Wednesday 1 April 2015

Eyes, beaks and a little less punk for WOYWW

My desk this week is pretty bare
and waiting for me to start
back on my bird painting
 I've been madly painting
eyes and beaks this week.
My parrots were living up to their
cheeky, naughty reputation
by fighting me all the way.
I just couldn't get the beak right on the front bird,
I was pulling my hair out at one
stage and all that did was hurt,
me, not the bird. 
After a lot of swearing and threatening 
to wring their rotten necks,
they finally started to co-operate
and the faces were in
They'll need a little bit of tinkering but almost there.
I resisted the urge to add rings through the beaks
as I knew their punkness would be toned down
in class today.
Tone down is an understatement.
Those who know me well, know that I really
hate the colour brown, don't know why,
but we discussed this in class today and the 
general thought was that in the eighties, the colour 
for most houses, both walls and fences was
mission brown.  I don't know if you had that colour overseas
but here in Australia it was everywhere.  If it stood still
it was painted mission brown.  
The trouble was mission brown was the dullest
most ugly brown you've ever seen and my parents
loved it (ugh).  
We think my hatred of this colour stems back to
seeing that awful hue everywhere and
having it burned into my retinas.
My lovely teacher, De decided
I should tone down the punk colour with,
you guessed it, brown....
Of course I hated it, so we compromised and
added some purple, much nicer but still very brown.
As usual and I say this with my eyes rolling,
she was right and the colour was just right.
Sorry about the picture angle and the lights shining.
The pic is still very wet and my arms are very short.
Here's one a bit closer.
My punk birds aren't so punky now.
I bet the top bird can't wait to get his feet painted so
he can land on the branch.  I bet his wings are getting tired,
ha, that'll teach him for making it hard to paint the beak!

Next week I'm going to turn up to class with
"Yes De, you were right"
written on my forehead,
that way I can just flash it at her each time she is right,
AGAIN!!   (sigh)
Well, that's my week and desk.
If you visit
you can see what's on the other desks
around the world today.

 


 




16 comments:

  1. I have the horrors at the thought of mission brown as well... Our back balcony was painted that disgusting colour and too this day I hate it as well... As for the painting... It looks fabulous and it is just popping off the canvas how. I know you worked hard at this one but the results have been amazing...xx

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  2. These birds are amazing!! They really are beautiful and so alive! In the UK, most buildings are brick. Most Decks and fences are made of timber, so mission brown isn't something I grew up around... That said, brown and beige, in fact all neutral colours I find so...blah! So I do know what you mean! They have their place though in art don't they and sometimes using something 'blah' makes the other colours sing out all the more :0)

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  3. Ah, not Australian Mission Brown, but that fashion was definitely replicated here - it's taken me years to come around to even vaguely thinking of brown as an potion inmy colour palette for anything! De was right...but hey - you took her advice and that makes you Mrs Flexible and right as well!

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  4. Oh Vonny it was in the paneling and the walls the fences even the enamel cookware and plates etc. I'm with you brown not so good but you sure do make up for it now with your beautiful work and wonderful colorful world. I love your art as for the cockies they are everywhere making a load of noise. Gotta love Australia.

    I hope you have a wonderful Easter.

    Happy WOYWW
    Hugs Eliza & Yoda 41

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  5. I don't like brown either and yet I know, after getting my 'colours' analysed nice, that I am autumn and so my clothes should be sludgy tones....nooooooooooo, I won't do it, you can't make me!
    It's so annoying when someone else is proved right isn't it?! That gets right up my nose! The cockies are looking great :-)
    Sorry I didn't make it back to your desk last week, have had a lot on with my aged pa.
    Hugs, LLJ 4 xx

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  6. That's interesting about your dislike of brown. We have just bought a new car and wanted to avoid grey for a change. The salesman suggested brown and I thought No! No! No! I cannot stand brown cars but luckily my husband doesn't like them either so we got red!
    Loving your birds and pleased you did not wring their necks Lol!
    Hope you have a great easter and happy woyww, Angela x 29

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  7. Love your birds, they are so colourful, we had brown and beige at home, I suppose it was trendy back then, I love purples and terracotta for some reason
    Happy Easter
    Jan s. No 59

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  8. Your birds are beautiful - I loved them before the brown and thought they were pretty much perfect, so I'm amazed at the difference the brown has made - they really are stunning! I really must stand up for brown, I think it's getting a bad deal here and it's one of my favourite colours - I go for anything earthy, sludgy and ochre-ish !! Hope you have a great week,
    Diana #32

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  9. That's one thing I've learned about color: to get a nice piece, you probably have to incorporate some colors that would be ugly all by themselves. It's how the colors work together to get you the look you want that's important.

    Btw, I LOVE the colors in the first painting.

    Happy Woyww,

    Sandy #48

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  10. I think I have an inkling of what mission brown is like. There were a lot of houses here painted this dull blah brown color when we moved here in the 80s, supposed to blend into the desert I guess but it was too blah and no life to it to do anything but stick out. The birds are fabulous! And I do feel or see their brownness. Darn them for being naughty though! Judy #60

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  11. Your punk birds are looking awesome. I don't remember brown everywhere here in the states. I feel the same way about orange! lol
    April #55

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  12. These are turning out just stunningly!
    I remember kitchens in the 60s and 70s all having harvest gold, avocado green, or coppertone brown. :)

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  13. Absolutely stunning birds and good on you for taking up the suggestion even though your whole body says NO to brown.
    sandra de @35

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  14. Beautiful colors. Thanks for a fun am coffee break. Wishing you and yours a Blessed Easter.

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  15. I had to google Mission Brown - I understand you now. It makes things ugly. Thats all. But your parrots live! Happy Easter!
    Hugs
    Gabriele 19

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I really love getting comments but due to a high amount of spam I had to take the anonymous user off of the comments. Sorry to those who can't leave a comment.
Thanks, Von.