Hot off the sewing machine!

Today, I spent the glorious afternoon hanging out at Bamakko's under the careful tutelage of Ben. We managed to get this cushion made without any major mishaps or loss of fingers. Go Teamwork! The sewing part was relatively easy until I got to the part where I had to sew the final side to seal the cushion in (very tricky for a beginner like myself). Luckily, Ben was on standby and able to provide much needed assistance. All in all, my second time on the Janome and I'm starting to get the hang of it. Here's to more sewing projects in the future!

(photo by Ben)

Felt. Glorious Felt.

We went fabric shopping yesterday. Ben picked up some really cool coloured fabric to test print some new designs (having seen the designs on his computer, I must say that I'm excited to see how it turns out). I bought some beige coloured felt that I'm going to turn into a cushion. It'll be my first test run on felt. I love the texture of felt so hopefully the image will print out ok and I can start making more. I'll post photos of the cushion once it's done - guess I'd better go and get started then!

About 2 hours later - et voila! Now, all I need to do is sew (thankfully the ever helpful Ben is going to give me a crash course in sewing - fingers crossed). This could be fun as long as it doesn't necessitate a trip to the local Emergency Department.

+

= Cushion

Hail. Rain. Shine.

I haven't had a chance to attend to any art projects recently, as we have only just returned from a sojourn in the Grampians, Halls Gap to be exact.

We had a great time, although I could have done without the bit where the hail started pelting the back of my head and back at full force whilst we were climbing up the rocks. We were completely exposed to the elements, which in this case happened to be gusty winds and hail. Yep, rain ponchos would have been great in hindsight.

Venus Baths

MacKenzie Falls

The road to Mount Zero

On the road to somewhere

Gallery 5

Names. It's difficult naming pieces, I've ran out of titles that don't sound predictable/generic/boring. I might have to leave these untitled because I'm feeling lazy and uninspired today. In the meantime, they will be named after places that I would like to visit or foods I feel like eating.

At the moment, I'm listening to Regina Spektor and having a blast singing along in my best chanteuse impersonation, mind you, there's much more la la la's than actual singing.

Marrakech - inspired by Werribee Park, red thread, trees and old recurring nightmares.

Petra - inspired by flittering bursts of sunshine, old photos, crumpled newspapers and long winding drives in the country.

Sofia - inspired by 1970's decor and taxidermy.

Marrakech

Petra

Sofia

Radio Piggy

My little radio piggy keeps me company when I'm painting, cutting and making a general mess of things in my studio. I tune him in ABC classic FM - my favourite station for keeping me in a state of blissful creative mode. Vivaldi seems to inspire a lot of grandiose visions which unfortunately doesn't always translate well when put into application. I've tried listening to other stations but being interrupted every few minutes with an obnoxious ad or barely competent radio presenter is not especially conducive to the creative process or maybe I've just become very intolerant of crap on the airwaves. I find that I don't seem to enjoy listening to even the 'alternative stations' anymore, although I will always try to make time for Anthony Carew's 'International Pop Underground' show.