..not a creature was stirring, not even a, er tank...

usually I prefer to paint during the day with the natural light,

but being a night owl, I don't usually turn in until after 4ish, and I can just as easily be found daubing the canvas in the wee hours

this tank isn't making too much noise

even though it is travelling at speed in this painting (yeah, really - got lil bits of dirt being flung up in front of the tracks...)

it's nearly finished

sometimes it's best not to 'overpaint' a painting

recognize it? 

it's an M1 Abrams MBT, the Australian Army's main battle tank

so LOVE my military hardware big time!! love love love!!

surrounded by a litter of leverets....

uh-oh! they're all awake! that tank's not so quiet after all then

these pics are all aceo size - 2.5 x 3.5 inches

sorta tiny eh?

cute 'n' tiny

talkin' 'bout cute 'n' tiny - here's some REAL cute 'n' tiny -

totally adorable eh?

my dreams of Wesley are still continuing :)

I have his photo next to me and he looks 'so real' every time I look at him

I can smell him, and feel his fur, he looks ready to hop out and into my lap *sigh*

the hares I am painting are coming along

...at their own pace - as my paintings do

this one has dark rich brown lowlights now, and detail on the ears

- not ready to hop off the page yet

no fur in yet, nor whiskers

I'm still getting the 'feel' of the hare

watercolour dictates it's pace to me

not the other way around

anyway - leverets of another type have been born and have now left the nest

I made these 6 little chaps as a donation for Nowzad Dogs - the charity that helps stray dogs and the soldiers who adopt them, 

and I support them with every sale of a Drive Safe baby Army Hare

and this half a dozen will raise £90 for them

nice eh?

if you are a serving soldier in the coalition forces (British / America / Australian..) with a set of old cams and would love a free hare, plus 2 free hares going straight to Nowzad for fundraising then get in touch with me - my contact details are on that link above
(for EVERY set of Army cams sent to me I make 3 free hares as a thank you - 1 for the soldier and 2 for Nowzad - this is my way of showing my appreciation)

which one will look great in your wheels?

these wee hares are expert back seat drivers, and so willing to adorn your rear-view mirror

each hare is an original, and perfectly 'imperfect'

these ones are made from German Flecktarn cams and it was rather tough to turn out, so I made the ears 'open'

and why not? they look pretty neat I reckon

and like all those stray dogs in Afghanistan, and the soldiers on deployment there, they all have their 'scars' 

~ whether visible or not ~

so if you want to give one of these 6 hares a home, then just get in touch with Nowzad

£15 each and all money goes to the dogs....

....doggies like Anjali and her new litter 

she was rescued by German soldiers, 

so it's pretty good that I've got those hares made in flecktarn 

isn't she such a beautiful lady! soft and gentle and loving, and look at those tiny little puppies

omg! so adorable!

here's a close up of those imperfect ears

blue-eyed beauty...

purdy lil hare...

and one with fully sewn ears but still a bit tatty and with some fawn coloured bits like Anjali

always good to be so individual eh?

because nothing is perfect in this world 

anyway  *yaaaaaawwnn*

times' gettin' on

uh-oh!

someone is out for the count already!

and if the fur-ball at the front is not careful he will be tumbling out of bed and straight into the foody bowl :)

(I reckon he might be dreaming of rabbits eh?)

so here's a little something relaxing 

to listen to

with your bedtime cup of tea

50s pretty cool 

likin' him lots..

I reckon he'd love one of my little hares in his hot wheels

....anyway it's nearly 4am and time to stop stirring

doin it doggy style

have you ever noticed that dogs are always happy?

so adorably cute and fun eh?
doggys sure know how to have the best ever fun!


let's see some of that fun in slow-mo....
(with the groovin' toons of DMX and some barkin' companions)

about to go down....  doggy style

about to go down....   girlie style

.... downward dog

and er, downward girlie...

.... yeah, sheesh! that's right! that's me, 

who else eh??!

I surprised my mama big time last month when we were on our wee walk-around Ikea, taking in the bedroom scenes, 

(usually we go there most weeks for a sit-down cup of tea and share a bar of choklad ljus, and to snack on the vegetarian hotdawgs :) yum yum)

- anyway, this time before we went I'd shown my mum the clip of the doggy on the bed and we had had a good laugh, then we'd youtubed about 10 other funny-doggy-on-bed clips, ha ha ha! 

and since I'd planned this 'wee surprise' about a week before, I was just really excited to get round to the nicely made up beds in their bed display area

and then I called to my mum, suddenly jumped up on my favourite one (yeah I have a fav bedroom scene there! it's got slate grey walls, so gorgeous!), let out a little yelp then 'did like a dog'

~I buried my face in the quilt and shimmied about on all 4s on the bed~

we both laughed so so hard!!!

