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.

I ♥ Fictional Photographers: Part 2

And now, for a continuation of my theme from the other day - I ♥ Fictional Photographers: Part 1.

Next in my line up of beloved fictional photographers...

Bless her heart! Novalee Nation an abandoned teenager gives birth in a Walmart.
But then finds home and family amongst kind hearted strangers.
She also gets a chance to do something with her passion for photograpy.

Vicki Vale: In Tim Burton's first Batman flick Vicki was a photojournalist.
Gotta love her sense of adventure, intelligence and elegant fashion sense.

Lydia Deetz: a teenage photographer who regards herself as being 'strange and unusual'.
Lydia is mostly ignored by her living parents, caught up in their own pursuits.
However a ghost couple who couldn't have children, act as surrogate parents,
thus providing her with emotional security and spending quality time.

Kids Mailbox

    Children love receiving presents and surprises. Even those that come in the mail. My eldest daughter is over the moon when we give her the junk mail, let her read the newspaper, or keep the discarded envelopes when the bills arrive in the mail.
    For that very reason I decided to make Gwen her own mailbox. I will be able to leave her special notes and messages, which she can check for each day.
   The homemade mailbox is easy enough to make. All you need is a shoe box [or a tissue box], some paint, and sticky tape. Following are the steps for making the kids mailbox.

1. Find yourself a discarded shoe box.

2. Cut a narrow rectangle out of one end of the shoe box.
This will be the mail slot.

3. Decorate the box and lid by either painting it
or covering in old wrapping paper.

4. Make a little name tag of whose mailbox it is.

5. Tape the name tag to one side of the mailbox [once the paint has dried].

6. Voila! The lid is on, the mailbox is complete.
Now place the mailbox somewhere near your child's bedroom door,
and maybe write them a little letter of love.

Post Script: This idea originally germinated years ago when reading Little Women [the sisters and Laurie, the boy next door, kept a private mailbox in which they traded letters and secrets].

My Ghostly Apparition in Wonderland

X-pose and X-peri-ment

    Sometimes the best way to learn to use a camera is to simply experiment. I have begun fiddling with the settings of my camera just to see what happens with colour and exposure. By doing this some magical things can happen...


A flash storm was quickly building this afternoon.
The clouds moved so quickly, like someone had set the world in fast forward.



It's an experiment of the super exposed kind.

Wheeeeee!

I ♥ Fictional Photographers: Part 1

Who are my favourite picture taking ficitonal characters? Well let's line them up like rockettes...

Veronica Mars: Teenage PI and photography hobbiest.
"Bonus points if you get the Dean wearing a lampshade."

Jimmy Olsen: works at the Daily Planet and probably is
the only person who is nice to Clark Kent.

Prue Halliwell: A few years after discovering she was a natural born witch,
she also turned her career to one of her other natural born talents - photography.

Polly Perkins: A newspaper journalist with fast quips and camera clicks.
She just might get in a few good shots if she remembers to take the lens cover off.

Lady Bird Fan

    I have a sure way of beating the heat on those super warm days [I say 'super warm' and not 'hot', because when it is truly hot the only thing for it is an air conditioned plaza, cinema or a dunk in the ocean.]. It is a do it yourself lady bird fan. This activity is great for the kids and for you. Simply follow this tutorial...

1. Take two A4 pages: one red and one black.

2. Fold the black piece down 3 times.

3. Draw a circle onto the folded black piece,
using a white pencil.

4. Cut into the paper around the drawn circle.
You will have multiple circles from one cutting.



5. Gluedown the circles onto the red piece of paper.




6. Fold the red paper in a zig zag pattern, making the folded width roughly 15 mm.
Do this for the entire piece of paper.



7. Sticky tape shut one end of the folded red paper.
Opened out the open side and...
Voila! You have yourself a paper crafted lady bird fan.

Photographer Me

Party Town