it goes without saying this was a GIGANTIC honour for me. i have loved and admired third drawer down since the beginning – their endless list of amazing collaborators has never ceased to amaze me (mike mills pillowcases too – whaaat?!!). plus their shop museum of art souvenirs is one of my melbourne (actually wolrdwide) favs.

you can buy the pillowcases online here and also at the third drawer down store (and maybe some other places too). one day i might have them for sale on my webstore as well. one day after this book is finished that is.

i also have one set to giveaway! please leave a comment below before midnight saturday (EST) and i will draw the lucky winner over the weekend.

* GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! thanks for all who entered!

once upon a time, actually up until not that long ago (say a few months), working late nights didn’t bother me. yes, it was a bit of an effort to get back into the studio after the extraordinarily long nightly process of putting my children to bed, but once i was working and in the flow it was ok. and for the past 20 years or so, i was good on 5 or 6 hours sleep for days on end. i am finding this is no longer the case. now – i get tired, i get grumpy, i get emotional. i’d go so far as to say i get downright crazy.

i also end up looking terrible. i got away with dark circle’s under my eyes for a while – it was cool in my 20’s and early 30’s: some kind of badge of honour from my play hard/work hard ethic. but i’m finding the dark circles fast lose their cool appeal once combined with a small amount of wrinkles, and also quite a bit of puffiness. (btw i’m not one to worry about wrinkles – bring it on along with magic grey hair i say).

anyway, with my unwillingness to give up my extra days with ari (he is just too much fun, and i lose those days forever next year), and with a lot more work to go on my book, plenty of late nights lie ahead.

on the up-side, i do get an occaisional sleep-in, and even when i don’t, the kids often sleep til 7.30 anyway (blissful after years of 5-6am). plus there is the satisfaction of getting lots done – that feeling is hard to beat.

and also, rewards. i’m big on rewards in times like these. they don’t have to be expensive (although some of them are), more small luxuries and indulgences that makes facing those nights a little easier.

here are some of the things keeping me going at night:

pat and stick’s ice-cream sandwiches: have you tried these? oh-my-fucking-god. that’s all i’m going to say.  i discovered them late last year – at the time they were far away from my local grocer. but now, my grocer has them. the vanilla lace is my favourite. i try and limit myself to one per week. but i may have just ordered a multi-pack. this combined with my steady supply of green and black’s butterscotch chocolate, and my love of gooey cheese is danger. i will possibly be quite a few kg’s heavier by the time i finish this book.

sight unseen paper view: i’ve raved about this site before and it still remains a favourite. their book is as good as the site – if not better. it arrived just at a time when i was needing an inspiration boost and it delivered it hard and fast. for sale here.

PAM semi-freddo cardi: yes, PAM again – i’m sorry, i can’t stop. and beside’s – my studio is freezing and amazingly designed cardi’s are an essentail for long colder nights in front of a computer. i collected this one last week and it’s become my favourite go-with-prettty-much-everything piece. available from someday. also in curtin house pet shop girls has been another rewards shopping spot of late – so good.

nice tea: ahhh tea. my invigorator, my savoiur. when all else fails you come through and give me at least another 30 mins. current favourite is earl grey from T2, followed closely by a selection of japanese green teas from different places. as yet i don’t own this muuto cup to fill with my tea. it’s high on my late-night-reward list though.

exhibitions: sometimes being tired makes staying up late counter-productive. usually that time is late in the afternoon. so instead of getting flustered and achieving nothing, a change of scenery can do wonders. i visited mr.kitly’s current exhibition “group work” on one of these recent flustered afternoons and i loved it so much – it changed my mood quick smart (more info here and here).  i’m also looking forward to checking out the hungry workshop’s ‘trophy lives‘ show this friday evening.

