It's YOU! Hello! Nice to see you! Here you will find stuff about living a creative life in country Australia. I create with watercolour, pen, collage, mixed media and photos. I teach, hosts workshops, collect, dream. I love cheese, travel, my garden, faffing, colour and whimsy. I am crap at time management, and do way too many things, but it is all good. Oh yes, all pictures and photos on here by me too, just saying.

Wednesday 26 March 2014

COLLECTOR GUILT... collector, bowerbird, gatherer, grouper, classifier

 leaves from the garden

 green sewing bits and pieces

 feathers collected while out walking

 sea glass collected

 vintage glasses from farm auction

 thrifted retro coloured glasses

 thrifted knitting needles

book collection..a teeny bit of! 

 KLM Dutch houses


 collected wool and cottons
black and white jewellery

                                                                         button love

COLLECTOR GUILT...
collector and bowerbird , gatherer, grouper, classifier

So...asked by the lovely Karen, of   LEAF and PETAL (LINK to it!) to think about doing a post about collecting..if you are a collector...My ears pricked up, my pulse raced. That's me! I was sure that in my stash of photos I would find some pics of my various collections, that I could contribute to this linky-party.
And then....it really was not too much of a surprise...I really had to think..not what CAN I find to put in this post, but what could I EDIT OUT!

Yes, it is true...I am confessing...I am collector, bowerbird, gatherer, grouper, classifier.

(motto:Why have one when you can have three?)

I just like groups.And I have a place for them all. They ARE not random, they are curated.Claims of hoarding...I dismiss...because I want them to look nice, not just gathering dust in some smelly corner or box.

(That's my story, and I am sticking to it.) 

I like to think they are charming.
Most may not. But...it makes me happy. And most of them have cost a pittance.So..I do not think this will desist anytime soon. 

I mean, I come from a parental gene pool that collects 
beer bottles, 
T-shirts, 
plastic bags from overseas trips, jewellery, 
spoons and blankets liberated from airlines,
magnets,
(see below photo) 
art, 
South East Asian antiquities,
 posters and books from art exhibitions, 
Acupulco dinnerware(YEAH!),
WW2 model kits,
converse sneakers, 
tins, 
nice glass,
elephant motif things, 
National geographics and various other magazines, 
zoo memberships,
(as they go on their travels around the globe, as they continue spending their money but my inheritance) ....

...well I think you get the idea!


                                  Mum and Dad's magnets..some of!

So....there you have it...just a teeny-tiny-eensy-weeny-little bit of some of my collections.And perhaps the reason I may do so...(FREUD? nature, nurture?) 

Enjoy..because I do!

Sunday 23 March 2014

THE RED SHOES....A LITTLE STORY.. and the story behind the story.

















THE RED SHOES
 The story behind a Little Story  

This set of pictures, mixed media collages and photos, were made for an Instagram challenge, in January 2014...Interiors Addict (LINK!) 
#7 vignettes, which I know I have written about before.The guest judges were the twins Alisa and Lysandra, contestants from the latest series of THE BLOCK, which I must admit, I do not actually watch!

I had 7 words to play with, to come up with a series of pictures...and I decided on a story.I would use all 7 words, one in each storyboard for each day.I had not done the challenge this way before, but decided to give it a go anyway. The words for the week were...in order:

1.ONE
2.ANNIVERSARY
3.NEW
4.FAVOURITE GIFT EVER
5.PAIR
6.HANGOVER
7.FRESH

So..after writing the initial story I had to imagine how I would present each word.I did some vague sketches and notes...then I began foraging for bits and pieces, cutting up old socks and felt shoes, finding buttons,pasting, sticky taping, collecting paper, string, paints and props...setting up shots, editing and cropping.

I admit..this was during a normal hectic week,so some days were a little more rushed than others, and I see faults and things I should've tweaked...but it was a lot of fun.

(I also admit to doing TWO actual sets of photos for the January challenge...maybe next blog I will show the other set?)

At the end of the week I do confess my house was a total mess, the table I work on was covered with STUFF (lucky we have 2 tables, and I have one very understanding family)and I was ready for a bit of a lie down.

And so, there we go.I did not win. But that's life.I was still happy to have done it.

And to finish? Well,the end post, looked like this...