Painting #2

Kookaburra Sits In The Silver Birch. Oils on slate

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It's half past midnight and I have just come inside from my studio. I have installed the gallery hanging system, hung some of my paintings and emerged with another finished painting under my belt.
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This one, I'm really happy with - my first ever oil painting. In the past I have shied away from oils. They take too long to dry, you need turpentine or thinners to clean up, it is smelly and just seemed like too much of a hassle.
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Now, I have discovered that I love oils!
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I like trying different things with my paintings. Rectangular canvases can get a little monotonous. That is one of the reasons I have experimented with painting on leaves in the past. I found a nice, oddly shaped piece of slate half buried in the backyard. After digging it up and brushing the dirt away, there seemed to be an image trying to break out of the stone. I sketched about on the surface for a while and found the kookaburra hiding inside.
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What do kookaburra's usually sit in? Old Gum Trees. That's why I sat this kookaburra in a silver birch. What can I say, I like being different.

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A Space to Write - A Space to Paint

My Studio.

After years of being stuck in a corner, I finally have some space of my own. No longer do I have to listen to what my son assures me IS actually music, while I try to concentrate on writing. Music is a mood setter and I have discovered heavy metal doesn’t enhance the mood in a book about a sensitive young girl trying to bring a

little magic to her world.
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No longer do I have to take half an hour to set up my easel and all my paints only to have to pack them away again half way through the painting so there is room in my

corner to do the other things I need to do. That is the fastest way to lose inspiration.

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Now, I can write to my own soundtrack and leave my current painting works out and still have

room to move. It’s like heaven!

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The studio still has a few touches to go before it is completely finished;

· I have to install the gallery hanging system to display my paintings.

· I still need to add book shelves on the wall above the work bench for my resource texts and favourite books.

· I also need to rebuild and update my old desktop computer for writing.

· And I have to find a bigger rug for the floor and curtains.

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But it is workable already and I opened my studio for business over the weekend. It has most of what I need. A wet area to paint, working bench space to sketch and paint watercolours, a desk to write, a light box to help transfer sketches onto canvas or watercolour paper, storage cupboards, a heater, a stereo, a coffee machine and privacy.

What more could you ask for?

I have even been productive over the last three days. I have finished the first painting from the studio and have two more partially completed.

My first painting is titled;

Opals, a watercolour on watercolour canvas.

My two partially finished works are seen below.

Pickets by the Lake - Oils on canvas & Kookaburra Sits in the Silver Birch - Oils on slate

Tuesday Chooseday

Choose-day is where I choose what book I am going to read next. At the moment, I’m reading Derek Landy’s ‘Skulduggery Pleasant – Playing With Fire’ It is the second book in the set and so far, just as good as the first. Skulduggery is such a brilliant concept for a character. I’m jealous.
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But, the next book on my to read list is Mo Johnson’s, ‘Boofheads’
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‘Boofheads is a story about three seventeen year-old mates who have been friends since pre-school but whose friendship begins to change when they go into Year Eleven. Eventually they have to make a decision whether to accept the changes and reassess the nature of friendship, or cut their losses and run.’
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Excerpt from the author’s website:- http://www.mojohnson.com.au/boofheads.html



Boofheads
Walker Books Australia Pty. Ltd
First Ed. 2008
ISBN: 978 1 921150 67 8 (pbk.).
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Now I have looked at this book a few times in the bookshop and thought ‘I’ll have to buy that next time to read.’ I finally did buy a copy of the book last weekend at the Children’s and Young Adult Literary Festival in Sydney. It was a wonderful day and ‘Boofheads’ came out on the top of my new To-Read list.
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I also had the pleasure of meeting Mo Johnson and hearing her speak about her books. Mo is the type of person who makes you smile. She is a very funny lady and if that humour shines through in her book, then I’m in for a real treat.

Mo at the launch of Boofheads

It was clear from hearing Mo speak that she – like me – has a soft spot for the kids who are a little bit naughty. Tommo, Casey and Ed seem like my kind of kids. I can point out the new generations of ‘Boofheads’ coming through the school system. And I think that’s a good thing.
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What would the world be like without a few ’Boofheads’?
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How I Illustrate

I call this blog Words and Pictures, so I thought it was time to let you into the artistic part of my brain.


When I sketch and paint traditionally (pencils and paints), I usually start with plain white paper but this is a digital painting and I usually do those a little differently. I usually start with a coloured background, chosen depending on the mood I want to express.


Subject: Groat.

Groat is a character I have been developing for a possible graphic novel project.

(I have always liked the classic TV show 'Land of the Giants' and thought it would be pretty cool to on day write a story with tiny people living unknown along-side us).

But, I didn't want to write about fairies or pixies. I wanted something different. I created the Scarrow. The scarrow are about 6cm tall and basically humanoid, tribal and have no knowledge of metal or humans.

Back to Groat. He is a very large, scarred and often aggressive lizard that wanders the countryside near the Scarrow's Territory.

Preliminary sketch.

I wanted to highlight Groat's massive size compared to the Scarrow so I decided not to sketch him completely. I thought if he crept up on one of the Scarrow and they turned in surprise, what would they see?

A big mouth and a big eye.

Detailed Sketch

After I have sketched in the basic shape, I add some detail to the sketch to give Groat some character. I wanted him to look old and gnarly so I added lots of bumpy scales, especially around the eye.






