Talk about inspiring!

Yes, I am still painting every day! Yay! It is good. What is really a surprise though is I've changed my painting media from acrylic to oils!!! I've used oils in the past but gave up due to allergies and health issues around chemical overload.

So why have I gone back? I was told to. (I'm so suggestible!) I was told to by none other than Vincent Fantauzzo (2008 Archibald Prize portrait of Heath Ledger) and Steven Jacks (I can't find a decent link to his work sorry, but believe me it is incredible!) when I was fortunate enough to meet them and spend a day with them in a painting workshop. It was particularly interesting because they share a studio and work together in an almost brotherly way. Their techniques are similar as are their views. It was most enjoyable.

No previews of my oil paintings yet. Oil paints are not blogging friendly as they take so much longer to finish. I can say I am excited to be finally working on my Paris paintings! It seems they were waiting in my mind until I rediscovered what is possible with oil paints.

These two are not Vince and Steven. They are in fact Parisians I spied and tried to capture.

What is it about Parisians and Paris itself that is so... what's the word... Parisian!?

1 week down, 51 to go

Meet Rose Henna or should I have called her Henna Rose? She is one of my new mixed media paintings and I've just listed her in my Etsy shop.
I've had a great week, drawing, painting, sketching. Over the weekend I did let myself off the hook a little and just sketched or did nothing, but it was an unusually busy weekend. Still, I'm not going to beat myself up just because of a day off. That isn't the purpose of my commitment to painting everyday. Quite the opposite really. I am allowing myself to paint everyday and that's a positive thing.

When I was in Paris I picked up a new (to me) sketching pen - Pentel Pocket Brush Pen. As you can see it's quite a bold black and very calligraphic. This is the first drawing I did with it. It really is quite fun to use once you get over the shock of how bold every little touch of it is. I discovered going for bold was the best approach. I used this pen over the weekend to sketch Roly. I haven't scanned it yet but it's pretty weird. He never stands still for me, or if he does it is with his bum end pointed at me!
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I did this drawing on our first visit to the Lourve. On this particular day we only visited the outside. There is so much to see without even going in!

Lost, but it's a good thing

I decided not to bore you with daily posts titled anything to do with "pleased" so I've left it a few days to allow my fresh commitment to settle into my mind. I do seem to be learning so much more just by making myself do something every day. Mainly I've learned that those old sayings are true. The latest thing I learned is that you are nowhere if you aren't lost. If I think I know where I'm going with a work the results are staid and well, simply bad. If I'm lost, don't know what to do next, have to paint or draw myself out of a veritable corner the work is fresh, alive, interesting and I'm happy with it.

I don't know how many small works I've finished just this week, it must be about ten or so. Here is taste of what they are like. "Blue Henna" is small, just 10cm x 10cm, mixed media on paper. I will add her to my Etsy shop sometime today. I'm so happy to be able add some of my work to my shop in spite of getting ready for an exhibition next month!
I want to keep showing my Paris sketchbook drawings here too. Here are T and I sitting, as we did nearly every evening, at Cafe Parvis watching the Parisians walking by. During our first two weeks in Paris (T would say it wasn't 2 weeks, it was only 10 days! Men can be so pedantic.) the lift to our apartment was out of order and we had to walk up to our sixth floor attic home-away-from-home at the end of our day-long walking exploration of Paris. Cafe Parvis was a good place to rest before the ascent. We fortified ourselves with local beverages (eh hem) and inspired others who were using the spot for the same reason as ourselves to buy by the bottle and not just a glass!

Day 3 - Really pleased! (I'm going to have to think of a new post heading soon)

But I am. I am really pleased with my day yesterday and the turnaround I've made in my creating in just 3 days! Yesterday I finished 4 small paintings! These works are following on from some of my mixed media works of last year, layering pattern, book pages and images and they are all figurative which is the direction I want to take and persevere with. Well almost figurative, they are all faces.

During a pause in my process yesterday I was looking at the finished little works and I had a huge BFO (blinding flash of the obvious)! I was thinking something like "It'll be a shame when I have to stop working in this style to paint my Paris paintings." Uh hem. I don't have to stop! I have been working on a look or style for my Paris paintings and hadn't found one. This will do perfectly and it is how I want to work! Sometimes the obvious can be so obtuse. Now all I have to do is to start them.

