A few years ago I’d sold a painting of fish on old slabs of timber to a friend. Fast forward a few years and someone who’d seen it wanted something similar.
Of course, its not so simple just ordering a painting on old timber, an old shutter or door. FIRST you have to FIND it. Which means looking at every rubbish pile you walk or drive by anywhere you go. Sorting through stacks of old wood wherever you see one, searching for something suitable.
Remember, I no longer have sheds where I can store every potential piece of rubbish wood I find…
Once you locate the right piece, you have to carry it home, then prepare it – wash and clean off dirt or whatever might have accumulated on it, sand off the worse weathering and layers of old paint, cut off any rotted or jagged bits it might have, mend where needed, and generally prepare the surface for painting.
Then paint it. Last finish with varnish and some method for hanging it.
Don’t get me wrong. This is right up my alley. I love doing this stuff. I just wish I had the luxury of the multiple sheds I had in Tasmania to store my stash of future projects. Back then I could pick up anything I thought would ‘come in handy one day’, so that when I had a commission (or an idea) I could just walk around the sheds looking for the right piece…
Those were the days…
Do you detect a note of nostalgia in my voice typing? Yes, you do. ‘Cause lately I’ve been thinking about Australia more and more and miss it more and more.
sigh.
Anyway. Enjoy some fish.
Here is the finished piece, sitting on my workbench outside cause I have no space to hang it.
Its been almost a month since I painted these wings on No Forma, the shop where I had my exhibition. And I’m only now finally getting to sharing a post about them.
I’d never done a painting on glass before but it worked out great. I used acrylic paints which scrape off easily and had to use 2 layers of paint with most colours to make the wings opaque enough.
And then, Just because, here is another photo of me and Vincent enjoying the sunset.
And here is little Milly – just because she’s the cutest of my little customers and the look on her face is priceless!
Not a dog, but this is a little guy who visited my yard a few weeks ago. Vincent let me know he was there, stuck in a corner, unable to get out. I caught him and put him in a cardboard box with some leaves for him to hide in, then I called the wildlife rescue place here on Paros (https://alkioni.org/). They normally deal with birds, but they will take other wildlife if necessary. They kept the little guy for a couple of days to make sure he was healthy and eating, then set him free in the hills somewhere.
Turns out he must have been part of a litter who somehow ended up in my neighbour and mine’s courtyards. A few days later another one appeared. And I saw a dead on the road next to the supermarket next door too. Poor little guy.
We have high stone walls so the only way these 2 little guys could have gotten in is if they fell into the yard somehow, maybe trying to burrow into a wall and slipping down it into Adrian’s yard, and from there to mine.
Henry, the one who is living here now only spotted now and then in the evenings, is getting quality kitten food and fresh water and is welcome on both sides of the fence. I’ve already had an offer from a friend who will take him once he needs more space as she has a big safe garden.
While my brother was here I didn’t have the space to work on anything larger than would fit on the corner of the kitchen table. So, when he asked me to paint him a fish on marble as a gift for a friend, I got out some broken marble pieces I had, my watercolour pencils and watercolours and made this for him. Since he’s flying, he needed the marble to be thin and light so I used a broken marble tile piece I found.
Turns out I’m really good at doing fish… must be in the blood. My grandfather on mom’s side was a fisherman, my family on dad’s side and my brother are all in the fish/seafood business… That must be it.
You already know I’m a magpie, constantly picking up crap stuff I find anywhere and everywhere. So, I had this spare bit of marble that I decided to paint while I had my stuff out and the table was already occupied with it all. This time I decided to do something different. I rarely paint birds, but I saw this photo and loved the way they all seem to be gossiping.
You know what I love about painting watercolours on marble? Its the way the marble doesn’t soak up the paint – it allows it to sit there till it dries. It takes longer to finish a painting as I have to wait between stages, but sometimes the pooling of watery paint gives me the effects I want and allows me to bleed colours together in a way I can’t get on paper.
Anyway, here is a quick look at the bedroom made into a studio before mom and Peter arrived. That whole wall was my working space, with great light coming in through the window which faces east. The opposite wall is bookcases and storage.
