Of Sky and Sea and a bit of painting

Hi there,
I've enjoyed popping in and out of everyones' blogspots now and then over the past couple of weeks.
It's beaut to read (and see) all the different things that interest bloggers.
I love to read the kind of things that mean a lot to people and to take enjoyment in those shared moments that make us all smile.

Ok, as usual, I never know where to start, so it's diving in time.
Reckon, I'll open with some of the (millions of) pics I've taken from our backyard.
Quite often, in that beautiful late afternoon,  I check the sky - just in case there's a photo opp... of course, there usually is...

On one of our trips to the water, we stopped off at Kalimna Jetty (near Lakes Entrance, Victoria).
You can see the jetty by looking back down the path we'd taken.

A bit of a re-allocator of bits and pieces, I couldn't resist taking some shells - they look lovely in the garden amongst musthave shells from other jaunts :D)

Can you see the crab?  I nearly missed him.

He was a bit shy, but we had the time to wait....

... and we were rewarded.  He (or she), slowly emerged.

So gorgeous.  Definitely a future subject for another painting. I love those colours.

As you may know, I've been dabbling with paints over the past while.
I like to talk about it now and then in my posts as it has come to form a large part of my life.
If you're ever thinking of doing the same, I heartily recommend it.  It's fun, it's like being a kid again!

I did get a bit bogged down in the "Just a Passing Thought" painting that I've displayed over on my sidebar.
I wanted to draw fish with stripes and have them all shimmery as I'd seen in photos...  oh boy, it wasn't working though (grrrrr  grumpy tamtrumy susan)(see what I mean about being a kid again!!) as you'll see in a few of my attempts:

All worked out when I watched B from the naive art group I attend.  She devised a clever little method of scratching paint to reveal an under colour.  Brilliant!!

So, time to re-do.
I painted my fish white, let them dry, then painted the top halves black and while the paint was wet, just drew the stick through, revealing the white... making stripes.  Had to work quickly though before the black paint dried (I use acrylics).

I learnt another lesson too.  If something isn't working, there's such a thing as artistic license - lol - these fish ended up being nothing like the photos I'd used as reference, but the black and white worked for me!

Thanks for taking the time to visit.  Cheerio for now :D)

Reminiscing - back in Thailand

Looking through photos of our trip to Thailand a while back, I wanted to share (another) nice experience of our time there.

We were at the Ban Huack (Thai/Laos) Border Market and I saw this lady who I immediately wanted to photograph.
I held my camera up, pointed to it and smiled - this is what I always did before taking photos of people. Mostly everyone would agree to a photo, if not that was cool too. I liked to ask first though.

However, there were several other people with the same idea... and with no pleases or thankyous pushed in front of me and literally shoved their cameras in her face clicking away.
I felt ashamed to be near them and was sorry for her.  She certainly showed her displeasure too, lowered her head and wouldn't look at them.

As I walked off, I took a look back and to my joy saw that she'd turned away from them and gave me a most beautiful smile as you can see here.  It made my day.  I hope it makes yours!

Such a smile on her beautiful face - no words were needed. We understood each other.