I love my dog

My hero

A couple of days ago I went for a longish walk as part of my preparation for my 100 km walk in October.  To shake things up a bit - because I love living on the edge - I decided to reverse the direction of my usual 5 km loop and start at the end if you see what I mean.  I should not have done it; things look totally different if you start from the other end, and you realize that you probably weren't paying as much attention to landmarks and surroundings as you first thought.

I ended up getting totally and utterly lost.

Recognizing a road we came to - which wouldn't have been there if I'd been going the right way - and knowing I didn't want to walk up it with all its winding and curving, I did what I thought was extremely smart and went 'off piste' away from the walking track. 

"Let's go bush" I told Charlie dog, and all of a sudden there we were blundering around amongst spikey parrotbush and red rocks.

On the up side I found some treasure, remains of the old rubbish dump that used to be in the area.  Old pieces of pottery, reminding me of home, and some shards which could 'eventually' be used in a mosaic.

I also have a rather macabre interest in animal bones.  Don't ask me why.

On the down side, I had lots of prickly leaves sticking in places I rather they didn't and no clue how to get back onto the track towards home.

At this point, after patiently watching me fossick about amongst broken ceramics and animal fragments for reasons he could not understand, Charlie lost the plot and took control.  Which doesn't happen very often with our dog (both the plot losing and taking control, he's very much a follower and happy with that).  He strode in front of me purposefully, nose to the ground, determined to get home before tea-time. 

And found a beautiful, wide, clear track back to civilization.  I was so relieved I could almost swear it was surrounded by glowing, dancing lights and the voices of angels.

This is not a parrotbush - but to me it does look like someone waving their arms about - really, if you look at it with your eyes half-closed, it does ...

And I'd almost left him at home, because I complained that he slows me down too much.  If it wasn't for him, I'd probably still be wondering around in the bush 3 days later.

I love my dog.

Birthday travels

As a birthday treat I was whisked away on holiday to New Zealand by my lovely husband the day after my party. He's such a star, he knows I'm scared of heights so he took me to the Sky Tower for dinner! Actually after I got over the shock of going skywards in a turbo lift with a glass floor, and the fact that the tower was swaying slightly I really did enjoy myself - it's not everyday you stand above the traffic and tall city buildings. It was fabulous and I embraced my creative side by taking lots of photos.

Standing 190 metres above Auckland - if you look carefully you can see a car on the road. These glass tiles are 3.8 cm thick and as strong as the concrete floors in the Sky Tower apparently. Believe you me I was gripping the handrail very firmly! It took some courage for me to stand on the glass floor ...

... here I am trying to look nonchalent about standing on a bit of glass - if you look closely you can make out my white knuckles

Just as we arrived at our table the sun was setting - don't think it was arranged in advance, but the timing was impeccable!


Back on terra firma - Sky Tower from the ground :)

Going back to my roots

I had fun tonight punching out butterflies and hearts from coloured card, cutting out butterflies from pretty wrapping paper and sticking them into my mandala. Usually my mandalas are more 'organic', i.e. no symmetry, so this time I decided to use punches, printed papers and a stencil to make the inside of my mandala more regular in shape and design. Of course I had to depart from this because I don't like them to be too perfect, hence the lines moving away from the mandala and the butterflies who have have broken free.

As I was making the mandala I was thinking about my 'roots', where I belong, where I have come from and where I am going. Essentially, what makes me, 'me'. Came to the conclusion it's love and transformation, learning to embrace change (which I'm not always that good at, but it happens anyway!). I finished with a feeling of moving forward with love in my heart. Fabulous - what more could I ask for! And this is why I love creating so much - it's like a map of your journey through life.

PS The inspiration from this came from watching 'Who Do You Think You Are', which at the moment features Australians trying to discover their ancestry. Last night it was John Butler going on the journey and he found some of his ancestors came from Australia and Bulgaria! He's a very talented musician and played music throughout the program on a guitar that belonged to his grandfather, it added to the mystique of the journey. He was very moved to discover he had relations in Europe and that ancestors on both sides were idealists and stood up for what they believed in - much like he does in the present day. I guess as our family moves around quite a lot, I like to feel I have a sense of having my roots somewhere. Maybe some of my ancestors were also travellers or artists. One day I'll find out! ...

