A Piece a Week 16 – Dahlia

I did a little bit of gardening yesterday and during my trips between the front yard and the backyard I kept encountering a particular dahlia. Hubby had planted them early last season and now they are sprawly and falling all over the place. This particular one was hanging into the path and I had to avoid it each time I walked past. I became quite interested in its colours – shades of red through to pale yellow – and just before lunch grabbed the camera and photographed it to save it for a stockshot.

After lunch I got daring and decided to try and paint it. The painting part was challenging I will admit, but not my greatest challenge. I was home alone with my two young daughters and any mother who has ever tried to do something for herself while in such a situation will understand my concerns. But I thought, ‘What the hey.’ and gave it a go anyway.

I ended up painting (with interruptions, of course) from around 1.30 – 5.30pm. It was a frickin’ miracle. For the most of it the girls kept themselves occupied. Of course, my youngest managed to paint herself green twice (I had the kids paints out to stave off the inevitable ‘I wanna paint’ the moment they see my easel set up) which required two hosing downs and it isn’t as warm as it used to be here at the moment.

I painted and interspersed it with requests from the children, cleaning up messes, answering a miriad of questions and at one point, fishing my youngest off the concrete when she fell off the back of a deckchair (actually cut her head, but it fortunately didn’t bleed badly otherwise I likely would have had a heartattack). I’d feel guilty, but it didn’t occur while I was painting, rather while I was fetching stuff for my eldest, so it was not a direct result of my indulgences. A half an hour of Peppa Pig fixed her up – she seemed happy and I kept an eye on her…I swear this kid is going to be lucky to have two brain cells left by the time she reaches adulthood. She makes attempts to injure herself at any opportunity. I’m talking like I haven’t taken the girls fishing yet because I’m worried that if I take the youngest onto a jetty for an extended period of time, she’ll find a way to fall off it, no matter what I do. During the three weeks encompassing our recent holiday, she managed to bash her head three times in the same spot, two of which were severe enough to result in Easter coming early on her forehead – if she had been an adult, she would have been hospitalised. I’ve gotten beyond the point of being horrified that my poor baby has fallen down and have now gone into the ‘ohmigod, not again!’ stage.

But I digress…

So I did art and managed to finish it off tonight in time for Piece a Week. It is not my best. I initially started out to try a slapdash approach and see if I could get a free painting sketch. It didn’t quite work and I had to tighten it down, so it lost its spontaneity, and I had some trouble getting light into it. But it will do for an exercise.

Another case of poor photography. One of the downsides of finishing late at night is that the lighting is really bad for photography. But it gives you the idea, I hope.

Next project is to finish that chair.

Best wishes,
Liz

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