Will this confuse you?

I will explain my absence and my lack of posting. Life has been as busy as it can be over the last 12 months and in May I got married and became a mum of three extra kiddies. Lucky me! With commitments spread over many areas including my graphic & web work, CRE teaching & church activities, family and art, I have been stretched pretty thin. Life is far from boring.

My question is this: Now I am married do I change my name again? It is given that I want to take on my husband’s family name, however do I change it on my paintings? Will people find me and my work if I start changing my website and blog etc? What do I do will selling all the ones with old signatures on them? Do I sell them off cheaply and start again? What are your thoughts???

P.S I can’t remember my twitter password etc so I haven’t been able to tweet LOL

Camberwell Show Meet Up

I am off the the Camberwell Art Show tomorrow morning. It is a great day out meeting up with fellow artists and scanning the paintings for those extra stunning works. I didn't enter this year but intend to next year for sure. The morning off may well inspire me in preparation for the next few weeks of Landscaping!

Yesterday we went to Dandenong station to ride on the old steam train. My main motivation was for material and time with family. Now back with several nice pics i am itching to do a watercolour or 2!

New Season

Life has many seasons. I am not talking about the weather I am referring to the seasons of our lives. I am about to enter a new season in a few ways. Recently engaged, I am soon to marry my wonderful guy on the 9^th of May this year. I have been blessed with three additional fantastic kids who are just as excited as we are about the union. I call them my bonus babes as they are bonus to the 2 children I already have been blessed with. God has blessed me in many ways in recent years and although ever-changing life is great.

The reason for my interruption in posting and to my newsletter has been the business in all the changes in my life. This week I have finished working in the Christian school I worked for a couple days a week to spend more time on my graphic and web design business which has grown over the past 18 months and in my new role as wife and mum to 5 kids! I also started teaching CRE this past month which demands a bit of my time.

I can concentrate on my art a bit more and hopefully get more active on here, get my video teaching material up and running etc. I also am attending a publishing seminar next month to equip me with the information in regard to my writing and illustration projects. Who knows what this year will bring? Many adventures I am sure!

My zany Ian & Me on my birthday in March 2009

Victorian Fires - Ways to help

Devastation & Loss
What a week it has been in Victoria. The bush fires have been devastating. Never have we seen fires like these. Lives lost, homes destroyed and business/livelihood lost. It is a sad time for so many in Victoria. I have friends still waiting and praying their homes are safe and the feeling of helplessness is enormous. I was reflecting on the Marysville fires yesterday with concern for the restoration in that area. Marysville was a pretty little town in Victoria in a fairly remote area. It relied on the tourist trade and now that the businesses have been burnt to the ground, many of the residents are left without means of income. Even if they rebuild through insurance claims the time out will be financially challenging. It is like a war zone there.

Ways to help:
Power in Prayer:
I believe there is great power and hope in prayer and I ask all who read this to please pray for the families of lost ones and that the weather brings more rain and less wind to help the situation.

Buy Groceries:
This Friday, Coles supermarkets are donating all profits to the Fire Relief and so I encourage everyone to shop on Friday 13^th February and stock up your pantries to help with the financial relief. Good on you Coles!

Bid for a Painting on Ebay:
In addition to my personal contribution I would like to donate some art for the fund and will be posting some paintings for sale on here. All proceeds will be donated to this cause also. Buyers can bid on Ebay. Please check back over the next couple day to see what I post for sale on Ebay. Remember any bid will be a contribution toward helping these people.

We face a few challenges of late with the economy slowing up and floods and fires in Australia, but it is amazing how much a nation has cope with when we band together and support one another. I encourage everyone to think about how they can contribute and to act on it.

For those suffering the most I pray you reach out to the most powerful resource you can ever have. Have hope in God Almighty and pray even if you haven’t prayed before. Jesus will hear your prayers. Faith of a mustard seed can be heard from a God who loves everyone of us no matter where we are or who we are. God Bless you all!

Want to get back up - watch this

One of the biggest secrets to motivation.

I have had an absolutely awesome start to 2009. I am charged and ready for the best year of my life. The past few years have been challenging and very busy and this Christmas break I decided to get stuck into a life plan and act on it.

Over the past 18 months or so I have been steadily going through my home trying to rid myself of clutter and unnecessary attachment to “stuff”. I have managed to rid myself of a truck load of things….Don’t ask me how it fitted into my home!