It was so much FUN!!!! 

...mum grabbed her new phone with the easy-to-use camera and took snaps...!

I ended up picking up all the contents of my bag that had tipped out onto the quilt!

doggy style can be precarious....

so, talking about doggys - here are some new baby Army hares, soon to be making their way to my etsy shop.

And each one will be donating £4 to Nowzad, to help the stray dogs of Afghanistan and the coalition soldiers

I LOVE doggys!!!

and hares!

LOVE hares!

this is a progress pic of a working sketch I did a while ago that is now a postcard in my etsy shop

I'd painted over an old watercolour of some clouds that I'd done ages ago 

a hare amongst the clouds

(in time scales - ages ago is even older than a while ago)

and here up amongst the clouds is my most favourite of fighters - the Supermarine Spitfire!

I LOVE spitfires!

I got an exciting boxed set with a dvd and a book, plus a huge hardback of my favourite comic stories - Commando! 

I LOVE Commando stories!! 

WWII soldiers and pilots and submariners and all that Army war stuff *sigh*

yeah! 

that was fun! presents!

and it did't stop there either -

I got some bracelets (yeah, yeah, girly stuff I know, but I do like a bit of metal)

and ofcourse - reindeer!!! to wear on my sleeve and close to my heart

LOVE my reindeer!

and I got some rabbits too

(at the top of my red mountain here, nuff said)

a couple of white rabbits amongst the clouds

in love

: )

I've been dreaming about rabbits alot (yes, dreaming of Wesley most nights)

white rabbits

with pinky eyes

soft adorable loveable beautiful

and everywhere I go I see small white fluffy doggys

those tiny wee Scottish ones

and they are always excited to see me

(I suppose they are the closest thing to a small white rabbit I will encounter when I'm out and about)

- all reminding me of Wesley!

my sweetheart, he's been in my thoughts every day

okey dokey, enough reminiscing!

here is Papa hare DogStar!

he's named after the brightest star in the sky, Sirius

here he is beside my wish box, 

he knows I've been dreaming of my Wesley, up amongst the stars...

my wish box has lots of little stars on the top of it, so I put my written wishes inside and know that the stars are taking care of them

nice eh?

DogStar is saying cheerio to his friend Papa Hare Pookster

they were both admiring the bit of reindeer material on the arm of the chair (yeah, I cut the bottom third off my sweathshirt and made it 'my-style' just for me), until they heard the groovy toons from DMX and all that barking

then Pookster decided he'd better be leaving

and DogStar thought it was high time he got to my etsy shop...


okay then, had enough fun for now? or not?

hmmm?

...doggys always seem to be having fun
on the bed, off the bed, at the beach, by the park, in their sleep....

maybe it should be a more prevalent pursuit? 

doggy style 24/7

...sounds good to me : )


~have fun!

Done and dusted - Deadlifting 100kg

So I'm pretty proud of myself tonight,

had a real good workout, and on the way there felt like doing some deads 

(deadlifting :)

I can't take credit for that beautiful lady above, that's not me

but every word written is true

I train hard, as hard as I can on the day for my energy level

and tonight as Metallica's 'When the bell tolls' was blasting out the speakers on full I deadlifted 100kg!

yay! ~ BIG smile ~ 

       ~ BIG song and dance~

though I was not dressed as lightly as the beautiful lady above, hell no - this is Scotland, this is winter, it was 6 degrees outside!

so I had on my T, trackie daks and warm sweatshirt. Just until I broke a sweat....

(my only witness to the feat was the mirror :)

I did a post on deadlifting a couple months ago, and I can now do reps easily on 90kg

oh okay, I can do 4 reps, then 4 more, then another 4 then 3 then yadda yadda... you get my drift,

and I'm happy with that. I like my progress, I like to take my time, go slow, at a pace that suits me

It's been so good to deadlift, totally THE best exercise I have ever done and it is such a powerful movement to do, feels incredible. 

I really am in heaven when I'm doing it! ha ha! 

