...in my spare time

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

No need to search for the perfect journal anymore

I've written a few posts over the years about my search for the 'perfect' journal. From the stats of this blog, I frequently see people have 'found' me by searching for that very thing on Google. I have found a few solutions to the issue in the past. I still LOVE my rebound sketchbooks and my Firenze one, ....but... well, I'm sure you understand... the search goes ever on...

And here is my latest solution! I've been printing the covers of Moleskine Cahiers with my new Print Gocco!

I love this cow cover. "This is a diary. The dairy is across the other side of town." This one came about from my (and I don't think it is just me) confusion over the two words. In fact, I have a friend who insists on calling her diary a dairy!

I've put my "Clown Skeleton Wallpaper" on moleskines with the natural covers.

I've put my "Glamour Girl" on the covers too. In fact, she wraps around onto the back cover too. I drew her with my drawing tablet and printed her with 2 screens.

I love pattern! I just had to have patterned covers.

Yep, they're all Moleskine pocket Cahiers (3.5 x 5.5 inches/9 x 14 cm).

Swirly patterns that grace the side of a cover are just enough fabulousness to quickly tell me which is the front when I'm in a rush to jot down some idea or do a quick sketch.

Dots! How can there ever be enough dots in the world?

If you are searching for that perfect journal, these are for sale in my etsy shop The Little Shop of Horus, well the ones I'm not using myself, that is.

Friday, January 25, 2008

How to do just about anything

I've been gocco printing again - I love it! This time I finally got around to using all those crazy books I collect as inspiration. I seem to be going through a bit of a "when I was a little girl..." phase, but once you start down that road it is so much fun! So here I go again. When I was a little girl I was ALWAYS making something. I had a stash of 'How to' craft books (Santa knew what I loved) and I would pour over them for hours deciding what to make next. It was frequently a disappointment when the job was done. I mean clogs to keep your feet dry in wet weather - made out of cotton reels and fruit crate sides???
A fashionable modern flatlet for my paper dolls - well, I just might have been tempted to try this one. I loved my paper dolls and played with them for hours on end. I never actually made them a flatlet like this one. I used the markings on the persian rugs to delineate the rooms and houses in my games. I would have loved this if I had it!
Now, a 'yarn dog'? Yes, I would definitely have made this one. She is so cute! It seems Perry thinks so too. He is hoping his wool doggy might just be the thing to finally seal the approval of Gigi, my glamour girl I drew from yet another weird book, this time on 1950's movie stars. Will he? Won't he? Will she? Won't she?
And about Gocco printing - I'm learning a lot. This last print (Perry and Gigi) I actually used 3 B5 screens for. I also used Photoshop first to both make the dot screen colour areas, and to register the images BEFORE I flashed the screens. It made it a lot easier when the time came for actual printing.

But back to those 'How to' books, I can't leave them alone! So you will be seeing more weird (and probably NOT wonderful!) images inspired by them here from time to time. Anyone else obsessed with these old gems of craft wisdom?

p.s. These prints are all available in my Etsy shop The Little Shop of Horus.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

The skeletons are out of my closet

I remember as a child I could see faces, people and things hidden in the patterns that surrounded me on the walls, the curtains, the rugs and the furnishings. I grew to have my favorites. When I would be sitting on my favorite patterned rug, or wherever, I would look for my 'friends' who lived in the pattern invisible to others.

'Clown Skeleton Wallpaper' * is a triptych I painted recently. It is of my 'friends' Bozo and Pete. Based on a traditional damask pattern, I turned a pleasant floral design into a work that shows the two clowns intricate skeletal patterns - or at least what I imagine the clowns skeletons to look like.

I've been having fun with Bozo and Pete again, now that I have my Print Gocco. This is a limited edition print I did of them, a kind of reverse x-ray that has them stark black on bright white. They look gorgeously wallpaperish.

I just had to keep printing them, they are so much fun, so I had a go at customising the covers of some Moleskine Cahiers. Bozo and Pete are even surprised at how good they look...

