Where did the week go?

Suddenly it's Friday: which means that I gave my public programme at Goulburn Regional Art Gallery today.

Lorraine from Fairy Meadow Miniatures brought me flowers of the best kind:

 printed on paper

 and wrapped around a miniature shed!

(Which will be perfect between the back windows of my HBS Creating Contest build, to 'mask the noise leakage' between the studios, but really to hide the wiring stuff...)

And I completely fell down in the good-blogger stakes and forgot to take any photos, or ask any of my friends who attended to do so for me. So the only photo I have of the presentation is from the gallery's Facebook page...

What's in the toybox? exhibition: video walkthrough

As promised, for those of you who can't make it in person:

(There is another work in the exhibition which I was asked not to photograph, for copyright reasons. Which was sad, as it was one of my favourites. But thanks to the power of the interwebs, you can see Kendal Murray's Produce Goose, On The Loose here, and more of her work here.)

And if you'd like to view the whole of the short film The traveller by Anna Glynn, you can do so here.

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What's in the Toybox exhibiton

27 November - 24 December 2015

An exhibition of works particularly for children but also suitable for adults in need of a little nostalgia in the lead up to Christmas.  From original book illustrations to colourful sculptures and hand-made wooden toys by local Goulburn Woodworkers, there's something  in the toybox to delight everybody.

Goulburn Regional Art Gallery

Civic Centre, Bourke Street

Goulburn N.S.W.

Tel. 02 4823 4503

Open Monday - Friday 10 am – 5 pm,   Saturday 1 pm – 4 pm  (Closed Sunday and Public Holidays)

Bloody exhausted

I've been to Goulburn Regional Art Gallery three times in the last three days. That's a 177 km (110 mile) round trip each time (probably more, if you take the train as I did yesterday).

 I even dressed up for the opening!

But now I'm a little bit stuffed, and a little bit grumpy, as my phone doesn't seem to want to save the photos I think I've taken.

So I'll probably spend tomorrow's digital sabbath in bed, and tell you more about the opening and the exhibition on Monday...

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What's in the Toybox exhibiton

27 November - 24 December 2015

An exhibition of works particularly for children but also suitable for adults in need of a little nostalgia in the lead up to Christmas.  From original book illustrations to colourful sculptures and hand-made wooden toys by local Goulburn Woodworkers, there's something  in the toybox to delight everybody.

Goulburn Regional Art Gallery

Civic Centre, Bourke Street

Goulburn N.S.W.

Tel. 02 4823 4503

Open Monday - Friday 10 am – 5 pm,   Saturday 1 pm – 4 pm  (Closed Sunday and Public Holidays)

Bloody exhibitionist...

 Yep, that's me. Posing next to my completed builds at Goulburn Regional Art Gallery, in readiness for tomorrow night's opening of the What's in the toybox? exhibition.

But here's where it all started two and a half hours earlier, when I arrived after a one-hour drive from Canberra:

I'd dropped my 'work*' off last Friday and knew at the time that I'd need to make another trip to put it all together before the opening.

Lovely Goulburn Regional Art Gallery had my plinth and perspex case in place, a table ready for me to work on, and...

 AFTERNOON TEA!

(That was a bit special and unexpected. I now want to be in every exhibition they mount.)

At 3 pm I was a bit worried.

 But soon was on a roll, recreating a version of something I'd made two years ago.

Here are some progress shots (because, even as a blogger on a deadline, you need to stop and take photographs, don't you?)

 Tucked in my corner, things started to come together,

 while the gallery staff finished other parts of the exhibition in the background.

And then, just on closing time, I was done.

(And the lovely staff stayed five minutes late to help me load the pieces into my display case.)

(* Because it was my work, but it was a kitset work, not a completed work at that stage.)

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What's in the Toybox exhibiton

27 November - 24 December 2015

An exhibition of works particularly for children but also suitable for adults in need of a little nostalgia in the lead up to Christmas.  From original book illustrations to colourful sculptures and hand-made wooden toys by local Goulburn Woodworkers, there's something  in the toybox to delight everybody.

Goulburn Regional Art Gallery

Civic Centre, Bourke Street

Goulburn N.S.W.

Tel. 02 4823 4503

Open Monday - Friday 10 am – 5 pm,   Saturday 1 pm – 4 pm  (Closed Sunday and Public Holidays)

The aftermath

This morning was a mad dash to complete my two scenes before I was picked up by a friend to deliver them to Goulburn Regional Art Gallery for their 'What's in the toybox' exhibition, which opens next week.

As usual after a major project, my studio is in complete chaos.

And, even worse, have a large cutting mat and tools in the middle of my kitchen floor: I found myself moving from over-crowded spot to over-crowded spot in search of somewhere to finish the next part of the work before the deadline.

We drove through 40 degree (104 Fahrenheit, for those on the other side of the world) heat* to reach the gallery, and were diverted off the highway because of a grass fire*, but it was worth it to spy this at the entrance:

 and these little houses in the exhibition before the one I'm in:

Once I got home and did some research on the artist, Ronnie van Hout, I was delighted to discover that he is not only a fellow kiwi, but that he also created 'Fallen robot', one of my favourite sculptures in Lower Hutt, New Zealand...

High on my agenda for the next couple of days is some serious down time (possibly including some TV-series binge watching) and napping, hopefully not at the same time. And some major house cleaning and organising.

(*How can this be? It's only November!)

