Long time no see

Ahoy, it clearly has been a ridiculously long time since I have posted anything at all. All due to moving house, having no internet, time and breaking my camera. Ah how the fates can work against you. I've seen months and months of exciting things, perhaps too much to mention. But an exhibition I saw recently truly amazed me. Julia DeVille is an amazing artist who works a lot in the jewellery realm, She recently held an exhibition at Craft Victoria (who also have a blog on here) and it was just amazing. The level of skill and artistry she uses to create beautiful pieces is so exciting. If you get a chance to check out her work please do.

Short post but hopefully I will be up and running again soon. Happy Christmas!

Inspiration comes at the most random of times. And then sometimes, i guess it doesn't come at all. After feeling incredibily uninspired lately I have now embarked on too many things when I am just about to get busy. A few days off can lead to trouble I tells ya.

There seems to be a trend at the moment of a general lull in everyones creative passions. Especially with a lot of production people that I know. It can be a really disheartening thing to have a constant sense of want. But never really being able to articulate what it is that you want or even what direction you think you should be moving in. Constantly working to someone else's creative views and inputting yours when you can can sometimes be a soul destroying endeavour. It seems to train people to ignore their own personal aesthetic and rely on a situation or project to instigate any creativity. Outside a structured project, it's hard to know how to start your creative flow when you have only really being doing it off someone else's steam. Hard times. I've had to deal with a lot of these things lately and it can be terribly hard to find that spot of inspiration that starts you on sometime, and that actually does start you, not just in idea form, but doing.

Feeling like you have to have a reason to do something is also a difficult one. Why does there have to be a reason other than I want to? It's easy to doubt why you should start something before you even have. gah. Constantly searching for that inspiration. Totally see why people need a muse. Perhaps I should start looking for one? Any suggestions?

On the other hand, this book has been a massive source of inspiration for me and never ceases to thrill me with its lovely content. It contains pages of sketchbooks from street artists from all over the world, and they all have massively diffrerent styles and use different mediums.

Alice is in my Wonderland

So Alice has opened, awesome, not quite how I imagined it, not so awesome. My puppets had a 2 mintue cameo, got altered and were operated by children even though they were made for adults. Despite that they actually looked pretty good and got a good laugh. The rest of the show, i'm not so sure about. Definitely didn't feel justified in spending 40 freakin bucks on this show. I'm still puzzling over why there was a projection of giraffes with their necks on fire.

Woodcarving class will be starting again as of tonight! hurrah! Perhaps I will actually finish my hand!? Have been working on it at home and succeded only at stabbing myself mulitple times.

Next Wave is in full swing. Get out there people! I reccomend Kids Can Get Lost a show based around site specific theatre and a hilarious watch. Book now though because seats for pretty much every show are selling fast. Heading out to see Please Hold next week, it is now completely sold out, so, sucked in if you didn't get a seat. Tomorrow night at Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces there is an art opening of a friend of mine. All attend! Its from 6 pm to 8pm and is part of the Next Wave. Support of good work is vital, do it!!!

In other news, I have graduated, yes I did it. Awesome. Not so awesome is that some dick bag stole my wallet on the night of my graduation. Not having it is an absolute pain in the ass. I also had some momentos in there that I carried around. A 100 korun note from Prague, money from singapore, friends business cards. Gah, absolute dick bag.

As my computer is also being frustrating I will have to upload photos at another time.

Talking pudding and the like

So I have concluded that life is much better once you have danced. If your down, grab yourself a partner and shimmy like there is no tomorrow. Saw Flap! again last night and had a song dedicated to Maeve and I, which is entirely appropriate seeing we are getting married soon. Great song, great night, check Flap! out at the Fox for the next 2 Tuesdays before the disappear overseas. Boo.

Now working on a show for the Malthouse, making a talking pudding, a talking ham and some talking oysters. What they are for I don't know as the show is 'Through the looking Glass". Will be a mad week of crazy making. I think I may have to take a holiday afterwards, lucky I recently bought myself a tent! woo hoo! I spent a lovely weekend in Shepparton recently and it has given me a taste for more travelling. Also have bought a bike and the sense of freedom I get just from having it is amazing! I can ride around, true story! When I finally do move to fitzroy it will serve a much better purpose that it is currently serving. The poor thing gets a tour around Nam every now and then. Once I'm i the city, ah, the things it will see.