grimes: raph usually has me on a steady flow of new music, but it’s nice when i find music myself. i happened upon grimes through eirian chapman’s blog (thank-you!) and immediately downloaded her new album. i love her kooky girly tones and her wardrobe and her washed-out rainbow hair in this filmclip too. i’m finding it to be good late night working music, especially as i can pretend i’m in a disco instead.

one of my easiest / most accessible rewards: writing this blog! i miss it when i don’t get to do it. so, thanks for reading and being part of my late-night-rewards program. any other rewards suggestions (especially non-sugary/fat-laden food ones) welcomed. xx

… shit has been busy. yes, i know i proclaimed back here that year was going to be less busy, but at the moment it’s not working out like that. for good reason too. some things i’ve been up to:

* my trip to sydney for the opening of megan morton’s ‘the school‘. we were treated to a class on how to make flowerbombs with hollie hipwell. as you would expect from MM the school is nothing short of perfect, and the class was super dooper fun (and pretty). i got to meet lexi there too which was equally as fun. also in sydney, i also visited my friend Di’s beautiful place for breakfast (teal wall, cerise couch – how could i not take a sneaky photo?).

* it was easter and school holidays. i failed miserably at holidays this time. yes we did a few things: attending sebo’s annual easter egg hunt was one, but i was light-on with the organisation of playdates and other activities to amuse tyke. he would have happily spent his whole holidays on his ipod and playing minecraft, and even though this was a tempting solution for me too, i just could not watch that happen (much), so spent a lot of my time throwing non-screen suggestions his way while i madly wrote emails and scrambled through deadlines. not fun, for either of us.

* raph was on the circle! although this will come as no surprise to some – raph has been getting press left right and centre lately. between the melbourne magazine’s top 100, articles in the finincial review and pretty much any other type of printed matter he has been a downright media whore in the past 12 months. thank-god he works hard and his food is delicious and all the hype is well-deserved.

* new tee-shirt samples of prints i made for irony summer collection arrived. they look so nice. i love japanese printing so much.

* massive amounts of activity in the studio – cleaning, organising, cutting, painting, photographing.. all for the good reason i was talking of above. my big news (drumroll) - i’m working on a book! a big book. not just showing my work, more showing how i work, and other things too. it’s exciting/stressful/amazing/overwhelming all at once, and needless to say taking up a lot of my time, so please do excuse me if blog posts are few and far between the next few months. i’ll try and keep updated as much as possible (and if not, there’s always my instagrid. apparently instagram is the new blog anyway)

one more thing: i’m speaking at field trip on friday. as per usual, the thought of public speaking is making me want to vomit, and i’m kicking myself for agreeing to do it, but even if i suck the i the conference will be amazing. tickets available here.

but, there is a lot to report. the above mentioned  insane deadlines were quick jobs for telstra, virgin airlines and a new NY based magazine (thanks JW). i also went to the opening of megan morton’s ‘the school‘, which was amazing, and worthy of it’s whole own blog post a bit later. and possibly the most exciting thing: receiving samples of my favourite job to date.

it was orchestrated through the geniuses at GAS in japan, and involved 6 female artists designing a range of sweets (and accompanying packaging) for isetan department store. designing sweets? SWEETS! it was well and truly  a dream come true – chocolates, jellies, cookies and a few other things in between:

it all turned out so beautifully. you can read an interview with me on the project here, as well as with the other ladies involved in the project too (make sure you check out emily forgot - my new favourite! nice blog too).

my only problem now: what to do with the many boxes of sweets sitting on my desk. surely you can’t archive chocolates? surely you have to eat them instead?

i felt very privileged to have an insight into kirra’s working process - on a few occcasions i visited her at harvest while she was screen-printing away in the wee hours of the morning. seeing both kirra’s want for perfection, and the amazing amount of consideration and detail which went into producing each print was one of the most inspiring things i have come across in a long, long time.

