Patience and Pebbles

I've felt frustrated this week. On Tuesday or Wednesday I went to get in the shower in the morning after writing for forty minutes or so; it was raining outside and I thought about how lovely it would be to stay at home, inside, writing all day. But, like every other week day, I had to go to work. I felt sad about it for most of the day. It was probably quite an immature response: to mope and pout all day.

I emailed a good friend of mine to have a whinge, and she offered the following advice, passed on from her mother: "People who move mountains start by moving very small stones".

And so I am going to practice patience and start with the pebbles.

The monthly project is due tomorrow.

Image by cocoi_m.

Quiet weekend

This weekend is going to be a quiet one, and I am so looking forward to it. My love is away until Monday and I will miss him very much but I will also enjoy having a quiet lazy weekend catching up on reading, creating and perhaps even venture out to some markets. It's going to be very nice.

(Weekend mornings from J. Evans)

Rediscovering the library...

Today I have had the most productive day. I love monday's because I don't have to work and I get a chance to get lotsof things done. Today was tax return, shopping, and FINALLY getting to the library near my new house. And perhaps even the gym....

I remember when I was little going to the library every Saturday morning after netball with my Mum and sisters and borrowing several books. I had forgot how much fun it was spending time browsing shelves upon shelves of beautiful books, agonising over which ones were to be coming home with me. I hadn't been to the library for so long and told myself that this was because I much preferred to buy books. Which is still true, but there is also something nice about borrowing books you normally wouldn't really buy, to learn something new or look at all the pictures.

Today I went in search of books about trees, looking for some pictures and inspiration. I found two incredibly beautiful books, which reminded me how much inspiration there is to be found in nature. How beautiful are these pictures?

Top four images: Tom Petherick - Trees that shape the world.

Bottom three images: Thomas Marent - Rainforests.

Little People

So lovely I just had to share. Thanks to Scott for the link!

thinking about trees....

Today out shopping I found this great paper which reminded me so much of the tree for this project, I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to use it for yet but I'm thinking I might try and use it somehow in some jewellery? Or maybe this month I might make some kind of artwork in the wall hanging sense... it's been so long since I've made anything like that, and my new house has lot of empty walls that need something on them!

I need, need, NEED these!!

I have a thing for tea. I love it. The only thing I love more is teacups and teapots. I can't remember where I saw these teacups, (so please let me know if you know!) but they are the best I have ever seen and I must have them! They are designed to change and build up a pattern, with areas getting darker with each use as they are stained by the tea. You can order them here. Mine will be so dark in no time!

(Images via woodlondon)

The Tree

We thought maybe this month we'd try an image as the theme. This beautiful tree shot is by tgallivan. He has some other, very beautiful nature shots - worth a look!

The deadline will be the first Monday of next month: 1 September.

As usual, send any response to us in an email: themondayproject85@gmail.com.

And if you'd like to join the mailing list for the monthly projects shoot us a quick email at the above address and we'll add you.

Happy creating!

Finally: "... and then there were three."

Finally, I have had a chance to type this up. Sincere apologies for my tardiness; my life has been a little crazy-busy of late. But here it is, as yet unfinished. But begun, which is the point.



She couldn’t believe how unlucky she was. She looked at the small bucket of food in her hand; three pairs of eyes blinked at her from behind the wire mesh. She didn’t think there would be enough food for all three, particularly because the little one probably wasn’t strong enough to push past the others and get his fair share.

She crouched down, put the food on the ground and pressed her right eye up to one of the holes in the mesh. She wasn’t quite sure how this had happened. Yesterday there had been only two guinea pigs to feed, both male. Now a third had appeared. She didn’t understand how a baby could appear without a girl guinea pig.

“Where did you come from Little One?” She asked, using the name her father called her, and poking her fingers through the mesh at the animals, who were all whining at her in expectation of food.

• shared sibling moment – her slightly older brother comes out to get her, sent by her mother, and realises immediately hat one of the ‘boy’ guinea pigs must be a girl.
• the parents only gave in to the repeated requests for a guinea pig on the condition that they only got one; but the man in the shop explained that guinea pigs don’t survive very well without companionship. The daughter overheard this and was horrified to think of how lonely her guinea pig, Max, would become, so the parents reluctantly agreed to get two, as long as they were both male: “we don’t want any baby guinea pigs”
• now the girl and her brother are terrified of getting in trouble, and of what might happen to the baby if Mum and Dad find out it exists.
• they discuss their options: letting it go (“but what about the neighbour’s cats!?”), hiding it, taking it to school to give away.
• their mother opens the back door of the house and calls out to them to hurry up – she is going to be late to work, and they to school. At this point a hurried decision is made: the brother expertly catches the baby guinea pig and his sister puts it in the pocket of her school dress: “Sally always said she wanted a guinea pig.”

Ice men

I just found these great ice sculptures here. They are by artist Nele Azavedo, but that is all I know and I can't find anymore information about them.! If anyone knows anything about them or about the artist be sure to let me know, I am so curious! I think they are fantastic!!

(Images via Lemoox)

I'm late, I'm late for a very important date!

So this month I thought I'd set a really good example to others regarding tardiness. As such, I have yet to type up my response to "...and then there were three". I have written something, but it is still in my notebook.

I have a weekend music festival, camping for three days, wearing gumboots and not showering to blame. I guess I have a good excuse... But I promise it is coming. And as proof, the shot above is of the text in my notebook. Apologies for the blurry image - after a two day festival, a twelve hour drive and a full day at work I just didn't have the patience to focus the camera properly!

But tomorrow is another day and I promise I will post my response then.

three little speckled eggs

Check out this beautiful embroidery at unbecoming lily. I love the idea of the eggs and the mother bird! Thanks to Jeana for playing!!

Its so interesting to already be able to see how different the responses are to the same idea!

scott mckenzie

A submission from graphic designer Scott Mckenzie. You can read about his inspiration and ideas for this project right here and check out his website here.

three

So my response for this months project is this:

I focused more on the "three" than on anything else, and I made a silver ring riveted together with three 18ct yellow gold rivets. Excuse the bad photo's it doesnt show the gold very well. Quite simple really but at least it got me at my bench which is the idea I guess! "Then there were three" also got me thinking about birth and new life however I ran out of time before I could develop those ideas, but perhaps at some stage in the future I will.

A new project will be up tomorrow, as well as any responses which will be able to be found on the side bar, as well as any links. If you wish to be included in the future you can link your blog with your response, or a link to a photo in flick in the comments, and this will be posted in the sidebar. Look forward to seeing other responses!