Ah, starting. It seems it is true what they say "just begin" and it will work out. I began 3 days ago with the commitment to paint every day this year after a pretty dry creative period. It seems it is true, all it takes is to start! The problem with that sentence is that it implies that all you need to do is to start ONCE. The truth is that I must start constantly, start painting today, start a new painting, start the difficult part of the painting, start the finishing off etc.

I still don't have a scan of my new paintings to show you yet but I'm sure you will love to see another Paris sketchbook page so here is the dining room of the Musee Jacquemart Andre. I tried to capture the beautiful bronze, ceramic and red silk lamps but didn't do them justice at all.

Day 2 - pleased

Pleased I am. Spent almost all day yesterday reorganising my studio space. Moved just about everything to a new location, some of it into the storeroom, although not as much as I'd planned. The new layout might just work! But... it was late afternoon and I'd not painted. The room was a huge mess and I couldn't see the surface of my desk. I pushed a clear space in the mess and looked for something to paint on. A piece of watercolour paper 10cm x 10cm was in the mess pushed aside so I chose it and began. I started well, a bit of collage, a smear of gouache, some coloured pencil. Ugh, that stage where every fibre in my body seems to be screaming "Yuck! Stop it now! Try again." I persevered. I LOVE what resulted! I feel like I have broken the back of my block already. Painting everyday is going to be VERY good for me!

But there is a problem. I had that carefully cut piece of paper there for a project I'm not ready to talk about here. I actually have a couple of projects on the boil at the moment and I am not at a stage where I can show what I might paint. Solution A: If I paint every day it is likely that I'll be able to paint something just for fun and be able to show you that! Solution B: I'll show you some more of my Paris sketches, which is the solution I've chosen for today.

This is another sketch of those chimney pots I loved in our view from the apartment. This one has them almost obscured by T and the apartment itself, but I didn't think you'd mind. Ahh, Paris!

Do I need to carry a sketchbook when I have an iPhone?

I'm packing to leave for Paris on the weekend. I have made my 'Perfect Journal' and am finally the owner of an iPhone 3GS. Both of these will slide into my shoulder bag and accompany me everywhere. Each has it's uses... but doesn't the iPhone win? (if there was a competition).


My iPhone is my new favourite thing. I will take a photo (at the very least) every where I go and these will be geotagged. T will be carrying a supa-dupa camera (it's his passion) and will be taking his own photos. My geotagged photos will assist him in identifying where he took his photos as he sifts through what will be thousands of shots when he gets back.

My iPhone will tell me where I am. We have a month in Paris and we are by nature wanderers. Last time we were there (which was also our first time) we frequently tossed up whether to go to ___ which is what we planned, or keep wandering because it was beautiful right where we were. (That's the thing about Paris, EVERYTHING is beautiful. You don't really have to see 'the sites' because what you are looking at every second is beautiful.)


The downside of being a wanderer is that you don't really know exactly where you are at any given time. We would get back to our apartment and find we had been just near ___ and not known, missed it completely. So our dilemma became whether to go purposefully back through our wandered territory, or go somewhere new. New always won of course, so there were things we missed. This time we will be able to wander AND to know where we are. But not only that, my iPhone will give us access to our Google Map.

We have created our own Google Map with place markers on it of all the places we would like to go "if we end up near there." We haven't put our must-see's on it, just the addresses of little shops, restaurants, markets and streets that we have read about or been told about. You know, you hear about a place and think "That sounds perfect! I must go there" and when you check the map it is way out to billy-o and it doesn't really warrant a full blown excursion just for the 'cute little ceramic shop'. But should we wander that way, we won't miss it this time!


And then there are the applications. It really is the 'apps' that makes the iPhone a winner over and above other smart phones. I have my translator app, the plan and tour app for the Palace of Versailles, lots of other travel apps. Then there are the photography apps. I was worried about the quality of the 3mpx camera, I would have like more, but the quality is surprisingly good and the sheer fun and pleasure the apps bring to taking photos is quite exhilarating. (I took these photos of my sketchbook with my iPhone!)


