jingle bells

I have finally finished and decided the design for my xmas dec's. They are not what I thought but have evolved well and have ended up quite cute. Each one is different, double sided, with a combination of black line drawing and photoshop colour, cut out and attached to thick card with a single golden bell and golden string for hanging. Phew, I have just a few more to go and then I can send them to faraway places in the X-mas decoration swap yay!!!!

accidental cuteness

While wok shopping on the weekend I found this very cute selection of wrapping papers. The kittens in the basket remind me of my primary school days and swap card collection which I loved but have no idea where it is these days. My sister and I used to go the the local milk bar, which we called "Fat Bev's" and deliberate for a very long time over both the mixed lollies and swap cards she sold.

The wok is also an excellent buy. It has now been seasoned with lard and had an innaugural feast cooked in it which consisted of lobster with ginger, garlic, shallot, spring onion, some other chinese flavours, salt and pepper. Not a bad Sunday night dinner.

I plan to see Borat tonight which it seems is all very wrong but a funny escape from a week of growing anxiety. It wasnt until a few years ago that I even knew that Kazakhstan existed as a place . I was working in Japan and walked into my friends office one day for morning tea. There was a guy there who I assumed was Japanese as he looked Asian, but he was actually from Kazakhstan. I remember being really shocked. That meeting fuelled my fascination with the spread of ethnicity over borders and the mixing of ethnicity, cultures and religions. I think it is especially interesting in those parts of the world. Here is some more info.

little clothes

I have been washing and preparing lots of little clothes that I cannot believe soon will fit a small human, and that small human will be my son. I received a very cute little singlet today from one of my dear friends, the creators website is under construction but I'm sure worth the wait.

WIP

WIP news on the garage reno. Finally we have a lot of movement towards being complete!!! Yay, it has been such a long project and finally we are near the end. As you can see it is lovely and bright in the afternoon, so perfect for thinking, drawing, napping and a glass of wine to chill out. Next on the agenda is to finish painting the walls, get the carpet and blinds installed and then its ready to move in furniture (which we will buy later). Once this is done we can start on the baby room. We will have about 2 days before he is due to get it done.....
You can see the cot is in the back of the room, still unpainted and in pieces....its not that I have been lazy it is just onto its 100th coat of paint which just is NOT working as I had hoped........grrr....

productive

I made blueberry muffins for brekky and they actually taste like muffins, not like little rock cakes made from cement. They will surely give me some energy to make all my X-mas decoration birdies like the one above. It is simply made from (and this is after much huffing, puffing, procrastinating, trialling, experimenting and frustration) from a single black line drawing scanned into photoshop with each one with a different colour and texture and some have text. They are then, full colour laser printed on thick paper and then mounted on card with a small thread at the top for hanging. They are fiddly but will look great on the tree and excellent for the X-mas dec swap.

For those in Australia, has anyone been watching Geldof in Africa on Tuesday nights on ABC? It would have to be one of the most moving and articulate shows I have seen in a long time. Those outside Oz can reference more info here.

red and pink

No its not a shoe shop specialising in red and pink shoes (although that isn't a bad idea), these shoes are all mine. I never thought of myself as a collector but looking at these, I have pairs that I have collected from overseas trips, a local bargain from the op shop and some from my days in Japan. Each pair actually has a story that is meaningful to me which is probably why some of these are years old and I dont want to throw them away. After removing these shoes from my cupboard I have only a few pairs of useful black or brown shoes and some sneakers (which are pink and red). As you can see the red shoe attraction follows through to my drawings as almost all of the girls have red mary jane shoes. I dont have a preference or favourite as I find that almost always red or pink shoes will match with everything.

working bee

The garage reno had a huge helping hand on the weekend thanks to the efforts of my sister and brother in law joining in to help get things moving. We managed to complete the rendering of the walls inside, prime and paint the ceiling and prime and paint the doors and windows inside and out. A massive thanks to the guys. There are just a few jobs left to do over the next two weeks but I'm sure it will all be done in time for the delivery of little Pei which is now confirmed for 1st December.

illustration friday - clear

happy birthday

Today is my darling's birthday (and my sweet friend Lisa chan). It is very difficult to buy him a gift, so this year I decided I would make him an installation in our home. I made a family portrait from 4 single canvases, each one with a simple drawing of each of us family members, including Long Long. My portrait is featured here. I intended to paint the wall (the colour of my shirt in the painting) before I hung them and add some text on the wall, but I just hung them on the regular white wall and might experiment later.....a missed opportunity? I'm so indecisive at the moment I cant believe I actually finished this project.

Did I mention that for the last few months I have been addicted to ice? No, not the drug but the frozen stuff......a possible explanation

mongrel mo

Have I missed something or is the mongrel mo back for guys? In two days I have seen 3 separate young-ish guys with the old chops covered in hair. Being a child of a mongrel mo'd father for most of my childhood, I feel that I am in a time warp and possibly scarred for life.

