Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Mysterious clouds

Since I made these collage clouds the other day I've started to notice a whole lot of patterned clouds around my neighbourhood and in town. They're sneaking onto lamp posts, poles and crossings...I wonder who has been prettying up these things with mysterious clouds?

Thursday, February 23, 2012

My creative space: collage

I've had Jeannie Baker's wonderful picture book Millicent out of the library (how could I resist with that name?) and it has inspired me to do some collage. I was lucky enough to see one of her dioramas at a children's book illustration exhibition I went to in Melbourne last year - it was one of the illustrations from The Hidden Forest.

I had a whole lot of old magazines sitting around so I chopped them up and made these funny ladies, with some ink drawing and watercolour to finish them off. They're stuck onto watercolour paper backgrounds.





It's been a bit like playing paper dolls...today they even tried on each other's clothes!
I've now got a collage envelope in my art supplies chest of drawers and plans to make a whole lot more collages!

How about you, what have you been making? For more creative spaces head on over to the "our creative spaces" blog.

Happy Thursday!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Feather shirt

I needed a quick fix creative project the other day so I whipped out my silk screen and printed this feather on an old t shirt from the op shop:

I'll have to remember not to wear it with my feather print skirt...the next thing I'm hoping to do with this feather print is print it all over a piece of grey wool crepe that I have, then make that into a skirt or a dress. The logistics of printing a big piece of fabric in a small space are a bit tricky...maybe some outdoor printing is in order!

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Flowers and murals

Some colourful sights on Valentine's day:

I bought Mr. Millicent Crow some giant dahlias but unfortunately they didn't survive the walk home. Here's a great comic about Valentine's gift anxiety.
I liked this cheeky little pigeon sneaking into this mural!

Thursday, February 16, 2012

My creative space

After a previous disaster making a feather skirt (I made the stupid tired mistake of cutting the feather I had printed in half when shortening the skirt) I decided it was time to get back on the horse. I got an old skirt with an asymmetrical hem from the op shop, chopped it shorter and screen printed a feather on it. It has been getting lots of wear and is soon to be joined by a feather printed top...although I hopefully won't wear them together!
And speaking of blue and white, look at the beautiful mackerel sky from the other day!

To see lots of other creative spaces take a gander at the "our creative spaces" blog; hope you're having a good Thursday!

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Market sketching

I had a stall at the Silo Park market today and I brought my sketchbook along. Here's some of my market doodling:


The girl in this one is cut out of another sketchbook page that I didn't like and collaged over the top. She's meant to be a self portrait, although I have never owned a greenish Peter Pan collar blouse...

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

My creative space: shells


I've acquired a bit of a shell collection - the small ones are perfect for carrying in your handbag for a bit of drawing practice on the run - and I thought I'd paint some of them for my new zine. They're watercolour on watercolour paper and were definitely a challenge to draw!

I think I'm going to paint two more collections for my zine - commemorative teaspoons and...hmm...any ideas for the other one?

To see more creative spaces head on over to the "our creative spaces" blog.

Happy Thursday!

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Sunsmart

I made this hat the other night - it's from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing book. I read a few reviews of this pattern that said it was giant, and while I didn't find the crown too big the brim is low enough that I have to do exaggerated head movements to look before crossing the street!

It was lots of fun making a hat; I'd like to have a go at making one with a slightly smaller brim next but I think this one'll be handy for keeping away our harsh sunlight.
Loulu had her own way of being sunsmart today - turning the door under the house into a grumpy cat sunshade!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

My creative space: enemy of the capsule wardrobe

This dress pattern. It's ruining my ambition to have a capusle wardrobe, with only 24 items of clothing cleverly mixed and matched. I thought for today's creative space I'd do a bit of a roundup of the 6 (!) dresses I've made from this pattern.

This was the first one I made...it's rustly and very synthetic and is fantastically fast to dry.I made this one to wear to a wedding. It has a matching belt and is a bit like a '70s couch.
This is the one I wear all the time. It's made from grey wool crepe and it used to have (wonky) pockets. This one's my go-to cheerful dress for wearing when I'm doing my market stall.

I made this one to wear on New Year's Eve. I need to do some surgery on its seams but I love the way the fabric looks like it's covered in stones. This is my most recent version; it's a thin cheery cotton summer dress.

Hmm, that capsule wardrobe might not happen anytime soon. I've got plans for a plain green version and a crisp linen version too! Speaking of collections, here's what's going on in my drawing corner this week - lots of drawing of collections for my new zine:Hope you're having a good Thursday; to see more creative spaces head on over to the "our creative spaces" blog.