Finding the muse

made this collage today for a commission. used acrylics, water colour crayons and water soluable oil pastels, ephemera and zig pens. hands are a photo taken by gary. really enjoyed doing this today, out in the lovely sunshine, with a couple of inspirational coronas and lime, listening to gary strum the guitar. nice!

oh what a beautiful day....

went and had a nice brekky this morning at a local cafe. soy hot chokky and read some old quilting arts magazines for inspiration. i got gary to take the photo of my hands for a piece that i'm doing for some friends. typing this while i'm waiting for my work to dry so i can start on the next layer!

gary's off rehersing for tomorrow night - muso night at the balnarring beach general store. such a great night, looking forward to it lots.

leonie and craig had their baby boy last night. all happy and well and safe. bring it on!!! love and kisses to them.

xosmb

just mucking around in flickr again and discovered that i can add o my blog straight from my photos - hmmm, neat trick!
another page from my altered kids board book.

was fiddling round on flickr this morning and posted this http://www.flickr.com/photos/meingeismaid/213559442/in/pool-52241283780@N01/ to a group called "what's in your bag". hmmm, don't think they quite bargained for me coming along to play! I'll admit it, I have inherited the "big bag, lots of crap" gene from my mum! you never know when you might need that.... thing....

so off I went to the McLelland Gallery and sculpture park in Langwarrin (photos at left are just two of the sculptures in the grounds) to see Louise Weaver's exhibition "Taking a chance on love". I think in some cases it is truly legitimate to use the word WOW to describe things, and this is one of those select few cases! I'm not so good at adventuring on my own (believe it or not) but my gorgeous friend Mandy has a case of the sniffles and needed a day in front of the heater so off I ventured. I would love to post some pictures of her work from the program that I bought but i'm not sure that I'm allowed to so I'll do my best to describe. (check this out though http://www.darrenknightgallery.com/index2.htm)
Louise crochets things! We're not talking your average granny inspired knee rug here either... she crochets animals, and pouring objects and branches and even some antlers to make them look like coral! I think the most interesting object that I saw was a taxidermied (u know what I mean) hoopoe bird that she had completely covered in white crochet and beads, leaving only the eyes and it's amazingly long nectar eating beak uncrocheted! again WOW! There is an instillation, lets call it "red" - red, red, red, animals, tree branches, pebbles and rocks, all covered in red crochet. As Mandy said, wouldn't it be great to have a camera to record peoples faces when they first see the red! It's amazing!
My very favourite was a collage, untitled - acrylic, woven mulberry papers, embroidered circles and woven bits (in wool). I am so, so inspired that I'm dreaming up a piece as I type, I've been and collected some stuff and I'm going to tuck into it very soon!

okay so I didn't take it, but it IS black and white and it is art. portrait of me last summer taken by my incredibly talented photographer husband. i really like it!

Okay, so she's looking a bit funny right now but i want to keep a running commentary of my doll swap. this is..... um.... haven't quite come up with a name for her yet, and she's a kind of prototype for the real deal. she's a bit big to be sending around the world so i'll try a scaled down version to send off on the swap. i am so excited. i just scanned her head, there's much more below... i have run out of polyfill and the shop i went to at 10 to 5 this arvo had run out of it so she remains in a semi-filled state! poor thing.... imagine having your picture posted for all the world to see when you're not quite ready?!

Influenced by the simplicity and beauty of the geisha. An altered book with pages folded to symbolise the folds of the kimono. Not strictly black and white, a little red won't hurt, surely?

you my friend are an angel, appearing at a low point, to cheer and inspire.
strumming my face with your fingers,
in the deepest of dreams you come, you spread your warmth along the length of my soul.
i dream of you at night time, in the secret space of my time.
you fill me up, overflow my cup,
my cup spilleth over with you.

so for the third time i saw you, waiting with baited breath for minutes that stretch into weeks and months, waiting for another smile.
a smile that warms me to my very core, keeps me thinking, keeps my inner music humming,
the tunes that sing to the beat of your heart.
i long for a touch, that's all i'd need to keep me together for another minute.
time would go so easy if only i could feel.
if only once.