Saturday 31 March 2012

Friday 30 March 2012

Repetition


I feel I am making great strides
with my BookArtObject project
and am enjoying the 
resulting multiple images
made from repetition.


Tuesday 27 March 2012

BookArtObject - Progress

 Am
 working
away on my
Book Art Object 
project.
Have finally
sorted out my ideas
and played around a little
bit with materials and
processes.
I
think I'm
ready to take
on the daunting
task of actually
putting in the hard
yards and making
my
first
edition
of handmade
books.
Lots of work ahead of me, but looking forward to the results.

Sunday 25 March 2012

Paid Forward - To Me!



Herewith some photo's of the gift I received from
for the Pay It Forward exercise.
Included in the package was a 
small ceramic brooch, an artist trading card 
(both handmade by Jo),
along with an explanation of how artist trading cards work
and snippets of rice papers for
me to add to my own little projects.
The beauty of these Pay It Forward gifts is
the insight they give into the character of the giver.
I think you can tell a lot about Jo's 
personality from the selection
she shared, don't you?
Thanks for the lovely gifts Jo,
I've really enjoyed 
making new connections and learning
more about others through their generosity.

Saturday 24 March 2012

Paid Forward to Lancashire



Herewith the little book I sent to  Jac
over in Lancashire UK
for my Pay It Forward contribution.

I was glad to hear it cheered her up after
a somewhat busy week.

Receiving little surprises in the mail
does have a marvelous tendency to 
bring a small moment of happiness, doesn't it?
(as does sending a parcel to the other side of the world,
who knows if it will be well received and 
where it goes on it's journey in between?).

Like a present, 
the expectation of something tactile on it's way,
then the moment of arrival, before it's opened,
that anticipation of something being revealed,
not only the tactile object within the envelope but
also the giver's hopes and intent to gift a moment's pleasure.
Funny how that goodwill sticks to an object,
long after the act of giving has passed.

I have a few little gifts like this one
received in the post.
They still have the goodwill of the
sender/maker embedded within them.  
They still warm my heart long after their arrival
and remind me of the generosity of others.


Thursday 22 March 2012

Fern Prints



Been playing around with
the printing press and a few
natural bits & pieces -
ferns & string included.
Love the way the press has squeezed
a bit of colour out of the fern stems.
Will watch and wait and see how quickly it
takes to go brown.

Tuesday 20 March 2012

This one's for Ronnie.....

But not just Ronnie
for everyone,
our environment included.
This is scary stuff on a lot of levels
and we here in Australia are shaking* in our collective boots.
(*shaking in fear, frustration and outrage)
We've seen the damage done elsewhere
and don't want it done here.

Monday 19 March 2012

Poor Old Soul




Have driven past this poor old soul many times
  thinking to myself I should stop and take photo's.
Finally got around to it this morning
in between errands and showers of rain.
I like pondering on why these houses
end up left to the elements and
what happened to the people that
inhabited them.

Friday 16 March 2012

Working Slowly




Alas, not getting a lot done creatively lately.
Too busy procrastinating with businessy typey stuff - blah!
Am still slowly plodding along with my
Sketchbook Project whenever I get a moment
and have some great things going on in my head
that I'm really looking forward to playing around with
when I get the time.

Sunday 11 March 2012

Betty Churcher's "Notebooks"

 
Have begun reading
 Betty Churcher's
"Notebooks"
in my quiet moments.
 
Have enjoyed reading the introduction so far,
in which Betty describes herself growing up around
familiar stamping grounds in Brisbane,
however, her travels and experiences thereafter 
are only dreams for this mere mortal
to view vicariously.

Saturday 10 March 2012

What would I rather be doing today?.......................





       

I think maybe today I would rather be wandering the
streets of Kyoto or Nara, 
but then you can't always get what you want, can you!

                                                                     

Tuesday 6 March 2012

Shaun Tan




is a well known Australian artist & illustrator with extremely quirky and original concepts which have an edge of pathos to them.  
Many of his books have been made into short films and theatre productions.  
(A little bit like Brian Selznick ("Hugo"), 
in that his books are celebrations of story telling through illustration, 
although Tan seems to be living/working in/with 
much more fantastical worlds).
Some of my favourite of his books would have to be 
"The Lost Thing", 
"The Arrival" 
and 
"What Miscellaneous Abnormality is that?- a field guide"

If you haven't seen his work before 
head over to his website at  
to discover a little bit about him.

Monday 5 March 2012

Memories of Sunny Days Past & Paying it Forward




Taken on a recent sunny day 
during a stroll 
along our local beach.

Only one response to my "Pay it Forward" post from
the lovely Jac from Jac's Blog.
Jac is an Art & Design teacher
from Lancashire in England
who is currently focusing on printmaking
and book art.
Follow this link to jac's blog.
to read about some of her creative
thoughts & processes.
Jac is also a member of the Book Art Object
project for 2012. 
Thanks Jac for responding,
I will be forwarding a little something via
snail mail when I have completed it.
(I am a bit of a snail myself!!!)

As my blog doesn't tend to
generate a lot of comments,
and in the spirit of keeping up my end of 
paying it forward,
I would like to forward little handmade gifts 
to two more people as well,  
(no commitment required
on their behalf to pay it forward
- same goes for you too Jac!).
If you would like to receive a
tiny token in the mail,
please leave a comment,
otherwise I will pick two people
who have been kind enough to comment 
on my blog previously and send 
them surprises in the mail.

The Pay it Forward idea came via
who was a link in the chain from
a post on
Erin Keane's blog.