A Day Creating in the Sun ...

Quite pleased with my sign letting everyone know what Creative Seeds was up to!

Our 'communal artwork' - we had great ideas for this, but kept forgetting to ask people to add to it as we were so busy having fun! Thank you to those people who did add to it - we love it!

Our table - a hive of creativity!

Some of the works by our fantastic creative teenagers.

Experimenting with a photo of the small canvasses Linda and I have painted on previous occasions. They all look stunning laid side by side. We have a vision for these paintings ...

Here are a few photos of our very creative day at the Zig Zag Festival yesterday. I think I'm still recovering - it was soooo hot, in the low thirties I think, which is really hot for me! We were in the youth area, right by the youth music stand, so at times I was reminded of my nightclubbing days when we had to shout in each other's ears to make ourselves heard! Try talking to people about the meaning of colours with loud rock music going on - "well, yes, you'll find that blue is a very peaceful colour ..." It did make us chuckle! Actually, the bands were excellent and we were blown away by one group called 'Convict X' who are all still in primary school, writing their own songs and music and sounding very much like rock stars of the future. Good on you!

Back to real life

My lovely holiday with my mum is over - she got back home this morning.  So I've spent today tidying up and getting rooms back to normal. We had so much fun going out and about we had no time for chores (that's just how life should be!) And we did have fun! From trips into the city, a river cruise to Freo, camel rides on the edge of Kalamunda, a trip back in time at the old village - it's been awesome! I've posted a picture of mum and I when we were having fish and chips in Fremantle last week at Cicerello's - a must do if you visit!

I've been thinking of arty ideas too in amongst the holiday activity, and should be able to share some here in a while.

It's good to be back, but it was such a lovely time connecting again with my mum! Thanks mum for coming to visit us, it was wonderful - love you!

Walking the Zig-Zag

Beautiful windmill shaped flowers by Michael Alvares mark the start of the Zig-Zag walk

One of the bends in the Zig-Zag!

Another artwork encountered on our walk, I'm sorry to say I didn't take a note of the artist's name on the walk (should have done!), but the artwork is called 'Why?', asking us to think about our environment and endangered species.

Natural artwork - the fringe-lily - breath-taking

Yesterday mum and I walked the Zig-Zag with hundreds of other people, and what a beautiful springlike day to do it as you can tell from the photos. The walk happens on the first weekend in October every year, and as you walk down you encounter stalls with information about sustainable living, musicians, camels (really) and artworks amongst other things, as well as the amazing wildflowers which WA is renowned for. We felt quite uplifted and ready to take on anything when we passed the Scottish pipe band at the beginning of the walk - only 3km or 4km to go, depending on whether you believed the council website or the road sign at the top of the hill!

It was lovely indeed to bathe in the kinder springtime sunshine and it had a great community feel - almost like a mobile village fete! I felt quite impressed with myself for completing the walk in less than an hour and have decided to be more ambitious next year and walk back up the Zig-Zag after reaching the bottom of the hill. I must say there weren't many doing that yesterday, but well done to everyone who had the energy!

Rocky paths and spring chickens ...

This photo was taken on a walk with mum to Lesmurdie Falls. The falls were gorgeous indeed with all the rain that has fallen at the beginning of spring. But ... being the intrepid explorers that we are we decided to walk to the bottom of the falls to get a different view (silly people!). We were a bit worried when the cascading water sound stopped as we walked the curvy path, but found the stream eventually at the bottom of a slope barricaded with netting and a scary warning sign that the path we'd just climbed down was structurally unsound. Ooops. Anyway, we found a different path up which we'd seen on the way down, but it looked rather too treacherous at the top. On the way up we scaled the slopes like two spring chickens (more like two old chooks! :) ) and arrived energized and only slightly puffed out at the top!! The flowers are gorgeous, and I was very impressed with how my little point and snap camera captured their image. I just love spring!

Two extremes ...

Warm enough even to dip my feet into the Indian Ocean!

Beautiful blue skies and sun at the weekend ....

