I'm back with a new computer for WOYWW

After what seems like forever,

I am back and you thought you were

rid of me (mwa ha ha).

I have a new computer,

two in fact.  It seems that when one computer

dies, the laptop also dies, so sad

but in a way good.

Now I have this little beauty

She's an all in one 23" screen.

There's no more whacking my knee on the cpu

under the desk!!

Here's the old one, complete with knee destroyer.

Even though the screen is bigger I seem to be able to fit 

everything in a little neater than before.

I really like the sleek new keyboard too.

The only trouble I am having is working out this new fangled 

Windows 8.

I had Windows XP before and it's just a little

bit different (cough cough).

I would show you my cute little white laptop too,

but it took me so long to figure out how to get the photo of the big computer on here that I can't remember how I did it.

Bear with me and I might be able to get something by next week.

I haven't done any art since I've been away from the internet,

yes, I know, I'm just a slacker.

 This week won't be any different as I got a 

one hour facial for mothers day from my daughter

and I'm having that plus getting my hair done this week,

so no time for art.

I'll start again next week, promise.

Right now I'm just so happy to be back in the blogosphere

and hope to catch up with all the blogs that I've missed.

Speaking of blogs,

why don't you hop on over to Julia's Stamping Ground

and see what the other bloggers 

have on their desks,

this very cold

 (it's autumn and cloudy here)

wednesday.

PS. My thoughts are with the poor people who suffered in the tornado.
I hope all bloggers are safe and well.

It's official - Computers and anything electronic - suck!!

You might have noticed that I haven't

written a post for a while,

or not, but I forgive you for that.

I have been fighting a losing battle

with my computer and anything electronic in my house.

My computer decided that it just wasn't going to start up

and I had to keep turning the power on and off until

it decided to play the game.

Sometimes it took a week to play.

Now it has decided it will start up but my mouse pen

has gone nuts.

Now some of you may know that I am blonde and as such,

I just can't use a regular mouse.

I drive it all over the place and it never goes where I want it to, 

so my wonderful computer friend set me up with a Wacom tablet and pen

(which doubles a mouse) many years ago and I haven't looked back.

That is until the pen went nuts.  It can be in it's holder and things start

to highlight and move, rather creepy actually.
 I have to hit the pad numerous times before it does anything and then it gets stuck and won't let go of things, argh!!! 
 Highlighting anything is a whole new adventure.

So, I have decided that enough is enough and I'm going to post

with or without the co-operation of this evil being, so if things 

are all over the place, blame the pen.

Here is my desk, it's rather a sorrowful sight.

Although you can't see it, I have been chasing this image all over the place but I thinks it has settled here for now.

 Even my paints and paintings are right where they are month ago.

 I haven't picked up a pen or brush for ages

but now I am determined to get back to it.

From next week I plan to pick up the brushes again

and if this stinking computer will play nice for once,

I might even be able to show you.

There have been heaps more electronic

 gadgets that have made my life

hell lately but that is for another post,

if it will let me.

I hope to be able to visit other WOYWWer's this week,

but please forgive me if this evil machine prevents that.

Now you have read my tale of woe (he he),

hop on over to Julia's Stamping Ground

and see what is on the desk of others this fine and warm Wednesday.

PS.  I've just noticed that the text is a bit weird
but on my compose screen it is fine,
just another thing playing up I guess!!!

 

Troubles

I am having computer problems,

(CPU broke, no scanner and pen mousey thing not working)

so will be off blogging for a little while.

I have a laptop to keep watching and commenting

but can't do much else.

Having an art break too.

Be back as soon as it is fixed.

Promise :)

Treasures

This weeks Artist's Playroom theme is

What do you treasure?

Well, I could get all mushy and say family etc

but that would make for a boring painting.

No they aren't boring just my painting would be,

especially as my portrait painting is just stick figures 

or these weird looking aliens that you would

never pick to be anything like my family,

(or maybe you could, hmm).

I'm a bit old fashioned too, I don't like to have any of them on the internet,

try telling that to my eldest two. They plaster themselves for all the world to see

but me, I like a little mystery.

I mean, you wouldn't think of me the same way if you knew

I was old, short and fat now would you,

surely I come through, young, tanned and gorgeous

(cough, cough).

I do adore my family, warts and all

and I have just a few people that I call my close  trusted friends, 

some of whom are on the net, but today 

I decided to paint some of my tangible treasures,

 or junk as my husband calls it,

hey, he's a maths teacher,  so no arty farty love of treasures in him.

Sorry about the cruddy photo, just can't seem to take a good one.

 (If Trace is looking at the photo, maybe she could ask Sinus how much he loves me???

Any chance I could pay him for a white box thingy like you have??? He he :) :)  )

 These are some of my most treasured little goodies.

See, if you knew I was old and fat you wouldn't have thought I could love such quirky things.

The big fella is my Wookie Bird, he cost me a mint but I had to have him,

he reminded me of my big fat parrot, Charlie.

The other guys are just some of my mad collection of things.

I used to go up to the Sunshine coast for holidays and would scour the

little shops in Noosa but nowadays it's all glitz and glamour.

No more quirky artisty shops, just coffee and cafe type shops

for the rich and famous, who now frequent the place.

I miss the old Noosa but it's called progress, I guess.

At least I have my ornaments to remind me of the good old days.

