Mandy in Oz

 The teen emerges from her *bed-cave* and the sleepy old kitty prepares for her nap.

                          Day 6 (Miss B) - yep, more portraits :P  watercolour this time. Day 7 (Miss Lily) - a sabre-toothed tiger cub, not a scary one (acrylic) I think little J must have missed a turn...oh well, his go tomorrow!

Miss Lily requested a Clouded Leopard in crayons....after some discussion, it was decided that oil pastels and Slick Stix count as crayons ;)

Happy!

Earlier this year, I arted along with 'One Drawing a Day', it's a great book of daily drawing prompts, which you can find out more about here .  Well, even though I completed the book some time ago, I've continued with my daily drawing (which is really the whole point ;)  ).   Anyway, it's school holidays here at present, so I decided to do my daily drawing with a twist - my darling children are taking turns choosing both my subject *and* medium for the day.  The choices - and results - have been both predictable and somewhat surprising! (I don't know how that's actually possible, nevertheless it's true).   The children have thrown themselves into this game with great gusto and I've found it both challenging and refreshing to meet the briefs of my little dictators :P   Here are our first four days:   Day 1 - (Little J) - Dino-rex in gouache (have you ever heard a 4 year old say gouache?  It's adorable.) Day 2 - (Miss Lily) - A R...

Generally, I keep my descriptions brief for these photo a day prompts.  However, I feel this one warrants a story.  I have vivid memories of raiding my nana's jewellery box as a small child, and being particularly fascinated by these items....they are a picture of my great-grandmother Annie in an old fob watch and her wedding band,  a beautifully simple 18ct gold ring, engraved with ALS (Annie Louisa Sing).  The band is very old and has broken at the seam now....it's so very tiny, that even as a small child it would only fit (very firmly I might add) on my pinky finger. My grandparents, clearly seeing how much I loved it, allowed me to keep her wedding band - I've been  keeping it safe for more than 30 years now :)  The fob watch was given to me some time later.  I love having this tangible connection to my ancestors.

 Right around now, 18 years ago, I held his hand for the first time  

this evening, a night out watching Miss Lily perform with the junior choir :)

Those eyes....

Jasmine, but we called her Jazzy.  The most loveable, cuddly cat ever, a fluffy bundle of black fur.   No longer with us, yet here forever, under a blanket of rainbow stones, sheltered by her tree.

Jackson has his 'alone' time with mummy, when the big kids are at school and daddy is at work.  I asked him if he'd like me to take his picture, he replied in his piping little baby voice 'Yet (yes) mummy, over here'.  Such a sweetie pie.

Together....a girl and a baby miniature goat.  Strangely, the goat and the outfit were beautifully colour coordinated :P

There was a very big birthday in the family recently.  My eldest daughter, Miss N, turned 18!  Yep, nothing makes you feel like an oldie, quite so much, as knowing that you have an *adult* child.  Anyway, moving right along.  I decided to make her a quilt at the last minute, as you do....turns out, the ragging process on a raggy quilt takes a while :S  Who would have thunk it?  It was a bit of a race to get it finished, but she seems to like it, so it's all good ;)

Big J (hugging me tightly and being sweet) - Why do you still drive me so crazy? Me (all innocent eyes) - I guess I must be *really* annoying..... Big J - in that case, I want to be really annoyed for the rest of my life.... Challenge accepted :P

I recently posted an album of *outtakes* to my Facebook page, kind of a visual representation of what happens when you attempt to get three children to all look at you, with at least semi-normal expressions, so that you can take a cutesy picture to put on your family Christmas cards.  Here are some of my very favourite pictures from that session....some might even make it to print ;)

Miss B, my teen-at-home, can be a little....quirky.  *No* idea where she gets it from.  So, one of her interesting quirks is an abiding love for snakes, yet an intense fear of magpies (go figure!?).  What's a parent to do, but stir her up at every opportunity.  Our recent conversation went something like this... Me: Hey, did you see the freaky crow/magpie hybrid on the front deck, eating the cat food?  Miss B:  Whaaatt???? OMG, are you serious?? Me:  Why don't you go and take a look?  It's not a crow or a magpie....I think I'll call it a cragpie. Miss B: (tiptoes over to door and peeks out)  Arghhhh!!!  What the hell is that!!! Me: (giggling hysterically) I told you...it's a cragpie. A couple of days later.... Miss B:  Mum, they're not cragpies.  They're another kind of bird....curra....something.  But they're not magpie hybrids (sighs in relief).   So, Miss B isn't worried about giant ...

Take one feather doona and quilt cover, add a playful toddler boy and this is what you get... Hmmm, wonder if I can get inside the cover Yes.....apparently I can Where's the baby????? There he is!! thinking about coming out of the cocoon now.... Where's the baby?? There he is!!! and just because I feel like it, here's a somewhat dodgy self-portrait utilising a mirror :P

What do you get if you take some blank paper, a 'reference' picture (lol), acrylic paints, a trusty pencil and me?  Some excited and hovering children, and a Dr Seuss themed painting for their room :P  Whipped this up using the kids Ikea easel, on some of that Ikea butchers paper, in an afternoon and evening.  They seem impressed, though it's probably just a matter of time until little J destroys it!