No more clouds!

Yep. I've finished!!! At last now I can crochet, paint or print without guilt!

DONE!!

I've finished my class reports! Now I just have to finish entering the data for the 6 art classes I haven't done yet. That shouldn't take too long.

I even had a chance to walk down to my local Cafe to have coffee with a friend. It was nice to take an hour's break and to have a chat and laugh.

This is another phone photo. Not fantastic quality but not too bad and pretty convenient. Oh and very sneaky, and a bit scary I took this while I was just playing with the phone while I waited for my friend to arrive. People around would not have known I was taking a photo. I was cautious not to get anyone else in the photo for their privacy but I can see how easy this would be to abuse.

I have justified doing this this week because I am testing out a new type of green lino that I am planning to use with the kids at school, it has nothing to do with my own desires at all! The green colour hasn't shown up so well here as I've used the flash and the surface is a bit shiny. It is very soft and easy to carve. Which is good as I have a no blood rule when I do lino printing in the class.

I'm thinking of using this to print onto fabric to make a skirt with or perhaps a bag. I'm not sure yet but originally I had intended to carve the outside away also so it is just the pear that prints. I might try both ways.

Well time to get back to reports... Almost completely done.

breathe

On Thursday Bantam Boy had to go to work at 4pm and by a miracle Chicky Babe was home and willing to come out with me to go for a coffee. I have been feeling like I'd been on a bit of a treadmill. Going to work, coming home cooking dinner rushing about , preparing lessons etc.

When I suggested our local coffee shop just near BB's work, CB said "Why don't we go somewhere different?" So we drove off going nowhere in particular. Suddenly I thought let's go down by the river to Pt Walter, I hadn't been in an age and we were already going in the right direction.

This part of the river is local to us. It is a part of the world where I grew up. I am indeed one of those boring people who as an adult live pretty much in the same place where they were born. In fact I am now about 5 blocks back from the hospital I was born in!!! I have lived in other places, (Kalgoorlie and Mt Magnet.) My children go to the same high school I went to. Every time I drive towards Fremantle there is a hill that you go over and the ocean and harbor skyline pops into view. I just love it. I never tire of it. Every time I see it I get a little rush of joy. My dream would be to live in a house from which I could see it every morning. It is not right on to ocean front but looking across the roof tops and glimpsing the promise of the sea beyond that I love the most.

Anyway that afternoon the coffee was poor but the company delightful and the view both beautiful and reviving to the soul. The place was deserted. We decided to take a walk, as we walked we chatted. We were astounded by the stillness of the water and the number and variety of bird life. We counted 10 different species of birds. We took photos with our phones as the sun set as I had not thought to bring the camera.

So I can share with you what a beautiful afternoon it was and you can see why I live within walking distance of the place in which I was born. I'm glad I took the time to stop and look and actually see what is beautiful around me.

Too busy to Blog!

I'm just taking a quick blog break (I no longer smoke, so previously it would have been a smoke break. It's coming up to almost 5 years smoke free now.) I've had a busy school week still managed to not finish my reports! So that is a weekend must do.

I am currently putting things into my studio cupboard. Each shelf has been labeled:- Painting-Acrylic; Painting-Water colour; Jewelery; Ceramics; Mosaics; Drawing & Printmaking. I also have a set of drawers that I have started putting tools, drill, sander etc into.
I have started a design for a lino print but I cant find my lino cutting tools and there are none at my new school to borrow for the weekend. Hopefully I will find them in my relocation drive today.

My friend Tim was going to come and give me a hand to shift some heavy stuff ( I have one more cupboard to go from the bathroom into the studio for extra storage in there and so that I will be able to shift the washing machine, which is in the bathroom, and therefore create enough room in the bathroom for the claw foot bath that is sitting in the garage at present.) Unfortunately he has slept in and is running late. So I am on my own for now feeling just like the little red hen again. I'm pretty strong but not strong enough to shift a cupboard and the worlds heaviest Jarrah table on my own. So I'll just keep working on the small stuff for now.

Right I'm back into it.....

*K2 tog, Sl1,PSSO repeat to end.

It is a whole new language, but today I worked out what that meant and I made this for Chicky Babe. (I did do about 5 hours of school work, although I haven't finished it yet!)

I also learnt how to do the embroidery. The instructions had a knitted pattern but I wasn't ready for that just yet! Chicky Babe was delighted the pattern and colour was just as she wanted.

Apparently I am AWESOME!
Now it is 2am and I have to go to work tomorrow obviously I am also a little bit silly.

