On Monday I got invited to my first Christmas party.
I spotted someone who had just bought a roll of Christmas paper in the Library yesterday.
The newsagents were busy wrapping things in green paper when I popped in last night.
And I sold my first two Lundby advent calenders for the year this week.
To make up for any anxiety this may cause in my readers (and myself!), here's a fabulous video I lifted from The Lark:
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Heaven is a place, a place where nothing, nothing ever happens...
Sorry about the radio silence. To make for it here's a fave track at the moment, from a CD I picked up at Lifeline Bookfair for $4 (and which has been on my eBay watch list for a whole lot more). It pretty much covers my life this week:
You may remember it from back here.)
You may remember it from back here.)
Friday, September 25, 2009
Tired now...
I think I need to go to bed for the rest of the afternoon to devour my pile of new treasures from this morning's trip to The Lifeline Bookfair...
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
What’s Hot + What’s Not Wednesday
Well hello there. I thought I'd better pop past before you all started checking to see if I was OK or possibly sprawled in a mangled heap halfway down the stairs, unable to call for help.
I figured the only way to catch up is to follow Loobylu's lead:
What’s Hot:
* Using In Design for the first time.
* Finishing answering the questions sent to me by The Collectors and finally getting them out of the way (It's rather handy having a blog: a lot of the answers consisted of a "see here" followed by a link)
* Lovely people coming up to me to introduce themselves and tell me the read (and enjoy) my blog. It happened again this morning at the petrol station and quite made my day.
* Getting through my very first Storytime. And getting nice feedback from both the other staff and the parents. It helped that I got to read one of my favorite books (with actions)
* Meeting a little girl with a patch over her eye and telling her how I used to have one just like it when I was little (except not as cool and colourful as hers) and making her smile.
* The arrival of my first Book Depository order (I couldn't resist, with an added 10% off their already low prices)
* Having the day after tomorrow off. It's a holy day of obligation: the first day of The Lifeline Bookfair.
* Two weeks' holiday from night classes. So I can catch up on everything. Hopefully.
What’s Not:
*Waking up in the middle of the night on Monday to find myself in the bedroom doorway. It took a couple of seconds to realise that a massive thunderstorm was pretty much directly overhead and the rolling thunder had caused the windows to rattle and the bed to shake. And my removed-from-New-Zealand-but-still-a-well-trained-Kiwi-body to have catapulted across the room and into the doorway as soon as I felt it. Even if it was asleep.
* Two night's broken sleep due to thunder and lightning.
* Dust rain.
* Finding myself tongue-tied when people say they read my blog. It always takes me by surprise. Which is odd as I check my stats regularly and know about how many of you there are.
* That I don't think my Tutor likes the direction I'm heading in with The Big Very Important (Scary) Final Brief. After a period of hand wringing and worrying I've decided I don't actually care very much.
* Miss Daisy getting her first parking ticket. The only other time I got a parking ticket I made page three of the paper*. This time wasn't quite so exciting...
* The price of parking in Civic (I had to take my car in yesterday as I had stuff to take to Craft ACT and needed a speedy relocation between there and the Library for an evening shift): $12. Which actually seems a bargain compared to the $78 the previous day had cost me.
* Having to learn a song in the twenty minutes before Storytime started so I could sing it in front of a crowd of small people and their parents...
* Having a job application due in tomorrow and only having the time to get to it (as usual) at 6am the morning it's due in.
(*No I was not naked at the time)
I figured the only way to catch up is to follow Loobylu's lead:
What’s Hot:
* Using In Design for the first time.
* Finishing answering the questions sent to me by The Collectors and finally getting them out of the way (It's rather handy having a blog: a lot of the answers consisted of a "see here" followed by a link)
* Lovely people coming up to me to introduce themselves and tell me the read (and enjoy) my blog. It happened again this morning at the petrol station and quite made my day.
* Getting through my very first Storytime. And getting nice feedback from both the other staff and the parents. It helped that I got to read one of my favorite books (with actions)
* Meeting a little girl with a patch over her eye and telling her how I used to have one just like it when I was little (except not as cool and colourful as hers) and making her smile.
* The arrival of my first Book Depository order (I couldn't resist, with an added 10% off their already low prices)
* Having the day after tomorrow off. It's a holy day of obligation: the first day of The Lifeline Bookfair.