I bought a book titled “It’s all too much” by Peter Walsh for a gift at Christmas for someone who seriously needed to de-clutter and organise their environment. I ended up reading it myself. This book gave me the additional leverage to get really serious with my own environment. Consequently I have spent 5 days (so far) over my break, going through each room, every cupboard and corner of my home, removing anything that was not necessary in my life. Filling my garbage bins and frequently visiting the local Opportunity Shop.

How good does it feel?...Absolutely fantastic! The freedom you get from condensing your “stuff” and having room for everything is awesome and can you believe it, I even have several empty drawers and cupboards. Next on the agenda is my shed and the spare room (or should I say store room?) and I am done – whoo hoo I say!

In his book Peter says that – ‘You must first "imagine the life you want to live", so you can then ensure that everything in your home will help move your life vision forward.’

I realised I had emotional attachments to some items of the past that I put off sorting through and have been able to go through it and deal with and move on. This is a bondage that I need to be free of. Memories should be treasured but I agree that holding onto some things is not so healthy.

Peters also points to the reality of what is important to you and what is not. He says ‘If you value an item, it should get honour and respect - not be buried in dust or shoved in a plastic bag somewhere.’ Think about this one for a minute. How much stuff do we collect that we hardly look at. How much stuff have we stored away that will be lucky to see the light of day and how well do we look after it? It may be safe and dry but are we really appreciating it? Do we really need it?

Yes this has been a healthy start to 2009. I have a little time off for rest and when I get back to full-time work I know all that my living and working environment has been de-cluttered, re-organised and my mind can concentrate on other things. 'Out of sight / out of mind' has been turned into 'Out of site and GONE FOR GOOD!'…Hallelujah

The true meaning of Christmas

Christmas time can be a wonderful opportunity to give with love. The commercialism of Christmas is a shame. I must admit I love giving pressies to those I love - I get a real buzz out of it, but this year I have decided to share the giving a bit further. A few opportunities have come my way and given me the opportunity to bless others and this in itself is a blessing to me. Today a friend emailed me a link and I would like to share it with you as i feel it is a wonderful way for anyone to experience Christmas with more love.

After watching the video on www.adventconspiracy.org I quickly realized the importance of fresh water. As noted in the video, the fact that lack of fresh water kills more people than anything is something to pay attention to. When you consider that $450 Billion was spent in America last year on Christmas gifts and an estimated 10 billion is what it would take to supply clean water to everyone. If I was to spend $450 on gifts at Christmas, then only $10 would be enough to make a difference. Image if we all did it???

Quoting the website: www.adventconspiracy.com “ $10 will give a child clean water for LIFE!”

If we spent more on personalising our gift giving with time, handmade gifts or acts of live, we could use at least some of the money saved on helping the poorest people on earth. At the same time we are restoring or building the close relationships we have.

We often take for granted what others depend on for survival – CLEAN WATER.

The donations are handled by Living Water International and I have also offered an oil painting as a draw prize for anyone who contributes to this fundraiser via my page. http://www.firstgiving.com/kayleenwest The winner will be announced publicly on my blog once the fundraising page time has expired. I will also note anyone contributing as a Thank you.

Gift Certificate for Christmas Donations

I encourage everyone to watch the short video and visit my fundraising page. Where you will find a link to download a Christmas certificate I created, should you wish to bless someone with a gift of love on their behalf.

The power of your words can make a difference

Do you want to achieve more for your life? One simple step could be the power in the things you say.

It has been proven scientifically that words have energy and significant power. It can begin with our thoughts but the words we think create our actions. Are you disempowering yourself with negative language and the words around you? By replacing your negative language with positive language things can really change.
We all must learn that not only what we think but also what we speak creates much of our outcomes in life.

Being conscious of our mind talk and making alterations can make a difference.

Watch the video below and see how words changed the composition of water. I found the video below after searching the Internet for a video that related to a book I have and found astounding. The book is called "The power of appreciation" by Dr Noelle C. Nelson and Dr Jeannine L Calaba. I highly recommend it. It is not a Christian book.

For anyone interested in what the Bible says on this matter check out this link: http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=640

Positive & Negative Energy Effects on Water

This video interviewing Dr Masary Emoto who did the studies on the video above is also enlightening. I was particularly surprised of the suggestion that the words on cigarette packets where more damaging than the actual cigarettes!

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=rZDOPQRdxJM

Artistic Conviction

Slow but I will get there...

