A new year

These days I spend so much time worrying about where I am headed and how I am going to do all the things I'd like to do and some days what it is I even WANT to do, and it's getting me nowhere to actually figuring it all out. In fact its stressing me out and its got to stop.

Today starts a year of not knowing and not trying to know. Of just being and letting everything else follow. Of trying new things, meeting new people, and then in a year, some travelling to places I have never been.

(photo the road to ragged mountain)

suprise!

Today I received in the mail the best suprise I have ever received ever in the mail! I received the most beautiful print from bubbo-tubbo that I posted about a few weeks ago. It was so beautifully packaged I didn't even want to open it! However I did, very very carefully so as not to rip anything and I love it! I cant wait to get this up on my wall. Thankyou Natasha so very very much!

“… and now for something completely different.”

Well, not quite. But this week I have tried something new. Every morning I got up at 6am to write for nearly an hour before I had to get ready to start my other (paid) working day. I sat up in bed each morning, opened my laptop or my notebook and put words on the page one after another.

Some mornings I got further than others; some mornings the time seemed to drag on as I tried to squeeze the words out of my brain; on others the time seemed to pass in the space of an early-morning yawn and I was suddenly scrambling to get all the ideas, phrases and words onto the page before I ran down the hallway to have a shower.

A couple of the people I have told about my new routine have raised their eyebrows and said things like, “Wow, you’re dedicated” (read crazy). At the risk of sounding like a pretentious git, it’s not about dedication for me. This is what I want to do with my life; it’s an absolute compulsion. When I’m not writing and putting some type of story together I feel frustrated, even angry, and am no doubt rather unpleasant company.

Of course this compulsion to write does not mean I can avoid frustration altogether. I still struggle to write more than the synopsis of a story, or the first three paragraphs. The ideas are constant – there are stories happening around me all the time, all I need do is look – but following them through from the gruelling process from interesting thought to a story that is not entirely dull is a very difficult exercise for me. My biggest problem is stamina.

And so I’m forcing myself to write every day; to have a writing routine. Hopefully eventually my stamina – and of course the quality of my writing! – will improve.

Tonight I start my Masters in Writing at UTS. No doubt study and the ominous presence of assignment deadlines will do a great deal to improve both my motivation and stamina!

What keeps you motivated to follow a creative project through to completion?

Just a week until the deadline for the current Monthly Project!

Photo by sucka74.

The ones we love

This site is so lovely. Appeals to the romantic in me! I love seeing photographers taking photos of the people they love. Some very beautiful photos and people on this site that I found via the girl in the green dress

(image from the ones we love)

some nice numbers

six
C211

IMGP4751

train numbers
twenty three is the natural number....

On my "desk"... which is this week actually the floor.

This week I have been feeling so very un-creative... which makes me feel a bit stressed about not feeling creative which makes me feel a bit stressed about being stressed! Vicious cycle! I haven't really even been making anything this week, been mostly doing things on my computer, and reading through magazines looking for some inspiration! Tonight though I have been playing around with paper and I think I'm onto an exciting new idea! Can't wait to try it in metal and see how is looks!

Other than that, on my "desk" (ie: this week the floor where my computer is...yes, yes i need to get myself a desk...) I have lots of lists and a gas bill.... Oh and a mug which you can only just see the corner of that says "What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?" I like it alot.

More desks here.

More knitted graffiti...

More knitted graffiti here at kitty's kaboodle. This one is even better! Thanks to Kirsty for pointing it out to me!

(Photo from kitty's kaboodle)

Winter

I couldn't resist a few more chilly Winter photos from my trip to Canberra this weekend!

Senses

I know I’ve been rabbiting on about observation a bit lately. I guess that’s partly because I went through a stage earlier this year of not feeling, seeing, hearing, smelling or tasting much at all. By which I mean that those messages were not really getting through to my brain from their various receptors. The messengers were milling about, vaguely nervous, outside my door. I was in a weird fog that I’m only really ready to talk about now because coming out of it was a quietly but very distinctly painful process to go through.

Happily, one of the side effects of suddenly feeling when I hadn’t for some months was that I felt everything very intensely: the positive as well as the negative. All of my senses were hyper-alert. And since that time I feel like I have been rediscovering all the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and textures in the world around me, as though I were a small child again.