Later on I added a shelf (I found tossed out on a scap pile) and an easy access way to store paint tubes using clip hangers I already had and didn’t really use. After mom and Peter arrived I had to shuffle things around as I needed to put up the blow up mattress to sleep on.
This is Peter bonding with Vincent.
And here is Vincent, looking gorgeous as ever at a beach bar.
Well, there you have it. Two posts in two days. Who knew!
I made it while ago for a cousin who wanted it for one of her rental studios, but decided she didn’t want it. So I hung it over the couch in my living room. It was there for a couple of years. You can see how amazing it looked when the sun hit it here.
Well, the other day I decided I had to hang up all the artwork I’d brought back from the exhibition. I had made a series of paintings on a theme just for the exhibition, and they needed a home, so I took down the random bits and pieces I had hanging, filled holes and put up new nails (with new holes!) to hang my work. I’ll share the work and the new living room look soon.
Meanwhile, I’ve been doing various things around the house now that mom is back with me for the summer. I’ve had my brother staying while he was visiting as well so you can imagine it was pretty tight there for a while. I’d gotten rid of my queen sized bed this winter and was given a single bed for mom, but till she got here I’d been using my bedroom as a studio. Then, when Peter arrived, I had a blow up mattress in the bedroom for me while Peter slept in the living room where I normally sleep.
Anyway… when putting up the artwork in the living room I had to find a new home for the branch. Nowhere to put it in the house so I decided to put it outside. I removed the glass bottles cause, well, they’re glass and if they break it wouldn’t be nice… So I looked around for what I could hang off the branch to make it look interesting.
What I found were a whole lot of old brushes I’ve been holding onto to do something with. Ruined brushes. I have more to add, but here it is for now:
Its in a sort of indented space between two buttresses on the high stone wall in my back ‘yard’. Just wedged in there. I used to have bird cages with succulents in them but I’ve lent them to the art gallery where I had my exhibition for now. When I bring them back I’ll be putting them out the front of the house. Till then I have my brush branch and some plants below it.
Nothing too dramatic. Just kinda cute. Plus I now have somewhere to hang brushes to dry after use! And I’m happy I didn’t have to totally destroy it and throw it away.
I finally got around to painting the dutch door I made for french door into the courtyard. I made this door for a couple of reasons. I groom dogs and I do them out the back there. The courtyard is very safe and enclosed, but I would always have to close the french doors to keep them from escaping into the house, and greek french doors never have handles to open from the outside. The dutch doors allow me to keep the doors open with the flyscreen closed – and protected from little monsters running straight through it.
The other reason is that I was visited by a rat twice a few years ago.
Once was enough. Twice was beyond enough.
I like to keep the back door open all the time, flyscreen closed, to get fresh air. And rats chewed through the flyscreen. UGH.
Hence, a dutch door.
Here are the before and after pics. Before, boring old marine ply which didn’t improve with exposure to sun and rain.
And after… I gave it an undercoat of white, then an ombre blue background, finished by painting a mess of wildflowers on it and a coat of outdoor varnish. Both sides.
Pretty, ain’t it? I love it. Of course we’ll have to see how well it holds up to the weather and dogs scratching at it to escape being groomed…
For those curious about how it was done, I used brushes and house paint for the undercoat and background. Then I used acrylic paint for the flowers and grasses. For those I was very experimental. I collected various plants on my walk with Vincent that day and I used them to create the grass by dipping them in paint of various green shades and smashing them onto the wood.
I used leaves and flowers pressed into paint to create the leaves and flowers. That didn’t always work so well, so I used brushes, cardboard and anything I could think of to add more detail and shape.
In the end I think it came out very pretty. I’m sure the visiting dogs agree.
And now for the bad news.
Turns out my Australian Business Number (ABN) was cancelled due to the fact that I haven’t used it or filed any income tax since moving to Greece – since I work and pay tax in Greece. And now my junk4joy domain will be suspended till I can reinstate my ABN and upload it to my host again. Which I’m in the process of doing.
BUT… I have none of my information so its a long deep winding tunnel of frustration!
