500 Days of Summer

When I first heard about this movie I thought how could there possibly be 500 days of Summer. But seeing this trailer, now I get it.
I can hardly wait to watch this film...


Not 100 % certain, but I have this startling notion of an idea that I just might be turning indie hipster chic. Could it be all the Frankie magazines I've been reading and finding a generation hero in Scott Pilgrim. Stay tuned on these thoughts. Maybe.

I Like Flowers

     I like flowers. Indeed I do. There are roses in my garden, as well as zinnias, marigolds, sweetpeas and gardenias.
    This week I have been busy with the usual things that need doing around the house, as well as trying to recover from a head cold, playing with the girls, reading the Trueblood Omnibus [for the third time], and crocheting granny squares. Never a dull moment.

It Grows!

    The one thing worse than getting sick in winter, is getting sick in summer. Tragically I have been struggling with a bit of a virus. It is never good to be sick on Christmas day. But fingers crossed, I do think I am over the worst of it.
    Still life goes on and I am finding pleasure in watching the Dr Who Christmas Special, my family making me laugh and working on my granny square project - see how it grows...

Fire and Ice Sky

And after the flash storm the sky is aglow...

Weekend Reading

    After a couple of wacky weeks it's good to reach the end of a week and sit down with some good reads. Tonight, and tomorrow I plan to tuck into Under the Duvet [by Marian Keyes - one of my favourite authors] and two magazines - Donna Hay and Frankie. While I am at it I might even tuck into eating potato gems - yum.
    Lately I have taken to using weird things to bookmark the books I am reading. I find that with a toddler running about my regular bookmarks tend to disappear into some void and I end up losing the page I was on. So right now I have Under the Duvet bookmarked with a small piece of yarn.
    The odd thing about reading a Marian Keyes book is it makes me yearn for the Emerald Isle, my inner voice takes on what it believes to be an Irish accent and I find myself saying 'feck' a lot.

4 Done

This week I began work on a granny square blanket. I have been following a pattern courtesy of Pip Lincolne's book - 26 crafty projects and things to make. I have now made 4 squares. Yay! Hooray!

Peek

Because I have nothing better to say, but am still in a sharing mood I thought I'd let you take a peek in one of my many, many journals...

My Creative Space

    In my creative space this week I have begun a granny square blanket project. This is my first attempt at making granny squares. It is all quite new and exciting for me.
    This is going to be quite a large blanket. I have estimated that I'll be making 204 squares so this will most definitely be a long term project. I am giving myself a whole year to get it done.

The first granny square.

Get Granny

    I am setting myself a new challenge. I am learning to crochet granny squares and intend to have completed a nice big comfy blanket by November next year. That may seem a long way away, but it is a large project and I want to give myself plenty of breathing space to complete the thing.
    I have been following Pip Lincolne's instructions of making a granny square. I have her book, 26 crafty projects and things to make, plus I have referred to her videos for some visual  reference.
    I am so excited about doing this project. I will keep you posted on the progress of my blanket.



Some of the yarn that I will use for the blanket.




Getting some crochet practice in before I really begin.




Check out this lovely book,
by an equally lovely lady.
Simply lovely.



For the Love of Things

I love the effect the Christmas lights have on the ceiling at night.

I love watching the birds fly.

I love that there is a Buddhist school near one of my favourite parks.

I love the rich and vibrant colours of Australian flora.

Falling

Some days are just going to feel like this. Like you are falling, falling, falling down a dark hole.

But then another day is upon us and life returns to normal.

Oh, Christmas Tree

    We have already begun celebrating the end of year festive season in our house. Michael and I bought a beautiful new tree and some decorations. The other day we put it up between watching Transformers. Everyone is quite excited, after all this is the girl's first festive tree.

    The past few days I have been thinking of making somes changes in my life. Maybe it's because it is the end of the year. Or maybe it's because I know I've been eating way too much chocolate. Anyway one day at a time I'll work at it. So that means no chocolate today. And if I am successful my reward will be chocolate. Oh, wait a minute! That can't be right. So maybe I'll just clap myself on the back for each day I go without chocolate.

    Other things I want to do is play more music around the house. Last night during dinner I put on the album Mannheim Steamroller's Fresh Aire V. It was quite a nostalgic sound for me. I grew up listening to that music.
    Here's a sample of the album I listened to last night. I highly recommend you listen to the whole album. It is quite uplifting and dare I say it - spiritual.

Dream of Trees

As the days plough towards hot summer days I find myself daydreaming about the trees in Canada.

