double portraits

I haven't mentioned much about the yellow monday collection lately, so here's a little update. Lately I have been working on some double portraits - sketches which belong together and are printed onto one sheet of paper. I like the intimate feeling that the double portrait format gives the prints. They are in the yellow monday shop.

visit to collector

Firstly - thank you to everyone who sent lovely emails and comments after my post about my adventures in Tokyo - it was really appreciated. I'm feeling much much better now, and even wondering when I might get the chance to go back to Tokyo and do all the things I didn't manage to do this time round.

In the meantime, I have recently had a lovely laid back couple of days visiting "Our Nation's Capital", Canberra. Which as anyone who has ever been there knows, is a good place to visit museums and galleries, and eat! This visit included a pleasant 40 min drive out into the country (north) to a tiny weeny town called Collector.



It's incredibly quiet here, but in spite of its small population, Collector has two cafes, one corner store, a church (and graveyard) of every Christian denomination, and one pub.




We had just missed the annual pumpkin festival, but there were a few telltale signs of the event.




But we didn't miss out on a very leisurely lunch at the Lynwood Cafe, which is in a beautiful, slightly run down (in a good way) building.



They sell their own home-made jams and relishes.



And they had a big fire going, so we settled in for the afternoon.

been awol

Well it's certainly been a long while between posts, and would probably have been even longer if not for the kind curiosity expressed by Dick and Dora about yellow monday's absence. (Sounds like we are living in a children's storybook, which isn't a million miles from how life feels from time to time). But thank you Dick and Dora for nudging me into action!

I have been busy. Not long after my last post, David and I headed off for a visit to Tokyo. We'd been looking forward to this trip for months. We both love Japan. I've been there for several short visits, and David lived there for a few years, many years ago, and so we had lots and lots of things planned.

As it turned out we didn't get very far through the list of fun things to do, as a couple of days into the trip I started to get a pain in my side, and by day four, I was in hospital having a very ugly gangrenous appendix removed. (I know it was ugly because they showed it to David, who unfortunately didn't take a photo) I was in for four days (because I had peritonitis) and then spent the remaining week recovering in the ryokan (traditional inn with tatami mats and futons on the floor), which although incredibly beautiful in ordinary circumstances, was quite difficult because I had to get up and down off the floor, and had nothing to prop myself up on - like a chair.


I did manage a few small excursions - to shinjuku for the print gocco I'd ordered, to roppongi to the Mori Art Museum, and for a peaceful stroll through Nippori which is a really old area with a beautiful cemetery and lovely temples,




and small excursions in Asakusa where we were staying.








I've been home now for about 3 weeks and it's all healing very well. I'm still very tired though - apparently it takes the body a while to catch up after a serious infection - and this is my excuse for not blogging.

It's really nice to be home where it is easier to take it easy. Still if you have to have an operation away from home, I would recommend the Japanese hospital system. I felt very well cared for and the hospital staff were were really great. And although I certainly wouldn't be volunteering to do it again, I'd have to admit that in retrospect, it was an interesting Japanese experience.

Well I ended up raving on for quite a while. Dick and Dora, you may be sorry you asked where I've been!

vita brevis est

Just a quick blog about a photography exhibition which is on in Sydney at the moment. It is called Vita brevis est (life is short), and is an exhibition of photographic montage works by George Schwarz. It is on at Stills Gallery.






George has a long history as a photographer, and teacher at Sydney's College of Fine Arts. To view George's poetic visualisations is a meditative, dreamlike experience. He says "These images come to me unbidden and speak for themselves in a sort of visual poetry, or songs without words. They approximate the dreams and visions making up the texture of my days; occupying the spaces between clear brilliant austerity, muted shades of the past and the beautiful sombre nuance of the real".

Tropic of Cancer, Mexico

George and his wife Charis are lovely people. In a previous exhibition, Highlights of the Road (Stills gallery 2004) George documented a journey that he and Charis took around the world by motor cycle (1965 -68) . They produced a limited edition of 1000 books of the photographs, and donated all of the proceeds to setting up a Motor Cycle Accident Rehabilitation Initiative, to help motor cycle accident victims piece their lives together again. An amazing achievement by two very generous hearted people.

Charis in the Rain, Maz

So if you live in Sydney do go along to see George's latest exhibition!

And last but not least:
A BIG thank you to the lovely Holly from Decor8, who featured yellow monday on her marvelous blog today. Holly's blog is a fabulous resource of art and design. She also takes the trouble to critique what she finds, which makes a visit to her blog so enriching. Thanks again for your support Holly!

in my dreams

I recently stumbled across these beautiful photographs on the lomography website. They were taken with a Lomography Diana camera, a remake of the original Diana camera which was produced in Hong Kong in the 60's. Cheap, and made of plastic, the Diana has become popular once again with photographers who want to achieve this 70's look in their photos. Apparently the Diana is quite unpredictable with her results, and to those of us who have become accustomed to the world of digital photography, the processing costs are a bit of a shock. But ohh how I love these deliciously vibrant super saturated colours and random light flashes. You can buy one for yourself here. Tempted?

yellow monday update

Firstly a big thank you to Irene from Bloesem for featuring a couple of my prints on her beautiful blog.

