Well, I did go like the clappers today, and I feel I hit paydirt with this painting! It felt soo easy to loosen up after wrestling wildly with tightness for the last month. Most importantly, I feel I worked out how to do the limestone rocks without resorting to too much detail. This is a scene looking out from Rottnest Island (known as Rotto to locals) with the suburbs of Perth a haze on the horizon. There used to be an ad campaign telling us "you've got to go to Rotto!" (hence the title!).
I got up earlier than is my wont on a Sunday morning to finish off yesterday's Christmas ornament painting (see below). Then I collected my mum and dad and we spent a very pleasant couple of hours visiting Kings Park for the wildflower festival. We were lucky to dodge the showers. It's been a very wet September. The wildflowers were as stunning as ever. They really know what they are doing at Kings Park, they are at the cutting edge of propagating our beautiful and prolific native species. Did you know that the south western corner of Western Australia (which includes Perth) is one of the biodiversity hotspots on the planet? I have included some of the photos I took today in the park to regale you with some of our lovely specimens. I did today's painting after the visit to Kings Park.
Wildflowers have been a passion of mine since I was a young child.
I love today's painting and the way you suggested the rocks is perfect.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Nancy. I was particularly pleased with the rocks as they had become a thorn in my side.
DeleteOkay Wendy, now we have to book a cruise to Australia! I did not know that Western Australia was a hotspot for biodiversity! Great photos! Love the colorful foliage! Some of the flowers look like they are not of this world! So very unusual for a New England USA guy! Beautiful and so very interesting!
ReplyDeleteSo now back to your wonderful art! But wait, what are "clappers?" I will
google in a minute but still I want you to tell me! Are they "waves?"
Love "Gottogotorotto!" Great title and painting! Very successful and loose! Love the colors, the shapes, so spontaneous, beautiful! Of course I love the waves! But the rocks are "out of sight!" (Oops a very old hippy expression from the US?) You wrote it was acrylic! It looks so much like oil! Very luminous! I love the thick paint! Great texture!
(Also love the two small figures gazing out to the so amazing sea!)
Cobber, Mate, Buddy, Friend, Australian Wannabe, Citizen Of The World,
Michael
Hi Michael, thanks for your very kind comments and observations. I'm pleased that you thought Gottagotorotto looked luminous like an oil painting. I used the paint quite thickly and I didn't use any medium - just straight out of the tube. The figures on the rock are fishing while gazing out to sea.
DeleteTo "go like the clappers" means to go very fast. I looked it up as I hadn't known it wasn't a phrase used everywhere. One source said it is an English expression from WW2. The clappers were some sort of bells apparently. Good guess though that it might have been referring to waves. Maybe we can start our own expression "Go like the breakers!"
You and your wife would love Australia I'm sure - you'd think it was "out of sight!" I might include an ad for visiting Western Australia in a future post!
Thanks again for your wild enthusiasm Michael my art cobber!
Love both paintings, Wendy! The colors and the loose style of the first one are beautiful. The second one brings me already in a Christmas mood, a very funny idea to paint these ornaments! Great photo's from Kings Park, hope you and your parents had a lovely time. Good luck with the latest painting of the challenge! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Hilje! I was very pleased with the colours in the ocean with this one.
DeleteI thought it might be a good time to think about Christmas themes so that I have a picture that I can use for my Christmas cards this year. I had intended to try for an Australian theme though, so I will try to come up with some ideas along those lines.
What a beautiful blog. Love your work...Very nice.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for visiting Suzanne and for your lovely comments!
DeleteSuch wonderful colorful flowering , being a garden designer and very passionate about nature I could only wish to go and visit the area ! Love your painting, the color of the water and the waves are really beautiful and the rocks are perfect !
ReplyDeleteThanks Jane! I really appreciate your lovely comments. I remember seeing some photos of your own garden you posted a while back and I was in awe at what an amazing gardener you are. Is garden design something you do for a living as well as paint?
DeleteHi Wendy, I love the painterly, loose beach painting!! The couple sitting on the rocks is a great detail. Gorgeous impressionistic style! I love the finishing touches on your Christmas ornament painting too! Thanks for sharing all the beauty of your area, I didn't imagine Australia to have such rare plants. It makes me want to visit it even more!!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Celia. I hope you do get to visit some day! Australia does have a very unique kind of vegetation. It has had to adapt to very dry and arid conditions in some parts which has led to some rather interesting floral inventions!
DeleteThat wildflower is amazing!! What is the name for it?
ReplyDeleteHi Catharine, I'm not sure if this is the Eucalyptus Caesia - ornamental weeping gum - silver princess. It is one of the more showy varieties of the Eucalyptus family anyway. There is a vast variety of flowering eucalyptus trees over here and they are all beautiful and come in many different colours.
ReplyDelete