You're constantly on my mind

I worked today to get my studio into a better working order. I think it is about 90% there, most of the boxes are sorted out and these are boxes that really were not sorted out in the other house. I have a few more things I need to deal with and my aim is to have it done by next Monday.


Tonight I’m drawing the winner for the newsletter signup, so everyone who signed up in January, keep an eye on your inbox because I will be selecting an email just after midnight.


Some important things dates coming up:

This Saturday the 2nd is my first Rose Street for the year. If you’re in Fitzroy pop by and say hello. It starts at 11 and goes until 5pm.

This Sunday is our Melbourne Etsy Meet. We are having a picnic in the park and have quite a few coming, so if you have not heard about it, please come along. For more information, check out forum post. This link has all the details.



Oh and the fellow above, looking off into the middle distance thinking of his only true love. The one he thinks about all the time, and cannot work, sleep or eat because of her. Little does she know of his constant thoughts, little does she know of him, because he is too shy to say hello.

11km

I went on a walk today to the beach. I was planning on going for the last few days to see how long it took to get there, then someone then posted this on Etsy and I read the first idea and off I went. Once I got to the beach I decided to walk along it to see what was around, mainly very large houses and people out for a run. I walked down to the Brighton Baths to have a look at what the pool was like, but it was pretty hard to see inside and there was a bunch of large men in the way anyway. Once I got home I thought I would have a look at how far I walked on Google Earth using the ruler tool (which is one of my favourite things ever) and worked out it was 11km. No wonder my feet hurt.

I might have to use the Keri Smith ideas more because I'm still feeling a little unmotivated since the move. I've got the machine out which is good but I think I need to be a little more productive. I did however make some lovely potato and leek soup and I have bolognese sauce and bread on the go.

In terms of art, I did some playing around with an artwork from yesterday. You can see the original pen and ink drawing here. I spent a while fixing up the face which looked like she was eating some red plumbs and didn't wipe her face after (due to the lippy smudging). I was thinking I quite like the idea of having a group of printed artworks that come from the same image, but they would all end up being a little bit different. I think the computer version of this is much better than the original and love the darker colours on it.

Inky Stitch

Here is one of the romantic girls I mentioned in the previous post. As you can see she is right into romance, you can tell by the look on her face. This one was one of my favourites because of the lovely green colour. I imagine she dates someone called Larry who looks like Liz Taylors ex-husband, the one called Larry of course. Because of that, I don't think she would feel lovey dovey all that often.





This is an artwork I made yesterday after being inspired by Lara's houses. I thought it would be good to work with ink on canvas then add the detail in with black thread. Kind of like a combination of this artwork and this artwork, both done quite recently. When I started this I accidentally dropped some ink on the background area, so painted the whole thing in blue. I had not planned on doing this, and when I started to add the stitching detail, realised he was floating in space. I added the border and something for him to sit on.

I like that you can feel the stitching line, it leaves a bit of a shadow as well creating a 3D effect. I'm planning on making some more as test runs to see where it will go. I quite enjoy stitching on the mounted frames, although these ones are quite small so not too difficult. I did one in my third year of uni which was over a metre wide and long and it was all stitched. It was a little insane and I was threading needles with meters of thread, causing large knots.

Dial up and love?

After a weekend break, an Australia Day BBQ, a trip to the movies and too much beer/wine/daquiri I am back to work. I made up some more Valentines Day cards today after I sold a few on Friday at the Rooftop Market. There are woman this time, as well as big love statements and men that look somewhat pathetic.

This one was my favourite one because it is the type of card I would like to give as I would only be willing to give up the super fast internet for the weekend. I did dial up last week and it didn't agree with me. I will be uploading the ones I made today onto Etsy over the next day or so.

Winners, Grinner and Home Cooked Dinners

Okay, first thing is first. Last night I read out my romance stories to see who Gareth would select to win the Valentines Day Card. It was hard work, I had to read them out a few times and he was very considered in his selection.

In the end he decided Alex Kate and her Lano and Woodley book was the most romantic, although he was impressed with Chalk and Cheese and her story involving Mt. Kilimanjaro and I was impressed with Curlypop getting a sewing machine. I also want to note that Bridbird made me laugh, and I am happy to know that people are still taking the Mandolin and Yarra Boat rides seriously. May I suggest the Tram Restaurant for a lovely meal, plus it is all you can drink, so take advantage of that.


