tsk tsk

road trip

2 kids
1 car
many many hours on the road
counting cows
playing eye spy
snow.....oh please let there be snow!
stalagmites and stalactites
three sisters
2 states and 1 territory
wind farms
petrol stations
and hopefully one happy family.

blog guilt

do you ever have blog guilt? I have it right now. I should be working. I came into the studio this morning, cleared the desk to make some room so I could work and intended then and there that I would start my day.
But then I took a photo of my dog and then my shoes and studio floor to see what the light was like, then these dolls which have fluff coming out of their bums! And don't tell the kids I said 'bum' because they will take money away from me. That's what Mr N does when either of them say  "a rude word"  or a "naughty word". Please don't dob.

Breaky dishes are still there in the sink.
Dishwasher is only half unstacked....i do that all the time. Half now, half later.

Maybe it is a hangover from when I was a child and my sister and I would have a share each! looking back on that seems so pathetic. A half each! Honestly, both our parents worked full time and the fights we would have about the dishwasher. "Tiel hasn't done her share" "Larah is meant to do the plastics!" Now as a mother, I cringe at our selfish teenage ways.

But I digress.
I am still procrastinating.

Oh, and I have wet towels in my laundry basket that need to be dried and I am thankful that is has been wet so I can not feel bad about using my dryer.
I haven't thought about dinner and probably won't do until late this afternoon.

Now I really must stop, because I could harp on and on and on!

brighter the bird, better the day.

I've spent most of today and all of last night with a migraine. Only now at night do I feel OK. But I have felt frustrated at not being able to do anything. So before I shut down my computer I thought I would quickly post this pic I made.
The weather here is dreary and wet and this bird makes me feel a little brighter.

 

blogs and New York

Whilst blog hopping I've discovered two new lovely blogs full of beautiful things.
at-swim-two-birds where I fell in love with this Sonia
Delaunay book. I think I need to add this to my wish list. This print is really striking to me.

  If you are a fan of vintage ticking and you don't know about this beautiful site, Red Ticking, go and look AND drool awhile. They have a blog too. One of these cushions would do nicely please.

On a completely different note. I recently sent some work to New York for a brand new bub. I sent the canvas unstretched and this is a pic of what it looks like stretched and in the nursery. Kris bought an 'ABCme alpha poster' giclee print and loved it so much he asked if I could make something bigger. I love seeing my work in context. Thanks Kris for sending the pic through.

homeward bound

I have been saying for far too long now that our spare room needs a bit of TLC. It consists of a bed, some daggy bedside tables and a lamp and a pile of clean laundry that only gets removed when people come to stay! I'll take a photo one day to prove it. I'm in the process of making a quilt from vintage kimono fabrics, but based on my track record that could take a few more years to complete. It is a dark room with little light so I'm thinking of keeping it simple with whites, greys and a touch of yellow.
Maybe a mirror to make it appear bigger and brighter.

Perhaps I might get to look around this week for a few things in some real shops. But in the meantime I've been flipping through mags and online.


These three pics are kind of the look I had in mind....well that will probably change, because I can never make my mind up about these things.




Top left : discovered at Far Out Brussel Spout

Top right: discovered at Swish and Swanky

Bottom: discovered at Glimpse of style

new canvas prints for kids

As mentioned last week, I was testing some prints. Well, today they are ready for sale in the shop. If you know 1 little or 2 little indians these might be perfect for their bedrooms. The prints are sold on canvas as the back shows here. I can ship the images unstretched for anyone outside of Australia to reduce the shipping costs.
The images are titled, Sitting Flower and Small Eagle Sitting.

a new week

i needed to clean my studio {again} in order to actually do some work. So the start of this week sees me sorting and moving things about. I'm always rearraging my studio and i think it is because I need a different shape/size table in here for me to be happy. Whilst going through piles of paperwork I noticed this lovely mother's day card from Miss M. I love the way she spells her name differently each time she writes it and refuses to care when I try to correct her.
"no no no. it's ok mum. that's the way I want it to be. Don't you see?"

I'll keep this for days when I doubt myself and my work.

I've been working on a quilt for a friend....shall show you more later, but was very impressed at my ability to go from nothing to an almost quilted top within two days. I won't reveal much more, but she loves the ocean and favours blues and greens....so hopefully it will be liked.

revisiting tantrums and themes

I'm falling asleep as I type so I won't keep this long. Miss M has decided to review her tantrum years similar to when she was 2 {and 3 and sometimes 4} so everything seems to come to a grinding halt whilst I try to maintain a peaceful household.
I'm convincing myself that it is just the cold weather making her cranky. She has the most demanding and frustrating personality in this abode, but on the upside she is the happiest and funniest girl.
Crossing my fingers that the 40 minute, daily screaming matches will soon go away!

 I will stay calm, I will stay calm!

And to the illustrating side of my life, (which occasionally gets to see the light of day between school drop off and pick up) I have been focused on a number of projects. One in particular is working on new images for children and I seem to be revisiting the theme of Native American icons in my work. I think like the Matryoshka nesting dolls, it is the history, their faces, the cultural aspects, the patterns in their clothing, and the stories that have been made famous through poetry, books and movies that spark my interest.

I have a new print now available in the shop and hopefully after some test printing I will have a new canvas print available.....stay tuned.

And I am so glad to see this lady back in the world of blog! Jo always makes me smile.

as quickly as the grass grows.

we always have an abundance of limes in our house. Our tree fruits as quickly as the grass grows.
The problem is I find that there are fewer recipes for limes than there are lemons. I'm not a baker so I don't make many sweet flavoured foods, although I might bake some muffins later for the kids. We love eating and cooking Thai food and I have even made some 'limeonade' this weekend.
I have already given heaps away, but I seem to have run out of ideas. I could freeze the juice, but I don't know if I would use it because we always have fresh ones. As I speak my husband is packing some for the neighbour....but there are still about 100 or so!!!! I might end up putting them at the front gate and get the kids to make a sign saying "free limes"

Any recipe suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

long weekend

here in Australia it is a long weekend. The day so far looks glorious. We will be painting little tiny toe nails (Miss M's request), hanging out with friends and family, gardening, buying bike helmets and keeping promises to eat waffle cones with ice cream.