Illustration Friday - Red

Is she well-RED or well-read? I was against colouring the girl, but because of this week's theme I relented. She ended up with red hair and a red dress.

Also this other piece needed to come out of me today. I was about to sit down and do another layer on the little kid pieces, when there was just no inspiration to continue. Instead I was seeing the shape of coriander leaves in my mind. So I shelved the other canvasses for a while and started on this newbie. Number six (#3, #4 and #5, I'll get back to them later) on the summer studio challenge "Reaching for the light", acrylic, ink and paper on 5"x7" canvass board.

Edit: Had to replace the previous photo of the above piece with this one. Too much battle between the actual painting and the bright blue background.

Grubby bub sitting up

Bub sitting up
Originally uploaded by dizzyjadey

....and enjoying it.

Still working on those small pieces of art, but they're not ready to be released into the blogosphere yet. So because I cannot post without a photo, here's the little scrubby grub.

Baby olympics

Our little family was over at another little girl's birthday party on the weekend. She turned two and is so adorable. Anyway, back to the point......... we caught up with some acqaintances who since the last "do" had expanded their families with the addition of several littlies. As mums in groups tend to do, we ended up talking about our bub and their stage on the development charts. Before I knew it, we were unwittingly comparing the sitting, flipping, crawling and flapping milestones with each other. Now, I usually tend to shy away from these discussions, because the grubby bub is slightly behind on the usual baby tricks for her age. Yep, no crawling - not even commando and she's not yet trying to stand up with a prop. She's only very recently started sitting up and we're constantly hearing her falling backwards.......thonk, thonk, thonk. Padded rugs are a godsend. For this very reason, I've decided that mother's groups are not for me. I'd rather feel good for taking this motherhood-guff one day at a time and surviving, than inadequate because the bub's not at the same level as others her age.

On other news I've been busy re-jigging my art/crafting mojo, since it kinda went on holiday for a few days. Don't know what happened but the compulsion to create wasn't there. So because I'm the kind of gal who wouldn't just let this slide, I made something I haven't made before...this pincushion since I needed one.

Then the mojo came back and I managed to put some more paint on my next series of three little pieces. I'll post photos of these when they're finished.

Meanwhile, here's some yummy new fabric for inspiration.....

...and a small painting "Pisces", acrylic and ink on 4"x6" canvas board.

Jade's life soundtrack

I got tagged for the very first time by the very witty and erudite Roy, who writes several art blogs. His life soundtrack version is a very honest read.......well, go on then. Read it.

So the rules:

• Take your mp3 player, and put it on shuffle.
• For each 'act' in the movie of your life, write down the song playing on your mp3 player.
• Add a short 'interpretation' of what that song means to you in the context of the act (Roy's addition, which appeals to me)

1) Opening credits: Trip on Love by Abra Moore - bodes of what is still to happen..."when you feel too much, do you start to panic? when you kiss someone, do you make it tragic?"...but we fall and we always pick ourselves up. Oh, the tiny dramas!

2) Waking up: Yellow Submarine by The Beatles - the getting of consciousness. How old was I? maybe two or three? The wonder and newness of childhood, happy, happy, joy, joy. I had a happy sparkly childhood!

3) First day at school: Star Me Kitten by REM - very lulling melody, don't know if the lyrics actually describe my school days. It was all very mundane, no shagging at all!

4) Falling in love: Acrobat by U2 - an oh so apt track for the first fall!!! And we do fly, tumble and fall very, very badly.

5) Fight song: Nightingale by Norah Jones - I used to be a passive fighter, I mostly still am. A song about a love that once belonged....hmm sounds like the beginning of the end.

6) Breaking up: Wrong Impression by Natalie Imbruglia - "Calling out, calling out, why're you finding it hard just looking at me", wrong connections and falling out. This tune is much too gentle for the actual emotions of the time. Don't think I would have picked it out myself.