I know I’ve written here before about how I envy children and their ability to interact with the world (I have a habit of repeating myself it seems…), but I am endlessly in awe of the way children view their environment. And so to feel like I am achieving an information-gathering process that is even remotely similar to that of a child makes me feel happy. I feel like I am stepping out into the world for the first time.

Some things my senses have liked recently:

• the sound of sand scattered over still water

• the smell of the early, chilly morning

• the taste of my Mum’s pumpkin soup recipe, lovingly prepared by yours truly

• the taste of spinach and fetta gosleme with lemon juice, bought at Leichardt markets on a Saturday morning

• the feel of pasta dough as it starts to become a stretchy, malleable ball in my flour-covered hands

• the sight of my new-found friend, Astro cat, bounding around my house with a mad energy

• the feel of the soft, frail skin under another person’s arms and under their eyes

• the feel of hot water running down my face and through my hair as I put my head under the shower head first thing in the morning

• the smell of real, fresh chai

There are, of course, plenty more but these are what I can think of off the top of my head. I just hope I can keep this awareness of my senses in tact!

something nice

Today I went to the Melbourne Design market which I have been really looking forward to all week, and as usual the level of talent was extremely high, so many clever, interesting designs. Unfortunately it is (understandably) always packed with so many people I find it so hard to get a really good look at EVERYTHING and hate thinking I may have missed some awesome stuff.

The best part of my day was had when I was walking home and stumbled upon this:

Someone has knitted a scarf/beanie/teacosy thing for a pole down one of Melbournes great laneways...! I would love to meet the person that did this! I love love LOVE when people do things that are good and fun, purely because they are good and fun and need to be done. I think there should be more of this going on in the world.

I'm off to snuggle up with a cup of tea and finish the weekend newspapers. What a great Sunday.

truth.be.told

This week I stumbled upon Jess Hyde's blog truth.be.told where I found some beautiful drawings and collages and all things crafty! She is such a talented drawer and gets bonus points because because she is from Melbourne and because she creates work from her "little bungalow with the help of lots of tea." That sounds just lovely.

She is currently exhibiting in the black white and shades of grey exhibition at Pigment Gallery, but it finishes this Saturday the 19th, so if you are in Melbourne hurry on over there and see some of her work!

You can also see more of her work here and here, read an interview here or buy some for yourself right here.

On my desk

Yay on time this week!! (Just!) This week I've been a bit lazy and not at my bench too much.... but when I HAVE been.... I've been working on some new designs for earrings, here is a pair half done, and also a ring for this months project, also half done.... hmm, seems I have a bit of a problem at the moment with having several different projects on the go, starting new ideas before I've finished the one before. Just too many great things to make!

Check out other on my desk players here (via kootoyoo)

New Lines & Shapes

Volume three of Lines & Shapes released today. Features artists this issue include Francesca Tallone, Yu-i Chan, Jane & Jeremy, Mat Daly and Gracia Haby & Louise Jennison, and as an added bonus if you subscribe you get this beautiful poster! Thankyou to Lena & Maria for these lovely books, such an inspirational hit!

(Image from Lines & Shapes)

Travel

More and more, I seem to spend time in transit: to and from work, visiting my family in Canberra, visiting friends in other suburbs, occasionally crossing state borders to reacquaint myself with my beloved Melbourne, and even less often travelling further afield.

Many people I know hate travelling time. I gather they see it as wasted time, time better spent doing other things. Especially if it involves public transport. I, however, love travelling on public transport. I love it nearly as much as I love to walk. It could be argued that I have only learned to love it because I have to do so much of it as a non-car-owner. But I would disagree: I love it because it forces me to have contact with other people, while at the same time spending time alone.

I guess this ties in to my last post, but I feel that public transport travel allows me to listen; to observe. For me, observation is a very important skill to have: it forms the basic structure of my creative work.

Travel also takes me out of my ‘normal’, everyday life. Being outside of something, I believe, means you can more keenly observe it. And so, as well as scribbling some of my best work inside my little Travel Notebook while I’m bussing it somewhere, I make some of the most important decisions about my life while I’m travelling.

Here is someone who seems to agree with me on the subject of travelling time.

Image by Magnolias forever.

PS. I found it very hard to choose between the above image and this one.

Home...

I've had such a nice weekend away visiting all my precious family, but there is something so nice about coming home to my own bed....

Finished!

So here it is finished! Unfortunately in all the excitement of finishing it and giving it to my mum I forgot to take some proper photos ! I'm happy to report, she loved it :)

on my desk.... a little late!!

