Mixed Media - Oh Yes!

on etsy

This bracelet is another piece in my Under the Sea collection. I found it interesting that so many commented on the Earthy colours of the previous pieces – understandable when I have been showing you so many pictures of blue oceans. I am not really sure why my Under the Sea pieces are green and gold, more like the sun glinting through water in a river bed. Either way I am having fun creating and they seem to be coming from within – so I will let my muse have free reign.

This is my new toy – the Clover needle felter (thanks to Jacky for putting me onto this). I thought I was just testing different fibres and fabric on a scrap of felt – but they looked so nice together I added beads and made a bookmark. I can see myself having a lot of fun with this one.

The journal was a gift for the talented and beautiful Sandy, and has reached its home safely. I used the Collections chipboard houses for covers and cut my own pages.

My desk still has three partially completed projects on it so hopefully I will get time to complete at least one more this weekend. For now the sun is shining, I can hear native birds from the front of my house, my neighbours canaries from the back and the outdoors calling me. Can you hear it?

It must be something in the water...

Many years ago I drove to Monkey Mia in the north of our state; home to a pod of friendly bottle nose dolphins. When I returned and flashed my photos around my friends said, "These are all pelicans, where are the dolphins?" My response, "Oh yes, I bought some postcards, somewhere." Today, my last of 'freedom' for a while, it rained - a lot. But late this afternoon Archer and I dashed to our little beach and I clicked photo's of the pelicans and a seagull or two.

I say, 'it must be in the water', because Marie (who splits her time between here and the USA) and my friend Elaine (who has just started an art blog), have taken beautiful pelican shots in recent months - and can't seem to get enough of these beautiful big birds either.

I have an assemblage, an altered book and some jewellery all in progress on my desk - so I am sure there will be a rush of art to share with you soon, for now enjoy these feathered friends.

Under the Sea - Part 2

I can't seem to shake my ocean fixation, and as a well known desert lover I am surprised. I had hypnotherapy for a while in 2000/2001. I know some Christians, and many others are sceptical about hypnotherapy - but it was wonderful and pulled me through a terrible time. Anyway, one of the exercises involved walking down a stair case and imagining a special place. I was convinced mine would involve red dirt and possibly baobab trees.

I found myself in a rain forest (without the steam) but still green, lush and wet. I was a little disconcerted. This place was beautiful and yet not my normal 'home'. I feel that same odd dislocation now; I love the ocean but wonder why I am so fixated when it is not where I normally feel connected.

These did not photograph as well as I would have liked but the day is too lovely for me to spend more time on them. You will get the idea; I have used all my paper beads and some painted shells to add to the fibres. The leftovers were put on this bookmark - inspired by the talented (but blogless) Jen Jones, who gave me a similar beaded one years ago.

I think this last piece is my favourite, simple and peaceful. All of these have homes they are headed for - and luckily most to people who do not read my blog, or are on holidays.

Have a peace filled day.

Cosy Corner

I took Archer and Pipey to Cosy Corner for a couple of hours today, just 25km (15 miles) from town this 'animal exercise' beach is beautiful in its own right - and unlike other animal beaches is rarely crowded and there are no 'woopsies' in the sand. It was another changeable day today so we only walked 30 minutes out from the car and I had plenty of time to snap pictures as the dogs played. Archer simply resonates joy in this first picture.

While the beach may look a little a barren there were beautiful views both out to sea, and down at my feet.
This little angel is Pipey, and 11+ year old wire haired terrier. She was adopted by friends of mine a few weeks ago and her hair was all matted and knotted so she has been clipped closely. Pipey's new family had already planned an interstate trip we are lucky to have her stay for the fortnight. Archer and Pipey roll, chase and play all day. Pipey is very camera shy and actually runs from the camera, I thought it was the flash but she is the same outside - I wonder what she is afraid of. She is such a sweet, sweet girl and craves love.

