No problems...a PM stays in your Out Box/Sent Items until I the recipient notices the RED message warning and Open it to read...Server for The Forum...and another server for The Blogs/Gallery I suspect...

Hi Phil, I'm doing well. How are you. I was planning to send you a message, but I keep getting the dreaded 'Server Error'. I'll keep trying. I'll be in touch.

Hi how are you doing?

Hi Alan have left you a private message on the forum...I don't know if you have been on there before but if not...log on go straight to forums and if you havn't registered do so and then you are away...I also looked in your gallery and left some comments keep doing what you are doing it's wonderful work

Hi Alan I know I'm a pain in the ass but havn't heard from you in ages...hope your busy with exhibitions and selling work and making more and not down with something awful

Hi Alan and congratulations on your sale must be a wonderful feeling...will you ask your wife if she will rent you out although hubby does help and can cook our thing is he does the garden and I do the inside Nana cooks twice a week I won't eat it but so long as Hubby gets something in his belly he's happy...I'm feeling much better now although still on antibiotics I thought when I dragged myself out of bed this morning that I was having a relapse but that passed thank goodness and I was able to clean this house...I'll be glad when we can move to somewhere smaller...my Pilbara Landscape is coming on now after the third attempt...I got the first of the dreaded greens in last night so now it's just a matter of building on them with the darker greens...I'm leaving the tree til last because it's the focal point and although whitish has a lot of shadows almost like snow...I'll use the nib for a lot of the tree and scarp...I'm not posting it as a work in progress I seem to jinx myself when I do that...I admit I'm beginning to enjoy painting again and can't wait to get them out each night...well Alan off for a bit of tea so good luck with any exhibitions you have this weekend and of course jobs

Hi Alan just caught your message before I logged off...sorry to hear about you job...hope they pay you redundancy money but then that dosn't pay the bills for ever does it...Hubby has been in the same job since 1975 he's a Vehicle Examiner for the State Government and because of this recession they are busier than ever with the cops putting old cars off the road...or expensive cars people can no longer afford to maintain...there was a Mercedes in a week ago hardly ever see them over the pits as we call it here woman's car to drop and pick kids up from school...boy is she in for a shock...she was so abusive that her Hubby rang and apologised next day...Daughter works for the same authority that's nepotism for you and she's permanent too and really busy for the same reasons...Hubby hates it now and dosn't want to work anymore but another couple of years and his Super gets much bigger so it's worth it...enjoy your breakfast hope you have some black pudding I love the stuff...chin well up...I've been informed that I'm doing nothing tomorrow but if I have to have another day in this bl**dy house with Nana I'll be done for murder so I'm off to shop for food that is if Hubby dosn't take my car to work just to keep me home

Hi Alan thanks for your thoughts this past few days have been a bit of a blur so I hope I havn't written anything I shouldn't have...was feeling a bit better but then of course over did it and now on the road down again but still better than yesterday...thank goodness for antibiotics...have a big pot of soup in the crock pot lots of legumes and vegetables so good tucker for sick people...Nana won't eat it because well you know what beans and barley do to you...I don't care I love legumes...going to try a bit of painting tonight hoping the temperature helps me see things differently

Hi Alan had to go to the Doc today and yes it's pneumonia so I'm holed up at home under strict instructions to rest...two different types of strong antibiotics...Hubby is at hand to look after me...I can't remember the last time I felt so pathetically sick and burst into tears at the Doc's when she took my temp and said. "Whoa." I thought I'm dying...Hubby can take some time off otherwise it would be hospital...I have just been prompted by Hubby to log off and get to bed so for once I think I'll do as I'm told...talk later

Hi Alan yes she's home and yes she's annoying the bejaysus out of me...fortunately I can't hear most of it because whatever Daughter and I have is making me even deafer suits me...I did a little painting last night and was dreading looking at it this morning given the fever I had but surprisingly it looked quite good so maybe painting with a fever isn't such a bad thing...hope all your preparations go well...and you sell some at your next outing...must off now it's late as usual

Hi Alan good luck with any artistic ventures you are having this weekend...well you wouldn't believe it but Nana is home as if nothing ever happened...from Tuesday when we sat for 1/2 hour on the bottom of the drive with her dying in front of our eyes her veins collapsing...I've never seen a Para-Medic take so long trying to get a line in...they pumped her full of antibiotics and have sent her home with two really strong ones...my advice is don't go near hospitals they make you sick...Daughter and I have pulled up with a doozey big fevers and aches and pains, dizzy, zingy head burger...so we're off to the Dr's Monday just to make sure we havn't turned into swines...I'm still off on my Saturday jaunt though there's no way after the week I've had that I'm staying home...so because I'm a really generous person I've decided that I will share my germs just as someone shared them with me...well Alan again good luck and I'm off to bed