Oh and I can use it as a phone too. And email. And blogging and flickr and Facebook and twitter etc etc. Or listen to music. Or play games. (I wouldn't of course. I'd draw in my sketchbook instead!) So, my sexy little piece of hardware reduces the number of things I carry quite substantially; phone, camera, ipod, gps, guide book(s) and maps at the very least. And it weighs less than my ipod alone does.

My sketchbook, on the other hand, does the exact opposite. It creates more things I need to carry. I need my pens, my watercolours, water brushes, blotting paper, tissues to clean up with, glue, (and if the world was a different place) scissors or a knife; lucky I don't carry pencils and erasers any more.


The photos I intend to take are different from the ones T will take. They will be shots of patterns, details and reference shots for paintings I intend to do when I come back. I can get a lot of these shots taken in the time it takes to do a single sketch. It was the time it takes to do the sketches that surprised me last time. When you have the possibility of fitting in seeing Place Vendome this afternoon versus finishing the sketch you are doing in Place des Voges instead it actually gets a little stressful. We didn't see Place Vendome last time. It is on our list (and the Google Map) for this time.

This is part of the reason I wanted to stay for so long this time. To ease the pressure around the time it takes to sit and draw and see and experience and even wander. I don't know if we will actually have time to see everything on our list even with a month! But if I didn't take my sketchbook, if I only took my iPhone we could get around it all. I could paint from the photos I take and those photos would take me right back to the spot... or would they?

And I think that is the real difference between my sketchbook and my iPhone. When I look back through my sketchbooks I am truly transported back to that exact moment. I can see, hear, smell it all again. Vividly. When I flip back through my photos of last time I find myself thinking "where was that?"

I'll carry them both. I'll let you know who wins. I suspect there actually won't be a winner, that it will be more of a truce. But I'll let you know.
ps. This time I made my perfect travel journal out of a book with the all-time perfect title. Guess how long I'm going to be in Paris!? I filled it with my favourite paper - all the one kind this time because that is how I wanted it to be. It also has some pages from an old Paris Guide Book scattered throughout. I had another Paris book with beautiful illustrations in it that I was also going to incorporate. The book is in poor condition so a prime candidate for rebinding however I discovered it is a reasonably valuable book and a first edition. I couldn't bring myself to pull it apart. It has an elastic closer and a ribbon place marker, some loose sheets of blotting paper, but that is all this time. I wanted a simple version of my usual rebound journal this time. I love it. It IS perfect!

Spider bite*Cellulitis*Shingles - An Update

I'm still getting hits everyday from people searching either spider bite, cellulitis, shingles, fatigue and even all of them together!  I did suffer from all of these together last year.  I blogged about my experience and what I was doing to assist my recovery.  I'm still amazed at how this is not a rare occurrence!  

So how am I doing?  Very well thank you!  I have learned so much in this 6 months so here is a brief rundown for those who are interested.  The most important thing I learned is that if I had a strong immune system at the time the spider bit me, I would not have ended up with cellulitis or shingles.  I have a mild condition that I live with that has nothing to do with my immune function at all - well that is what I thought!  It seems this condition which comes and goes (I won't go into details, but it really does surprise me that it can have this effect), any chronic condition really, just keeps taxing the immune system.  Throw in a few immune hurdles, it is taxed more, then whammo, get bitten by a spider and there is nothing left to fight it all off.  

I'm told that it will be at least a year of strong supplements and self care before my immune system recovers from that whammo.  Then it will be a further year of the same before I will have built some reserves.  I now feel lucky that I got bitten by that spider and all I got was shingles and cellulitis!  I am pleased I found out before the story got worse.  I am now happy to take medication for my condition.  I've always thought that I 'should' be able to deal with it without resorting to medication, because really, it is not that bad.  I am also happy to take a handful of supplements a couple of times a day too!

So what's working?  I take 2000 - 3000 mg vitamin C, a mega-B, a good quality multi, a liquid mineral supplement, olive leaf extract, fish oil, B5 and a womens herbal blend.  I'm told it's all necessary.  My information has come from my GP, a medical specialist and my Kinesiologist.  I have Kinesiology treatments at least once every month and I find it is invaluable.  It is difficult to describe how, but I am certain it has helped me become physically stronger, and to consolidate and stabilise my improvements.  