I receive emails from an art business group in which I am a member. I pop in when I can and have a quick read up on our group and I commend everyone who has stayed active and kept this group going. Even though I frequent the group less often than I would like, and contribute even less (due to my recent inactivity re: art), it does keep me in touch. I have managed to paint 3-4 paintings over the last six months which I really enjoyed however graphic design keeps me so busy and does take priority. My last baby has recently flown the nest and I am a grieving mum. I miss my daughter heaps but I guess now I can only think about how the next stage of my life might be.

Growing Passion...

Recently I have become more involved C.O.M with different things related to helping the poor in India. God has put this on my heart. I have used my graphic skills to help in this area as well but I would like to utilise my painting skills in some way. We have so much and are so blessed and they have so little. An extension group of C.O.M manage a quilt making project which I was about to donate materials to but have considered spending some work time manually helping as well. The group has a blog called "Quilts for Orphans" which I read tonight after an email request from Susan. I was was truly touched. It is amazing what a difference a handful of people can make in the lives of the less fortunate.

I am judging an art show tomorrow but apart from that no real arty things to report. YET!

We have great potential but…

Although I sleep restfully these days, I sometimes go through patches of sleeplessness, as I did last night. I eventually got up around 4am and sat outside. I found myself looking up at the sky in awe. Last night was so clear you could see millions of shining stars and now and then I could spot a shooting star.

Recently I watched a video called “How great is our God” by Louie Giglio, in which the enormity of our planet was demonstrated with imagery beyond comprehension. The sizes of some planets are enormous and dwarf the planet we call home. Some planets literally make our earth look like a pin prick on a medicine ball. I marvelled at the incredible space before me and the thousands of stars that have been created. I thought to myself how incredible our creator really is and wondered (although hard to comprehend) if the stars were there to demonstrate how big God really is. Then I thought to myself, that although we are so small, God has made us in His image; complex and potentially astounding beings. The presence and achievements of some human beings impact this world tremendously. We all have so much potential but how much do we waste?

All of us could confess to wasting time, relationships, opportunities, gifting and talents. With each day we are blessed, we have a choice to use it well or to waste it. Every hour we make a decision to be productive or not. It may not be a concourse decision but we still choose.

I would consider myself a fairly self-motivated person, however I thought about how much of my life, has been squandered or mismanaged. How much better could I live my life if I took the time to appreciate the days given to me more and reflected more on how I spend them; what my true priorities really are? If we truly value time, then surely we would use it better, and for greater good in our lives and the lives of others we love.

Although sleepless nights or restlessness can put us in a place of discomfort at times, I often wonder if this is a positive thing. If our mind is active and needs to process matters, then surely surrendering to this time, treating it as an opportunity to reflect would produce revelations and possibly solutions to our wonderings. Often we insist on filling all our time with business and noise or distraction but are we wasting golden opportunity? I know for me these times often result in awareness, revelation or problem solving. If I didn’t have quiet moments of reflection my journey would be slower and more challenging than it need be. Perhaps I need even more?

Carlie - Portrait Demo in Oil

Carlie: Finished Portrait in Oil

On Saturday 6th September I demonstrated oil portrait painting at for the Sherbrooke Art Society. I decided to do a child's portrait as children are difficult to paint and i thought it would be a good thing to demonstrate for the members.

I painted the portrait in minimal colours and finished the painting in my studio as an hour and a half demonstration is far from enough time to complete a portrait in oil.

I have uploaded a two page PDF of the stages for anyone who would like to see the progress photos.

DOWNLOAD PDF - DEMO: Portrait in Oil - Carlie

Colours used were:

• Terra Rossa (similar to Indian Red)
• Ivory Black
• Titanium White
• Sky Blue

School DL Flyer Design For Open Day

I am posting another flyer design for Mountain District Christian School. This design was aimed at the different age groups rather than the previous designs that where designed to attract the preps. I still incorporated colour to catch the eye as I find this an appealing aspect for designs related to children.

Flyer Design: Mountain District Christian School - Front

Flyer Design: Mountain District Christian School - Back

The school wanted some attention to the preschooler’s “Scamps” club so I made this dominate the back of the flyer.

Oil Portrait Painting In Progress

Oil Portrait Painting - Timothy (Work In Progress)

This week I have been working on an oil portrait painting of my son. At this stage of the painting I have worked the painting over four days and although I have some glazing to do on the face and the hands are only half finished I thought I would post the progress photo at this stage. I need to work on the blanket Tim is sitting on as it was pointed out to me that it looks like teeth and it does!

