...Or Not

I confess, I didn't really change today.  In fact, I feel I regressed.  And I can see that it's because my life is a bit murky and undefined at present, a whole lot of unknown and not-black-and-white-ness. 

A brief overview of today:  slept in (by a lot - thankfully it's still holidays, kinda).  Breakfast I felt very odd, and it seemed to take forever to make.  As much as I've trained my parents, they still have some different ideas about where things belong, and making breakfast for more than me requires different timings.  Yes, this throws me.  Finished (maybe) a painting, had coffee, did the vacuuming, had lunch, went to the gym, bought more paint.  Taught my Friday afternoon students, discovered my fingerboard is starting to come off yet again.  Had a quick dinner and went to church, as it was a eucharist in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the ordination of women priests. 

The only potential changes would have been the painting, and going to the gym straight after lunch.  It's fairly quiet then (good) but there was what looked like a school group arriving (potentially not so good).  And the 20th anniversary was a first, obviously.

Purple and green banners were hanging down the pillars, and there were green lights in the transepts, purple lights at the crossing.

People had been asked to wear green and purple for the event, and for the recent Synod, as these were the campaign colours.  I'd heard a rumour a while back that the ordained women would wear purple shoes - what a great idea!  I only spotted one pair, on our deacon Ann.  I wish I'd had the opportunity to take the photo when she was still robed.

Today's photo:

As I was leaving, walking down Ann St through a very light misty rain, it looked like the Suncorp tower was glowing.  Admittedly, it's a bit hard to tell here...  But this is also the first mildly-successful night shot I've taken on the iPhone.  I do like a rainy city night scene.

The Consolation of Art

For the whole holidays, I've been feeling like I almost have a cold.  Today, it hit.  Which was especially mean, as I was looking forward to some auntie time.  With my ears producing dizziness, blocked-up feelings and pain, I wasn't going to be doing any musical activities.  I thought about doing some paper craft things, but I've been feeling like painting for a little while - especially since watching Frida.  Now, there's a massive square canvas that has been sitting behind the keyboard for some time, and a few students have asked when I will finally paint it, and some friends have commented impatiently also.  But there are 3 canvases I've had for even longer that I thought should be dealt with first.  I had a fiddle around with dimensions and ideas, and then I started painting. 

In the process of inspiration, I turned to the creative site, Redbubble.  I joined it by accident last year and, after spending many hours trawling beautiful images, I now only stop by occasionally.  After looking at a few beautiful images today, I decided to add 3 new photos to my portfolio.  Anyway, I found an artist with paintings that made me want to create something similar, and I started painting.  Of course, as soon as the paint started moving on the canvas, my ideas of what should take shape changed immediately.  Partly, I think, because one of the images I uploaded was from Mt Isa, and the blue seemed to be the same sky blue. 

This painting will replace another largely-blue work, at the top of the stairs.  I think.  At present, that area looks like this:

One of the challenges of this canvas is the dimensions: 15x60 inches.  Most of the ideas I've had look screwy in this dimension, and this is the first time I've attempted this. 

Another challenge today was the paint supply.  Once I knew this was an outback Australian sky I was painting, I wanted to do the ochre of the landscape.  Problem: no large supply of yellow paint, and only small shots of yellow ochre.  Solution:  use up the last of the true red, mixed with green.  Weird, but I'm more pleased with the result than I expected.

So far, it looks like this:

I know it needs a little something, and at this stage I often freeze, not wanting to stuff it up.  I foresee a trip to the paint store so I have plenty of supplies with which to paint over mistakes (or, experiments that don't cut it).  My idea for the middle is looking less and less likely...

Today's photo:

Similar to yesterday's... but this time with sunlight.  We had a few hours of not-totally-overcast in the middle of the day, and the light caught the raindrops like crystals.

Outfit #1

 So, very bravely, I reveal my first school outfit... As this was only a meeting, I dressed more casually than I would for school.  Plus, it continues to rain.  I don't want to ruin any shoes!  When I was about to take photos, I realised I very almost matched a painting - I was missing something green, but had blue, red, and black and white stripes. 

I found it exceedingly hard to take outfit photos.  Aside from getting feet and head in the frame, facial expression and enough of the front that you can see details proved problematic.  Hence the small photos. 

Dress: Ally (used to be Jeannie's).  Singlet: Ice.  Sandals: Hot Options (emergency purchase).  Earrings: Mombasa.  Pendant: made by Jeannie.  Zebra-print umbrella: no idea.