progress

You may have noticed that I have a new little gadget thingy in my sidebar. Yes? Well, thats because I am now the owner, manager and general dogsbody of a shiny, new shop! Of course, its not like an old fashioned bricks and mortar shop where one walks in and is greeted by the sights and smells of whatever that particular store is selling. Oh, but how I would love one of those varieties - an old building covered in roses, bursting with whole foods and sweet smelling herbs or perhaps crammed with lots of pretty fabrics and a wall of yarn and ribbon……and the fragrance of soap and paper, wool and lavender. Yes, that would be the best of fun!

But no, this one is just a 'presence' amongst the great wide inter-web and some photos on your computer - but to me its still a step forward, moving in a new direction and overcoming some of those fears and self doubts that creep in and make life a little stifled. I've been considering a small Etsy store for a while but have not had the brain power to think straight let alone work at creating goods and shop front. Until now.
I will be creating some different notebooks and journals when I can carve out a bit more time, but for now there are just a few journals made using repurposed book covers and some nice thick, watercolour papers. My girls were admiring them today and casually mentioned that they would love a 'journaly' Christmas gift….. cheeky girls!!

Thank you for stopping by and leaving me such lovely comments in my last post - its so nice to hear from you.

happy birthday henri de toulouse lautrec

Yesterday was Henri de Toulouse Lautrecs 150th birthday. I know this because Mr Google told me so. (I do think its funny that some smart cookie in a high rise office somewhere, decides which famous person or event should be remembered by me!). Anyway, of course I clicked on the little graphic there on that home page and discovered a lot about the aristocratic Henri who died far too young (of syphilis and inbreeding) after a very productive artistic life. I also scrolled through a lot of his paintings on the official Toulouse Lautrec site which set me thinking that I might sketch a tribute to this master artist for another Art Journal Journey entry….. but alas, my day was busy with all those daily tasks that seem to have priority over creative endeavours and it wasn't until 10.30 last night that I managed to sit and scratch together a quick sketch.

Mine is done in cheap pastel chalks on the back of a brown shopping bag - because I like to repurpose stuff - and I call her "Naked Showgirl" which seems to be along the lines of where Henri spent most of his time  and from where he drew much of his inspiration. I didn't nip out to the local Moulin Rouge club though, I just followed a small basic pencil drawing from a book on how to sketch nudes and gave her a flowing pink shawl to hide the parts of her legs I couldn't get quite right! I'm pretty excited to have managed to get her mostly in proportion and will eventually glue my showgirl into my journal (after I've admired her for a while up there on my easel!).

I am having so much fun with all this art and art journaling and I want to try so many different mediums and styles and processes…… its taking over everything we do, what with paints, papers and paraphernalia all over the house!! I have to laugh when my teenage daughter tells me, "Mum, you are out of control!"

When the clock strikes midnight while I'm just finishing off a new creation, I tend to agree though! 

essence of poppy

Right now I am truly enjoying the show of poppies in my vegetable garden.
They are everywhere.
Self sown from last years seeds.
They seem so thankful to be growing and bring me joy every time I wander past to turn on sprinklers or rush by on a mission to bring a basket of food to the kitchen.

I can never bear to pull out any baby plants that have had the strength to sprout amongst the weeds - it seems unkind to end their short life when they've had to struggle so hard to gain a hold in paths and rocky ground - so I leave them.

Later, when the plants are fully grown and squeezing too tightly between lettuce, onions or parsley, I discover tightly furled buds and once again I leave them.

My reluctance to cull is rewarded now, with beautiful blooms and a sense of magic in my garden.
I rarely pick any to bring indoors, preferring to enjoy their jewel like beauty in situ.

And I am grateful.

woman in hat with green collar

I've often wondered what made the great artists, great? What is it about their paintings that was so good, unique, unusual, daring and different? Why do we drool over Mona Lisa or wonder at the magnificence of the Sistine Chapel? (apart from the fact that Michelangelo had to lie down for years to paint it!).

Did the Masters do anything amazing in their life time or is it only after they've gone that we think of their art as masterpieces? No doubt, many a scholar has debated long and loudly about these questions and someone will surely have written a book on this subject. 

So, having done all this wondering, I decided that I'd like to join in with this months theme at Art Journal Journey, a blog I found a few weeks ago as I was searching up yet more creative delights! I like to have a prompt or idea to give me a direction in my journals and I liked this months theme at AJJ - "Inspired by the Masters"- so I had a quick ramble round the web and thought that I could possibly do a teeny bit of justice to Pablo Picasso. His 'Woman in Hat and Fur Collar' really appealed to me but as I didn't want to copy it directly, I just had a good long look at it and then started work a few days later. 

I used water soluble Oil Pastels and outlined in black acrylic paint. When I'd almost finished I had another look at Señor Picasso's painting and decided that mine was missing too many of the little added bits - thats why she has the checked collar and broken heart! Mine is also a lot 'sweeter' in looks than his ferocious female. I really like the original painting but I'm also quite fond of mine and will definitely try again with another painting from another Master. 

Woman in Hat and Fur Collar - Pablo Picasso
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia 

My children thought this one looked ghastly with her eye staring towards herself and also that there was too much 'busyness' in her face but I love her witchy green and yellow looks! In fact, I'm going to try to paint another one using these colours and more angles!!

And I'm still wondering about what makes some artists great…… even though it was much harder than I thought to make my painting look even vaguely like his!!


