Balloon Girl

There once was a girl with too many balloons.
She wanted to fly high in the sky,
without knowing why.
One day, she took off with not a word or a thought,
just the feeling of impossible adventure,
and a never ending quest,
to find out what lay beyond the white clouds,
just the girl and her balloons.

Hammock - Shipwrecked

Just one of the songs I'm listening to at the moment. I'm procrastinating. Although, I did workshop a few packaging designs with the lovely Ben this weekend. We settled on brown paper with simple, cursive handwriting to package the tea towels and apron. I managed to turn the apron handles into a rose petal - origami master that I am (ha).
I've been trying to work on some new designs or even start new paintings but I'm in procrastination mode. Not helped at all by the distraction of my new shiny phone - a Nokia 6600 fold - so sleek and so shiny and so fun to double-tap.

Tags

It took awhile but finally the tags are done. I initally wanted to print onto heavy recycled paper but the printer just wasn't liking it at all so I had to ditch that idea. It looks quite different from the original concept, which featured puzzle pieces amongst other things.

I think the tag comes out looking like a mini artwork piece, with the string extending cable like from the lightglobe. The front is nice and smooth whilst the back has a nice grainy texture to it with the cursive print. So pretty and nice to touch. I do like the overall outcome though, despite completely deviating from the original plan. Sometimes my indecisiveness is a blessing rather than a curse, though not when it comes to ordering meals in restaurants where I get quite a few death stares from the wait staff.

chabadachabadachabada

This is the second design in the cushion series. I think the simplicity works well (along with the awesome drawing of the cassette tape...hehe) . I'm working on the third design at the moment which is proving to be a little more difficult.

I want to print the same designs on tea towels to co-ordinate with the cushions. So, I ordered tea towels last week, only to find out that they were no ordinary tea towels. The tea towels are super gigantic, not just a little bigger than the average tea towel, more like the size of a tablecloth. Really bizarre. Who uses gigantic tea towels? Anyway, the plan at this stage is to cut them in half, which is the easiest part. The next part is to sew them up - this is the tricky part. If all fails, I'm hoping there is a market for gigantic tea towels somewhere in the world.

The soft humming of static on tape traces invisible stories in the air.

I've been working on some new designs for mock-up cushions. I've only had a chance to print out one design so far, the others are works in progress at this stage. The new designs are largely inspired by love, pizza and broken records. My drawing skills have improved a little, greatly assisted by my recently improved hand to eye co-ordination, of which I have yoga to thank.

The other day, I was walking home from work and I tripped but did not fall (as I normally would have, if it had been pre-yoga me) . I was so proud of myself from having gracefully recovered from what could have been a disastrous meeting with the pavement and my face. My happiness was somewhat dampened by the smirk of the suit who was walking near me.

Anyway, back to mix-tapes and made-up lyrics. My love of mix-tapes during my early 20's was nurtured by my friends, Catherine and Dave. Our passion and love of music bonded us together, through years of friendship, laughter and everything else that was going on in our lives at that time. We would routinely give each other mix-tapes, with varying degrees of success. I remember Dave's pain and anguish at hearing me complain (many times) about the placement of Mclusky on one of the mix-tapes that he made me. Sorry, Dave.

The mix-tapes were just a way of cataloguing our experiences and sharing it with each other. Nostalgia made me want to re-capture the spirit of those times, the youthful exuberance, bento boxes, random mayhem and photo booth memories. So, here is my ode to friendship...

Parisian Dreams

My little sister is living in Paris, in the Latin Quarter no less. She sent me some photos of her place in Paris, which got me dreaming of all things French. The gorgeous houses with the full-length windows, chocolate croissants for breakfast, spiral staircases (although at the time, I can remember cursing the lack of lifts, considering each step almost killed me under the weight of my backpack). The most french thing that happened to me was being hit in the face accidentally with a baguette by a french guy. Ahh, so many wonderful memories.
Now, if only I could stop dreaming about sun-lit apartments in Paris (complete with a loft space where I could do all my art work). Must focus!

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.

Gallery 4

Thanks to magnetic poetry for coming up with the below titles.

I have decided to give Understated sound away (to a very special person who has a curious tendency to spit out waffle cones whilst in mid-conversation).

