Finally made it to the final 12″ x 12″ wooden panel I bought from Eckersleys. I bought a stack of 4 of these wooden boards to try out. I’m really not sure whether I like using them or not. The firmness of the surface is certainly good, but I have to gesso the surface with quite a a few coats before I can start painting. Not a good thing for an impatient person like me. And the smoothness of the surface even after gesso made the paint slide around in a way that I am not sure about. I got used to it by the second panel, but I think I will go back to canvas.
I remember that road trip I made with my girlfriends, Carrie, Florence and Vicki. The 4 of us used to have a sort of book club, even though Carrie is not a reader. It was always more an excuse to catch up and gossip, and generally just chill out in someone’s home. It all fell by the way side when I got pregnant, and it never really got off the ground again. So perhaps it’s my fault. We are definitely still in touch, although rather irregularly. Everyone’s so busy with their own lives. Anyway, back to that road trip, we decided to have a girls’ weekend away in O’Reilly’s rainforest retreat in the Gold Coast hinterland. The drive was pretty scary up the big mountain because of all the hairpin bends, but I am very glad I went because it was simply lovely. Maybe my family and I should make the trip at some stage when the kids are older. The place is studded with little self-contained bungalows surrounded by forest. Lots of birds and fresh air. Gorgeous.
A place where you can actually see all the night stars. Have a lounge in the balcony jacuzzi. Hike among the trees, especially my inner klutz decided to declare itself again and I skidded and landed on my bum while negotiating a muddy downhill slope. Sore tailbone, yikes.
With this painting, I decided to be a little less rigid about colour and brush strokes. Just used whatever colour I felt like, just because. I like colourful because it makes me feel happy. So happy it is. No boring white roofs for me, no, thank you. And no, the road leading to the bungalows wasn’t actually multicoloured, but hey, what the heck. And no, I didn’t blend the heck out of the sky. Left my 1.5 inch brush strokes as is. Very liberating.