Here is a new print for the yellow monday shop. It's called bird sampler. You can find it here.



I am also very happy to have some yellow monday prints in two lovely online stores - The Shiny Squirrel, and Moose: Art for living.

One of the prints at The Shiny Squirrel is this dancing owl print.



Many thanks to Matt (from Moose) and Jessica (from The shiny Squirrel) for stocking yellow monday prints in their shops.

sale

And one more thing - I'm having a sale at the shop, so pop over and have a look.

the empty white page

These exquisite works are by Peter Callesen. I think they are all done from a single A4 sheet of white paper. Amazing!

around my place

1. kitchen corner, 2. view to wileys, 3. lunch, 4. cup of tea and peanut butter snack, 5. pig face, 6. helen's house, 7. yellow flower, 8. sad little lunch, 9. headland, 10. boardwalk headland, 11. cactus, 12. frittata

you make my day

I've never been tagged before, and I've certainly never had an award, so I was very excited last week, to find that I'd been given for a "you make my day award" (blush)by the very lovely Gigi from Roadside Scholar (who I would have to say has often made my day with all her amazing finds!)

"You make my day-Award" works like this:
1. Write a post with links to 5 blogs that make your day.
2. Acknowledge the post of the award giver.
3. Tell the award winners that they've won by commenting on their blogs
4. (optional) display the award with a link to the blog who nominated you (I have no idea how you do this)

I'm relatively new to blogging, and am still in the phase of madly discovering new and fabulous blogs every day (I guess that never stops right?)- but here goes...

Mizu Designs - an wonderful artist who specialises in woodcut and produces beautiful Japanese inspired works on paper.
Dudley Redhead - another Aussie and amazing artist (with a bit of a thing for robots).
Hyena in petticoats I've only recently discovered this colourful blog. There always seems to be something fun happening here.
feedthedog who makes beautiful one of a kind cushions and gorgeous wearables for children.
meet me at mikes which I've only recently discovered. There's a lot going on here, and I've just started to make my way through all the great links and archives.

The wall is finished

I finally finished all 23 panels for the wall project.



And it has been installed!





A big thank you to the clients because it was such a pleasure to do a commissioned work for them.


And a special hats off to Scott, who masterminded putting the works onto the wall in dead straight lines (only utilising one lump of blu tak),



and a big hug and thank you to Terase who was such a pleasure to collaborate with. All in all it was a really enjoyable project, and so exciting to see it up on the wall. And, it has to be said, David and I are really enjoying the extra real estate in our lounge room now that the plaques have gone!

Here are a few photos taken over the last few weeks



Planning what happens on each panel.



Paper templates to make sure it was all going to plan (and scale)


Panels with background layers finished and the final stage just underway



Laid out to dry



Up on the wall.

more bird love

Sorry to bang on about the birds again, but they've been coming back to visit every day, and I'm very happy about that. They are as curious about us as we are about them.



Yeah I know the windows could use some cleaning.

But that's not all, it's become a bit like the Australia zoo outside our bedroom window lately. This kookie arrived yesterday,



and I woke this morning to see a little Indian mynah standing on the window ledge looking in at me. This I'm not so happy about. These birds are no longer welcome at our place. About 3 weeks ago they suddenly realised that they can just walk in through open windows. We've had about 6 incidents and one left a special message for me all over my computer screen.

On matters of art, I am nearly finished the series of paintings for the wall. I'll post the finished pics soon.

And a new print in theshop



Off to get my hair cut now. YIKES.

bird love

I've just had a visit from this special girl.




I heard a very loud sqawking and when I followed the sound to my bedroom window, I saw her sitting there looking in.

I knew her mate wouldn't be far away, and it wasn't long before he joined her.

He was very curious, and bobbed up and down for a while (as they do) looking as though he was just about to fly over to me to see if I had something for him to eat. But that was just a little bit too scary, even for a really brave guy like him.

So instead they sat together on a branch, and preened themselves so sweetly, so in love.






I wonder what they've got planned for Valentines Day.

busy busy busy

It's been such a busy week - and yes, I realise it's only Tuesday, but Monday was FULL ON, with lots of little things needing to be done urgently. I got through a lot of the items on my list, just leaving the big ones - things like 1.make website, 2.do business activity statement (AAAHHH!!!) etc etc.