Hungry Sky

I am sitting here and multitasking. Feeding the bub and reading blogs... Is that thunder I hear? The sky sounds hungry.

Pink Feathers

Imagine wearing a dress entirely made of pink feathers. Wouldn't that be lovely?

Friday Reflection

    The weekend is almost upon us and I am taking the time to reflect on where I am at. It has been a busy week. Nothing new there.
    I have done some cleaning up and then made new messes. I have dabbled in photography and my writing. I picked up and began reading a really old book - Sugar and Spice and[written by Mary Wright].
    I thought about the future a little but tried to focus on the here and now.
    I tended to my garden - trying to grow strawberries, herbs and lots of lovely flowering plants. I have thinking of planting lots more gardenias. Considering ways of attracting more local birds to the yard. Maybe I could hang an outdoor painting.
    In between all of that I have done the mum thing to two beautiful girls - feeding, cleaning, playing, painting, reading, dancing, talking and singing.
    And dreaming of the snow and trees in Canada.
    It has been a good week. Yes it has.

Kids Bedroom Art Installation

    This week I addressed a problem of my eldest daughter's artwork simply lying around the house on the floor. To begin with it quickly making a mess for such a small environment. Therefore it was not having a proper chance for admiration.
    Intent on turning one wall in the kids bedroom into an art installation, I went out and bought a handful of hooks, clothes line pegs and 5 meters of pink ribbon. And this is what I did...

1. I twisted the hooks into the wall as high up as I could go on[I didn't want tiny hands pulling down the art installation]in a zig zag pattern.
2. I tied the ribbon to the top most hook and hooked it onto the lower hooks following the zig zag effect, then tying it off on the last hook. I made sure the ribbon wasn't too saggy, nor too tight.
3. Using the clothes line pegs I can now attach the kids artwork to the ribbon running across the wall.

Gardenias in my Garden

    I am so, so happy. Hello endorphins! Good to see you are doing your job.
    Why am I happy? I don't know. I just am. But if I were to list the things that make me smile then I would include...

• the gardenia plant that has finally flowered in my yard. I am so happy about this, I am thinking of planting lots more gardenias. I want to be surrounded by a gardenia paradise. I want to drown in those luscious blooms.
• the weather has been perfect this afternoon. A lot of sunshine and a dash of a breeze. As warm days go it wasn't so bad.
• my daughters laughter and smiles make me smile. My second daughter is starting to communicate. At 3 in the morning she can be heard in her cot going "Nan-nan-nan-nan". And she will sometimes squeak. I call her my gosling.
• reading some good books. Of course the books would be 'good'. Who on earth would agree to read 'bad' books? Well I guess, teenagers who have no choice but to read dull high school text books. Last week I read Twilight Graphic Novel Vol 2. I have waited such a long time for this book after reading the first volume. And I just finished reading Ellen Degenere's book Seriously... I'm Kidding. Seriously this is a super fun book to read.
• and I am just happy that I am happy. When you are happy it is good to reflect and realise that you are happy because the moment is truly savoured. Do you know what I mean?

Are you happy? Tell me what is the cause of your endorphin rush?

Cat vs Dino



Is the dinosaur dancing?
Or is he tryind to wrestle the cat?



Weekend At First Sight

At long last the weekend has arrived and most of us can relax. It has been one of those long weeks. But sure enough we all survived and now it is time to exhale. So sit back, relax and watch this old Kylie video...

Canada is Looking Pretty Good...

... right about now.

 

As I sit on the floor, hair tied up off my neck and practically down to my underwear, on what is a considerably warm day, I start to wonder about living in cooler places than Australia.

When I was kid I lived in a few hot and humid conditions. So you'd think that I'd be used to it. Ah, but you see, for my formative hormonally charged years I moved to a cold region of Australia. Goodbye stubbies and sandals. Hello chilblains and influenza. I moved to Victoria during summer and yet it felt cold enough to be wearing a beloved grotty cardigan.

See the thing is, where ever we choose tolive we climatise. So after living in Victoria for a good two decades I eventually got comfortable with the cold, and learnt to actually wear some clothes.

So the question stands, if I climatised to Victorian winters, then how come I didn't climatise to the summers? How did a child of the near tropics and deserts come to abhor heat? It's a good question, of which I have no answer for in brain addling heat.

At times like this I seriously consider moving to places like Oregon, or Canada. Even Antartica is looking pretty good.

Oh! Do you feel that? It’s the cool change that I have been waiting for. I welcome the evening thunder storm with mucho gusto.