As we walked the waves crashed and thundered on the rocks, Archer chased the water and was so surprised when it turned back around and chased him.
I wonder what Archer was thinking here?

Paper Beads

I thought paper beads were something kindy teachers got their kids to make on Mother's Day, then I saw Kelli Perkins beads (Cloth Paper Scissors, July August 2007, Issue 13, Page 66). The article said you could make a dozen in an hour, I made two dozen and it took - who cares? I am on holidays!
These are the perfect embellishment for a couple of projects I am working on at the moment, and something I could make without having to buy anything.
By the way, I was being silly in the last post - the 'hammock' the boys love is actually the sail out over my deck, if you look carefully in the bottom right hand corner you can see a little of the deck rail. And no, I did not Photoshop the image in - I would not have a clue how to (giggles).

Does Your Cat Have A Hammock? And Other Less Amusing Stories.

Yesterday I walked Archer and Pipey (more about our visitor in a later post) along the port. The tide was out and the water perfectly still with clear reflections of jetty pylons, boats and clouds. I let Archer off to play – he ran and ran. This is not as joyous as it sounds, but rather an indicator that I have not trained him to come every time I call.
His antics drew my attention to an old tyre on the edge of the water. A seagull was repeatedly taking off and then bouncing back, clearly it was either held by some hidden elastic or was the first bungy jumping bird. Pipey was hurriedly tied to a post and I set off through sludge, seaweed and wet sand towards this bird. I found one poor seagull bound in knots to the tyre and the second one another meter or so down the fishing line – the one I had seen. Each time he attempted to fly away he bound the first seagull even tighter.
I was able to untie the first bird and it flew away. The second bird was in a bad way. As I was struggling to bring Archer, the bird and the tyre to the shore a gorgeous ex-student appeared like an angel in her perfect white denims – holding a blunt but much appreciated fishing knife and helped cut the bird from the tyre, before taking off with her friends. We set off for my car 50 metres away, me, two dogs, a water bottle, bag of poop (don’t ask) and a very sad seagull - who seemed to get some relief from holding tightly to my finger with his beak.
Much to my surprise when I had cut all the fishing line away the little bird was stiff but able to stand and half an hour later to walk. He stretched his wings (rubbed raw from the line in places) and hopefully later he would fly.
I went home feeling a little sad about what humans do to animals both directly and indirectly.
As I got washing in Archer chewed two of Maggie’s old bones on the lawn, our visiting friend hid from the camera, Charles came to sit on the deck and Phantom surveyed the world from the comfort of his hammock. It brought a warmth and joy to my heart to be surrounded by four well loved animals.

Lemons, Jewellery, Bargains and Lemons

This sterling silver necklace will wing its way to an overseas friend very soon. I love the little box on the bottom, perfect for a lock of hair, favourite verse or emergency panadol - well I am a practical girl.
Look at these keys, 15c each at my local second hand store and already rusty - poor Graham (the owner) is still shaking his head over the fact I won't look in his shiny key box.

Now to the lemons ... I realised recently that I have been blogging over a year and that about this time last year I introduced the lemon tree. My lemon tree is psycho! It has reverted to root stock and has thorns 2 inches long - they always make me think of the crucifiction - the cats won't climb the tree and birds do not play in it. However it has lemons 10 months of the year, and for about six of those there are more lemons than leaves. I pick a hundred at a time and give them to school, friends, neighbours, anyone who walks past the front door. My friends five year old associates pancakes with lemons from 'Julie's tree' and some of the children at school call me the lemon lady.

Which children? The aboriginal children mostly. I have learnt that Nyoongars (South West Aboriginal People), whether they have healthy balanced diets or poor diets love lemons. I take a hundred at a time to school and they are gone within a day, eaten whole and occasionally sprinkled with salt.

If you are down south, pop in for lemons - I have plenty.

Four Seasons in One Day

That's home. We set off to walk the boardwalk today; a beautiful walk around Albany's coast from a popular beach back to the port. The sun was shining, swallows were diving through the air, kids were playing in the playground and all was light and bright.

