I bought some acrylic paint markers off Temu, and I must say, I love them.
I’ve spent a couple of afternoons playing with them and some of the smaller stones I’ve collected from the beach.
The pack I got was 12 colours but to be honest I only really like the black and the blue. I tried the green and and orange but they’re just not me. Those stones are now in pots on my patio… Maybe I’ll have a go at some black and red or black and green or something later, but I love the plain black or black and blue.
However, I wish the markers were thinner. They have a dot side and a brush side. But the brush is too thick for the kind of work I like to do. I prefer really fine lines and these are just too thick.
Still, they’re pretty cute. Not sure what I’ll do with these. They can be sold as a group for displaying in a bowl on a table I guess. They definitely need to be in a group…
It’s been a long time of watching Netflix, feeling lazy, uninspired and just plain uncreative. But then I had the idea of using the old tattered greek books a friend of mine gave me to make art. I’ve always loved using newsprint or book pages in my art.
She gave me a bag of old books, some of which were beyond donating. The decent ones went to a little bus stop free library here on Paros. The ones beyond repair were kept for my art.
Using PVA glue mixed with water, I first began by sticking some pages onto pages in one of my sketch books.
At first, I worked with pastels and above is the first one I did. Everyone loves donkeys.
Second was another donkey, ’cause I thought I’ll do a series of donkeys.
Of course, I got bored doing donkeys (’cause I’m like a 5 yr old) and decided to try something more vintage looking. For these next ones I used a different book (loose pages from what was once a book really, in much worse condition). They’ve gone a much darker brownish yellow.
I love old alarm clocks. I only have one tiny silvery rusted one here now, but I used to have a small collection of them in Australia. This is pastel also.
I love my coffee stains. Sometimes stains are accidental, I tend to leave my work on the kitchen table (my work surface) so accidents happen, but other times I rest my coffee cup on the paper on purpose just for the look it creates.
The coffee pot is pastel, watercolour and a bit of acrylic. Not my favourite.
Lastly, I thought a sprig of lavender might be nice. I did this in watercolour. Turns out that works pretty well on the stuck pages too.
I’ve been preparing more pages to work on but I’ve used proper decoupage glue for the next lot – not modpodge which I know is great because I’ve run out of that, so I bought another brand a couple of days ago. Not good. It barely sticks and the result if a much more buckled paper.
I did iron the pages (from the back) after they dried to make sure they were as flat as I could get them, but even ironing the ones I used the decoupage glue on wasn’t good enough for my liking which means I can’t really use pastel on those. I’ll have to use paint on those.
I’ll go back to using PVA.
The problem with PVA is that pastels won’t stick properly to the bits of glue off the book page. eh. I can work with that. Pages that don’t stick properly just isn’t working for me.
Next I’m working on some commissions and a couple more rocks just for fun.
This has been a difficult summer so far, and there’s no end in sight yet.
Mom has been sick since she arrived on Paros on June 1 and ended up in hospital for 2 weeks with COVID and pneumonia. Then, returning to Paros she was on oxygen for a month.
And she’s been staying with me cause she needs assistance and care.
While she was getting better life got a little easier. She began cooking again so I’d come home to a cooked meal instead of having to cook for both of us (I don’t like having to cook! I only cook when I want to!)
Now mom’s been unwell for a week again. Needing more care again. And me being busier than ever with dog grooming.
It’s not been an easy summer… yet she’s my mother. I have to look after her, and I want to do it too. And I did return to Greece to be with mom – to enjoy her company while she was well but to assist when she wasn’t. So I’m not complaining…
But I miss being alone and having my space to myself. I really really miss having my tiny place to myself.
Mom plans to return to Athens in 5 weeks. Let’s hope she’s better by then or I will have to go with her…
I have two white beach tops which I love. I bought one the first summer after I moved here and the other from a year or two later and wore them a lot.
At the time I wore tinted sunscreen all the time and as a result a lot of my tops were stained around the neck. I’ve tried bleaching them but I can’t seem to get rid of the grimy look.
I didn’t want to throw them out, so I decided to dye them.
But being me and being impatient, I couldn’t let it wait till I found a place on Paros which sold fabric dye, so I looked up natural fabric dyeing online. Turns out the whole mordant thing was too much for me, so I decided to just go for it and see what I’d get. After all, the tops were at the end of their life as they were, I didn’t have much to lose…
Basically, what I learned in my reading was that anything that stains will dye fabric. Duh. It will fade over time, but heck, you can always re-dye, right?
