Nina in drag..

I made this necklace over the weekend; a gift for a friend. As you can see it was heavily influenced by Nina - and yet no-one taking a close look would confuse it with a genuine Nina - hence the title. My soldering is coming along and I do like the rhiolite stone beads and carved rose. The back of the square charm has a piece of vintage music and the word dream.
It seems that most of what I am working on at the moment are gifts and long term projects so I have decided not to feel guilty about posting pictures to my blog before items arrive.

This amazing ATC and charm are gifts from Dawn - a talented artist I am blessed to have as a friend. I do wish you could see all the layers and detail behind that microscope slide -beautiful.

ANZAC Day

ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) Day is a public holiday here in Australia. Despite the dawn services, marches, reminders on television and in other media I am constantly amazed at the number of people who do not understand why we have this day. At the same time the number of people attending ANZAC parades, marches, ceremonies and services is increasing markedly every year.

During World War 1 Australian soldiers landed, slightly off course, at the foot of almost perpendicular cliffs, on the beaches of Galipolli, Turkey. The tides made reaching shore difficult, the chances of escape were negligible and yet brave men ran up those cliff faces (knowing they were likely to die) and fought a brave fight.

I believe in peace, I would like a world without war and yet this is the world I live in, I look to my heavenly home for all encompassing peace. I am not convinced that we should have been involved all the wars we have. And yet, there is a reality that I live a safe and happy life here in Australia because brave men (and women) have served their country; have knowingly faced death and have effectively died for my freedom and that of my own family. Each of those numbers that we read in our history books; 30, 000 died at x - 27 died at y; they all had a mother and a father. They had wives and children, sisters and bothers. They had a local deli and several teachers.

Yes, I did take the chance for a sleep in today - and I did catch up with friends and family. I also gave time to a thought for those Australians who have fought and died for Australia for almost 100 years, and a prayer for future peace. And yes, I baked the ANZAC cookies pictured - crunchy on the left and chewy in the right - and as I did I thought of brave wives and mothers baking and filling tins to be sent to 'our boys' on the front.

LOOK AWAY IF SQUEEMISH

Still looking? Then brace yourselves I am going to give you the ‘tourist tour’ of my creative zone.
Last holidays I tidied, filed and sorted – my desk was completely clear AND I could not create a thing! I’ve kept the categories and let the desk run wild, and my mojo has returned with a vengeance. So fasten your seatbelts and let the tour begin.
The desk tonight features the left overs from an ATC frenzy on the weekend and the beginning of my next assem’ – oh you noticed organ donor Nancy? Poor love she came in with a leg that could not be saved and a cracked chest, she’s going to contribute to at least three pieces of art that are in the pipeline. I went looking for more donors while op-shopping with a couple of girlfriends last week andlearnt a valuable lesson, announcing you are looking for dolls to cut up leads to 10 year old girls giving you horrified looks and hiding the dollies.

Hanging off the door are my ribbons – colour coded too (Unfortunately there’s a select group of one that understands the system for that – there are as many exceptions to the colour rule as grammar exceptions in the English language). Hamish loves to sleep on the floor with the ribbons dangling over him, they don’t seem to mind. Maggie minded tonight, she got up to go for a drink and Hamish had nicely settled into her pre-warmed spot.

To my left we have the Mounted Stamp trolley – my favourite categories “backgrounds” and “words” always seem to have the drawers open. Note the neatly filed ink pads and matching shaving brushes for stippling - YUM – just looking at the nine of them together in the box makes me smile.

To my right is the PUP trolley. Oh sorry, PUP = Partially Used Paper that’s sheets that have been cut into, all neatly sorted by colour. Hanging off one side is a bag of raffia and off the other a bag of mica. This tour was conducted entirely from my chair in front of the main desk (there are two and a half in the room - desks silly, half a chair could led to someone getting hurt!). Future tours may be conducted at random intervals.

Thinking Blogger Awards

This picture has absolutely nothing to do with the post other than I THINK it is a while since you saw a picture of my lovely Phantom.