A little bit late but better late than never!! I've been busy busy busy making a necklace for a birthday present for someone! Its going to look fantastic but it's taking a longer than I thought because I am very easily distracted.... (mostly by this. I LOVE this song at the moment and the dancing around the house that goes with it.)

This week I have some half made chain, as well as bits and pieces of magazines and newspapers I have rediscovered when I moved house, that I once upon a time ripped out because I liked them. Its been great to find all these old treasures that inspired me some time ago, and are giving me all these great ideas all over again!

Be sure to check out other on my desk players here.

I wanna bicycle too!

I wanna bicycle too!

While looking for photo's of girls on bikes on flickr yesterday I came across bubbo-tubbo. She takes beautiful portraits, and fun illustrations. I love them. My favorite is the girl with the cat on her head. Check out her flickr stream here and be sure to check out her drawings at her etsy shop properly and read the text as you can't quite see it in the photos here.


1. Color Wallpaper, 2. ginger, 3. relationship, 4. mirror (I live in it)



1. сranberry pants vs cystitis, 2. * I won't go anywhere without a cat on my head, 3. I had my right hand 2 times operated,

My bicycle adventure

Yesterday my boyfriend and I borrowed some bikes and decided to go on a big ride, 20km all the way to my work. And back. Up and down hills. Quite a feat in my opinion considering I havent ridden a bike in about 12 years, and even then it was only up and down the driveway. It was so beautiful, most of the way along the river through lovely green parks. I feel so lucky to live where I live!

I am so sore today, and it probably didnt help that I wasn't told until over half way that if you lift yourself OFF the seat going over the bumps that it hurts a lot less. I can hardly sit.

None the less it was a whole lot of fun and eventually I made it all the way home. I'm going to buy a bike, and then I will be as awesome as this girl. Girls on old bikes in dresses always look so cool.

(Image via Lost in the Absurd)

On being Quiet

I have realised this week just how important being quiet is to my writing. Obviously it helps with concentration, but it's more than that. I need to be still and quiet to observe what's going on around me, because that's where I find the 'Ahah!' moments that set me scribbling in my notebook.

So here I sit, in my new room, listening to my new neighbourhood. Despite the planes overhead (isn't it lovely living under a flight path?), it is quiet. Quiet enough for me to hear the birds, the breeze in the leaves outside my window, the cars on the road a block away that sound like someone blowing on the surface of water.

This morning there were children playing in the backyard under my window. If I hadn't been half asleep, I would have liked to listen more carefully to their conversation. Children have yet to learn to ignore the world around them as a way of getting things like grocery shopping and paying bills done. I love to listen to what they observe in their environment because I think my particular type of creative pursuit relies so heavily on noticing a sound, sight, smell or taste that other people might be too busy to.

As such, my creative aim for the rest of this year is to learn to better be quiet.

new favourites

Here is my new favourite photographer.

Here is my new favourite flickr set.

Here is my new favourite thing to waste time on.

1. Untitled, 2. Untitled, 3. Untitled, 4. Untitled

On my desk

I'm jumping on the on my desk bandwagon brought to us all from kootoyoo. I've been hanging out for Wednesday just so I could get involved! So here it is:

Quite a mess but to be honest it is rarely any other way! My desk is a BEAUTIFUL wooden bench made for me by my boyfriends father and it has taken me about a year to finally use it as a workbench because it is just too lovely to get dirty!

I have an assortment of tools and several half finished projects the go. Some that have been sitting there for awhile while I decide how exactly I am going to finish them off and others I have just started for our new project.

Also you can see my favorite journal which is from rebound books. I'm very excited to be nearing the end of this one because I have a new one ready to go! These are the best journals ever. They use the cutest hardcovered books, replace the pages with 100% recycled denim paper...and there you have it, brand new, fun journal!

(this one even has its library card still!)

Musings

I'm not sure what exactly it is that keeps me coming back to Claire's blog but I find I'm always disappointed if I head there and she hasn't posted anything new. Given that I visit it just about every day I might be expecting a little too much. Her latest post talks once more about Mondays.

For me there is definitely something about a Monday that gets me thinking afresh about things I'm working on creatively. In fact, it will probably be a Monday when I work on my response to our latest project.

Is there a particular day when you find you're more inspired, even vaguely, than others?

Image by Ramonah.