Nothing stains like turmeric. It’s one reason I dislike using it. It stains everything: the sink, any tupperware you put leftovers in, the table, everything it touches.
What could possibly go wrong?
So, I put the turmeric I had in my cupboard for the last year into the biggest pot I own, added a pinch of salt (’cause I remembered somewhere that that helps set colours, but really, I had no idea). Once it boiled, I let it cool a little so I didn’t cook my tops, and dipped them in, stirring with a metal spoon.
I tried two methods. First, I tried an ombre with one top, but being me and being impatient (and being sloppy) I let the dyed bits touch the white bits, so I had to drizzle some dye onto the white to make it not look so odd.
This is the result after rinsing but before washing:
As you can see, I didn’t even manage to dye it evenly on both sides… oops. Didn’t plan that out very well.
With the other top I decided to relive my youth and used rubber bands to tie dye it. I sunk it all into the dye and this is the result after rinsing and prior to washing:
And here is the result after washing twice. A much softer yellow, but still pretty. This top looks better than the other one. I think the other one will need re-dyeing…
Note to self: buy more turmeric.
Anyway, thought I’d share my experiment in case you have turmeric in your pantry that you aren’t sure what to do with.
Something has finally happened at the building site after a period of nothingness. I took these pics 2 days ago so (hopefully) they’ll have progressed a bit since then. But everything stops again in 2 days ’cause no one builds here in August. Hopefully all the columns will be ready to pour before they stop work, so come September they can get right back to it.
Still, it was good to see a few things had been done.
On the container front, I was finally able to get ahold of the big crane guy and get that sorted.
You can see the steps below – first he had to pick up the container from its precarious drunken position and move it onto his truck.
Once it was loaded, he was able to maneuver the truck into a better position in order to lift the container straight out onto the concrete.
Using some odds bits of timber as measures, he placed it as square in the center as he could.
The idea is that there is a concreted area on both sides of the container which faces north to south (front door north, back south) giving me shade in the morning on one side and in the afternoon on the other. That way, once I put up shade sails, I will have usable space outside the container on both sides in order to work.
All under the watchful eye of Vincent – mom’s faithful assistant.
So, now I have the container in place finally. Once I get power to the land (don’t hold your breath!) I can begin working on it!
One thing I learned from the big crane guy was that my container was a meat transport container. That’s why it’s so heavy and extra tall. It has metal pipes running the length of the ceiling inside which I presumed were for the cold air, but they’re for hanging meat.
Lovely.
I hope it’s not ‘silence of the lambs (or cows)’ in there…
Oh well, the good news is that the insulation should be really good…
So, all is moving right along at a snail’s pace, but at least one thing has been ticked off the mile long to do list.
I’d been reading a book a while ago and really can’t remember the title or author. But inside there was something about vampires – the energy sucking type, not the bloody sucking type.
It prompted me to write about it at the time but I never got further than sourcing this photo (thank you AI).
However, today I feel I have reached a peak of anger, frustration, and general stress that I cannot hold it in anymore.
I am putting way too much of my own energy into the problems I see around me all the time.
The destruction of this and other Greek islands in the name of tourism. I get involved where I can, but we can’t achieve anything real against the greed which abounds around us. And I get angry.
The news is horrible every single day. I try to avoid it, but living with someone who watches TV all day every day, I am now accidentally seeing the news on a much more regular basis. I lived so happily for so many years never watching TV, not reading papers, and only hearing about things that affected me locally.
Ignorance is bliss.
Now I constantly upset. Animal abuse. Horrific things, bad enough that they are not just put on Facebook, but on the national news! Disease among the ruminants in Greece today, first time ever, meaning that thousands of animals will most likely need to be destroyed. Fires, everywhere, all the time. And so many idiots leaving their pets behind!
I’ve had it.
I’m not sure what I’ll do, but I’m considering taking a break from the internet for my mental health. And maybe wear ear phones with music so I can’t hear the news.
I don’t know.
I’m just so upset so often. It can’t be good for me.
This is something I worked on with my niece Eleni before summer. She wanted to do something creative, to paint or sculpt or something.
I had a small MDF board lying around which I offered for her first go at painting with acrylics. She chose the theme and the colours and, with my guidance, she began to work on it.