(em... what's she on??! is she really talking about deadlifting...!!?)

and if I don't indulge too much in all the tasty xmas treats out now, then I may just stay lean enough to sport a nice pair of pins like Rachel, above

and I could be the proud owner of a tush to be admired... perhaps..

though tonight, as a lil' reward I treated myself to some chocolate slathered profiteroles, yuu hhhuu mmmmeee. 

They only come in packs of 12 (sheesh! really?)

so, 9 down, 3 to go... 

So I remember before, going on about how good deadlifting is for you, and it really is - it has transformed me like nothing else

my core is now pretty damn strong 

I am sure I could wrap myself around that big thingy above just like that pretty lithe lady (what IS that thingy?? for martial arts I reckon? I thought they used logs of iron, as in Kickboxer...)

and my arms are coming along just fine

though not as big as this impressive lady above, 

what a nice pair of delts she has too, and check out that chain around her waist! cool eh? so tough! 

I will be making myself a dip belt with a nice 1/4inch chain on it, since I do dips with a 15kg plate (not too bad, I do sets of 6 at 10/12 reps)

didn't wanna spend $50 plus postage on that one, though I am sure it is worth every cent, will see how I go stitching one up, rather liking the chain, all that metal *mmm*

and maybe if I keep up my deadlifting and my weighted dips, and weighted chins, then one day I will have a nice pair of guns like this pretty lass!

Such a beautiful girl eh? 

beautiful smile! 

I love smiles :) did I mention that before? so LOVE smiles :)

okay, so I'm finished blowing my own trumpet, patted myself on the back enough, texted my mate to brag about my lift... was congratulated then promptly put in my place :) heh heh

maybe these new hares I made will bring a little smile to you?

(yeah, that's the hand that gripped the bar that had 100kg on it...)

they are looking forward to scampering around your xmas tree! which one do you love?

omg!!! forgot to say - saw my first xmas tree tonight on the way home from the gym! wow! totally love xmas trees and that all sparkly stuff

these little pals are in a Scandinavian floral pattern (came from a Norwegian tea towel, nuff said!)

and then when I got home and looked up at the stars, as I always do - omg!! I saw THE biggest, sparkliest star I have ever ever seen, like ever!

It was to the left hand side of Orion the Hunter, and em, I reckon it could be Sirius, the dog star, and the brightest star in the sky, because it was so bright! it was like the sun!!

alrighty, not as bright as the sun, but nearly as...

hmmmm, then again, maybe it is Venus?? 

all this star navigation stuff is a lil' confusing for me - will have to ask my brother, he will know for sure, he studied the stars and knows where they all live in the sky, I merely admire them as they glisten away

aaah :) so many things to LOVE!

little carrot covered hares perhaps? 

perfect for the centre piece decoration on the xmas table

(that little chap has a home to go to already, I'll have more hopping by in the next few days)

so LOVE the stars

so LOVE my gym

so LOVE deadlifting

so LOVE my strong body

... I could go on and on and...

so here I am - a 'selfie', taken a month or two ago. 

(was for an artist's profile for my paintings actually) (real professional huh?)

Still got a little way to go with my guns eh?

I'm not into singlets (yet) or tight shorts or revealing stuffs. The most I do is turn my sleeves up, that's my vanity taken care of.

oh - forgot to boast (again!) - I now do shrugs on 170kg!!!

yeah, really! 170kg!  I do 3 sets of 6/8 reps  not too bad eh? I warm up with reps on 120kg, then 140kg, then 150kg

okey dokey, 
showtime is now officially over :)

I have warm ups to do....

the Midnight Sun Vs Tropic of Capricorn

Autumn is here, again, the days are getting colder

and the sun is getting weaker, day by day 

some beautiful crystals catch the brightest rays, as do the eyes on the smallest hare 

nearly every day I am blessed with the sun shining brightly on me as I work at my desk

and that's a good thing, because I have grown to LOVE the sun more and more

when I was tiny I lived in Zambia for 5 years

growing up in the bush just a bit above the Tropic of Capricorn

surrounded by crocs, snakes, antelope, zebra, eles, lizards and every insect imaginable ~ and the insects in Zambia are the size of small antelopes!! I kid you not

and every day I played happily in the scorching sun, as it beat down on me, relentlessly

- but I was a kid - and kids don't really mind the searing heat, nor notice the bright rays,

well, I never seemed to mind. I was as brown as a berry in all my photos and my hair was nearly, well, it wasn't my dark brown now that's for sure. I was gonna say blonde, but I don't do blonde...  ....mmm, it was *sunkissed*

anyway, it's a long way up North, up here in Scotland with her snow and mountains, from the Tropic of Capricorn!

