Beci Orpin’s Blog

well, it’s been a rather eventful 2 and half weeks. equal parts strange and amazing. i feel like have barely had time to breathe, let alone sit down and write a blog post. but now i do, so strap yourself in for one extra wordy post (or go to your next bookmarked blog now – i promise i wont be offended).

first of all, last saturday, i gave a talk organised by tess maccabe at the creative womens circle (tess’s work is so great, btw). i met loads of nice ladies and felt like it went well, and came home feeling you know, pretty great really. but, a few hours later, we had a very bizarre incident where i found a homeless guy wondering around our house smoking a cigarette. when i asked him what he was doing here he said he was from another planet and had built this house and needed to stay here. “ok” i said, alarm bells going off in my head  ”but you can’t smoke in my house”, and escorted him outside and tried to help him.

he was desperately confused and could barely put a sentence together (although he did know a lot about living on another planet), and after trying to help him for 10 mins and him continuously trying to get back into my house, i ended up having to call the police. although slightly scary, above all it was strange and sad, and all i can think is how could you possibly exsist being in a state like that, day in, day out? i’m sure he had meds somewhere, but how could he even remember when to take them, where they were? where is the help for these people?

another event, which has been a little overwhelming to say the least – my search for an assistant. since my last blog post i received over 90 enquiries for job descriptions and over 40 applications! WOWZERS! i honestly had no idea their were so many talented folk out there who would consider working for me?! applications have now well and truely closed – thanks to all who have applied. it has turned out to be a full-time job just sorting through all the folios, and if you have not heard from me, you will soon.

some other good things that have been happening:

i became an auntie! raph’s bro rudin and his lovely lady brooke gave birth to baby zedrin last week. in true rashid form, he is a total champ, and we are all besotted – especially tyke and ari, who are so excited they finally have a first real blood cousin. everytime we visit tyke can’t keep his hands off him – its very sweet indeed. i am planning on kissing and squishing and spoiling him to bits everytime i see him (as every good auntie should).

we found a ladybird nest in our backyard – there is not much better than finding a few dozen ladybirds crawling around your backyard on a sunny winters day. for me anyway. nature is the best.

i finished a great job for NAB: it’s a book given to kids when they open a bank account, about how to save money. the above is a small sample (more soon – we are updating our site). it was one of those unbelievable jobs where everytime i submitted work the feedback was  ”perfect” (thanks JW for hooking it all up – you guys rule!). it’s also the closest i have got to achieving my most long-standing dream of illustrating a children’s book. hopefully there will be more of that in the future.

pop-up shop and open studio at harvest workroom: starts on wednesday (22nd), and will co-incide with my mobile workshop next weekend. the pop-up shop will have all things from my beci orpin line and also some prints and will be open every day 12-4 (except for the weekend when the workshop is). i will also be in residence at the harvest workroom for 10 days (or there-abouts), creating new work based around folk tales with paper and screen-printing. its the first time in ages i will be making every thing by hand – i’m not even bringing my design security blanket (the computer)! scarey! i will be having a little work-in-progress opening the following wednesday (29th), (but only if the work turns out good) more details next few days (or email me for info before then).

that’s about it for now. thanks for reading the wordiness. enjoy your weekend!