hot pink pigeons

I saw this startling public art in Swanston Street the other day- hot pink pigeons in a leafless Winter tree in grey old Melbourne...rather wonderful really. Well done to that hot pink pigeon fancier who made them.

Happy Birthday Mum

I know everyone thinks their Mum is the best Mum in the world, but in my case it happens to be true. Happy Birthday to the strongest, kindest and most beautiful person I know... that's you, Mum. Have a lovely day.

sleepy piglets

I went to the Bendigo Wool and Sheep Show on Friday, and apart from seeing some truly awe-inspiring felting, knitting and weaving... and sheep, Ros and I spotted a piglet snoring on top of a calf, both of them oblivious to all the goings on around them. They were adorable.

emma's blogg and Jemima's camelias

I have been snapping some shots of this beautiful camelia Jemima gave me on the week-end, it fell off it's stem with a kaplonk last night, but looked so elegant sitting on my red velvet cushion.
Also I've added a blog to my favourites list- emma's blogg- because this lady has such stupendously good taste and finds so many stunning artists and things out there in the ether.
I am still impatiently awaiting my broadband connection, but once I have it I will set up my own little Etsy shop for prints of my photos and collages and whatever. I am really quite excited about that...

wonky pot

Well, it's only bisque fired and not glazed, but here is one of the very first little wonky pots I've made. I have tried to disguise it somewhat by using a lovely Chinese silk background, but ultimately it's imperfections are fairly obvious. I like it. It's just not centred ..at all...that's all.

St Erth

Yesterday I visited a garden near Woodend called St Erth with some friends, and despite it being a freezing and rainy day, we had a lovely time exploring. There's a lot less showiness about a garden in Winter, but it makes you look a bit closer and more deeply into things.

pottery

Unfortunately my 4 weeks of pottery classes were reduced to 3 because of my trip back to Qld., but I can't really use that as an excuse, because I think it was clear I wasn't going to be a "Pottery Prodigy" from the very beginning. SIGH.
Yes, the sad fact is...I can't centre. Centre-ing is a crucial initial stage in getting the clay ready for shaping on the wheel, and if it's not centred, then you can't throw a symmetrical pot. My natural left leanings are obviously getting in the way here, and all I can throw are wobbly but "interesting" pots. They are unique, and clearly identifiable as mine, because everyone else's look like actual pots.
None the less, I haven't given up hope and shall valiantly pursue the fine art of centre-ing...or resort to hand building, which may be my more natural metier anyway.
No photos as yet, but I promise once I have a finished wobbly pot/thing to show, I will bravely do so!
I take comfort from the knowledge that even if centreing was the easiest thing in the world for me, I'd still want to make them a bit wonky at the end anyway.

Back home

Didn't I say I always come back from visiting Mum with at least one piece of old china? Well I did this time too except this isn't it. I wasn't allowed to steal this one so I just took a photo of it instead-beautiful romantic looking hand-painted wisteria.

It was COLD up there! And that's just not right. Still, it meant we got days like this one where the sky and sea merge so beautifully.

Back in Qld for my Grandfather's funeral, he was very sad and wanted to go, so it is a good thing, but we will miss him terribly.
He was three days short of turning 93.

gothic roses

Yesterday, I checked out the place where I'll be doing my pottery course on Saturday (with Sophie Milne teaching -yay) and despite a few minor issues finding it and navigating trams etc. I eventually got there and am now really looking forward to it. I suspect my first efforts may be rather pre-schoolish, but hey, you've got to start somewhere right?

To celebrate that, and the news that I am FINALLY getting paid for some design work I did a thousand years ago, I bought myself a bunch of roses on the way home. I loved the way they looked in our dimly lit lounge room last night, and so I took some rather gothic photos of them. It's interesting how with some objects you don't really need to see them clearly at all for your brain to instantly recognize what they are...roses are like that.

amazing nature

How incredible is the pattern on this shell? My mother, sister and I found it while walking on the beach last week and although we've seen heaps of these before, we've never seen one with such a clear and perfect pattern (and also colour) on the reverse side as well.

Things like this, created by nature just as she's going about her day to day business, strike me dumb with awe. Pattern for me is not a superficial thing, but deeply significant...and mysterious. All woman or man-made pattern no matter how sophisticated or frivolous, is originally inspired by nature.

I really am quite happily pagan.

unusual wall things

Found these ideas at Emma's blog and liked them- good for big areas of wall where you can't hang anything too heavy but want to put something big...I'm working on something big myself involving many pages of an old Gray's Anatomy text book and oil pastels. I'll do a post on it when it's done...which may be quite a while...

trapped

Snapped these lovely dead flowers this morning while trapped in the house waiting for the landlord to finish trimming the grapevine out the front...and stomping on my nasturtiums, which I might add, are just about to flower. Or should that be were just about to flower.

I know I rent, and I know I don't own this house, but I really like to pretend I do... and having your landlord savaging your garden at 9am on a Sunday morning makes the illusion very difficult to maintain.

Still, I took some nice photos of some dead flowers.

family visit

Just got back from a last minute visit to see my family in Queensland- usually it's sunny and warm up there but it rained (hard) and it was even lovelier to see the rain come down when they need it so badly.

Visits to my family always involve me returning with at least one piece of old china- this time I brought back three! But this rose-bud plate I had to leave behind and so I took a photo instead...so much old china, so little storage space...sigh.

the joy of papercuts and mugs

I LOVE these mugs a lot...spotted on bloesem's blog. Of course they don't ship to Oz. Typical. This is a papercut by spectacular papel picado artist Margarita Fick, found at www.mexicoetc.com/fickhtml , and I was inspired to post it after seeing the post on papercuts on heather's blog skinnylaminx.

It seems I am not the only one currently fascinated by chopping up bits of paper, but some people are really, really good at it!