I will post all the stages of the portrait painting in my next newsletter with information on the stages of the painting. I should have the portrait completed by then.

Portrait Oil Painting Tutorial

As promised I am posting the portrait I started in Thrornton last weekend. I have documented the process for you also.

Below is the finished oil painting
First Sitting – 20 minutes.

Colours Used:

• Black
• Raw Sienna
• Yellow Ochre
• Mars Violet
• Terra Rosa
• Cadmium Red
• cadmium Yellow Pale
• Cobalt Blue
• Titanium White

Faced with a white canvas I want to get the oil painting started quickly as I began blocking in the main darks using black and Raw Sienna with more Umber in the skin areas. I do a lot of squinting to block out details and get a feel of the largest and most important shapes. I use the black as little as possible until I have established most of the drawing as I want to place the darkest darks in this sitting.

The background was darks and so placing a dark tone around the oil sketch early gave me a better reflection of the tones in the portrait. I took a photo of the sitter at this stage while his expression was still animated.

Second Sitting – 20 minutes.

While the sitter was taking a break I covered the white areas of the canvas in the background and in the clothing. When we settled into the second sitting I started on the colours I the face establishing the lighter areas and back into the darkest darks. The first two sittings are probably always appear fast as the form comes to life but the next stage of the painting is more difficult as all the errors become apparent and from here in it is a matter of adjusting until every thing is in the right place.

Third Sitting – 20 minutes.

Using more colours I did lots of adjustments in the face, in particular, the nose and mouth area in this sitting. This time was spent getting more familiar with the sitter’s features. It takes quite a while to tune in and my sitter was getting tired.

Fourth Sitting – 20 minutes.

Adding more details and adjustments until my sitter expired.

Fifth Sitting – No model – Approx 4 Hours.

When I got the painting home and looked at my reference photo I could see so many things wrong with the painting. I began working on the painting and after a few hours ended up with a much better likeness and better skin colours but something was not right so I took a break to just sit a look.

Sixth Sitting – No model – Approx 15 minutes.

I returned to my canvas that evening after realising I had placed the whole mouth and chin section too low. This is something I often misjudge. I tend to make the section between under the nose and the top of the lips too long and have to repaint it. I spent fifteen minutes blocking the correct shape over this area. It is tempting to leave things be when you have a likeness and have done all that work but I knew I could do better with a bit of patience and observation. I wanted to do more this night but I had lost good light and my painting area would have let me down as I don’t have a decent studio space at the moment so I waited for the morning.

Seventh Sitting – No model – Approx 8 Hours.

I can’t remember exactly how long I spent on this stage of the painting, but it did take most of the day. I finally had the base to work on and the hours to tune into what I was seeing. This is where the best painting was done and I ended up with better, more realistic skin colour and likeness and I was happy not to paint the face any more.

Ninth Sitting – No model – Approx 40 minutes.Portrait of Iain
18x22 inches Oil Painting

I went back into the background with more paint and suggested the clothing a bit more. Iain had several layers of clothing on so it was a little hard to describe in the painting so I tried to paint enough without overstating them. I do prefer to leave this area of the painting sketchy as it leave a nice painterly look when your face is quite detailed.

Thornton Painting Weekend

I finally took a break last week and spent a couple days away painting. It was great to finally scratch my painting itch and get some painting done. This was the kick start I needed as I enter a couple weeks holiday and although I have graphic and web work to do, I intend to get some overdue ‘me time’ in as well.

I spent a few days with a group of art colleagues and their partners in Thornton Victoria; a small township located near Eildon. Artist Ern Trembath kindly offered his large, homely studio for a painting week to a group of artists I mix with (Valley 10). We all immediately fell in love with the huge mud brick studio with its large open fire place and spent our days painting and chatting in front of the fire during our breaks and meals.

I left for Thornton on Friday night and returned home Sunday after photographing around the Thornton property and river and driving across to Eildon to check out the Eildon dam for photography possibilities. Saturday was my painting day and I made a start on three medium sized oil paintings which I have continued to work on this week. Armed with three 18x22 inch canvases I blocked in two landscapes and one portrait spending a good part of the day on the landscapes and the evening on the portrait.

I will post the painting progress photos as soon as I complete the oil paintings. To be continued…