Hi Alan thanks for that I've updated my blog on her condition...she has pneumonia and is on an antibiotic drip...she is a lot more lucid today but I'm not sure...she phoned me wanting to come home...I've informed the family in UK so it's standby at the moment...I wouldn't have given you tuppence for her yesterday...but yes it was lovely to have the house to myself today...and she will probably be back by the weekend annoying me...I hope so anyway otherwise I won't have anything to whinge about...good luck for anything you may have at the weekend

Hey Alan glad you are OK and working and I hope lots of people come along with full purses...thanks for your advice it worked I had stretched a new piece of paper and put a sketch in but couldn't put the brush to it...last night the computer was playing up but I got your message through my email and got the sketch out and laid in the washes...I did a little in class today I've put it in my gallery under course work...it's still looks a bit messy but that will change with time...good luck for lots of sales with your exhibitions

Hi Alan just a quicky to check in havn't heard form you in a while so hope you are busy and not sick

Hi Alan just a quicky to check in havn't heard form you in a while so hope you are busy and not sick

Hi Alan just a quickie to wish you luck for any exhibitions you have over this weekend...I'm about to give watercolour the heave hoe except for class...I used to be able to just do it...I'm using them like oils or acrylics so off comes the third piece of paper and a fresh start tomorrow night ...I'm bl**dy determined that this scene isn't going to get the better of me...still all a learning curve and what's a bit of paper...have a good weekend

Hey Alan bedtime for me is about 2am terrible night owl...it isn't until after 9pm that I get any peace...what with all the house stuff and cooking which I hate I'm unfortunately a good cook wish I wasn't...Mum-in-Law lives with us and she could talk under concrete so getting anything done throughout the day is out...tomorrow is cleaning day...Mum-in-Law cooks something although I don't eat it but so long as Hubby gets something in his belly that's all that matters...I can't seem to be able to get things right with the painting at the moment...overworking everything...I have to go for the tubes up and down everywhere soon but because I suffer from Panic Attack Syndrome the Dr wants to admit me for the pre-pack thing...she thinks it may react with my high adrenalin levels...the last time they did tests on me at the local hospital my heart went out of kilter and they nearly got the Cardiologist but I talked them out of it...so I think I would feel safer in hospital just in case...I think this is just getting on my nerves and like a child I think if I close my eyes that it will go away...I'll be glad when it's all over and perhaps they will do something about my iron levels and I can get some energy back...also get some descent paintings done in a reasonable length of time...I thought that painting was beautiful the pose and drapery is lovely...gee that was a blurt wasn't it thought I'd wipe it out but what the heck.

Hey Alan so glad that your model turned out well and that you have plenty of material...has your male model been yet?...had a good day out today picking up some more bargains...now fully kitted out for my friends 50th and picked up some lovely French watercolour paper that they were throwing out...it's cotton and feels lovely...all I can say if this is a recession bring it on

Hi Alan hope every thing goes well with your weekend and you get heaps of red dots on your work...I found a wonderful new colour today...Cerulean Blue, red hue wonderful...it was a series 4 and cost me $20 but I got 10% discount and a free brush of my choosing...so I got a lovely big mop...good to make friends with people in shops you get choices that others don't...the colour I wanted last week was sold out...I didn't buy it because it was a series 4 and $20...I won't wait for a bargain again especially if it's something I really love like that colour...well Alan off now a bit of supper and bed

Hey Alan I must need my bed just caught your reply before I logged off and left a reply for you on my blog blame it on the medication

Hi Alan hope every thing is going to plan...our winter came with a big short dash tonight with a big hail storm tonight we all went out to watch was wonderful...well I havn't started the painting yet but last night I made a chart of all my blues and their mixtures...the conclusion I came that the Western Australian blues I want is Cerulean and Phthalo but I shall build up slowly because they are the sort of colours that can give you a shock at first...going to paint tomorrow night so good luck for the weekend

Hi Alan thanks for your comment on the Aussie Landscape...this Tutor is worth his weight in gold I'm so glad I changed classes...I can just imagine how miserable I would have been in the other one...my problem is that I know how to do these things it's all in my brain somewhere but it's a hell of a job trying to find the information...I'm finding in class that the knowledge is returning and I'm painting naturally and ad-libbing as it were which lets face it is what watercolour is all about...I definitely going to paint tonight...the piggy thing has eased a bit with all of the family...the trouble is that the Government has the life frightened out of us..telling us to go to the Dr at the first flu like symptoms it's as if it's Bubonic Plague...the Dr's on the other hand are saying it's very mild and the real flu is what we should be worrying about...I tend to agree...glad your panic is easing and you are planning...being a life model has always been lucrative even back in the 80's we almost stripped off ourselves when we found out how much they earned...good luck with it all