I first noticed this mo in Nick Cave's image fairly recently, but he can carry it off, and no doubt it will be or already has gone. As for the rest of the guys, maybe not......The whole facial hair thing is such a personal choice but I cannot see how THAT kind of facial hair would be a conscious choice. It just seems weird to see a young guy with a mo. I know its totally normal in many other parts of the world for young guys to have mo's (but do you notice even when young guys come to Australia, from especially sub continent countries, the mo lasts about 2 days, never to be seen again). Maybe it is a fashion thing that goes hand in hand with another fashion bubble I seem to have missed which are those white pimp shoes.

I am struggling to find a good image of this mongrel mo but I'm sure you know what I mean.

not long now

Its nearly time for Pei Pei to be born. We had the hospital training day yesterday which covered many aspects of the labour, birth, pain relief, hospital resources etc etc...We know this little pumpkin is upside down so a c-section is now a foregone conclusion. We will know by next week the exact day of delivery. The midwife who delivered the training was very experienced and knowledgeable and made both us us realise the obstetrician is just for the safe delivery, the midwife is for the soft fuzzy support and encouragement. It is wonderful to know when the birth date will be, it feels like we have some more control over the situation. It seems the more control (or perceived control) you have over the whole birth process, the less stressful it is. We will see, I am anxious about the epidural and being cooped up in hospital for up to 5 days!!! Of course I will miss my darling Long Long too. But we both are quite excited now that it is almost time.

In other creative news, project #1 and #2 are coming along SLOWLY..............the garage reno is reliant at the moment on a tradesman to do carpentry jobs and until he does it we cant go onto the next job....is very frustrating waiting for him to show up, often much later than agreed....

The baby room is then reliant on the reno being done...as it stands, it keeps getting more full of all my craft making bits and pieces and less looking like a room for a small human being........I really hope I do not go into labour early and we stick to the schedule.....c'mon c'mon

illustration friday - smoke

sparkle

Finally the sun shines today after a few days of gloom and cold in a row, yay!!! I am on a mission today to finish the cot (it needs to be sanded and repainted) and finish my xmas decorations, which of course, I have changed my mind again. I have gone back to paper based designs not clay. I am excited to receive my list of ornament swapees for the holiday ornament swap. Maybe I have been sweating too much over these ornaments...

I will post my image later for Illustration Friday. This week is 'smoke'.

out of step

Today is the famous 'horse race that stops a nation' the Melbourne cup. I have tried year after year to get excited about this holiday/race but have never been able to muster any. I have just decided to accept I am out of step with this celebration and be happy not to be part of it and take advantage of the quiet streets, parks and public places (even though it is very wintery weather today). Tragically, there was huge parade in the city yesterday with horses, jockeys, models and the like, and I didnt even know it was on, until I was trying to rush to my Chinese class and many roads were closed and there were thousands of people in town. I do read the paper but seem to have missed much about the Melbourne cup. I find it hard to explain to vistors that we have a public holiday for a horse race and that it is limited to the boundaries of Melbourne. Maybe I'm just a big old sourpuss and need to lighten up and just go with it. I must say I do feel better for making a decision that it OK not to get involved.

That said, I am beginning to understand what 'heavily pregnant' means and why people refer to it in the last weeks. You just feel heavy. My darling and I went to the Melbourne institution of Lebanese food last night called Abla's. Was soooooooooo delicious (most creamy, wonderful hummus and homemade lemonade with rose water) but somehow through the dinner, it was like a rip cord had been pulled on my body. I took my shoes off during dinner but they didnt seem to fit when it was time to go....my feet had swollen about 2 sizes. My stomach being squashed at the moment frustrated me as I can only eat small amounts, but I know that only an hour or more after I will be hungry again.....so 4 am I'm sitting on the couch eating a bowl of sustain :(

So, I'm just happy to be out of the loop for the day. I'm looking for a decenct don buri today, I wonder if any places will be open?

flip flop topsy turvy

After tooling around trying to make my medallion x-mas dec's work, I got sick of that (because they look awful) and went back to try my luck with the birds. I found out my trusted felt tip pen writes/draws on the clay....what a revelation. I am much happier with this result. I am not dextrous with a fine paint brush and easily frustrated as I never get the result I want, but a felt tip pen can do just what I want it to. This is soooooooooo much better than my previous lame attempts. Now the x-mas tree will really look like it is full of birds. Happy x-mas tree decorating day (coming up soon).

illustration friday - wind

scribbly mind

big

This may explain why it is hard to put on my shoes, pick up anything below my knees, sleep comfortably, drive easily, breathe a lung full of air, wear anything that used to fit me a few months ago or eat at least every hour or so in case I fade away with starvation. Its all coming to an end soon, and I cant say I'm sad about it. It really hasnt been too bad a ride and the end result is quite wonderful, but I'm not really 'enjoying' it if you know what I mean. It is really just a massing of the first 5 months of morning (read ALL DAY and NIGHT) sickness, just feeling generally blah, birth anxiety, carpel tunnel syndrome and lots of weird bodily changes so I guess I'm really lucky that I havent had too many severe changes/weight issues/emotional issues/family pressures etc etc etc....I am sooooo looking forward to meeting the final result, a little, tiny baby which is half me and half my darling. How cool!!

I am a little worried about how to introduce a little baby to our lovely Long Long. Anyone done this and have successful stories?