Watercolour course - Part 2

We did flowers this week. I'm not totally thrilled with what I did, but I learned something. I like some of the poppies in the image below. I had fun working wet-in-wet and trying to create light and shadow by adding water.

This one was really just to play around with salt. meh.

This one I started in week 3 and have almost finished. I'm really happy with it and am stoked that I managed to draw a car. I spent a lot of time drawing before I got into painting. Since this photo I've touched up a few things and made some shadows darker.

This is the original photo by Ryan Tatar that I've worked from. He takes wonderful photos and you should check his retro world out here.

Watercolour Course Part 1

I've completed 3 weeks of my watercolour course now and it's been great. I've certainly learned a lot and it's really good to have the time allocated each week to practise.

These are still lifes from week one. The idea is to concentrate on tone, shades of light and dark.
Week 2: below. Still life and working wet-in-wet. At the start of week 4, I'm now finally starting to see when I can use wet-in-wet and when I can use wet on dry.

 
Week 3: above and below. I was so knackered but made myself come anyway. I'm actually really happy with my ghost gum and plan to have a go at painting some more trees. I really like the sky in the one below, but there are a few random things about it. That's called learning though, I guess. Each time I've completed a painting I've learned something. 

I've almost finished the piece I started in Week 4. I spent a lot of time working on the drawing and didn't finish it in class. There were plenty of times where I thought I'd bitten off more than I could chew. But I've surprised myself and am actually really pleased with how it's progressing. Who knew I could draw a car?!

This is a shot from our trip up to Gnaraloo last year. With any luck we'll get up there again this year.

I'm sure the swell can't be far away. It is now officially the hottest Summer we've ever had in Perth. This Summer's average maximum has been 32C. Compound that with the fact that we missed Winter last year, because we spent it in the Northern Hemisphere, and you can see why I'm getting excited about uggboots and surfing in the rain.

In the meantime, we've done our 4WD course and managed to score a compressor, so I'm primed for some 4WDing and have my fingers crossed that things look good this weekend for a surf trip to Derrs.

Green Head Getaway

Our latest adventure took us 3 hours north of the city to a little place called Green Head. The weekend, in celebration of a friend's 30th was super relaxing. The highlight was definitely the trip out on her dad's boat to a little offshore island to visit the locals...

 

Turns out they were pretty friendly!

  

Welcoming committee

We made it up pretty late Saturday night so enjoyed a magical nap here after frolicking with the sea lions. The Sou-wester was finally in and was very welcome.

 

Side trip on the way home... Apparently the dreaming stories of the local aboriginal people tell that the pinnacles were the bony hands of giant spirits buried under the ground. Their fingers are stretching towards the sky, looking for something to grab onto to pull themselves free of the earth.

Easy to see why it is a sacred place. 

Waiting for Winter

First Day of Winter from Hannah Katarski on Vimeo.

Winter 2010

Those were the days...

When every wave was big,

When riding the foam was the most fun you could ever have,

and the shape of the wave didn't make any difference at all...

 

The world is wide now

and full of waves. 

Good shape is hard to find,

but the search can reward life-

defining moments,

breath-taking experiences

and memories for flat days.

What a wonderful journey we've started on.