Exhibition Preperations

Today was spent in the office compiling a mailing list for the Painters of the Flinders Ranges exhibition that begins with an opening on the 16th of September at the Wilpena Woolshed at Wilpena Pound and running for a month. The mailing list is long but there is room for more if you would like to attend. This will be the fifth year exhibiting at the Wilpena Woolshed.

These jobs, which are one of many, are not particularly my favourite pastime but at the end of the day if I want to sell paintings, it is part of the cause.

During the time of the exhibition I will be working as artist in residence as well as sales person along with other members of the network that will be rostered on at different times during the exhibition. I am lucky enough to have the freedom now (perks of getting older) to stay in the area until the close of the exhibition. My husband Malcolm will also be able to spend more time with me during the 4-5 weeks, because our son and his partner are now helping to run the family farm, which will free him up from some responsibilities.

Last year I spent a little over two weeks at Wilpena during the exhibition; hence this year will be a test case for me with the length of time away from home... interesting times ahead; maybe I won't want to come home at all... chuckle

Links from the Flinders Ranges area:

Mount Remarkable
Wilpena Pound Resort
Flinders Ranges National Park

Technorati tags: exhibitions, artist, Flinders Ranges, art

Tess the working dog

Last Noverber I nearly lost my finger when I caught by wedding band on the striking plate on a door frame. Thinking about that I realized Tess, the pup that I spoke about at that time will be 12 months old at the end of September. If you look way down the page at Sue’s Musings you will see a photo of Tess when she was only a baby along with the original story of my finger dated 19th November 2005.

Well it is time for a grown up photo of Tess and here she is. She is like a tornado when she gets around; only one speed and that is flat out. She travels on the back of the farm ute to check the sheep with her master at the wheel. She is funny to watch when she jumps onto the ute as not one part of her touches the sides of the vehicle when she flies through the air. Most dogs would jump up and grab the sides of the vehicle to aid themselves onto the ute. At the same time it gives them a clear view of what is there before heaving themselves onto the bed of the vehicle. But no not Tess, she has to find out the hard way and may end up on the top of anything that is on the back of the ute.

She is just too strong for her own good and can create comical things happening. Not funny though when she collects my legs when she is running fast and then all of a sudden realizes she has miss judge the distance when trying to put the breaks on. At times it makes colourful bruises on my legs.

Even though she has a lot of energy she has been easy to train. Hopefully by the time she reaches the age of two she also will have slowed down a bit….. chuckle. Puppies are also a possibility sometime in the future and of cause they will be posted here as well.

technorati tags: dog, sheep dog, working dog, pup, puppies

Photography Information

I have an additional Lens called "Photography Information" at my Squidoo. There are already many links for you to check out with further sites added when I come across them. What I have already posted has been extremely useful for researching into the pros and cons of cameras plus a few hints and tricks.

The link Photography Information can be found in the column of this blog or just click on the highlighted words to be taken straight there. You will also see an image of my trusty Nikon camera.

Check out my Little Painting Blog; I have posted a new painting.

technorati tags: lens, Little Paintings, squidoo, photography, nikon camera

I have switched to Blogger Beta

Phew and it didn't break!!!

After saving my old template to a word document so that I could quickly grab any HTML/JavaScript that did not transfer to the beta version, I am now up and running. Gee it only took seconds to happen with very little to do afterwards. The buttons plus my counter were the only items that did not move to the beta version.

I am using a different template to my original one and now all colours are consistent across my blogs. I did tone down the colour of the links as they were very strong on the black background. Also I didn't want the links competing with my images.

I have tagged/labeled some of my threads. More will be done with time. I would imagine there is going to be quite a few updated threads showing up in Bloglines from tagging and I apologise for that but will make it so much easier for visitors to browse my blog. Also it gives you a chance to click on a tag in the left column to see what happens.

Now I must concentrate on getting some painting done over the next few days; was rather fun playing around with my blogs though.

Technorati"> technorati tags: blogger beta, beta, tags, tag, labels, label

Titles and Prices

Today I spend a considerable amount of time fine tuning titles and prices for two exhibitions that I am involved with during the month of September and October.

I know buyers prefer consistency in price with artworks and do feel it is more professional as an artist not to price paintings up and down in value. Even my past buyers are happy to see my paintings increase in price, as it adds value to their own painting, which I also respect when I have sold them a painting.

