Payne's Grey watercolour skies

Payne's grey:

a dark blue-grey pigment/colour used in painting.

Saturday was one of those hot, humid, hazy early summer days that ended in a rapid drop in temperature. The afternoon sky became heavy and distant growls promised a shower to cool the on-coming evening.

With the flurry of next-day market preparations over, hubby suggested a picnic tea in one of our favourite parks.

Something so simple just makes everything seem, and taste, so good – and was very welcome.

Spontaneous moments.

To top it all off, wondrously dark grey clouds began to glower overhead, drawing a swelling, swirling, charcoal veil over the dusk blue sky. 

There’s something about clouds. I love them. Amorphous, wispy, billowy, celestial marshmallows.

They can portend storms, herald a cool change and give our inner child the chance to dream awhile as we gaze up at them, imagining shapes and making up stories from their ever-changing forms. Yes, I’m such a dreamer :)

And, fair weather cumulus clouds are a landscape artist’s ideal, lending charm, character and atmosphere to their work.

These photos were taken just before 9pm as we took a final walk around the grounds. Apologies for the rather grainy photos – I forgot to put my camera on night setting.

a portal peering through to the twilight blue 

 here, I imagined a large, leaden zeppelin looming ominously overhead

taken from the car on the way home

  star light, star bright, first star I see tonight…

Things have a way of happening fortuitously sometimes. The next day, I found my stall site was next to an artist who paints wonderful watercolours.

Vivienne Hayes artwork is inspired by the beauty of her homeland, New Zealand, and the suburban streetscapes around Melbourne, where she now calls home.

The interesting perspectives on her everyday scenes, juxtaposed with her trademark clouds, capture micro-moments in time forever.
Vivienne takes the often mundane, well weathered and worn and makes them even more beautiful through her painterly eyes.

I was particularly drawn to the concertina cards, which she calls her “cloud street” series. These are one-of-a-kind, hand painted originals, and each one is only 7cm x 7cm.

marvellous miniature masterpieces

photo with kind permission from Vivienne Hayes

and, I am now the proud owner of this series

my photo

 

The natural beauty of her skies and the linear, often architectural, man-made elements, compliment each other so well. They are painted in such a way that neither dominate the scene. Allowing appreciation of both without distraction.


And, who wouldn’t like a set of Christmas cards with simply lovely, subtle, ethereal trees such as this?

photo with kind permission from Vivienne Hayes

I’m hoping Vivienne will bring out printed sets for next year.

If you’d like to see more of Vivienne’s work, please check out her blog at http://burntumberbyviv.blogspot.com.au/

And so, I have to bring my own head down from the clouds and prepare. I have just been notified that there is a vacancy for a stall at the final Christmas markets next Sunday and have put my hand up for it!  No rest for me :)

Bye for now, see you with some of my market pics next post!