red moon

While running around last night trying to take some photos of the amazing red moon we had because of the eclipse, I also took some interesting snaps of other things that turned out quite nicely. The red moon shots were less successful, but hey- it was dark and the moon is a long long way away. (Ironically we were watching the new sci fi movie "Sunshine" about the death of our Sun at the same time...)

Darkfall

I've been reading the "Darkfall" fantasy books by Isobelle Carmody, and somehow this collage has come from them. It's a bit hard to photograph because of the silver and gold metallic paper but it does have a slightly other worldly quality to it.

hanky case

My lovely friend Kerry-Ann in London sent me this embroidered hankerchief case with a 1950's looking printed hanky to go in it- what a delightful combination, thank-you Kerry-Ann! How gorgeous is that windswept girl?

Red Bubble

I have just set up a place to sell my photos (as cards or prints), and will eventually add some T Shirt designs and other artwork at www.redbubble.com/people/purelydecorative . I have set up a link on the top right of this blog to click on and see what's what.

Red Bubble is an excellent site based on the concept of artists submitting their images and the Red Bubble people doing the hard stuff like printing, packaging, sending, collecting money etc. yay! They even have an office in good old Melbourne, so there's a lot of Australian artists involved which is great.
I still plan to set up an Etsy site for my collages, but Red Bubble is perfect for photography and 2d stuff with the T Shirt thing as a bonus. Cross fingers it works for me!

Kvadrat floating curtains

Spotted this video via Lena Corwin's blog- divine isn't it?

bird obsession

Seems like there's a huge bird obsession out there right now in the craft/design world and it's been going for quite a while. I am not immune to this phenomenon and have embroidered some more of my own little felt birds with the aim of turning them into a mobile...eventually. So here's the flock so far...plus a bit of inspiration from a new book I bought called "Decorative Bird Illustrations" from Dover Publications. It's packed full of lush bird illustrations, mostly quite Victorian and Edwardian in style and so very charming.

The Pictorial Guide to Modern Home Needlecraft

I discovered this gorgeous book from 1946 in an op shop yesterday, and thought it worth sharing. I particularly like the "camouflage for underarm shabiness" and the beautiful end pages pattern.

Haircut

I had an "end of Winter, I feel blah" moment last week, and after spotting this image on www.hairarchives.com I went and had my hair cut and coloured. Hairarchives is a very cute site and tells the whole story of the history of "The Bob"- highly entertaining.
I look a bit like this now, except I don't have a mirror glued to my cheek, nor a rose attached to my hand...but apart from that it's pretty close. Oh- I'm not in black and white either...well, most of the time I'm not. I do however have the tune "Yes Sir, That's my baby" running through my head...

Mary Quant

I found this old book given to me as a school prize "for good work" in 1978 and just fell in love with it all over again...maybe this is where the "making and doing" all started....

collections

My collection of wildflower vintage cigarette cards bought in Llaundudno in North Wales 16 years ago...that's a long time.

A collection of beetles at the Melbourne Museum. I've just been thinking a bit about collections lately and how the impact of many similar things is so different to just the one. When you see just one thing that you think is beautiful, it is sort of exquisite and striking, but when you see many things together somehow their exquisiteness is lessened but their fascination increases.

I'm reading Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" at the moment, so that's my excuse for being in a very introspective mood. It's a very haunting book.

Sarah O'Sullivan

I went to the Melbourne Museum last week and saw the Bombay Sapphire Design Exhibition with some truly stunning work in it, including these divine cups called "Migration" by Sarah O'Sullivan. I absolutely love these pieces and want to just gaze at them all the time. What a clever lady Ms O'Sullivan is.