P.S the flowers in the previous post are some type of protea (I'm not sure if that is how you spell it. The computer doesn't like it but offers no sensible alternative!)

painting or procrastinating

This is what I did tonight rather than write reports.
I knew the pears would be greenish pears but I was unsure of what colour the background would be. It wasn't until I went to upload my photos that I realise where my inspiration had come from.

Three new teacups. The pink one has the most beautiful translucent blue glaze inside. Once upon a time they were a set of 6 now only three cups remain although all saucers are present. $4 in an op shop!

Look at the colours of these flowers. They looked lovely stacked together in bunches in the shop and I just had to treat myself. But it wasn't until I looked at them through the camera lens that I truly got lost in the beauty of their colour and delicate form.

I love my camera, I've said it before I know but just look at the delicate feathery center and the soft creams and pinks! Thank goodness for digital images, a hundred images and you delete the bad and select/print the ones you want.

So soft and feminine and such a contrast to the next image.

Beautiful. I wish I could write poetically because I am sure this little flower has so much to say! It seems to be falling or maybe reaching ...I know it is a little melancholy.

So thats where the colours came from and I suspect the need to paint. The pears are something I have been playing with for some time and need to finish, there are a good many more to do and one to repair. They come from a reaction to a sense of being a consumable. There was a need to reclaim the pear as being mine and something real not a representation of something else. I buy pears of all shapes, colours and sizes not to be eaten but to be observed and drawn.

And painted.

I am sure that anyone watching me select pears in the supermarket or fruit shop must think I am a bit fruity myself. I have to get the most interesting and, or the most beautiful examples of the type of pears I am looking at.

They are beginning to lose the significance they once had and are becoming plain pairs. Just as I had hoped.

Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?

I have spent the last three days in a state of mild anxiety. It is like I've forgotten something or that I am supposed to know something and have been left out of the loop!
I've got a lot of work to do with reports being due to the office tomorrow, I've not done them yet. That may have to be a weekend job.

I refused to do them last weekend prefering to catch up with my girlfriends and K. on his way to India. Perhaps now I am paying for putting of today that which can be done tomorrow. Well tomorrow is upon me and the task is not done.

Tonight I had another friend over for dinner, ironically she has just returned from India. She spent 4 weeks in Cashmere with a fellow she met on a previous trip. The romance that she had hoped for didn't develop further, but she made a great friend and had an amazing time. Absolutely beautiful countryside, mountains, glaciers and lakes.

I really should stop distracting myself and start writing some reports- although I do think that 4 weeks before the end of term is very early to have them done.

Scarfette

I found the short crocheted scarf so comfortable to wear, especially at work so I decided to make another. This time I used the wrap and turn technique I learnt in the urchin hat to shape the 'scarfette' to sit around the neck better. I'm going to do another one, but this time I am going to keep track of what I do so that each side is the same and so that it is easy to replicate it.

They are also a good way of using my old brooches and lapel pins and a good excuse to make some more!

Leap Frog!

I had a great evening tonight- it is now somewhere close to tomorrow. I have no idea of the time but I can feel it is getting close to morning. ( I was going to take a picture relevant to this evening an this blog but I can't find my camera. I will have to ask the kids where it is in the morning, well much later in the morning)

I invited some friends over for a barbecue. They are friends that I made through Bantam Boy. His two best mates mothers became my friends also. One D is a single mother of two, to whom I feel quite close, we shared many nights out in search of Mr Right and had a lot of fun and supported each other in the low times too. The other L is a married mother of four to whom I feel very grateful. She is a dedicated full time mum who also mothered my kids, having them before and after school often a huge help for a working single mum.

I would see both these women frequently as our kids played and now as they have grown up a bit and our work situations have changed I have seen less and less of them. D now works full time in the city and L's son now attends a different high school and has therefore developed a different circle of friends- Fortunately the boys friendship has endured and I thought it was high time we all got together. Everyone bought their own meat and we each made a salad or desert. L bought hubby along and tim was here too. There were twelve of us for dinner. The patio area is fantastic for large gatherings, mind you it was pouring at one stage and the rain on the tin roof made conversation impossible!

Tim went to pick up a friend from the airport. K is from Melbourne on his way to india. While we were chatting enjoying a red the dog went crazy. I thought he was chasing a rat. It was a frog!!! Tim rescued it from the dog- he was only chasing it he had not bitten it. I was thrilled to have a frog in the garden. A testament to the "natural" state of my garden. Some my choose to call it neglected. Now I can say I am creating a welcome space for the frogs!

I already have the pool for the frog!