Blueberries aren’t really all that blue, but they are really yummy!

I’m not sure why they call them blueberries. Do they look blue to you? They’re more of a blackish grey colour, with the tiniest, tiniest, little hint of blue. When they’re ripe, they’re black. When they’re not quite ripe, they’re purple, and when they’re really not ripe, they’re green.

And when they stain your bedsheets, they’re yellow…

Maybe it’s just this particular type of blueberries.

I was eating some while sitting in bed last night. I didn’t realise I dropped any, until I put my hand down, and I was like “ewww what’s this wet mushy thing”. Turns out, I had dropped a blueberry.I couldn’t be bothered changing my sheets at that point in time. I thought I’d just do it in the morning.

Oh yeah, I forgot I was going to do that. I should probably do that…. After I write this.

Anyway, we went blueberry picking yesterday, so we have (had) heaps of blueberries. They have slightly diminished since then…

 

So this is the painting I was working on a few days ago. This painting was frustrating me quite a bit. So I thought I’d just give it a break and go to bed. But then I remembered….

… I remembered this stuff I had: Atelier binder medium. Which is pictured with the painting.

I can’t believe I’ve never really tried using mediums with my paints before, until school finished. Then I bought a heavy gloss gel medium, and a texture medium, the latter has also been used extensively in this painting (not that you can tell from this photo). And now I’m addicted to mediums.

Binder medium’s primary purpose is ‘to prepare surfaces to acrylic and oil painting’. It’s for if, say you want to do an acrylic painting on glass or something. Rather than on canvas.

But it also says, that it “may be added directly to paint to increase gloss and create translucent glazes”. Which is what I’ve been doing. And I love it. Once I started using this stuff… I was just loving painting the painting that I was previously finding frustrating. I’m used to just adding plain water to paint, if I want to thin it out. But this stuff added to acrylic instead of water is amazing. It completely changes the feel of the paint. Sorta makes it more like oil painting, you know how oil paints are really slick and blendy. Except with this stuff, it doesn’t take for ever to dry, (like oil).

I dunno how to describe it properly, but seriously. It’s like magic.

I can’t believe I went through half the bottle in that one sitting. I got too happy and excited. I think I was a bit over zealous. I was just dousing everything with it.

I think I’ll be a bit more sparing with it, since it is rather costly, definitely more expensive than water.

$16.50 for that 250ml bottle. I’m thinking of buying a 2L bottle Chromacryl Binder Medium for around $50 dollars. Which is infinitely cheaper per ml than the other stuff I’ve been using. Of course the stuff I was using before is a higher end product. Atelier and Chromacryl are actually made by the same people, just the Chromacryl brand is for students, and the Atelier brand is for professionals. But I think it will still work the same. Not sure though.

Or I was thinking of getting a 3.78L bottle of Golden Acrylic Glazing liquid. Which would last me a lifetime, and I think would have a similar effect on the paint. The main difference being, that it’s slow drying compared to the binder medium. I’m not sure that I like slow drying. I’m a pretty impatient person. It sounds like it would be really good stuff though.

That painting that I posted isn’t finished by the way… But I’ve been working on a surprise present for my grandmother’s birthday, so that painting is getting a little break.

Ok I should probably go wash my sheet with the yellow blueberry stain now.

The taste of summer.

So I know I said my next post was going to be about Atelier Binder Medium. And binder medium in general. But then I had corn.

And not just any corn. ‘Jagung Bakar’. Which is quite popular in Indonesia. I think. I remember having it in Indonesia at least. Hang on, I think I’ve got a photo.

My roof is creaky. Ok it just stopped creaking. No wait it started again.

here it is. I found it! wow this was actually around the same time as last year as well. It was the 13th of Jan 2010. I wish I could say it was exactly a year ago.

I’d actually forgotten how good this stuff is. I’m not really a corny person. So I was like, nah I’m actually quite full. I don’t really want one. But then somehow. I ended up having one anyway.

And then another one.

It is officially the best way to have corn.

So go to Pak’n'Save and get some corn.

And then you basically barbeque it whilst brushing on some salt water. I think that’s the process. And turn it often.

But if you want to do it the traditional way….

well you will need one of these thingies. I don’t know what they are called. And you will need to squat over it and fan it with a fan.

All of mine were done on a normal barbeque though. And they were amazing.

I think something is living in my roof. That’s what it sounds like.

So I’m looking forward to more barbequed corn this summer.

Or barbequed mushrooms???? hmmm…

I’m also looking forward to avondale! I need to start looking for flights.

Perhaps the following blog post will be about Atelier Binder Medium.

New Year. New Blog. (not that I really had an old one)

So today I was sitting in my newly converted art studio space… working on a painting. Talking to myself, as I do. Well not really. I wasn’t talking out loud to myself. Just in my head. (I never bother talking aloud to myself.) Then it occured to me. That I should start my blog, and get my thoughts out, instead of keeping them in my head. Practice my writing skills, which I otherwise might forget. Although this isn’t going to be very polished/skillful writing. More, whatever pops into my head type thing. Writing out my thoughts.

Anyway. My life isn’t that super interesting that everyone will want to read my blog and find out about my latest adventures in the super exciting city called Palmerston North. (I actually love Palmerston North)  But I don’t actually care. I don’t really care if other people read it or not. I’ve never really been worried about what others think. Well maybe I shouldn’t say never.

I have no idea what time it is right now.

Probably fairly late at night.

When I let my laptop run out of battery, when I turned it back on today, it went spastic and now thinks the date is 1st of January 7:48pm.

Well I guess that makes this blog post rather appropriate . Since… according to my computer, it is New Years Day.

I do quite like sharing my thoughts with others. But Facebook’s status update has a maximum of 420 characters. I resorted to writing out my statuses as ‘notes’ for some time. But now that I have this. I can write as many characters as I like. Hurrah!

I never did bother to think up some New Years resolutions. But maybe this is my computer giving me a second chance: I have decided. That I am going to keep a blog.

And actually blog.

Once upon a time. I think it was in Year 8 or something. I had my own website, with a blog. Not that I ever blogged. I’m not really sure what the whole point of that website was. I guess it didn’t actually have one. I think I just made it ‘cos my sister made one. And I liked copying my sister back then… My sister was my role model. If she didn’t like something, well i didn’t like it either.

I even used to try and wear the same clothes as her, or as close as I could get. She got quite annoyed at that.

In between then. I have attempted numerous photoblogs. (well I shouldn’t say numerous. more like a few, a couple, just numerous sounds more dramatic.

Well I am in the process of creating a new website. It will be for my art and photography. I was going to start the blog at the same time. But I feel like starting it now.

This blog will be a blog of photos, art, and random (and sometimes lengthy) thoughts.

I think this blog post is already lengthy enough.

I might save the rest of my thoughts for tomorrows post.

next post will be on my new love. (atelier binder medium)

oh and…my hands feel dry…( i think I washed them too much, whilst washing my brushes)

wow. my computer just miraculously snapped back to the correct date and time…

so it’s currently Friday the 7th of January 12:17AM.

oh one more thing.

i cant believe i’m not sleepy yet. and I woke up at like 3.00AM this morning. Must be the heat…