Lost Aussie on the loose

Lots of Lovely Literature

A ghastly visit to the dentist first thing this morning was nicely offset by a bumper crop of reading material that arrived with the "Postie" today.

Pasticcio #4 actually arrived yesterday but I did not get around to reading it until this afternoon.  As usual Sarah and Angela have done a bang up job of creating a super little read, full of lovely artwork and some great articles of interest!

Next were a couple of recent offerings from Amazon -  A Charming Exchange by Ruth Rae and my buddy Kelly Snelling.  I've only skimmed through the book so far but it seems to be full of fun and funky projects accompanied by great instructions and lots of photos!  Congrats to them both as well as all their co-conspirators who helped create the book.

Mary Hettmansperger's book Wrap, Stitch, Fold and Rivet arrived as too (gotta qualify for the free shipping of course!)  Another great book, though again I've only sped through the pages to get a general idea of what's in there before I take some time out later on to peruse thoroughly!

And last but not least, the new issue of Quilting Arts - all about Go Green and full of ideas to save the planet while continuing to feed your fabric addiction!

Time out for a cuppa I think and perhaps I might even dedicate the rest of the afternoon to a little "light" reading ....

Keeping It Real

Recently someone emailed me wanting to order a print of one of the pictures off my blog (and yes you can do that!)...
Happy to oblige I scrolled through a number of months worth of entries on my blog until I came to the post they were interested in, found the master file and sent their artwork along it's merry way.

In scrolling through my old blog entries I realised that the subject matter and content of my blog has changed over the years.  Lots more of my own photos and less and less artwork that relies on the use of stock or purchased imagery!  Not that that is a bad thing, for I feel there are times when you don't have quite the right picture to suit a piece and buying one is an easy solution.

What I do find though, is that my conscious decision to try and use as much of my "own" photo stock as I can has changed my artwork considerably. 
Whether or not you like the finished product is entirely subjective and up to you to decide, but as the artist and creator I feel like I have a lot more ownership...even ALL of it...when the components of a piece, be it digital or mixed media are contrived by my own hand (and camera)....and you know..that feels good...

"Sowing Summer" is created with hand painted acrylics on watercolour paper, scanned and  manipulated in Photoshop and the seed pod graphic was arrived at by picking dried pods from my garden, scanning them into Photoshop, tweaking the threshold settings and adding them as a new layer over the background.

In the end, not just art, but a wonderful memory of my Summer garden!

Late Night Doodles

3am and I don't know where the days go...seems like the daylight hours are occupied with "normal' stuff and then when all is quiet and the cats are busy outside catching mice, the muse wakes up and I am off and running.

I spent a while tonight pasting papers and painting backgrounds for a round robin journal book, decided to fiddle around with some other pictures while that lot dried and now here I am...messing around with some digital stuff, trying to create a few new pieces that I am to submit for some up and coming juried art shows.  Not happy with anything in particular yet...so we will see!  A change from garden photos at any rate!

Sleep tight....

Lost In The Land of Photoshop

Yesterday went to heck and back in a handbasket as I had to stay focussed while a crew of workman tramped in and out of the house to put a new furnace and AC unit in the basement.....and if you think you heard THAT story before...well yes you have, and I can tell you it's both a nasty and expensive taste of deja vu, having done it barely a year ago in our old Delaware house!

So today I was up bright and early and ready to tackle a bunch of chores in and outside of the house only to be stymied by a day of rain and thunderstorms....then on the good advice of a friend, when the sun came out for 5 minutes I used the time to snap a few pics....that was at Midday...and I've been lost amongst the pixels and pictures ever since...what can I say?  Time flies when you are having fun?  Too bad about the groceries...let them eat cake! Ha!

Here's a sample of some of the pics I played with.... I love my Summer garden!

Calling All Aussie Art Bloggers

I have a little project in mind and would like to start by setting up a special links page on my blog for ANY artsyfartsy seriouslywonderful mixed media art or photo blogs that are out there that are published for and by Australian artists and craftsmen and women!

If you think you would be remotely interested, either leave a comment or email me.  Don't be shy....I want to hear from YOU!   Feel free to pass the word on!!!

A Blogalicious World

I was recently gifted with this lovely little blog award by two of my "Blog-Buddies", Carla and Dneese.  I thank them both for thinking of me so kindly.

I don't have lots of bells and whistles on my blog, things that blink or link but I do like to share my photos and pics of some of the artwork that I create and primarily like to use my blog to stay in touch with a globe of friends and family...spiced with the odd note and story of what goes on in my life! 
I appreciate each and every one of you who stops by, whether you leave a comment or not, your visit is valued...
Long live the lovely land of Blog!

So having said all that....in accordance with the rules for receiving this award which are:1) Put the logo on your blog.2) Add a link to the person who awarded you.3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.4) Add links to those blogs on yours.5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

I'm not going to re-gift this to any of my blog faves who have already been ^5'd and hope to catch a few different folk and make their day!  Here goes:

Cindy, Kelly, Julie, Christine, Sarah, Don and Ursula

Happy Surfing! 

An Overly Quiet House

48hours since they boys have been gone and the house is too quiet already.  How is it that the aggravation of bickering, smelly sox left on the bathroom floor and a dishwasher constantly be waiting to be emptied can be something that you miss???

Today's distraction from missing them included a trip to the movies to see the new Batman movie -  "Dark Knight".  What a great work of cinematographic art!  Several stellar performances, amongst which of course was Heath Ledger's as the Joker.  I guess I am biased because he came from my home town, but boy...did he give Jack Nicholson a run  for his money!
And yes, Catherine, I think that my hubby is right along there with yours, thinking that this is one of the best movies he's seen in a long time!!!

Stairway To Heaven

I'm off to bed....having staved off the Sleeper Fairy long enough to make sure the boys were safe and sound on Terra Australis!...even if their luggage did not make it!  Hopefully it will get there tomorrow!

"Stairway To Heaven" is one of the pictures that I took while in the Bahamas..kind of an odd thing...this big concrete stairway on the beach and leading right into nothing...or is it literally a set of steps all the way to Heaven??

Fabulous Family Time

Time seems to have flown by on gilded wings....12 days with the boys here and we have managed to squeeze in a fabulous family vacation to the Bahamas as well as a Bon Jovi concert and and a modicum of New York toursisty stuff.
(Never mind loads of laundry and lots of stock up shopping!)

We shipped the "small men" off to JFK tonight and begin the tortured process of getting them back to Perth...already their flight took off 2 hours later than scheduled and I can feel the gray hairs growing by the minute until I know they have made their flight connections and are on the next leg of their journey safely!
The Bon Jovi concert that we saw on Monday was AWESOME!  Totally rocked the house down with 20,000 folk packed into Madison Square Garden.  You could "feel" the building shake and rock with all the enthusiastic fans jamming along with the band.
I thought that Matchbox 20 was great, the Eagles were awesome....but this bunch were just the BEST ever!
Their opening band was All American Rejects, so in truth we got two great concerts for the price of one.
If nothing else, the boys will return back to Perth with lots of tall tales, where the fantasy matches the reality!

God Speed My Lovelies.....I miss you already!
xoxoxo
MOM

Night Owl

I messed around with this piece a week or so ago....a la style of Jesse Reno ...oh to draw like him! - the words are mine.