Weekend Bliss

Well it is now 1pm on Saturday and I have managed to use my Friday evening and Saturday morning very productively. The house has had a good vacuum and bit of a dusting (!) and several loads of washing have been done so I am free to play! Joe has gone to watch his beloved Dockers at his club (where he can shout at the TV screen and not get me agitated) and Zach is doing a full day shift at his part-time job at Target. This means I have nearly five hours before anyone else will be home and I can play my music loud and get creative.

I am going to continue working on my Nina Book (I think 12 pages was a bit ambitious actually) and hopefully get a start on my "Serenity" fabric postcards. Up until now I have only made one fabric postcard as an experiment (the daisy one pictured above) but I have been collecting appropriate supplies and I am really looking forward to making these. I think the size is better for me than ATCs when it comes to fabric - it doesn't feel as fiddly.

And if creativity doesn't happen, I can happily lose myself in the latest Quilting Arts magazine (No 26) which arrived yesterday from The Thread Studio (fantastic service as usual, thanks Dale!).

Vanity confession - I changed my profile photo today. The one I first used was taken at the Art Retreat in early March but I got my fringe cut tooooo short thinking it would be better than having my hair in my eyes. Joe took this quick snap at the wedding last weekend and it is a bit blurry and I am a bit pink from the champagne, but at least the fringe is three weeks longer!

Wings Little Fat Book Page

This is a scan of my second page for a Little Fat Book exchange that is just finishing. I am in love with white gel pens at the moment so thought I'd create fanciful wings for this page. Such a cute little girl, she deserved to have wings.

Really really hoping to catch up on emails (and blog comments!) this weekend. I'm feeling very behind and I really want to finish my Pocketbook of Dreams Book from Nina's Art Retreat workshop before I forget all the ideas I had for it!

But right now, I need to get dressed and go to work...

I'm back...

I don't think I had time to even post before I left, but we drove to Perth on Friday so that we could go to a wedding on Saturday. I was originally supposed to drive back on Sunday with Joseph but ended up needing to be in Perth for work on Monday so stayed down and flew home last night.

Three trips to Perth in one month means I am really looking forward to staying put for a few weeks (hopefully).

I didn't get a chance to take many photos but here is one of the lovely couple dancing at the reception. Please try and ignore the fact that I managed to get a shot that included doors as well as the couple! It was a beautiful wedding and we really enjoyed the reception and the lovely people we met from Geraldton and Carnarvon.

And here is a photo from the weekend before when I was in Perth (again!) and had lunch with my son Josh and his girlfriend Monique. Yes, Josh is glaring at me for daring to take a photo! But I just couldn't resist and let's face it, I am a proud Mum.

Finally the lovely Annette Husband has sent me a photo she took of Jhodi Bennett, Sue Smith and I with the beautiful and inspiring Nina Bagley after our workshop on the first day of the Art Retreat. Just had to share it.

So that is it for tonight as I want to watch a TV show on Australian artsists that is starting tonight on the ABC. I only rarely watch TV as I usually have too much else I would rather do but this sounds really interesting. Until tomorrow...

Lutrador Art

Thought I would show you a scan of a page I have just completed for a Little Fat Book exchange - the theme is Wings and I have used a piece of the Lutrador that I recently painted. I have stamped some swirls in white gesso, machine stitched a paper butterfly image to the Lutrador - which, incidentally, is wonderful to stitch on - and then added black dots using my favourite Aqualip pen. Then I used my woodburning tool to melt back two edges of the page a bit. I used the tip to also melt little holes into the Lutrador to create a lacy pattern. I have scanned the page with another piece of different coloured Lutrador underneath so that you can see the effect of the holes but it looks better in "real life"!

Hope you all have a great day.

Little Fat Book Pages 2006 - a little slideshow experiment!

Good News Days

I am flying to Perth tomorrow morning as I have to be in Perth for a work meeting on Monday morning. Going early will give me a chance to have lunch with Josh (my 19 yo son studying at uni in Perth) and an afternoon with my gorgeous friend Jude. A very nice indulgent Sunday but unfortunately it meant getting more than usual done on a Saturday. I spent a few hours at work before coming home mid afternoon to do the vacuuming (I try to be grateful that I have a house to vacuum plus I really do love my purple Dyson). Anyway, I checked emails before I started and found out that Somerset Studio now advise by email if they are selecting your art for publication! Very excited as I had a pretty unproductive year last year and only submitted art for a couple of themes. So I have something (they haven't specified what of course) in the May/June issue (Blue theme).

My other good news - yesterday I received a lovely email from Suzanne Melvin of Oxford Impressions letting me know that I am part of the OI 2007 Design Team again. Fellow Australian Gail Hart is also on the team again (go, Gail!). I love Oxford Impressions images - I have them all - and Suzanne has some great plans for new plates in 2007, so stay posted. The latest plate is Cowgirl Blues which is full of fun images which are perfect for ATCs.

