High on a hill

Earthly

Celestial

Confused Cumulus

This Easter weekend break I have been busy constructing for the next Cheese Shop window display, the theme being Swiss Cheese & its paraphernalia. While threading my Swiss flag buntings together I had a flashback to the first time that I flew to Germany from Down Under and I recalled looking out of the areoplane window and gasping in disbelief to myself "The clouds are ridiculously pointy in this hemisphere!" As I anxiously looked around to see if anybody else was be taken aback by this phenomenon, nobody blinked twice. Oddly I seemed to be alone on this one. I'm so glad I held myself from blurting out something to the weary strangers sitting next to me because five minutes later in the glowing morning light it dawned on me that it was the Swiss Alps peeking through the mist.  It was a profound realisation.. & a bit of a small blonde marsupial moment.

Clouds & Xylophones : a favourite combination.

Excerpt from Carl Jung's 'Man & His Symbols'

"New content which have never been yet conscious can arise from the unconscious. One may have inkling, for instance that something is on the point of breaking into consciousness - that something is 'in the air', or that one 'smells a rat'.

The discovery that the unconscious is no mere depository of the past, but is also full of germs of future psychic situations and ideas, which led Jung to his new approach to psychology. A great deal of controversial discussion has arisen round this point. But it is a fact that in addition to memories from a long-distant conscious past, completely new thoughts and creative ideas can also present themselves from the unconscious - thoughts and ideas that have never been conscious before.

They grow up from the dark depths of the mind like a lotus and form a most important part of the psyche.

We find this in everyday life where dilemmas are sometimes solved by the most surprising new propositions; many artists, philosophers, and even scientists owe some of their best ideas to inspirations that appear suddenly from the unconscious.
The ability to reach into a vein of such material and translate it effectively into philosophy, literature, music, or scientific discovery is one of the hallmarks of what is commonly called genius."

Catching the Light

Happy Cheester!

zu Hause

A wonderful artist & lovely friend of mine has mentioned our apartment over in her beautiful + creative blog, Tiny Trappings. How honoured I feel, I didn't know we lived in such a noteworthy space, thanks Michele for your flattering observations. xx

Coincidence...?

Shortly after my last post I took my little baby man to Manly for a stroll and lo and behold there was the exact wallpaper plastered up on the wall of a cafe we walked by. These sorts of coinkidinks happen to me ALL the time that.. I don't know what to make of it but they always reinforce pleasing everyday things in my life.

W.A.L.L.P.A.P.E.R.

We went and saw The King's Speech up at the picture theatre, loved the film and drooled over all the 1930s wallpaper!

 

An amazing wallpaper I have stumbled upon in my internet travels are these beautiful palm fronds! I found it over at Fine Little Day and you can source this wallpapaer from here. If only we had some free wallspace in our little flat.. perhaps when we move to Berlin!

 

 Here are some of the variations of palm fronds available.

Beautiful, aren't they!

Shadow box project

 

This is a homewares display that I did as a project in my VM class. The bottom sketch / collage is what I envisaged my concept to look like. I really love visual merchandising, it's like creating a 3D painting with physical elements and the principles are exactly the same - line, direction, rhythm, colour, shape, size, proportion, dominance, texture, tone, contrast, harmony, balance, unity.. although I didn't get full marks for this project, I'm always very eager to hear feedback and play around with the elements again (and again and again) and see if it works better. It's much easier than reworking paint!

The Cheese Shop

I have a new gig doing the visual merchandising for my local cheese shop, very excited about it. I installed the window display yesterday peddling cheese wedding cakes and the lovely owner told me that already a few people have come into the shop querying about them from seeing the display. I love it when things work. I'm already cracking onto ideas for the my next display there in a month's time for Easter.

Bondi to Bronte coastal walk collage

I'm all for collages. Firstly I find them quick and easy to whip up and secondly I like the unassuming handmade quality they take on. This particular one I made was for the annual Sculpture By the Sea exhibition at Bondi. I was a gallery assistant one year for Sculpture Inside (where the maquettes are exhibited in the Bondi and Tamarama surf clubs) and they were in need of informing the folk how to get to each club. This is what I came up with as a solution (minus the big red dots marking A to B and logos etc) however Sculpture By the Sea didn't have it within the budget to print a few thousand of them... oh well, at least I knew how to get from A to B.

Upcycled Goodness

 A little while ago I purchased these beautiful English upcycled plates from here. I think they are rad! I'd love to make some simple 70s style, bold coloured crocheted doilies up on the wall to boot.. Like these porch doilies. 

Yes.. LOVE.

Crafternoon

So over a long leisurely lunch with our bubs, my matey Ness and I decided we would do a market stall in a wee while. I rushed home all motivated and whipped these little pictures up. Hope you like.

Beyond the magellanic clouds.. are geometric patchworks!

Yong-joo Marbot's Moonlight IV  paints reference to the wonderful Paul Klee, floating geometric shapes yet serendipitously stirred with elements from space = a most delightful combination. Drool! More here.

Colourful lights in the sky

Rumour has it that 2011 is the year the aurora is likely to show it's true colours after a mild hiatus. Something to be very excited over.. I'm ready!