Here is another studio shot, it is upside down wonky because I took it lying on the floor. It is coming along but I'm finding the decision of where to put something a hard one. I'm often changing my mind and moving things. You can see some of my fabric put away, then the giant box of scraps of fabric waiting for a home.

The Slide Game

When you shift it is like playing one of these:

For a whole week. I have moved my heavy overlocker SO many times around my studio. It finally has a home at the bottom of a new set of shelves. I hope I never have to lift it again until Janome has one of those trade in your old sewing machine sales. If they do have one, please let me know.


Here is a picture of the bookcase and you can almost see the overlocker in the corner. The cross stitch in the blue frame was from my Grandma and the large dark artwork was purchased at the 2001 University of Ballarat Art Auction. It was by a guy in my class called Ron. I will put more pictures up over the next few days, in between trying to work out why superwoman breast is still next to her head. It isn't even close to being solved just yet, but I'm getting there.

Shifting House

Dear World,

shifting sucks.


Love Anna

Romance Is In The Air

I have decided to have a little competition on my blog, I came up with the idea on the way home on the train today and I thought I might put it in place so when I'm all settled into the new house on Monday, I can select a winner.

I made a group of Valentines Cards yesterday and I'm going to give away the one below. I will send it anywhere in the world and I will even send it to your secret lover or not so secret lover if you want.

To enter, you need to leave a comment describing something romantic you have done for another person or something someone has done for you. You can enter more than once (as long as it is a different story) because Gareth will be selecting the answers. Your comment needs to have some way of me contacting you, so if it is anonymous, I wont be able to select you.

I would like to announce the winners Friday, but keep in mind we are at the mercy of our Internet company due to shifting tomorrow, but I will work hard to get it done by then.


To give you an idea on what kind of guy Gareth is, here are some facts about him:

• He likes saying "dong" in front of his mother in law.
• Gareth went to KFC for one of his first dates with a girl called Leslie.
• Gareth is wearing this t-shirt right now.
• Gareth keeps coming up with rude facts about himself, despite the fact that I said no rude facts.
  
• He recently dialed the emergency police line while trying to call the gas account relocated.
  

This is the face Gareth will make listening to romance stories:

So razzle dazzle me with your stories of romance, I'm looking forward to reading them!

It Matters Because I Love You

I finally decided to make my Valentines Day cards. I get really funny about paper and things being perfect and I was trying to work out what type of paper I should use. I ended up finding a Reeves painting pad in A5 size and 300gsm, so it was perfect. The paper is lovely to work with because you can use the fineliner all over it and then wet it with a brush and it is just like watercolours. I got a few pads so I think I will do some little artworks with it as well. I made 8 cards tonight while Gareth watched a Horror Film. I didn't much feel like looking at blood. They all have lovey quotes on them and it was fun coming up with some of them, maybe there is some romance in my after all.



Okay a few things I need to remember to put in here:

1. Rooftop Market is tomorrow, 11am-3.30pm at Curtin House on Swanston Street (same building as Cookie)


2. Melbourne Etsy Meet is happening, even if you're not on Etsy but make things, even if you think about making things come along, the more people the better. We have planned a picnic so if you have kids you can bring them along as well.

The details are:
Date: Sunday 3rd Feb 2008
Time: 12.30pm onwards
Location: Treasury Gardens. Click HERE for a map.
RSVP: If you can drop by the Etsy Melbourne Forum to let us know you're going, or contact me that would be great.


3. Mix Tape Zine is having a launch party as part of the Festival of the Photocopier.

The details are:
Date: Friday 8th Feb 2008
Time: 5-7pm
Location: Sticky, Degraves Subway, Shop 10 Campbell Arcade, Melbourne



Oh and lastly, Gareth decided teenagers are okay after he was buying take away food and was 5c short. Two young boys gave him the money. So sweet!

Illustration Friday

This is an artwork I did yesterday that I put up on the Illustration Friday website. I only just joined and this weeks topic was stitch, which I thought was a good one to start with as most of my work has stitching in it. When I started the artwork I got a little way in and decided I didn't like it. I left it for a few hours thinking I would never go back to it, but decided I would give it another go.

I went over it with a brush and black ink and decided I liked it again. I added the old book collage at the end, and the part I really like is the zigzag stitch to join up the two parts of the collar as you can see a tiny bit of shadow from the thread on the paper. It is different from the artworks I have been doing, but probably closer to what my actual art from art school is like. A little darker I think.