...in all their x-ray glory in ghostly greyish-white on black to make cards.

...and getting ready to spread themselves around on panels of joined gift tags.

All available for purchase in my new Etsy shop The Little Shop of Horus. I'm loving having my little shop and want to thank everyone who has clicked on over already. If you haven't, check it out.

I'm thinking of trying out other skeletons in a wallpaper mix... I have a rather evil bunny in mind...

*'Clown Skeleton Wallpaper' painting is available for sale. They look great but are very difficult to capture in a photo as much of their detail is revealed in the texture of the paint and how it reflects the light; they are painted in ultra mat and semi gloss artist quality acrylic paints. If you are interested just email me. Original triptych, acrylic on canvas panels, each panel 20 x 20 inches/51 x 51 cm.

Friday, January 11, 2008

I've gone Gocco! (and Etsy!)

Yes, that is what has been keeping me busy and away from blogging - I got a Print Gocco for my birthday last year, and while I still had essays to write it had to sit quietly and wait. But free from all that for a while, I've been printing up a storm! And loving it!

Birthday Cake and Cup Converge is my first print working from a series of paintings I did previously, where the wonderful (and the weird) 'converged' with my coffee cups. I printed it in black ink and then hand coloured it with watercolour paint. The original painting is large, so working it down to a printable size was a challenge, and then realising I didn't need to be limited by the sides of the board to a square format, I let the cloth, saucer and candle smoke expand outwards.

This print, Cards and Cup Converge is of one of my personal favourites. I have the original painting in my private collection and use a snapshot of the Queen and Jack's faces for my avatar. I love the graphic nature of cards. (I'm still working on my series of hand drawn cards and will post again about them soon.) I printed this in black ink on my trusty Gocco and again hand coloured it with watercolours. The colours are actually more vibrant than I could capture in all the photos.

This gorgeous print Fabric and Cup Converge is printed in indigo and mauve inks and then gently hand coloured with watercolours. I love pattern and I particularly love visiting fabric shops mainly because I love being surrounded with pattern and colour. The great thing I realised about doing these prints from my original paintings, and using the Gocco to do it, is that I am not limited by the original colours of the works. I had great fun completely changing the colour palette for this print and when colouring them, I could do each print differently.

Mocha Kenya is another cup 'converging' with something strange, this time a herd of zebra! Don't ask me why! I'm not sure either. I think it came about because I love the graphic nature of the majestic animals, and am somewhat bemused by the way 'animal prints' can turn up on just about anything these days. Again this is a print worked from my original painting of the same name. It is printed in black ink on my Gocco.

There are so many strange words in the digital world. I'd never heard of a Gocco before I read others blogs about it. It took me a long time to find out how to pronounce it (Gocco rhymes with loco) let alone figure out what it did. The other strange word of the day is Etsy. I have loved browsing, and occasionally buying, on the Etsy website for a long time now. Getting my Gocco was the incentive I needed to go ahead and open my own Etsy shop.

The Little Shop of Horus is open for business right now! These four prints are up for sale in it now, and today I will be adding more of my creations to the virtual shelves. Why don't you click on over and have a look!?

Thursday, January 10, 2008

BOOK ARTS

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Thursday, January 03, 2008

(Happy) New Year Me

Yes, I've been busy, but I'm still not ready to show my latest 'stuff' here, although it won't be long now until I am. So in the interest of keeping up your interest I'm heading off on a slight tangent and posting this drawing which is my first ever on my new drawing tablet. Now, there is a learning curve! In this drawing I've tried to simply draw. I'm saving the excitement - and challenges - of painting digitally for my next attempt (or the one after that...) And the subject of this is a gorgeous gargoyle who has recently joined our household, a gift from our daughter to her father. If I disclose that his name is 'Rowdy' will you guess what huge Scrubs fans we are?

And on the subject of the New Year, I am really looking forward to it. I have several really exciting challenges ahead. One is that I'll be working of illustrations for a children's book a friend of mine is writing. I've tried illustrating before a couple of times, but didn't get far. This time I'm pretty hopeful it will be something I can do. And to help it along I'm taking a few months off my studies so I have some time to devote to it.

