Sarah-Jane and Great Grand Mother

This picture was taken earlier today, on day four of Sarah-Jane's life.

Her birth keep-sake box had the 2nd fire tonight; I plan to paint it similar to the one I painted for Isabella our first Great Grand Child. My idea is to give the Great Grand Children a box each, and make them similar. Not exactly the same.......just similar.

I painted a small shoe for each of the 9 Grand Children and even the teenage boys still have theirs on display and cherish them.

Alaska Cruise

My blog maker and myself celebrated 50 years of marriage in the beginning of May, and to celebrate we flew up to San Francisco from New Zealand to board the ship "Infinity " for an eleven night cruise.

(This is why there were no entries in my blog for May!!)

This picture was taken on the jetty at Icy Strait, it was a pretty cold day but we were wrapped up well and kept warm as toast.

The cruise was over and above our expectation, and we enjoyed every moment of it with the weather being extremely kind to us.

Cruising along the Inside Passage

This late afternoon was quite mild, and I stood outside sipping a nice wine, enjoying the wonderful scenery before going in for dinner.

I wonder if there are ever "porcelain painting" cruises?

Wouldn't that be FUN!

A Polar Bear and Myself

Walking down the wharf of Juneau I spotted this lovely bear and couldn't resist having my photo taken with him. Just as well I have a red coat on, so I sort of show up against his white fur!
While in Juneau we visited the Russian Orthodox Church (St. Nicholas) which was constructed in 1894 to view the icons they have displayed inside which were brought to Alaska from Russia during the 19th century. I was surprised to find three icons I had seen fairly recently in a book someone had lent me. One day I hope to paint one or two of them!

The Mendenhall Glacier and Myself

Brrrrrr! It was fairly cold on the day we went to view the Mendenhall Glacier just out from Juneau, but it was spectacular. The Glacier is 200 feet high, 3 miles wide, and 12 miles long.
It was a beautifully clear day which made the ice sparkle!
I look kind of sad in this pic - but in reality I was VERY happy and felt privileged to see such a wonderful part of God's creative work.

Poppy on 15" Tray

This delightful tray with an inverted small square in it was purchased in Prince Rupert BC one day during our cruise and I couldnt resist buying it as I could see exactly how I would paint it.
It was heavy to lug all the way back to New Zealand but I thought it was well worth it.

I have used fat oil to stiffly mix my powder and then thinned with lavender oil. The mixture slides on the porcelain like silk - it is lovely to paint with. I used enamel for the scroll work which I covered with liquid bright gold. I chipped off the frame effect around the poppy and down both sides of the band of colour on the left of the tray.
I think the tray was meant to be used for dip and crackers - but I have mine displayed on a strong stand in my dining room.

Poppy with Lustre Background

This was a fun thing I painted recently, using the fat oil and lavender oil for the flower and seed pods etc. I then used flow lustre for the background and stamped gold on the sides with a wet coarse sponge.

You can see I am having a "Poppy Phase" !!

PANSIES

I painted these little dishes a few weeks back, after I saw a pretty little design by Catherine Klein. Perhaps the pic is too small to see the maiden hair fern surrounding the pansies and forget-me-nots. I will find a friend to give each of these dishes to as they are just big enough to hold about 4 or 5 cookies for a cosy morning tea!