Friday

What are you doing on Friday? If you're in Melbourne come by and say hello at the rooftop market. It is on Swanston Street between Lonsdale and Bourke in the same building as Cookie.

I have joined Magic Jelly's Collage a Day group on Flickr. I just added the collage below today and there is already 27 members. It is great to look at all the artworks and it is nice to see what people do each day and compare their artworks. I skipped yesterday because I wasn't feeling much like collages, but I did end up doing a few other artworks with pen and ink. I suggest joining because even if you don't feel arty, it is a good thing to wake up and get creative first thing in the morning (although the one I did today wasn't first thing, first thing I did was clean the messy kitchen - very inspiring).

I want you

I'm over packing and I have not even started. Here is another romantic man drawing. I'm thinking of making them into Valentines cards, but I have to work out where to get them printed. I looked online and I can't seem to find places that will print cards, if anyone knows somewhere please advise me, I'm a little lost.

I like this guy, he kind of looks sad and lonely and I imagine the girl he wants is pretty hot. He looks a little shy, the type of guy who sits in the cinema alone treating himself to popcorn and fizzy every Sunday afternoon as he has nobody else to go with.

Lady Loves Pajama Sunday

Today is Pajama Sunday. I found a nice pair of PJ pants while cleaning up my studio and decided I will wear them all day. Cleaning/Packing isn't fun and I am sick of it already. I would like to think I have the bulk of my studio packed, but I think that might be more of a dream than reality. This is a little artwork I did the other day. The paper is thick cotton rag which is lovely for ink, but the fineliner doesn't go on that well even though it is a new fineliner.

2 Years

Gareth and I found a new house and signed the lease today. Very exciting as we were both starting to worry we would not get a place. The house is much closer into the city and also nearish to the beach. We get the keys next Saturday so we have the not so enjoyable task of packing up our house. We have been living in the hills for the last 2 years so although it is sad to leave it will be nice to get closer into the city again. I was looking through my folders for each rental house we have had and found a photo of my "studio" in 2005 when I lived in Brunswick. It was my first year of teaching, so I'm not going to be too hard on myself for my lack of any work in the studio and I think this photo was taken when I had moved into the larger room. I did end up using it a bit, but not like I am using my studio now. It is nice to look back on old photos of houses we have lived in and when I saw the totally bare studio I was quite proud of my current studio, despite it being a total mess.

Tiny or Big

This is a tiny coin purse I made last week from an off cut from one of my screen prints. The main part of the screen print was turned into this orange bird pouch and I forgot about the off cut and put it in my spare fabric box. I sorted through it last year when I took it to school for the students to use and realise I had quite a few screen prints which could be used for smaller items. I've been making quite a few coin purses, some of them really small and the offcuts of prints are perfect for them and I'm glad I'm using up smaller pieces of fabric.

This is my large red tote bag I made a few days ago. I often have a lot of trouble photographing bags, as this is the only spot to do it in but it is often really dark. I decided to keep the whole view in this photo as it looks really good with the plant and artwork as well as the door. The artwork is from my final year of Art School in 2001. It has little mono printed drawings on old book paper, cut out and places in little muslin pockets and stitched onto the wall. In my third year we had two big exhibitions, one in Melbourne and one back in Ballarat. My plan was to exhibit this work and keep my favourite artworks for the final display back at Uni. I was working on a series of ten artworks and I thought they had to all be together, rather than just display a few of them. When I explained this to my art teacher he told me I HAD to exhibit the other works. I'm glad I listened to him, although I am still quite fond of this work.

Mailing List Draw

This month if you sign up for my mailing list you go into a draw to win a little felt lady badge. It will be the one pictured above with the little blue buns in her hair. At the moment she is nameless so if you win you can name her yourself. If you don't want to do that, then I can give her a name for you instead. For more information, click the image above. The competition is running until January 31st.

An Eternally Present Past

These are the two artworks I did on Sunday when I was monoprinting. Although with a monoprint you only get the one print, I like using the same image to create a print and then working on them in different ways. They both have a different look to them but you can tell they are from the same image. Both are available in my Etsy shop and I'm thinking I might do some more but start with the ink and then add the monoprint on top, so the registration will be off.

I just sent off some badges to a new stockist in Western Australia. The shop is called Lick Clothing and they are in Fremantle and Cottesloe. I'm quite excited to have a new stockist on the other side of the country as although I have never been it is nice to know my little ladies are heading over on my behalf.

