Summer Grasses

I am loving sunsets at the moment so here is another one that I finished yesterday - I am really happy with it and enjoyed getting back to one of my loves - free form shapes like the grass...

This is Broome Beach - I love the sunsets there

I have only 3 paintings to go til I have my 25 .... it has been a great experience and the confidence I have gained from painting to painting is priceless

Cheers
C

The Shell Seekers

Once in a while you have an idea for a painting that is off the normal ..... this was one of those

I love Cable Beach WA and I found a photo which shows its marvelous sunset with a little family who are looking for shells - I have to say that the photo I took it from is not mine (I used a small section as inspiration)  - and whilst I would love to tell you who is the photographer - they are sadly unknown - I will continue to search though and give recognition to them when I find out

The Shell Seekers

Mediums;
Acrylic pain
Shells
Impasto
Garnet paste

With love
Carol

Break of Day

This was from a photograph that I took while in a smail aircraft near the Argle Mine in the NT.... where hte argle diamonds are from. It was very early in the morning before it was too hot - the air was still and the dawn coloured the sky with an amethyst wash. The sun hit the terracotta of the rock faces and they glowed in the sun

Break of Day

Mediums:
Acrylic paint
Teture medium
Garnet paste

With love
Carol

Ebb and Flow

I have painted a lovely scene from a photo by Jill Pierce with her permission. It is near to Tarthra NSW South Coast and when I saw the photo I was really inspired to paint it.

This one uses no paper at all - but has glass beads in the breaking waves  to give it the mixed media edge.

I counted my paintings today and I am up to 24!!!!! So I am really getting there for the exhibition

EBB & FLOW - Carol Mead 2013

I hope you enjoy it

Love
C

Serenity

Here is the painting I finished a few weeks ago - I really love Mossman Gorge and this painting brings in the feel of the place - it is serene but sort of spiritual too - you sense that it is a place with a history and a deep aboriginal heritage.

This painitng is from a photo I took a few years ago .... the colours are very true to life. I have to say I found it challenging but fun to paint ... the rocks were the hardest - but most satisfying of all

SERENITY Mossman Gorge - Carol Mead 2013

Thank you for looking
Love
C

Raucous Chorus

What wonderful birds we have in Australia - and especially our amazing parrots

Here are the red tailed cockatoos of Fitzroy Crossing Western Australia

I used real bark for some of the larger parts of the trees

Thanks for looking :)

Cheers
C

Blue Flash

I love hte rainforest and took a great photo on a walk one day a few weeks ago at Mission Beach

So here is 'Blue flash through the rainforest' featuring the amazing Ullsyses butterfly which you see as a blue flash before it dissappears.... they are so qucik and so very hard to capture on the camera

Now onto another one this week :)


Cheers
Carol

Sunset over St Kilda Beach

My lovely husband and I enjoyed a holdiay in Melbourne in March and one night we went to St Kilda Beach to relax and have a look at the awesome sunsets they have there with the city in the background

So here is the painting that will be the front piece for our exhibition... Thank you St Kilda


'Going home to roost' is a very large piece and I am really happy with it :)

I love it when a painting comes together like this and I am really happy with the sky :)

Love
C

The sublime Milla Milla Falls

I love this place - it is beautiful and awe-inspiring ... a fabulous large waterfall with lots of beautiful bush and lush growth around.

It makes me happy just thinking about it - so of course .... I painted it!

Here is 'Textures of Milla Milla Falls' - I love the place 

I do hope you enjoy it :)

Love
C

Thank you for the support!!

Through my working life I have met some amazing people and I have to say working in drugs and alcohol for 5 years were challenging in so many ways. I loved running the organisation and makign a difference to the people who used the services we ran.

I was lucky enough to meet Ben Aulich who came onto the Board and worked with him for a couple of years. Ben and I started talking about my art and he said he was interested in sponsoring an exhibition.

Three years later we are making it happen and today was our first meeting where Ben has some great ideas about the exhibition and the leadup to it at the M16 Gallery. He is not only financially sponsoring the exhibition but assisting us with marketing too through his contacts into the MArketing and Promotion industry.

In addition we also have a winery who are happy to serve our launch guests for free. I am so excited.

Today I met with Ben and we nutted out the sponsorship and I am delighted to say I think it will be fabulous!!

I am excited !!

Love
Carol

Such Exciting News

Wow I have to say I was feeling kinda rejected after 2 galleries did not feel as though they wanted our exhibition. It was rather deflating - as you put so much work into the paintings and works, planning and writing and putting yourself out there.

It sort of felt being rejected by that school boy you had a crush on all over again!!

But - not anymore - M16 has let us know we have an exhibition with them in 2014!! Hooray - I feel at least someone is going to take us on - how excited are we!!!!!!

