Today's work

 

Today's progress. I would have done more but I have a dreadfully sore throat and my ears feel like they will burst. My friend who is having the baby is delighted with it so far. I don't know why I worry so much!

The good thing is that it is waiting patiently out in my studio till tomorrow so I can get straight back into it. No packing up or setting up required.

Studio bliss! *Sigh*

 

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Studio update.

Several weeks ago a friend 'dobbed me in' to do a painting for a lady we work with who is expecting a baby. I had been making a cute little owl toy as a demonstration for a class that was doing a textile project. We started talking about toys and nursery decoration and she mentioned that she would love a cute owl picture for her baby's room.

"Dette can paint you one!" ....indeed. I couldn't say no but in truth I felt happy to do it. Or so I thought.

I started to worry that she wouldn't like what I did.

That was weeks ago and I've had a hard time getting into it. I procrastinated and watched a complete 4 series of Sanctuary, did quite a bit of crochet. Finally i thought it was time to start. It was the impetus for the studio clean out and finally today I transferred the sketch to canvas an made a start at last.

It shouldn't take long to finish, just as well as the baby is now due in a week or so! The best thing is I can leave it all set up and ready to go again tomorrow.

 

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Green...

I just found this site and now I am suffering from studio envy!!!

Tuesday teacup is half full & the studio is safe!

My current favourite morning coffee cup. I recently bought a coffee machine and coffee grinder so am treating myself to a delicious morning flat white. This particular cup is delightfully round and somehow has a real 'mother' feeling, round, smooth yet.... I have typed and erased about three or four descriptions here. It is kind of reassuringly round and maybe earthy.

Good things and bad.

The good news is my studio is safe! the plans have been approved and now I can continue to work on it with confidence.

Cute little double doors...

lead onto the patio where the sun streams in through in the morning...

Most of it is windows or glass doors with a skylight in the roof, which means it is light and airy even though it is quite small- cozy rather.
I've bought cupboards to go in it, the idea being I will store all my bits in one place, a shelf for printmaking stuff, another for jewelery making, soldering etc & beads, one for painting and for my clay, molds & modeling tools. The best bit will be being able to start on something and leave it until I can get back to it with out having to pack it up!

This side faces out onto a small paved area, my private studio garden- well it will be, I can already see it. It has a raised limestone garden bed where I think I will plant some vegies and I'll put in a passion fruit vine to block out the view into the neighbour's house. It gets quite a bit of morning sun, a lovely little spot to soak up the sun. Well it will be lovely- eventually!

Well that was the good news. The bad news.... Chicky Babe sent 664 sms messages to her friends... in 1 month. I pay for the kids phones as a part of their pocket money. I pay $20 a month on a plan for $50 worth of calls. We can call each other for nothing because we are all on the same bill so that works well. She now owes me $130. I also had to be the 'parent' and take her phone off her for 2 weeks. I hate having to be the "bad cop" but that's parenting I suppose. (an old fart at the party and now a disciplinarian mother! All in one week! My kids are generally so good I haven't had to do this before really. Not bad considering they are 15 and 16and a half.)

Actually, whenever I have to growl at my kids I find it difficult to do so without laughing. I know it was bad that she abused the phone privilege, considering we have had this discussion when she has gone over the limit on a few occasions before. Usually only by 10 or 20 dollars but 664 sms's that's so outrageous it's funny. Why don't they call each other and actually talk, rather than have a text conversation sending 10 texts in under 10 minutes! Yes, I am definitely an 'old fart'.

The other bad thing was my car overheated and cost $400 to repair the broken radiator pump! I'm trying to save for my Melbourne trip! The fortunate thing is, I have a lovely mechanic who was able to fix it today and will let me wait until pay day to pay it off. I enjoyed the walk home from school this afternoon and I can still keep my dinner date with a dear friend who lives on the other side of the city. This lady has been my friend since we were in year 10 - 1981! 27 years!! I just did the math... gosh, I am fortunate to have this friendship that has stood the test of time. That is another good thing.

Yes my cup is half full.

Ask and you shall receive.

I now have two old aprons. Never worn and one still with the tag! So dear skeleton woman they are yours. They are post 1965 because the price on the pink one is $4.30 and it was from Boans.
I will bring them when I come to visit.




This is the skirt I've been working on over the last three days. I've used the fabric from the wonderful garage sale of the vintage pattern fame ( i wish I knew how to make the link back to previous posts as I have seen others do!). It feels so nice to wear and cost me so little really as I bought boxes full of fabric and I didn't spend that much. I figure this cost about 5c all up!! This photo is a little washed out and not well focused.

It has the corduroy cut away to reveal the fabric that has been stitched on behind the front panel the raw edges give it a bit of texture and the reverse appliqué gives it some depth. These are better and give a better indication of the colours.

