Kilrush Art Exhibition

On Thursday, 31st July, Kilrush Art Group (of which I am a member) will be holding their annual art exhibition in Kilrush and should you be in Ireland or visiting Co Clare and of course, be lucky enough to live here, please come along as it is open to anyone.

Our little group of about 15 local artists have lots of fun and show our talents once a year at our exhibition.

I have been ‘disappearing’ on and off for a while now as we prepare for the exhibition as well as working on my art courses. Hopefully, I will be here more often after next week.

I am also very proud and honoured to have two of my paintings featured in the Ireland group of Redbubble this week.

Thank you to my Redbubble friends - I feel honoured and privileged to be a member of the artist community of this wonderful gallery.

Caught and tagged.

Thank you to my dear friend, Baker for well and truly tagging me in the nicest way.

I have been a 'bad' blogger and this happens every couple of days when I need to disappear for a while to prepare for the next art course so a delightful surprise awaiting me when I logged in today and saw that Baker tagged me as a recipient for an award he received.



Let me explain:

I visited Baker's blog as usual because his posts always cheer me up and also provide lots of interesting information about mother nature and her beautiful creations.

Only to see that the dear soul had received an award from another dear friend of mine and passed on the honour to me as well.

So... Rose received the award and passed it on to Baker, who named me as one of the recipients!

Here are the rules for the award

1. The recipient must link back to the award’s creator (http://www.thebabblingsofmere.blogspot.com/)
2. You must post these rules if you receive the award.
3. You must chose 5 people to receive the award after receiving it yourself
4. You must fit the characteristics of the recipient of the award, as posted by Mere.
5. You must post the characteristics of a recipient.
6. You must create a post sharing your win with others.
7. You must thank your giver.

Characteristics for the Smile Award:
1. Must display a cheerful attitude. (not necessarily at all times–we are all human)
2. Must love one another
3. Must make mistakes
4. Must learn from others
5. Must be a positive contributor to blog world
6. Must love life
7. Must love kids or animals

I must catch up with emails and blogs and arty stuff for the next hour or so, tomorrow I teach oil paintings and Monday its cleaning up but I will be pouncing on and tagging a few bloggers early next week!

Beware... you have been warned!

Who Cares-Vol 1-TUSK

Who Cares! The Cost of Ivory.

If you do care and want more information, please visit Born Free

Passion and Pain

I need to get this off my chest. I have been upset and angry for some time now and perhaps I just need to write this down and hope that it will help alleviate these feelings. So, please forgive me while I vent and rant about a subject that clouds my mind with passion and pain.

It is no big secret that I absolutely love animals. Doing a wildlife painting, no matter how long it takes, is my way of trying to show that passion. I am smouldering about what is happening in our world where we so easily decide the fate of other species - for no other reason than politics and greed.

Elephants! Magnificent, majestic, powerful and absolutely vulnerable once again. I am not going to list pages of facts about elephants, their family ties, communication, etc. Instead, I will list links at the end of the post about what is happening to these animals and what we humans do so easily to satisfy our greed.

Before I place the links, please take a look at these photographs.






Beautiful, eh? Useful and ingenious ways to improve the quality of our lives. Ivory.
How can we live without these stunning examples of skill and beauty?

How much does it cost to possess such beauty?

Who are the people who desire these objects of art and beauty?

I wonder if they think of the cost when they run their fingers along the smooth surface and admire the skill and genius of the carver.

Somehow, I don't think the cost is of any concern to them.

It cannot be that they are ignorant of the cost. They just don't care, do they? And, if they don't care about the cost, what is next on their list of items they must have? Demand and supply.

While certain members of the Useless Nimcompoops rub their hands in anticipation of great riches, us poor peasants must appreciate that at least we will still have photographs and paintings to remind us of beautiful beasts that shared this world with us.

We can run our fingers along the smooth surface of the photograph or feel the texture on a painting and wonder at the beauty and glory of elephants, rhino, tigers, cheetahs and an endless list of species we once had.