and the sun, whilst very hot in summer ~ if you lie as still as a lizard on a rock ~ just never seems as omnipresent as in the tropics

it's not ofcourse, I think I was being a little wistful?

but after Africa I then did the rest of my growing up in Outback Australia, in the Northern Territory - again, just above the Tropic of Capricorn

in the hot, hot stiflingly humid tropics of tropical Darwin,

and boy oh boy was it hot and humid all year round!! took me a few years to acclimatize unlike the dry heat in Africa 

and then after all that sun I needed a respite so I came back to Scotland to the grey, and clouds, and rain and fog 

and saying something about the sun being over-rated.. blah blah blah...

- and it wasn't just a fog lying on the land here, it was a fog in trying to understand the locals. Now that was hard!! 

I could hardly understand a thing anyone said, they spoke so fast, with such thick broad accents and really weird strange words. They thought I was taking the piss at work, because I kept saying 'excuse me?' every time they spoke to me, as I didn't have a clue what they had just said!

Hmmm what can I say? perhaps I was not as Scottish as I thought I was? Obviously not!

My most Scottishest word had always been 'aye' (yes)

(but i only used to say that when i lived in Australia....)

and if someone here says 'aye right!'  

it does not necessarily mean 'yes, okay' - it is local banter for 'what rubbish/your kidding/get away wi' yersel ya wee....'

anyway, back to the sun!

Wesley loves the sun shining in, and all day long he will follow it around the room, to bask in the warmth

he's a little sun-bug :)

just as well I have South facing windaes.. oops! sorry, I meant windows

(seriously, I do not talk with much of an accent or use the local banter, I promise)

and my delicious cups of Lady Grey tea are kissed by the autumn sun

so pretty!

always makes me think of the midnight sun, this fading winter sun does, sitting low on the horizon, not giving too much warmth in all it's brightness

even my little fountain seems to be doing a better job?

though it is really very beautiful when I go out to feed the squirrel and sparrows and other beasties

there is something rather mesmerizing about the sun at this time of year, that's for sure

the birds get to tuck in to some mixed seed from their Norwegian bird house

hmmm, perhaps it is rather Scandinavian eh? it did come from my sister-in-laws over in Norway

and em, so did their purdy little water dish. 

It's got 2 permanent water drinkers on the side. Often I see blackbirds standing in the centre taking vigorous baths after I've washed all the leaves out and refilled it.

Glad I got it home in one piece, inside my suitcase... the things you drag back home from your holidays eh??!

(and don't even ask me about the huge 1.8m steel-enforced cardboard tunnel I carted back from Norway for Wesley...!) (oh, alrighty, lying about the steel-enforced part, but it is construction material tunnels and I had to get the guy next door to cut it in 2 with his huge professional circular saw, and even then it was still too big to get in my suitcase ha ha!!) (the things I do for my rabbit eh?)(Wes turned his nose up at it infact)(sorted! sarcastic self-effacing adj.)

alrighty then, the sun is still shining, and the little squirrel that I feed every day comes scurrying across the branches to me when I put some nuts and raisins and sunflower seeds down for him (or her).

it is a rather small squirrel - this year's baby infact and the other 2 siblings have not made an appearance for quite some time, so I could be fattening up just the one tiny beastie

- fattening up to get thru the long winter months ahead I mean. Though I do feed the squirrel every day, so by next spring this little mite will be a huge bundle of fat I reckon?

the little squirrels I make are not so fat

still, that's not an issue,

they don't need to fatten up for hibernating as they will be spending their time on your Christmas tree

amongst all the pretty little sparkling winter suns

oh, okay, xmas tree lights then 

- I was only trying to add a bit of sparkle to the image

I've become rather attached to Achilles since I made him, in all his unkemptness, and sort-of innocence

and I really do love Adore as well

she really is a very beautiful little hare

such a gentle appearance

shall have to give her a tough persona with softened edges, to carry that kind of cuteness off then 

so, that's decided then - these 2 hares are mine

I think they are meant for each other infact? what do you think?

she adores him, he does indeed adore her....

... though no-one is saying anything...

hey?! what's this?

put the lights back on!

okay Wesley :) 
perhaps we should be considering a sojourn in the Tropic of Capricorn then?


Midnight Sun Vs Tropic of Capricorn - I think I will have both, thank you!