Next Wave is starting May 15! Very excited as I didn't get much opportunity to see anything last year. Get into it! there are some great things going to be on. If you want some real theatre experiences then I think this is the time to get involved.

Will be starting the next woodcarving course in 2 weeks and I cant wait. My hand is coming along tre slowly. Hopefully will be able to finish it in the next round of classes. Also have bought my own carving tools, hurrah, which upon getting them promptly cut myself. Genius. At least they're sharp. I will soon be making beautiful little thingys of my own. Bliss.

Crafty Fun

Wood carving class is well underway and I have actually decided on a project ,hurrah!. I'm going to take my obbession with drawing hands just a little bit further and carve one. I've chosen a strange pose, which, as I was doing the clay machete for I realised is going to be incredibly difficult. gah!

Also have been trying to do my little canvas'. Have progressed only so far but there is something still not quite right. Very annoying.

Crafternoon tomorrow, theme for the day is deformed dolls, just to give it a bit of direction. Lets see what actually eventuates!

Whats the time? Roo time

Was that introduction lame enough for you?

Few days till the roo is due to be finished. Looking pretty good if I do say so myself, Jam's paintjob is just a little bit ohhh ahhhh. Very nice. I will post a pic as soon as I've actually taken one. Sweet.

So it has been a fairly mental 2 weeks, not too many nights off. Yes indeed I am a social butterfly. A few nights were spent drowning my sorrows. I reccomend not drinking pints if your feeling this way. Lots of good things happening around Melbourne though, so it shouldn't be too hard to keep myself busy. Woodcarving classes are well underway, my salad servers, the exercise we are doing to get a hang of carving, are the dodgiest things you ever did see, the only things that they are serving up are massive splinters.

Good exhibition at the Never Never Gallery and, as usual, Hosier Lane always has awesome things to offer -

Planning to see both Ross Noble and Suitcase Royale in the coming week at the comedy festival. To anyone looking for a good piece of comic ramshackle theatre, go see Suitcase Royale. I saw their last show and it was just fantastic.

Also thinking about what to do once the Possum Magic gig is up. Surely more work will come along but it's nice to think that I will spend hour upon hour productively doing my own work. Somehow, i think that this is not going to happen. Have been painting alot more though, i think because woodcarving has given me a new something to think about, so it makes me want to do even more. Did that make sense? Anyway, working on some little canvas'. I think things in miniature are much more exciting.

Also would really like to travel again. I have been missing the unexpected joys of being somewhere completely different. I think that Asia may be on the cards for next time, but I would like to go and spend some more quality time in Europe as well. Visit the millions of places I never got a look see in, and perhaps even do some work and live over there ('there' being a non specific country).

A big hello to Kristyna (check out her blog http://www.shotjournal.blogspot.com/) who all the VCA girls miss as well as our other DAMU friends. We all dream of staying in Prague again. Perhaps we can coerce the DAMU kids into coming to Australia? eh eh? Anyway, we say hello and to remember the hilairous night that was the closing of the Quadrennial and the Inaguaral Hair Cutting in the Dark Party, here is a photo of our hungover sorry asses the next day, just before we got on a train for Berlin. Sigh.

Nice to hear that a few people have been reading this blog lately, perhaps if you keep reading it will give me the motivation to keep updating. Oh, and you should leave comments too, then I know that you love me.

Countdown to Kangaroo

We have one week left to finish this Kangaroo and then we move onto some Wombat action. Deconstructing these puppets has been fun, but its nice to see them coming back into one piece.

Photo of the two puppets that I made for Mooba. "Friend" and "Mernda". It was crazy how much the kids loved the frog. Ah, small children.

Kanga is on his way to being done. One week to go!

Went to see "Sammy J" last night at the comedy festival, go see it! Hilarious hilarious hilarious. Fantastic puppetry and a really crazy show.

Possum Magic

So Possum Magic is well and truly underway. It's pretty massive but we seem to be doing alright. At the moment we are two days ahead and the producer is very happy with the work that we are doing. We had a showing of the sculpts the other day and there were very minor criticisms, super easy to change. He also said that he wished that he had brought all the puppets to us. hurrah!

Spidey and the Frog looked great in their show at Moomba. Apparently the show was really well recieved all round. I'll post some photos of them as soon as my computer starts to work again. god damn it.

