i didn’t manage to get lost and need to hold someone’s hand. but i did have a lot of fun. even with all the rain and mud.
see you next year golden plains.
golden plains
March 10th, 2010the bad and the good
March 4th, 2010FIVE (more) BAD THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS PAST WEEK -
1. i had a major email faux pas. you know when you are writing an email to your best friend at about 12.30 am, and you need to send them someone’s email, so to find that email you write it in the cc box, so that it pops up, and you can copy and paste it into the email? and then you continue to write that email, write some not very nice things about that same person in the cc box (after all, this is a private-best-friend-type-email, not a public forum), and then proceed to send it, without deleting the email from the cc box? yeah, well that. so bad. so so so bad.
2. ari started to drop the “f” word. completely in context too. he just has to sense a little bit of tension going on and then out it pops with a big smile on his face. it is so very hilarious/shocking/disturbing coming from a 2 year olds mouth. and in an effort not to encourge it we have to run into another room so we can explode in a fit of laughter. but it definitely eases any tension on the spot.
3. i have been looking at kittens on the internet. now that tyke is getting close to being 7 and ari is also pretty sorted and entering the hyper-cute-toddler-stage (swearing aside), thoughts of a third child start to creep into my head. we have already decided no more for many reasons, and in reality i am absolutely positively fine with this decision. but then occasionally i do suffer from daughter envy (not that i would change my boys for the world)… and off it goes again. so i start looking for kittens on the trading post instead. girl ones. and it does tend diminish any third child thoughts i have straight away.
4. no internet. i know i already complained about this, but just thought i would re-inforced how bad it really was. did i mention we also ran out of toner, and needed to print lots of invoices. i know its not really so bad, but combined with no internet it really did makes us feel like the most dysfunctional amateur studio in the world.
5. our webstore still isn’t up. thats all i am saying about that for now. otherwise i might cry virtual cyber tears. and you dont want to see that.
FIVE (really) GOOD THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN THE PAST WEEK (or two) -
1. support scent launch. i have been donating my services and working with clemenger on their charity project for the guide dogs association. they have teamed up with kit to create “support scent” – a perfume you can buy for $5, with the idea being that if you buy a wristband or ribbon or usual charity support wear then a blind person cant see your support. however, if you wear perfume they can smell it. its pretty genius. i designed the flower logo and packaging and helped with other bits too. more details here, and you can you can become a facebook friend via website too.
2. built by wendy spring collection. it looks so nice. we made these prints for it
3. i brought some nice beads. i am currently a little bead-obsessed, and was pretty excited to find these gems. wooden beads from savers ($6 and strung on shoelace – love it), blue lapis geometric beads from etsy
4. i met isobel knowles. we have had a few emails back of forth over the years, but this time i actually got to meet her in person. she is lovely and self-assured and talented and also currently has an animation installation “you were in my dream” (with van sowerwine) on at experimenta utopia nova until the march 14. it looks amazing. i cant wait to go - apparently has been a huge success so if you are thinking of going weekdays are best.
5. the beatbox is going to golden plains. and i am going too! well for saturday night anyway. am wondering how i will cope with this being my first over-night festival experience (at the ripe old age of 37). leah is quite an experienced festival-over-nighter and surely is well sick of me asking her stupid questions like “what should i wear?”, “do i need to bring shampoo?” “if i accidentally take drugs and get lost can you hold my hand?”.
although i am working in the beatbox (international food court – come and say hi!!), am still hoping to catch a bit of dinosaur jr so i can re-live my high-school days. might even top the nostalgia off by smoking some cigarettes (not drawing back of course) and wearing black tee-bars. cant wait.
under the pillow
March 2nd, 2010thanks so much for the nice comments and emails i received after my last miserable post. and actually, things didn’t get much better after that. ari was sick for the second time in three weeks, which meant he was sleepless and grumpy. subsequently i had a lot of work i couldn’t get to, which also made me sleepless and grumpy. raph was stressed about no time/sleep and having to run a bizillion business’s whilst beatbox is in full effect (he generally works 18 hrs days in the beatbox). tyke was grumpy because everyone else was no fun. and then… our internet got cut off!!! and still is. which has once again left me wondering how the hell did i run a business/survive/do anything without email and the world wide web? its driving me crazy.