Basic Colour Block

Next I blocked in the basic colour scheme as a guide and to sort out the tonal values of the picture. (Ratio of dark to light)


A lot of people tell me they cant draw to save themselves. I believe they just stop before they add the detail.



Adding the Detail

The focal point of the picture is the eye, so that's where I started to add the detail. I sketched over the scales to darken and texture them. Added in some hot red and yellow tones to draw the viewer's eye to meet Groat's.

More Detail



Basically, I continued to fiddle in the detail out toward the nose and mouth, adding some highlights to the darker scales.

This is the most time consuming part of the painting.

The more detail you want to add, the longer it takes.



Final Painting
















I continued to darken and texture the picture to give it a solidity. Finally, I added in a dark background with just a hint of stems and foliage



This digital painting was created on my A3 size Wacom graphics tablet and stylus and took about five hours of sketching and painting tme to complete.

A little embarrassing - But Definitely Flattering

Following on from my last post...



One of my Year 6 test readers, read part of my book 'Paper Magic' out loud to his little sister in Year 2. Then he gave it back before she found out how it ended.



Over the last week or so, Mr Peter's Year 2 class has been doing writing. He reads sections from classic children's literature then as a class have disected the writing to help the children improve their own writing and comprehension skills.



While Mr. Peter's was reading from the Hobbit, the above mentioned student commented, "You should read Mr. Doherty's book. It's better than this!" She then continued to bother him enough that he finally asked me if I would read my book to his class.



So I spent the afternoon talking about writing, and rewriting and how when you finally have a book you are happy with, how you go about trying to get it published. That's when the fun started. I read the first half of the book, did some magic along the way and helped the kids make paper frogs.



I have been booked for a return engagement tomorrow afternoon to finish the story. The first part of the story went down really well. Even some of the wriggly boys sat listening for a good forty-five minutes. I was impressed. I have a little bit of magic tucked up my sleeve for tomorrows reading. (When I finally get published, school visits are going to be my favourite part of the job).



I was a little embarrassed about being held up above Tolkien (certainly not my claim - but it made my day all the same).



I thought, to make my book just a little bit more like a 'proper' book, I'd throw together a sample book cover. It definitely needs work - doesn't capture the tone of the story yet - but here it is.

PAPER MAGIC - Test Readers

It has been a long process writing Paper Magic.

That might seem strange for an 8000 word children’s chapter book, but Paper Magic started life as a picture book text called Marina Mack and the Magic Paper. Granted, it was a commercially unviable-long picture book text. After fourteen drafts I could only hone it down to 1600 words. That is where it sat, filed away for a couple of years while I worked on other projects.
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Last year, I redrafted Marina from a picture book text into a short story version for the Charlotte Duncan Award. Surprisingly to me - as some of my favourite children’s authors had also entered - the story was shortlisted.
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When Sandy Fussell suggested turning Paper Magic into a chapter book and offered to help with the editing process I couldn’t believe it. She is such a brilliant writer and generous person. Her help with the rewriting process has been invaluable. Each chapter of Paper Magic has gone through at least four new drafts. The last few chapters still have some minor polishing to complete them but I thought it was time to find some test readers to get a little audience feedback.
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Most of the children from the Year Six class I work with knew I was almost finished writing a children’s book. Five of them asked me almost every day, ‘Have you finished your book yet?’ or ‘Can I read your book when it’s finished?’ So I printed off a copy each for them to read.

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Thank you Hannah, Bethany, Jess, Lucas and Kyle from 6J. The verbal feedback so far has been very positive. Lucas’ mother told me he got home from school, sat down and didn’t move or speak until he had finished reading the book. It has now been read by her and her younger son Noah.
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The surprising thing has been a number of other children from the class, ones I wouldn’t have expected, have asked for copies to read. Again, thanks to Tom H. Maree, Mekaela and Kaitlin. One of the girls complained today that she had only read two chapters because her mum had stolen the book and won’t give it back until she has finished reading it herself.
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I know you can’t really judge a manuscript from the feedback of children that know you personally. Their comments are skewed in your favour because they do know you. Still, I’m more than happy with the test reader results. All the readers are all going to give me their –hopefully - honest opinions of Paper Magic after the holidays.

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I can't wait.

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Colour For A Cure!

I'm taking part in the Leukaemia Foundations Worlds Greatest Shave 2010. Please sponsor me!

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The funds we raise will help the Leukaemia Foundation to provide practical care and support to patients and families living with leukaemias, lymphomas, myeloma and related blood disorders.

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On Tuesday, a couple of year six girls from Eglinton Public School where I work, asked me (as a joke) if I would ever get my hair dyed. It was their little commentary on my grey hair.

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I told them if they raise at least $500 for the Leukaemia Foundations Worlds Greatest Shave 2010 I would shave or colour my hair - their choice which. They thought 'Hot Pink' would be just my colour. I think they were a little shocked when I agreed.
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The picture above is my photoshopped version of what I expect to look like by the end of the month.

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I'm going to do it properly too! Not spray colouring or a wash - I'm going to get it bright, pink and permanent colour so it will stay with me for at least a few weeks.
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So here is the challenge to all the kids and staff at Eglinton Public School.

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What is it worth to see me with Hot Candy Pink hair?

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My sons thought this was too good an opportunity to pass up so they have already thrown in some money for the cause.

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I really have to learn to keep my mouth shut!

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So, if any of my on-line friends wan't to help out and donate. You can do so through my profile page at the Worlds Greatest Shave site.

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http://my.imisfriendraising.com.au/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=340426

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