Host your own....

When I got home from work today I was so tired that my eyes felt like they were bleeding. I started thinking about the holidays while driving home and realised Australia Day was a month ago. When I thought about it, it seemed more like it was at least 2 - 3 months ago. We played a DVD game called "Host Your Own Night At The Dogs" and my sister was bookie. She also won. I think I should have asked for my money back.

I have a new tote bag available in the shop. This one has a lovely corduroy velvet lining in browns, greens and white. I was worried that the brown wouldn't suit the black, but because it is floral it looks fine. It also feels nice, making you want to put your hand inside the bag often.

Linen Wallets

This weekend I have been quite productive so I have a few things to add to my Etsy shop during the week. My aim for the weekend is to make enough stuff to list each day during the week and to photograph them. This weekend I made some wallets. I have not had a lot of sucess with these wallets in the past, so I decided to make a pattern and not rush it.

I used the black linen I purchased a few weeks ago. I had been hunting for 100% pure linen for weeks, and finally when I found it, it was reduced by 75% and was well worth the wait. This wallet is quite plain, I didn't screenprint it or applique it with anything. I like the 5 white buttons and the lining, which you can see tiny bits of even when the wallet is shut.

Deer me

This is the other artwork I did with the sewing machine. I prefer this one because the linen went on nice and flat. The other one with the bird was a little bumpy. The red stitching on white paper is very striking and I like that less is going on, as all the bits are a little busy. I got some coloured cards and I might do a series on cards. I think as a set they would look really nice. I'm also using up all the artworks I didn't like so much. When they are cut up into smaller bits and stitched on, they appear much nicer.

I also found this shop on etsy, elloh.etsy.com The paintings of the characters from The Office are GRAND. I'm thinking I would love a Jim and Pam combo, but they also have Kelly and Ryan. Dwight and Angela would also be swell. Who am I kidding? I want them all.



I also got some lovely lovely prints from Jason. Have a look at his blog, the Gocco prints are fantastic, and I got a selection. It's also the first time I have seen a Gocco. I was outbid on ebay for one, my only consolation was whoever was selling it got a lot more money due to me pushing the price up.

Bury Me Deep

This is an artwork I did a long time ago. 8 year to be exact. It is in an old book from an Op-Shop. I started using old books as sketchbooks in Belgium when I was an exchange student. The school I went to was an Art Secondary School and as they were not very well funded, they used old books for drawing in.

When I started my Fine Art degree we had an exhibition of work from all the first year students. I exhibited my book, titled Bury Me Deep. I always find some paper in books not that great for drawing on (particularly with anything wet) but some were fantastic with wet mediums. I think Bury Me Deep was one of those books.

My blog was accepted on the website Delightful Blogs. You can go there and vote on my blog and leave comments if you like. Now I just have to make sure I am updating frequently.

Swapping fineliners for sewing machines

When I was in my final year of fine art I used a lot of stitching in my artworks. It was mainly handstitching onto canvas (and other strange fabrics). One of my artworks was really big, so when I stitched it I would need large amounts of thread on my needle and it would often get tangled up because it was usually around 2 meters long.
This is one of my artworks from my third year, I cut the shape out then stitched it back and painted over it. I just got a new easle so I am going to be doing larger scale paintings and drawings very soon.

This is an artwork I made today. I used the sewing machine to stitch on linen and paper. A lot of the art I have been making recently isn't stuff I am altogether thrilled with. It is okay, but I get very critical of it. My main problem is dealing with space and what to put into it and I feel like I have taken about 10 steps back from when I was in artschool. This artwork is something I am happier with because mainly because of the use of space. You can see a larger version on Flickr.

Plump

I thought I would do some more promotion for my sisters Etsy shop which celebrated it's first sale last week. Plus these earrings have a connection to me because I got them in South Africa. There is now some lovely earrings as well as PMC pendants.

Old School

Gareth and I went out on Friday night and saw Spun Rivals at Revolver. We also got our photo taken in a little black and white photo booth on Chapel Street. I like it because it looks like we live in the late 60's, complete with big beards and pimpies.

I made some new items over the week. Making things and the shop has taken a major back seat since I started back at school, so my blogging has also suffered, but I am getting back into the swing of having both in my life and still watch Top Design. The host, Todd Oldham's voice is EXACTLY the same as Kenneth from 30 Rock. It kind of scares me and annoys me all at the same time. I am waiting for Top Artist. I hope that happens one day.

Here is a new item in my shop. A little coin purse with a print I did a while back with the acetate.

Take your medicine

This is a drawing I created using my new laptop tablet's Ink Art program. It lets you create artworks with oil paint, pastel, pencil, markers and crayons. The oil paint brush goes to dry and unless you dip it into the water glass, it will leave whatever colour you were last using on another colour in the same way oil paint does. I like the oil paint and markers the best, and combining all of them together. In my drawing below, the skin is oil paint, and the coat is a pink marker. It would be nice if you could control the brush/marker shape, but it is quite basic and only allows you one option, which is square. I think you can also import images and then go over them. I have not tried that one yet.

Tattoo Tattoo, Whatcha gonna do?

Well full time work is really sucking everything else out from me. Although it is great to be back, once I get home all I want to do is sleep and watch mindless television. I think after a week or two once I get back into the swing of things I wont be as tired and braindead when I get home, and Eddie will be gone from my life once again.


I have been "making" things though, and I discovered you can have oodles of fun with a Sharpie and some skin as a canvas. Here are a couple of the delights I made on Saturday night.

This one here is a design I always drew on my hand in high school. Sweet memories on 1996.