My aim is to hang up artwork on all the nails in our house, which is no mean feat. There are HEAPS of nails, just waiting to hold up more artwork.

Understated sound

Curious Beauty (in black and red)

My base

Splash Red Splash

This table needs work. How much work? I'm not certain but it's sure to get messy. I'm thinking of just painting it bright red and then after that, I'm not sure...

Maybe, a chess table? Ohhh...that could be fun! Ben suggested we make up our own chess game with animal and soldier figurines which could liven up the game a little. Plus, it would be nice to have a big chess table to play on.



For such a small table, it's deceptively heavy and quite solid. Ideal for a outdoors chess table perhaps? Bring on summer :)

Another idea I've just thought of is to screen the table top with images of people jumping off giant clouds and sliding down a....

brontosaurus!

Postcards from Home

Yesterday was one of those weird winter days, cold but still a little warm and humid at the same time. It was very grey and dreary outside, but from the inside, the clouds danced around the trees and bright patches of sun broke free from the ever darkening sky to cast a light upon the bare branches.

Like a Moth

I took these photos in the city a while back, it must have been summer as I spent most of it traipsing through the city armed with my camera, notebook and pen. I spent most of the time trying to sneak past construction workers to take shots of partially constructed buildings and rubble. Luckily for me the one time I got caught, I managed to sweet talk the lovely guy into letting me access the restricted area to get a few close-up shots.

These photos were taken in some alleyway near or around Chinatown. There was this vacant back door in a disused corner of a building with the door slightly ajar. The Nancy Drew in me couldn't walk past without having a closer look, so I pushed the door open and stepped inside. Inside was this weird epileptic light that kept flickering on and off, accompanied by a hynotic buzzing sound. I managed to get a few photos but wished I'd taken more, especially of the circular light which had a soft nightmarish quality to it.

Young Me Now Me

I've been loving this link 'Young Me Now Me', that Ads sent me. It's a photo album of pictures taken of people when they were younger and the exact photo recreated in the present time.

Gallery 3

Sometimes, I wish I was half girl / half building so I can file and store away all of my experiences, neatly ordered into categories such as 'do not open unless under extreme circumstances', 'all the things I wished I'd said but didn't', 'clever things to say in awkward situations'.

Behind The Words

Gallery 2

I've been thinking lately about memories and how they slowly fade over time or get distorted. If I think too long about it, this pervading sense of sadness envelops me, like the horn concerto No.2 in D by Haydn. I'm slowly forgetting childhood memories and even things that happened a few years ago. My dad used to like recording sounds on his micro-cassette recorder and we recently found a tiny micro-cassette tape that contained a recording of my sisters and I talking and playing, in that unself-conscious manner that little children have. My dad taped it without us knowing and for that reason, it feels more intimate and special. It feels like I've been able to go back in time and eavesdrop. The tape comes alive with laugher, giggling and these tiny voices that belonged to another time but are yet still very much in this time but only the voices have matured. For a brief moment, I feel like I've stolen a piece of time and this to me is the best present I will ever receive. It's the link to my past and family. My mum and dad still sound the same as they do on tape but eventually everyone dies and all that are left are memories, images and sounds but even these fade...

Untitled

Float

Gallery 1

I've recently taken to creating some of my original artwork onto canvas which seems so much nicer than having them sit idly in a folder on my computer somewhere. I find working with paints, glue and scissors so much more fun than working on the images using Photoshop. I really enjoy the actual process of constructing something by hand (old school cutting and pasting) amidst the high-tech gadgetry of everything. The messier things get the happier I become which doesn't bode well for my clothes, most of which have paint on them which tends to happen, despite the use of an art smock/shirt.

Echoes of Home

This image differs slightly to the original image saved on my computer. I fractured it as it seemed to suit the piece more. The original image was a single image with no breaks which seemed almost restrained but I think I prefer it better like this. I was having trouble sleeping during the time I created this piece and this probably had a great deal to do with the finished product. I kept having vivid images of broken mirrors and nightmarish images of ghosts and other gory/spooky scenes which is great fodder for my art work but not so great for my waking life. I'm still not sleeping well, seemingly this year is already proving to be the record year for the number of nightmares that I've had in my entire life (at last count, I'm averaging two to three a week which can't be normal) but I guess the plus side is that I'll never be short of ideas.

