Here are the 2 latest fabrics of mine I ordered from Spoonflower- the afternoon light wasn't great when I took this shot but you get the idea. As usual they have done a very nice quality job of the print and the fabric is also a lovely quality, but the colours are just little off. It's a very tricky thing to get right when everybody's computer colour calibration is different...but I'm pretty happy!

Proper print revival...maybe?

Love this frock by Alexander McQueen, how nice to see some inspired and good print design again after what feels like aeons and aeons of ugly 80's reruns.I never liked that hideous "Memphis" style the first time round, and enduring generation Y's love affair with the 80's has been very painful. It hurt..please let it be over now.

Spoonflower and Handmade in Melbourne

I was delighted to see one of my fabric designs was in the Spoonflower "Fabric of the week" competition last week- I didn't win, but it was nice to be there none the less. Also just found out I have been picked to go into the new "Handmade in Melbourne" book that comes out in August.Yay!
This image by Matt Jones from 20x200 seemed appropriate...


Also, how gorgeous are these new delights from the lovely Mel Robson?

Winter garden

I'm quite delighted with the beautiful colours in my garden right now, despite it being the middle of Winter (21st was the solstice). The persimmons are divinely orange against what is a mostly grey sky, and the greens are somehow so much greener and any spot of colour just leaps out at you.
I've been reading Ursula le Guin again and she always helps me focus on the important things in life...like beautiful orange persimmons.

Creative time poor...

Just love this collage by Emmanuel Polanco found on the always inspirational Dear Ada's blog recently. Although I'm a bit frustrated by not having enough time to create, the upside is I've suddenly been inspired after months of just being stressed about money.
Now I'm earning money and I just want to spend it all on film, ink cartridges, paint etc etc...typical cash poor versus time poor dilemma huh?
Still it is awfully nice to be able to afford these things again, and maybe even lash out and get a fancy haircut, as well as pay the rent and eat!!

Life

I've been doing a couple of weeks of full time work lately to allow me to feed my art habit...and my cat, and I will have to do a couple more months of that over Winter which I'm not looking forward to, so there may be some quiet times on my blog during that time. Meanwhile my heart will be yearning for my garden, my camera and my little home studio...
Here's a beautiful video made by a local guy, Will Coverdale, about a few of our wonderful community gardens here in Melbourne. Please take special note of the wonderful Ros from my very own Northcote Community Gardens, and keep an eye out for the sunflower mural at Veg Out in St Kilda- designed and painted by my very own Ben.

Seeds Of Growth - A Short Film on Community Gardens from Will Coverdale on Vimeo.

Brisbane adventure

Just back from hot Brisbane (31 degrees!) where I had a whirlwind week-end visit for my friend's 40th birthday party, and returned to 10 degrees and gale force winds here in crazy Melbourne. It's enough to give a girl culture shock. I apologise to everyone I didn't get to see up there, but time was brief and there was a big 40th party to prepare. We did have a tremendous time at Fiona' 40th though- and danced the night away to such classics as "Tainted Love","The Love Cats" and who could forget "Electric Dreams"? (No matter how much you wish you could- you just can't get it out of your head). Terribly amusing for Fiona's 3 daughters to watch their Mum dressed in the height of 1980's fashion (and disturbingly similar to today's fashion)with leggings and an off the shoulder big shirt, bouncing around with her aged friends! And their dad was resplendant as the Karate Kid. This is for you Stefano...

Feeling a lot of this right now....

But it's not necessarily a bad thing- especially as shown here by the marvellous Nikki McClure whose work is available at Buy Olympia.

Handmade in Melbourne!

I'm thrilled to have been invited to submit an entry to the next "Handmade in Melbourne" Book- no guarantee it will make the final edition, but so nice to be asked! It's all due to Angela at www.leeloo.com.au that I've now been spotted by Cleo and Handmade Melbourne, thanks Angela!

The terribly clever Ms Mel Robson

Beautiful scrummy little cups and saucers made by the beautiful and scrummy Mel Robson- can be seen at Pomme in Victoria April 4th-24th.

Me in Cleo

Me and "The 50 Most Eligible Men In Australia"(highly debatable)are in the April edition of Cleo. I wasn't asked any searching questions about "the most romantic thing I've done for a girl" or even "my guilty pleasure", but I do have a collage and photograph in an article on Affordable Art- sigh, if only it weren't!

Creativity dry spell...

I'm kind of all over the place at the moment and having trouble focussing on one thing. The ideas are there, but the steadiness(and confidence)to implement them seem to be beyond my reach right now. So, naturally I waste time skipping through blog land, and here are some fabulous images I found on The Golden Age Comic Book Stories blog.This really is a wonderful blog with images ranging from classic illustrations from Mucha to amazing and whacky vintage comic book covers...heaven for a creatively stuck collage artist!

Time Flies

Beautiful pendants spotted on Buy Olympia-the exchange rate sort of prohibits these little purchases now, but they're damn tempting!

Rosalie Gascoigne

Finally checked out the Rosalie Gascoigne exhibition at the NGV and it really impressed me. I've always loved her work and it's a fabulous show with quite a diverse range of work there.I really liked her old enamel ware pieces, and the ones with just plain, silvery aged wood but couldn't find any images of those, but the bright traffic yellow ones like this are what she is probably most famous for.

Struggling

This image by Eduardo Recife struck a chord with me today.
Seems like a tough time to live in Victoria right now. I feel pretty tense and sad most of the time and the whole thing isn't over yet. It's hard to avoid thinking about the fires when all you need to do is look at the smoggy sky and see the weird red sunset and smell the smoke. Everyone knows someone who has been directly affected, my own little niece and her Mum had to evacuate last night...and its not over yet. After two months with no proper rain, it has to come soon right? Doesn't it?