Ruffled Woodies, Swiss balls and Dr Phil

Painting a woodpecker in watercolour

My day begins around 6.45am. Dom sets his ipad to wake him at 7.00 and I usually wake just before it goes off. He puts his ipad on snooze and spends the next hour turning it off every 9 minutes. While he is snoozing I’m at my computer checking emails, answering questions and scrolling down my Facebook feed to see if anything interesting happened while I slept. I have a healthy breakfast because I figure I’ll be slipping a few naughty things in there through the day so I better start out well. Then I’m eager to get at my paints.

My breakfast of strawberries and Kiwi fruit on oats

I found a cute little woodpecker on Wildlife Reference Photos and I liked how his little feathers were all ruffled. I Googled ‘Great spotted woodpecker’ and found out they live in the UK. Now most of my customers come from the US followed very closely by my Aussie counterparts. My UK customers however, are a little sparse. No doubt it has something to do with the fact that I haven’t painted many UK birds so the other day I decided it was time to add a few more. I thought a little ruffled woody would be a perfect addition.

Painting a woodpecker

I set all my paints up and off I go. After about an hour of sitting it’s time for me to get up and have a stretch. My back gets really sore when I sit for too long because of my scoliosis related problems (that’s a story for another day) so I get up and drape myself over my Swiss ball for a little while. It helps.

Stretching in my breaks

Woodpecker update photo

Back into it for another hour or so, more stretching and so on.

At 12.00 every day it’s time for lunch and my date with Dr Phil. I started watching him in 2004 after my dad passed away and he helped me with my grief. We have been dating ever since.

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I am nearly finished now. I walk away from it for a little while and go and do some stuff on my computer and then I come back to it to see if it needs some adjustments.

Nope I think I’m pretty happy with it. I don't want to do fiddle with it anymore in case I ruin it.

I take it off the board, scan it, crop it and whiten the background in Photoshop. It’s ready to meet the world now.

Finished woodpecker painting on the board

Woodpecker scanned and ready to share

Around 3.00 in the afternoon the sun hits my apartment. It’s time for a cup of tea, a piece of choccie and a quick sunbake. The sunbake is doctor’s orders. My neurosurgeon wants me to increase my vitamin D levels so she said the best way is to get a little sun every day. I’m a redhead with fair skin and for the past 25 years or so I’ve been avoiding the sun in the hope that I won’t end up looking like an old prune. I won’t mention that I used to slather my legs with baby oil at highschool and sit in the sun at lunch time trying to get them nice and brown. The stupidity of youth!

My legs getting sun

Now all I need to do is think of a title for this little fellow.

Woodpecker painting in a frame