It hasn't taken long to lose the chilled out feeling from couple of days in the Blue Mountains on the weekend. It was misty and rainy and cold - just how I love it. And there was lots of rugging up in wet weather gear and heading out into the day. (And also lots of curling up with hot drinks too)

One hour later........

Well another thing on my list was to get some photos organised on flickr (isn't that a horse?) I can see it's got lots of advantages, with ways to organise photos, fun groups to join, things to do, people to see. So I thought I'd like a piece of that. I think I'm a bit thick though - it's taken me hours to get these photos off my camera, resized, and onto flickr.

But here they are - pics from the weekend in the mountains:



and of this incredibly great toy shop which specialises in old style toys:



My very very favourite thing was the tin kaleidescope.

So now that I've been very nicely diverted for the first half of the day........

the coming year

Well the sale is almost over. Thank you to everyone who bought prints and made it a great week. There is just one short day left so if you hurry you can beat the deadline. See here for the details.

I'm very busily trying to get ahead of my lists and GET ORGANISED for the coming year. My lists are long, and I have to admit that instead of getting shorter they are getting longer. How do organised people do it? Any tips will be gratefully received!

One of the biggest items on my list will be setting up a website. I'd really like to have a central place to show my portfolio, and also to link to the places where my work is sold. Ultimately I'd like to have a shop section in the website too. I'd kinda like to make the site myself, so that I can update it as I go, but am not sure how difficult that is to do. So if anyone has any info about DIY websites, don't go keeping it a secret!

And apart from all the things nagging at me on my lists, I'd really like to make some time to do a few projects. For example, I've had this gorgeous fabric which I bought on a trip to Japan last year, sitting and waiting for the right ideas to come along.....

january sale

After much thought, I have decided to increase my print prices in the yellow monday shop. I've been putting it off for a few months now, but realise that it is actually necessary to cover costs and to be able to continue doing this.

So why am I calling this post "January sale" I hear you ask? Well, as a way of easing into the new prices, I am offering readers of this blog a special discount on all yellow monday prints for a short time. Here are the details:

**The sale is buy-one-get-one-free (for prints of equal value)

**Simply buy one print, and in the Message To Seller, write "blog sale" and say which print you'd like as your freebie.

THE SALE WILL END AT MIDDAY FRIDAY 18TH JANUARY- AUSTRALIAN EASTERN TIME (SYDNEY), so make sure you get your orders in before this time.

Hope you enjoy this sale!

I'd also like to say an extra special thank you to everyone who has visited my blog and shop, and also to those people who have bought yellow monday prints over the past 6 months. Your support has made this a wonderful and enjoyable beginning for yellow monday. So thank you, dear visitors and customers!!

a shortcut

through the botanic gardens



Amazing artist David Ruhlman

Furniture and lighting by New Zealand based David Trubridge

little trinkets

I was recently reunited with these little salt and pepper shakers. I had completely forgotten about them. They'd been stored by a friend for me when I last moved house. Now several years later she's moving house, and so I had one of those delicious experiences of unpacking forgotten treasures. I've had these guys for years and years and have always been fond of them. I love the way the man's foot is broken but the broken bit is completely smooth from years of wear - just like a piece of glass is worn smooth in the ocean. I also like how crude the functionality is - the salt and pepper are meant to flow from those rather large mouth holes.

The other tiny treasure to come into our household recently are these tiny weeny antique kokeshi dolls from totedesigns. So sweet.




And finally some vintage wallpaper to cool the senses.

the wall on the floor

Happy new year!!

I'm surprised to see how long it is since my last post, which just goes to show how busy things can get leading up to Christmas. The holiday has been a blurr of all the travel, family, friends, presents, cake, seafood (it's australia after all), and fireworks that christmas and new year bring. I love the christmas holidays.

But now it's back to work....

I posted a while back about a commission that I'm doing for the large entry hall of a house - 24 panels on a big wall (beside a staircase leading up to a mezzanine). The plan looks roughly like this:



Well I've made a big start. I'm painting onto wood panels for this project, so I've had them all cut to the exact size, sanded them all on every side, and have undercoated twice - all sides. This has been a real juggle for a girl in a small apartment. I'm lucky that I have a big back yard which was where I sanded, but the painting had to be done inside. Luckily my partner David is used to living around various art projects in progress, so as long as the kitchen can be made accessible by dinner time the system seems to work.





I'm going to do one more thin coat on the fronts and sides before I begin the artwork.

But before I begin that I'll just have one last cup of tea.

horse and rider

Here is a new print - horse and rider #3 which I've just added to the shop.



I seem to have a bit of a thing for horses and their riders.

Horse and rider 2



Mohair horse and rider



And I have to admit there are LOTS more of them in my sketchbooks.