Another exciting event on my blog calendar is happening in only 4 weeks time. My favourite creativity guru Eric Maisel is visiting my blog again!!! You may remember he actually called into my blog last year and privileged me with the opportunity to interview him about his fabulous book Ten Zen Seconds. Well, the thrill is not over yet, because he is coming back to talk about his latest paperback to hit the shelves The Van Gogh Blues: The Creative Person's Guide Through Depression . I'm very fond of this book, because it was the first of Eric's books that I read and it lead me to seek out his other fabulous titles. In 'Van Gogh Blues', Eric talks about creative depression, it's manifestations, it's causes and, most importantly, how to deal with it and prevent it. I'm particularly pleased that this is happening now, because one of the last lingering health problems from my spider bite incident was depression and anxiety. I'm pleased to say I've managed to eradicate them from my life, along with almost all the other lingering and bizarre symptoms. I let Eric's wisdom guide me back to happy creativity.

The other exciting challenge for my year is the project I've alluded to in a previous post. I'm REALLY excited about it, and it involves the 'stuff' that I'm just not quite ready to post yet. I think my next post will be the unveiling.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

I am still alive (Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year)

My attempt at subtle humour and a tribute to On Kawara, but yes - I am still alive!!!

It has been a crazy time of ups and downs, of creative bursts and downtime, of frantic essay writing and doing not much at all, of health and the need to recover again. I have made some stuff I'm really pleased with but in browsing my files tonight to add an image or two, I find I have recorded none of it. Strange. Some of what I wanted to show you, I have given away as Christmas presents. Some of it I can photograph later (when I again have access to a camera - it's away on holidays and I will join it tomorrow afternoon). But the end result is all I can offer is typed words on an illuminated screen that claim that I am still alive, and say that I truly wish you a happy Christmas and, as I aspire to myself, a VERY good New Year!

And my next post will be picturesque again - I promise!

Friday, October 19, 2007

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)!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

It's that time of the year...

Spring is sprung, the evenings are warm and longer, the smell of mozzie coils fills the air... I find my mind, once again, turns to cocktails...
We've had visitors staying with us for the last week. It has been really great, especially as it resulted in my trying out a couple of new (well, new to my shakin' repertoire) cocktails. While my taste buds really jumped excitedly with the Margarita, the Cosmopolitan was the most popular, even with the guys completely ignoring its stunning shade of deep pink and just plain guzzling them down.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

It's my deal...

I'm making a deck of cards. Here is another batch of completed cards. All cards are 3.5" x 2.75" and are drawn on both sides. (Each image shows both the front and the back.) My suits are a little different to the traditional ones. My 'Hearts' suit actually contains other body parts too. My 'Spades' suit used the basic shape of the spade, but turned it into a footprint. My 'Clubs' suit has a variety of objects that are all 'club' shaped. My 'Diamonds' suit is all food; many of the foods have an element of the diamond shape in them, some don't. It's all a bit of fun.

The King of tippy toes

The two of kidneys

The seven of staphylococci

If you missed seeing the other cards previously posted here, click on the 'playing cards' label below or visit my Flickr site and view the Playing Cards Set.

Sunday, September 30, 2007

The game goes on...

The five of eyes

The Ace of cobblers

The ten of tangle

Friday, September 28, 2007

A new way to journal

I was filling in a comment form on some wonderful blog or other a couple of nights ago, when the words "Choose an identity" gave me an idea. How wonderful would it be if we could actually do this in the analogue world?!

"Who would I like to be today?" could be a question we could ask ourselves just after the usual "What do I feel like for breakfast?" (or before - bizarre breakfast possibilities are springing to mind.)
But journaling in this way is the only way I've found to transfer this digital possibility to the real world - so far!!! (I'd kinda like a stamp made of this to make it easier to do on a daily basis...)