But how much I should raise my prices isn’t any easy decision to make, especially when the economy is very hard on so many families. I have always been lucky to have younger people buy my larger works and would like to see that continue. With that said I have increased my prices on large works but made it affordable for some buyers with smaller works on offer at a reasonable price.

I have to admit it would be sad to see some of my paintings part company with my home although at the end of the day they have to be sold before they do.

blog, blogging, price, title, art, artist, Susan Borgas, exhibition

Beta Blogger

Are you using it?

I have been thinking about going away from Blogger for some time now. The breaks are now on with that thought, as now Blogger is moving forward with some great ideas and now putting them into action. I noticed that I can move my old blogger over to the new system but not quite ready to bite the bullet yet and do it.

To test out this beta version I have started up a new blog called Little Paintings to show you what I mean at my new blog.

The labels that really are tags will be a very handy way for visitors to be able to find subjects that they are interested in. I have used one called flowers

I may make further changes to colour, fonts and general layout but for now I just want to be able to keep an eye on what blogger are doing and can do that by actually having a beta blog.

Bet I gave you something to think about now.


Technorati tags: blog, blogging, beta blogging, test, testing

Ancient Red Gums near Melrose " FINISHED"

I have now signed this painting and it is ready to be framed.

So many artists mentioned to me that the trunk on the large tree to the right looked flat that I knew they had to be right. My eye tended to travel up the left hand side at a rush so a twiggy branch was added to slow things up a bit. I darkened the trunk slightly in from the left to help round it off but left some reflected light still coming in from that same side. Even though the timber under the "skin" of the tree trunk is red, the outer colour is very light after the bark has been discarded. I am a lot happier now than before with the final result.



And for those that enjoy a zoomed in section of the image.




Technorati tags: art, artist, landscape, blogger, Susan Borgas, work in progress, pastel, tree

My day off

I had time out for myself today and loved every minute of it, as I felt like I was running out of energy with my art: Been a long time since I have closed the doors to the studio from from myself.

I didn’t waste my time altogether. I added another Lens to my Squidoo, which can be viewed by clicking on Artist Links.

I mentioned earlier in my blog about my laptop being sick. Yesterday after some research I found out what the motherboard model was and updated the Bios in the hope that it would solve the problem but alas no. I have never pulled the laptop apart before and convinced it was a heat problem switching it off, proceeded to do just that last night. The fan was very dusty and after cleaning it thought yep I have fixed it. Maybe I had but didn’t run it long enough afterwards to find out. Anyway today I found another website instructing further cleaning that should have been done and oh dear did I find some yucky bits. All done and the computer has been running for three hours without any problems with software that normally shuts it down. The computer is much quieter as well with the fan not running flat out. Touchwood all is now well…… hope I haven’t jinxed things now by telling you all…….stay tuned!!!!

Ancient Red Gums near Melrose "WIP" seven

Even though I worked on this painting yesterday I didn’t post as I ran out of natural daylight. After today’s effort I am not sure if I am finished or not. I need to put the work aside for a couple of days and come back with fresh eyes. Oh yeah; I am open minded about critique from others if there is improvements that can be made.



Technorati tags: pastel, landscape, art, artist

Elder Range revisited & framed Rawnsley Bluff painting

I am much happier with the sky now with a few wind swept clouds higher in the atmosphere plus some additional puffs of cloud in the air already showing a promise of future rain. It has the seal of approval from my husband Malcolm, which makes me feel that I have done the right thing.



I don’t often post images of a painting that I have framed but so pleased with this one that I wanted to show it off. It is a shame that I have some shadow showing along the edges but couldn’t get a good shot of the framed painting when taking the photo in my studio so outdoors was the next best option.



frame, landscape, art, artist, framing, oil painting, painting

Sketch of my cup of tea.

Thought I would share an early posting today. I often have a cup of tea when working in the studio. This sketch took me about four minutes while having a break from jobs in my studio. The ellipses are not perfect; then I wasn't looking for perfection as I would with a drawing. I used mechanical pencil on barrier board that happen to be on top of a table amongst a heap of other junk.