* Two weeks' holiday from night classes. So I can catch up on everything. Hopefully.
What’s Not:
*Waking up in the middle of the night on Monday to find myself in the bedroom doorway. It took a couple of seconds to realise that a massive thunderstorm was pretty much directly overhead and the rolling thunder had caused the windows to rattle and the bed to shake. And my removed-from-New-Zealand-but-still-a-well-trained-Kiwi-body to have catapulted across the room and into the doorway as soon as I felt it. Even if it was asleep.
* Two night's broken sleep due to thunder and lightning.
* Dust rain.
* Finding myself tongue-tied when people say they read my blog. It always takes me by surprise. Which is odd as I check my stats regularly and know about how many of you there are.
* That I don't think my Tutor likes the direction I'm heading in with The Big Very Important (Scary) Final Brief. After a period of hand wringing and worrying I've decided I don't actually care very much.
* Miss Daisy getting her first parking ticket. The only other time I got a parking ticket I made page three of the paper*. This time wasn't quite so exciting...
* The price of parking in Civic (I had to take my car in yesterday as I had stuff to take to Craft ACT and needed a speedy relocation between there and the Library for an evening shift): $12. Which actually seems a bargain compared to the $78 the previous day had cost me.
* Having to learn a song in the twenty minutes before Storytime started so I could sing it in front of a crowd of small people and their parents...
* Having a job application due in tomorrow and only having the time to get to it (as usual) at 6am the morning it's due in.
(*No I was not naked at the time)
Monday, September 21, 2009
Drawing in public
September 1970:
September 2009:
(photograph courtesy of Eleni Kypridis, National Gallery of Australia)
September 2009:
(photograph courtesy of Eleni Kypridis, National Gallery of Australia)How I spent my day off (Part Two)
5. In the afternoon I went to pick up the display case I'd lent to Harriet Barry for her exhibition and got to have a nosey round her studio, ask her a million questions
and watch her work (is it just me that's fascinated at seeing other people's studios*?)
6. Then I went home and mowed the front lawn,
7. finished my framing (and banged 4 more illegal picture hooks into my walls)
8. Before celebrating by watching The Hollywood Librarian.
(*more photos here)
and watch her work (is it just me that's fascinated at seeing other people's studios*?)
6. Then I went home and mowed the front lawn,7. finished my framing (and banged 4 more illegal picture hooks into my walls)
8. Before celebrating by watching The Hollywood Librarian.(*more photos here)
Sunday, September 20, 2009
How I spent my day off (Part One)
1. Sorting out my office and getting rid of financial stuff from 7 years ago.
2. Feeding a friends' cats and eating the chocolate they (the friends, not the cats) left out for me.
3. Attending a talk at National Archives where Senator Kate Lundy discussed the international origins of the Griffin Canberra Plan.
4. Then across to National Gallery for The Big Draw. Many of you will have heard me say having my Knitta Please piece was the nearest I was ever going to get to having my work hanging in The National Gallery (even if it was just outside the doors).
I was wrong. Here's a very blurry photograph the Official Photographer took with my camera of me adding to the I am wall (she took other photos with her own camera and has promised to email them to me. I'll upload them as soon as I get them!):
(The sign says Look Mum! I'm hanging in the National Gallery of Australia!! )
Here's a sketch I did over lunch in the Members' Lounge:
And the sketches I did of the chap I nicknamed The Writhing Man at the Swing High, Swing Low drawing station (only my second ever life drawing experience...) 
(Blind contour drawing)
(Details)
2. Feeding a friends' cats and eating the chocolate they (the friends, not the cats) left out for me.
3. Attending a talk at National Archives where Senator Kate Lundy discussed the international origins of the Griffin Canberra Plan.
4. Then across to National Gallery for The Big Draw. Many of you will have heard me say having my Knitta Please piece was the nearest I was ever going to get to having my work hanging in The National Gallery (even if it was just outside the doors).
I was wrong. Here's a very blurry photograph the Official Photographer took with my camera of me adding to the I am wall (she took other photos with her own camera and has promised to email them to me. I'll upload them as soon as I get them!):
(The sign says Look Mum! I'm hanging in the National Gallery of Australia!! )Here's a sketch I did over lunch in the Members' Lounge:
And the sketches I did of the chap I nicknamed The Writhing Man at the Swing High, Swing Low drawing station (only my second ever life drawing experience...) 