Melbourne is so goddamn hot at the moment. It's making it incredibly hard to work. I just can't concentrate on anything with 30 degree heat pounding at me. Gah! I need to move to some cooler tempretures. Or at least holiday in some. I have decided that after Possum Magic is over that I am going on a soul search, whatever and wherever that is. Sigh. I just feel that I"m missing something right now.

How to feel more alive

I picked up a fantastic little mag the other day called 'Mix Tape'. A great crafty zine that has lots of interesting things. In it this time was a list of 50 things to do to Feel More Alive. As I have been feeling rather flat lately I decided to try one of them

Number 31 "Shower by candlelight"

And gosh did I feel better afterwards. Thankyou Mix Tape for finishing my day on a good note.

Move move move!

So I have had a massive day, 2 meetings, checking out a few things that I always mean to see but never do, dinner and drinks afterwards. phew! But worth it. I now have a job restoring the puppets for Possum Magic, a show that I saw a few times as a kid, and more than likely, these are those exact same puppets. But actual work and money for a few weeks, lovely!

Here are a few things to check out around Melbourne:

1. Coop at 45 Downstairs, on until this Sunday. A wonderful visual theatre piece that has some simply amazing sound design and wonderful puppet manipulation. The overall spectacle of this show was absolutely priceless. Plus its at a really nice new space. Check Half Tix for cheaper tickets though.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/arts-reviews/coop/2008/02/14/1202760449343.html

2. Never Never Gallery in Hosier Lane. Only open from 12 - 6 Wed - Sat. But get your butt down there and see some really interesting work. Usually stuff you would see on the streets but somehow its ended up in a gallery.

3. Craft Victoria. The exhibition that is on at the moment is great! The jewellery art is so hilairous and beautiful at the same time. There are cast silver pieces of pigeon poo. Love it! As well as some seriously well endowed dolls, funny but gross at the same time.

4. Sustainable Living Festival. On this weekend only I think. There is heaps of good stuff to check out and this Sat there is a clothes swap. Also there is a really cool bike shop there that is selling great bikes for about $550. Which is awesome for a new bike with all the perks. Get into it! Ride your bike around Melbourne and you won't have to deal with all the tools on public transport.

Hurrah!

Frog Construction 101 pt 2

So here is the finshed product. Still due for a pain touch up but he's pretty much done!

Victorias Growling Grass Frog

Frog Construction 101

Here are a few snapshots of the frog that I have been making. It has turned out pretty well, although I do need to do a touch up paintjob. Definitely a big learning experience but I was so pleased that it was all done with my hands.

The frame work and mouth control

After having made a pattern, screwed it up, remade the pattern and a million alterations

With legs and arms just before they were attached.

Finished product photos to come as soon as I find my bloody camera. Gah!

Also, walking down Brunswick St today I noticed an ace drawing on a board screwed to a stop sign, i wrote down the website and had a look when I got home and found out about this amazing place that I never knew was right there! Gah! I have been so blind! When I came home from Berlin I was raving about a building we had found there that had a concept very similar to this one. That the artists live in the building whilst they create their work. Its something that I think is absolutely fantastic. First chance I get i'm checking this place out. http://www.wardlow.com.au/index.html

Sigh

Although I feel like I have a wandering soul at the moment, I still love to stop and look at this veiw every now and again.

Despite being near a skanky station, it really is quite lovely.

Ah Melbourne

Frog Nation

So I've got one more day to finish Mr. Frog and this is how he looked earlier today. I think he will be fine.

I've realised that it is usually a good idea to think things through before you start them...like every single part of something. Otherwise you really just end up fucking yourself over and causing more trouble. I'm glad that this is something i've done completely by myself because I can clearly see what I do and don't focus on when I make. Gah..if only thinking something through was something that I focused on. I'm always much too excited to get to the finishing part.

Haven't had a proper crafternoon for 2 weeks now. Got to make the next one good. Have only been working on the frog lately. Nothing non frog related has been happening. I did find my moose cut outs the other day though. I think thats what I need to be finishing.

Busy Busy Busy

I am busy. Its official. Its also official that I hate being busy.
Froggy is nearly due, there was a minor crisis there for a while but I do believe that it has been fixed up. Plus may have another job starting in a few weeks. Gah!
Why do I have to be busy, i just wanna do craft!

New Friends

So I have a friend that drops over quite often. She is gorgeous and oh so clever. I think that I might invite her along to crafternoon.