Through the Lens 

17th April - 4th May 2014

M16 Artspace

Kingston Canberra

Carol Mead - Mixed media

Kristin Ballard - Photography

Whoooo hoooooo
And we have a sponsor too - Ben Aulich and Associates
So it is all steam ahead

I drank champagne last night - yep it is exciting!!
Love
C

In the quiet of the morning

I love far north Queensland - the light and the colours are just magical

So I have been wanting to paint Mossman Gorge for sometime and my son Matt and I went there before the visitors at 8 am to get some shots before the water was stirred up and people were everwhere

This is the painting that I completed today :) I love the water - it is different but works well I think

I have another photo and a different aspect - I think that might be my next one :)

Bye for now

C

Jacaranda Time at Tilba

Some paintings are so easy - and some are not :) This one was a particularly tricky one because it has huge rock outcrops with no sky to reflect on them, plus quaint (and difficult) houses in the foreground. But it is done - and now I can enjoy hte colours and textures of this painting.

I am very pleased with it

Thanks

Thanks for sharing this with me
Love
C

lots of painting finished

I have been busy today finishing off another painting and I have also completed 2 others over the past few weeks so I actually photographed them and here they are ..... I am really happy with the one I finished today - 'Morton Outlook' and I am interested to see people starting to crop up in my paintings :)  I have never painted running shoes before so I think they look okay :)

Morton Outlook (Riverview lookout Morton National Park)

Mixed media 2013

Waiting for lunch (Lanyon ACT)

Mixed media 2013

 Last Light (St Mary's Tasmania)

Mixed media 2013

I decided to take photos of these again..... they are much better I think

In the shade (Lanyon ACT)

A better photo than the previous post 

Mixed media 2013

Mid Summer Afternoon (Lanyon)

A better photo than the previous one

Mixed Media 2013

Thanks for looking :)
C

Been Painting today

I try to ensure that I have a painting day once a week and I love a challenge so today I finished another painting of the beautiful Lanyon and some visitors. I haven't named it as yet as I cannot seem to get the right name ... it will come

I took a photo of 3 ladies who were sitting after lunch and the tables had been cleared just looking at the amazing scenery of Lanyon.

What I didn't know was that while I was painting a rather interesing ghostly apparition decided to appear in the left hand door of the tractor shed - my husband Phil and I can see a man in a suit but my kids cannot - so it will be interesting to hear the response of others.

It is currently drying and I will post it up with 'Last Light' tomorrow which I finished last week

Then I am on to a painting of Morton National Park in NSW which is a different size and called 'Outlook' I am half finished that one so it will be completed (if all goes to plan) next Wednesday

It is all looking great.

I have lent 6 paintings to Branka for her open house and auction ..... she loves them and they look grat on the walls

Bye for now - I will be back soon with updated photos of the paintings

Cheers
C

Under the Shade

I love the Australian bush - and gum trees are a special part of my love - I love their form and their variety and never get sick of looking at them - this old gum is only minutes away from where I live - it is so beautiful and magestic

So here are a small group of cows under the shade of a tree on a hot summer afternoon

It will be available at our exhibition in 2014

Cheers
Carol

Mid Summer Afternoon

Here is the painting I completed last week - I am very happy with it ... lots of texture and hidden bits

It will be available for our exhibition

Enjoy :)

The building is the restaurant at Lanyon

Detail

 

Thanks for looking
Carol

Busy last couple of weeks

Well Kristin and I have finally put in the applications to have an exhibition to both ANCA and Belconnen Arts Centre - we know that we might not get in so we decided to go for broke .... next year I have a family wedding in NZ, and Exhibition and I am running 2 retreats - that would keep me very much occupied.

The exhibition will be called Through the Lens and it is about our travels through Australia. Kristin with her trusty Canon (drool) and me with a DSLR taking photos and transposing them into mixed media canvases.

So I have been painting too and am really pleased with the results - both are taken from the gorgeous Lanyon - it is on my backdoorstep literally!! As we look onto their back paddock.

I will pop them up tomorrow once things have dried - but I love the new work and I am loving this interesting size too - 1.3 metres by 30 cm - it is really an interesting size to paint.

Mid Summer Afternoon - was a tricky one to paint because it is mainly buildings and perspective is an intersting science - but I am delighted how it turned out - and makes the restaurant the feature of the painting whihc was my intention.

Under the Shade is a lovely landscape and I am really happy with it - the colours are really interesting and though I have never painted cows before - I had a couple of glasses of champagne and found it quite easy once I overcame my fear.

So I will pop them up tomorrow

Cheers
C

Judging at the Goulburn Show

This year I was asked to judge the art and craft at the Goulburn show so I went into Goulburn on Friday 8th March at 11am - and had a great time learning how hard it is to judge similar and really different items against eachother.

Wow - but the great thing is that it is another experience that I would not have missed.

I must say for many of us who have had paintings or other items in shows - it always is difficult to see how the judges come to the 1st, 2nd or commended prizes. Now I know that it is really difficult especially when things are so very different - such as styles, mediums, quality and presentation. Sometimes there are standouts and other times no clear winner ... it is very interesting.