on a brighter note, family life has now calmed down. everyone is healthy (knock on wood) and being much nicer to each other. i have been making lots of new work which i am very happy with (including some tee-prints for japanese company GAS!). i also had a nice picture come out in frankie. unfortunately as i still have no internet and am currently typing this from a friends house down the road (thanks lou! champ!) i cant show as yet.
but i did want to do a quick post to mention this exhibition by yoko georgiou which opens tonight -
under the pillow! so cute!! i talked about yokos work previously here. her partner olie sent me this sneak preview. check out her amazing use of colour!!
if are in prahran area you should really check it out. so nice!!!
there are actually a ton of other shows to check out at the moment too. will post about when i am back in the land of the functioning-internet. I CAN NOT WAIT!!!
an nice end to my not-so-great week
February 20th, 2010my past week sucked. my problems were all work-related. there has been a hold-up on a job i am working on which left me in limbo (i hate being in limbo). i un-intentionally put a new friend whom i very much admire in a professionally awkward spot. i did a pitch for a job and did it badly, and knew it was bad, and still submitted it, and then felt terrible, like i let a lot of people down. and i had a major cannellini bean recipe failure too. the whole week just felt like a mess.
but last night i went to an opening at hell gallery and saw some of my favourite people (and babies) who also told me their weeks were not so good. then i got to look at some great drawings, eat raph’s burgers (beatbox was there!), drink beer in the park and watch the pink clouds in the sunset sky while my kids were happily going crazy in the playground. it made everything feel a million times better. amazing what a night away form the computer in the last of summer twilight can do.
this morning we also discovered this gigantic zucchini in our garden. i am going to slice it length-ways and fry in a pan with olive oil and add lemon juice, fresh chopped mint, parsley, oregano and serve it with goats feta. yum.
scratch it
February 17th, 2010
scratch and sniff sticker collection via nothing is new (hands down my fav RSS feed in my inbox). more sticker collections here. have a had quick look but cant wait to explore in detail… i have a feeling its going to be a loooooooong night.
justine clarke project and other new things
February 16th, 2010late last year (on christmas eve, to be precise) i was asked if i was interested in art directing the new justine clarke’s 3rd CD and DVD release (titled “great big world“). for those of you who don’t know justine clarke, she is an australian actress who has been in many films and tv series, is often on playschool, and also has a solo career singing songs for kids. she was also in mad max 3.
in the past we have helped justine with some merchandise through tiny mammoth, and she had been a joy to work with. and i always love to work on kid-related stuff, and wanted to try my hand at art directing – so i said yes.
we have just finished the artwork for the CD (see cover below – released through ABC in april), and are now finishing the concepts for the 15 film clips on the DVD. yes, that’s right, for my first venture into film and animation i am making not one, but fifteen film-clips. i don’t like doing things in halves. and am quite willing to hand over my sanity for the next few months.
other goings on in the studio this week – we have been helping my favourite coffee retailer and cafe seven seeds with some invites for an event they have coming up at the melbourne food and wine festival (you can read more about their event here) we decided to gocco them all on thick poster board… ink didnt like the stock very much and it took all day but we are quite happy with the results. hopefully will be doing a few bits and pieces for seven seeds this year. unfortunately (or probably fortunately) i dont get paid in coffee.
this week i also once again entered the strange world that is feminine hygiene marketing. i have been there before and its been in interesting experience. who knew that guiding a females pad or tampon choice was so complicated. believe me it is. i cant say much more than that for now, hopefully can show/write about it more in the near future. has been fun. and weird. very weird.
and one last thing – the beatbox kitchen website is now up! includes a calender showing which events we will be at in the near future (including good vibrations this saturday) and some other good stuff too – www.beatboxkitchen.com
peachy for your valentine.