Hi Alan hope you have got over your weekend and that you are busy at the easel again...my third came of the board again last night so yet again a new piece of paper stretched sketch in etc...it's getting to be a habit but I'll be burgered if I'll let it get the better of me...I went to class today wonderful bery calming...I also picked the brains of my Tutor in regard to Australian blues...he also demonstrated a quick landscape so I've got more of an idea now...I've posted the two weeks of painting on the Pilbara Landscape I'm doing in class in my gallery...there is some green in there but at the moment they are so light that they are not showing up...I got some darks in and a bit of pen work which I love...I thought I was painted out tonight and instead watched a show on art fraud in Australia...god there's some fools out there.

Well many congratulations Alan how wonderful...your career as an artist is certainly building soon you may be able to retire from paid work and take your chances...I think women under 30 probably buy them because that's how they want to look and of course there's nothing like a good nude in a bedroom...well the second painting has gone by the by I've kept it only because I have found the vanishing point...I keep overworking the same piece of sky I can't remember watercolour being so demanding back in the 80's...think they have it out for me...they say that Mark Rothko painted his best when he stopped thinking about it so much so maybe it will work for me...another piece of paper stretched for tonight if I can be bothered...we have just watched Oz and James British beers programme and they were in Ireland what a scream it was...glad you have your inspiration back nothing like a sale to spur you on well off to have a bit of tea now so good luck although I don't think you need it going along in leaps and bounds

Well I gingerly put on the resist and the again gingerly put on the first washes...havn't looked today thought I would leave it until tonight...in my paint box I found a tube of Antwerp Blue which I forgot I had...it looks awful in the tube but I thought I must have bought it for a reason because it wasn't a cheap one...so out it came and out of this awful looking colour came the most beautiful pale aqua just right for the first washes...not as strong as cerulean which is just right from where I want to begin...the dunes have had the first wash in a very diluted yellow ochre...in all of this it's really getting on my nerves all of these pale washes one over the other...just want to bang it in...somehow I don't mind doing this in class...I think like you I'm fed up with it all...after the rocks went in the bin I've been like a burst balloon...still no doubt the enthusiasm will return...good luck with your weekend hope all goes well...perhaps if you sell something your enthusiasm will return...I have found with most things I have tackled that as soon as someone asks me for something or wants what I do I go right off...I would rather do stuff and give it to anyone who wants it and if I get something in return well that's good too

Hi Alan hope your male model turns out OK for goodness sake make him take his socks off I had a bad experience with a male model in the middle of winter...naked he said he was cold and left his socks on needless to say nothing much of any worth got done that night in class...my easel fell over to boot...I just can't get moving but after I talk to you and Phil I'm off and going to paint tonight...might talk later

Hi Alan how are you going with getting work done for your next exhibition?...I have started a new painting on a larger piece of paper...the sketch is in and I had hoped to get some work done on it tonight but time got away as usual...Daughter stayed a while to chat and that to me comes first...tomorrow I shall stretch the paper and begin work with the resist...I must be careful with the blues...although they are very strong here in Oz they certainly arn't as strong as mine turned out so I will be a bit more careful next time and make sure to try out the blues one on top or the other on a separate piece of paper before I commit...funny I can do it in class but I get impatient at home just want it all to come together at once...our winter has at last arrived today...it cooled down very quickly today with some rain...we have a nice fire on tonight...hope we get enough rain we have had very little since last November...must off late again

Hi Alan thanks for the recipe for your burgers I shall give them a try...the way our weather is going we will be barbecuing too...warm again today 26 with a bit of thunder and lightening and a splash of rain which has just made it humid...according to the weather people we are beginning to break records now...probably when winter does come it will be with a vengeance...sitting at home last night I heard an almighty crash which rattles the house...at first I thought earthquake then I thought plane crash but without sirens I quickly forgot it...it turned out a recycling storage unit had exploded and they don't want to take the roof off to extinguish the fire so as not to let any more oxygen in so it may be days before they manage to get it out...just when you think life is dull