So next year, instead of judging at the show, I will pop in some artwork ..... it is a lovely rural show and I do encourage you to do the same. Forms will be available on the website in November 2013.

Oh and by the way - the scrapbooking rocked!!!!

Love
C

Lanyon

I don't do figures of people but I took a great photo of the chef at Lanyon clearing the table and I had to paint it - well with the encouragement of my husband Phil - this one is my second attempt - but I learned a lot through doing this one twice

Sold at the Canberra Show 2013 into a private collection

I would love to know who has it - so if anyone knows please let me know :)

Lanyon

The birth of a Painting

 Sometimes people wonder how I create a mixed media paintings

And I have to say - they are all very different.... sometimes I use few elements and other times many more to give it the depth and texture I think it needs

But here is the birth of one painting .... it is called Sentinels and is from a photo I took in Adelaides CBD at twilight

It was entered int he Canberra Show in 2013

my studio and easel

putting in the sky background and drawing in the bulidings

The tree forms go in

deeping the shadows and clouds

applying papers

a closeup of a few papers

finished paper stage

Adding road and shading

Adding detail and glass bead medium on the trees

Moonrise

Somtimes there is a photo that I take that just surprises me with colour and form

This is a wide narrow piece which is inspired by a photo that I took at Moonrise watching the way the moon glimmered on the leaves.

I love the way the reflections light up the countryside and then glow out to see beyond.

It is for a wedding present for someone who loves purple above any other colour and as you know it isn't easy to do purple in landscapes so much..... so when I came across a photo of this sunset I took in Tassie - I thought of her!

This painting is in a private collection gifted by the artist

Moonrise over St Mary's Tasmania

Another one of the gorgoeus Kakadu

So much is written about Kakadu - and oh they are so right - visit when you can - there is so much to see and anjoy

This is a billabong we found on Yellow River - what a sight!! I had to include a little birdlife .... there was so much more but I thought restrained was better than being too twee!

Kakadu Billabong

Drifting at Dawn

My wonderful kids gave a me present of a balloon ride over Canberra for my 50th Birthday - so after taking photos - here is the painting that I did to celebrate the experience....

Drifting at Dawn

Snowy River Brumbies

Over the last few days - the weekend and yesterday - Australia Day - I created two more huge canvases..... this one is from New years eve in 2010

The first one is from our time at the Snowy Mountains - where we were lucky enough to see wild brumbies

Snowy River Brumbies

Weathered Through the Years

Okay here we are again - in less than a week and I have finished two more huge pieces - these babies are 100cm across so they really make an impact

While I was in the Snowys recently I took a photo of an old shed - weathered with the years and probably not storing much any more

Well I knew when I saw it I would have to use it to do a mixed media piece - so yesterday I did it - lots of paper and bits and it took me a while but I am so pleased with it - the pic doesn't really do it justice .... you certainly need to peer into my paintings to see hidden meanings

This painting is sold into a private collection in NSW

Weathered Through the Years

 

Shimmer in the Afternoon

This was from a photo in Gladstone - at the Botanical Gardens. 

The light in the mid afternoon glowed across the water and the waterlilies in flower made a spectacular display. 

The old mallelucas with their fantastic bark were bowed down towards the water and everything was hot and still.

This painting has been sold into a collection in NSW

Shimmer in the Afternoon

Broome Beach

My first Beach scene for a while - but I loved working with fibres and will do it again

This is a large piece painted from a photo I took of the beach at Broome WA

 The colours are very true to life and I have used fibres as well as other mixed media items that I usually use.

Broome Beach

More Boabs

I have to say I just love boab trees
This is at moon rise a cluster of boab trees
I am really happy with this piece

Boabs at Dusk

Honeymoon Bay

This large piece is of Honeymoon Bay in Tasmania
The place is over looked by these massive limestone cliffs
The bay is a beautiful aqua and the rocks an interesting terracotta colour
As a painter who could ask for more????

Honeymoon Bay

Prison Boab

One of my very first paintings where I had a statement about the aborignal prisoners in the last century ..... sadly we have not really progressed and indigenous Australians still make a larger percentage in prison than the population statistics

If you look very closely at the boab you will see some interesting things

This is the famous Prison Boab Tree in Derby WA

Prison Boab Tree

A trip through the Queensland rainforest

I love the rainforest - the amazing plants and trees and the lovely way it sparkles

Here is a painting I did called Rainforest Path .... I do wish the photo was better

It is sold in a private collection in NSW

Rainforest Path

The Bungle Bungles

We went to the amazing Bungle Bungles in 2007 and what an impact they had on my art - I loved everything about the place and want to visit via 4 wheel drive rather than by plane next time

I will do this painting again one time as I am not really happy with it - but it is all part of the journey isn't it - sometimes you just have favourites and sometimes not.....

The colours are amazingly real thought - WOW

Bungle Bungles

Enjoy !!
Love
C