The first thing you need is a background, so using a sponge she applied the colours she wanted to produce this abstract green and yellow base.
Once that was done, I sketched in the shape of the pineapple for her so she could begin to apply paint. This is how it ended up looking. Not too shabby for someone who has never picked up a paintbrush in her life!
Sorry the photo is a bit blurry but it’s the only one I have at that stage.
Eleni didn’t want to continue with it after that and asked me to finish it for her, which I did the other day. To be honest I was sick of seeing it lying around (like so much of my art)…
This is the finished product. All that remains is to give it to Eleni to put in her home. It didn’t turn out bad at all, I think. All I did was deepen the shadows, add highlights and basically give it more depth and detail.
Well done, Eleni. I look forward to working with you again after the busy summer season.
I’m very good at doing eyes. I know that. So, I decided to focus on eyes for a little while ’cause I also love doing them. So I’ve done a few pieces of white marble with cat’s eyes which are fascinating and greek island related.
Why do I feel I have to do island related paintings? Well, ’cause I think people who live here, visit here or have summer homes here might be looking for island related items for their homes…
But while I sat there painting, late one evening, mom watching TV from the couch, I played with a few other themes.
Some whales instead of the usual fish…
And another bright octopus.
Not sure what you all think of these, but personally, I like the eyes best. I’m thinking dog eyes, horse eyes, alpaca and cow eyes cause they are particularly soulful… and even human eyes…
I just need to go out and find more pieces of marble. All I have in my collection now is small pieces, more suited to small bugs, like my bees.
Remember my bees?
I’m quite fond of my little bee, currently living in the USA.
Maybe I will do more bees… Though I am running out of space to keep my rocks and marble pieces…
I’ve been picturing a wall mounted narrow shelf, made from pallet wood, to hold it all. It would be really heavy of course… and I’d need the time and access to my tools… Maybe in winter…
Things have been busy lately. Hectic really. I seem to always be going on an errand, grooming a dog, returning from an errand, cooking,shopping for groceries, trying to keep the house clean, and still getting in a swim now and then!
And on the afternoons when I’m not too busy, I sit at the kitchen table and play with paints. It’s a good way to de-stress. If you can find the time… preferably not late at night because then I can’t sleep cause I’m wound up.
I’ve been inspired now and then to try something new just for a change.
So, here are my latest painted rocks. Above a very painterly donkey. I’d gotten the idea to use an old book I’d been given to decoupage a couple of stones just to see how they would turn out. I used larger rocks for these and its not perfect but I kinda like it.
Below is a cat treated the same way…
Next the tried and true octopus, but trying brighter colours and more contrast. Not sure I like it, but its not too bad.
I had to redo this cat cause the watercolours I was using on all my marble paintings doesn’t work so well on rocks. It’s now much better.
I also thought I’d try a couple of very graphic style stones…
These I really like. I love the stark contrast between the black and white.
So, I need a bit of rest before I gotta get up and greet visitors coming to see mom. Who is getting better all the time. She will soon be back to bossing me around.
I think I mentioned working on half the kitchen table. Not much space, but enough to work on smaller projects like fridge magnets and rocks. Since I still had some wooden shapes, I’d gotten on Temu, I decided to go ahead and finish them all. I also found I still had some magnets, so I was able to finish them.
I used acrylic paint to do these, and a very very thin rigger brush to get the fine lines.
I love these little plant magnets, though I’m not thrilled with the mushroom ones…
I love the cats too and am thinking I need to do more of these. Maybe a little bigger. Maybe as coasters as well…
Remember these?
This is what they look like now. The evil eye, a very popular theme in Greece. Much better.
I had some more of these round flat pieces so I did some more simple colourful sea urchins.
Remember these?
Now they’re starfish. Or they could be urchins if that’s how you prefer to see them. But they’re not. They’re starfish.
I had a few more of these half rounds so I made more stylized urchins. I think I prefer these 3D ones, but both are nice.
Lastly, remember these fish – the top ones were made using the wood burning marker and the bottom ones were decoupaged.
This is what they look like now. Much more fun!
I’ve ordered more wooden shapes, some of the same and others in different sizes, not sure what I’ll make when I get them, but they’re fun to work with!
These little magnets are cute and make great little presents of the ‘stocking filler’ sort.
junk4joy 