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
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.
i hate to start with another yet another whine, but these past 2 weeks i just cant keep up. we have been so busy day and night, weekday and weekend – i feel like i am scrambling to do anything and everything. there are a million emails/messages unanswered, the cupboards are empty, the washing is piling up a mile high (clothes and dishes), children are feeling neglected and i am feeling like there is no way on earth i am ever ever going to get it all done.
what has been making us so busy? well, there was the justine clarke film shoot, (which was a manic and amazing experience), a decent-sized freelance job for a major banking corporation (thanks jacky winter), delivery of tiny mammoth AW range into stores, on-going illustrations for a UK published DIY book (think bunnings catalogue’s, but a nicer, colour version) and not to mention artworks/preparations for my very-fast-approaching exhibition at lamington drive.
although i do love all my work equally, i have been most excited with the latter. i have titled the show “the infinite shape of rainbows”. all the works are going to be brightly-multi-coloured or black & white. i am also looking at opposites. so far its working out pretty well, and i have been producing pieces in a feverishly ecstatic state – often completely losing track of the time (oh look, its 1.35am, how did that happen?) who knows if this will translate into the pieces actually being any good, but at least i am having fun making them.
the show opens on the 15th of april – no doubt i will posting more in depth about it soon.
some other things that have been getting me through my busy-ness -
my sister sent me an awesome package -
she just moved from hong kong to seoul in the last week, and sent me this bunch of lovely korean-designed stationary to tempt me into visiting (not much tempting needed!). not only did this make me feel very happy, but also equally lame – i am totally crap at sending packages (owe you one too gini) and have had her birthday present waiting to be sent on my desk for 6 weeks now. she has just moved her whole life from one country to another and she can still get it together to send me an exceptionally thoughtful and very cute package. sigh. how did i miss out on those genes?
i met megan morton.
oh. my. god. what a lady. warm, heart-felt, hilarious, fascinating and not to mention ridiculously talented and enterprising. plus mother of 3 kids! she has a new blog and also a new book (above) out titled “homelove” through penguin.
sarah showed me this. sarah has been working in our studio on casual basis for a little while now. she is awesome and i am beginning to think we cant live without her. especially when she bring things like this into my life. if you are into english accents, cats talking and need a good laugh this is the video for you.
our house was featured on design files today -
once again thanks go out to lucy feagins – you and your blog does such great things for melbourne! and thanks also for making my house look nice, it was worth the 16hr clean-up (stayed like that for all of 20 mins once children were let back in…) also while at design files check out tinker by print inks beautiful new homewares range.
we went to raph’s nan’s 91st birthday. there are few things that make you feel better than a sunday lunch in the country on a beautiful autumn afternoon. we also went fishing here (tyke said it was the best day of his life!)
happy birthday dot!
my past few weeks have been distracted and domestic. i cant seem to get it together and start the year. just when i think things are starting to flow, i have a sudden urgency to hang out the washing or plan for dinner (even though its only lunchtime).
it’s also my first experience of having to amuse/distract tyke during what seems like eternal school summer holidays. we have been on a lot of outings, but i still have work to get done. i feel like i am constantly explaining to him that if i am going to work at home, it means i get to hang out with him more, but also means that sometimes he has to amuse himself (sans tv/computer/ds). he claims to understand and agree, but generally 10 minutes later will return to loitering around my studio with chants of ”i’m bored”. most of the time its easier to stop work and play rather than go through the increasingly tense conversation once again. i am loving spending all the extra time with him, but it doesn’t make for a very productive work practice.
here are some of the domestic things that we have been doing -
tending to my vegie patch - in august my dad transformed our small garden from a dirt patch with a concrete path to a very cute and much more user-friendly space complete with cubby house, sandpit, decking, grass and 2 raised vegie patches. my winter veg did great but our summer crop is even better. we have had zucchini’s (green and lebanese), beans (runner and butter), cucumbers (apple and lebanese) a-plently and are about to start picking corn and have some small pumpkins appearing on our massive pumpkin vine.
cooking – raph gave me the kitchen garden companion for christmas, which has inspired me to try lots of new recipes. my favs so far have been chicken curry with mint (from afor mentioned book), lamb cutlets with basil pea sauce (an old recipe from good weekend) and cabbage, mushroom and herb salad (from karen martini). both our digi camera’s are currently broken so unfortunately no photos of my culinary achievements. here is one from the kitchen garden companion of the chicken curry.
re-arranging – i am quite happy with this little corner in our studio.