total control by kirra jamison: window space at craft victoria, 31 findlers lane, melbourne, until march 31st. the prints are also available for sale through craft victoria. you can  read a nice interview with kirra on the craft victoria blog (such a good blog btw). (above photos courtesty of kirra, harvest blog and craft vic blog)

and just in case being talented and lovely was not enough, kirra also runs a food blog called keke. it’s full of nice stories and yum things to cook and eat (she even takes good photos. ridiculous).

and now, back to me. last week was a week of much running around and not much actual work going on. fun for a change. we had a photoshoot at our house which took a few days of cleaning and preparation, but at least it looked pretty good for half a day (back to its usual chaos now of course), and i got to buy somethings i’ve been lusting after for a long time. more on that soon.

some other goings on: if you missed it, lucy posted a little insight to my wardrobe on the design files. i was also interviewed on australian infront today about field trip. and in the studio this week, i’m starting on something big. nail-bitingly big. the biggest ever. ever. it’s going to take up the next 3 months and i’m scared but also excited. i’ll update all about it when i can. bonsoir til then x

1. field trip: jacky winter don’t sleep. in between adding a whole new section to their ever expanding creative suite of peeps and starting a consultancy business, jeremy has also curated a pretty amazing conference – field trip. there will be more expansive post on this in the near future (as i am one of the speakers. gulp), but for now, it’s just about the artwork – which i was lovingly asked to do in a 3 day turn around. but, you know, i don’t mind a bit of pressure, so it all went well, and i’m pleased with results. plus who could resist a brief where i got to draw my favourite tools of the trade and put faces on them too? more details on the conference here.

2. poster for stonefield: i actually designed this end of last year. i think it’s being sold as a print, i’m not exactly sure by where or by whom (useful much?), but i really liked it so i wanted to put it out there. and if you don’t know, stonefield is an all-girl band made up of four (very young and talented) sisters from country victoria. if rock is your thing you should check them out. they are pretty kick-ass.

3. artpark journal: i was asked by all-around-ace mr.paul mcneil to submit something for artpark journal #3. no brief, just whatev’s. this is what i did. you can get a copy of artpark journal at various places around the traps, and also through their webstore. it’s FREE (although you do have to pay a tiny postage fee if you get it online).

4. “geometrical” gocco print: i made this for the homemakers market last weekend at the richmond weekender (which was so nice btw). it’s the most multi-coloured of gocco prints i have ever attempted, and i’m liking it’s vibe. it’s an edition of 20 (8 on craft paper, 12 on white paper), they are just over A6 size and priced at $17. i have a few left, if anyone out there is interested please email me.

in other news… this weekend i’m making my annual pilgrimage to golden plains. can’t wait. i’ll be working the till in the beatbox on sunday (mostly likely in a desperately hangover state), so please come and visit if your around (taco truck will be in attendance too!). happy weekend!

this saturday, i am having a stall at the homemakers market at the richmond weekender. this market, although small, is like no other so far, and features my most favourite melbourne business’s – mr. kitly, cibi, mr lincoln, sticky fingers bakery, tokyo bike, just to name a few. to be honest i’m feeling quite intimidated.

so i’ve made some new cushions featuring amazing fluro yellow fabric i found in savers (picture below, although doesn’t show it’s pure awesomeness as i hoped), and am contemplating making some new prints too. plus i’ll be selling my new journals, and lots of other bits and pieces from my existing collection as well. the space will also include food at graham canteen, (run by the cavellero gents), and it’s all being housed in the partially shelled old channel 9 buildings (ie – amazing).

homemakers market: saturday 3rd of march, from 10am – 3pm. 22 bendigo street, richmond. more details here.

in other news, i have joined instagram and am whole-heartly obsessed.  if you would like to see even more snippets of my work and daily life (as below), my user name is beciorpin.

and because that was just not enough distraction for me, i have also joined pintrest. you can see my boards here.

new work update coming soon… lots of great things to show!

although we have at least a month of warm days left, summer officially ends next week. in a town where our erractic weather is often the topic of conversation, we managed to score a pretty perfect one, full of blues skies and hot-but-not-too-hot days, with a few thunderstorms thrown in for good measure.

