Temperature's rising...

...it seems to have curdled my brain.


Firstly I suddenly had to go away for a week. It was a bit crazy. I was either flat out, exhausted or had lots of time to kill. It resulted in some journal doodling which I haven't had time to do lately.
Secondly, I made a new 'artwork' today...
This is the view from my lounge/dining into the kitchen...
No comments on the mess you may or may not see here - I didn't clean up for the shots!
Ta Da! And here are the after shots...
Thermometer creates a dialogue with the adjacent room which has shape and colour as it's dominating theme...
It also 'speaks' of the function of the room itself... (it gets hot)...
...as well as linking the Aboriginal art objects (I bought from a local artist) to their natural environment...

...yes, I did it as part of my uni course. I'm a shocking house painter, but I quite like it!

Roly, Randomness and a Sword-Swallower

For those of you who are new around here, Roly is my boxer dog. He is getting on in years now, is arthritic and grey but it doesn't stop him from bounding around just like he did when he was a puppy. This undying love of all people, places and things has meant there are a lot of people around who have a very soft spot for Roly. My friend Monika is one of them. Yesterday was my birthday and look what she made me! This photo was taken hurriedly after we had eaten half of them and suddenly thought to record the moment. You think eating a Roly cupcake is a bit strange? It is nothing next to seeing what two people do when they decide to share one!
Here is the mugshot view. The middle one is Monika's tribute to the face Roly accidentally pulls when his lips get caught behind teeth. Isn't she clever!
In other news, I've just updated my shop with two new rebound sketchbooks/journals. These handbound rebound journals (my Perfect Journals) have been quite popular and sell out fairly quickly so if you are interested in Random All Round or Memoirs of a Sword-Swallower check them out over at Etsy.
The cover of 'Random All Round' is still in excellent condition inspite of being a first edition from 1960. The dust jacket wasn't in such good condition, but still good enough to be reborn as endpapers inside the front and back covers.
I added a ribbon page marker, headbands and when I rebound it I reinserted 36 original pages along with mixed watercolour and drawing papers to make a total of 132 pages.
Memoirs of a Sword-Swallower is the story of the author Dan Mannix and its cover shows its age - it is also a first edition but this time from 1951. Again I added a ribbon page marker and headbands.
In this book I also added a vintage library due-date slip and envelope inside the back cover. The endpapers are retro striped paper.
In rebinding this book I again added a mixture of high quality watercolour and drawing paper pages along with 46 of the books original pages, including two photos, one of Mannix swallowing his sword and the other of him fire-eating.

Both books would make really fun sketchbooks or journals to record your own adventures in. What a lot of fun I had making these! I'll be a little sorry to see them go.

Moly_x_portrait1 Update

Yes, still catching up on my exchanges. This one is of Remi and myself done as part of moly_x_portrait1 exchange. For this exchange we do a portrait of the books owner and a self portrait before sending it on it's way. I got the idea from a photo of Remi on Flickr in which he was looking very French. A little bit of escargot and a meat pie and tomato sauce later and voila!

What is it with BIG things?

Ok, I said I'd show my books, I know. This is a book but it is not one I made. This is my latest entry in the moly_x_25 Moleskine exchange. I managed to do this after work today and it is another thing off my to-do list and happily on my done list!!! If things go according to plan I might have another to show tomorrow...

Coffs Harbour has two main tourist attractions. One is the Pet Porpoise Pool which is an excellent spot to kiss seals and pat dolphins and even have a swim with them. It is always a great day at the Pet Porpoise Pool. The other is The Big Banana.

There is a little artistic license in this sketch. I left out the gift shop, the snack bar and the History of Bananas building. From this perspective you can't see the lolly (sweets) factory, the puzzle shop, the toboggan ride, the snow slope, the ice rink or the water park, so it was easy to leave them out.

There is a fine tradition of Australian artists sketching and painting Luna Park in Melbourne. I love these works. They capture the essence of the conflict between fun, fear and sleaze in Luna Park and other attractions like it. When I look at them I wish I lived in Melbourne to be able to paint it too. Then I realised - we have the Big Banana right here! I could paint it. That idea was firmly implanted into my 'one day' basket right up until Clare drew Luna Park in Kerry's moly and posted it off to me to follow on. Too good an opportunity!

But it's not the same when it is a conflict of fun and sleaze only, without the fear. I'm left thinking 'it's just a big banana.'

For more information on Moleskine exchanges visit here.

The post you have when you're not having a post

Yes, I'm alive. I've spruced up my banner. What do you think? I'm getting through a great long list of things to do (oh, I wish I had some spare time). I've put in my uni assessment, made a couple of books (show and tell here soon), been away, made some amazing caramelised onion jam and am slowly catching up on the rest of the list. I've also spruced up the banner in my Etsy shop and more importantly spruced up my prices. There is no financial crisis in The Little Shop of Horus - only financial bonuses!!! The Aussie dollar is down so that means my prices are down too. There had to be some good news this week!