the two new succulents and polka dot pot are from the amazing collectors corner, which was introduced to me by shauna. if you like succulents and would also like to buy some crystals, bonsai,fossils and possibly a dream-catcher at the same time, this is the place for you. its def worthy of a whole blog post in the near future.
dreaming of a renovation - so much so that i booked a first meeting with an architect friend to talk about possibilities. what we want to do is quite major (extra room upstairs, new kitchen/laundry/bathroom/living area downstairs) and i am not even sure that we can afford it, and if we can it wont happen for a few years… but having my dad helps the cause (he’s a builder) and i want to get the ball rolling so we stay inspired. here is one of the pictures i always go back to in the hope of one day having a functional, open plan, light-filled kitchen.
despite my complaining i have been getting some work done. this week i finished 2 prints for an upcoming jacky winter group show at lamington drive (details soon) and also here is a sneak peek at a paper collage i made for inside out’s 10th birthday issue.
still another 2 and a bit weeks until that school bell rings – anyone who has some home-office kid-amusing tips please let me know.
ari turned 2! i made chocolate blue dinosaur cake (ari’s request) for his party and coconut cake with passion fruit icing for his actual birthday. happy birthday to the one we like to call “thug life” – can you please stop growing up so fast?!
i finished the art direction for the new whitley album. artwork turned out a treat. here is new logo (much better than the old new logo).
I had really big email dramas that went on for 6 days. it not only affected my email but also my site and this blog (i notice my last post has disappeared somewhere into cyberspace? anyone seen it?). apart from the pure frustration of communications breakdown while trying to meet 2 deadlines – i discovered i am quite O.C.D when it comes to my email and cant survive more than 15 minutes without checking my inbox, so i was quite freaked out. and yesterday afternoon when it was fixed, more than 350 emails poured in. so awesome.
i wore my new favourite dress for the first time – the “noon day” dress from latest PAM collection. shauna.t really does design the best dresses. i wish i got a few so i never had to wear anything else.
wallpaper samples from pottok arrived in the mail. i will be the first to admit i am a geoff mcfetridge groupie. proper. just to get these samples was like touching a piece of his artwork *shivers*. and check out the cute scalloped edge. after a week of placing them in various places in our house, i think i have now found the perfect spot for my GM whale wall (wallpapering has now moved to the top of my “house projects to do” list)
i found some pretty geometric circular objects around the house. i feel (yet another) a collection coming on….
suitcase packing madness. tomorrow we are going on our first family holiday in 3 years – to malaysia! we are going to visit raph’s relatives and then indulge in some tropical island resort luxury. we will also arrive just in time for hari raya celebrations. right now i am out of my mind with mental lists, excitement and nervousness, and wondering how a sqiurmy 2 yr old is going to cope with an 8 hr flight.
i am planning to stay as far away from computers as possible so blog posts might well be absent of the next 2 weeks. til next time – jampa lagi!
having 2 kids in my world, and having our studio/warehouse/dispatch at home, mess is something i have had to learn to cope with. not that i could admit to ever being OCD when it came to cleanliness, but pre-children and living solo (those were the days) things were organised and always where i wanted them, and when i cleaned up, it stayed that way for a long time.
these days i will easily spend hours picking up lego, mopping the floor, folding washing, chipping yesterday weetbix off the table and picking up more lego just to have tyke and ari whirlwind through and turn the house upside down and inside out within minutes. i know this is not an un-common story in the land of parenthood, but on occasion it still makes me want to tear my hair out.
so now in a new coping strategy, i have tried to look at some of the mess as “good mess”. for example – primary coloured wooden blocks on the floor left in relatively neat geometric arrangement = “good mess”. although it must be said, this is also usually accompanied with – half-eaten vegemite toast squashed in my plan press alongside artwork = “disastrous mess”, and – staff member finds almost rotting banana next to their hard drive =”not again mess”
here some photos of “good mess” in our house of late
the last two photos were from the weekend – ari discovered a box of confetti in my studio and it took him under 5 minutes to completely cover everything with tiny multi-coloured paper dots. he had so much fun – definitely my favourite “good mess” so far.
we had a photo shoot in our studio on thursday, so spent 2 days cleaning, re-organising and re-displaying. i also took advantage of my handy dad being around (he has been working on our garden and its almost done – yay dad!) and got him to install a new shelf. we are quite pleased with the results…
after just over a year of working from here it finally feels like we have now settled. funny how it can take so long.
in other house news our house was in the “home” magazine in the herald-sun today. thanks to candice for writing a nice article and jo for managing to disguise all the dusty parts.