7) Farewell: Come September by Natalie Imbruglia - OMG what are the odds? But it is actually quite appropriate. A song about everything wrong being made right, about looking forward to a brighter, shinier future.

8) Life's okay: Better Man by Robbie Williams - this is one of my favourite tracks! Growth, maturity and how to be a better person. I was getting comfortable in my own skin in my mid-twenties and this is so exact.

9) Mental breakdown: (skipping this one, as I didn't have one)

10) Driving: Warning Sign by Coldplay - loved playing the Coldplay tunes on the long drives. About three years in my late twenties and early thirties were underscored by Coldplay tunes. I kept them on random repeat in the car. Incidentally, I also have Coldplay tunes on when I'm drawing or painting. Must be the soothing rhythms.

11) Flashback: You Give Me Something by Jamiroquai - when I do look back on the past, there's nothing I wouldn't do differently. This reminds me of lots of dancing in clubs to funky retro music.

12) Getting back together: I Feel Possessed by Crowded House - now I never got back with any of my former flames, however if I ever did I would be wholly feeling this song. Oh yeah, I did get back with the first one after a six month hiatus, conveniently forgot that happening. What was I thinking?!? Yep, was definite lunacy to have ever gone back to him.

13) New love (my own additional act): Ray of Light by Madonna - how apt! Met the geezer while out clubbing and we danced under the light of a mirror ball to retro 70s music. Very cheese and crackers, yes? But we're both goofballs.

14) Wedding: Music & Wine by Ministry of Sound - mine wasn't the traditional hooley dooley kind. It was very low-key and relaxed, small number of guests and lots of good conversation over food afterwards, pretty much like a dinner party. Except I opted out on the wine, since I was about six months pregnant. It was a shotgun wedding.

15) Birth of a child: If It's Hurting You by Robbie Williams - have you ever had a bowling ball yanked out of your belly? Enough said.

16) Death scene: The Battle of Evermore by Led Zeppelin - great guitar riff! Yeah, I could easily hear my soul floating out to the tune of this track.

17) Funeral song: Octopus's Garden by The Beatles - "resting our head on the sea bed", while the rest of the world waved my passing and moved on. Quite a funny tune!

18) End credits: Nightswimming by REM - wasn't this the end credits song to an actual movie? Anyway, what a great song! I once persuaded a old flame (see 4), 5), 6) and 12)) to play this on the guitar and it sounds excellent on this instrument.

Okay, I did cheat a bit and skipped the AC/DC, Metallica and other heavy metal tracks that came up. They're just not me and I've forgotten how much of the stuff the geezer had loaded on the iPod. And just for good measure, let me inflict one of my pencil doodles on you.

Wow! That was such a cool way to pass some blogging time. And hey, I can actually tag someone now. So I'll tag my lovely bag swap partner Jennifer for this one, if she has some time to kill.

Illustration Friday - Super Hero

This is the geezer......my hero *sigh*. Yep, he does all that including changing the bub's nappy. Sometimes he even pretends he's Elvis.

Also as an aside to the previous post, the geezer thinks that I'm not that anal at home. Case in point, I use the air filter as a dumping pile for my clothes.

Better late than never with this illo!

Weird-idity

Don't think that's a word. Anyways, I haven't been around in blogland long enough to know anyone who would tag me on the six-bizarro-stuff-about-you guff. However Di kindly tagged all of her blog readers to just go for their life, so to speak. No rules, just spit it out....six weird things.

1) The pinky finger on my left hand is double-jointed and seems to have its own muscle. So I can at will, bend it backwards to snap and forwards...over and over.

2) I hate going to bed with dirty feet. I can't sleep and I will usually toss and turn until I resolve to get up. I then go to the bath and run cold water on the soles of my feet until they feel clean. Sounds like OCD, I know.

3) I'm very anal about neatness and order. When I used to work, I would always keep my meeting notes and correspondence notes clean and neat. My boss, bless him, used to try and annoy me by making random pen marks in my notebook whenever he could.