I have to watch out when I get home of a night time, cos more often than not she is waiting here. Do you think she is stalking me?

One night I very nastily wrecked half her web

But she built it back up and it looks like its made from diamonds! (its really rain...natures diamond..?what the?)

I wonder what kind of spider she is?

Guerilla Craft

Its been a long time coming. The idea for Guerilla Craft was born months ago from a night on cheap dumplings and wine. Until last week it hadn't really eventuated. We were too hesitant. We didn't feel we were real graffiti artists, and we didn't have an idea that we thought was worth getting out there to do. Finally, boredom and beer made us spring into action.

It had to be something 3D. Little scenes set up around Melbourne. Little moments of action. But something slightly comical that would catch your eye. Maeve expertly went out to buy small plastic animals and cowboys and indians and I went on a search for a good glue. We smashed down a few beers, put on our masks (all the while giggling) and walked into the city with our animals and glue. We headed straight for popular graffiti spots so we could make our mark. Yes indeed.

The figurines were only put up about a week ago and already a lot of the have been ripped down. We expected as much but we were still slightly devestated when we saw they were gone. Imagine your work disappearing all the time? Gah! There are still a few up around the CBD. And be sure that there are more to come.

Hosier Lane

One of the most looked at graffiti laneways in Melbourne. Maeve and I have just watched a short doco on the graffiti culture in Melb and this laneway features heavily. What I love is that every single thing in this laneway has been painted or marked in some way. Its like the entire place has been paint bombed. But it's wonderful! One of the works in this picture is by a French artist named Fafi, who has done works all around the world. Also in this laneway are works done by people you may see walk past you in the street. The accessability of this art and the freedom of it is definitely what makes this one of the most visited places in Melbourne. Perhaps I can add my name to the long list and put some work down here eh?

Reliving the Joy

I wandered into one of my favourite shops the other day - the Lost and Found Market in Smith Street - and I think I almost started to cry. The things and feeling in this shop are so beautiful. Its so nice to be in a retro world, all cluttered full of lovely things. If i could live here..I would. Definitely a place worth visiting if you haven't already

Don't forget that this Sunday in Ivanhoe is the Quality Makers Market (14 Ivanhoe Parade). A really lovely market where everything is handmade.

Also, this Thursday is the next Crafternoon. Hopefully I can post some pictures of our crazy hijinks.

I have managed to set up a little workspace for myself in my garage. Very simple, my sewing machine, a bench and some drawers but it is more than I had before. The garage is still full of a huge amount of crap, that hasn't changed, but I do have a clean and decent space to work in now. Hurrah! No more working on my bedroom floor or the concrete. Its such a relief.

Newly Made

Here are 2 newly made cameo's.

The leafy one is a brooch made from felt and part of a vintage curtain

The bow one is a patch made from felt, lace and ribbon.

I'm not too sure what appeals to me about cameo's but i seem to keep making them!

Midnight Suprise

A friend of mine was visting late last night. Usually I would be a nanna and have been in bed, but she had come all the way down from Canberra. After a beer and lots of chatting she left. I went to get into my pajama's and then to lock the door when i noticed a HUGE spider web right on our front porch. It was amazing! Sometimes I just forget how beautiful spiders can be. Sure it looked hideously poisonous and I would never have touched it, but wow! its still beautiful.

No crafty news yet. I have made a few more cameo hairpieces, i will post photos soon. Tuesday night we are going on a midnight mission to populate melbourne cbd with animals. And they said wildlife couldn't exist there. ha! We'll show them. Guerilla craft is actually taking form. Maeve and I have a few installations planned for the boring boring buildings in the cbd.

I also have a job making a frog puppet for a small company. hurrah!

Post New Years

Excellent. New Years is over. It was a stressfree new years, unlike other new years. Which really, is how I want this coming year to be. I feel so grateful that I have spent this year with people I really love. I have been places that have opened my eyes, developed new cravings, met people that have changed me in some way, and felt more like myself than I ever have.

Its been a terribly hard year but also a rewarding one. I don't mean to play to the cliche but I really am very lucky to be who I am and know the people I do.

The new year bodes well.

Crafternoon again this afternoon. One of the least productive yet, I blame the stupidly hot weather. Although it did end up with good pizza and people I haven't seen in a while at Bimbo's. Only bummer is the long train ride home. I do have a very good looking book to read though.