Inspiration comes in many ways...

This morning I have been looking at some of my pieces based on the sea bream. There are four of them hanging above the fireplace) Now I have finished my webdesign course I am back in painting mode, I have a number of peacock tail feathers in a tall bottle on the mantle beside the artworks and I have noticed the strange co-incidence of the colouring of the peacock herls and this particular work, now beside each other in the photograph below.

I am very interested in taking this further. I may just have to create some works with both the fish and the feathers. I was looking forward to getting back to painting. Now I am even more excited by the prospect.

It is amazing how inspiration comes knocking at opportune times, or maybe it is just that an artist needs to be ready to work to see what is in front of their nose. I have been looking at these two things within ten feet of each other for the last three months.

That's all for now, I'm off to research a few references of Peacock Bass, another fish from south america..... I wonder if there are any in the natural history museum or the aquarium at Bray?

If not, there are plenty of Sea Bream left in my freezer..

A bit of a Wheeze.

I'm sitting here typing on the PC between coughing fits. Wheezing all the while. I spent a large part of Sunday in the Emergency Dept of the local hospital on oxygen and nebulisers, and I'm still not particularly comfortable in the breathing stakes.
Needless to say I'm rather miserable :(

I am obviously not going to be painting this week. Hopefully I'll be improved by the weekend, the treatments should have worked by then, if not I'll have to think about another trip to the ED.
In the meantime I'm very tired, unable to sleep for more than 30 or 40 minutes due to waking up with a coughing fit and shortness of breath. At least I am improved from Sunday AM. My breathing was so poor that I was marched straight in and put on oxygen before I was even fully registered. I hate being ill! All I want to do is feel sorry for myself, and yet there are many worse off. Just look at Haiti.

A thaw has set in.

I have just passed my certification exams for the web-design course, one of the reasons I haven't posted in a few weeks. The course is finished in two weeks and I'm looking forward to getting back into my studio and painting.

We are just now starting to get some milder weather, we have had snow and freezing weather, the worst since at least 1982.
Now Dublin has water shortages due to all the burst water pipes around the county, as do other areas of the country. After all the heavy rain and floods earlier in the winter, we have lots of 'river' or reservoir water, just not enough of it treated for human consumption. There are rolling water stoppages, low pressure when the supplies are on and general chaos.

However whatever problems we have, it is a lot better than Haiti. Hopefully the aid will flow better and the rescue parties will have many successes.

Wishing all the Best for 2010

A happy and prosperous New Year to you all!!.

I had a nice relaxing Christmas and New year celebrations, and now it's time to get back to work. I have another 4 weeks of my web-design course left, and then I can get back to my painting again. I am looking forward to it.

We have had snow, a heavy fall on New years eve -- well for us anyway --and it has stayed with temperatures down to -10 C. So much for temperate Ireland! normally it wouldn't go below about -3C here. I will probably lose some of my plants, certainly some of those not quite hardy ones left outside for the winter, but even some of my mediterranean ones inside in the conservatory will possibly suffer from the frost and cold. Roll on the spring thaw!
lol!