No, I'm not dead - in case you were wondering. Just busy painting away. I'm doing a mural like canvas, the largest I've done yet. It's something like 1500mm x 2000mm. I started it on the floor and then hung it up over the wardrobe in our guest room. Enjoy:-)

Graphite and gouache on watercolour paper 300gsm.

Acrylic paint, graphite and coloured pencil on 220gsm drawing paper. A3.

I have been slowly working on this painting for the last week, making minor additions and adjustments here and there. It is now laden with gold paint and small checker patterns. I have to admit I'm happy with how it has turned out.

The Gloriosa or Flame lily is one of my favourite plants. I have had one of these growing in a pot in the backyard for the last two years but have never yet seen any flowers from it. Last year everything was going right for flowers. The shoots emerged from out of the ground and it grew to the stage where the buds were starting to develop when a strong wind swept through and snapped the stems! ...So this picture was drawn from a book I have on bulbs... Maybe this summer I will finally see my own flowers.

The dalias at my last house have inspired this piece. They not only survived but thrived during a very dry, hot summer receiving only soapy water from the wash tub. Our neighbours would religiously feed the birds every afternoon, which meant there were always little visitors to our garden. 

The Aquilegia as studied at Laurel Bank Park, Toowoomba. Every spring Toowoomba holds a floral carnival. The city's parks are full of flowers and home gardeners open up their gardens to the public. It is a good opportunity for anyone to go and study the plants. My favourite place to do this is at Laurel Bank Park. 
Although the focus of the carnival seems a little grandma to most, these once prevalent floral gardens of Toowoomba have become a novelty due to drought.

I would dearly love to have a kaleidoscope! Somebody! Please buy me one as a present!

Here are my latest scribbles... I have three or four directions to go in next. I'm not sure which to start with. Something with symmetry maybe...?

I have never painted a portrait before, so it has been quite a challenge getting this far. One thing I have learnt from this experience so far is that, unfortunately, my memory is not as good as i'd hoped. A decent reference photo or drawing would have been very time saving and helpful. As for painting with oils, the more I paint with them the more I LOVE them!

Oil paints are very flexible to learn with and have a richness that really suits portrait work.

Oil on canvas.