February 2013 Highlights ~ Playing Catch up

OK  So I am soooo behind at the moment, I am 2 months behind on my Month in Review Posts, But I guess its better late than never hey.

February was another very busy month, aren't they all, but the last couple have been ridiculously so!

I traveled North to Townsville and South to Brisbane within a week of each other in February.

I was Spoilt with Breaky in Bed on Mothers Day with some flowers from our garden, Thanks Don xxx.

We went up to Townsville for Wil to have his first Interview for the Army and to visit my friend Lisa who was up there for her radium treatment. Was a quick trip up and back with one night in Townsville.

This was the view from the room we were staying in! Was so nice.

While waiting for Wil's interview Don and I went for a walk through one of the gardens there where we came across these black cockatoos sitting there having a chat.

After a quick cuppa with Lisa and Wil's Interview, it was back in the car for a very wet 5 hour drive back home.

Then it was home to pack and get on a plane to fly down to Brisbane.
The Lovely Sue Smyth from Australian Scrapbook Ideas  picked me up from the Airport and we went back to her place for a cuppa then onto Print Blocks to Stock up for the weekend workshop.

Leonii picked me up from Print Blocks and we got some last minute items for Tracy Verdugo's Paint Mojo Workshop
You can see more on the Paint Mojo Workshop on this post HERE

Was so lovely to catch up with my baby girl and Duncan! Miss my beautiful girl sooo much!!

I have been teaching myself to paint faces, this was the progress of this girl.
I am really enjoying learning new art techniques lately!!

I have also received my first shipment of phone cases with my art work on them, I am still in the process of getting these onto Etsy! Another Job on my list of many things to do!

February has been another very very wet month! We stop measuring the rain these days, I think this weeks worth was well over 300ml for the week.

The stormy skies has provided some pretty spectacular photos this month, this was a freaky storm cloud and was so low. It almost felt like you could reach up and touch it!

You can probably guess by now that I love taking photos of the changing skies!

An early morning Sunrise, complete with plane in the top photo top RH corner.

On the home front the animals are all doing well and everything is lovely and green and wet!

Still waiting for these custard apples to ripen!

"Fatso" AKA Cynder in front of the fruit orchid.

Tilly on Guard, we nearly lost her to a snake bite in March, but more on that in next months post.
I hope to have the March in Review post done by next week!

Love this photo of Sadie sitting on the fence post.

Xena the warrior princess!

As always February has been another month of emotional ups and downs, although I can feel a little by little that I am getting stronger! Believing in myself a little more each month!!

Thank you to each and everyone of you for supporting me in my journey through this life!

Hugs to you all! xxx

Paint Mojo Feb 16th & 17th with Tracy Verdugo

Gee, I feel like I am so behind this month, I am finally getting these pics up from Tracy Verdugo's Paint Mojo Workshop. This workshop was in Brisbane last month. I have hit the ground running since I have been home, I still have my Feb month in review post to finish too!

I don't know where the time disappears too but it seems to vanish pretty quick!
Getting nervous about my first weekend workshop this weekend! I need to remember to Breathe!!

This workshop was fabulous! I got to do it with my daughter Leonii which made it even more special.

I was pretty slack with the photo's, I was so involved in the moment and just enjoyed the process!

I would recommend Tracy's Paint Mojo workshop if you get the chance! It was such a liberating experience!

Here is Tracy working her magic!!

Here is Leonii getting geared up for day 2!!
It was a great venue, I loved the easels they had there too.

Here are a the few progress shots I managed to remember to take.

On our large canvas we ended up with several different layers, this canvas truly was a journey through the layers. The first layer we used a water colour pencil grid then painted gesso in a few of the squares, then we added symbols that meant something to us in those squares. We were encouraged to keep turning the canvas around and work on it from all angles.
After our symbols were done we added colour with golden fluid inks.

The next layer involved us painting by poetry, wow! This was truly a freeing moment. Just painting what you are feeling and not something you are aiming for to just see where the painting takes you really was a break through for me!

This was my final Canvas below, I missed getting photos of the couple of layers in between.
When I stepped back it looked like a heap of world globes hanging down.
Really happy with the final result.

This was Leonii's canvas half way through, was such a fun weekend with her.
I miss my girl so much! x

This print on ply board made with making our own stamp from food packaging foam containers.
Leonii's was amazing, she made an eye stamp. I thought I got a pic of it but I mustn't have. I need her to send me one. It was awesome!

Then on another piece of ply board we created an animal. This went through a few different layers too. The first layer was to paint meaningful words on it.

This was then covered up with some bright colours.

 
Next we added collage over the canvas, I missed getting a photo of that layer too.
Then we found an animal in the design and colour blocked around the outside of it.

 

After a few finishing touches here is my little birdy. This was so much fun!!
Loved it!

If you get the opportunity to do one of Tracy's Paint Mojo Workshop's jump at it! You won't be disappointed!

Month in Review - January 2013

Month in Review - January 2013
Well another month has flown by, they just seem to get quicker and quicker the older you get.

I have achieved quite a bit this month and not as much as I had hoped!
Ex Cyclone Oswald has wreaked havoc right down the Queensland coast this month. It was just like a normal big wet for us, we were just flooded in for the day. The winds were 90km as it crossed here, we were fine. It was good to see all my family out west getting some much needed rain.