The sun came and went at regular intervals as clouds flew across in front of it, and I threw my head back and smiled. Little Archer was pulling me along, head down focused on each new scent, I was glorying in the sea, the sun and the freedom.

I met several friends to chat with and unlike the Port, which was full of Maggie memories, this was a new day, an Archer day. Maggie did not like the busyness of this walk and we had not walked here more than once or twice in the dim and distant past.

The contrast between lush lawn as we set off and green foliage with these weather beaten trees was a thing of beauty in itself. Shall I tell you a secret? This was my favourite view of all, the waves crashing; the rocks that have been washed too may times to count and the skeleton trees.

All of these photos were taken as we headed out on our walk, we were just over half an hour from the car park when I realised we were about to get wet, and very wet. Just ten minutes form the car the rain began in earnest as porridge bowl clouds loomed overhead. Within minutes we could not see more than a couple of metres in front of us. I tucked the camera down my shirt and ducked my head - as Archer raised his and raced directly into the weather.

Under the Sea

For reasons known only to my subconscious I began to explore the concept of those lost at sea, and at the same time had the urge to make a present for my fish. Hence, the fish have a new flake holder and I still don't know what my mind was on about.

Either way I am happy with the end result, liquid nails, pink, blue and green fimo molded shapes, a shell, golf tees, gauze bandage, and layers and layers of paint (all applied in washes and blasted with the heat gun) on a tin milk churn. The end result may not be deMeng, but the skills (if I can call them that) were learnt in his class.

Winter Freedom

I was saying to Sandy, this week, that I felt like I was being towed along this term ... dragged unwillingly behind some large earth moving vehicle perhaps. It was a clear sunny afternoon when school ended for the winter holidays, a quick glass of water and Archer and I headed out. I left my hair down and did not change out of my skirt the port was calling. This was Archers first visit to the port and he loved it, as Maggie did. Our port is a blend of grain and woodchip export, pleasure catermans, fishing, beaches and rocks. This is the port that all Australian and New Zealand servicemen left from to fight in World War I. It is right in town, close and beautiful.

This pigeon posed prettily above one of the whale watching businesses, he seemed to share my joy. Oblivious to the poop and rust around him he gloried in the sunshine.

These two had quite a chat as they posed for us, and yes, they both have two legs - clever girl is practicing her ballet.

This little fellow was watching a couple of fishermen hoping for an easy catch.

Look at this seabird glorying in the last warm rays of the day. Is he simply drying out or offering a prayer of thanks for the warmth? Perhaps a little of both and pinch of posing thrown in.

Too, too cute as he runs through the water. Archer found so many things to sniff, played with two other dogs, climbed on the rocks and braved the jetty with the water lapping gently below the boards.

One of those days ... until

Today was one of those days ... you know the ones ... It started this morning (as most days do), I calmly brushed my hair in the bathroom while Archer played at my feet and Charles sat on the edge of the bath watching. CRASH! Blackness! Wow the perfect piece of junk. Oh yes, the light globe above me exploded covering the floor with glass, terrifying Charles - he ran - and leaving Archer running up the inside of my leg and attempting to hug my thigh. But there on the floor lay the entire inner filament in one piece - a beautiful piece of glass. What? Yes, I was late for work ...
It has been raining here, A LOT! So after school I had a gutter to clean out - 4 meters above the ground. I spent a few moments ruing the day I gave up renting, especially when the rain came down, as I was up the ladder, and I got slime under my fingernails.
While I was wet I decided to clear the channels around my shed which stop it flooding in winter - what a blah job! Until - the little digger joined in, I giggled and giggled as he played in the water. Have I told you this one is like Charles, he loves water. It did not seem to bother him that my thermometer read 10 degrees Celsius, that wet dirt was flying in all directions and his nose was having a treat.
I feel a little guilty about turning Archer's joy to the sadness you see in this photo - but those feet could not stay that way. Could they?