4) I get annoyed when people talk and chew with food in their mouth. I also don't like the sound of clinking cutlery or glass against teeth.

5) I try to avoid public toilets, to the point of pain sometimes. I try my hardest not to touch the door handles when I've been desperate. Over the years they've become disgusting in Sydney......almost down to the level of Hong Kong or any of the other south-east asian capitals.

6) I read science fiction and fantasy books. This is kind of obscure. I picked it up back in university and its stayed. I always thought of myself as a geek because of this.

There you go and I've got no one to tag, so....for a dose of homey viewing, here's a bunch of flowers (from the geezer) in front of one of my paintings.

Awake again

Funny what a simple cup of orange pekoe tea will do for the soul. Or is it the caffeine that's woken me up? Anyway I am again compelled to make and create.

After coming back from our walk today, the grubby bub and I stopped by the newsagent to pick up some craft and home magazines, a vice of mine. One magazine had an article and pictures of contemporary quilts that I wanted to make........and so simple, too. The one on the cover is stunning!

Here's a better photo of the same quilt.

So once she was asleep in her cot, I went to my work table and did the following:-

1) Sketched the pictures for two more paintings onto the canvasses

2) Drew up a design for a tote bag (for a swap) in the sketch book

3) Figured out the fabric colour palette for our winter quilt

And while I was figuring this out, I realised that there will be a lot more creating here in the next month or so, since there are a heap of birthdays happening in March. Although I'm not quite ready to part with my paintings yet, they are now starting to stockpile. Can I give them away as presents? Hmmm, we'll have to see.

Slacking and slobbing

Or I can call this post "re-energise and recharge". Finishing the bub's quilt has consumed and depleted my stores of creative energy for the last few days, that I'm just happy to put my feet up and be a couch potato for a wee bit.

I admit to looking longingly at the sketch book and my paints, thinking of the next project , but I just can't be asked yet. Happy to be a slob, yes me.

So instead I've been spending more play time with the bub and teaching her how to sit up for longer periods.........and I think its working. Here's the cutie-pie!

And since its another blue sky sunny day here, we might go outside and hobnob it with the rest of the mums-and-bubs. Some chocolate and cake might be part of the order of the day. Hmmm!

On fire

This was me this week. You would have thought I was nesting and about to have a baby. All that did happen.........about 8 months ago. This was about a different kind of "baby".

It all started with a pile of fabric I took a liking to and this design which had be drawn late one night (around 11pm) after we had already gone to bed.

My head was buzzing and the creativity was just pouring out in buckets. I knew I wanted to make a winter quilt for the grubby bub before the summer was over.

Four days ago I vowed to start cutting into the fabric and put together the blocks. Fast forward to this morning.....I was sewing the last length of the quilt binding. And voila! Here tis!

You can imagine the rest. The light is appalling here at the moment, maybe its this room. Anyway, next project is this or something similar for mine and the geezer's (our) bed.

A look at the plate

Not a lot of painting here today, except the priming of some canvas boards, which doesn't really count. Instead there has been a lot of ogling at fabric from the Fat Quarter Shop and thinking of projects for this, while I wait for the store to stock the fabric bolts....not till Feb.


But I've still been keeping busy with the making of these. The pattern is based on the one inside this book. I've also added some insulation batting to protect precious fingers. They were surprisingly easy to make. This pair will be going to a good friend on her birthday which is coming up soon.


As for the plate, well there is:

1) The 2nd kitty stuffie which needs a face and dress buttons.

2) Start on 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th paintings all at once. I've hit on the idea of painting a scene from four different angles, but more on this later.

3) Cut up the bub's winter quilt and start sewing. I've already finished the design.

4) Start tossing ideas for a few other birthdays that are coming up fast and make those, too.

5) There's also some baby bibs waiting to be cut up and sewn.

