Knitingo.

Someone has been waiting a very long time for me to draw this. What can I say? I have commitment issues (now she just has to wait for me to post it).

Inspiration.

A couple of mornings ago I was doing a spot of drawing over my cup of tea & after finally, FINALLY “getting” Rapunzel – I’d tried & failed several times – I was wanting to get something else done, a quick brainstorm & the beautiful mermaid pendants I had seen via Mumma Rocks came to mind;

My version;

Such a beautiful pendant; I hope I’ve done it justice!

International Talk Like A Robot Day.

(I dare you not to laugh at this song… I dare you. Especially the binary solo…)

I read somewhere that today (a very computer-y ‘101010’) is International Talk Like a Robot Day, & I have to say, I don’t need to know it’s true to be excited. Or should I say;

Hello. I am robot. *whir* Today. You can. Talk. *beep* Like. A. Robot. Too.

Or, if that is just too much effort, why don’t you make your computer talk like a robot instead…?!

Still feeling rubbish, but whatever, we’re off out & about today if it kills me. Punk seems to be full of energy this morning though (due to her absurdly healthy fruit-fuelled wee body I imagine, not the slow-chocolate-burning beast I have…), so at least she won’t be whinging about being dragged around.

Back on the robot-theme (…& when aren’t we, lately?), I painted that coat rack thingy I got at Le Oppy a few weeks ago – it’s stoopid hard to photograph due to the early hour & it’s long shape, but I’m living on the edge here. I’m wild & crazy & I do what I want. Word. *beep*

Painted Polaroids.

Oh dear – you are going to be so sick of bloody robots before this month is out!

While opping a few weeks ago I came across some of those cool wooden coat hangers that squish together at the bottom, I picked them up because I had seen them displaying ‘print your own’ calendars on Etsy last year & thought “Well now, if that isn’t a cheap Christmas present….”, but when I got them home I realised they fit on a wall in Bubba#2’s room perfectly – on  pre-installed hooks no less, so I decided to leave them there.

I was going to buy a few robo-themed postcards from Redbubble to display in them, but I am poor yet again so made do with a bit of DIY Polaroid action.

Hopefully soon I’ll be able to show you the nursery all dressed up in it’s space robot glory, just  a couple more things to do…..

Last Night…

…or, more accurately, this morning, I stayed up pretty late drawing & painting the final ‘bots for Bubba#2’s room. I picked up a few $1 frames at Le Oppy the other day too so if I can find some hooks or nails they’ll even get put up today. Maybe.

I love it, LOVE IT, when I get into ‘the zone’. When I can’t do anything else except focus on what I’m doing, & I can’t rest until it’s done. It happened when I made the storybook drawers for Miss Punk, or more recently when sewing up her reversible pinnie, but as much as I love it, it doesn’t happen all that often. Most of the time when I finally manage to convince myself that ‘now is the time!’ to make, draw or create I am so preoccupied with other things I should be doing, or things happening around me that the zone remains sadly unobtainable.

I think that if I could get into the elusive zone more easily I would be encouraged to create so much more, both in volume & time commitment, but when it happens it seems to be more by accident than active choice.

Do you reside in ‘the zone’ when you create? Is it easy or hard for you to get there?

(For more creative spaces, or 'zones' perhaps, Kirsty is back - woohoo!)

…for Daddy.

Punk has been painting up a storm today in preparation for Father’s Day this Sunday.

A stripy picture frame….

…a card…

…and stamped wrapping paper!

I know The Boy has a well documented dislike of anything handmade or crafty, but me thinks he’ll like all of this just fine!

Precious Punky Paints Pretty Pictures...

Since Father's Day is fast approaching, I have been trying to think of present ideas for The Boy. I have found a gardening book that I think he'll be quite chuffed with, so today we broke out Punk's $5 easel & got painting. One painting we'll use to wrap his book, and the other we'll fashion into a sweet card.

Punk just LOVED the painting (please ignore that shirt... it is a pseudo art smock, I'll have to make her a proper one but I thought a shirt I had in the rag box earmarked for some tshirt surgery would do for this morning...), especially the couple of inevitable spillages. I would have preferred to do this alfresco but it is blowing a gale so much outside that I half expect to see Dorothy's house sailing overhead.

A spider, more gnomes, a masquerade party & why I shouldn't be allowed near a computer...

