(Be gentle, she’s not done yet, and I don’t normally paint  – ummmm – recognisable things! )

What do you think? I’m not quite sure where she’s going next, why there’s a bird on her head, or what she’s doing but we’ll work it out.

And now my confession: I LOVE ALL THINGS HALLOWEEN-Y!!

There, I’ve said it.

It’s not a holiday we celebrate down under (sadly!) so the very few bits and bobs of Halloween stuff we get in the shops tend to be of the very low end, cheap-nylon-witch-hat-with-attached-purple-wig variety.  (No disrespect intended to any cheap nylon witches.)

And alllll the arty blog girls are making AWESOME Halloween stuff – I mean, check out these bunnies who’ve decided that Bunnies aren’t just for Easter! And of course the SPOOKTACULAR stuff over at Cart Before the Horse (who BTW are having an awesome giveaway, go there now! Oh wait, DON’T, cos I want to win it! No, hang on, DO, because their stuff is WONDERFUL!).

Am I a lone Aussie in love with Halloween?

Related posts:

1. Arrgh! But some exciting progress…
2. 11 & 12 of 365, a journal page, and what I’m reading
3. Just SHUT UP, Caity, SHUT UP!

Loved

Stairs

I didn’t forget to take my 365 self portrait yesterday – I just didn’t have my computer. It had been getting a wee bit unstable, as these things do, so it was time to save all the data and do a “nuke & pave” – wipe the whole box clean and install a whole new Operating System.  I must say, I LOVE LINUX MINT!!  Super easy to manage, (I did the install by myself! Try doing THAT with a w1nd0ws OS!) and the price is awesome (FREE!).  My computer is now back up to date and running faster – I just have to make time to trawl through all the backed up files and see what REALLY needs keeping.

And I’m very gradually learning how to do more things in GIMP – all the layers and brush tools and so on like ph0t0sh0p, but again – FREE!!  We love that price!

Today I had a lovely shopping morning with BFF Sue – I only bought a couple of very necessary T-shirts, booooooorrrring! Oh, and a small pressie that I have to mail off tomorrow for a friend in Oregon. (Tee hee! I will show what it is once she has hers – it was so cute I had to buy one for myself, too!)

Off to the gastroenterologist this arvo.  *shudder* Hope she can at least point me in the direction of some answers – I’m really tired of stomach/abdominal pain.  Ugh.

Open the door and come in

[clicky biggy, obviously]

And finally for this post – a book recommendation.  I’m a hyuuuuuuuuuge fan of Elizabeth Peter’s Amelia Peabody mysteries, but she’s getting on (both Elizabeth and Amelia!) and I dread there being no more new books. So I was delighted to read a new (to me) archaeological/mystery heroine – not the same as Amelia, no one ever could be, but quirky, completely in her time period ( I have been known to throw books at the wall for the sin of anachronism) and with delightful detail.  Barbara Cleverly is possibly my favourite new find this year!  I stayed up finishing the first book (Tomb Of Zeus) last night and started the second over breakfast this morning.  I’m hoping this will be the start of a looooong series of Laetitia Talbot books!

(Barbara Cleverly also writes the Detective Joe Sandilands series, but I haven’t read any of those yet.)

Right, that’s about it from me, gotta go find where I’ve put the papers I need to take with me to the specialist…

Related posts:

1. CatCat (aka Miss Kit Tern) journal page
2. More Visual Journal Stuff
3. I think I’m going to stop reading the news….

An action shot today!  Yep, despite the low level migraine that’s been bothering me since early last night, I actually got some journalling done today.  (Of course, if you wanna see JOURNALLING, you must go check out Teesha Moore’s most recent posts – I am in AWE, always, of her work.)

One of the things I do when I get into a period of slump and self doubt about my art (dare I even call it that?!) is re-read two fabulous books by Peter H. Reynolds: (Who now has a blog!)

Both are wonderful stories about overcoming your fear of creating – Vashti’s teacher gets her to just make a mark in art class… and her creativity leaps from there. And Ramon’s drawings are not to his satisfaction, but his sister treasures them and says it doesn’t matter what it was supposed to look like – it looks (x) ISH!

*sigh* Love that.

I’m off to make DOTS. (Speaking of which, you might also like to see Jude at Spirit Cloth’s exploration of dots – really beautiful textiles.)

No related posts.

[clicky biggy, yada yada]

Why yes, I have been looking at a lot of Teesha Moore’s work, she is awesome! (of course, this is just my very basic version inspired by her style – she is really one of the Goddesses of Art Journals…)

I’m also playing around with just making stuff that makes me HAPPY.  Orange always makes me happy, it always has – I went through a phase in my early teen years where I wore the most amazing ORANGE tunic style shirt  ALL THE TIME, it had a cowl neckline, a twisted cotton rope sash, and was hip length.  I loved that top!

Yesterday I dragged out a box of other paper art/journal art stuff – found stamps (including a little date stamp  – yay!) and all sorts of painted paper that I’d forgotten I’d made. And paper napkins and sequin waste and stencils I’d cut and one very sad stamp pad – the surface just DELAMINATED when I tried to use it – another timely reminder to USE YOUR STUFF!!

Related posts:

1. More Visual Journal Stuff
2. 11 & 12 of 365, a journal page, and what I’m reading
3. Family Ephemera

Here is my current workspace (sometimes known as the kitchen table) mid art journal page the other day:

[clicky for biggy, you really want to see some of this!]

I cannot create in a sterile space.  I also find it very difficult to leave white space in my art. (An art teacher commented on this negatively – to which I replied “And which part of BIPOLAR DISORDER are you not understanding?”)

And there must be tea. Lots of tea.

So -how about you? Do you DARE show your workspace in full fling? And do you crave chaotic clutter to create, or seek serenity in your space?  I personally subscribe to at least three of the Guiding Principles of the Institute of Backyard Studies:

• A big mess in the shed or the backyard is only a problem for those without a clue.
• Reticence, mumbling and disorganisation are the signs of a deep and enquiring mind.
• Good ideas are precious beyond rubies but if not shared freely are as useless as tits on a bull.

My art spaces and sewing piles are my “shed” .  If you haven’t heard of the Institute before, do go and visit – make sure you check out the youtube of Hoke’s Random Excuse Generator working, it is a Thing Of Beauty.

And in further backyard news… we went and looked at chooks today!!  Hoping to have the run built and the snake (and fox) proof wire costed within this fortnight…

No related posts.

[click to see a bigger image]

The writing says “I know I am losing my memory… But mostly I forget to worry about it.”

Think it might be a good one to show the psychologist tomorrow, yes?

Related posts:

1. Australia Day. Ugh…