Just a minute... in September

Up image from here

Watching... Up, we took our nearly-four-year-old to see it - his first cinema experience (besides one memorable cry baby session that he handled brilliantly but I did not). He loved everything about it, the screen, the noise, the darkness, the story... everything! I thought he might get scared but he was happy as Larry.

Also started watching Mad Men after borrowing season 1 from my cousin - I'm not going to get through it before season 2 starts though - what to do?!?!?

Reading... actually 'no longer reading' Jung's biography. I renewed it at the library twice and that's the limit. I was only half-way through but I had to return it. Boo.

Listening... and dancing around the kitchen to Don't stop 'til you get enough - not alone mind you, the boys were totally into it! Follow the link and crank it up I say!

Spring-cleaning... like a madwoman. On Sunday I cleaned 50 panes of glass, sure they were small but it wasn't the glass so much as the built up dirt/dust on each sill that was arduous.

Window sill image from here

Enjoying... the beautiful Spring weather and spending as much time outside as possible. Or at least I was until a week ago - we've had five days in a row of dreary rainy weather here in Melbourne, which my garden is eternally grateful for, but my two small boys have been going stir crazy with all the indoor activity and have had to be physically separated MANY times. Mama needs a break - turn on the sun, please!

Rainbow image from here

Thanks Jenaveve at August Street for hosting Just a Minute...

Photographer of the week... David LaChapelle

He's fun, decadent, frothy and frivolous. He's tongue-in-cheek and sometimes satirical but also thoughtful, insightful, and sometimes political.

Marilyn Manson (image from here)

David LaChapelle has his finger on the pulse of celebrity-dom, photographing just about every major celebrity at their zenith and in doing so he indulges our voyeuristic desire to consume them.

Britney Spears (image from here) and Lady Ga Ga (image from here)

The photo below of fashion designer Alexander McQueen, and Isabella Blow the famous magazine editor who discovered him, is my favourite I think.

Alexander McQueen (image from here)

I love it. I went to his show at the Barbican a few years back and it was an absolute visual delight. He is one very very talented man (well one very very talented man leading a team of talented people really) and I can't wait to see what (and who) he does next.

You have to visit his website to see the gorgeousness, and you might also be interested in the Wiki entry.

Eye Spy... my favourite food(s)

What a delicious theme this week!

1. A Whole Plateful, 2. seafood laksa @ chefs choice, wollongong, 3. MUSSELS WITH PESTO CREAM SAUCE,
4. marinara, 5. Artichoke Pizza, 6. Tartest Lemon Tart

I am a real foodie so when it comes to favourite foods there is no way I could choose just one! I've limited it to six and they are: sushi, seafood laksa, mussels, spaghetti marinara, pizza (especially with artichokes and/or anchovies), and lemon tart. I generally favour savoury over sweet so I just popped one dessert in at the end there. I hope I haven't forgotten another favourite! This week's theme definitely had me drooling, thanks Jennifer Rose! And of course thanks to Cindy for hosting Eye Spy every week.

My Creative Space

Thanks for your wonderful comments on my creative space from last week! I hadn't expected you to say I should keep the parachute silk but it got me thinking and I'm not going to rush into anything.

I think I was in such a hurry because I had forgotten it existed so I had less attachment to it than I had previously.

Anyway for now its next assignment is as a prop for a photo shoot a friend of mine is doing. Lovely, ethereal, floaty curtains as a background to some lovely female forms.

Sorry for the pictureless post - my creative space has been the stuff between my ears this week as I've taken a mini blogging break!

More visual Creative Spaces over at Kootoyoo.

My Creative Space

Help please?


This is some beautiful parachute silk that I have had practically all my life: my Grandfather was a bit of a collector, bit of a hoarder, bit of a salesman who opened a shop selling Army surplus, hardware and the like after the war. Family legend has it that there was a whole bolt of parachute silk that my Aunt said no-one was allowed to touch because it was for my wedding dress!?!? Sure enough the (somewhat reduced*) bolt eventually made its way to me and although it would have been very romantic to use it for my wedding dress I felt more romantic in Luci Di Bella.


However I am a rather sentimental person and wanted to incorporate the silk into my wedding somehow, so I cut two 10 metre lengths of it and it formed the aisle. It was beautiful!


The following year (2002) I lent it to friends for the same purpose then promptly forgot about it. They went to Peru for their honeymoon, we went to live in England for a couple of years, and nobody thought of the silk again until they stumbled across it last week and returned it to me.

Now this is where I need your help, what do you think I should with two 10 metre lengths of this stuff? It's quite sheer and slippery and it's 92cm wide.


I was thinking of dieing some to make children's play silks and giving them as Christmas gifts (spoiler alert to my friends with kids), and using some to wrap presents instead of using paper. Wait - at a metre each that makes only 20 silks, I think I just answered my own question!

Oh well, I do have the rest of the bolt so please tell me, what are your ideas?

*my grandmother used it to make her own underwear, ooh la la!

More Creative Spaces via Kootoyoo.

Serendipitous sewing

While the boys napped for too long the other day I got carried away at the sewing machine. I admit that I am an impulsive crafter, I don't plan projects and brew over the best fabrics and approaches. If I am grabbed by an idea I want to do it immediately and I will compromise everything about it rather than plan it properly.