Here's Chicky Babe being my model (I have not miraculously lost a huge amount of weight!) This photo was taken without the flash, which tends to wash out the colour but it has picked up the yellow from the walls.

I wished I could find a lovely cleaning lady who would work on a saturday so that I could be at home while she was here and get to know her before I leave her on her own. I had the most delightful cleaning lady at my old house who became quite a friend also, I looked forward to her visits and we would always share a cuppa and a chat, she loved my place even though it was often messy and cluttered. She loved to watch the renovation progress and the new projects I was working on and most importantly I never felt judged for having a less than perfect house. I would often clean along with her feeling far more inspired to do so while she was there- A burdened shared is a burden halved. Unfortunately she moved and could no longer help.


I have discovered, well not exactly discovered but come to accept, I am not the best of housewives. I am a good mother, but this little red hen has had enough. I am sick of nagging, bribing, threatening and pleading with the kids to help I'm working full time now and feel the pressure of all the things that need to be done both work related and house work related. I resent the time and energy this takes from my creative self.


I opened the local newspaper and as I flicked through I looked longingly as I often do at the list of cleaners.... there in the middle of the page was an add for a lady who worked Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. ...SATURDAY!!! So I rang and she is coming tomorrow afternoon at 2pm. Thank goodness.

Now there will be the mad dash to make sure things are not so bad that she is frightened off! That would never do. I hope to have her come weekly for a while so I can get back on top of things and then I might just have her come fortnightly.

And I went to the council and the lovely young man who helped me with my plans today said that it should be fine but it is not a 'studio' it is a 'patio enclosure' because that will be far less complicated and easier to have the plans passed. A studio will require a concrete slab floor and at the moment it is just paving from the patio. I don't care what it is called I just want a space for me to keep my stuff and work. I am itching to work with silver again to make some jewelery.

Viruses physical and cyber! And a place for me!

Getting back to work after the long holiday was kind of hectic. Then just as things were starting to settle down I was struck down with a nasty virus that resulted in high temperatures and a shockingly sore throat. Then pretty much simultaneously the computer was infected with a Trojan virus and a back door virus . These have taken some time to resolve. Am now on the mend and the computer is happy again.

I have thoroughly enjoyed being back at school.I have two and a half days in a year 3 class and I am back teaching as an art specialist and loving it. When I decided to transfer from my old school I finally decided that in order to be able to make a move I would have to take a job in the mainstream class. I did not realize how much I would miss teaching art. I think that not having a space in my life for art took its tole.

People at work have commented on how happy I seem this year. I also prefer teaching the little kids. They have loved Dusty the dog and are mostly keen to be at school (also having a change in bosses has gone a long way to improving my working conditions- the last one told outright lies to cover his mistakes and you never knew where you stood he also didn't like to be disagreed with and as many people have said he would stab you in the back if he got the chance. The new fellow seems nice he's friendly and supportive and above all he seems genuine!)

Last year I did not have a studio at school and I didn't have a studio home. Well in the last couple of weeks I have had a studio built at home....

This is the beginnings of it . It has windows on two sides and two little french doors opening out onto the patio that comes off the house through glass french doors from the lounge dining area.

Here it is with walls!!! Isn't it cute. The glass door you can see through the french doors opens out onto a little paved area this will become my private courtyard, or secret garden.

The next step is to install the sink and the storage cupboards and then I'll have no excuse for not doing some art work. It has made the whole house seem so much bigger having the outdoor entertaining area and the studio kind of completes the whole place.

Mind you the kids are having another "sleep" over and I wish that there were a few more doors and perhaps soundproof walls between them and me. That is what you get when you encourage your kids to be involved in the arts especially drama. They sing and perform all the time and when a bunch of them from the same drama group get together it is somewhat noisy!

Last weekend I had 12 people (my sister and her family, my mum and step dad) for lunch in the new entertaining area. It was very comfortable with plenty of room.

About half an hour before they all arrived my friend Tim turned up with a pile of booty from a garage sale. He found an old footstool very cute with little metal legs and a bag full of very nice old fabric. It was very exciting. Its just down the street he said and there is masses of stuff. So off I went with instructions to the kids about what to do with the lunch.

When I got there I grabbed a few more pieces of fabric and a lovely old cardboard case. There was another case full of pattens but I didn't have time to look through them properly. The lady said they would be going the next day as well so I decided I would come back the next day to have a proper look.


So the next day I went back and looking through the patterns 10cents each I discovered some patterns from the 1930's!!!!!! among a whole lot of others spanning 6 decades. I was gathering up those I wanted and found I was running out of hands. The lady said why don't you take the whole lot. $5 including the case. DONE!!
Look what I found!



Unfortunately most of them are for stick figure people! I will have to put my pattern drafting skills to work and perhaps put more effort into losing weight!