Today's photo is a collage on a canvas board that has been published in the latest Stampington Gallery issue - it is based around the Oxford Impression dancers from the Paris Poste plate. The background colours are a bit of a change for me.

I have also loaded a couple of photos I took tonight of my 16 yo son Zach, all dressed up and on his way to the school ball. Gosh where did all those years go?!

I love Fridays!!

It has been such a busy week - going back to work after a couple of weeks on holiday is always a shock to the system BUT now it is Friday morning and the weekend is in sight!

I have been reading about Lutrador over the last 18 months(?), primarily in Cloth Paper Scissors but it didn't particularly attract me as something I had to try. At the recent Art Retreat in Fremantle, however, my friend Sue did Lesley Riley's Fabric Book workshop and I saw the wonderful results when this "fabric" is painted and stitched, so I had to try it.


The Thread Studio got some to me virtually overnight and I spent most of a very hot morning last week cutting it up into manageable pieces and painting it. Thought I would share some of the results. It would have been better if I had photographed them as they look fantastic in a colourful pile but this morning I am in a rush (to get to work) so I have just scanned them in colourways.


Hope you enjoy them - I'm looking forward to using them on some projects, especially fabric postcards..

Weekdays!

This is a favourite stamp of mine - it is from the Oxford Impressions plate "School Days". http://www.oxfordimpressions.com
It is such a good size - ideal for ATCs of course but versatile!

Today was a long day at work but I have managed to get my return trades completed for the lovely ladies that were willing to do "delayed" trades with me at the Art Retreat. They are all slight variations on this one, a combination of stamping, tissue, stitching and chalk inks -

I received a recent small ebay purchase today in the mail . It was a bit of a mixture - some small sheets of metal mesh, bingo cards and markers, printed twill, mini charm frame etc. I love little "surprises" that get to my mailbox quicker than expected! Can't wait to use them but I have promised myself that I will finish my Pocketbook of Dreams from the Nina Bagley workshop I did at the Art Retreat. I have been oxidising all my copper bits and pieces to use on the book and I like the way it is coming together. Looks completely different of course to Nina's book but that makes it more personal. Wish I had her "touch" when it comes to incorporating sticks and stones...I'll share some pictures when I get it finished.

Trades from the Art Retreat

I've run out of time tonight so thought I would just share some eye candy. Today was the first day back at work after a fortnight's wonderful holiday and I am trying (desperately) to hold onto that holiday feeling. Here are the trades from 8 wonderful women at the Art Retreat that I attended in Fremantle just over a week ago - I didn't get mine done before the Retreat so will be sending them on this week.

In order starting from the top left and proceeding then in rows from left to right, the trading cards are from Julian Buttenshaw, Gale Wickes, Marie Cifuentes, Jhodi Bennett, Kelsey O'Mullane, Heather Crossley,Kathy Thompson & Marg Bryne. Thanks again to you all!

Some Scans of Recent Creations & Experiments

I haven't let anyone know just yet about this blog of mine - I feel as though it needs to have more content first!

So here are some scans of recent creations and experiments - two are pieces I made in Dale Rollerson's Frescos and Fragments Workshop last Sunday at the Art Retreat. I am sure that I will be using the techniques a lot - the bigger one is just a background piece and is the reason I am now in love with Adirondak Color Washes!

This week I have also been playing with Lutrador (painting it mostly ready for further experimentation), dyeing/painting fabric, making more fresco backgrounds (only partially completed as I have run out of black webbing spray and can't find any locally unfortunately) and also trying Beryl Taylor's fabric paper technique from her gorgeous book Mixed-Media Explorations. These are my first two experiments with the fabric paper - both just a little (!) over the top colour-wise. It will be fun to chop them up and use them like fabric.

Well I have joined the world of bloggers!

OK, I know I said I probably wouldn't ever have the time to blog (too busy reading other blogs!) but the time has come. I want to be able to share my art and my life and to connect with like- minded people.

A lot of my motivation to create this blog comes from the experience I had last weekend at Artistic Journey's Art Retreat in Fremantle. It was a wonderful event and provided me with heaps of inspiration. 2006 was an "off" year for me creatively and taking workshops with Nina Bagley, Lesley Riley and Dale Rollerson has reignited my urge to immerse myself again in paper, fabric, canvas, paint, transfers, etc etc... I met lots of people, caught up with art friends that I rarely see and made a new friend (hi Sue!). In short, it was a very special time.

I have also just been invited to join an international exchange and nearly everyone else that is involved has either a website or blog where others can see their art so I thought I had better "lift my game".