Monday, December 29, 2008

Granddaughters' paintings






We were looking after our granddaughters before Christmas and they were given a task to paint a portrait in acrilics and this is their results. I thought they did a great job. caitlin also gave me a painting for Christmas that she did at school.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Happy Christmas Everyone

Hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas day. We did with Lisa, my daughter and Jude her husband, and our two granddaughters, Caitlin and Erin. Our son Shaun is back in Papua New Guinea on his month on roster, so he missed Christmas this year with us.
Thanks to all my friends and supporters for the good comments you have given to me as I have been working on this commission, and thanks to John for all his support and love and patience. I am glad to be finished as the year closes but I hope to be able to have another go at a big work again as it has been an enjoyable task.
Hope you all have been good and received something nice from Santa. Thanks again for all your support.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Mary MacKillop sculpture now complete and ready for installation

It's been a while since I sat down to write anything on my blog. Sinse returning from overseas there has been a load happening and I just haven't had the time to write till now.
The trip over to Footscray Victoria, went smoothly. Cameron one of the owners of the foundry kindly picked me up from the airport and brought me back to my accomodation each day and also picked me up and took me to the foundry which I was grateful for.
We had a little bit of fettling to do on a couple of spots, but then got to work on the patina of the bronze.
Mary's habit was brown which we worked on first, leaving the face and lighter parts till later. We also worked the girl's dress darker than her pinafore, then worked Jimmy's clothing as well, the shirt being a little lighter than his pants.
We then went back to Maggie's face and also worhed Mary,s face the same. After a bit of discussion we made Jimmy's skin and face a matt french brown and it looked wonderful as a matt surface. We finally lightened Mary's coif, and also Put some blue colour on the bows, Mary's AM on the front of her habit and the scarf around the little boy,s neck. We then waxed the whole sculpture and spent the last hour going over it to make sure we had covered everything.
The whole process took three days to finish so now it is in storage over at the foundry till the Foundry brings it over and mounts it in March ready for the dedication on 22nd March next year, in Adelaide.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

I'm Home again after an amazing trip to Peru and Antartica

I have just come back home again after this absolutely amazing trip to South America and Antartica. I travelled with my husband and my brother and the trip blew my mind away, it was so diferent to anything I have experienced before and a trip to be cherished for all the experiences and people I met.
Just wanted to at least say that I am back and willl be over at the foundry on Tuesday to patinate the bronze statue of Mary MacKillop and children. I can't wait to see the final work, as I last saw it in dark green wax and have onlyseen photos of the work in the fettling stages of the bronzes.
We flew to Sydney, stayed overnight and flew out early the next day to Buenos Aires in Argentina, SA, then straight through to Lima, then on to Cusco, where we saw the Inca Ruins at a lot of sites and then travelled to Machu Picchu and and back to Cusco, then back through Lima, back to Buenos Aires and spent a day and night there, ,then flew down to Ushuaia and boarded the Expedition ship, Prince Albert 11, for 16 nights on board, Travelling to Falkland Islands, South Georgia, Elephant Island, and the Antartic Peninsula before returning through the smooth Drake Passage (a rareity) back to Ushuaia and Buenos Aires then the long long journey home.
Will write more and post photos as I sort some out.