How is that for a nice horror beginning?! I can tell you my heart just about stopped two nights ago when I went to close the curtain & found that thing lurking there....! I would have been a shrieking mess if it were on this side of the glass....!! It was there again yesterday but we had crazy winds last night & I suspect he was blown away... (...that is what I am telling myself anyway, especially when a nasty little voice in my head suggests that he might have found shelter... inside....)

Now on to why I should be banned from the Internet... it is just not good for someone like me... queen of procrastination, to have unfettered access to a myriad of crafty ideas, pictures, sites... not only do I spend way too long actually on the computer trawling for such things, but when I find something that takes my fancy I am off on my latest fad, leaving all other projects, works in progress and household duties in the dust.

My new "thing" is ATCs. Artists Trading Cards. I found this site a few days ago & signed up to a couple of swaps straight off the bat. I did know about ATCs before this week, or more precisely, ACEOs (Artists Card Editions & Originals), I had seen, and lusted after, a few on Etsy, but being the eternally poor mamma that I am, I never got around to getting any. I think they are an absolutely fantastic idea, an affordable way to collect original art, as well as, when trading with other artists, foster new friendships & fuel the creative fires.

Already I have been pushed to work super hard on my swap submissions, just from seeing what others are contributing.

What are ATCs or ACEOs? ATCs are cards created by artists solely for the purpose of trading with other artists, and are not sold. ACEOs are pretty much the same, but made for sale to collectors. Each card is 3.5" by 2.5" and can be on many different bases, Bristol board, canvas, playing cards, even fabric! The sky is the limit as to what you do with it, as long as it is that standard size...!

So, I scrounged around for a while & came up with a pack of playing cards the right size & gesso'd them up;

When they were dry I stuck 2 cards together for a sturdier card, using matte medium, and got painting!!

Bellow are my submissions for the 'Fantasy Masquerade' swap.

And, when I saw an open swap for GNOME ATCs... well... how could I resist shrinking down my gnomies into card form.....?!

As excited as I am about this great new hobby, especially the part about getting some lovely cards back in the mail, I can see it eating up a bunch of my time - especially since I can't bare the thought of sending out sub-standard cards!

I need to get a calender out in the craft room - I have so many things to do by the end of the month I am sure to forget & just focus on lots of little pieces of art....! Luckily, I am half way through completing my swap for Crafty Mamas, a pamper box for the lovely Gilly, I am aiming to get that sent before the end of the month.... really I am....!

Procrastinating...

...it's what I do. That's just as well, you know, that I DO SOMETHING, because I most certainly don not clean.

More painting instead!!

Aaargh!! Monsters!! Mixed media on canvas board.

The owl(s) below are works in progress....

Gnomes, Gnomes, Gnomes!!

I woke up this morning & decided I was going to paint.

Instead, I went shopping.

I had to go grocery shopping (yuck), but before that I got to go op shopping (yay). I am, officially, a greedy op shopper. Something happens to me when I enter one of these dens of musty, eccentric, second hand goodness, my heartbeat quickens, my eyes dart furtively about & I will every other shopper out of the store. I don't like lots of people around when I'm op shopping. Other stores, sure, no problem, the more the merrier, but op shopping is an entirely different story. There is a finite number of precious things for the finding in any given op shop & I want to be the one to find them. In a "regular" store, if you see someone trudging by with something you just have to have, you can generally be assured that there is more to be had, but not in an oppy. Unfortunately my Jedi mind skills are sorely lacking & everyone just keeps on shopping, no matter how much I wish otherwise, so I have to get stuck straight in to the business at hand; fossicking. I zone out - I don't look up from whichever rack, shelf or basket I am perusing, for fear of seeing someone picking up some grand vintage find that would ignite insane jealousy.... what I don't know, can't hurt me.

Today, I had a great score..... Gnomes!!

If you're getting old, like me ;) You may remember these books, first published in the mid 80s, then the 90s. There are heaps of them, perhaps someone could enlighten me to just how many exactly, but today I had the good fortune to find the "Around The World with the Gnomes" set. I already had a couple of odd ones at home but couldn't remember which, so I just bought them all, at the hefty price of 10 cents each.

Finding these today reminded me about some paintings I finished a few weeks ago, a Gnome triptych, they've just been sitting out in my craft area, gathering dust. I thought I'd dig them out & show them some love, since I don't rightly know at the moment exactly what it is I'm going to do with them.

They are mixed media (acrylic, water colour pencil & permanent ink) on stretched canvas.