Along Came Tourists

It's difficult to see in this image but I painted big blue swirls in the background which gave it a different texture, almost cloud-like but still subtle. I made this image by mistake. It's actually a combination of two images, one image is of the seaport in Marseille that I took whilst travelling last year and the other image is one I did just by cutting up some pictures from random magazines. I accidentally copied the two on the photocopier and the end result was a mismash of both, which I grew to like. I'm still undecided about this piece as a whole. I don't know whether the image works quite as well in black and white as opposed to colour. I guess it's fun just experimenting sometimes.

Cardboard Fever

I never realised how beautiful the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton was until this weekend. It was the venue of choice for the Design Made Trade exhibition and was converted over the 4 days into a cardboard maze that contained lots of cool furniture, sculpture, bags, jewellery etc by some of Melbourne's leading designers.

I didn't realise how cold it would be in the building, despite layering up I could still barely move my arms and had to stand under the globe lights to keep warm. If only I had brought a portable heater or 'borrowed' one from the stand a few doors down.

Sunday was a lot nicer if only because the KEEC stand was close to the heaters. I had purposely left my wallet, along with the credit card at home so that I wouldn't be tempted to go on a shopping spree which despite my best efforts didn't work out as I still went shopping, kindly assisted with a loan from Ben.

There were a few people who wandered up that had come from the Design Market down at the carpark at Fed Square. One guy said that there were too many people at the Design Market, he had to jostle to get through the wall of people. I laughed when he compared it to being at a really seedy nightclub.

There were quite a few people from interstate and overseas who came specially for Design Made Trade which was very encouraging, especially when they raved about how great Melbourne design was. I tried to send as many people as I could over to North Melbourne for the Projekta 57 exhibition which hopefully will get a few more people attending.

MIDF 2008

In recent developments, Nick, Ben and I are mentioned on the Melbourne International Design Festival website, if you scroll down and keep scrolling further down, you'll find more information on the some of the things we've been working on for Projekta 57. There's also a nice picture of one of the coat hanger/racks that Nick and I collaborated on a while ago (which Nick has advised me has just been sold, so sadly that particular piece is no longer available for purchase from Design Loop).





Here's what the coat hangers/racks look like in operation:

All things Design...

This week is going to be crazy busy but fun! I've been working on a cabinet as part of 'Projekta 57' that Nick from Design Loop has kindly invited me to take part in (which I've taken photos of with my awesome 3.2 megapixal camera). Nick's project, 'Ebay on the Freeway' is an exhibition of rubbish reborn and promises to be quite inspired. I will be one of the 'artists' on site on Saturday to talk about the exhibition, so if you're interested, please come by and have a look around or just drop by for a chat.

Ben of Bamakko fame is also part of 'Projekta 57' and he will have designers on site to talk about all things design-related which will also be interesting and plus Bamakko is only across the road from Design Loop, which is very convenient indeed.

Thanks again to Ben for graciously giving up his time to pose for the shots and allowing me to use his image on the cabinet. I think Daniel Day Lewis would have been proud of Ben's acting skills. He's proving to be quite the method actor ;) Also, thanks to Ads for removing the many cabinet handles in order for me to be paint them, without Ads - the finished product wouldn't look half as good.

Also, Design Made Trade is on this weekend as well which I will also be involved in. I will be working at Nick's space on Saturday and Ben's space on Sunday, so that will just about cap off my week.

Yay!

So finally my first post, which was coincidentally motivated by a training session at work about career advancement, performance review and goal setting. While I sat there pondering the topics of the powerpoint presentation and the relevance to my job, I came to the realisation that yes! this was an informative training session if only that it provided the inspiration for me to actually get a website together for all the arty things I've worked on recently. So, a big thank you to HR for inadvertantly providing me with the impetus to actually get my act together and work on goal setting, performance review and opportunities for development...ahhh, if only I could get this motivation to drive me in other aspects of my life, such as housework. Also, a big thank you to Ben of Bamakko for suggesting that I set up a blog.