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Notebookism

Remember the new journal I started? The one from Firenze (Florence, Italy)? Well, if you missed it, or you've forgotten you can check it out on Notebookism. Wow. Yes, really. My new journal is on Notebookism!

(You could just scroll down to see it, you know, but that would take all the fun out of seeing it on Notebookism.)

Thanks Armand!

When I was a little girl...

Monday, September 17, 2007

EDM Challenge #14 - Draw what you see in the morning

This is my view when I look up in bed. It looks like a funny face to me.

EDM Challenge #19 - Draw something you've made

On the little wire table on our bedroom balcony is the ceramic sculpture I made of Gaia. She lies, each part of her body is a world in itself, gazing at the world she holds in the palm of her hand - planet Earth. She never looks away.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Spider biteCellulitisShingles

I am slowly getting there. Very slowly. Still struggling with fatigue all the time. My shingles are still in the 'active' stage nearly 5 weeks after they erupted (along with cellulitis, as a result of a spider bite on my forehead). I didn't intend to harp on about it here, but I've been very surprised to find that this trifecta of mine is not an isolated occurrence. In checking my site stats I've seen several occasions when my blog was visited by people searching a combination of these ailments! So I thought I'd post just a little about what I'm doing about it and how I'm going.

The week before the bite I was feeling very well, culminating on the actual day of the bite with feeling positively great! I'd been eating well, exercising, I was happy and looking forward to the future. My research tells me that a spider bite will only cause consequential cellulitis and/or shingles if your immune system is already low. I don't have a fabulously strong immune system, but it was at its peak at the time. Some alternative health practitioners I've spoken to have said that the bite itself is enough to affront our immunes; when you think about what spiders eat, they must be filthy and then there is the added burden of the injected toxins.
The cellulitis was fixed by a couple of days of IV antibiotics. The shingles has remained and been slow to progress. It has traveled from the site on my left forehead, up across the top of my head, down to the top of the back of my neck and now across to the right side of my head near my ear. I have been lucky that the early medical intervention involved anti-viral drugs which has meant I haven't had to suffer the awful neuralgia most shingles attacks bring.

But its been weeks of extreme fatigue, headaches, itchiness and hot and cold flushes. I am having Kinesiology treatments and have taken homeopathic remedies, but right now I've settled into a routine of taking mix of 5mls of an astragalus herbal tonic and 5mls of olive leaf extract with a little juice and following that with a liquid mineral supplement in a glass of water. I take this 1/2 hour before breakfast and lunch. With my breakfast I take 1000mg of vitamin C, a womens formula multi vitamin (chosen because it includes extra B vitamins), 5mg of folate and 'good bacteria' capsule. I'm contemplating adding a l-lysine supplement to the regime. At lunch and dinner I take additional 1000mg vitamin C's. I also take paracetamol with each meal because I find it makes me more comfortable. I'm eating lots of vegetables, eggs, cheese, beef, chicken, fish, legumes and yoghurt while avoiding nuts, seeds, dried fruit, wholegrain bread, chocolate, coconut, oats, brown rice and soy products because of the amino acids in each group of foods. And I'm drinking St Johns Wort tea and lemon balm tea because both are have good antiviral actions. Both also promote an anxiety free state of mind, which is helpful as stress is also a factor in shingles (Wisdom of Healing has an interesting article). And the last few days I think I'm finally beginning to see the benefits of all this with a slight improvement in most symptoms in spite of more spots still emerging.

I've started ANOTHER journal...