Violent Resentment

This is the second artwork I have put up on Etsy from the series of four mono prints of the same image I did yesterday. This one has red lines in the background and was created using the traditional mono printing technique. Something I really like about mono prints is the texture and the extra ink you get on the page. Although it is nice to get a perfect crisp black line with no extra bits of ink, sometimes I like those extra areas of darkness over the page. Another thing is it is lovely to colour in with ink because the printing ink works as a little barrier, so painting inside the lines is much easier.

Today I decided to make a new bag design and I created a trial bag before I started on the good ones. The trial was in white and I might take some photographs of it because it looks really lovely with such a large amount of white fabric. I designed a little floral pattern for the bottom of the bag and I have three more in red and denim cut out and ready to be sewn up. The bag is huge, there is enough room in there for a small army. It is actually quite handy and I might make one for myself as I often use my green country road bag circa 1993 for carrying lots of books. I used it last year when I was teaching all the time as I could shove everything into it and off I went. Although the thing I loved about that bag was the opening was so huge that the shove was a quick easy task.

Dismissal Kings

I created a small series of artworks today using my monoprinting equipment. I have not used it in a few months and I planned on making some small drawings to send out with orders. I ended up printing onto old book pages using the same image. This was one of the reverse prints so it really only had a slight impression of the drawing I did in the previous print. I worked over it with black fineliner quite a bit and then added a small amount of primary coloured detail with blue ink as the background and red and yellow fineliner detail in the collars.

I think this was my favourite out of the four because I like the way the mans head turned out with the line work as it reminds me a little of Egon Schiele. The artwork is available in my Etsy shop and the rest of the series will be up in the next few days.

I've been leaving my Madeit store a little lonely lately, but that is all going to change. If you have not been to Madeit yet, I suggest you do. Australians know how to make fantastic things and it is all in one place. I'm always finding new people on there every time I visit and the range of product is growing by the day!

Smoking Pets

Gareth and I had a fun morning going on house inspections. Saturday mornings are hard as often the inspections are on at the same time. We got to one 5 minutes late (we had to get from Caulfield South to Ashburton in 6 minutes) and they were gone.

A few places we drove to and then just realised it was totally wrong and didn't even both going inside. One place was so stinky from cigarette smoke that Gareth thought they must have not only had the parents smoking inside, but the children as well. Later, when we were waiting for another inspection he decided the pets must have also smoked as the place was so revolting.

One place we went to was very retro/grandma's house which I don't mind, but Gareth doesn't like too much. As we were leaving I saw a medium sized huntsman behind the curtain in the lounge room and decided it was a bad omen.

All in all, house hunting is hard work. I have my ideal house in my head, but it is probably a few hundred dollars over what we want to spend. Hopefully this time next month I'm posting from my new house which I am happy with.

This is a little pouch I made last week, available on Etsy. I'm happy with the print as it is a simple design and the red, white and dark denim colour combo is one of my favourites.

BridBird

I can't remember how I found Bridbird on Etsy, but I remember putting her in a Treasury last week and thinking, another talented Australian seller on Etsy and felt rather proud. Bridget creates stunning etchings of Australian Birds and I'm really in love with the magpie etchings in particular. You can click on each of the artworks to go to the individual listings and there are more artworks in her Etsy shop so I suggest having a look. Bridget is from Belfast originally and is also very friendly as well, so if you want to know more about her work I am sure she will be more than happy to answer any questions.

Helter Swelter

Tomorrow I am going to have another stall at the Rooftop Market in Melbourne and it is going to be 35 degrees. I'm worried it is going to be super hot up on the roof despite having large umbrellas to cover up under. I notice that during market stalls, despite drinking a lot of water, I still seem to feel really dehydrated by the end. I'm hoping this doesn't happen tomorrow and plan on drinking a lot of water to compensate.

The bag above was made last week when I went through my yellow ink craze. It was over a year ago I purchased five 1 litre tubs of screenprinting ink and while my black and white is almost gone, I had not touched the yellow at all. This was a surprise because I love yellow and I have made quite a few yellow things. I'm hoping all this will change with the hot hot heat as it might inspire me to use it in my screenprints.

2008

Now that Christmas and 2007 has come and gone I can post about some of the things I got as gifts for people. I got these lovely fridge magnets from Meet Me At Mikes on the shopping night in December from Just Add Salt. They were for my sister in law who lives in London, so I thought they were well suited in terms of the design. I love all of Bec's designs and her packaging is fantastic. If you're in the market for little fridge magnets then I suggest having a look at her Etsy shop!