So if you found this post by doing a search for those medical problems, let me suggest you ask lots of questions about your immune system and take vitamin C and olive leaf extract as a minimum.  And all the best to you!

I know these pictures don't go with the post, but it would have seemed awfully boring without some images.  So I've included pictures of my latest rebound book.  I LOVE this book.  I know I say that each time - but this one I'm especially proud of.  It IS gorgeous! It would make the perfect European holiday journal with it's title 'Our Hundred Days in Europe' elegantly printed in gold on the spine.  It has a whopping 216 pages - 64 of them original pages from Oliver Wendell Holmes book.  And it is available in my Etsy shop.

The Perfect Travel Journal

If you've been a reader for a while you will know of my search for the perfect journal and how I solved the ongoing dilemma by making my own.
'As For Italy' by Jean Francois Revel (copyright 1959) is one of the journals I made prior to my own trip to Italy at the end of 2006.  I took it with me all the way, and brought it home again, empty, untouched.  I had made too many journals to possibly fill on my trip, and this one was the last one, left blank.
I love this book!  I removed the original book block from it's cover, reinforced the spine, created a new book block out of the best quality artists watercolour and drawing papers, included a couple of the original pages (including the title page) and sewed it up using a technique that allows the book to open flat, but is strong and has no gaps at the spine.
I added a ribbon page marker, an elastic closer, a vellum pocket inside the back cover and some foldout maps I printed on my inkjet printer.  

I have no idea when, if ever, I will get to visit Italy again.  I think I'm finally ready to part with this perfect little gem, so I've actually listed it for sale in my Etsy shop.  It is very special and will be every bit as special to it's new owner, I'm sure!

Journal Craft

I want to show you a new website I love. Journal Craft is the brainchild of Gill McCowen. Ever wanted an all-in-one resource for your budding (or bulging) journalling questions and ideas? Well, this is the site you've been waiting for. There are lots of fantastic journal-ers and journals to be seen on Journal Craft and I'm very proud to say I've managed to slip in among them.
I'm not so good at screen shots, but that is my 'When I was a little girl page' at the bottom of the page.
And that is a page from my 'Guide France' travel journal.

But, really you can see all that here. So visit Journal Craft to see other great pages and ideas, and there is even a shop where you can buy supplies. Enjoy!

Excitement with a stamp on it

Look at this! This gorgeous surprise arrived in my mail box all the way from Janey! She has created this fabric postcard of one of her fabulous drawings by stitching with various machine embroidery stitches onto patterned fabric (ingenious! I would never have thought of that!) and then, it looks to me like she has also added some ink into the mix just to finish it off. THANK YOU JANEY! I love it! And what Janey didn't know was that it arrived just in time for my birthday! And what a lovely birthday I've had. I had a nice one last year - this is the sketch I drew in San Gimignano last birthday.

And a year ago today I went to the Uffizi Gallery in Firenze (Florence, Italy). I LOVE art and (strangely) I love kitch. And I love it when the two coincide. This pencil case is what I bought in the shop at the Uffizi.

I said I've had a lovely birthday this year and here is just a small portion of it...
But the excitement that comes through the mail with a stamp on it won't be ending just yet. For my birthday I'm getting something I'm really excited about, and all I have to do is wait for it to turn up in the mail... Don't worry, you'll be the second to know (after me)!

Notebookism Notebookism NOTEBOOKISM!

They say "three times lucky". Well, an image from this blog is featured on Notebookism today - my third time! Check it out, and most importantly, check out Notebookism. It is a fabulous website where stationery lovers and the visually minded are constantly tantilised with images and ideas, paper and pens, and history and history-in-the-making. So in the Aussie vernacular - "Do yourself a favour!"

'The Path to Rome' Part 4 - Roma!

Aah Roma! What a crazy place! Had an 'incident' (well not just one! but this bit is about one of them...) on a bus...















...but it all turned out well in the end.















My favourite thing in Rome was the trees. Those pines (what type of pines, does any one know???) are incredibly elegant. I saw the way the formed natural colonades and just KNEW where the ancient Romans got their inspiration for all those beautiful marble ones.














