Featured Gem 17
Real Photo Postcard

‘Fairy Royalty’

Date: Unspecified
People: Unidentified
Studio: Unspecified
Postcard Back: Blank

Notes: Ths photograph isn’t giving away its secrets. I don’t know a lot about this image…who are they? Where are they? When was it? This image really is something special and tells a story none the less. I adore the girl’s headpiece with the flowery tendrils. Such magical costumes and such a perfect pose. I also like the tree, shadows and vines on the building in the background.

Last week I treated myself and flew up to Canberra for the opening of an exhibition called cut.paste at the ANCA Gallery. I’ve got two A3 digital collage fine art prints on display, and it was exciting to be included alongside such a talented bunch of collage artists. I also reworked my zine concept and have a few ‘cut.paste’ limited editions available at the gallery for purchase. It was lots of fun! If anyone wants to go along and see the exhibition, it’s on for another week. The programme/catalogue (above) is also in the style of a zine and was compiled by the lovely and talented Narelle Phillips (who really should have her own blog!).

Above is one of my collages, ‘Tiny Town’. I had it printed on some lovely Hahnemuhle Torchon paper and I am so pleased with how it turned out. Look below! There are my two prints on the left, hanging next to some gorgeous pieces by Rebecca Hanrahan and Elizabeth Faul.

It was an absolute treat to escape from the little ones for a brief stint (Yes, an entire night of uninterrupted sleep, late checkout and a scrummy breakfast! Whoooop!) . After the opening, Narelle and I headed off to the ‘Parlour Wine Room‘ for the most delicious tapas style feast! The day after, I managed to do the touristy thing and do some of the major galleries. Unfortunately the soft sculpture show had ended the week prior at the National Gallery, but there was a great little exhibition called ‘Reinventions: Sculpture and Assemblage’ which is on until mid September and features work by artists such as Rosalie Gascoigne and Robert Klippel. I followed that up by my first visit to The National Portrait Gallery to see the Vanity Fair  Portraits show. It was fabulous!

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I then decided I was on a roll (ignoring my tired feet!) and visited the National Museum of Australia for the first time, where I thoroughly enjoyed the revolving ‘Circa‘, seeing so many treasures from our past first hand and reading so many fascinating and intriguing individual stories.

Ahhhh what fun. I was so inspired by the time I flew home!

Hey! First post for the…err…ummm *cough* year??

I thought I might sneak back into the blogosphere while noone was looking. I’m not 100% sure what’s going to happen here yet….but let’s just go with it and see!

Thought I’d ease myself back in with a little op shopping loot!

I have been hoarding a lot of clothes for the girls. These are a few of my favourites….Oilily winter dress, ‘See Saw’ Marino woollen jacket, Fred Bare dress.

And as usual I couldn’t resist a few lovely little vessels…

…or for some reason this wool. I’ve also collected a few vintage knitting and crochet books and patterns lately…now if only I knew a) how to knit or crochet and b) had the time to learn! Knitting/crochet lessons for Photoshop/digital collage tutorials anyone?

Life’s much more hectic with two than I ever imagined. Trying to balance work and family and have some ‘me’ time in between sometimes feels impossible. So many things I want to do. Not enough time. Isn’t that always the way?

The girls are just lovely! Eloise is such a delight and so funny… a 24/7 stage show. Pantomime and song and dance non stop here lately. She’s big on audience participation! She’s also all abuzz with the idea of starting school next year. School!?? How can that be possible? And little Caitlin…the words are starting to flow and she’s growing into such a sparkly treasure who loves to snuggle. Although she’s only 18months, she’s trying really hard to be four and Eloise is gladly teaching her the ropes. Trouble! But oh so delicious!

Phew that wasn’t so hard! I can’t believe I have procrastinated and put off posting for 8 months!!

I need to dust off the cobwebs, have a Spring mid Winter clean up and start those posts flowing more frequently. I have a truckload of rescued treasures and stuff that I need to photograph and scan. Lots of books, photos and websites and fun things to share. And a few exciting projects in the works which I will divulge details of soon! Maybe even a little bit of creating!!

I’ll try not to leave it so long….honest!!

What the almost four year old and I got up to whilst the littlest one was sleeping (yes sleeping in the daytime!! Shhhhh don’t jinx me!)

We don’t really ‘do’ Halloween here in Australia (despite the retailers ramping it up this year, and the abundance of US children’s television). The mere mention of Halloween gets a very mixed reaction amongst adults…..so trick or treating is out of the question unless it’s secretly arranged with friends and neighbours. So we’re finding a middle ground and taking these to playgroup this afternoon. Eloise is itching to wear her witches hat. She has her cauldron, magic wand, sparkly shoes and fairy wings ready to go (she’s a good witch she tells me)!!

Have an awesome Halloween everyone (especially you Auntie Kelly!!!)

Featured Gem 16
Real Photo Postcard

‘Seeing Stars’

Date: 1909
People: Unidentified
Studio: Unspecified
Postcard Back: Blank

Notes: I recently purchased a series of twenty odd postcards that had unfortunately already been removed from an old album. Apparently there was a message on the front of the album that read: “To The Mayoress with H Jenkins compliments. 1909 A souvenir of the Childrens Fancy Dress Ball”

Gem Prints: High quality reprints of images featured will soon be available for purchase. If you’ve enquired about previous images, and are patiently waiting for me to get back to you, I will be in touch when I have worked out the finer details!