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What's in the Toybox exhibiton

27 November - 24 December 2015

An exhibition of works particularly for children but also suitable for adults in need of a little nostalgia in the lead up to Christmas.  From original book illustrations to colourful sculptures and hand-made wooden toys by local Goulburn Woodworkers, there's something  in the toybox to delight everybody.

Goulburn Regional Art Gallery

Civic Centre, Bourke Street

Goulburn N.S.W.

Tel. 02 4823 4503

Open Monday - Friday 10 am – 5 pm,   Saturday 1 pm – 4 pm  (Closed Sunday and Public Holidays)

A bit of this (and a bit of that)

I'm gathering the pieces for Buzz Bar Cafe, the second build Goulburn Regional Art Gallery want in their What's in the toybox exhibition later this month. It makes me think it's a good thing I used to enjoy playing the memory game as a child...

The HBS Creatin' Contest build windows are getting their top coat.

As part of an Etsy challenge I'm currently doing, I've been photographing my hand-knitted pouffes to list in my Etsy shop.

I caught up with a friend I haven't seen for ages over breakfast at The Cupping Room: somewhere I've been wanting to go since the announcement that the World Barista Champion works there.

And now I'm exhausted, and just want to have an afternoon nap...

 (except I have too many things to do).

 #HBSCreatinContest2015 

Hunting and gathering

The flier for my public programme at Goulburn Regional Art Gallery's exhibition What's in the Toybox arrived this morning:

(If you're thinking of coming from out of town, you may be pleased to hear I planned it to coincide with the date of Cockington Green's night opening. You're welcome.)

And I'm spending my time this morning gathering the miniature items I need to recreate the scenes that the gallery want to exhibit.

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What's in the Toybox exhibition

27 November - 24 December 2015

An exhibition of works particularly for children but also suitable for adults in need of a little nostalgia in the lead up to Christmas.  From original book illustrations to colourful sculptures and hand-made wooden toys by local Goulburn woodworkers, there's something  in the toybox to delight everybody.

Goulburn Regional Art Gallery

Civic Centre, Bourke Street

Goulburn NSW.

Tel. 02 4823 4503

Open Monday - Friday 10 am – 5 pm,   Saturday 1 pm – 4 pm  (Closed Sunday and Public Holidays)

Scaling up

I've often wanted to exhibit large photos of my miniature scenes, and the upcoming What's in the Toybox exhibition at Goulburn Regional Art Gallery seems like the perfect place to give it a whirl.

But first, I needed to find out just how large I could go without the image losing too much quality. So this morning I chose a photo of Buzz Bar Cafe (which the curator is keen to have included) and trotted off to Officeworks to do a test print.

 I figured A1 was a good testing size, that would also fit within my week's budget. It was incredibly exciting to see the first bit of the photo being printed and realise that it was fine.

The paperwork is due in to the gallery today, so I have to decide quickly how many more photos I want printed, and what my budget will cover in terms of better quality prints and framing...

_________________________________________________________________________

What's in the Toybox exhibition

27 November - 24 December 2015

An exhibition of works particularly for children but also suitable for adults in need of a little nostalgia in the lead up to Christmas.  From original book illustrations to colourful sculptures and hand-made wooden toys by local Goulburn Woodworkers, there's something  in the toybox to delight everybody.

Goulburn Regional Art Gallery

Civic Centre, Bourke Street

Goulburn N.S.W.

Tel. 02 4823 4503

Open Monday - Friday 10 am – 5 pm,   Saturday 1 pm – 4 pm  (Closed Sunday and Public Holidays)

Muddling along Monday*

I'm at that stage where I have so many projects on the go that I feel I'm not making any progress on any of them.

But slowly and surely, I'm getting there...

The HBS Creatin' Contest build: I thought I was going to take the back wall to James at Victorian Dollhouses and get him to cut my window holes later this week. Then told myself not to be such a wuss, and dug out the instruction manual for my scroll saw so I can learn how to remove the blade, and cut the holes myself. (Besides, it's probably more than time I changed the blade: I hear that they are like sewing machine needles in that way.)

The Lundby hack: Still working away at removing the bedroom carpet. Each morning, as I wait for the kettle to boil, I do some more work on it. There's probably some fabulous shortcut, but I haven't bothered looking for it. Yet.

The November issue of The tiny Times: is running late. But until I broadcast it to the world, only two people knew or cared. I think it's our best issue yet. But then I'm a tad biased.

And a new project: I'm going to be part of another exhibition—my first outside of Canberra—which opens in a month. I spent some time this afternoon on the phone to the curator, discussing what they'd like from me, and now I need to schedule time into my diary to (re) create the pieces.

Plus, over at one of my other blogs: I went interstate to visit an op (thrift) shop.

(*Except, just as I went to hit the 'publish' button I had the dawning realisation that it might just be Tuesday. Welcome to my life, where days of the week become meaningless.)

_________________________________________________________________________

What's in the Toybox exhibition

27 November - 24 December 2015

An exhibition of works particularly for children but also suitable for adults in need of a little nostalgia in the lead up to Christmas.  From original book illustrations to colourful sculptures and hand-made wooden toys by local Goulburn Woodworkers, there's something  in the toybox to delight everybody.

Goulburn Regional Art Gallery

Civic Centre, Bourke Street

Goulburn N.S.W.

Tel. 02 4823 4503

Open Monday - Friday 10 am – 5 pm,   Saturday 1 pm – 4 pm  (Closed Sunday and Public Holidays)