some exciting news – the first of my collaboration tees with gorman is now in store. the print is featured on gorman’s lovely soft organic cotton tee-shirts, and $5.00 of the sale price is being donated to friends of the earth. there will be another 5 prints coming out over the next few months. 

some more exciting news – the new lamington drive gallery opens tonight! the compound interest has moved from their cozy fitzroy quarters to an epic space in collingwood. the new space will feature not only lamington drive, but also jacky winter HQ, a retail shop (selling among other things, our products), a print and framing workshop, a motorbike restoration company, an architecture gallery and a 150 person cinema! i also heard whisper of a new cafe/deli opening there in near future too. could this be the curtin house of collingwood? 

the opening exhibition is from the very talented eamo donnelly and is titled “health food of a nation”. it apparently includes an awesome installation of vintage australian junk food ephemera. 

exhibition opening and new-building-warming is  tonight from 6pm-9pm, 19-25 keele st, collingwood. oh and the beatbox will be there serving burgers and other deliciousness too! what a night! cant wait!

i happened upon this book today from brunswick bound. am positively dying over how good it  is!! has definitely improved my week.

but, i was mistaken. first of all, both the girls who help us out with ari could not work this week. then, on his daycare days, ari got sick and stayed home instead. generally, i would compensate this type of situation with late working nights, but of course, after a long dry spell in my social life, this was the week when i had something on every night. then, our washing machine died, which spells d-i-s-a-s-t-e-r in our house. and its been freeeeeeeeezing in melbourne town – hail storms and snow on nearby hills – it feels like winter will never ever end. plus my computer is misbehaving and i fear also on the verge of death. (might be getting off track at this point, but if you’re going to whine, might as well do it properly)

and just to add the icing on my annoyance cake, i dragged a crying, coughing, spluttering, snotty ari (who also now has a very black eye), to the supermarket and was confronted with more than a few suspicious looks. the only thing stopping me from screaming ”it was a playground accident – OK?!”, was that i would then possibly look like a psycho who did hit their children. 

i guess to put it all in perspective, things definitely could be way more awful – all family is in check (no deaths or life-threatening situations) and on the whole relations are good. but regardless, the past few days have been filled with nothing but cold, frustration, nights of coughing and trips to laundromat. joy.

anyway, here are some things which have been fueling my desire to do what i do (despite my current circumstances):

office ttable stationary – my lovely sister came to vist this week bringing with her lots of these lovely things for myself (thanks em!). so beautiful it makes my heart ache

jason rosenburg’s studio tour on sight unseen – his use of colour is amazing (in his work and his studio). plus he is a self-admitted hoarder, likes to collect things off the ground and is “way into mushroom subculture”. he also says “it’s always nice to find an eames chair, but I’m much happier if I find, like, a pile of notebooks from 1975″. a person after my own heart

(pics: sight unseen and mr.rosenburg’s website)

for the birds by luke bartels and jeff canham - an exhibition of collaborative pieces at the curiosity shoppe in SF. i am doing whatever i can to try and own one of these – so clever! 

hello sandwich’s tokyo apartment -  our folk face cushion has never looked so lovely! how can one girl have so many great colour combinations in such a little space?  

i am rushing off to get some fluoro orange polka dot pillow cases right now, surely that will make everything better? 

hope you are having a good, frustration-free week x

took down our studio wall-collage to make way for a new one

brought/found fabrics to for new lounge room cushions

have one child with a black eye (ari – over-zealous climbing accident)

started re-organising raph’s office with bonnie (our awesome new helper!)

had much fun with cut paper

enjoyed a brief moment of sunshine (hurry up spring!) 

was spoilt with presents from raph – welcome home papa! we missed you xx

between single-parenting and work, there has been little time for much else, and i don’t have much to report (unless you want to hear about packing school lunches and my eternal struggle to get children places on time, which i am sure you don’t). we did manage a short field trip to the life in style tradeshow last week and i got to see some amazing things from pony rider, lark, via alley, world weave, made 590 and printink, which was inspiring to say the least.

i do have a few exciting projects yet to be confirmed, so more on that soon. but in the meantime here is a print i made last week. its a little hint to my new beci orpin collection - 

also special thanks to pete, who did work experience with us the past 2 weeks – such a champ! thanks pete!

in the meantime, we are still making the most of the mellow-ness and indulging in things such as a day-long field trip to the tim burton exhibition (drawings alone so amazing), updating our website (coming soon), spending 2 whole days just in my sketchbook, planning my new beci orpin range (out november!) and work for upcoming exhibitions, and a bit of pre-spring studio cleaning.