so far it’s been filled with the usual fun this season brings – BBQ’s, parties, beach, swimming, jenga, adventure’s with friends and many drinks. tyke got to see his favourite band play at his first festival, ari learned to swim properly, raph perfected and fed us many new recipes, and i got to relax with a capital R. and for this first time i felt there was lots of kids around. i liked that a lot.

a few cooler, darker mornings reminiscent of autumn are creeping their way in now, which i love, but i will be sad to see this summer end.

first studio ghibli’s new movie “arrietty”. i can’t quite describe my love for studio ghibli. the ins and outs and dark-sides and light-sides of their animation provides me with endless inspiration. ‘my neighbor totoro‘ and ‘spirited away‘ are two of my long-standing favourite movies, and visiting the ghibli museum in tokyo was definitely one of my favourite travel experiences to date (that place is THE BEST!). and today, thanks again to madman, i have 5 family passes (2 adults, 2 children) to the new studio ghibli film arrietty, based on the children’s classic “the borrowers” (you can watch the trailer here). i have neither read the borrowers, nor have i seen the movie. but, regardless, i know this movie will be nothing less than a delightful visual feast, and can’t wait to see it.

second – “the cranky bear” ipad app. now – this whole ipad thing is pretty new to me. we brought one as family christmas present in an effort to get the kids off our computers. in retrospect, this has not worked as well as we hoped, and we should have just brought them their own computer (although that just feels a tad excessive). but i must say i do love the ipad (especially the ebay app – that little chime when you have been outbid on something is genius).

amoungst the pages of game apps, i’ve been trying to encourage some reading type app’s too – and the cranky bear (written and illustrated by nick bland) has recently been developed into a super good one. along with all the bells and whistles that an ipad can bring to a picture book (animation, narration, interaction etc), it also features the voice of angus sampson as the cranky bear. you can check it out a sample here. thanks to my dear friend nat at wheelbarrow i have 2 free download’s of this to give away as well.

so – how am i going to do this double giveaway? if you are interested, just enter as per usual by leaving a comment, but please state if you would like to be in the draw for both or if not specify which one. also, please note – the movie passes are valid for australia only, but the download is available internationally. oh and the giveaway will close 5pm sunday, and winners notified soon after that. gosh hope that’s not all too confusing.

happy friday!

* Giveaway is now closed! thanks for those who entered! winners notified shortly

i would say i’m currently feeling a bit like a household slave.

but, apart from that, life has been good. we’ve been enjoying the summer days, and i’ve had some incredibly exciting emails appear in my inbox the past week.  i’ve also been treating myself to a few nice things here and there (as a reward for enduring slavery). here are some of them:

from the top:

- a new shelf. my studio has been in desperate need of more storage for a while now, so after an extensive search i fell in love with this one from codename tom (and it was on sale). i’m still in the slow process of re-arranging everything – a quick look of the top few shelves for now.

- pieces from some educational puzzles i brought from the oppy. not sure exactly what i will do with them, just rearranging them in different patterns on my desk is pretty good for the moment.

- vintage pennants: my new obsession. i brought the brunswick one for raph for his birthday (as part of my secret make raph’s-office-awesome plan), and i couldn’t resist anything that says “endless caverns”. from eBay.

- the best postcard in the world. a badly but beautifully hand-painted photo, with script that reads “ollie, age 12, 1913″. i can’t stop looking at it. from eBay again.

- a “room decorator”, i think from peru. the photo doesn’t do the colours justice – fluro pinks, minty greens, sulphury yellows. i have it hanging around my lounge room doorway and it makes me smile pretty much every time i walk under it.

- my new journals: “bear magic” and “lost girl”. i made them with ginkgo press (who made my last journals too). these are just samples for now, but i will have some on my webstore later in feb, and they will be for sale at other places too.

oh, there will still be a giveaway… soon! x