hand made

this - i made for shanti for christmas

365 days

this must be checked out, mused upon, passed on. I feel so inspired by Micheal Norton. His book was a last minute prezzie I picked up for Marty, and I havent been able to put it down. he he he. "Wrapping" it and hiding it away for just a day was torturous. Pleaseeeeeee have a look.

Christmas

Off tomorrow bight and early for celebrations in Brisbane with Marty's family.
Peace and joy
Mandy

blossom

For Inspire Me Thursday.....
actually while I was doing this piece the temperature was around 38 c ...hot hot hot. so winter feels like such a long way away. I just couldnt bring myself to paint her wearing a woolly jumper. The thing i like about winter (apart from warm fluffy clothes) is the soft light... and thats what inspired the colours here. It made me feel cool anyway. Phew.

cat

dont look issey
this is your christmas prezzie

shrine

a little bit christmassy dont you think ?

earth

yesterday
i lay in the sun
as the girls played in the garden
the earth warmed my belly
mmmmm

World Aids Day

For more info check cousin leonard

U2

Wow wowowowowowowowowwwwww
What an amazing night. The boys went off.
The culmination of such a beautiful journey.
It was a 60000 strong love in and Bono was shining.
Such a positive affirmation for where we're at...
I'm still buzzing as you can tell
(Marty says I'm a Bonophile - )
so......and......

eco

Whoooooo
I'm getting a bit passionate about our environment.
Went up to the ecocentre in St Kilda & came home with great ideas about how to reduce our footprint. Check it out !
The thought of treading lightly gets me all excited... I'm loving the thought of re-using materials. In our home.
In my art. Buying local where I can, or making my own.
I'm finding inspiration in so many places...old bottle tops, trashy jewellry and my favourite at the moment...old christmas decorations. My studio space is in danger of spilling over.....

Yay

visit

Look whos in our tree out the front. Right now.
As I type.
Isnt she Gorgeous.
How lucky am I ?

whoops

Ohhh
Sorrrrrry bout that last one.
The good news is I was so grumpy afterwards that I needed to go for a lovely long walk on the beach to clear my head and it worked and now I'm only going to do quick posts so that I dont make the mistake of missing a walk, or making something or planting somehing.
Oh oh I'm rambling.............

So this is a god box



Into which you place your hopes, dreams or parayers...so that the universe can take cae of them.
My next dream will be for a good spot at the U2 concert
a little bit excited bout that
Yippppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

It was Shanti's Number 1 bithday yesterday
Beautiful
She had a magical day...
Shall post pix later

arrrggghhhhhhhh

Just wrote the best longest happiest post ever



and i lost it in the ether


thats crap

W I P

Thats what I feel like.
A Work In Progresss.

On the verge of so many changes it seems.
The crazy weather has me considering major lifestyle shifts to live in a rainforest on the mid eastcoast.
No power. No water.
No road actually.
It would really be camping till we built a house.
An eco house. To tread lightly.
All this waste seems so ridiculous...
its time to start living a bit more responsibly methinks...
thats how i feel today.

lost freaky doll

This is Lost.
She's my doll for my Friend Sammy's Art Doll Swap round robin collaborative art project thing.
Anyway - I shall send her off on her adventure soon. I've never made a doll before so I'm a bit happy about her.
She has a soft cloth body and a papier mache head.
I really like her despondant look - now I need to make her story for the journal that is to travel with her...
I'll be posting images of the dolls I work on too.
Stay tuned for more....

change

Oh Bottom thou art changed.

Pretty slack photo...never mind.
A Mid Summer Nights Dream is a favourite and I love that line.

clear

A little dark cloud on an otherwise clear day

I love this photo.
She looks so strong and defiant. It makes me laugh, Laila is usually such an ethereal fairy, and this shows another side to her altogether.

journal

a couple of journal pages i quite like...

Spring has sprung. But much like the weather I'm a bit all over the place right now. Just call me yoyo girl.
My garden is looking lovely after some sun and some rain. Thats good. I made a yummy onion tart to share with beautiful friends. And as of yesterday afternoon its school holidays. 2 weeks of adventuring with the girls. Yay. There is a wattlebird nesting just outside the door, being very protective of its new family ( oscar cat is trying to ignore the impertinent snapping and swooping- it is his garden after all)


yesterday I bought the prettiest vintage dress ready for the warm, I'm a bit excited, I so love a bargain....

yet another opshop bargain to add to my collection of kitsch ceramic puppies

cloudhill

We went up to the most beautiful gardens on the weekend. Here are the pix - a bit tricked up. Just a bit.

playing with stars

ha ha. this is looking a little patriotic for my liking (I cropped out the rest of what was looking too much like the Australian flag) - maybe I'll try it again in the daylight. I need more blue paint, maybe i'll go to the art shop today........