My lovely friend Dotee nominated me for one of these awards and as part of the gift of being given this award I need to nominate 5 blogs that make me think, and inspire me each day. I am supposed to put a little "Thinking Blogger Badge" up aabove this post, but as yet blogger and I are not seeing eye-to-eye on that.

I am procrastinating with this post because I am finding it hard to choose only five and to be true to myself. But here goes - I will not nominate Dotee - she knows I read her blog every day and and love her heaps. I nominate: Jessica, Kelsey, Kelly, Sandy and Michael.

I don't remember how I came to Jessica's blogs (Something Nice to Talk About and Raw Food with Jessica), but I know that her heart shines through in every post and that she lives what she believes.

Kelsey is one of the most generous people I know - her blog posts are full of ideas and if she has not shared the 'how' in her post she will answer questions, patiently! I often leave her blog and go try a technique - sometimes only on a scrap of paper or in my journal.

Kelly wasn't a well known mixed media artist when I first started visiting her blog; her art has grown and progressed over the last 12 months or so. I love her art, I own an original and some prints - but I visit because Kelly reminds me about what is important in life. Her posts are full of friends, fun, struggles and an adorable dog Bella - oh yes a smiling hubby too.

Sandy was one of my first blog friends - she reads me, through my posts, and often sends me e-mails which get straight to my heart, her comments on the other hand usually leave me giggling. I love to visit and see her amazing art, and listen to her tales, I learn so much from her. I save her posts until I have a cup-of-tea and time to enjoy them.

I hesitated over nominating Michael (after all 'deMeng' is famous, or infamous - and my pride did not want to look like a groupie). But Michael posted last week about art criticism -and the post hit a chord, it was a topic I have been thinking about for a while: How to facilitate some healthy critiques of my work using an on-line media, as I don't have like-minded people around me. Actually his post was about art criticism in general, but the themes and the article he linked to have had me thinking all week - so if the awards are for blogs that make me think this one is currently top of the pile.

Of course there are a lot more people I could have nominated, more even than in my links (Which will be reviewed very soon), but this award came with the responsibility of choosing five - and I have.

Honestly

This week has flown by, and yet it seems to have lasted forever.

I completed two days marking and school work; I had a whole set of assignments which took 20minutes each to mark and resorted to bribery. No not the students, me - 'Do two and you can wash the dishes', 'Do two and you can hang out the washing', 'Oh OK, after the next two you can walk the dog', pathetic I know. However I have the concentration span of a gnat and it got the job done. I spent a full day in bed (snoozing), did a detox fast (which sounds all healthy and righteous until I tell you I broke it with baked beans and cheese on toast!). Oh yes, and I completed some commissions. Do you notice how I say that airily as if it is the most common thing in the world. Oh OK (gosh you are being pedantic today. That's right it is me, I have not published this yet; I really want to be dramatic - but honesty is winning out), I am calling them my commissions, but one was a necklace for my Mum to give as a gift and the other a bracelet requested by a friend.

The ATC's above are the start of those I will take to umm Stamp Camp to swap - oops just realised there is no stamping on them, giggles... perhaps they will come to you instead.

A serendipitous petrol cap ...

I started this piece some time ago (not long after my class with Michael deMeng) but could not find what I wanted for the bottom section. As I rode in my Dad's truck on Monday I spotted an old style petrol cap at my feet - Dad had found it on the side of the road. He has quite a collection of these; 'just in case I lose one'; fortunately this one was given up willing. As to the message of this piece - make of it what you will - if we meet one day I will tell you a story. A story of birthing a cow ... and the afterbirth days later. I will tell how it, and other events, led to my vegetarianism, for now the shrine tells its own tale.

One of these things is not like the others ...

A final set of charms, and my only remaining swap commitment. I am pleased with the way these nests transferred to the game pieces.

My body is a mass of aching muscles, and I like it, a sign of the hard days work completed yesterday, and the promise of spring to come. What was I doing? Gardening. A couple more days work should finish the job, and I am so enjoying being outdoors and getting dirty.

For now Miss Maggie and I are off for a walk. Enjoy your weekends.