreciated to have a bit of inspiration or whatever!!!

~~Gail~~

The many uses of Caustic Soda

It was a bit of a suprise to have comments left on my last post - thankyou!
It was a new idea I was trialing. I was also thrilled about the positive comments on my original painting of the Girl on the Bike. To be quite honest I hadn't planned her to turn out like that - although I must say I do have an attachment to her. I had planned to paint a Girl actually riding on a bike, I can't tell you how confused I got, plus the fact I don't sketch before I paint - just full on get the brushes out and away I go, that's all very well with roses and my china tea cups etc. .... but I think figures probably need to be sketched first, I ended up dragging an old bike inside from behind our shed - cobwebs, spiders and all, I used it for my prop, then had to just imagine the girl, at this stage it was way to hard to paint all the angles of her riding a bike, so ended up with her walking the bike....I quite love the end result

I've had this new idea ticking over in my mind ~ don't you love the weathered old cane baskets?, but finding them is very hard, there's loads of newish, over stained, over laquered ones around - yes I have repainted them to look silvery and old, but I though hmmmm, what about dipping them in Caustic soda - now that is a Dangerous word "Caustic Soda" - when we very first started stripping back furniture which come to think of it was about 20 plus years ago, the best, quickest, most effective way was to dip something in caustic soda - please don't do this unless you carefully read up on the dangers and how to use caustic soda, not only can it make your skin disappear it can turn certain types of timber a strange orange colour, whereas some come out looking absolutely wonderful. It also can make glue disappear, so I'm not sure how much glue is left to keep my basket together, never mind, the basket didn't end up coming out as silvery as I hoped so I ended up giving it a few coats of whitesh paint - I think it will be OK for a display at our market tomorrow



While I was at it I gave the one below a dip and repainted it white

and soaked the bottom of this Vintage First Aid cabinet, it was so greasy - only thing is as you can see in the photo below, the caustic not only took the grease off but the paint too!

I came across these sweet little reproduction door hanger signs, all I did was add some little hand painted roses to add an individual touch, I think they look lovely displayed in the "Caustic" basket

I have a load of Napkins I washed today and will put up for sale in the next few days - I do love them - but I just can't keep keeping everything!!

Thanks for coming over and have a wonderful weekend

We have a market tomorrow at Boneo Primary School, the details are on my website

~~Gail~~

Could Somebody Turn The Heater Down Please

Boy oh Boy are we having a HOT SPELL here in Victoria! I think we've got at least another four days ahead of us of sweltering heat. Ellie and I decided we'd take a few hours off to go to the beach today before it got too hot and crowded, besides I had my new Beach towel and bag I got for Christmas to use - if that's not a good reason to go I don't know what is.

I took a few shots to share with you...

We took our lunch and reading material, we only stayed a few hours as I didn't fancy getting burnt to a crispabove is I think a toilet block handpainted by one of our local artists

Here's the Beach we picked today, we are so very lucky to have such a wide choice of beaches right on our doorstep, this one is my favourite as it looks out towards Mornington Harbour, I love watching all the activity.

Here's a zoom in of Mornington Yacht Club with the adjoining Rocks Restaurant

A visit to the beach just wouldn't be the same without the Beach Houses - they are constantly being revamped, I love watching the progress.

Final photo - my little seagull friend was desperately waiting for a little leftover from our lunch.

Thankyou my friends for coming over to visit, I hope you manage to stay Cool or Warm whatever part of the World you live in

~Gail~