6) Make a bag for my very first swap from this blog. This project is the only one with a real deadline.

Hmmm, have I put too much on?

Illustration Friday - 80s

The first idea I had when I saw this week's theme was Wham, the music duo, then high waisted stonewash jeans, teased hair and those fluoro outfits we all had. But I was also a teenager in the 1980s and becoming more aware with what was happening outside my immediate sphere. So I thought to draw the one defining world event for me at the time, when I was on the cusp of maturity.

I remember picking up a copy of the Time magazine, which had a photo on the cover of a burnt out soiled baby soft toy hanging from the church steeple at Lockerbie in Scotland. This had made an indelible impression on me and I haven't forgotten.

* Apologies for the bad light. When I get the chance (and the dosh) I'll get the new hooley dooley camera and a scanner.

The glavering redux

I've decided I like the original title after all, so here's painting number 2 of 8. I'm not sure the expression on her face was how I initially wanted it, but its finished now. I don't want to touch it anymore. Otherwise, I'll just ruin it.

Fabric stash love

It was impossible for me before to understand the utter delight that other crafters had for their fabric collection until now. I used to reserve this warm fuzzy feeling when I look at a painting that I had just finished, but ever since I started sewing and crafting at home, and started opting for part of mum's fabric collection, I've come to realise this irrational happiness just from looking at beautiful fabric. Sometimes, I almost don't want to cut the stuff because it looks better folded and whole. I say that this is somewhat akin to the silly happiness I feel when I look at my shoe collection. The geezer just laughs at me when I tell him that every now and then I open the boxes, stare, coo and caress the shoes. I tell him that I just like looking at pretty things.

So, in a short space of time I've managed to have a pretty decent fabric collection going. Nothing that takes over chunks of space yet, but when it does the geezer will be itching to declutter it I'm sure. I've also found a great eBay store called Atomic Boom, which specialises in vintage and retro fabric. This has now become my new vice and I'm always reminding myself to spend wiser, spend wiser. I don't need it, but I do want it. It's that naughty imp on my shoulder, I tell you. So I give in sometimes and the stash is expanding slowly. I'm going to have to hoe into it for the bub's winter quilt, so hopefully it won't be growing too quickly. Mum, I hope you're not reading this!

Resolutions, blech

Like I said I'm a slow poke and although I mentioned before that I don't do resolutions, I'll give in to the phrase "life goals". I'm not going to restrict them to just this year. Otherwise, they may never ever happen. Then I'll just feel unfulfilled. This way I can evaluate it all when I become a doddering old biddy and hopefully have no regrets.

1) Spend wiser (and a lot less). Very important, since I'm technically unemployed at the moment.

2) Be in the moment of every minute, every day....be aware of everything, take notice and don't take anything for granted.

3) Aim to make an alternate career doing something art-related. This is definitely long term, but there's no time like the present to start.

4) Work in an area where there is creative freedom.

5) Live a more healthy and environmentally aware lifestyle. I've just noticed how much we waste at home and since there's really only two of us (the half human who still can't crawl doesn't count), this is all the more shocking.

6) Declutter, declutter, declutter. We've been slowly editing our library, and my wardrobe in the past few months, giving away books to the salvos and various work colleagues who'll take them. The rest has just gone into the rubbish. (Of course, all this decluttering has just made room for the bub's junk!)


In our efforts to declutter, I've managed to unearth this colourful set of ceramic coasters which I made some time back when I used to do ceramic painting. Thought I've lost these! So there are some rewards, aside from just achieving a neat and tidy home.

Before I sign off, heres a sneak peak of the two kitty stuffies I've been making. I still need to finish off the features of the 2nd kitty so its looking very steiner'ish at the moment. The pattern is from Wee Wonderfuls. There's also a link on the sidebar if this is of any interest.