(Blind contour drawing)(Details)
Lust du jour
I was drooling over Olivia's new wooden pear this morning. Until I spotted these on the Inside Out blog:
D-Bros pear shaped memo blocks. Pears and stationery combined? *Whimper...*
D-Bros pear shaped memo blocks. Pears and stationery combined? *Whimper...*
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
One of the things I like about this latest contract
Is the ability to justify the wearing of not only my recent "free" Doc Martens but also the original pair I saved up for in the late 1980s (which, yes, made the trip across The Ditch with me all those years ago and are still perfectly wearable)
(I wonder if this has anything to do with my choice of music in the car to and from work?)
My creative space
contains a pile of long overdue sewing and mending, some framing (I got halfway through and got distracted), the dyed fabric waiting to be ironed onto freezer paper and printed, the ever-present visual diary for The Big Very Important (Scary) Final Brief, my nest, two puzzles I bought yesterday (to try and work out how they function for the next mad idea I had for the brief) and a bag of random printer bits.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Synergy
Speaking of black and white birds and daisies, the latest Sola Rosa video has just been released and features black and white birds (sort of) and daisies:
You mean they pay me to do this?!
Today: my first story time since I studied it at Library School almost exactly 20 years ago. I was very happy to see the crafts that had been arranged: black and white birds and daisies? My favorites!
Then things started geting a little silly... 
which lead to a dramatic interpretation of a scene from The Birds:
How was your day at work?
Then things started geting a little silly... 
which lead to a dramatic interpretation of a scene from The Birds:How was your day at work?Tuesday, September 15, 2009
A day in my life (pictorially)
Sometimes I love the fact I've completely forgotten about what photos I've taken during the course of a day until I download them (speaking of downloading, am I the only blogger who seems to rely on their blog as auxiliary memory? Once downloaded to the blog I can forget what I did yesterday as it's fully retrievable...)
I finally remembered to download today's camera contents and came up with variations on the following:
7:45am: nest trials with cogs. Taken in the bathroom where the light is particularly good first thing in the morning.
9:58am: very cool Where the Wild Things Are graffiti spotted on the side of the (still empty) ex-Starbucks (or perhaps it's viral marketing for the film?)
9:59 am: Close up thereof (just because)...
1:52 pm A photo I took of our exhibition last week which was out of focus so I wanted to re shoot.
1:59 pm: Ditto...
Fancy sharing A day on your camera? (no cheating, mind...)
I finally remembered to download today's camera contents and came up with variations on the following:
7:45am: nest trials with cogs. Taken in the bathroom where the light is particularly good first thing in the morning.9:58am: very cool Where the Wild Things Are graffiti spotted on the side of the (still empty) ex-Starbucks (or perhaps it's viral marketing for the film?)9:59 am: Close up thereof (just because)...1:52 pm A photo I took of our exhibition last week which was out of focus so I wanted to re shoot.1:59 pm: Ditto...Fancy sharing A day on your camera? (no cheating, mind...)
Jobs I never thought I'd do
1. Hand model
(You just never know what you'll be asked to do as an Intern...)
2. Full time art student
I went to the information evening tonight for the Diploma/ Advanced Diploma of Visual Art and Design Practice. I could do it part time (2 days a week for two years and no ability to exit at the end of the first year with a qualification). Or I could find a way to clear 18 weeks of my calendar next year, bite the bullet financially, become a full time student and exit with a Diploma.
It's very tempting to use TSS math and compare the cost of the course and living expenses for 18 weeks to the cost of a cruise. Which would make it a bargain!
(You just never know what you'll be asked to do as an Intern...)2. Full time art student
I went to the information evening tonight for the Diploma/ Advanced Diploma of Visual Art and Design Practice. I could do it part time (2 days a week for two years and no ability to exit at the end of the first year with a qualification). Or I could find a way to clear 18 weeks of my calendar next year, bite the bullet financially, become a full time student and exit with a Diploma.
It's very tempting to use TSS math and compare the cost of the course and living expenses for 18 weeks to the cost of a cruise. Which would make it a bargain!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Woof woof...
