Painting with Carol

It looks as though I might have to put my travel teaching aside for a while and behave like a good wife and mother as Linden is still not well enough to be left alone. I thought I might get in to the Christmas spirit and start to finish some of the projects I have started to paint and never finished - in fact I pulled out a Christmas box this morning that I started 10 years ago! I add something to it each year; you never know I might even finish it this time. It is amazing, though, how my style of painting has changed over the years. I just love Christmas and all the glitter that goes with it. Because of my travelling, I have been able to accumulate some wonderful Christmas objects to paint from the various studios I have taught at all over Australia. So now is the time to finish them. Why don’t you join me? Finish those unfinished objects. Send me some photos when you do, I would love to see them (and if you’re OK with it, we can post them here too).

Linden is still not well but he is certainly a lot better. I haven’t picked up a brush in so long and I am starting to have withdrawals. I still don’t have time to paint but I feel I have to do something so I have been sorting out my paints, washing brushes, and filing pattern packs - things that should have been done months ago.

I still have all my paintings that I had packed ready to go on the trip piled up in my lounge room, however. What am I going to do with them? I just don’t know where I am going to put them. The older I get, the more stuff I seem to accumulate. I would like to be able to start again - I would like those people that you see on TV to come in and throw things away for me because I don’t seem to be able to do that. Maybe I should have a garage sale. When I am painting, none of the mess worries me.

Oh well. Now that I have got that off my chest I will get back to trying to be a housekeeper and a nurse. YUK.

I am so sad at the moment. I have had to cancel my exhibition in Hughenden and my upcoming workshops in Queensland, as my husband Linden is still in hospital. He is still very unwell. I hate to let everyone down like this. I was looking forward to being with the camels I was even hoping that I could ride one. I have already been in touch with each studio to let them know. Everyone has been so kind and has asked me to reschedule when Linden is well again.

I am very disappointed as I look forward to seeing all my friends again. I consider myself such a lucky person as I have been able to make so many good friends doing what I love, “teaching people what I know about painting.” I will let everyone know when it is up and running again.

As I will be leaving Sydney for my Queensland painting tour on the 19th. of August, I thought I had better let you know how it is all going. In one word: terrible. I am so behind with everything - my poor husband, Linden, has been very ill and is in hospital, but thank God he is now on the way to recovery. Consequentally, I am behind.

It’s not all bad, though.  I am back on track and today I have already achieved quite a lot. It is amazing what you can fit into your life when you have to. My daughter has created a picture gallery of some of my paintings and I hope everyone will have a look and comment on them. Unless I get feedback on my blog I am not sure if you are enjoying it! I thought I would take pictures on my trek to Queensland as I go and post them here - that way you can travel  with me. What do you think?

I must get back to work. Nice talking to you. Regards, Cas

I have been asked to exhibit my camel paintings in Hughenden, Queensland at the Arid Lands Australia Festival  on August 22nd, 23rd, and the 24th, 2008. Because of this I am going to be running a series of workshops in Queensland. At this moment I am unsure of the dates but they will be the end of August and in to September. I will let everyone know as soon as they’re finalised.

I will go from Hughenden to Innisfail where I will teach “THE DOLPHINS” and “THE GOLDFISH”. From there I will go to the Atherton Tablelands, then back to Innisfail again to teach “THE DAYS AWAKENING” and “THE CHOOK YARD”.

Then I’m off to Townsville although I am not sure how long I will be there yet. Brisbane will be my next destination, where I am lucky enough to have my dear friends Margaret and Charles. Margaret also is a wonderful painter so I am looking forward to seeing what she has done through the year. Margaret and I are like little girls when we get together with our show and tell - one thing is for sure we can always have a good laugh together, think about how many of your friends you can do that with.

I am so looking forward to the trip, as I will be seeing parts of Queensland I have never seen before, I will also get to see the camels I have been painting and visit the friends that I have been lucky enough to make through painting.

Always when I return from a trip, I kick myself for not having taken more photos of my workshops. The problem is of course is that I am usually so busy during the workshop that I forget to take them until it is all over and by that stage, of course, everyone is rushing to get away and the opportunity has passed. I did take photos of the workshop I did in Rosewood, however, which I have posted here.

Rosewood - how I love it! You can smell the clean air, smell the eucalyptus and it is one of the few places where I love to rise early so that I can see the mist lift from the Snowy Mountains that surround it. When the mist lifts you can see the snow on top of the mountains. Love it, love it, love it! Rosewood is a stopover on the road to Tumbarumba and it is worth the stop - if you are in the area you should go and have a look. You can even have a good cup of coffee at GONE BARNY which is run by Jenny and her wonderful family. They have built a barn and have made it into a coffee shop filled with beautiful gifts. I love the smell of the place; it smells not only of good coffee but of the Eucalyptus oil that they distil themselves.

I would like to thank Jenny Mursett, who is the teacher and the organiser of my Rosewood workshops as she does an incredible job. Most of the students come from the surrounding districts such as Wagga Wagga, Batlow and Tumbarumba and over the years we have all become friends and I look forward to catching up with everyone. I have found that country people seem to have time for each other. I like this way of life and I just wish that city people could stop and draw breath a little more. I guess I notice the hustle and bustle of the city and its people more because I travel to the country so often.

I have more to tell you but I thought I would write more tomorrow.

I took these photos during the workshops at Rosewood. I had a wonderful time teaching everybody. I haven’t included names but if you’re in these photos, please add a comment!

Just to let you know I will not be around for 12 days as I am leaving for Victoria to conduct some workshops.

I leave on Wednesday morning at 4am. I like to leave early so that I miss the early morning peak hour traffic through Sydney. It will take me about 12 hours to get to where I am staying, just outside of Ballarat. I will stop to have morning tea at the bakers in Holebrook where I meet Jenny who owns the studio in Rosewood, she will take the frames and paints etc. that are required for her workshop on my return journey home. It  means I will not have to take them with me and then bring them back again.

The bakers make good coffee so it’s a good excuse to stop. It is a long drive but I love it. I love being on my own driving through this beautiful country of ours, I just have to be very careful that I don’t pick up another speeding ticket, not that I speed as I have speed control on my car but I somehow have lost points in the last four years and they mount up. Anyway I am prattling on now,  I will take some photos of my workshops to share with you, there are some very talented painters out there. Till then Bye for now.

Cas

It has taken a while, but here is the promised free pattern packet of the gum blossoms watercolour. This is a beginner pattern so it’s a good starting point. There are two parts to the pattern packet:

• The tracing. Download the file here. It’s currently A4 size, so you will need to enlarge it to A3 and print it out onto tracing paper. If your printer doesn’t do sizes larger than A4, take it to a print and copy centre such as Kinkos - they should be able to enlarge it and print it onto tracing paper.
• A step-by-step instruction guide.

Both are PDF documents so you will need a reader such as Adobe Reader in order to view them.

Click on any of the thumbnail pictures above to see the paintings. I hope you like them.