Hi.  I don't know why I haven't posted much over the last couple of weeks.  I have been here, and I have been creative.  I just haven't felt like blogging very often.

Above is a detail of a drawing I did in the Morwell National Park on Saturday.  Unfortunately the paper I grabbed on the way out of the house was a VERY soft japanese printmaking paper and my charcoals tended to rip it to shreds. 

I was pretty pissed off when I found this out, as I had lugged my drawing board (a big piece of plywood) a couple of kilometres up a hill before I settled on a spot and got everything set up...  I worked around it but it could have been better.  This photo was taken while we were at the national park, I haven't looked at the drawings since.

After the 3 hours at the national park we went over to the ARC Yinnar 25th birthday exhibition opening.  I had a piece (The Dredger) in the (open) exhibition, the first time I've exhibited any of my art work in my local area.  I was a bit apprehensive about it.  But it worked out ok.  I noticed some people really looking at the piece and one of the other members of ARC mentioned that she was surprised to see that it was my work.  So people know now.

By the way, the above photo is of the lizard print in my journal.  Without much thought I printed it over a blind contour drawing I did of a glove.  It looked a bit crap, so I coloured it in with water colours.  It didn't dawn on me til I was half way through that I could have coloured the inside of the lizard a different value or colour from the outside, to make it stand out.  Perhaps it is a camoflage lizard though LOL.

The drawing above is from the opposite page.   It isn't really anything, but I rather like it.

Today is Anzac day.  We did not attend any services or parades.  I sewed all day.  I think I've wrecked 'The Gate' quilt, but I think I'll sit on it a while before I toss it aside for good.  I've also been sewing up a traditional quilt top... a gift, so perhaps not for showing here on the blog (though I may give up on that rule at some stage in the future). 

This is a lizard... or something like it, I haven't printed this linocut yet.  I am currnently working on a little book of drawings which is stuffed full of these weird creatures, I'm not sure where they are coming from, but I like them.  I'll post more about it later.

Things are a little crazy here at the moment.  Today I hope to remedy the crazyness as I'm going bush to do some charcoal drawings (then to an opening at ARCYinnar...perhaps more on that later too).

I thought I'd share the bedroom paintings insitu ... 

The paintings look smaller on the wall than I thought they would, but at least they are up.   They've just been propped up against the wall since I painted them.

Riscy and I have discussed purchasing a nice bedhead and more modern looking bedside drawers... and lamp bases.  But all in good time.  It's funny that every time we buy a new piece of furniture we sigh and say that 'now we have everything' then something else pops up.  Like we want a hall table and a new lounge suite (which is a bit more dog friendly) and a wine rack.

Quilting has progressed on my new piece.  I'm at that stage where I don't like it very much.  I think I have to mess it up a bit with some more machine quilting then I can really attack it with some more unexpected bits.  Its too perfect at the moment... to predictable.

The photos today are a little crappy because the light was fading by the time I got the camera out.

I took the afternoon off work so I could get some stuff done... like pay the insurance on my car which was a month overdue (It has been in our carport all that time), booking the car in to have stuff done so I can sell it, sending off an order for perennials for my garden, ringing contractors to arrange quotes to put up a new fence between our front and back yards, go down to the pharmacy to buy some new cosmetics (should I get some eye gel/cream??), and pop into the florist to buy some lilies and easter daisies and then bring them home to put in vases.

I like it when I can get this sort of stuff done, stuff that has been pilling up for months.

Here are a couple of links that I have enjoyed:

6.5 stitches: Beautiful handmade clothes for children.  It could be the immensely beautiful photography or maybe heartstoppingly beautiful fabrics... but I'm getting a sudden yearning to make some clothes for myself. All linens, charcoals, embroidered... Do you think I'm channelling this blogger? I'm not sure of her name, but I think she lives in Australia.

Poppy: Another style and design blog... I think I have an addiction.  This is the blog of Jan from Canada. And her blog roll is mind blowing.  I'll be lost in it for months I'm sure.

Altered Books:  A collaborative blog where pages of secondhand books altered so poetry is uncovered.  I like the idea, very much.  I used to write poetry at uni (didn't we all LOL), but actually find it very difficult to read, my eyes wont rest on the words as I get a bit distracted by the shape of the lines of text... am I weird? I don't know.  Anyway, I liked reading these poems.

And I thought I'd leave you with a link to Jade Pegler's Flickr with photos of her wonderful textile works.   I'm not really Flickr savvy, but I do like to peep in there every now an then.