Eggs-austed!

So I have been very busy since last Tuesday, working on this egg.  A little more detail after blocking.

 With the blue background it is starting to give more of a sense of what it may look like when finished. 

Since I'm up in the attic (my studio garret) my working soundtrack is provided by the dvd player, which means one cd at a time.  I alternate between 2 cds all day long -- PJ Harvey's "Let England Shake" and Tindersticks's "The Something Rain".  They are both fantastic cds, energetic and thoughtful - perfect for painting to.

Eggs-citement!

Yesterday was a very exciting day as the giant eggs arrived...Okay, I will start at the beginning. Last Thursday night James (my husband) saw a facebook posting calling for artists to decorate eggs for The Big Egg Hunt in Dublin in aid of The Jack & Jill Foundation children's charity. We had been talking of getting more involved with things going on and saw this as an opportunity. Enquiries were made on Friday and by the end of the day we knew we were going to get eggs early this week, especially as there was a very short deadline involved (unknown to us, this event was launched in October last!).  So here I am after gessoing my  egg yesterday.

Today of course, I set to as soon as my daughter was off to school.  Here I am blocking in the flowers, leaves and the rosehips of my design (based on Irish wild roses). I always start a painting with a ground of quinacridone violet, and use yellow as a block. I will be very busy until this is finished, so just about everything else is on hold!

Ready, steady, go!

One of my xmas presents to my husband was Austin Kleon's book Steal Like an Artist (link in sidebar), which both of us read very quickly and were inspired by. For the new year I decided I would follow some of his recommendations. I have been making sketchbooks for friends and family for about 20 years, so finally decided to gift myself one I made a few years ago. I always find it daunting to start a new sketchbook, especially one which seems like a precious object, but I will start it this week! I have also started a point-form journal -- it's a French date book which was picked up in the local recycling centre. It has fabulous pictures from around the world and I am actually able to translate the textual blurbs with what French I have.

I am also getting myself more involved in the outside world (I'm a bit of a creative hermit) but more of that next posting!