I am re-visiting an oil painting this morning as I have never been happy with the sky. I will post it later today.



sketch, oil painting, art, artist

Ancient Red Gums near Melrose "WIP" six

I spent a considerable amount of time working on limbs throughout the left tree. Also refined the small central gum tree trunk, as well as added some vegetation at the base. You will also see that I have started blocking in light to dark shapes on the trunk of the tree at the right.



Technorati Tags: pastel, landscape, art, artist

Ancient Red Gums near Melrose "WIP" five

I have been spending a considerable amount of time trying to eliminate reasons that my laptop keeps turning itself off. Of cause this then cuts into my painting time. The gremlin isn’t related to heat problems nor does it seem networking issues either as the laptop still decides to go belly up when I am not connected to my network or the internet. It maybe a hardware problem; to isolate the trouble isn’t going to be easy. At his request I emailed a diagnostic log to my computer doctor to see what he can find. It would be great if an updated driver will fix the issue; be even better if with the snap of fingers we knew which one.

Now to my pastel painting. I have done some more work in the foliage through the central area. I am looking for darks and lights plus cools and warms. I want plenty of zing in the foliage and pushing the colours will do that. Many of the leaves that are about ready to fall to the ground are often bright red or orange with the sun showing through. The mistletoe hanging off the trees also adds a lot of colour. It is a shame that this parasite gets out of control with the tree struggling to live. I do not want start a debate here but if you want more information, it can be found at the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries . I would suggest that there are many more sites that also offer information.

I am getting off track again with my thoughts……In the foreground I have scraped thinly Indian red over the paper then rubbed it into the grain. This will be a nice complimentary to the greens that I lay over the top even if little is left to show through.

Ok that is it for now……. I am off to get my washing in off the clothes line then start organising my evening meal.



pastel, landscape, laptop

Pastel art Organizations & Societies

No way could I settle down to painting between preparing food and cleaning up today for shearers. Rather than feel that I haven't achieved anything at all towards my art I searched for Pastel Art Organizations & Societies to add to my Lens at Squidoo on my coffee breaks. You can view it now at the following address Pastel Art Organizations & Societies.


squidoo, art, pastel, pastel society, pastel organization

Squidoo - Makes life easy!

I have often wondered what would be the best way to index my Works in Progress on my blog so that they can be easily found at a later time.

As a frequent visitor to Making a Mark; Katherine Tyrrell has solved the problem for me. Until I read her blog I never knew about Squidoo. Katherine is now using Squidoo and she explains what it is all about at her blog. If you are interested please visit and take a look as she explains some of the how’s and why’s she is using it. The thread is Squidoo - a new approach for my links


I am listing three of my own “Lens” in this thread below that I did some work on yesterday evening as well as a tidy up today. More is planned for the future and will be listed in the right column of this blog.

Arts and Stuff
Work in Progress - Pastel
Works in Progress - Oil

Nothing to post with a WIP today though I am sure that the above will give you something to ponder over.

Technorati tags: squidoo,art, blog

Ancient Red Gums near Melrose "WIP" four

This painting seems to be developing in slow motion and it isn’t going to improve over this coming week with the farm busy shearing sheep. I am the cook and bottle washer during that time or everyone will go hungry.

I will manage (heck I hope so!!!) to apply some pastel to my painting between serving food up to the workers but reckon I better remember to put the alarm on for each time a job needs to be done in the kitchen or I will be in another “space” with the cooking and cleaning forgotten.

With my life so busy and the days passing rapidly it reminds me of the saying; Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes. Mine seems to be passing at a dizzy rate at the moment.

Gee I am a bit off track here.... I better write about what I have done with this painting: The two young gum trees on the right have been worked and may need further developing. I am not sure at this stage and will wait and see. The top left side of the painting; the foliage has also been worked on. The centre tree trunk has had some colour applied.














pastel, landscape, art, artist

Laptop Stand

I said in a earlier posting on my blog that our son and his partner are now living with my husband and I. Shaun is a metal fabricator and yesterday when I mentioned that it would be handy to have my laptop elevated above my work trolley he instantly had the ruler out measuring up ideas and implementing them into a plan and now the job is completed.

The three photos show you what my set-up now looks like. What started off as a steel hospital bedside cupboard that I purchased from a clearing sale is now a very workable area.