It's Too Hot Even For The Cat

I'm worried! Where is that remote going?

Pet Shop Boys

I love this music video. I watch it every couple of months on Youtube. When I was a kid my Dad had a compilation of Pet Shop Boys and it was a toss up between Always on my Mind and this song for me.

What do you think?

    Yesterday I made a jigsaw puzzle and sometime since it occured to me that if I inverted the illustration it could work as a lino print. What do you think?

DIY Jigsaw Puzzle

    I have a real treat. I am going to show you how to make a quick and easy jigsaw puzzle. In fact it is so insanely easy to make it hardly requires instruction. And here it follows...



1. What do you need? An A4 sheet with perforated lines,
as used for homemade business cards.
You can get this from an office supply shop.



2. Draw your own unique illustration on to the A4 sheet.
Or alternatively, if you are not confident in your drawing skills
you can save and print this design on to your A4 sheet. 

3. Don't forget to  grab some textas and add some colour.

4. Following the perforated lines pull apart your A4 sheet.
Now watch your children have fun putting the jigsaw puzzle together.

Game On

It's an intense game of Connect 4.

2007 Archived

 

    Last night I was going through my 2007 art folder and came across this fashion sketch. It was just one of so many sketches from that year.

  What drew me to this drawing [Yes, yes! I see the unintended pun]was the nostalgic happy chemicals it produced in me.

  I notice little things about this sketch. Like the fact that my drawing style has changed very little over the years. Nor has my creative taste. I tend to draw clothes that are suited to a futuristic surfer living in space. Crazy, I know. But I still love these ideas that I had.

 

The Invisible Band Member

Many odd years ago My Man was in a rock band. He played the bass and I was The Band’s loyal whatever. You name it I was their audience, photographer, graphic designer, biographer, and all round moral support. For those familiar with Scott Pilgrim you can easily imagine that I was a cross between Ramona Flowers and Knives Chau, minus all the ninja fighting and general awesomeness. Mind you, there were moments when a bit of ninja action might have been called for.

I watched The Band’s development. I was aware of their aspirations and goals. I knew their songs like the back of my hand. I brainstormed with them marketing ideas. I made their flyers and album covers and even developed their first website.

I witnessed The Band consume so many drummers. One of them disappeared to Queensland [with the police hot on the trail]. Another simply didn’t turn up at the gig. Another left a long winded letter about how he couldn’t be a drummer for The Band, which actually read more like a f##k you letter. With the number of drummers The Band went through it ensured an uncanny parallel to fictional band Spinal Tap. I would be no more surprised if one of the drummers had actually spontaneously combusted on stage.

Having such close proximity to this band meant sharing in their joy when they were allowed to perform at the Espy, which for an emerging band was like entering Shangri-la. I knew of their disappointment when sound engineers turned out to be deaf hacks. Publicans who cried poor, trying to get out of paying The Band its pocket money [free beer anybody?].

Despite the smoke haze and the late nights, following and preceding a work day, I got a buzz out of being on this journey with The Band. There were plenty of other musicians to meet with and there was always potential for networking with other likeminded bands. And besides, let’s face it. It was an opportunity to get out of the house.

I remember the first performance with a group of other bands. It was something of a tri-force. The venue hoped that by having three bands that would increase drinking numbers. Of course these were somewhat unknown bands, which meant only their truly loyal friends with no place better to be turned up. What was not funny that night was my splitting migraine. What was sort of funny was the drummer not turning up. What was really hilarious, was seeing a guitarist from one of the other bands using a soldering iron on his homemade stomp box.

Fast forward a year or so and The Band were invited to perform two songs live at Triple R FM… at midnight. After the first song, The Band was told they would have to wait another two hours before playing the next song. So there we were, The Band and me, wait in a decrepit building, at an ungodly hour, exhausted, bored, and our tummies began rumbling. So we jumped into a car and searched for a 24 hour eatery. I will forever be grateful to McDonalds for being open so late. Goddess bless the Big Mac meal at 1:30 in the morning.

Another time I remember between sets trying to explain to one of the singers that his words couldn’t be heard because his nose was pressed against the microphone. He didn’t believe it, until the sound engineer came along with the same advice. I didn’t know whether to laugh it off or go all Knives Chau on the singer.

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end, and in my case after a few years of following The Band this became very clear to me. A lot of my time and energy was invested in this one band and it was time that I move on to other projects that were more ‘me’ orientated.

I spent so much time working with and supporting The Band. So much so, that the last drummer called me Yoko. But My Man doesn’t agree. He describes me as the invisible band member.