Unless we make our voices heard. Stop China from Trading Ivory

Wildlife Direct

Elephant Information

Elephant Voices

How the ivory trade funds bloodshed

Warlords turn to ivory trade to fund slaughter of humans

Return of the ivory trade

Oil painting art course July 13 - Flowers

Sunday 13 July was another great painting day once again! I am so proud of the group. Wow! Look at those flowers!

We went into a bit of overtime as painting flowers took much longer than I anticipated but I think the results speak for itself.

I introduced the group to the concept of painting on an entirely black canvas as well as how to achieve some lovely special effects using turpenoid, thinners and linseed oil.
Unfortunately, you cannot see the effects as the photo is too small but it is very exciting.

The background was painting entirely from imagination using a few limited colours and each person's painting is unique in style and texture.

Well done!

I received this lovely poem from Tony yesterday (one of the group). Thank you Tony - not only was it a pleasure to have you there on Sunday, your poem is beautiful and I really, really appreciate it.

Within the very depths of you,
Lies a seed.
Precious.
Created from a void,
From the nothingness that was
Before the dawn of being.
You were before creation
Destined to live in the now.
Preciously you were nurtured
From that void , that nothingness
To maturity.
That maturity which is now,
The present moment of your being.
Sanctify this present time.
The gift is freely given.
Do not reject the gift.

Little sister - cheetah cub

(Please click on images for a better view)
Little Sister is one of the four cheetah cubs rescued by Wilma (see posting about "Survivors".) I am not sure what name Wilma chose for her but I think of her as 'Little Sister' or 'Sussie'.

She is cheeky, beautiful and more confident than her siblings. Staring straight at you, challenging and daring.

Most animal paintings take about three months to paint as it's a very slow process, working away, layer after layer. Glazing and painting, every day a little bit at a time.

But!
Every little hair is lovingly painted and I get lost looking into their eyes. Amber and gold, their eyes are liquid pools of honey.

Big cats are fascinating to paint as are all animals, wild or domesticated. Not an easy subject unless you are truly passionate about animals and you are prepared to spend a lot of time on one painting.

I hope to build up my collection of wildlife paintings so that, one day, I can have a solo exhibition of wildlife to help support animal welfare and conservation projects. This little lady was sold to a South African couple as a wedding present and I still miss her little face. It's hard to part with a wildlife painting and I wish I could keep them all.

Cheetahs are the fastest land animals on earth, reaching speeds of up to 100 kph (70mph). Beautiful and sleek, they are the smallest of the big cats and their prey is often stolen by other predators.

Highly threatened, these animals are in great need of protection. For more facts about cheetahs, please visit http://www.cheetah.org and http://www.dewildt.org.za/index.htm

And, should you feel so inclined and have a few coins lying around, please support wildlife conservation or your local animal welfare society.

Survivors - cheetah cubs

I painted these beautiful cheetah cubs over a period of three months. Very special little creatures with a very special story.

Please see http://cheetahcare.blogspot.com/

When I first saw the photograph, I just knew I had to paint it. (Thank you, Wilma, for your kind permission) The expressions on their little faces tells the story.

It is so sad that there is less and less space for these magnificent wild animals. I hope I never see the day when our human greed, ignorance, arrogance and selfishness totally destroys the remaining dots of nature left on this earth.

And only photographs and paintings remain to remind us of what we have done.

Oil painting is FUN!

I love teaching people how to enjoy oil painting! This weekend, once again, I realised just how incredibly creative people can be if they just allow themselves to believe in their own abilities!

Every course starts with those feelings of uncertainty... people who have been told or who believe that they cannot paint.

But once they get stuck into those paints, the white canvas loses its mystery and the world opens up.

I don't know what I enjoy most: watching their faces as they become more and more relaxed as the hours pass, the stress and burdens of everyday life recedes and they enter another world;

or the smiling faces when the day is done and they all have their paintings, tired but happy and excited.

Knowing that they have achieved what most of them thought were beyond their talents.

Oh yes, it's the most wonderful feeling in the world and I am honoured and privileged to be a part of that happiness.