Am I the only person who sews this way?

So it was that I stumbled across a link via Meet Me At Mike's for this lunch bag cutlery roll tutorial from BurdaStyle.

image from the BurdaStyle website

I had recently made something similar, a pocket for remote controls that hangs over the arm of the couch, as my tongue-in-cheek crafty contribution to Tavis's fathers' day present. I am proud to say I made that one up as I went along (are you starting to get the picture of the haphazard way I craft yet?) and the instructions for the cutlery roll were very similiar so I was able to start straight away...

ready to get started

...except I only had one ribbon and it was red so this limited the choice of fabric from my stash.

first attempt - I thought I didn't need a pocket for a napkin but the pattern doesn't really work without it

Substitute the stipulated batting for purple felt in the first attempt and iron on interfacing in the second (because the purple felt was too dark for the light-weight gingham fabric), and a couple of hours later I had made two of these things and was quite pleased with the second attempt. I think these are great for anyone who works in an office where forks (and teaspoons!!!) are somewhat of an enigma.

second attempt - much more successful

But best of all, the next day I thrifted the matching cutlery from an op shop I hadn't been to in ages. Complete coincidence! How serendipitous is that?

see the yellow gingham handles on the cutlery?

Photographer of the week... Bill Brandt

I really connected with this guy's work when I was in high school taking life drawing classes, I really liked the perspective, in fact it kind of reminded me of Brett Whitely's fat-bottomed girls that I was also quite partial to.

Bill Brandt image Brett Whitely image

Bill Brandt image from here

Bill Brandt image from here

Bill Brandt image from here

You might also be interested in the official website, the Wiki entry, and/or some great photography advice from Bill Brandt.

Caught up

A week's worth of washing, one basket for each of the boys.

Phew!

Eye Spy... seasons change

This tree was bare about a week ago!

Thanks Cindy for hosting Eye Spy... and thanks Lisa for this week's theme.

My Creative Space

It's been a cold week here so I've been spending a fair bit of time by the fire writing, cutting bits of inspiration out of old magazines, drinking cups of tea and munching the odd bit of chocolate. Oh yeah, and avoiding the work I brought home in that yellow envelope.

More Creative Spaces over at Kirsty's place.

It's cold outside...

...and there's a traffic jam in here.

(click the image to see it bigger)

We're keeping ourselves busy inside by the fire on this cold Spring morning.

Photographer of the week... Ansel Adams

I can't say anything about Ansel Adams that hasn't already been said (and better) elsewhere. What I will say is that although everyone knows he was a Master, a God, a Forefather of photography it is absolutely something else to stand in front of one of his images, printed by him, in a gallery; a computer screen just can't do it justice - so instead this is a picture of him at work - he lugged that behemoth around mountainous Yosemite on his back and it took 8x10 glass plates!

Ansel Adams shooting in Yosemite from here

I was fortunate enough to see an exhibition of his work at a London gallery a few years back and have been absolutely in awe of him ever since. It's little wonder that this guy literally invented the zone system, you can see it in the prints through and through. Big respect.

If you get a chance to see his work in the flesh DO (even if you don't think you're into landscape photography)!

You might also be interested in the official website, the Wiki entry, and/or a video tour of his home-studio with with his son, Michael.

Eye Spy... something blossoming

Sorry to be so literal but...


...as predicted, the native mint has blossomed! When it's in flower it's my favourite plant in the garden (of course you can always find it pictured better on Flickr so go here to see a more spectacular example).

But at the risk of sounding saccharin it's my boys that are blooming before my eyes; by the end of the year they'll be four and two, and they're blossoming into really great kids; I'm sure I won't be the only one to say that this week!

Thanks Cindy for hosting and a big thanks for letting me pick this week's theme!

My Creative Space

My creative energy this week has been spent with more time camera in hand, creating nice juxtapositions around the house and taking LOTS of pictures of the boys.

More Creative Spaces over at Kirsty's place.

Photographer of the week... Diane Arbus

This photo fascinated me as a teenager just becoming interested in photography.


The format, the light, the era, the boy and his hand twisted into such a passionate claw, combined with his expression (begging the question what was his relationship to the photographer?), the decisive moment of releasing the shutter - it all seemed different from anything I'd seen before and I became really interested in her work and her life.

This website says "Arbus' work impacts the photography world with a sharp attack on the boundaries of what is considered to be "proper" or "tasteful" art. In 1972, Diane Arbus was the first American photographer to be exhibited at the Venice Biennale."

1. Diane Arbus NY 1963, 2. Diane Arbus 1966,
3. Diane Arbus NJ 1967, 4. diane Arbus 1970 1971

She was talented and successful, it would have been wonderful to see what she produced had her life not been cut short so early.

Admittedly I was more drawn to her work and found it more meaningful when I was younger; I don't know if it was the infatuation with a new passion (photography), or that I identified with the subject matter being a teenager and feeling out of place. What seemed raw and honest then seems more voyeuristic and confronting now. Maybe I'm just going soft; her work is still very impressive. And seeing it again transports me back to when I experienced her work for the first time and the way it made me feel.

More images at http://diane-arbus-photography.com.

More info here and here if you are interested, and I really like what this blogger had to say.