Progress

I've been working a bit more on the "girl with the mirror" piece and it seems to be getting along okay, but I'm still a slow poke. I calculated early on that I'll need to do about one each week to finish the summer studio challenge. I don't know if I'll be able to achieve the eight by March 2007 target, but well I'm not sure I can hurry the creative outpourings yet. I did have an idea to get around it over the weekend and hopefully it will work.

Just from this vantage I can already see the next set of adjustments I need to make.

- recolour the back of her blouse

- work on the shadings of her face & hands

- start putting some structure on her shoes

- work on the mirror frame detail, and

- go over her head band again

So far today I've failed to go out for a stroll, due to the weather. It's been dark and threatening all day. I also forgot the time and didn't get the bub to bed till 1pm. Normally she's put down for a nap at 12pm. There's the dishes to do and still lots of tidying up waiting, while here I am blogging away. So so bad! Too much painting/blogging perhaps? Nah!

Last photo of the day is one of my work table or rather what's on top. Can't see surface of it nowadays, as its always piled high with stuff. The pile of books make up some of my inpiration sources - some picture books of the bub's, motif source book, colour mixing and some home decoration books. There's some sewing junk as well, since the table is also where the sewing machine lives. Ah, but that's just too messy to show.

Illustration Friday - Buzz

"What is the name of the tallest mountain on Earth?".....BUZZ (ooh the anticipation!)

Thought to set this week's drawing at a quiz contest. I usually finish my sketches in pen & ink, after an initial pencil scribble. This one uses the same technique.

The glavering

Well, that was the original title that I had for this when it was still a drawing in my sketchbook. She's looking at herself in the mirror and seeing for the first time the distorted way she viewed the world around her. We all do this, I'm sure! Hence the old question about the tree that falls in a forest where there is no one to see.........did it really fall?

Anyway I might call this "the purple room" instead or maybe "the ornate mirror".

Note that the shadowing is deliberately not centred. I thought it might be more interesting if the piece wasn't too symmetrical. Also, I just noticed now that her left arm is much too long - must fix this for the next pass.

Been busy finishing up a kitty stuffie for a little girl who's turning two at the end of the month. But I now have to make a trip to the local craft shop to stock up on some more buttons, felt and embroidery floss the finish it.

Looks like the weather over at the SCG is nice and sunny.....its blue skies over here out the window. Perhaps the bub and I might for a walk up the road. Yes, that's a good idea.

Inspiration overload & the plate

So what have I got on the plate at the moment? Hmmm, lets list it all out.

1) Seven (yes yikes - this is not a typo) paintings for the summer studio challenge at the Australian Art Forum Started number 2

2) Two cat stuffies for two little girls turning two One down

3) Bibs for babies that are still in the oven. I'm making them for the showers, but there's no hurry here.

4) Finish the binding on the bub's carousel quilt. Being very slack at it, since its basically done and I'm just procrastinating on adding the finishing touches. This will probably end up being a present for one of the above mentioned babies. Poor bub! Finished

5) Start the grubby bub's winter cot quilt, of which I have the fabric sitting in the cabinet

6) Then there's the weekly Illustration Friday, which I'm loving at the moment

On top of all that, I'm still looking after both the grub and the geezer. Ah me! A woman's work is never done!

And while I'm trying to figure out what to cook for dinner, here's my inspiration boards which I look at every day. They're up on the studio, ahem, sunroom wall. I love just sitting at the PC and looking up at these. Nutty, I know!

Ciao for now!

New year

Happy new year everyone! Hope you were all happy and merry. We sure were, even the grubby bub (minus the bubbly).



Anyway, thought to show you the 1st of eight for the "summer studio challenge", which I finished last Friday. This is called "the toy castle". Probably should've shown it earlier, but I allowed myself to slack off with the blogging for a few days while the geezer was still at home. It always feels like a holiday when the whole family isn't at work. I'm now going to start on the 2nd one today and just lay down the first layer, so long as the little patoutie behaves. Cross your fingers!