When I left Australia I left a box of documents (old tax returns etc) with my brother who put it in storage as he’s moved a couple of times so he’s unsure where it is. Plus he’s on his way Greece and had no time to go searching for it.
My old laptop corrupted a few years ago and I lost everything on it – including all that information.
So I’m kinda stuck. I’m working on it. But not in time to stop my junk4joy domain from being suspended for 30 days from May 25. I’ll be back once I have the info I need and re-link it all, but till then no more posts.
Not that you’ll miss them as I haven’t posted for over a month even with a working blog!
It’s been a very busy time since I got back from my 2 trips to Athens. Yes, you read it right. Two trips. I got back home and had to go back. Nothing bad… Just stud duties for my little man, Vincent. We wait in hope to hear if he’ll be expecting a new brood of puppies!
Meanwhile since I got back, I put a lot of time and energy into converting my bedroom into an art studio.
I’ve been sleeping on a single bed in the living room since mom was here this summer and I got used to it. I live alone, I don’t really need a QS bed taking up all the space in the only bedroom. My house is always a studio all the time anyway, at least with a dedicated room for it I can see my kitchen table and can usually cook without having to remove art projects from the stove top.
When mom comes back in summer I’ll add a single bed to the bedroom and work around it. At least I’ll still have a space to do stuff and not have to put everything away so mom can cook and we can eat.
I also streamlined my space and mind. Mainly my mind.
I decided that I’m way too scattered (aren’t all artists?) but I’ll never get anywhere if I don’t concentrate my energy on one, or maybe two things. Wishful thinking maybe, but by putting away a lot of my other craft stuff I can concentrate on painting. Acrylics and some mixed media. And maybe some watercolours or pastels.
I’ve kept my felting stuff at home but put it all away into a cupboard (my wardrobe really) and taken all my craft stuff to the container for safe keeping. I believethink hope that by doing this I won’t get sidetracked and I’ll finally be able to have that exhibition I’ve been wanting to have for such a long time.
And it’s not like I have forever. Once mom comes at the end of May, I’ll have to put away all large work and go back to things I can fit on my small desk in the bedroom.
We do what we can with the space we have…
Other than finally being able to paint, and FINALLY getting my mojo back, I’m starting Art from Trash workshops next month and trying very hard to encourage everyone to join in and create their own stuff to enter into our Art from Trash competition to be held in June.
Lots of work. But my main focus right now is my own work, which runs a close parallel to my art from trash interests… the series of paintings I’m working on is all about the trash people leave around the island.
I’ll share images soon. For now I’m just glad to be feeling it again.
And not feeling in the least creative. Or talented.
Sad isn’t it?
I’ve done a little embroidery on my long term ‘work in progress’ jean jacket but not enough to brag about.
I made 3 acrylic backgrounds to paint on but I don’t know what I want to paint cause I’m just not inspired.
sigh.
This is the thing with me, I get into the groove and create like a mouse on speed, or I fall into a slump. They say you have to keep at it, even if what you create is crap… I tend to curl up into a ball and watch Netflix. That and chocolate – the opiates of the masses. Legal too.
I did have a brief glimmer of inspiration I made these two small acrylics…
Then, having seen a pretty amazing sketch at my friend Ada’s framing shop done in oil pastels (the work of an older woman, made years ago on cardboard) I decided to buy some.
Now, bear in mind, I hadn’t really used oil pastels before, since using crayons when I was a kid. And I dislike them. The smell, the feel, the fact that they don’t blend well get all over your hands, and if you end up with a bit on the floor they’re impossible to get off. Ugh.
Anyway, I had a play.
This is what Gumby would look like if he was a donkey and had been painted by a colour blind five year old.
My second attempt was a bit better. But I’m giving up. I’m going back to water colour, acrylic and, my favourite of all time, soft pastels.
Its been less than a week of 2026 but so far nothing has gone as planned… Ain’t that the way?
I’m still in Athens. Pinned down under the obligation of caring for my mother, who, when I arrived before Christmas with the idea that I’d spend the holidays with her and return home, was up and about and doing well. She’ll be 94 later this month, so she has aches and pains, can’t get around much without a walking stick and an arm to hold on to, but we’d gone to the supermarket together, and the visited a friend, she’d get out and sit in the little park opposite our house and enjoy sunlight on a warmish day.