February 10th, 2010
today i put together a special valentine’s dish (titled “vanilla peaches hearts raspberry fool“), which has just gone up on three thousand. you can see the recipe here. my recipe is the first to be featured in a new series titled “celebrity non-chef”. available on three thousand every tuesday from now on.
look what arrived on my desk last week…
February 9th, 2010
the new built by wendy book! was pretty satisfying to see all our illustrations in place for a third time around. cover worked out quite nicely too. it is officially out in the US tomorrow – you can pre-order from amazon, and also from BBW site, but a little birdy told me it might also be available locally at metropolis books in the near future.
here are some of our fav drawings we made for the book -
and also speaking of online shopping… dare i say it… we have been testing our online store this week and all the cyber-space gremlins that have been causing us much grief have been chased away, so it is now very close to being live. perhaps i have said similar things in the past, but this time it is for real! once its up will be sure to post. possibly even with a little giveaway as well.
and if you are looking for some kitchen accessory envy/inspiration (as i always am), check out lisa cogdon (of rare device, SF) amazing cathrineholm collection on dwell. her plate display (and pretty much everything else) is great too. (via the lovely seesaw designs)
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risographica!
February 3rd, 2010
i am proud to announce that this week i will have work in my first jacky winter group show at JW gallery Lamington Drive. the show is titled “RISOGRAPHICA” and features many of the very talented JW artists (including the amazing we buy your kids, who are fast becoming my fav local act). all the prints are A3, editions of 25 and are selling for a tres cheap $50! also a percentage of all sales will be donated to Medecins Sans Frontiere (Doctors without Borders) for the haiti crisis – so many good reasons to check it out. Opening night is this thurs 4th feb 6-9pm @ Lamington Drive – 89 George St, Fitzroy. Exhibition runs 5th feb – 20th feb. more info here.
here are the 2 prints i have in the show (although please note these are the illustrator files – not finished product). they are titled “as day”(top) and “follows night” (bottom).
on the opening night lamington drive will also be announcing their exhibition schedule for the rest of 2010 (you might just see my name up there…)
in other news this week that school bell finally did ring (HOORAH!) and things in the studio were starting to feel productive and normal again for a few minutes, and then poor little ari got sick. ah kids… gotta love ‘em. but despite this i have been thrown out of my previous starting-the-year-doldrums and into full working action by a new project that we will be working on for the next two months. not sure when i will receive the all clear to tell-all by the powers that be, but i can say it’s something for kids, involves a lot a character design and working with an animator. i think its going to be a good one.
ALSO a quick thank-you to anyone who waited in the very long line to eat from beatbox kitchen at laneway festival! aside from the fact there were only 5 food vendors to feed 8,000 of you, it was our most successful event to date and your patience was very much appreciated!!
ciao for now x
* UPDATE! UPDATE! beatbox kitchen will now also be at the opening of risographica! will be the first time our much tried and tested burgers will be available to the public! (will still be shroom burgers and fries for vegos). dont mind the rain – come and enjoy!
botanic gardens visit
January 25th, 2010today we took advantage of the last of the freedom of school holidays and the perfect weather and visited my favourite place in the CBD – the royal botanic gardens.
the last one is our very perfect picnic spot. the second last one is from the ian potter childrens garden – we usually spend a lot of time there but today the interactive water feature was in action. was the first time we have experienced it and was absolute paradise for tyke and ari (there were many many leaf boats made, sailed and sunk). despite my warnings tyke came out saturated when we left. water sporadically spurting out of the ground was just too much temptation for a 6 yr old. if you haven’t visited you should add it to your “to-do-in-melbourne” list. its well worth it. and free too!
tomorrow i am celebrating australia day by working with/for raph in beatbox kitchen, which will be serving its goodness at the big day out (we have added frites with 4 different sauces to our menu!). its my first venture into hospitality and i am mildly freaking out. if you are one of the 53,000 peeps going we will be in the lily-pad (over 18’s area – sorry kids) – come say hi and laugh at me burning myself and possibly swearing profusely (although am thinking of sneaking off to see dizzee later in the evening). beatbox will also be serving at laneway festival on saturday.
i’m off to sticker a few thousand frites cones – ahhh the glamour and excitement of small business….