Speaking of bark, one of the roles I undertake in my Library role is Reference Rover. No, I don't get to wear dog ears and leap around the library panting and drooling (more's the pity) but rather wander round the stacks and help people find what they're looking for while doing a little shelving on the side.
Today I helped trial the use of a notebook computer with a stick modem: a jolly good idea (I think) as often the questions we're asked necessitate a trip back to the main counter and the computer there.
As I pushed my notebook computer on its trolley round the stacks I couldn't help hum the theme to Jaws under my breath. I also came up with the idea for this cartoon and am very pleased the end result is so true to what I pictured in my mind...
(Luckily everyone I used as guinea pigs were very positive about the experience. Maybe I should hire a dog costume for a day and see how the reactions compare?)
Today I helped trial the use of a notebook computer with a stick modem: a jolly good idea (I think) as often the questions we're asked necessitate a trip back to the main counter and the computer there.
As I pushed my notebook computer on its trolley round the stacks I couldn't help hum the theme to Jaws under my breath. I also came up with the idea for this cartoon and am very pleased the end result is so true to what I pictured in my mind...
(Luckily everyone I used as guinea pigs were very positive about the experience. Maybe I should hire a dog costume for a day and see how the reactions compare?)
Stringybark soup, anyone?
I finally got some cooking done yesterday.
Alas, not quite the stack of future lunches I was hoping for, but some major experimentation with the dying capabilities of stringybark.
Test strips laid out to dry after spending various lengths of time soaking in the bark brew:
And, finally, trying to decide if hand writing with fabric markers would work or if I want to stick to my original thought of running an A4 sized sheet through the printer with freezer paper (in which case do I dye first then print, or print then dye?) 
(Poem courtesy of my rather talented Grandmother)
Alas, not quite the stack of future lunches I was hoping for, but some major experimentation with the dying capabilities of stringybark.Test strips laid out to dry after spending various lengths of time soaking in the bark brew:And, finally, trying to decide if hand writing with fabric markers would work or if I want to stick to my original thought of running an A4 sized sheet through the printer with freezer paper (in which case do I dye first then print, or print then dye?) (Poem courtesy of my rather talented Grandmother)Sunday, September 13, 2009
It's a long story...I couldn't wait any longer
Coraline was first listed on the ANU Film Group semester one programme for July 11th. I was so looking forward to seeing it. But it was cancelled.
It reappeared on the semester two programme (on November 7th) but I decided I couldn't wait that long, especially if the ANU version is in 2D and I could see it right now in 3D.
For a price (of course).
So last night, after I finished work, V and I went to the movies. And I spent a happy (almost) two hours admiring things miniature (and knitted):
Now if I could only find time to pull out my mini knitting...
It reappeared on the semester two programme (on November 7th) but I decided I couldn't wait that long, especially if the ANU version is in 2D and I could see it right now in 3D.
For a price (of course).
So last night, after I finished work, V and I went to the movies. And I spent a happy (almost) two hours admiring things miniature (and knitted):Now if I could only find time to pull out my mini knitting...
Friday, September 11, 2009
Signs of spring
* Giant tulips popping up round town: 
* A new IKEA catalogue
* The arrival of my 2010 diary insert
* Finally getting my tax stuff into the Accountant (and the news of a refund)
* The big fat September issue of US Vogue landing in my post box
* Dead-looking things springing back to life (including my other dead camera and the return of the eBay purchase with the purple screen of death from free repairs at Canon. No excuse to buy a new camera then...)
* Getting excited about the Canberra Theatre Subscription Season launch for 2010 (which is still a few weeks away, but feeling tantalisingly close.)
* A new IKEA catalogue* The arrival of my 2010 diary insert
* Finally getting my tax stuff into the Accountant (and the news of a refund)
* The big fat September issue of US Vogue landing in my post box
* Dead-looking things springing back to life (including my other dead camera and the return of the eBay purchase with the purple screen of death from free repairs at Canon. No excuse to buy a new camera then...)
* Getting excited about the Canberra Theatre Subscription Season launch for 2010 (which is still a few weeks away, but feeling tantalisingly close.)
Thursday, September 10, 2009
My creative space: Thursday 10th September
3:51 am:
Because sometimes my brain just won't wait until a more convenient time and wakes me up in the middle of the night to give me ideas.
