The baby in the grass

I took these last week in the garden in the space of about five-ten minutes before it started RAINING. Then I thought it would reflect badly on my mother-status to stay outside taking pictures in the wet weather... funny that ;)

Two new, and two re-do

"I heard something

about apples

falling from trees...

but you are 

so 

much

more

than being

a

part

of me."

"There
is
light
in the
everyday
(I hold you
close)"

I hung two new paintings at the Have Ya Bean and Green Bean Cafes respectively, as well as two new editions of the 'Wait' and 'Grow' pieces.

Quick Quick! Win a little Hootie, I mean cutie!

 
I almost forgot, my friend Teresa, of Whimsy and Light fame as mentioned previously, is having a giveaway on her blog - but only until tomorrow! Quick, hurry over and comment to win this little cutie :)

The hail storm of yesterday afternoon

At the time we were thinking it was a good time to be inside, but once we got home I was glad we were out during the storm. We have four broken windows - two of them broken in two separate panes of glass -  and one cracked. The roof is a bit more dented than before, but as long as it doesn't start leaking I don't really care about that!

The kids and I were in the car at Notting Hill waiting for Ben to come out from a computer shop. The hail started first, massive hail stones, and then the rain. One huge one was, thankfully, soft and broke like a snowball on our windscreen. I moved the car to a carpark as close to the building as possible, in between a 4WD and a big dumpster, pulled a towel across one side of Cedar's seat and then Ash and I sat together in the driver's seat, as the passenger side was being bombarded.

Later, as we drove home, there were flooded roads everywhere, twigs and foliage all over the road. One intersection had the black hoods of the traffic lights smashed in pieces all over the ground and the lights weren't working at a few places. Our gravel road was all over the place with a waterfall running down the ditch on the left side. Crazy crazy crazy. Melbourne city had all sorts of chaos, airport closed and evacuations at all sorts of places - Chadstone, the Aquarium, galleries, etc, and some roof cave-ins at Spencer Street station and the Jam Factory at Chapel St. At home we spent a couple of hours cleaning up, our windows are now taped up with bubble wrap! The best thing I had handy, LOL.

Still, we're lucky. No flooding, we're on a hill so it goes down from here anyway, and our roof is in-tact. No leaks evident yet. Just the broken windows. I've put an insurance claim in, so we'll see how that goes. And the audio drive on our PC is practically dead, so I'll be trying to rescue music files in the midst of photo edits, etc. We've got another couple of days of heavy rain expected so it might be a lie-low kind of long weekend around here :)

Whimsy & Light handmade

My friend has recently opened a storefront on MadeIt - check out her gorgeous wares!

White Happy Cat

 Funky Cat

Soft and Bright Owl

Drawing

I haven't drawn a portrait in years and years, drawing is not my passion, but I just felt like mixing it up yesterday. I did a couple of quick drawings with water-soluble crayons.

I'm also stitching up a library bag for Sienna with a little felt 'fox in the forest' scene on one side, Sienna's latest obsession is foxes. Will share when it is done, I have just run out of black embroidery thread though!

This photo of Cedar last night cracks me up.

Now I can hear he is awake after a not-long-enough morning nap, considering that I have kinder duty this afternoon and he won't have another decent sleep all day (being out and about). Ash is telling me he doesn't want to go to kinder, but he says that all the time. He just wants to do what he is doing. When he actually gets there he runs off without a fond farewell! Also it's the walking he doesn't like, LOL, but since he hitches a ride on the end of the pram most of the time he can't really complain. I guess I could, though, since I then have to push him, the pram and cedar up and down the hills of Upwey while convincing Sienna to walk along as well... It is a beautiful day to be outside.

So...

This afternoon I am ignoring my ongoing identity crises and heading outside to do gardening! What do you do when you need to clear your mind, escape your to do list or otherwise mull things over?

Creative People

“Creative people make a mess, clean it up and make another mess. There are no mistakes in art only happy little accidents.”  ~Timothy Leonard

Apples and other uncertainties

Listening to The Candid Frame podcast or two and having a lot of thoughts running through my mind. It started really this week when I spent Sunday morning designing (or reworking, rather) a logo for a brand I'm developing. Again, in my mind, more than anything. I feel strangely passionate about the brand but it is as yet largely undefined.
 