during this cleaning i have been going through some of my old sketchbooks. keeping sketchbooks is something which is really really important to me. apart from providing a cavalcade of un-used ideas, they can also tell pretty good stories about what happening in my life at the time.

i  generally have a couple sketchbooks on the go – a big one on my desk, and a bag-size one to take with me when i go out. the bag-sized one used to get a lot of use, mostly writing down ideas during tram trips, but these days with a chauffeur husband and my studio at home, catching public transport is somewhat of a rarity for me (in fact, sitting down for more than 30 minutes by myself and doing nothing is somewhat of a rarity for me), so that one is now a little neglected, and often replaced by a gigantic mental list instead (not anywhere as near effective).

when i travel overseas, i take a sketchbook too. although i don’t usually use it to “sketch” in as such, its more scrap book for stuff i find – flyers, bus tickets, a cicada wing from the park (don’t tell australian customs!), lolly wrappers etc. looking back, these ones hold some of the best memories. here are some pages from my travel sketchbooks from the past 12 years

ps thanks for all the great comments recently! so much appreciated!

this week the sept/oct issue of inside out magazine came out which happens to include a feature on our house, beatbox kitchen and our favourite melbourne spots (you can see some of the photos here). it was styled by the lovely and talented megan morton and photographed by equally talented and lovely jason busch. 

to be honest i was slightly terrified at the thought of our inner most sanctum being in print and so very public, but as i have been a fan of ms.morton’s work for while, i had absolute faith that she would do a great job of transforming our mostly hovel-like house into a inside out friendly condition.

when i saw at the photos i though they came up a treat, but i find it hard to look at them without thinking about the huge amount of junk that is concealed inside the kitchen cabinet, and the pile of washing that is sitting behind the kids bedroom door. but, i am really happy with how the whole article turned out, so big thanks to you megan (and of course to you jason), for turning a potentially terrifying experience into a very nice keepsake that we will treasure for long time.

lilly and jenn! tee shirts will be travelling the globe to US and germany. (and just so you know - we picked winners by numbering all the comments and pulling numbers out of a hat, well coffee cup to be precise). thanks so much for all those who left comments. i had no idea there would be so many and wish i could give a prize to you all! never fear – more giveaway action happening soon.

also… i have a top ten on meet me at mikes today. thanks pip!! you and your blog are wonderful!

this week i received the samples (thanks risa!) and was very very happy. first of all, the actual tee shirt is lovely – nice loose fit and scoop neck and made from super soft cotton. and then the print has come up exactly as i planned and also super soft as well.

i have 1 of each style to giveaway! hooray! simply leave a comment below and i will pick 2 at random. giveaway ends monday at 12pm.

happy friday!

as always after a holiday, i am finding it a bit tricky to adjust back into work mode. the studio is operating at a mellow pace right now, lots of nice smaller jobs but none of them very pressing, which meant last week i got to spend a few days re-organising the studio and re-planting and de-caterpillaring my much neglected vegie patch. i have also been spending my nights reading my book instead of in front of my computer – almost feels like i am still on holidays! although its been relaxing, i am such a sucker for punishment i would have preferred to have hit the ground running, and come straight back into a huge job and a some urgent deadlines. i like the perpetuation of that type of working. 

one good thing about the return to work after a holiday – i have plenty of inspiration (blog post on that soon) and a stack of new ideas. now i just need to stop procrastinating (and finish my book) and put them into action.

i do have a different type of work keeping me busy – single parenting. raph has driven the beatbox kitchen up to QLD for the epic splendour in the grass festival. to say i am jealous is an under-statement, but its equally as good to have some solo time with the kids. its also strangely liberating (for the first few days anyway. sure it will wear off soon). and what i am lacking in studio busy-ness i am making up for with house-work – i have been baking like my life depended on it and our washing situation has never been so organised (tyke actually has 4 pairs of folded matching socks in his top drawer at the moment – wonders never cease!).

when it comes to dinner though i am often stumped. unfortunately i am just not a baked-beans-on-toast kind of girl – i like to have a proper dinner every night. and working from home usually this is achieved. what-to-have-for-dinner discussions start early in the day and cooking commences soon after. raph and i share the cooking – he is a really really good cook and tends make more asian and meaty-type dishes. my cooking is more in the mediterranean/modern australian/comfort foods department. but when the pressure is solely on me, my cooking imagination suddenly disappears and we end up eating a pasta every second night.

so… i am looking for suggestions! we have one dietary requirement and that is we don’t eat pork. but other than we eat pretty much anything. well, ari can be still be a bit fussy, but he does well for an almost 3 yr old. if you have any child-friendly favourite recipe links i would love to see them.

also on a completely different note – i have a special giveaway planned in the next few days! stay tuned!