BLOGGER Friends - H-E-L-P!

Hi :) If you are reading this post and you have a blogger blog, then you may be able to help me out. I've been trying to load my header banner for two days now and with no luck at all *insert growl*. I've done this heaps of times before and for some reason now it just wont take. The photo loads off the computer, shows up in the space and I make sure to hit save - but then it just is never there! I even started a whole new blog last night just to load up the banner and... it worked :(

If this has ever happened to you and you managed to solve the problem, please let me know how you did it! Thanks for stopping by. Week two of the Mermaid Warrior Cse, and week four of Willowing's Wonderful World of Whimsy... Mmmmm I can feel some creating coming on!

Mermaid Warriors Rock!

I've completed week one of my Mermaid Warrior 6 week course - and off to a great start. I still love that theme song by Joshua Radin - so so catchy. If you have a minute - go here for a short interview with McCabe about the whole mermaid thing! It just really resontates with me - the marriage of art and crafts and self empowerment and self esteem. And healing a heart wound with art is a really special journey - a great remedy indeed! Anyway - I've been playing with my blog tonight - rather than art journalling myself, trying to get it back to normal again. Getting there! Thanks for stopping by,

Jam anyone?

Here are a few snaps of the kids taken this morning. I just couldn't resist those jammy faces. Mr Happy Jack sucks it all off the toast prior to eating the bread which is very cute to watch, but not to clean up! I'm still mourning the loss of all my blog bits and pieces. I have even lost my blog header photo - so perhaps it's time for a complete spring clean! Will have a few scraps to share shortly too. Thanks for stopping by, X Me...

Oh No!!!

Oh no - what have I done!!! I've lost all my widgets!!!!! Arrrgh! I was trying to go simple - I was getting bored of the previous layout and thought I was getting this you-beut new template... Grrr - and I've lost my followers and my blog-roll and my counter to!!! HELP!

Sorry - will try and remedy this soon but have to go as it's nearly earth hour...

X Me

Go Lightly... EARTH HOUR

Have you ever thought about global warming and found yourself saying the words "I just feel so helpless - I wish there was something I could do about it - but it's such a big problem - so much bigger than anything I can do" Well now you CAN make a difference.

I can't manage to get this video into the body of this post - so please please go here and have a look... And you can go here to find out all the details on how to make a difference in your part of the world.

28th March 2009

8:30 pm your local time - lights out. Candles on.

Let's try and do our bit - it's such dead simple way to lighten our imprint...

Tread lightly.

Teaching the class I needed at 10

I'm very excited and it's all about this! Sometimes the universe just puts something in your path - and it's just the thing you need - the next thing. I would love to be able to run one of these in my town during school holidays. Sometimes I dream big though, I aim for stars and don't always reach... So - I'm gonna try - really hard to continue through with this. I love art. I love to teach (if you want to learn) and I especially enjoy teaching the upper primary aged girls. So hopefully, all of this will come together and be the first Mermaid Warrior Camp here in our town. Fingers crossed!

Thanks for stopping by, X Me

ps: check out the video on the side bar - how catchy is the song!

WIllowing Whimsy's Week Three

This week the theme for the Whimsy class is shading. It's only the second time I've tried using the watercolour pencils and water-soluble crayons for a face. This painting is by no means finished yet - the hair needs work, and the dress needs a few more layers, and the background obviously not ready. But htought you may like to see the progression.
Thanks for stopping by, X Me

Tweet Tweet

Another doodle! I don't quite like the eyes - lids too big? But think in paint it would look better... I usually just start painting and see what emerges as I go - but I may try a few more sketches and see if I find a favourite to paint. This weeks lesson in Whimsy is shading - so am looking forward to learning some new tips and techniques.

Hope you have a wonderful week.

X Me

The Wonders of Modern Technology...

I bought myself a webcam yesterday - as you can tell, mainly so that the anklebiters can have a chat with their dad and see him too. But I soon realised how darn easy it was to make a quick video and just email it to someone or post it to youtube too... Anyway, I don't think I'll be making a habit of this - but just 'coz I can, here goes!

The Basics

This is a sketch I completed last night as part of a little on-line course I'm doing at Tam's Wonderful World of Whimsy. She's sweet - haven't really worked with pencil for ages - except doodling in my uni workbooks really! And a great quote I found theother day...

"We can only be said to be alive in those moments our hearts are conscious of our treasures"

Thornton Wilder

Well - perhaps not exactly true - but those moments really do make you feel as though that's what life is all about don't they!

Hope you're finding time to create today, X Me.

Babe All The Way!