Because sometimes my brain just won't wait until a more convenient time and wakes me up in the middle of the night to give me ideas.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Tying up loose ends...
...for the Unravel exhibition which opens at Craft ACT tomorrow night. There's lots of knitting
(Including these slippers, about 10 cm long):
and the colours of all the works seem to flow into a sea of lovely muted spring-like shades (or maybe it was the grey rain-sodden light causing that?)
These tulips reminded me of the plastic tulip lights I used to own in New Zealand and also of the graffitied leaves I saw at Tjiboau in May: 
Speaking of tulips, Floriade starts this weekend: do you notice the giant tulips out the window in this photo of Belinda Jessup setting up her work?
(They appeal to my obsession with unexpected scale.)
Finally, here's my favorite photo of the day (and already being used as my desktop wallpaper). It vaguely reminds me of a Rosalie Gascoigne piece I saw when I went to see Reinventions: sculpture + assemblage at The NGA and some old Dutch paintings I've seen.
(Pity I forgot to find out who's work it is...)
(Including these slippers, about 10 cm long):and the colours of all the works seem to flow into a sea of lovely muted spring-like shades (or maybe it was the grey rain-sodden light causing that?)These tulips reminded me of the plastic tulip lights I used to own in New Zealand and also of the graffitied leaves I saw at Tjiboau in May: 
Speaking of tulips, Floriade starts this weekend: do you notice the giant tulips out the window in this photo of Belinda Jessup setting up her work?(They appeal to my obsession with unexpected scale.)Finally, here's my favorite photo of the day (and already being used as my desktop wallpaper). It vaguely reminds me of a Rosalie Gascoigne piece I saw when I went to see Reinventions: sculpture + assemblage at The NGA and some old Dutch paintings I've seen.
(Pity I forgot to find out who's work it is...)Monday, September 07, 2009
Insert bad tree pun* here
These photos from tonight's class were taken with my newish-but-I-thought-it-was-dead camera from eBay (I got the dreaded E18 error on the second test photo I took: ironic, as I bought it to replace my first Canon Ixus. Which had just died with the dreaded E18 error). I only pulled it back out to make a final decision on what to do with it before I binned it: switched it on and it seems to be working just fine...
A good thing, really, as I spent some time last week lurking in a camera shop taking trial photos with a $750 Leica C-Lux 3 (based on this recommendation), a Panasonic FX38 (which I was reliably informed was the exact same camera as the Leica just rebranded and $250 cheaper) and the Canon Powershot G10 (which has 1 cm macro shooting. As a miniaturist this makes me tempted to ignore the $800 price tag and buy one immediately. 1 cm! Just the thought makes me feel like hyperventilating.)
Anyway... Where was I? Oh yes, playing with bark in class tonight.
Admiring the texture:
Checking to see if I could draw on it (I'd left my ink at home so a Fine liner and Sharpie has to suffice):
Weaving it:
Soaking it:
Researching it:
Plaiting it...
Chewing on it (not shown. Also not shown: the Tutor's alarm when he noticed what I was doing. I figured I was pretty safe as I'd just read in one of my books that that's how you make brushes out of it...)
And, finally, experimenting with combining it with some printer bits:
(*Stumped for a title? Branching out? Barking mad?)
A good thing, really, as I spent some time last week lurking in a camera shop taking trial photos with a $750 Leica C-Lux 3 (based on this recommendation), a Panasonic FX38 (which I was reliably informed was the exact same camera as the Leica just rebranded and $250 cheaper) and the Canon Powershot G10 (which has 1 cm macro shooting. As a miniaturist this makes me tempted to ignore the $800 price tag and buy one immediately. 1 cm! Just the thought makes me feel like hyperventilating.)
Anyway... Where was I? Oh yes, playing with bark in class tonight.
Admiring the texture:
Checking to see if I could draw on it (I'd left my ink at home so a Fine liner and Sharpie has to suffice):Weaving it:Soaking it:Researching it:Plaiting it...Chewing on it (not shown. Also not shown: the Tutor's alarm when he noticed what I was doing. I figured I was pretty safe as I'd just read in one of my books that that's how you make brushes out of it...)And, finally, experimenting with combining it with some printer bits:
(*Stumped for a title? Branching out? Barking mad?)