Time..

Doily Plate

Do you ever wonder how much more you'd get done if you didn't have to sleep?  I do.  I've been so very tired lately, late nights coupled with a baby that wakes has left me with that gritty feeling in my eyes that reminds of the early weeks with my firstborn.  I wake up every morning wishing I'd gone to bed earlier and await eagerly the invention of some magic machine or pill that will do away with the need for hours of time-wasting slumber.

While making a cup of hot chocolate last night I spied one of my porcelain pens and thought I should do something whilst waiting for the jug to boil.  I grabbed the last side-plate left from the set of plain whites we were given at our wedding nearly 8 years ago and quickly drew up a doily design.  What fun!  There's a bit of this sort of thing getting around at the moment especially on vintage crockery but I could never put my clunky black lines on pretty vintage crockery so I think I'll be trawling the op-shops for some more plain stuff.

Xanadu - 7 months

The little time eating machine aka Xanadu is 7 months old today.  It's flown by in the blink of an eye and I can hardly believe she's heading with full steam ahead towards her first birthday.  The days are long but the years are short.  I think of this often as I try to balance the different personalities we've created in our nest.  The biggest boy is intense and wild and way to smart for his own good.  He drives me crazy with his ways and yet his sweet side always leaves me a little teary.  The littlest boy is snips and snails and puppy dogs tails.  He looks scruffy within seconds of looking neat and is the funniest little boy that I know.  His quick wit and sense of humour make me laugh out loud so often it makes my tummy hurt.  He is filled with so much love....I almost dread the time when he discovers girls!

The little girl is somewhere in between.  She looks so much like the biggest boy but is easy going like the littlest and has finished off our little family beautifully!

Viva la Frida - oh what a night!

Frida and the Bird by Shelley Mcdonald

The opening night of Viva La Frida - The Exhibition at the Circle Gallery in West End on Friday night was absolutely mind-blowing.  There were so many people you could barely move, so many stunning artworks you barely new which way to look and such a great atmosphere it felt like a dream!

(the crowd - photo from here)

Here's a few pictures of the night.  If you're in West End in the next week I really recommend going along.  There's not only the amazing work to take in (and maybe take home) but also some fun workshops too.

Ruby Red Studios Gala Fiesta Torso and Jewels

Wimcee's fabulous colourful work

Amazing ceramic work by Monte Lupo

2 of my pieces...how exciting!!

My trio of Frida's...see that red dot....SOLD!!

More Frida gorgeousness, I forgot to note down the artist

So there you go...it was an amazing night, full credit to the organisers for being such a delight to work with. Also sending out a big thank-you to the two lovely ladies who travelled all the way from my neighbourhood to see the show, it was so great to see you there and also enormous thank you to littlest brother for making it 'his kind of scene' for the night and for roping some of his friends in to coming along too!

Whew.....what's next!!

Frida vs. Suzy

Over the last couple of days, I've been working like crazy to finish off my pieces for the Viva la Frida Exhibition which opens this Friday.  With the illustrations finished the time had come to cut them out....eeek!!  I was totally nervous about doing this but the rectangle pieces of recycled ply that I'd used just weren't doing it for me.

Poor old Suzy hasn't had a run in a while and looking at these pictures I noticed just how dusty and unloved she looks.

The first cut was the hardest but as soon as I started going I knew Suzy was up to the job.

Once cut, each piece needs to be hand sanded to smooth and round the edges.  It's dusty work which makes my nose fill with nasty sandusty boogers.  Mr Jetta's Nest tells me regularly that I must wear a mask while doing it but it's so uncomfortable!

Three pieces done!  I'm so excited and nervous about this exhibition and I can hardly believe that I'm involved.  It's on at the Circle Gallery at West End from 9-18 March and features works from over 25 Brisbane artists including printmakers, painters, jewellers, photographers and sculptors.   If you want more info on it head over here and you can also read more about it on the BrisStyle blog!

Wish me luck :)

Working and thinking...

One of my goals for this year was to exhibit some of my artwork in at least two exhibitions.  I'm very happy to say that the first exhibition I'm participating in is just around the corner.  It is Viva la Frida - The Exhibition and opens on March 9 at The Circle Gallery in West End.

I've been working on three pieces depicting various yearnings/loves/obsessions of Frida and of course, how could I resist my own version of her stunning face.

My happiness is somewhat tinged with sadness and concern at the moment for my most beloved Aunty.  She's suffering through a very deep depression filled with terrible thoughts and I find myself thinking about her almost constantly.  She's always been my inspiration you see...she's the one who told me to just practice, she's the one who I wanted to draw like.  So sad but soon hopefully she will begin the long road back to normality.  

Are you a creative type living in the Brisbane-ish area.....

Did you know that you don't need to have any etsy shop anymore to join BrisStyle Inc.?  How cool is that.  It means that all sorts of creative type people can join up and have fun and meet loads of other lovely creative peeps to talk creatively with!  It also means that if you're not quite ready to do a market or open an etsy shop that you can do it slowly with lots of support and encouragement .  Nice!!

If you're interested, do check out the membership section of the BrisStyle website for more information.  If you've got any queries, send them over to brisstyleteam@gmail.com......and I'll get right back to you!

Is home where the heart is?

(the view from my front door)

Someone I know recently said something about my home.  Not in a mean way mind you but in a roundabout way they implied that my home is a little bit crap.  They'd recently decided that no one 'has it all' and used me as an example saying that even with my great stuff ie great kids, great husband etc, etc, I had no great home to enjoy it all in.

It got me thinking.  It got me thinking because often I feel like my home isn't so great too.  I get embarrassed by it.  I get embarrassed to say that I live in a shed (sorry, shouse) and sometimes, well pretty much all times I don't invite people over because of it.  Me who cares not what others think, cares what others think about my home.

I thought about it quite a bit when I heard this little titbit of gossip and I thought about what makes a home great.  Is it granite benchtops, a rumpus room (which usually don't see much rumpusing) and a massive bathroom sink or is it memories and laughter and the occasional cobweb in the toilet?

One day, when our house is finished, will I look up here at our old shouse and miss it just a little?  Probably not so much but what I do know is that this little shouse of ours is more of a shome than I realised.

What do you think?  What makes your house a home?

A work in progress...

It's all happening in the nest at the moment.

The boys are building another chook-pen for some new ladies joining us soon.  This one is big with a capital B and will be home to about 15 lucky chickens.

Things are moving along on the house.  The slab will be down soon...I can hardly wait!

Surrounding all this hustle and bustle are the trees we planted years ago, once tiny seedlings, now full of colour.