make the yuletide gay

Well, I apologise for a much belated and due post. Busy it seems I have been, but as I ask, "what exists to show for my distractions?", I cannot seem to find an answer.
The hybrid arts performance/installation was had, all good and well. Many a paper crane was tossed about, stood upon, and blown with the duck feathers across the creaking wooden floorboards of the Brunswick Street gallery as a body would brush past. The twigs and their hanging glass vessels swung, and cast their incredible shadows upon the crisp white walls of the gallery space.

Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong have been singing to me as I collate and wrap my {close to} final gifts for family members..... my parents, siblings, my partner, and his parents, siblings, step-parents, and step-siblings.... oh, so many people to enjoy the holiday season with.

May everyone have an incredible Christmas and New Year!

{LOvE}

The Fold of the Paper Crane

It has been over a fortnight since I last left my mark on this page. Many apologies for my tardiness. I have been a busy bee however, in preparation for my next installation art display which will feature in a show called Absolute Necessity, that will be performed along with three other incredibly contemporary events at a HUGE week of nights for the creative collective of us who like to be referred to as Darlington Garage.


Please check it out! 8pm on Friday the 7th December through to Thursday the 13th of December {BUT EXCLUDING MONDAY NIGHT} at the Brunswick Street Gallery, on Brunswick Street in Fitzroy. Tickets are $10, there will be a bar open too. For tickets phone Clio on 0401 760 691.


For AbNec I have, after swiftly learning the basics of origami, been making a countless amount of paper cranes, hoarding pillows of duck feathers, and collecting branches to wrap and string vessels from.


I've had many helping hands learning the folds of the paper crane and adding their crafts to the looming mountain of {only recycled} paper. Thank you to Penny, Clio, Bazil, Ross, Nicky, Lou, Krista and those who I may yet still ask...THANKS.


To those in Melbourne today, enjoy the cool change. I'm back to more folding.
{LOVE}

Ink & Water

I've been drawing lately. Something I have neglected to do for quite a while now. I've drawn while at a cafe in Kallista, watching in the large space of the open curving window frames, the cockatoos and rosellas battle for their seeds. I drew while at my Mum and Dad's house, with my bare feet slapping the cool wooden floorboards in rhythm to the moaning sounds of old jazz singers flowing through the open rooms. I drew also at the side of M&D's swimming pool, swinging my legs in the warm water, and conjuring up images of the freezing continents, an immense contrast to the weather conditions here in Melbourne these past couple of days.

I've been inspired by the styles of the likes of Hannah Waldron and Camilla Engman, and their simple but elegant line drawings.


I'd forgotten the pure joy of drawing. I'd forgotten the daydreams, and made up worlds one falls into while scrawling and scribing. Lest I forget further.

Reading and Weeding

My Melbourne Cup weekend was one of much pleasure and pain... A Saturday night out with my family, provided by my parents, out to Bistro 1 down the thin Little Collins Street was followed by a session at the Princess Theatre of "Phantom of the Opera". Both were thoroughly enjoyable, with the show taking slight preference. I have dreamed of being the Phantom's love, Christine since pre-double digits, so to finally see the performance to the soundtrack I'd long ago memorised was wonderful.
However, as Chris, my boyfriend and I began driving home, my stomach began cramping. By 12 am my stomach had churned enough and was ready to release, through any means how, and it did, much to my displeasure. I was up till 4:30 in the morning completing this routine to the bathroom, then back to the bedroom, and finally was able to rest by 5 am. Sunday was spent sleeping, lying in front to the heater, and feeling sorry for myself.


Recovering on Monday from physical exhaustion was actually quite pleasant, as I was able to almost reach the conclusion of Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights". I am currently, at ten pages to go, anticipating the thrilling closure. The strangely incestuous relations between those residing at The Grange and The Heights is almost as compelling as Heathcliff's dedicated affection for his Cathy, and his contrasting detest for every other earthly specimen.
I also found the day a perfect opportunity to begin the therapeutic folds of the origami crane, formed from the discarded pages of an old Oxford World Atlas {perhaps my next post will include a picture}.


I discovered I won $20 in the Tuesday family Cup sweep that I hadn't even pitched in for, indeed I was very lucky! Don't ask me what horse won, though.....

On Wednesday, I decided to begin weeding the garden. A massive task for those who live on a large block of land, and choose to focus always on cleaning the inside of the house and ignore the outside. As you could guess, there is a long way to go. I hope to achieve more tomorrow.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed the few photos I took on my SLR around the house.

{LOVE}

Ticking the List

I certainly have achieved many scribbled objectives from my to-do-list this week:

{Monday}
I HANDED IN MY THESIS! Which was a testing moment for me... as I dropped the bulky load into the hands of a lecturer, a deeply embedded sob released itself from my gut. It was almost like giving up a new born baby. I'd been creating this for 9 months!

{Wednesday}
A timely morning catchup with my old time best friend, N, from way back in kindergarten. Her glamorous stories of being wisked away to France, Germany, Greece, and Italy. N lovingly retold her historical voyage and cultural musings in the sweltering heat of a dirty Rome, a beautiful Florence, and a wet Venice {for more reasons than one, it happened to be her only day in Italy with rain}.

A sense of satisfaction from much determined house cleaning, and experienced absolute awe over the amount of cat hairs vacuumed up from the couch she's claimed as her own.

Choosing which roses to pick from either my garden, or the neighbours, whose shrubs, I glimpsed, were overhanging the footpath.

Listening to the battle of sounds between the deafening choir of cicadas, and the dated tunes of Carol King's "Tapestry", that somehow reminds me of my mum's saturday night music selections during her pre-spaghetti bolognaise dinner preparations.

Following this, a wonderful dinner with a large group of not-quite family {all previous empolyees/ers or partners/children of an old beautiful workplace}. We said goodbye this time to M and then B who are off to Florence themselves to not only enjoy the cultural difference from Melbourne, but to relish themselves in music theory, and performance, in the glorious home of meatballs {Although I think M & B would prefer to eat something non-animal}.

{Thursday}
I caught up with {a different} N for lunch in Richmond, before leaving him and scooting up to catch Jennifer Bartholomew's "Digitally Enhanced" at Craft Victoria for the { now quite concluded } Melbourne International Arts Festival; and The Installation of "Riceboy Sleeps" at Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces. I stopped in at Max Watts INDUSTRIA on the way home, to find myself purchasing an old "Concise Oxford Atlas" to begin cutting out for my c o n t o u r l i n e s necklace line.

{Friday}
As it is still only Thursday, my plans for tomorrow remain as yet, incomplete. However, I very much intend on seeing a couple of friends at 11am, an then the remainder of the day has been left blank on my list. I could read more of my enthralling Bronte novel, "Wuthering Heights", or begin preparing my necklaces. I could also visit my mum, my friend P, or do some weeding in the garden. These are some of my ideas, but what do you think???
Until next time, { LOVE }

shiny and new

hello.... this is my brand new blog, something I told myself I would get around to organising a long time ago. You will probably see a few major adjustments occuring in my next few posts. This innitial one is really just to make sure that it's running smoothly. I've just completed my Honours year thesis for University { phew } and I immidiately wanted to begin a new project. Hope this little blog becomes enjoyable for you. LOVE