After experimenting for quite a while, it seems like I am finally closing in at achieving on canvas what I can see in my head. It has been frustrating when I have had a specific image in my mind, but no matter what I try it comes out as something else. I do not know, old habits interfering maybe? Probably. Lately, I have been painting over a lot of canvases and started over. It seems to have done the trick. Instead of continuing on something that I do not feel 100% about, I g

I really enjoy working with oil in my art journal. I like how the oil behaves on paper. Even if the gesso is the same to protect both paper and canvas, oil still feels totally different on paper. So, I decided to try and paint on loose paper to see if I could achieve some finished paintings this way. I prepared a few hot pressed watercolour paper with gesso and started with an underpainting, or with a background in acrylic. I had a lot of fun. It felt like a play-day, and isn

After a couple of slow weeks in the studio, this week has begun promisingly. Creativity always has its ebbs and flows, but I do prefer the flow periods more! I have been trying out two new sketchbooks. One is a small watercolour sketchbook that I got as a gift from an art store in Shanghai, and the other is a sketchbook I bought last week here in New Zealand. This is the sketchbook I bought last week. It is just an average sketchbook with thin paper meant for writing and penc

Well, I have been able to tick of Hobbiton on my bucket list! They reopened it the last weekend of May, and we took the opportunity to go and visit. We had planned to go earlier before the whole covid pandemic, but it was always fully booked. And now when I have seen it, I understand why! It was a rainy day. It does not matter except for that it explains why my photos are a little dark. Hobbiton is built on a private farm near the city of Matamata on the north island of New Z

I have seen these small birds flying around quite a few times already in the city and even a couple of times in my back yard. But while we were up in the hills more than a week ago, I had a few really close encounters with them. They are super cute, and they seem absolutely unafraid and soo curious. One was hovering near my husband for quite a while while he was fishing. Almost landing on the fishing rod. It flew around him, up and down and just seemed to really check him out