Try not to die of shock....

 But there's been some actual painting going on around here in the last week.

This, I guess, is a commission for my husband who asked me if I could do it as a gift for a friend of his whose birthday party we are going to next week.

 Someone who doesn't read my blog, obviously.  I'd forgotten how quickly paint dries here...in air conditioning.  I remember being frustrated by it when we lived here before.  But this was pretty layered so the quick drying time actually helped.  It's done mostly with a pallet knife with lots of paint mediums.   I LOVE paint mediums.

 The blue and red have lots of heavy gloss medium in them, but the parchment colour (you'll have to trust me that it's not white...the photos don't read the true colour) has course and paper medium giving it a really matt texture.  I just adore playing around with texture like this.

And I've started another smaller painting (only because I only had a smaller canvas left) which is inspired by the view from my friend Ruth's apartment looking out over the hazy sea surrounding Singapore ....there will be ships!

 (And yes, I realise the horizon isn't straight ...I ran out of paint ). This is very much just the beginning of this one.  Also done with a pallet knife.

In other news, we said goodbye to Remi who went off to Ladahk on Thursday for his IB diploma community service trip.  If you don't know where it is, here's a map:

It's on the other side of the Himalayas and they were doing a day flight from Delhi across the Himalayas, and will be doing a 4 day hike in the foothills of the Himalayas.  Do a google images search for Ladahk and you'll see why we are all so jealous. Or just look at this photo I just received of the kids arriving at the airport.  (Remi is at the back on the right, second from the end)