25/3
I got in to Batlow about either 10am or 11am , it was
daylight savings last night.
It was cool in the morning but has heated up. It has taken
me abit to get back into it fearing things aren’t going to be the same as last
time. Pulled out all my paints to get a idea on the palett again. First glance
al the fence I though it was very brown. Found that I needed more buckets for
getting colours, but for now the colours ive got will do.
From 10-1:30 I worked on an apple hill. Puttingin the work
and at scruffinh down the green earth.
After lunch I put in the tree leaves that took until 5ish. After
that I tried to figure-out the structure of the autum section and mixed some
colours before it got too cold and dark to work.
The pub was full of drunks and people I wasn’t in the mood
to work on a conversation with, but with Margaret off with her mum and sister
for the week I had to hang around for Steve the cook to start and Roley to go
home, which finally happened around 7:30pm and got to sleep at 8:30pm.
26/3
Started about 7:30am, it’s cool outside but could be a lot
worse. Took a second to look at the apple hill I did yesterday and decided to
add a near purple under the trees to rough down the roads which I’m happy with.
I then used that colour for logs of fallen pine plantation
strght on to the ground colour (plus a light scuff of earth pink). This so far
looks good but its hard to make a full dissision on it until the surrounding
colour are put in. I now feel I might be on target. At lunch I have covered a
lot of ground, but still have the big apple hill to do. The shed and the
farmsted to do. A woman from the café down the street came and inquired about
doing a mural on the side of thare wall! She took my card.
After lunch, went on with greening a paddock and than went
to putting in a concave apple field. This on I had a straw colour down and swiggled
over in the rows of grass …. Trying to keep them close. Than mixed a off white
for the netting and streked it over a section of the apples witch looks good.
Put in the remaining actual trees but need another colour
for the wood and thus need to go to tumit tomorrow to get more buckets.
27/3
All the morning I spent putting in the grass between the
trees on the big autum paddock! And I’ll have to redo some of it because it’s
too transpartent, I think Its because I used the CvHi yellow bace in a lot of
the colour… its cool ill see what it looks like all up.
Went to Tumit for lunch and buckets. At the arvo shift I
mixed up a gray for the wood of the big orchard
and put it on, iam a bit stuck on what todo with some plots of turned
soil, messed about with some colours. Put in the other lake with a bold rich
dark brown than strecked over it a bright blue vertacly and finly which came up
trumps, gave these locals a lesson in impressionism I hope!
Also a grammar and two kids walked passed, the granny pointed
and gessing out loud whatshe’s looking at for the kids to get interested at,
and guessed straight away the log field I just put in!
Steve the cook is crook so I got a hamburger from the
mountain view takeaway instead,
28/3
Got happy with the three colours last night. First put in a
shadow under the trees, than started with the trees, soon found out this will
take a long time and started to ake my wrist. Shanging positions of my hand and
taking brakes helped abit, I have to keep on top of this , I don’t want to
retire injured!
Went to the restaurant for lunch today (open only
Wednesday-Sundays). Feels good to get a civilized meal and a coffee. Mum came
in! she could only drop by, she’s working at the tumit tafe. I told her about
the wrist and she told me to buy a support from the chemist.
For the rest of the day I worked on those dam trees with a
brake putting in two dirt paddocks.
29/3
Rained most of the day and I hung about with not much to do,
posted a entery to a art comp back home than went to tumit and there caught up with
mum at the tafe, cheeked my emails and had lunch with her again, but got a
headache and a cold and in all a bit fed up with the project. It started to
sort of clear up (weather) but took the whole day off and stayed at Talbingo,
dave was there. Mum got me some nurofen and anti-cold pills, stayed the night.
30/3
Got back to the fence, feel better for the brake and the
real food/people I know. The sky is real patchy and cool, I can’t realy come
back in the spring, I have to finish it now. This town and its weather have
forced me to pull out before. I think it will be 3-4 more days of work still in
it.
Could’nt hit the colours I needed and had to go dig up the
sample cards. Redone the one vally tree times but now I’am more positive than
yesterday.
After lunch at the restaurant I worked on the gum trees and
the ones in the middle of the cow paddocks that’s real fun because your paint
squiggle will need to look right and give the paddock some shape.
Started to get positive and it made somehow a quick affect
with the people who came bye.
Also my prosess is clearer now, I was just painting here and
there, now I have a better idea oftime it takes which helps for me to arrange a
plan.
I took a coffee brake today, this will help me keep my surgar
levels up and I hope I wont need as much sleep, if I take half hour ether side
of lunch ill cut lunch back 1 hour. Snuck some time on roly’s internet, but
nugit is down, nothing much on sams-art, but myspace is going off, I got 10
more hits, 3 friend requests and a nasty return massage from this Lecturer guy!
Iam still thinking of what to do with him - I might write back to him ”how
about you stay in your stuffy lecture hall and I’ll stay being the artist you
talk about!”
Had rabbit stu at the house and tried to sleep, popped a
night and coldral which grumbled for half an hour.
31/3
Batlow show day - Saturday. Clear blue sky, plan to have the
homestead valley and winter done today so I can focus on the actual homestead,
autum shed and apples tomorrow.
Got a lot of well-wishers today, but this one yob from his
car yelled some shit at me witch makes me mad.
Steve’s back in the kitchen and I got a stake for lunch. I
found iam just going to make it throw with one of my colours. Did’nt quite
finish winter low paddocks before night. But I still go to the homestead
tomorrow.
Margaret’s back witch warms my attitude. Went over to that
apple farmer about the sign but he was’nt home.
1/4
1st of apil fools * watchout for april fools!
I must be suffering from “Nearly finished syndrome” where
you are strangly hasitent to get to work if you just have to pull the finishing
touchers to a long and big project. Got the homestead happy and done by lunch,
now on to the farmshead, than double back to the spare bits like apples, gum
tree trucks and what to do with the last winter paddock!
Worry a bit that I can’t get a hot enough red from my pallet
for the apples.
Iam finding I should organize my bucket better - each tree
type is to have a shadow and a hightone, that theard green tuned out useful but
iam nearly out of butckets again! Next time I do this I will title my buckets
for each object thay are for.
2/5
Last night Margaret tells me she has organized for the
opening of the mural tomorrow 5 oclock! So she recons a cuple of dignatries
will be here and some media too. So I called mum to see if thay would come over
for it.
Yesterday lunch got back to that farmer to see if he is home
and he was. What he wants is to redo a steel sign at the gate to his farm, its
about 10’ wide and 7’. It’s rusting abit, I don’t know if I can repair it and
there is some nice signwriting on it that if I could wangle it I’ll give him one
quote for repair and one for a total redo.
Today went round and got happy with this and that, grassed
and treed the winter paddock, also put on tree truncks of all the gum trees and
back to the scruf land between the shed ciling and finished the trees around it
thandotted in many of the apples witch isin’t a bad colour and it’s best not to
try to buy some other red, the paints are made not to fade and the red will go
first so I went with what I got.
Next and nearly last, the
logo. Got down to pencil and fine brush. Working so far, I enjoy this
change of scaile and using some jewellery skills to show off my signwriting.
Finished that about 4ish- than waited for the opening….