Hi Alan me again can I hav the recipe for your burgers they sound fantastic

Hi Alan bet your glad to have a free weekend...good luck for next weekends exhibitions...I jump at a model of any kind for free he will also get some recognition and perhaps work from posing for you...times are hard I think at the moment...I don't have a class tomorrow it's a long weekend Monday being Foundation Day and a public holiday...the blue in my little watercolour had now dimmed as it dried...so I shall look on it as a sketch and label it with what blue not to use...Auzzie blues are so strong so it's trial and error...I will work on it tomorrow tonight and see if I can leech some of the blue out without destroying the paper...well Alan off now to get a bit of tea then get the paints out which I'm really looking forward to for a change...sounds like the weather is good over there at the moment...we are all upside down...it's the first time I have been out at this time of in short sleeves and no coat...our poor Mandarin tree had to be relieved of it's fruit today and it's leaves because of the lack of rain and cold so no photo not a good year for citrus in Australia

Hi Alan hope your weekend got off to a good start...do you have any exhibitions or concerts this weekend? hope all goes well...I started my watercolour for the charity but I think I will use it as a prelude, a sketch to get the colours right...Australian colours are so much brighter especially the blues...also when I stretched the paper I found it a bit small and I'm not used to so small...it's Bockingford 300g so I could only afford the smaller pad...so I'll wait until the next 50% off sale and get a bigger one...so maybe two and let them take their pick...or maybe something different...well Alan as we would say in Oz havvagoodweekend...although the two v's look like a w

Hi Alan thanks for your reply...yes it's smashing to have the Site back to normal...yes the charity is going well...the paper with the sketch and resist on survived the stretching without mishap I'm glad to say...but then there's always more paper and paint so why worry...I admit my confidence has waned a bit I'm going to have to just get laid in...I have studied the blues so I have a good idea where to start...Daughter came over tonight so it got too late to paint...and I have a fearful sore left thumb joint and because I use both hands It's a real pain...pardon the pun...carpel tunnel I think...I need a place to paint where I can leave things as they are but when I mentioned the front dining room which incorporates Hubby's Hi-Fi room he got this funny look on his face...what my room so I've left for a while...the spare room still houses the occasional visit from Daughter when she's been out on the razz where she gets glasses of water brought to her and tucked in by Mummy...so that's out until she decides to tie the knot which dosn't look like any time soon...she just laughs and says words that can't be typed here...she's got a good job, is buying her own little house and has a good car what more could she want...she recons there's no way she's having some loser living in her house and trying to walk away with half of every thing she has worked for after two years...gotta give it to her for good sense...she makes me laugh...but then we brought her up to be a strong woman and it seems it's worked...still I can't complain...and I'm really comfy sitting in my lazy boy painting...good luck with any upcoming exhibitions

OK have sympathy for a late night all in a good cause...yes my confidence is beginning to return and this new Tutor is helping...although the course is restrictive and now that he is over his cold the class now runs his way...to begin with I thought because I had painted successfully before that I could pick up where I left off but it dosn't happen that way...I was about to give it away you know "why am I doing this"...but the comments I got on Monday gave me some confidence so I came home with some of the enthusiasm that I had when I first started back with the brushes...today I still feel that way so perhaps it's a new beginning...I'm organising a small West Oz watercolour for Beatrice's charity...I put the sketch and resist on Bockingford 300g but I wasn't going to stretch the paper...but I had a really nice reply from a girl called Selina Ormond whose gallery I had commented on...and she mentioned stretching paper...so tonight I took the chance with it and stretched it...I hate it when the paper buckles which it will unless you have a block and I can't find them over here for the life of me...so all successful the sketch survived as did the resist...so tomorrow night it's painting...smashing that you are getting so many requests...congratulations

Hi Alan glad your weekend went well but of course have absolutely no sympathy for the hangover...why cause I don't get them any more...I don't think alcohol and synthetic Morphine would mix...your weather sounds fantastic...when we lived in the North West in the 70"s because there was sod all to do we would sit on the warf fishing with a line not a rod and the only thing I ever caught was a Stone Fish a killer so the line was cut...it was good though watching the big iron ore ships come in with the tide...there is a fishing story up there from when they deepened the inlet for the big ships...they had to blow through some rock and when they did a huge 600lb gropper (cod) flew out...it didn't die so back it went...now up there I can believe that but then it could be another of those fishing tales...it got away and it was this size...we now have the fire on lovely...our nights are getting down to 3 at the moment...can't say I mind I whined too much about summer to dare say it's cold...no luck at all with the AC/DC tickets perhaps they will put a third concert on...it's outdoors but next March just right

Me again AC/DC are comming to Perth and the first concert sold out in 7 minutes and the second was gone within half an hour...Daughter tried tonight...she couldn't get onto the site all day but no luck...mind you they are selling them on Ebay for an inflated price...we have a statue of the dead one in Fremantle where he haled from