Then she went to make the bed and either fractured a rib or tore some ligaments or who knows what. She’s old. She has osteoporosis. This is nothing new. The last time this happened the doctor warned her that it can happen at any time – from a cough or a sneeze or turning over in bed.
At least this time its nowhere near as bad as it was last spring. She thinks it is. Telling everyone who will listen that she’s never had pain like this in her life. I have to remind her that its not as bad. And she’s healing way faster. But pain killers won’t help her. She doesn’t want opiates (and neither do I, they almost killed her last summer). And calling in doctors to tell her the same thing over and over won’t help either.
Its age. Its osteoporosis. Its something she has to live with. She’s alive and she still has so much zest and interest in everything.
She is the most stubborn woman I know. In both a good and bad way.
The good: the physio she saw on Paros would come in and do some exercises with her, leave her with a program to do to keep her strength up and she does them. Every single morning.
The bad (as I saw it): when I was a kid she refused to let anything get her down. We’d go on holiday – the place we booked had no hot water? I’d whine about ‘this stupid place’ and carry on. She’d put on a pot and heat up water so we could stand in a tub of warm water to wash. Ooh, her positive outlook made me so angry! LOL
“Life is what you make it” Garrison Keillor said his mother would always say in his Lake Wobegon series.
And that’s right. Life IS what you make it.
Every day you wake up and make a choice. You can be miserable, hateful, angry, or happy, go with the flow and other hippy things.
Yes, I want to be home on Paros, creating stuff, working on my own home, swimming in the cold sea even, just being myself in my home. I want to be working on the Art From Trash Exhibition which has been my dream since I moved to Greece. But here I am, back at the kitchen table in the house in Athens, pretty much stuck here caring for mom. I knew this was part of what I signed up for when I moved to Greece but she was so well for so long I kinda lived in denial.
My life isn’t my own. I can’t make plans and that’s so frustrating. But there’s nothing I can do about it. I have to find ways to make it work, live with what life throws at me.
Its not easy. And yes, I feel trapped by the situation. I can choose to be bitter or angry or I can choose to get on with it and adapt.
Back when I worked with people with intellectual disabilities I (too often) worked with the high support needs folks. I hated it. Absolutely hated it. I would dread going to work on those days. Then one day I sat in my car and told myself that I could go in there and resent the entire day, or I could go in there and have a positive attitude. I chose the positive attitude. From that day on I’d go in there and offer to help with the horrible jobs, take someone to the toilet or all the other unpleasant things I disliked taking my sense of humour with me. The days went faster, I had more fun with my co-workers, and I felt so much better at the end of the day.
So, choose to be positive.
Life is what you make it.
z
PS. And don’t hit people when they tell you, like I used to feel like doing to mom… She’d say ‘smile, you’re so pretty when you smile’… I just wanted to thump her.
I had thought it was good time to take Vinnie out for a pee break, but lightning and thunder and pouring rain means the little guy will have to cross his legs a little longer. Its so wet out there I’m afraid he’ll get washed away by a current!
They’d been predicting showers for the last 2 days. Not a drop in sight. Then today, the skies opened up like there was a damn up in the sky that finally broke.
It poured this morning, stopped for about 2 hours during which I took Vincent for a paddle, then it began again. Not just rain, but lightening and thunderous thunder. (ok, I get why the word ‘thunderous’ now…)
I wonder if it rained at all on Paros? I wonder whether it rained at all in Parasporos specifically. Paros is a small island, yet the weather can differ greatly from one area to another. Its bizarre.
Right now I’m thankful we live on a hill. I hate to think what this rain is doing to the low lying suburbs of Athens… For those who don’t know, Athens used to have rivers. We had a huge one in our area… But sometime in the 50s or 60s some idiots decided, in their infinite wisdom, to pave them all and make them into roads. Great idea. Now every time we have big storms people’s houses flood. They obviously didn’t know of the cities around Europe with gorgeous rivers running through them…
I’m a bad person.
I really am.