.... grey skies over our house this afternoon ....

.... the rain and hail storm that followed minutes after.

My blogging has a few gaps whilst I'm showing mum around Perth. I've taken some awesome photos though and must share some here with you - photography is after all another form of creativity. And I do enjoy it so much (I am wishing for a fab camera for my 40th birthday, and already planting subliminal messages into my family's minds!)

Also, I know I call this an art blog and it is supposed to be about my creative journey - but here I am posting photos of flowers and the beach and weather. What's it all about? But as I stood on that beach I got to thinking that creativity is food for the soul - visiting the beach and listening to the surf is soothing to the soul - everything is inextricably linked! I see my soul and creativity as being intertwined, my soul would indeed be miserable without my ability to create - enjoying the colours and sounds of nature is just another aspect of my soul and feeds my creativity. So I will keep posting photos of things that stir my soul!

So tired - but great fun!

We had our first day at the Conscious Living Expo today - and it was such fun from beginning to end! We talked to a lot of lovely people and got to look at some of the stands whilst we were there. I even got to meet Helen Wells who is the most amazing portrait artist, her work is simply breath-taking. There's too much to tell right now as I'm so, so tired, but in a good way! Can't wait until tomorrow!

Ooops, went to find the link to Helen's website and got caught up looking at all her lovely art and her blog! But do check out the link, you won't be disappointed!

Photos tomorrow I promise! Brightest of blessings! (still buzzing from today's experience - fantastic!)

Returned from time travelling ...

Pictures above - Vikings invade Balingup in a short longboat; gorgeous colourful dragon; parading knights; yours truly showing off a shiny windmill and sparkly scarf purchased at the fayre; a dark knight.

Well, I'd fully intended to post last night, but got caught up in making flyers for our Expo experience next week. Computers just sap up your time don't they. Here I am though, with a few pics from our Balingup Medieval Festival experience. Very atmospheric and wonderful to see that so many people made the effort to don costumes to man their stalls. There was sword fighting, belly dancing (not in the same area!) and a fab Celtic music ensemble. I could have stayed all day, but we had a wee Dark Knight with us, whose attention span could rival a goldfish!! He did spend some time in the stocks for that. :)

As we walked back to the car we were able to see the parade along the main street. Colourful costumes, weird and wonderful transportation, feisty fire-throwers and magical music. My most favourite was the dragon.

The kids absolutely loved it. I wasn't sure if they'd enjoy it - but when we asked what the best part of the weekend was they all said 'the festival!'. For reasons ranging from the bouncy castle, sparkly scarves (me), swords and armour, trendy bags, to shiny windmills (me). Bizarre to see the Middle Ages come to a small town in the south west of Western Australia, but definitely an experience not to be missed. I might be able to persuade everyone to dress up next year ... hmm ...

Bon voyage!

We went to AQWA the other day to look at some exotic fish and sharks with our little man. It was so lovely to see him rushing from tank to tank in his excitement to make sure he saw everything, as well as exhausting trying to keep up with him. So many colours - and all natural!! My favourites were the Dory fish and the seahorse, which I have been fascinated with since I was a little girl. They are very fairy tale like. Gorgeous.

Anyway, we were also determined to walk along the beach for a few metres as we don't get there very often, it's a bit of a trek from the Hills. Here are a couple of pictures of the glorious last days of winter, very bright and breezy.

This week is a week of adventure for us. We're off to Bridgetown this weekend to stay with friends - they're near Balingup where they have a Medieval Festival. I've wanted to visit this for the past 4 years, and now I get to go! I don't know who's more excited, me or the kids. I shall be keeping a close eye on the costumes, fabrics and colours used. Ooooh, I can't wait! I will be taking lots of photos and will share them here. In the meantime go and have a look at the link, it looks like good fun! Back to blogging when I get back. Have a great weekend!

One thing leads to another

Well, I managed to change the banner on my blog page, and I'm fairly pleased with the result of my new look blog. I'll leave it for a few days and see if I still like it!

Today has been a pleasant one - I had an impromptu visit from a really good friend and we sat and chatted for ages about life, the universe and everything. It's so lovely when you connect with someone you don't have to watch what you say with, someone who loves you warts and all!