Have you seen the movie Babe? The one about the little pot-bellied pig? If not - then do yourself a favour and get it out! Anyway - the words on this piece need to be sung in true Babe style - you know how!

This is the second piece I managed to complete this morning to hang at the QPT (Queens Park Theatre) Harmony Week art exhibition. It's also mixed media - with texture paste, bubble wrap, ink, silver foil tape, frame and photo - all done on a rather thick block of wood. The photo is of me and my dog Kunjie. I chose a wacky happy shot to try and portray the joy of a life lived in harmony. Not that mine is - all the time - but sometimes we get it right. At least I think if we all strived to be our true and authentic selves, happy in our own skin, then our communities may be a more harmonious place. That's my take. What's your ideas on living in harmony?

See you soon,

X Me

Collaborative Art

So I was reading a blog post by the lovely Kelly Rae recently about collaborative painting and was feeling ever so slightly jealous of her and Mati Rose. How lovely it would be to have a creative soul buddy like that to talk art and do (messy) art together! Well - no point crying over it - you gotta just go out there and find them don't you! I didn't have to look too far though. Check out my first piece of collaborative art with two little naturals...

That's me - the big fat pink one - in case you hadn't picked it. And Happy Jack's contribution on the right hand side. If you can't afford to have original art pieces on your walls, then choof yourself off to Bunnings, or Spotlight or the Two Buck store even and pick yourself up a large canvas - I think this one was in the order of $24. Some acrylic paint tubes and brushes is all it takes to make something original, beautiful and meaningful. I added of course the words, be kind. Love each other. This painting is hanging in the kids' room and I just love it. Us three, cool.

Go ahead. Don't be afraid of the mess - there actually wasn't that much! You won't regret it!

Thanks for stopping by, X Me.

Love is a Verb

Next week is Harmony Week here in Oz. It's a week where we as Aussies celebrate the wide cultural diversity that makes us unique. My local community art gallery ACDC put out a message asking for artists to contribute works to hang in a gallery for the week as part of the celebrations in our town. I had a couple of wood blocks that I'd started and never completed, and decided to see where I could go with them. Well I've finished one - here 'tis... And am half way through the other. I only put my hand up for one piece - so at least I have met my commitment - and if I can hang two then that will be great.

It's a mixed media piece - papers, paint, gel medium, cardboard tag, purple ink (you can't see that lovely colour in the photo!) netting, and the elements in the top right hand section are a photo frame, key and feather butterfly. I recently bought these Dr Ph Martin's inks and am so pleased with them! They are so vibrant and easy to use - just paint on with a paint brush. I'm still experimenting but looking forward to using them heaps more...

There were lots of words I thought about writing here such as: friendship, peace, unity, compassion and empathy but when it all boils down, I think the best way to live in community with others is just to love people - practically. Love is a verb I say and it is as simple and as difficult as that.

Hopefully there will be another one to post tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by, X Me.

Not Minute. Not at All...

To be Queen Elizabeth within a definite area, deciding sales, banquets, labours and holidays; to be Whiteley within a certain area, providing toys, boots, sheets, cakes and books; to be Aristotle within a certain area, teaching morals, theology and hygiene; I can understand how this might exhaust the mind, but I cannot imagine how it would narrow it. How can it be a large career to tell other people's children about the Rule of Thee and a small career to tell one's own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone and narrow to be everything to someone? No; a woman's function is laborious because it is gigantic, not because it is minute.

G.K. Chesterton, 'On Being a Mother at Home...'

My (new) Studio

Oh yes - it's my studio all right - or so Ros and I are calling it. She says that if you call it that from the start, then that's what it is - so there you go - introducing - my studio!!!

And look at all these LOVELY...BUILT IN shelves (mwah mwah) I loe them sooo much... It means that a heap of my gear isnow OFF my desk, and my desk is now a clear space, rather than cluttered. I don't do cluttered very well. I know that's not really the mark of an arty farty artist - but there's simply no getting 'round it - clear is best!

So as you can see - all my paint pots on one shelf - and the shelf below is also filled with necessary painting items such as baby wipes, more paints - oils, containers and mediums, watercolour crayons and palette paper... All within arms reach ahhhh...

My shelves with scrapbooks and other ephemera - useful for scrapbooking and all sorts of interesting things!!! Note - my second hand/new to me easel which was a score at $20 - good eh!

This wall is a bit ugly but I'll start working on getting some originals up there soon...

And looking back to the window from the corner. It's not a huge room, but it's a great space - and the window is great looking out onto the verandah. It just fits everything perfectly and comfortably - now all I have to do is start to create! So watch this space ladies and gentlemen!

Thanks for stopping by,

X Me