B&W

This was fun. I've always had trouble getting my head around negative space, and this helped. A bit disapointed with the finishing (my glueing technique - a finely honed kinder skill is in need of help) - but Sammy came to the rescue & has given me some ideas for improvement. One of the many practical uses for Martha Stewart magazines.

in a box

ooohhhh. This is my first try at self portrait challenge. I had fun. It was a liberating way to spend 20 minutes or so on a rainy monday.
My first thoughts were of a jack-in-the box (hence the face paint) but the pix turned out a bit more sombre than I expected.
Anyhoo- I quite liked the composition and clarity of this one.

euterpe

Euterpe glanced her fingers o'er her lute
And lightly waked it to a cheerful strain
Then laid it by, and took the mellow flute
Whose softly flowing warble filled the plain;
It was a lay that roused the drooping soul,
And bade the tear of sorrow cease to flow;
From shady woods the nymphs enchanted stole,
while laughing cupids bent the silver bow
Fluttering like fays that flit in Luna's softened glow

from An Ode To Music
James G Percival
Euterpe (by the way) is the muse from greek mythology, for music.

clean

Here are a couple for IF - clean

I was considering starting a blog on spiritual and laundry advice. Actually more laundry than anything - but I'm not actually that good at washing either. Patience grasshopper....


Oscar the cat was feeling indulgent and posed for me. A quick sketch done in a couple of minutes .
Remind me to tell you about the time he rescued the baby possum.

tumble MSO

ahhh the beach in winter. Frolicking dolphins. Crisp walks. Building uber-castles in the seaweed.
Approximately 0.03 seconds after the shutter closed, sparky here took a dive. We spent the next 3 weeks getting the sand out of her nostrils. I think theres still some in her hair. She's 17 now.
the judges score - 9.8. She needs a little work on her delivery, but technically BRILLIANT.

choc- full

who's that in the "o"

another exhibition - mc clelland gallery Loved Louise Weavers work

poppas cake

with a week choc full of celebrations, we've been snap happy. and theres more

1 love

And this....for inspiration thursday. I'm in a bit of a Sabrina Ward Harrison Mood lately. I hope she forgives me for the shameless borrowing of her look.

Mary

This little jounal page i created with the inspiration from Illustration Fridays topic - sacrifice. I was having a bit of a dark moment. I wasnt even going to post it because it looks so miserable. But....
on the weekend we had Shanti baptised and that (beautiful service) got me thinking about relgious icons and then I thought that maybe this is my version of mary with a sacred heart.
Anyway if after this you're in need of something happier with the same theme check out blu collage. It made me smile.

whimsy

whimsy is one of my favourite things... the very thought conjours images of swirls and dancing colours in my mind...and yet of late it seems there has been not so much whimsy in my days. So -its a timely reminder to search out more. More pink. Alot more glitter.And definitely more flags. Some mosaics maybe. Skipping and fairy lights. Scones with jam and cream. A tea party a la Alice. I feel better aready....

ps - the jester is an sticky tape transfer. I painted a gorgeous little fairy to transfer with the inkjet transparency method but i just couldnt get it to work. Maybe the combination of my brand of gel medium, transparency paper and printer ink dont get along. I thought mabe next time rather than try and transfer - i'd just collage it. Gotta love a collage.

skyline

oh the humiliation

Ok so its a little embarrassing to be removed from a host website. I figure that its probably because I've made mistakes in my addressing linking type thing so I'm not welcome at Mama says Om this week. I dont feel so Om at the moment.
Perhaps the universe is trying to tell me to stop spending my time searching for inspiration, nurturing, connection on this crazy machine. Just get on with it. Turn the computer off and live my life...
ok ok Im going already
No need to tell me twice.
Im off.
Dont try and stop me....
Here I go.
I'm going.
Now.


So - now I'm really embarrassed. I'm typing posts to myself and even I'm not listening....
Oh dear.

treat

"Crickey " she exclaimed "I'm atop a rock and a big one too"
Its true the climb had been long and arduous but despite inclement sunshine and occasional blinding lense flare she had summited the birrung ma mama without oxygen.
What remarkable athleticism, what stamina, what next ?
"Another Treat" the cry echoed across the valley...
and it was so....
a puppet making workshop, japanese for T and a hot chocolate worth writing home about (that was for me!)

rain

here are a couple of altered postcards - 2 birds with one stone.
1. An attempt at capturing "Rain" for illustration friday
2. Sending 5 friends a postcard for my ARTISTS WAY homework
any hoo
This is what Ive been doing in my eons and eons of spare time...

open studio

My dearest and oldest friend has had a hard year, battling depression. I painted this for her. I'll get to see her in August so I'll give it to her then, for her new house. She's a florist and peonys are the most gorgeous luscious flowers, my favourite. The colours are kind of crazy but I like the way they vibrate off each other. I hope it has a positive energy that'll bring something positive to her, if only knowing that its made with love.



and this is my girls playroom. My studio is under construction at this very moment. any month now it'll be done. So for the time being I paint in this fantastic light filled space. Its fun.

pommegranite

acrylic on canvas board

saunterers

saunter had me baffled. with no couture runway within walking distance how was i to capture saunter ? my brain's functioning at low speed anyway - bronchiolitis has our home in limbo and combined with world cup at 2am no-one here is getting much sleep. anyway...saunter
after a day of cuddles and well... more cuddles all to no avail I thought maybe our brisk walk around the block would settle Shanti, (maybe I'd see a horse SAUNTER along). parenting rule #1 - make plans/routine
Shanti cried the whole way.
parenting rule #2 - dont get upset when parenting rule #1 goes pear shaped.
Not easily defeated i returned home and just wandered through the garden looking for something beautiful - interesting would have done.This is what i found.
I'm having so much fun slowing down. Looking at things in a new way.
Sauntering, infact.