My show and tell for today is the crocheted bag I mentioned yesterday. It's made out of garden twine, with stripes of cotton yarn and yarn made from strips of cotton fabric. Now I have another way to use my stash of fabric. It's funny how long you can have fabric in your stash and not realize; how it marks time - and what memories it brings up! The fabric that I used to line the bag and to make the fabric strips for crocheting was actually bought 19 years ago when I was still living in Devon! It was to make an apron and oven gloves for a friend who was getting married on the Isle of Wight - I was her bridesmaid. In the end I bought her something else (can't remember the reason why) and was left with the fabric. Incidentally I ended up living on the Isle of Wight for nearly 10 years, and still have very fond memories of my life there. I only lined the bag because I thought it would be lovely to hold my yarn and knitting projects and ended up going down Memory Lane because of it. Great fun! Anyway, the project is one of many from a fantastic book called 'Quick Crochet, Huge Hooks' by Sally Harding. Go and borrow a copy from the library as I did and you'll be able to whip up a bag or scarf by the time you have to take it back. You might also be persuaded to buy a copy so you can finish the rest! I actually used a smaller crochet hook (10 mm)as I only used one strand of twine - the pattern calls for 2 strands but it's quite rough to work with and I didn't like the feel of it against my skin! I'm a softie and like soft yarns!! Ahh ...

I read somewhere yesterday that doing crafts such as crochet, knitting and other forms of creativity helps you to keep you memory as you grow older, kind of a brain exercise I suppose. Sounds good to me ... now ... where did I put that crochet hook ...

The beginning of the journey ...

I've had to do this blogpost in two parts as for some reason Blogger wouldn't let me upload all 8 photos into one post. So although this post is written second, the photos are from the first part of my walk. This lovely old tree was caught in a mini bushfire I presume - trying not to think about it too much because it's just behind our house! But I adore the smoothness of the surface and the curves along the length. When I walked around to the side of the tree and took a photo from a different perspective it formed a perfect frame for the surrounding bush. Notice the little grass tree in the foreground. I'm rather fond of this native plant; they fascinate me with their ability to rise up from the ashes when they've been burnt, yet at the same time they are rather tender things in that if you buy a rescued plant from a specialist nursery you really have to look after it to ensure it thrives in the new surroundings. They can quite easily die if not given the proper care and attention.

In the final picture you can see more grass trees and a huge granite rock glistening in between the trees. This rock is where I sat for a while meditating about life and where I found my 'little fairy village' as well as rainwater rock pools. I like sitting on the huge boulders around this area, there's something safe and ancient about them, you really feel 'grounded' sitting on the foundations of our hills. I really should make the effort to walk more in the bushland around our suburb, there is a kind of prehistoric beauty that is unique to this country.

One moment in time ...

Here are some more photos of my walk at the beginning of this week. I was starting to be concerned that it was getting further away from the day I took my revitalizing walk, but all that a camera does is capture one moment in time. Everything will have changed subtly since taking these pictures, and it doesn't really matter when I share them. Time is a strange concept if you start thinking about it too much!

The inside of a grass tree - I just loved the red brown of the 'seeds' contrasting with the burnt black. It's almost a mandala!

The wonderful colours of nature - red, red earth, green grass and grass trees and the grey heavens.

I thought this looked a little like a fairy kingdom amongst the rocks - notice the water is rippled - it's starting to rain. Proof I'm not a fairweather walker!

Raindrops splashing in another rock pool.

I love this image - the tree in silhouette against the hills of the village on the opposite side of the valley, the fine grey of the sky and the grass trees and bushland in silhouette to the foreground. Grey, black and white can be very interesting!

Great weather for ducks ...

Well, you may have guessed it. My family are fair weather walkers, and accordingly our trip into the Farmers' Market on Sunday didn't happen. So here is a lovely picture of a bright summery flower to bring back memories of warmer days. The fabric is from my stash and will be used in a quilt I'm going to make very soon. This one should not take as long to produce as my hexagon quilt in that the patchwork is mainly squares and I'll be putting it together with my sewing machine. Decided I needed some quilty comfort in double quick time. The hexagon project meanwhile continues slowly but surely.