The worst of the tropical low hit from Rockhampton down the coast with Bundaberg being hit the worst. As the high winds, rain & tornado's were closing in on Don's Family in Cooroy and Leonii in Brisbane we were completely cut off from contact, all our phones and internet were out. It was such a stressful 24 hours for me. All I could do was watch the news and hope they wouldn't be in it!! By the time our phones were back on and everyone was accounted for I just broke down in tears, it was such a horrible feeling having no contact and feeling so helpless, I had no contact with Don either as  he was at work too.

So with all that happening plans with my online store have been delayed, I hope it will be up and running very soon!! Fingers crossed! I have started planning for my first online workshop, so I am really excited about it! I hope to have it online before the end of this month!!

 

I went live with my Face Book page for Michelle Grant desiGns this month! Was a huge scary step for me, I was blown away that I got 100 likes in 4 hours of going live!! Still working out all the cross linking with the blog etc! Such a big job and learning curve for me.

 

I designed my logo and blog banner and background this month, that was another big thing to cross off my list. I was so happy with how this canvas turned out for my banner!! I still have some tweaking to do on the logo and banner but I am getting there

 

I was a guest designer for Moulds by Mel this month too, you can see the post HERE with the projects I created for her. 

 

The coaching with Jessica Brogan has been going really well, It has helped to overcome a lot of hurdles!! Still lots of work to be done, but I am getting there.

 

I haven't been to the movies since forever and then I have been twice in the last month.
I had a day with the Tuesday Girls and we went and saw "Les Mis", the acting and singing were brilliant,  just don't go if you are feeling down it is not an uplifting movie.

Then I went with Don, we had what you could probably call our first Date Day! We had a lovely day together, first we caught up with Lisa while she was back from Townsville for the weekend where she is having her Radiation treatments. Was lovely to catch up. Then Don and I went and saw the movie "The Impossible" I had heard that it was a beautiful human spirit story even though the circumstances were so devastating, being about the boxing day tsunami. The kids who acted in this movie deserve an oscar. They were amazing. It really was a beautiful human spirit movie and was extremely well done! So hard to believe it was based on a true story. I won't give any more away, but was well worth seeing! Don and I had a lovely day, hope to make it more of a regular thing!

 

On the creating front, I feel like I havent done much this month, but when I stop to look back I have done more than I realized.  I created this canvas for Wil, this is in memory of his dog Rusty who we found had passed away when we got back from our Christmas holidays.

Something that was good that come from this was Wil finding a little creativity in him, he has shown no interest at all in what I do so was a lovely surprise when he came in and asked to do some canvas's for his room. I gave a little help and tuition but I am so proud of his final result! He even wants to do more! I am looking forward to creating more with him too!! Really fills my heart!

I have been having a go at painting faces lately, although I am happy with these they are far from perfect, I hope to learn how to do these better this year and how to balance the facial features better. I still had fun doing them, this one I actually started last year, was good to get one finished.

 This one is still in progess, I don't think she needs to much more, but I feel like its not quite finished! I am liking the one colour on here with the pencil features and impasto texture, I drew her while I was on holidays last year too. I need to find some time to do more of these!

 On the home front I managed to capture a beautiful sunset the other night, I am finally starting to work out the best settings on the SLR for capturing all the beautiful colours in sunsets.

As soon as I see that beautiful glow through the window I just have to go out and watch it! I was lucky to have the camera ready to go on this day. I don't know what it is about them, I just find them so captivating, they just have a special place in my heart!

This one even has a little leftover jet stream on the left hand side in the blue sky. I am so blessed that our views give us these gorgeous backdrops!

It has been so hot this month, with many days above 40 degrees, the humidity has been unbearable, just walking out in the heat feels like someone sitting on your chest, the air has been sooo heavy it has really played up with my asthma. 
This pic below is a storm brewing in the south, it just looked like a wall of white creeping up towards us. I think this storm ended up going around us thank goodness.

Here is Don and Tilly in front of our little home, love this time of the day with the sunsets. We are hoping to start some renovations this year, would be so nice to have an outside area that doesn't get wet every time it rains!

A rare shot of Tilly sitting with the ball beside her, only because she was already worn out from chasing it around the yard. She doesn't give up easy when it comes to her ball. We had her fixed up this month so she has been allowed inside. We couldn't leave her outside as she likes to go and sit in the trough and she couldn't get her stitches wet. So now she thinks she owns the place and has claimed Wil's room to sleep in! She is definitely a sook dog now and makes her way in and out through the cat door. Its a tight squeeze for her LOL! The cats walk past her looking at her like "who the hell let you in here" LOL

 This is the "Throw the Ball!!!!!!!" Look, she just loves it!! LOL

The cows are glad to see the rain, we so badly needed it for the grass.

 So lovely to see the paddocks green again.
Although the flys are really bad at the moment, we had a plague of horsefly's there for a bit too!

 

I think Fatso AKA "Cynder" might be fat for a reason this month, she is the only pet not fixed up yet, so she will be lined up next for a visit to the vets.

 So looking forward to this crop of passionfruit ripening! Can't wait! Yum!!

 I was treated to this site outside of my office window too, these photos were taken through the window, even the little joey in her pouch poked its head out for a photo.

I just love living out here!!
Anyway that was my month that was.

Coming up in February........

I will be starting a new monthly challenge series on my blog in February! Really looking forward to sharing that with you too!!!
I will also have an ATC give away coming up this month!
I am looking forward to going to an Art retreat in Brisbane with Tracy Verdugo in Feb but even more so that I will get to see my baby girl again too!! Been missing her heaps lately!

I hope your month went by without too many life drama's getting in the way!!
Wishing you all a fabulous February!!