My husband some months back had made and attached a top with an edge to it so that my pastels did not roll off. This made the top surface of the cupboard twice the original size. The cupboard is easy to move around as it is on castors. With the addition of the elevated position for the laptop I now have more room. It also keeps the laptop away from some of the pastel dust that did concern me would eventually clog it up.

It is very handy having a husband that works with wood and a son that works with metal.

Oh yeah…..not a lot of painting is happening but when I do get a chance I add some colour but not enough that I felt it was worth posting.








art, studio, artist, laptop

Color Chart

I couldn’t get into the mood to paint today so decided to make pastel sticks from the dust that I had collected in the bottom of a gutter at my easel; they are now drying.

Also made pastel coloured charts then laminated them for future reference when I want to order new stock. The printed charts from the pastel companies are not a true colour match. I regret not doing this at the beginning when I purchased my Winsor and Newton box of pastels, as some are now missing or rather the label is non existent on the smaller pieces that I have left. It is going to take a bit longer to work out what is what with them.

Click on the image below of the scanned laminated colour chart for a larger view.
Ops! Just noticed two numbers are missing..... never mind I know what they are.



pastel, colour, color, color chart

Ancient Red Gums near Melrose "WIP" three

The sky colour has now been completed, which is time consuming working in and around the dark foliage.

When my son had a look at what I was doing he said he didn’t think he would have the patience, me I found it quite relaxing.

Anyway with the sky now done I can concentrate on the foliage with mid and light tones plus work in the remainder of the trunks and twigs.

Hopefully there will be another update tomorrow.



pastel, landscape, art, artist

Ancient Red Gums near Melrose "WIP" two

There is a lot going on in the trunks of these trees but generally happy with how they are developing. I am not sure at this stage what I am going to do with the area on the left hand side from the base of the mountain to the foreground as I feel that it is leading the eye out of the picture. I will give it some more thought and maybe add something to this area to break it up.

Ancient Red Gums near Melrose "WIP"

Work is 47.5cm high x 68cm wide.
Elephant Art Spectrum Colourfix

Golly it seems a long time since I used my pastels. So far I am enjoying this painting though do admit that I am jumping all over the paper with no real plan in mind with pastel application. I do know what the final result will look like so for now that is all that matters.

Once more the scene is from one of my favourite stomping grounds in the Southern Flinders, near Melrose in South Australia. I decided to do this one as I have sold Willochra Creek, Melrose that I had painted originally for a major exhibition that I am involved with. There will be no water in the creek this time as I felt exhausted after my last effort when painting Rawnsley Bluff with reflections and transparent water. I often feel as if I have painted two paintings at the same time.

Until I stand in front of this painting tomorrow with a pastel in my hand goodness knows what part of the paper will be covered next. If you want to know what I have done come back again and check things out; it just might be a total mess!



pastel, landscape, Flinders Ranges, tree

Laptop Mini Mouse Drawing

If you have wondered why my blog hasn’t been active with postings, I have been ill. I don’t make a very good patient either as I want to get on and get things done but when one is suffering the mother of migraines there isn’t much I can do. On top of it I am pretty certain I had a virus of some sort as there were other symptoms as well. Oh well I am back on top of the world again now and that is all that matters.

There are changes in our (husband and myself) life at the moment with our youngest child and his partner moving back to the farm to live for good. Their furniture was delivered a week ago and now as from yesterday the “kids” have moved in. I have made two rooms in my home for their own use until the “big house” on the farm becomes available to them as their own. We are lucky to have two houses on the farm, as it makes it so much easier for security when either family wants to go away for a holiday or whatever and of cause there is someone around to look after the farm animals. You can see a drawing I did of my son by going to Drawing of Shaun.

Anyway that is enough of me rambling on. The drawing below of the laptop mini mouse was done a few nights ago before I fell ill while relaxing in front of the telly.


















draw, drawing, sketch, mouse, laptop

Bart's Blog

Some of you might be aware of a regular contributor to my comments who goes by the name of “Bart”. I have been visiting Bart’s blog now for some time and also made comments. Some laughs have been generated along the way.

I find Bart’s blog very good reading and it can be found at I Landscape.

Bart also thanks for signing my Guestbook at my website. That potato soup that you found there is very yummy. I really need to add some "very quick" recipes for the busy artist.

Technorati tags: blog, blogging, comment, recipe