I also collect crazy cups, I've painted some

 My favourite is a Doctor Who mug, but that's in the dishwasher at the moment,

so you don't get to see that.

Every room in my house is filled with treasures, little knick knacks from my travels

and crazy things that people have given me over the years.

If it's quirky, different or silly, I love it, (just a shame my hubby doesn't), I mean,

how many people have a fish pond in their house, with three goldfish?

I like to be different, can you see my 'grandfather' clock reflected in the mirror,

cute huh?

I guess my greatest treasures are my kids and hubby,

even if he isn't arty farty and just a nutty old maths teacher.

He has to be nuts, to put up with me.

Have a look at Jenn's Artists Playroom and see what other people

treasure.

  

Blorange for APR, anyone got an ark?

It's slightly wet around here,

actually it's bloomin pourin!!

Not too bad here

Water is starting to meet in the middle of the road now.

The water is starting to come up our driveway,

it's okay though, we are much higher up.

The problem is that nothing will dry.

My canvas painting is soggy and I couldn't finish that,

so I thought I would do a little water colour.

It wouldn't dry so I got the hairdryer

and did it too hard so the paint went sploosh and mooshy.

This is the canvas painting I started here, I have painted in the darks

but can't do the lights yet, so it is a bit dreary at the moment

and even though it looks black the background is actually blue.

It was going to be for the blorange, but no chance now.

Finally I decided to just muck around with some water colours,

a hair dryer and a bit of attitude and 'stunned mullet goldy' was born.

I was playing with the Silks too but I don't know if it is the weather or not

but my sakura pens didn't like drawing over the Silks.

He's actually a lot brighter than this but the old lights don't help much in the rain. 

The lights make the mica in the paint stand out.

No pretty sparkles when you scan in : (

It's not the best entry to put in APR this week for blorange, 

that's blue'n'orange, but on a brighter note, my little miss

decided to play along as well and here is her entry

for blorange.

Let's hope this rain will finally go away soon and I can get back to painting,
for now I'm going to sit on the couch with a cup of coffee
and watch movies, what else can you do on days like this?

Why don't you hop on over to Jenn's
Artist's Play Room and see what
the others have done for blorange.

New paint play for WOYWW

As you can see from the dark and gloomy photo,

it's still raining!!!!

I am thinking of building an ark as I think we will need it soon.

Today was only showers but more heavy rain is forecast for the weekend.

I've been playing with my Silks Acrylic paints

and boy are they different to what I'm used to.

Silks are acrylic paint with mica powder suspended in it

and this gives a gorgeous glow to the paint, it's the acrylic version of Twinkling H2O's.

.

I bought it to add an extra dimension to my fish

and coral in the undersea paintings.

But not being one to have lessons to learn how to use things,

I dived straight in and started a canvas.

It is only a little one, just 8" x 10"

but dive in I did.

The plan was to just embellish an already painted canvas

with just a few bits of mica but I decided to get used to the paint I would jump right in

and do a painting entirely with the Silks.  Not such a good idea.

To say I've made a mess so far is an understatement,

having said that I'm learning a lot about what I can and cannot do with this paint.

This painting may turn out to be a disaster but at least I will have learned a lot.

I may put acrylic over the top and then embellish with the silks,

as I had planned.

The main thing is I'm having fun getting back to what I enjoy,

painting canvasses, even little ones.

 The paints are wonderful and give a beautiful glow,

I just have to work out the best way to use them in my type of painting.

I'm trying to take photos as I go and may make a post about the

Silk journey, just hope the last photo isn't a match held to the canvas!  

You've seen what's on my desk this week,

so why not hop on over to Julia's

Stamping Ground and see what the wonderfully talented

people are doing on the What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.

P.S. If you love art and art magazines, there is a fantastic magazine
called Featuring.  I've been getting it and enjoy reading it immensely.
 I have noticed many of the bloggers featured in there.

For details of this magazine go to Jenn's blog here 
it tells you all about it and how to get it.

Books and Bookmarks for APR

Ahh the memories.

I used to read all the time when I was young.

It was nothing for me to read an encyclopedia just for fun.

That is probably why I know so much useless information

that works so well when my hubby tests me on the regular 

general knowledge quiz in the Sunday paper.

The crazy thing is, I can't remember what I did yesterday

but I remember that some weird named sciency thing. 

Go figure.

These days reading a book is a mere memory.

It seems that when I pick up a book there is instantly

a "mum I need this" or "mum can you play with me",

"mum I can't find this",  I'm sure you know how it goes.

So the books stay on the shelves and 

I dream of the day when they all leave home!!!

This is a quick painting of what I would like to be doing,

instead of cleaning the house and getting ready

for a 12 year old's birthday party this weekend.

The bookmark is made up but the dangly bits are real.

The lovely Jenn made the dangly for me and

I thought I would paint them as a bookmark end.

I don't really do it justice in this painting

but it really is beautiful.

And don't you just love this cup.

I love crazy quirky things and just had to have this cup.

It's not practical for drinking though, it dribbles down the side no matter how careful you are.

Oh, the price we pay for art.

Last year I created some bookmarks and Egbert Bookman was born.

Here are a few of the bookmarks.

As you may have guessed,

the theme for Artist's Playroom this week is

Books and Bookmarks.

You can see more wonderful  art on this theme at

The Artist's Playroom, enjoy.