Hey Alan hope your weekend went well and you enjoyed your concert and drinkies...did you manage the fishing from what I remember you have to get up early for fishing so hope the head was OK...my class today was fantastic so home tired and happy...I've been using my sketch book every night and I've found my drawing skills improving so I think I shall make a habit of it...must off and get a bit of tea

Hey Alan just a quick drop in to wish you a very merry weekend and enjoy your concert and pub crawl(s) and of course good luck for any exhibitions this weekend late so goodnight you lucky burger

Thanks for the info in Jools Holland we watched him on Abbey Road on MTV...we recorded and kept Brian Ferry doing Dylan and he did a fantastic job...great young guitarist with him looked about 16 red headed...we've got a few good recordings from Abbey Road well worth the look...

Do you mean I will become a Plebeian and not get an invite to your new mansion when you get rich and famous...I will send the recipe for salad gravy should make for interesting tasting...roast pork rolls with stuffing and crackling my goodness must be great when you get out of the pub and your starving...we used to have fish and chips in the paper with lots of salt and vinegar...mind you those kebabs look dangerous...we have them here but I always have vegetarian...I'm just watching CCTV on CI in the middle of London god some people do some stupid things...mind you it's no different here on the weekend...the way you are going Alan you might be one of those artists who actually get rich and famous in there own lifetime...I'm going to be one of those people who put their hand over the camera I've always wanted to do that...you seem so calm if it was me I would be beside myself...well Alan hope those bad mannered cows don't show up to the next exhibition just wouldn't do...wasn't Jools Holland in that Punk band with Sid Vicious the name keeps eluding me?...will talk to you before the weekend to wish you good luck

My goodness Alan those cows have really bad manners havn't they don't invite them again...my excuse for all the blues I made last night was that I was exhausted and up to my eyeballs in pain killers...the sentence was meant to read roast beef rolls with gravy and lots of salads with potato bake and there was not a crumb left greedy lot...I wish you so much luck for this year and hope you become famous and when I see you in The Artist I can say I know him...I also know the disappointment of looking in the mirror every morning this person keeps staring back at me and won't go away...I just wish my mind had gotten old to match my face...enjoy all you social outings and hope you don't have to get up at that hour which I don't know

Adds keep an exhibition record for your artworks?...where/to when to...dates/times/location/maps [got this badly wrong the organiser's home and not the church where the exhibition was]...

Believe me Phil, I am no stranger to disappointment. I look in the mirror every morning. I am applying for every Exhibition that comes my way. All it costs me is time (and a wee bit of cash). Each exhibition that I enter, and am successful with, raises my profile. That's my goal this year. I might be able to be more selective in future years. Then I'll sit back and let them fight over me!

It is good for the soul to suffer disappointment...it makes the pleasure of success so much sweeter.... Seriously exhibit wherever you can when ever you can...and as far afield [puns not intended] as you are comfortable...Never show [a] the same work there ever again...[b] try not even to show a similar work there either....So if you have trilogy sets show them as that [Mel. got this wrong]... Price? exactly as per that gallery representing you [they should of course have 'first refusal]...

I'm so sorry Alan but with all the disappointment you still posted with humour...I saw a picture in my minds eye of a cow drinking Chardonnay...the business card sounds good must have liked your stuff to ask...maybe there were lookers such as gallery owners looking for people like you...think of it as a head hunting...I feel sorry for the Lady who ran it perhaps she was mislead...on the brighter side how did your concert and pub crawl go and how did you manage to get up at 5.00am I would ask what's that...we had a smashing day Daughter and her friends did a great job with the organisation of Hubby's surprise birthday party...he didn't have a clue...they did seasoned roast beef rolls with gravy salads and some chicken for the likes of me who don't like red meat...a good turnout 29 out of 30 invites the weather was beautiful about 27 and everyone was gone by 5.30pm so we were able to clean up and get home at a reasonable hour...Hubby went to bed early full of good food and a couple of bottles of good vino...a happy chappy...hope your next exhibition goes better...one of our Prime Ministers Malcolm Frazer said in the middle of the 70's resession, "Life wasn't meant to be easy." he neary got lynched such words from a silver spooner worth millions whose hands had never done a days work...he was voted out at his next early election...really good though that you met someone interesting to talk to good to learn too...I'm off to my class tomorrow looking forward to it...better prepared this time have some photos so we will see what comes from it..

Yes... and boring. But I got to meet Jo-Anne Clarke (she has a gallery here). She is a very interesting and knowledgeable lady. She took me round the exhibition giving her critique on the exhibits. I learnt quite a bit so it wasn't a total waste. In fact it was worth going just for that.

It must have been so disapointing !