I drew this at the Forum. It is of 'Dominus ........' (don't you just hate that! You start typing and the words just won't come!) Dominus someoneus. It was beautiful!
Those trees! I love those trees!

'The Path to Rome' Part 2 - Siena

Siena! Spent a couple of days there and really enjoyed it. The Duomo at Siena is famous for its inlaid marble floor. Because it is old and precious AND a floor, they keep it covered 11 months of the year. We were lucky enough to see it during our visit. Took some great photos of it, but you know, I never thought of drawing it, not once, until I started to type this. Oh well, another place I will just HAVE to go back to...














In the evenings we would go down to 'il campo' for a drink and some antipasta, just like everyone else! I drew as many of them as I could, but it was the end of a big day, and there was that cool wind, and I had to stop to drink something warming...















I love food anyway, but the food in Tuscany was amazing! It's hard to pick a favourite, but this is definitely one of them. A delicious regional salami with fennel seeds in it. Devine!

'The Path to Rome' Part 3 - San Gimignano

I'm having one of those post-holiday-blur moments. I started this post, and then realised San Gimignano should be Part 3, not Part 2 (as this post should have been titled)! I think I was just plain in a hurry to revisit such a beautiful place in my mind.

My guide book listed the name of the hotel that Cher, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and co. stayed in while in custody in San Gimignano in the movie "Tea With Mussolini". So we went straight there after arriving at the gates to the medieval town by bus.
"Would you like a room with a panoramic view?" "Yes, please."
"Would you like your view of the square or the countryside?" "The countryside!"

San Gimignano - beautiful inside and out. Wish we could have stayed longer. Aaahh, we'll just have to go back.












(Stay tuned for "The Path to Rome Part 2 - Siena")

On 'The Path to Rome' we went to Firenze.

With this post I open my third rebound travel journal - 'The Path to Rome'. Our first stop in Italy was in Firenze. Why do we call Firenze 'Florence'???
We stayed right in the heart of Florence and Cappelle Medice was right at the end of our street with the Duomo at the other.

I saw Michelangelo's David there. In spite of the number of images I've seen of it in my life, seeing it 'in the flesh' (as it were) was still a complete surprise. He is beautiful and wonderful. (To see my other 'David' sketches, click here.)



Firenze was also the only place we visited where we had to resort to the laundromat. It's amazing how much time it takes up!

My Provence sketchook on notebookism!

I'm thrilled to say that my 'Perfume from Provence' sketchbook is featured on notebookism! I love the site anyway, but feel really touched to be included again! I was over the moon when my 'Guide France' rebinding was hightlighted back in August. Now I think I'm over the... sun!(?)Thanks Armand!

'Perfume from Provence' - Nice

The main reason we went to Nice was for Matisse! We were only to be there two nights so as soon as we arrived we asked directions to the Matisse museum... only to find out it had closed (only a week before we got there!) for 8 months! But we had a lovely time at the Chagall museum and set of to Vence to see the Matisse chapel the next day.


When we got to Vence we felt lucky to find a small exhibition of his work in the gallery there. We did get to see this - and it was fantastic - but when we asked for directions to the Chapel itself, we were told that it was closed!!! (It was the first day of the new quieter season openings!) We walked around to see it from the road all the same, to find you just can't see anything from the road! It must simply mean I'll have to go back!

We did go to St. Paul de Vence though, to the Fondation Maeght. Now this is a museum to see! Calder, Miro, Arp, Braque, Motherwell, Matisse (yes, there was one or two), Picasso, Ernst, Kandinsky etc etc etc etc etc (three etc's would not fully describe the extent of it...)


So go to Nice - for the art - it is magnificant! Just wait until after July 2007 to make sure you get a big dose of Matisse... and stay tuned here for the story about my big dose of Matisse in Rome...

'Perfume from Provence' - Rousillon

Rousillon! A small village atop a hill of ochre. The architecture reflects this and is alive with colour. If you want to be able to know just how many different shades, tones and colours ochre can be, you need to go there.


You need to go there anyway! It was my favourite place. It sucked me in, but unfortunately circumstances spat me out. Guess I'll just have to go back...