Frameworthy Challenge - John William Waterhouse

Well here is an artist I had never heard of before but I love his work. http://www.jwwaterhouse.com/ For the challenge I found a photo online and was able to blend it with one of my own photos of some jasmine. This one is titled `Ophelia' . The quote is one of my faves from the Bard, from `A Midsummer Night's Dream'

A Cold Wet Day

The last 2 days have been cold and wet and we were feeling really terrible watching our poor wet and cold horses shivering while we were inside, nice and cosy with the fire going. Alan let 2 of them into the house yard and we found Princess, the Arab, standing close to the house under the eaves to try and get out of the rain. So now we have decided to build them a shelter, nothing too fancy but just enough to keep them shaded and/or dry. Of course I say that but by the time Alan has finished designing this it will be a mini Taj Mahal LOL. Here you can see a photo of Princess Charmaine aka Chloe with the rug on and Alan with Henry.

I've caught the dreaded Cold Bug

I hate not being well and I hate having a bad cold, even worse when its cold and raining outside as it is today. Luckily my number wasn't drawn out of the Barrel for Jury empanellment on Monday so I haven't been called on since. All good especially as yesterday Bed was the only place I wanted to be. Today I'm a bit better and I can sit and do some Art on the Computer without thinking that I `should' be doing other things, like weeding the Vege Garden.

This week our Frameworthy Challenge is focused on the Collage and Mixed Media Artist Elaine Brady Smith http://www.elainebradysmith.com/ I was really inspired by her work and I enjoyed making up a story to go with my Collage. I decided that this was about a young couple who became engaged during WW1. When he was killed the girl was devastated and never re married. This was a common thread at that time, especially as so many young men were badly injured or killed. In fact the young man in my Collage is Alan's Grandfather who did return from the War, to meet a young 4 year old daughter he had never seen. This was Alan's Mum, Iris who is now 91 years old.

The second Collage started life as a non digital collage which I then scanned and altered and then added to in Photoshop Elements. I really enjoy Collage which is even more fun when it done digitally. I also enjoy adding words to the images.

A Quiet Week

This week we had visitors overnight Sunday en route to W.A. via Alice Springs and Kalgoorlie. Malcolm and Sue will be travelling through the Desert and covering hundreds of kilometers during a 4 month adventure. They are very intrepid, but we are not inclined to do a trip like this. I was a tad envious though when we waved them goodbye as I looked at all the weeding that needs to be done here. Then on Thursday we headed down to Brisbane to see Alan's mother Iris who is in a Nursing Home. She is looking well but these are very sad places to visit. It makes us realise how short life is and how little of it we have left to actually do things like Malcolm and Sue. On Friday Alan picked up our new horse. She is an Arab called Princess and she looks like one too.

Today we went out for Brekkie and then visited the Farmer's Market. It was a beautiful winter's morning and the market is always fun to visit. We bought 2 large pineapples for $3.00 and Alan found an old fishing rod and reel for $20.00. This photo is of the Duckpond in the park and you can see the market set up in the distance.

Next week and the week after I have Jury Duty - not looking forward to it so I hope I don't get selected. I know its a Civic Duty and all of that but I don't know anyone who ever wants to do it.

A Landscaping Project

Last week while Anne was here she bought us a Climbing Star Jasmine (trachelospermum) at our local market. I have always wanted one of these as they look and smell gorgeous in spring and summer and are in flower for ages. The glossy green leaves look great all year round too. But our dilemma was `Where to plant it'? It had to be somewhere where we could see it and smell it. So a few days ago inspiration struck me - we needed a garden arch for it to climb over and the perfect place was in front of our bird bath (which the birds use all the time), right outside our front door. So on Friday we went off to Melco to buy our arch and yesterday Alan installed it. Today we will plant our jasmine and then when it grows we will always think of Anne.

A Family Visit

It was so good to have my sister Anne and her 3 kids visiting from Hong Kong last week. We were really busy, going out somewhere different each day. So we were fishing and kayaking at Noosa on Monday, Horse Riding on Tuesday, Eumundi Market on Wednesday, A Rain Forest walk and picnic at Maleny on Thursday and shopping, hairdresser and ear piercing for young Helen on Friday. On Saturday we had a pub lunch. Altogether a wonderful week, I love catching up with Family.

Through The Doorway

This was the theme of the Digital Trading Card Swap at Digital Art Quirks. I found a photo of a doorway at Stock Exchange, ran a filter, added some elements and text and then put in an image of myself taken on my Birthday last year. I liked the end result :)