(For those of you that write German far far better than I do, please forgive the garbled language below! I write now and again for my non English speaking Austrian relatives, who, hopefully get the gist!!)

Ich bin jetzt viel beim malen und zeichnen und hab das obere Bild nach Picasso gemalt. Sie kommt mir vor wie eine grüne hex! Ich hab dabei viel spaß aber leider ist es nicht ganz so toll wie seines und bestimmt würde ich nie ein Meister!  

chicken run

Im going to backtrack a little and post about a few things that have happened around here in recent months. I do have a lot of photos and events that I'd like to share but I promise to intersperse them with current projects too! 

One very clever little brainwave that we created was a temporary chicken tunnel. Early in spring when the weeds greens were growing prolifically in the unused garden beds but not so much in the chickens usual enclosure, we thought it would be advantageous to the chookies to let them frolic amongst the greenery and at the same time save us the chore of clearing out the beds. We have a path that runs right through the middle of the garden and as we didn't want a fence stopping us from getting to the poly tunnel, we had to do some lateral thinking. 

    

So, the chicken tunnel was conceived! A small hole cut into the two temporary fences, a few dowels from another old cot (have a peek here for other ways I've used retired cots!) some lengths of small irrigation pipe, a piece of old wire netting and hey presto, happy chickens and more importantly, a weeded garden.

There was a bonus too - it was so cute to watch them jostle through in a hurry at mealtimes or slowly meander along at their leisure through their own private walkway!

 It has been pulled down since - the chickens are free ranging out in the paddock and there is a nice crop of potatoes in that patch now - but we will certainly be using the chickens in the garden over the next winter. It saved us a lot of work!

a new beginning…..

Hello there, lovely readers!

I seem to have lost my way to this space in the last few months. There hasn't been any one reason really, but rather an accumulation of little things that all together make a whole - maybe I should say a hole, or absence! I've given this some thought in recent weeks, more so since a few family and friends have politely enquired as to where I have been. 

What do I say? Until recently, its been wintery and cold here and I'm never at my best in winter…..my body is not a cold climate creature and I find it difficult to venture far from the wood stove in search of adventure, inspiration and photos. Having said that, winter was reasonably late in showing up, moderately beautiful in its own way and lasted a month less than usual……and let me hasten to add, I'm not complaining much. Despite all that, King Winter and I are not great companions and its always a pleasure to see the tail end of him!

Then theres the photos. One of the reasons I started this blog was as a creative outlet for both far away family and friends and because I was enjoying reading other lovely blogs and wanted to do that too! At the time I desperately needed some way to nurture myself with creative pastimes and due to the lack of space for other handcrafts that I'd done in the past, I turned to blogging. I needed a place to write, decorate, share pretty pics and chat to other folk and yes, I found all that and more in this space. 

I like taking photos, nice photos, but there are a couple of challenges to that - I've never taken a photo course and still don't know how to use my camera correctly. And I don't have enough beautiful spots in my house to take the lovely homey shots I'd like to take. Our home is tiny, dark and full with the stuff of six people; its just not photogenic at all which is why I tend to take outdoor photos - and in winter theres not a lot of beautiful outdoor scenes to capture…even if I wanted to brave the sleet, wind and rain! 

Am I whining? Yes, it does appear that way although really I'd like to think I'm just emptying my head and sorting through the thoughts. And I've been giving all this a lot of thought. 

How much do I like blogging? A lot actually.

How much time do I want to spend writing posts? 

How much time do I have available? 

Questions that frolic around and get answered differently each day.

In the last few months I could have posted quite a bit - after all when you've spent two years sorting everything you do into blog worthy or not blog worthy, its a habit thats hard to break! The only thing is, a lot of the topics would have been to do with art and art journaling, accompanied by too-dark photos of my journal pages and rambles on the merits of one paint over another! Is anyone interested? I don't know and really its not relevant to how much I like to blog anyway. I do know though, that my thoughts and desires have changed and rather than looking close around me, I"m looking within as well as far out and into the future. I'm not so focused on crafting, cooking and keeping house but have been finding, feeding and furthering the latent Wild Woman inside!! 

So, where to from here? Well, for now I will add in those arty pics that I've laboured over in my attic studio along with my thoughts and processes;  I will post some adventures in retrospect, just because I like to have a record of outings and special occasions; there will still be a recipe now and then, some repurposing, recycling and re-using; pics of the not so little any more granddaughter; and lots of other day to day stuff. 

I also want to speak a bit more on life matters. Often what gets put on here is just the 'good' stuff, the bits that I think others would benefit from and the bits that make me look as if I have it all together and never struggle, which of course is just not true. I've not lied but sometimes omitting the bits that are  slightly shitty, makes my life look like a fairy tale……and we all know that life's not like that! Sometimes I want to have a bit of a rant and while I wouldn't go so far as to do that to you, dear reader, I would like to at least mention that I am struggling and how I"m dealing with my inner turmoil. 

I have wondered if I should start another blog and retire this one - one that gives voice to my new directions, thoughts and interests - but hey, this is my life. All the ups and downs, joys and sorrows, garden work, creativity, changes and stagnation, children, chores and tears are all a part of me and after all this is my blog, which I am happy to share with you in all my imperfection. 

If you are still reading after this very long monologue, thank you. I hope to continue sharing lots of bright and uplifting happenings from my outer world as well some personal insights and mystic thoughts from my deeper, inner world.  

Until next time……Namaste.