Thursday 24 January 2013

Goldfields Glass

                                      Acrylic on board 6" x 6"

I am coming to realise that I enjoy painting shiny things.  So when I saw the Daily Paintworks glass challenge, I had to enter!

I have quite a few old bottles that I collected decades ago near old mining sites in the Western Australian goldfields, some abandoned since the days of the great gold-rushes.  I wouldn't have a clue as to what the original contents were for this odd shaped bottle.  Over the years from exposure to the sun, the colours in the glass have ripened into beautifully rich hues.

The flower is from a malaleuca (paper bark tree) growing in our garden.  Unfortunately its future is in peril because of needing to replace the fence.

6 comments:

  1. Wendy, another beautiful work of art!
    Denise

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  2. Hi Wendy!
    Love the way you solved the glass painting challenge! Well done!
    Also love hearing about the gold fields and abandoned mining sites in Western Australia! So very interesting to somebody living in the woodlands, farmlands on the North East Coast, USA! Ten degrees fahrenheit! Brrrrr with a very cold wind chill!
    Art blogging is not only a fantastic way to share art but also a wonderful venue to learn about other interesting cultures and geographical facts from around the world!
    Art on Australia!
    Michael

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  3. Thank you Michael!

    Yes it is very interesting to hear about the locations of other bloggers via their day to day paintings. I find your area very exotic and fascinating and am enjoying all the extra snippets of information you squeeze into your posts! I'm not envying you your cold weather though, but the snow must be very pretty.

    I loved seeing the photos of your wild turkey visitors recently! I have been getting a good insight into the local birdlife in America via all the painting blogs. I had only previously heard of chickadees used in the context of an endearment on American TV shows ie: "My little chickadee". I hadn't realised it was the name of a gorgeous little real-life bird. I also loved the proliferation of the red cardinal birds in everyone's paintings at Christmas. They epitomise the American Christmas theme to me. We don't have those birds here - or woodpeckers or hummingbirds which I would love to see in the flesh one of these years. We do however have many beautiful birds in Australia, not least being the great variety of colourful parrots (including the budgerigar).

    If you want to know more about the Western Australian gold rush of the late 1800s - check out this link - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalgoorlie

    Happy painting!
    Wendy

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  4. Wendy!
    Happy Australia Day!
    I did go on the Western Australia Gold Rush site. So very interesting! Great history. Thank you!
    You must have been thrilled to discover chickadees are real. That was a great story!
    I think that quote started with US comedian, W.C. Fields! He was "old school" and very funny! In Australia do they use the slang "old school?"
    Some USA trivia for you! The Chickadee is my home state of Massachusett's State Bird! They are so much fun at our bird feeders. Very friendly. Eat from our hands. In some of my older blogs I posted photos of slate paintings of chickadees, blue jays, cardinals, and more. You may enjoy seeing them! In New England many people hang slate painting outside their front door to welcome visitors.
    Now I have to google "budgerigar!" (I do hope you get to see humming birds. They are beautiful and quite powerful tiny birds. We see them at our flowers in the summer!)
    Thanks for everything!
    USA Art Buddy,
    Michael

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  5. Thanks for your Australia Day wishes Michael! Very impressed that you knew about it!
    Yes, we also use the term "old school". Now that I'm writing a book, I often find myself wondering if some of the sayings I use are Australian or if they are used in the rest of the English speaking world. We have inevitably taken on a lot of Americanisms because we have a lot of American content on TV - as well as British. But we also like to keep the Australian vernacular alive and kicking.

    Happy painting!
    Wendy

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