I have some thoughts about opening a store, a combination of handmade, quirky and eclectic, crafty goodness and children's stuff, kind of a la Lark in a way, and combining some other inspirations. But I'm not silly (and I have a lot more thoughts on it than the style, I'm not just romanticizing it either), I realise that I have more demands on my time and energies than would make a storefront possible. And I'm not passionate enough about it to make it happen anyway, though I know some people are.

But I have this brand which I love and want to develop. Then I thought of an online store - but that is a totally different niche. I feel like the style I wanted to develop is FILLED online already in Australia. Not in real life in this area, the Dandenongs, but online - there are so many gorgeous stores already. Then I wondered if I should use the brand to relaunch my photography. But, no. I decided some time ago NOT to promote and compete in the world of portrait photography. And that's not about ability, it's about the way that I feel. I do think it would be a cool brand for photography though, LOL.

One thing about listening to this podcast interviewer guy on The Candid Frame is that he is a photographer interviewing, and displaying incredible respect, fascination and admiration for other photographers. I loved listening to his interview with Tara Whitney, though it is years old now. Tara and also Barb Uil are my two favourite photographers. Modern day. But now there are so many capable and inspiring photographers. I'm happy to just love it.

But then WHAT. I get this quite regularly. The impasse. I have too many pies and none of them are so awesome that I know they are the one. I think I am coming to terms with that. I don't mind being many hats. Though I have to stop doing things for people (for free, anyway) - I naturally want to, I have an urge to help and improve things for people and their business / brand or other needs, but it isn't helping my sense of direction at all! Sure I can do different things but it doesn't mean I'm the best person for them all. And if someone only wants what I provide - be it photography, design or whatever technical thingy - just because it is easy to accept, then that is not the best use of my energies or skills either. So it's less the payment actually and more the value that makes a difference to me.

I'm enjoying recipes and web stuff for Outback Pride again, which is fun for me and no pressure, so that's good to continue with. Playing with styling photos at home. Making stuff. Doing stuff with the kids. Finding some way of making stuff I love contribute is part of the trick. I'm doing a fun Indie Business online workshop starting this month, so that might help. Who know, right?

Long story short, not sure where I'm going with it. I did enter a portrait prize the other day, and always feel hopeful. Of course, otherwise what is the point of entering. But still, photography does still excite me. Design excites me, but I'm no expert. I'm actually not trained in anything. Well I did part of a traineeship to be a library assistant. But that's it really. Not that training is everything, or even anything sometimes.

And you know what is hard, how do you know what you like purely and what is partly absorbed? Like, for readers or Decor8 the blog and real living the magazine (both of which I love, by the way), does no one have a colourful cluttered house anymore? Should no one want one? Are they just not stylish or do I just read the wrong interior thingys?

Do you know what I mean? So much is out there, with inspiration overload, it is so much harder to sift through the ideas for the core of the matter, the passions that are tied up with who you are and not just passing whims. Ooh I love that word - whims. Whimsy. Whimsical. Fantastic.

Anyway, just exploring thoughts. After a day of early intervention (ash), dirty washing, sausage rolls, physio appointments (sienna). and grocery shopping. Ben playing Halo co-op games on the xbox 360. Drinking cold milo and milk while listening to podcasts and editing food photos to email to our waiter from the restaurant Fifteen Melbourne from the other week. Francesco the waiter who I explained depth of field to, because he has the same camera body and asked about making backgrounds blurry. A standard mix-tape of a day. No dramas. Just another day, another dialogue. Internal and otherwise. Here's a funny greeting card to leave you with... from Able and Game (again!)

Cup of tea

The start of the month means a new layout share! Here are two recent scrapbook pages, 'Cup of Tea' is a just for fun page, I just love this Studio Calico armchair paper :) There's also some sass lass and Cosmo Cricket on there, of course, plus a touch of My Mind's eye and American Crafts thickers.

Silver Lining was my colour team page for the current issue of Scrapbook Creations (new issue due out next week), using red, silver and blue. This is a self-portrait shot on the beach from last March. In my fabbo skinny jeans and boots over, a combination I had fun with on many Autumn days ;)

Speaking of Autumn..... IT'S HERE! YAY!


I love Autumn. It is my favourite and my best.