I bought this book in Firenze (Florence, Italy) on my last day there last year. To be honest, I found Firenze a bit of a shock. So old, the streets so narrow and twisting, the architectural and artistic 'icons' all squashed into the tiny Medieval space. I guess it was my Australian sensibility kicking in, but I had expected to be able to stand back and look at the sites, but in Firenze the only way you get to see anything is by looking up, or so it seemed to me. We were staying right in the heart of the old city, a stones throw from the Duomo. Our street was incredibly narrow but our hotel was fabulously extravagant - perfect for Firenze.But, back to the book. I have always loved the fleur-de-lis symbol. I really wanted a full-on Firenze souvenir with it on. But I couldn't choose. I left it, thinking the perfect souvenir would present itself to me, but on the last day I was still undecided although I did know it needed to be something in leather. I had seen a book like this but with an attached cover. I liked it, but knew the 'pressure' of what to put in it would be too much for me and I'd never use it. Then I found this one with a reusable cover. I could replicate the book itself with my bookbinding skills later. The pressure was off. I could write or draw in a book that could be replaced with a new one in its fabulous cover. "I'll take this one!" (My Italian is nonexistent.)But, up until last week I could never bring myself to use it anyway! I have many journals in current usage, but the temptation is always very strong to start another. I love books! I started this one off with writing down all my most recent 'ideas'. (I have a lot of ideas. I often don't write them down which is always a mistake.)Then I began to be a little disappointed with the black writing on every page, no colour, so I thought I'd try a quick sketch to see how the paper held up. It's not designed to be a sketchbook.I'm surprised how much I like the format of the book. It is a delightful size. It's thick, has substance but isn't too big. It's light and robust and the paper is lovely to write and draw on in spite of its thinness and slight translucency. I'm looking forward to seeing "lived in" signs on its leather cover. It will only help to make me love it more.

Post edited 17.9.2007
I've realised I can claim the mozzie coil drawing as EDM Challenge #59 - Draw a sign of spring.
And I can claim the apple one as EDM Challenge #24 - Draw a piece of fruit.
And the herbs as EDM Challenge #136 - Draw something that's alive.
Yay! It's good to be getting some more challenges done!

Monday, September 10, 2007

Indecisions, Indecisions, Indecisions.

The 8 of indecision

Walter from Thousand Sketches was kind enough to ask about the making of my cards. I have made a stack of blank cards out of my current favourite paper - Art Spectrum 'Draw & Wash' (210gsm acid free, fine tooth for dry media, specially sized for wet media). It comes in 230mm x 320mm pads of 30 sheets and it is reasonably priced. I have used this paper for printing (without a press) where I found it picked up the ink the best and didn't need soaking. And I've used it in bookbinding and various drawing projects. It comes in a rough finish too; I have a pad but haven't tried it yet.

Walter also asked if they were ACEO's. Well, I don't know. When I was deciding what dimensions to make the cards I did look at ATC and ACEO websites to see what dimensions they used. I decided it would be easier to use the standard format for these cards so I cut my paper into 3.5" x 2.5" cards. (How can thousands of artists worldwide be wrong?)

The 7 of Samba

I was instantly disappointed with the look of the cards. They NEED round corners. I NEED them to have round corners. It became just a touch of obsession really. In spite of being unwell, I had to go straight out and find a way to make those seductively perfectly rounded corners. I actually had to visit a couple of shops before I found my new favourite thing - my rounded corner punch. I must admit the obsession didn't end there. Over the next few days all the junk mail, catalogues, even a few bills - everything in my house really, ended up with rounded corners!

The time had come to make my first card. I still wasn't sure what it was going to look like. I got out my playing cards for a little inspiration. I decided to maintain the format of the original cards so with my little ruler I measured carefully across to locate my images in the same spots as the original... and guess what... my playing cards are 3.5" x 2.25"!!! Back to those ATC sites... it even says you can use playing cards as a foundation. (?) Does this mean playing cards in Australia are different to cards from other parts of the world? And no, I don't just have one strange pack of cards. I have many (we love games here) and they are all the same size. Oh well, I don't really mind. It gives me a little more space to draw which is good as I'm not really that adept at drawing very small.

The Jack of Judgement

Friday, September 07, 2007

Death of the Heart (and a couple of Spades)

In my uni course I'm reading Roland Barthes 'Death of the Author'.

The 2 of splits

Meaning is made in the seeing not in the drawing.

The 3 of hopping

It's all in the context of the seeing.

The 3 of thought bubbles

Truthfully, I can't tell you these aren't Hearts and Spades.

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