Sweltering and creating ...

What a strange day!  It's been so humid for the past few days, even people who love the heat have found it hard to cope.  Today's 40 degrees brought with it a thunderstorm which cleared the air thankfully.  Just heard on the news that Perth has sweltered through 30+ degrees for the past 58 days!!!!  I'm amazed I'm still relatively sane!  (debatable ...)

Anyway, today I've been busy working on my e-book (underneath the air-con, I mean directly underneath the air-con), and it's been a bit of a challenge with the heat, a messy house :) and having to pick up children early from school because of heat induced headaches.  However, if I look at it logically it's actually very positive as I'm trying to encourage people to embrace their creativity and these lovely people will be facing the same challenges as me - so this book will be written from a very 'real' perspective and in turn will show creativity in real life is achieveable.  I can't ask for more than that :)

Illustration Friday - Layer

My heart - my 'feeling' and thinking place - a place of many layers ...

Writing in 2011

It's been a strange two weeks - I'm amazed I managed to blog at all!  What with all the 'No Tower' meetings and happenings at work I've been a busy girl.  Our meeting last Wednesday went well - about 140 people from the community turned up to have their say - against the tower - which we're really pleased with as we didn't have a lot of time to organize.  The next thing will be the Council meeting itself to see if the proposition from Optus is approved.  We wait with baited breath ...

During this stressful time I've been trying to keep up creative activity too - it's the one thing that keeps me calm and functioning!  Today I took a big step forward and started gathering materials for the activities I'm going to put into my e-book.  Yes, you heard right - I'm writing a book!  It's been planned for at least 3 years, but I've been procrastinating and self-sabotaging for a lot of that time; however, 2011 is going to be the year that my book is written and published!  I've already done the intro and am now working on the projects which will be a lot of fun and a welcome activity after a busy start to the school year.  The photo might give you a clue as to what I'm doing ...  I'll keep you updated ...

Angry Doodles

I've often blathered on about how fabulous doodles are for inspiring creativity - did you know they also have a calming effect?  (Especially at meetings ... read on ...)

We had a meeting with Optus personnel on Friday which was very emotionally charged to say the least.  Me having a go at one of them for being patronizing probably didn't help ... but what do you expect?  I'm a concerned citizen who is horrified at the prospect of a cellphone tower being placed on a rec ground not intended for commercial use, 180 m from a primary school.  Come on people, where is your common sense?

I don't know how many of you who visit here are in Perth, but this could potentially happen anywhere and we need to support each other!  We are having an info night tonight at the local school, Optus will also be putting in an appearance.

Details:  Community Meeting tonight at 6 pm at Gooseberry Hill Primary School, Ledger Road, Gooseberry Hill.

If you can't attend or just want to offer support so these guys know people are not happy with towers at schools, you can join our mailing list at no.to.tower@gmail.com  You can also find information about towers near schools and community action against them at this site.

Yarn Addiction

I think I may have a problem!  Off I went to Spotlight this morning just to buy some yarn for a couple of projects, but there was so much on sale and I couldn't resist temptation.  But I must say most of the yarn is actually for the Crochet A Rainbow project.  The yellow is for something secret which may or may not happen ... mystery, mystery ... look up 'yarn bombing' in Google ... and the lovely mottled purple is for a snuggly scarf for the winter - which I admit to looking forward to very much now.  :)

Someone's going to be busy ...

Happy Valentine's Day everybody ...

Had to post a heart for Valentine's Day - lots of love to everyone who visits here and to all my friends and family all over the world. xxx

Another year older ...

What a lovely day - and even the weather behaved!  Sunny but breezy, nice and cool.   Some beautiful pressies; Totoro keyring, a magical cardigan that looks teeny tiny but stretches to fit without looking like it's straining over your fat bits, gorgeous 'Frida Kahlo' type necklace and the most awesome craft book, Crafty Minx by Kelly Doust. Plus some purple stuff.  Yay!

But most of all, a quiet day with lots of hugs from my children, dinner cooked by hubby, a lovely card drawn by HB, BB and Little Man and the feeling of being very much loved by my friends and family near and far.  A very happy birthday.   

Illustration Friday - surrender

"Art is nothing but the expression of our dream; the more we surrender to it the closer we get to the inner truth of things, our dream-life, the true life that scorns questions and does not see them." ~ Franz Marc

 
What an awesome topic for this week's Illustration Friday.  As the week has gone on I have been contemplating the theme of surrender, which has spoken to me in so many ways, and my painting has evolved as time has passed.

So, what does this picture mean to me?  The swing is surrendering to my inner child - seeing things in the new way that children do naturally, also not to take life or myself too seriously.  Like me, do you love that feeling of freedom, total letting go of fear as you make the swing go higher and higher, the wind brushing your hair alternately over and away from your face?  I surrendered also in my painting methodology - I usually paint in acrylics so watercolour is a totally new medium (which I am loving), I left myself only a little time to complete the picture so had to surrender to looser, free-flowing techniques and just 'went for it' - how free it felt to paint like that, setting no expectations for myself.  Lastly, note the white streak in the hair - that's me accepting that I'm getting older!  I'm turning 41 this weekend and I do have my fair share of grey hairs; I want to accept myself as I am as I age and not get too frightened by it - and I am really happy and comfortable as I am.  Wow, that feels really good to state that here, after many years of fighting with depression and low self-esteem - this assignment has helped me surrender in many more ways than I could have thought possible.  Hope you take something from the picture too - art is for everyone, as you know I'm a firm believer of that.  Have a fabulous Friday. xx

First day of school ...

Well, what an action packed day it's been!

You may remember that I was slightly anxious about the start of school yesterday, as was my Little Man.  I needn't have worried - he's in the same class and on the same table as his best mate so I was waved away pretty quickly this morning!  Phew ...

Then on my walk this morning a baby Dugite snake whipped out of the undergrowth, flashed past my foot at a distance of 4 inches and whizzed into the grass trees on the other side of the path.  In the meantime, I'd let out an unnaturally high squeak and set a new world record for high jump from a standing start.  I don't know who was the most scared!

I had to sit down and calm myself by looking at the library books I took out yesterday.  One of my favourite treats is to visit the library on my lonesome and spend untold time looking for the best crafty books and other items of interest.   Pure bliss. And I found some beauties yesterday.

Image from 'Knitorama' - R Matthews

Just look at this gorgeous 1930's bra pattern!  I've thought of a way to make it part of a dress, for a much smaller person I'm thinking.  I would love to knit it to wear, but I'd need too many balls of yarn to make one to cover my frontage!  :)  What's the craziest thing you've ever wanted to make?  Did you make it?  Let me know!

Ooh - the pattern for the great undies is from 'Knitorama' by Rachael Matthews - it's such a fab book, go out and find a copy!!

Something for the weekend ...

 ... note Superdog in the background ...

The last day of the holidays.  Do I feel :) or :(?  I will really miss my little people, two of whom are old enough to be bored of spending time with their aged p's, but thankfully they've decided not to be like that just yet.  The day has been spent naming school stuff and making sure everyone is ready for the big day.  I'm wondering if they're feeling as nervous as I am about the first day of the school year?

So ... all I have to show you is something I made for the weekend; for my daughter that is.  She attended the annual WAICON convention - for extreme manga and sci-fi fans - in costume and needed help with the top for her character.  This is where I came in - I'm quietly very proud of the final product as the pattern was drafted by moi, using HB's measurements (she's very petite) and is apparently as close to the real design as you can get.  What made me most happy was the smile on HB's face when she put the top on and it fitted perfectly.  Two happy people from one project - sounds perfect!