New Necklace & Light Box

This one's called "Content Being Me" and you can find this little sweetie for sale here. She's happy being herself, despite the fact that society thinks she is abnormal. She is beautiful in her own way! If only we could all take a leaf out of her book. Maybe if I did I'd throw out my cellulite cream? Useless stuff anyway!

I got so frustrated with trying to take photos of this necklace outside today (which is how I usually do it), waiting for the sun to decide if it wants to go behind or come out from the clouds, battling with my shadows hovering over the necklace, and then the wind. Darn the wind! So, I did a bit of research and came across this light box tutorial. Ok, so it's a macro-photo-studio tutorial, but 'light box' is now stuck in my head and there it's going to stay.

So, introducing to you possibly the most crappiest light-box known to man. And woman. There's even a high-tech device at the top of the box in the form of a hole cut by a serrated knife that the camera's viewfinder can see through. The sides are covered with tissue paper, and that's a bloody bright 500 watt light that I brought in from the garage. Complete with it's own little unwanted hitchhiker. Now that I have seen this spider today, I feel all creepy and my hair keeps tingling as if there's spiders in it. He's still in the little tub now that I put over him. Still trying to work up the courage to take him outside. Not a fan of spiders at all!



Anyway, I think the photos came out ok with a bit of photoshopping. I could still make some changes and improvements to my crappy little light box, but at least it's an improvement from taking photos outside. If you have any criticisms or tips for me regarding photographing crafty stuff, I'd love to hear from you. Or you could just tell me that they look fabulous already. I'd be happy either way... !

I'll Help You Grow

Here's a new limited edition print that will soon be available through Georgie Love and a new gallery in Brisbane QLD called The Servo which can be found at 78 Latrobe Terrace Paddington.
There'll even be a couple available at tummyache ;)
They come unframed, though I have made them to fit into an A4 frame. The frame pictured here is the Ikea Ribba 30 x 40cm frame, which is an affordable framing option for this print.
Each print comes numbered, titled and signed and is printed on archival paper with archival inks.
I think everyone has had a person like this at some time in their lives. It's such a nice sentiment. In a world where we are often suppressed or put down by others, sometimes rare gems come along that encourage us and help us to grow. I hope you have someone like this in your life :)

Snuggets

I'd like to be blogging more than I am lately. Usually I plod along working through the days and I'll get some idea of what I'd like to write about, or I'll have new work I'd like to show. I just seem to be a bit blank when it comes to blogging at the moment. Everything seems to be in half-finished states, and I'm doing ALOT of illustration work too. It will be nice when the blogging part of my brain switches back into gear so that it comes more naturally.

I don't often show my illustration work here, but to pretty up this post I thought I'd show you an illustration I did recently for G Mag here in oz. It's a relatively new environmental mag, I think the issue that this pic is in is still on the shelves.

I have a new necklace/ choker design I'm working on this week, as well as a limited edition print that will be available through some other shops and galleries. More about those little nuggets soon..

And who stole the lovely hot sunny days we were having!? Typical to Melbourne, we have an extremely hot summery day- then the next day it's cold and raining... rain that I got caught in this morning whilst walking the dogs I might add. I was laughing as I was walking along with rain dripping off the end of my nose and water getting in my eyes. A drenched, delirious girl walking with two extremely wet dogs! And I'm not ashamed to admit that I like the smell of wet dog (I think I've mentioned that before), and I'm also not ashamed of starting my sentences with 'and'. I like it, I don't care if it's a grammatical faux-par.


So, the weekend is looming and we have the big election coming up. And it really is reminding me of that Simpson's episode (or was it Futurama?) where they had to vote between Jack Johnson or John Jackson. (Who were really aliens in disguise.) I really am undecided. Jack Johnson or John Jackson. Hmmmmm.

One more snugget of news from my ever-so-boring-and-typical-life at the moment is I am completely hooked on a new UK comedy. I am a push over for UK comedy, I think English comedians are legends, and have a similar comedic style to Aussie humour. (By the way, snugget is a new word I just thought up which is a cross breed of nugget & snippet.) I say boring and typical because the most exciting thing in my life at the moment is a tv show! Not that I'm saying anything less of the show.. anyway, if you've ever seen Darkplace and liked that I'm pretty confident that you'd like this one too. It's the first part of the first episode from "Man to Man with Dean Learner". It's set up like a cheesy talk show and the Garth Marenghi guy plays all of the different guests.



Legends.

Hello Soldiers

I've had my BEST MONTH ever at in.cube8r! It's so very motivating that people like my stuff and then actually buy it. I'm sure that one day soon I'm going to spot someone around town wearing one of my necklaces or parading around with one of my bags. And when that day comes I will be a happy little girl indeed. If you haven't checked the in.cube8r gallery out yet you'll find it on Smith St Fitzroy near the corner of Johnston St. (VIC). A good place to do some Christmas shopping for your funky friends!



This morning saw me making a purchase from Greyhound Crafts for one of their life-size greyhound crochet patterns. Not that I can crochet, but my Mum can. I'm hoping to sweet talk her into making one of them for me in the colours of Leela. She's not a greyhound; but the pattern definitely reminds me of her. I think that maybe the greyhound shape is like an exaggerated caricaturised version of her. Perfect! Maybe I'll buy all the wool and ask Mum to pretty, pretty please make it for me. The pattern was a bargain after all! If she wont make it maybe I'll have to revisit the "how to crochet" books and give it a go myself. I've given you comparison photos so you can see what I mean. The crochet dog really does make me laugh, it looks just as lazy as leela is. And the heart coming out of Leela's butt really wasn't intentional.

Recent Happenings

So, the 9x5 exhibition went well. It's so much fun to watch artwork go up for auction. Even more fun when it's your own and it sells :)

I really haven't had the enthusiasm for blogging much lately. Sorry! I've just got too many things to do and it is all a bit overwhelming. I feel like I have a million different jobs on and I have no idea how to sort them all out and where to start. Plus I haven't been in a very good head-space lately, going through a bit of personal crap which kind of gets in the way of work, life and the creative process.


Something to cheer me up yesterday though, was a package from Camilla! We recently did a swap, and she generously sent me a set of prints, her new calendar, some lovely art cards and a hand written note. I sent her this, this, this and this little original artwork called "for the love of nature":


In other life news, Jim has been trying his hand at making some frames. We just get the local framer to cut out the matt board for us, then we route and cut the wood then assemble the frame ready for staining and varnishing. The local glazier cuts glass for us while we wait, and they always give us a bit of a discount ;)
I think he's doing a pretty good job, and considering all of the prints I have been buying lately, it's going to save us a heck of a lot of cash! Cash that can be better spent buying more art prints!
If you've been hiding under a rock, these are both by Ashley. (You really should get out more.) The housey one is hanging above our bed, and I just love the cute homely feel it gives me when I look at it. Perfect for above the bed :) I haven't found a proper home for the other one, but in the meantime it's feeling quite comfortable amongst those colourful characters.