To restore the family honour I decided to take a walk yesterday despite the delightfully gloomy storm clouds approaching. I did indeed get rained upon, quite solidly as you can see from the photo of my jeans, taken as soon as I reached home. I think if rain can soak your jeans right through in a matter of minutes it's really very wet rain! I'll post more photos of my walk tomorrow - I'm lucky to live in a beautiful, country area and the bush is just stunning. Particularly at this time of year when everything is still green. Seems unbelievable that in a couple of months time the areas that are running with little streams will be dust bowls.

Oh well, just wanted to touch base; I've got a workshop on tomorrow, so I'll be off to bed to read a few pages before a relaxing and restorative sleep to make me wake up enthused and passionate about art in the morning!

I really love art as therapy!

It is such a pleasure to be able to work alongside an art therapist like Linda from Creative Seeds. Today we made a 'map' of a day (which happened to be yesterday) just to see the highs and lows of a day. It helps you to see what triggers the negative and positive happenings (and your reactions to them). I began by drawing my 'road' in bright blue just so that I could see where I was going and added in the colours and images as I travelled from left - the morning - to right - the evening. I think you can see where I was bored and sometimes out of my comfort zone in the white, gray and black area! It was funny, but when I wrote my blog last night my mind was still stuck in the black part of the day, but if you look at the picture most of my day was full of colour and positive things. The flowers signify my morning spent at the rose gardens with my son and husband, which was absolutely delightful. The colour purple surrounds everything that happens in the day - just like my spirituality, and the hearts are to symbolize the love that pervades throughout the day, and yes, that is even present in my more negative moments. So I had a completely different perspective of yesterday after I had finished, and felt a lot happier and calmer about it. And all from a line drawn on a page ...

Quiet Monday

To be honest I've been a bit off focus for the past few days because of some health issues - hormones - say no more. I'm being sent off for a few tests and am now feeling relieved to be taking some action, rather than sitting there imagining no end of awful scenarios. And yes, mum, I promise not to read any more medical manuals to try and work out what is wrong all by myself. :)

Today has been spent cutting out the 400 hexagons I drew yesterday. I like taking care to get the shapes perfect and piling them up into neat mountains on the arm of the sofa. It must mean something, probably not good, that I'm as fastidious as I am with a very boring and repetitive job!

I've also had a bit of a breakthrough with my guardian doll for the healing medicine doll course with Barb Kobe. I had a creative block for some reason, and it all fell away when I thought of a name for my doll. Can't wait to get her finished now, but I'd better start making her first before I get excited about that! I'll post pictures as the process happens.

So there you have it, a quietly meditative day for me, creating in a very understated way, but still taking steps forward. Enjoy the photo of the 'tiki' - it's from a monument on One Tree Hill in Auckland. I love the no-nonsense attitude it conveys.

Taking time out ...

Eastern Beach in Auckland - we used to walk along here every day to take the kids to school.


This hill is just amazing - like someone carved it. Too beautiful. (Raglan)


Must be because I'm English, but I just love clouds! (Raglan)

It's a Sunday, but with my 'writing every day in May' challenge (couldn't resist naming the challenge - too much rhyming to miss it!) I have to write on my usual day off. So, what have I been up to on this lovely autumnal Sunday? I've been sitting in the back yard drawing over 400 little hexagons onto quilting fabric with my cardboard template. Seriously. My husband was a little worried, but I actually found it very meditative and was away in my own little world for hours, until the magic was broken at twilight by a mozzie trying to have me for tea!

I've also found time to browse some of the blogs I follow, and today I was looking at the work of the unique and talented Alisa Burke. Take a look at her website - I love her work because it's so vivid and original. It has a real feeling of freedom, and makes me think that she has had the courage to step forward and follow her dream of making art with passion. Her whole attitude is inspirational to me - take a look for yourself.

As it is supposed to be a day of rest (ha, ha!) I've included some more photos of our New Zealand holiday. Still trying to maintain that lovely, relaxed feeling of not being obliged to do anything by any deadline - fading rapidly, but I'll cling to it for as long as I can!