My USA Book Tour (or to be more exact - my book's tour of the USA)

With mere hours remaining before we were due to leave for the airport, my book and I went for one last walk along the beach before setting off on our grand adventure to the USA. It was a tad chilly down there with autumn upon us but nowhere near as cold as what we could expect to experience on our arrival into New York City.

 

 

We departed Perth at around midnight and arrived in Hong Kong 7 hours and twenty minutes later. We got several days worth of exercise traversing the miles between departure gates before we found the lounge. We'd needed to stop for a breather on the way and got a nice view of the planes on the Tarmac. Our connecting flight to New York has been delayed by a couple of hours so thankfully we have a comfortable place to cool our heels.

 

Next stop New York!!!!

Testing, Testing ...

 Recent sunset beach walk

This is a test post from my iPad prior to flying to New York this coming weekend. Yes...you read it right.....

 NEW YORK!

This will be my first ever trip to the USA and I couldn't be more excited!

I hope to do a lot of sketching while away, so stay tuned!

Grabbing the Muse in New Mexico

 

I was thrilled when Julie Ford Oliver sent me this fabulous photo of herself with my book - which she is half-way through reading. She has the Organ Mountains, New Mexico behind her in the background. What a stunning landscape - it reminds me very much of Australia's beautiful red centre! It's so exciting for me to see my book finding its way to different parts of the world. Thanks Julie!

Julie is an amazing artist who is an ongoing inspiration to me. Her artwork is very original and dynamic and she makes even the trickiest subjects look easy. She is very supportive and generous to other artists and shares many insights into her artistic life on her blog - which you can visit here, and you can visit her website by clicking here.

I haven't done much of my own art since the 30 day challenge in January but I have been enjoying other people's art and getting out and about. This has ranged from an artist's studio crawl in my local vicinity to public works of art in the city. I've visited the city a few times lately to celebrate our wedding anniversary, see some stand-up comedy and visit a wonderful exhibition currently showing at the museum - History of the World in 100 Objects, courtesy of the British Museum no less. 

 

I have been most remiss in keeping up with all my favourite blogs as well as posting on my own. I confess that the beach has been quite a distraction amongst other things. Most days I either walk or swim at the beach, more walking lately as autumn is upon us. I'm hoping to become more regular with my blogging again.

 

In the meantime, here are some photos I've taken over the last couple of months.

 

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View of the beautiful Swan River from our hotel room at the Duxton Hotel.

 

 

Public sculptures 

 

  

 

 

 

I'm now the proud owner of a Julie Sylvester original!

This woman is AMAZING!

 

 

 

Some of the fascinating items displayed in the "History of the World in 100 Objects" on exhibition at the Perth Museum.

 

 

 

Sculpture by the Sea at Cottesloe Beach

 

 

 

I happened upon a mural being painted at a beach car park by Amok Island.

 

 

Can't live without my regular visits to the beach!

 

 

 

Collage of 30 Paintings in 30 Days

 

I couldn't have come up with a more eclectic collection of paintings if I'd tried! Despite not creating a particularly cohesive look as a whole, it was a very successful challenge on other fronts. I tried some different things that I almost certainly wouldn't have come up with if I hadn't been under pressure to pop something out each day. I admit that I'm glad it's over now and will probably have a bit of a rest for a few days at least.

 

Many thanks again to everyone who cheered me on along the way - family, friends and other art-bloggers. All your comments and interest played a big part in keeping me on the straight and narrow.

Thanks too, to Leslie Saeta who hosted the whole thing and brought art-bloggers together from around the world to participate.

To check out what others have painted throughout the challenge click here

 

I had a lot of fun today and will tell you all about it in my next post!

 

Day 30 - Balmy Evening Sunset

 

Acrylic on board 16cm x 16cm

Palette knife

 

A sunset seems the perfect subject matter for the last day of the challenge.

 

 

My friend Brett kindly let me paint from a photo he took at sunset last night.

I'm so pleased to have made it to the end. There is no way I would have made it to day 30 if I had continued with the tight laborious style I began with. It was through loosening up with abstracts and the palette knife that made it doable as they were quicker and easier to do - and SO much fun! I marvel now at how I managed the first 30 day challenge in 2013. I guess because every painting was pretty much breaking new ground for me then. This time, until I did the loose-ish style portrait of my daughter on day 9, I felt I wasn't really stretching myself in new directions. Which isn't to say I wasn't stretching myself at all - the challenge got me painting again. My acrylic paintbrushes had seen very little action over the past year or two while I had focussed on finishing my book.

 

Just out of interest, does anyone know if there is a trick when using acrylic paints to getting fleuro colours? - does anyone  know how to even spell fleuro?? It is painful trying to capture that gorgeous shine only to have the colours look sludgier by the minute.

Tomorrow I will post a collage of the 30 paintings and a link to see everyone else's work as well. I so appreciate everyone's support and encouragement throughout my 30 day journey!

 

 

 

Day 29 - Summer Clouds

 

Acrylic on board 16cm x 16cm

Palette knife

 

Another thick and luscious palette knife escapade. So much fun! Can't believe there is only one more painting to go! Yay!

 

I painted this in the morning before meeting a friend for a delicious lunch at the Bluewater Grill at Heathcote. Haven't been there for a while and had almost forgotten how beautiful the views over the river are. We sat outside and were slightly broiled even in the shade, It felt a lot hotter than the forecast 35C but the views were too beautiful to consider moving inside for the air-conditioning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 28 - Stripy Umbrella

 

Acrylic on board 16cm x 16cm

Palette knife

 

This ended up being much looser than I originally intended. Oh, the fun of the palette knife!

Day 27 - Luscious Blues

 

Acrylic on board 16cm x 16cm

Palette knife

 

Again, the difference in time-zones is allowing me to post this on the 28th and make it look like the 27th. Ha ha!

In reality I didn't get time to do a painting yesterday and by the evening I was too tired to attempt one. So I must do two today to catch up. I will hopefully post the next one (still to be done) in a few hours. It is now 2.15pm on the 28th. I had intended to add a stripy umbrella into this scene but I had so much fun with the luscious slabs of paint I was reluctant to risk ruining what I had. Hoping to tackle the beach umbrella in the next one!

Day 26 - Change the Date!

 

Pen and watercolour on paper

 

I did something different for the challenge today. Haven't sketched for a while and thought I would combine my beach visit with my painting obligation. That way I wouldn't feel such a time pressure while I was down there. I thought these beach-goers looked pretty settled in and I made a start on sketching. But I didn't judge things well and they began to pack up a few minutes later. I sketched as quickly as possible and did much of it from memory. But that is the fun of sketching on location - trying to capture people and things before they move.

 

The clouds were stunning and I hope to soon paint from some of the photo reference I took today.

 

 

 

This cropped picture of me isn't supposed to be artsy - it's just that I'm very bad at taking selfies!

 

 

 

Below - kids enjoying beach cricket.

 

After my lovely swim, I enjoyed freshly made sushi on the balcony for lunch - made by my husband! He is an expert at it!