When that kind of things happens I always think “what did you think would happen when you bought/built in a river bed/on a wetlandp/on the side of a river subject to flooding?” But people don’t think like that. They think “hey, this land is going cheap cause they drained a swamp, lets buy and build” then cry when their home is washed away and blame the government… Then again, why did the government give permits to build on flood land? Maybe they should blame the government. No one takes responsibility for anything any more anyway.
I’ve always tried to buy on the higher side of a slope. Maybe not at the top, but not down the bottom of a valley for sure.
Having said that, our land on Paros is in a valley, but at least the house is above the winter creek… there is a bit of land lower than where the house will be built… a slight slope. Not my choice. I wanted it higher up, but the engineer said this was the best place to build, taking into consideration the sun, wind, etc.
Too late to change it now. Let’s hope its ok… there is enough slope to the land for water to run off down into the creek. Which IS a creek… its the old creek bed which my grandfather’s people used as a track to the beach. Only passable on foot or by donkey back then, totally overgrown by protected native plant species now. It will never be a road now.
I gotta go look outside and see if there’s a break in the rain so I can take Vincent out.
Days and nights spent getting ready for the bazaar, carrying and carrying and carrying stuff to and from, and the long hours at the stall itself all took their toll. It took days to recover from lack of sleep and plain tiredness. I had begun to get back into tidying up at home, packing, sorting, sweeping up glitter, finding where things should live etc when I suddenly developed a really sore lower back for no apparent reason (well, doing leg lifts with a roller under my back at the gym *might* have something to do with it… as do a few compromised discs due to lower than optimal bone density and a myriad of accidents in my recent and distant past). I can barely lift a coffee cup without pain. So all those packed and half packed boxes are now sitting in the living room/kitchen firmly planted on the ‘do later’ list and I have accepted that I now live in a permanent obstacle course.
And life goes on.
Meanwhile, since I’m having to take it easy (back to grooming but not lifting or bending apparently) I decided it was time to share some of the stuff I made for the bazaar. I think I mentioned that the plan was to use stuff I had on hand and not go buying new stuff for this project, though I did have to buy a few things here and there… ‘obviously’, says the art and craft supply addict.
This is my favourite. I’ll be listing this in my Etsy shop soon as I get my act together to take more photos, but I confess I do love it… Eh. It will be too late to post it anywhere before Christmas very soon…
I made quite a few wreaths. All different. Some were made using ready made wreaths I had on hand, others I made using wire. I do love working with wire… Embellishments were whatever I could find or make to create something pretty.
Using blocks of wood I created cute little ‘scenes’. Here is one as an example.
I made quite a few of these little paper mache houses, some I attached to wooden bases and added stones and some greenery to create a scene, others were kept as singles.
I even made cycladic houses on blocks of recycled wood and beach pebbles, with space for tealights.
The only piece of driftwood I had was converted into a decorative piece using air dry clay ‘trees’.
I made a few more trees – some out of leftover bits of bamboo I had from making a cute little tray a long time ago, others were made of clay and lace and mounted on sticks. Come to think of it, I’m not sure I ever shared that tray… hm…
I made quite a few varied tree decorations using various materials…
Glass jars made some very cute candle holders in different sizes. Of course those aren’t real candles, but real candles can go into them.
Bigger jars became small Christmas scenes using whatever I had on hand and small fairy light strings glued to the lids.
I had a new pack of plain white socks that became a gaggle of snowmen.
I do like wall hangings, so I made a few of those using whatever I had in my vast collection of ‘things to use one day’.
This one has to be my favourite and I’m glad it didn’t sell! Turns out what I like doesn’t always correspond with what people in Greece like…
Here are some photos of my stall at the market. My table was full of all kinds of things, including little hats with Ferrero Roche chocolates inside.
By far the biggest hit of the bazaar was Vincent. I should have charged money for photos with him – I’d be rich now! Here he is, all fresh and cute at the start of the market.
And here he is after, having accepted gazillions of pats from strangers, listened to LOUD Christmas music on repeat, and been forced to stay out ALL day and well into the night.
So, now we’re on the downwards slide towards Christmas and the new year. There is always much to do, but hopefully there will be time ahead to get it all done. And share.
junk4joy 