Cushions for the Couch!

Belbird by Melbomba

Mari by Kalla

Orla in lemon by Skinnylaminx

Cloud birds by Skinnylaminx

Karlstad lounge by ikea

Aah, this is the time in my week where I assess what I have achieved in the last 7 days; this week, I have to admit, there is no progress to share. It has been a week filled with an unforseeable chore that stole my work time but, instead of feeling bad about it, I am just going to focus on all that will get done next week.

And so I have decided to blog instead about my ongoing search for cushions for our lounge. When we moved here from Japan we shipped some of our furniture but in general we had to start from scratch and so, an impulse buy on a trip to ikea saw us ordering the Karlstad lounge with the removable covers which I thought would be very practical having two little ones who don't always have the cleanest of hands. We have had the lounge almost a year now but it is still in need of some cushions to make it really comfortable.

I keep spying great cushion covers or fabrics on etsy which I love but I have no idea what colours or patterns to choose or whether to just make an eclectic mix of my favourites.

On the top of my list are some of the designs by Heather Moore from her shop Skinnylaminx. And then there is another of my favourites called Mari from Kalla. Recently I also discovered Melbomba in Melbourne who makes some beautiful fabrics. All these shops have wonderful patterns and so many colours to choose from. Perhaps I will never be able to choose and may just keep on admiring and adding to my wish list!

A Celebration of Diversity

Last night, I finally finished my first drawing for the year. I sat down for almost two hours straight just inking in the circles at the bottom which were the last part to go. These are just a couple of snaps from my phone camera so not the best images but a record of sorts.

A Celebration of Diversity is something that has been sitting in my sketch book for a long time. It celebrates the fact that we are all different and yet live and grow side by side and learn from each other. Sometimes we try to make people more like ourselves when in fact we should just appreciate and celebrate our differences. I think this one came to mind recently when I was shocked by some very narrow views of a person who was unable to continue a relationship because the other person was from a different culture. How sad, I thought. How much that person has missed out on.

I can only speak from my experience as an 'Australian' married to a Japanese. I have been asked a number of times if I think international marriages are difficult. My answer to that question is that all marriages or partnerships can be difficult at times but more importantly they can be wonderful. I think how much richer my life is that I can share it with another being regardless of nationality; a person who is kind, warm, generous and loving. And how fantastic that I have been able to experience the beautiful culture that he is from and how that has influenced my life.

There are no doubt many differences between us all.

Let's celebrate that....

The Fun Part

This is the part I love. When all the sketching and rearranging of elements is finished; when all the pencil lines are in place and I all I need to do is ink in the black areas. It is tedious and time consuming and a bit nerve wracking when you only get one chance to create a single, permanent mark with that pen; But this is the part I enjoy the most.

My husband often tells me, "You know your style of drawing could be created in Illustrator and it would be really quick and accurate". "Aah yes," I reply, "but it is not the point". I go on to explain that it is the process that I love. I love that it takes a long time and that it really is not perfect - it is touched with a human hand and we are imperfect. It is the best part about creating when you get to the part where all the design is worked out and then you just have to go ahead and make it. That is my time to myself and takes me completely away from everything else I do in my day.

I guess that is the sort of person I am. There are many ways to get to work and many would choose to take a car or ride a train. For me, if I have a choice I would probably walk or cycle. If I were a bug or insect it would be romantic to picture myself as a butterfly or dragonfly but in reality I would be a snail. When a plane lands and the doors open and everyone rushes to exit, you will most likely find me at the back of the queue.

And so while I realize there are faster and more efficient ways to do things, this is the medium I choose at the moment and I love it!

Sketchy progress.

I have decided to make Friday or Saturday night 'blog night'. It is a chance for me to reflect on the week and by writing things down I can hopefully quantify what I have achieved rather than thinking of all the things that I haven't finished yet. I did spend some time this week on a new black and white drawing but most of the week was taken up with admin and computer stuff as I continue to work out how to reproduce my work and then package it. I narrowed down my choice of 12 kinds of paper to two that I really want to work with. Firstly, I have chosen a bamboo paper which is only 10% cotton and 90% bamboo and I think I will use this for colour prints. For the black and white prints I have chosen the Hahnemuhle Museum etching paper. In all honesty the prints probably look better than the originals.

So I ordered more paper and was strangely nervous doing so. I have spent thousands of dollars over the years buying silver and other materials to make jewellery and yet spending a couple of hundred dollars on paper felt very indulgent and for a minute or two the old doubt bug crept in and I wondered if I would end up with a stack of very expensive paper that I would end up having to cut into squares to write phone messages on.

Pushing that feeling of doubt aside, I have moved on to retouching the scanned images for the drawings I have from last year just to remove the odd specs of dust that sneak in; so soon, very soon I may have something new to put into my etsy shop. Next week I will have to work out postage costs and order supplies for packaging and hopefully above all else try and finish my first little black and white for the year. I will finish here and upload some of my sketchy progress.

Floating and thinking.

A good few years ago now, I was very devoted to attending yoga classes. At one stage I even had all the paperwork ready to begin the yoga teacher training course. But life got filled up with many other things and although I have practiced on and off it hasn't been consistent. I started this new year enthusiastically trying to do a little each morning and while it is often only 5 minutes and sometimes ends with a little one jumping on top of me, it feels good to stretch and begin to reverse my stiff and hunched posture that has started to set in after cradling babies and doing not much more than general household chores and strolls to the supermarket for the last 3 years.

When I first began doing yoga, I was purely interested in the physical benefits and didn't realize how good it would be for the mind as well. This is one of the things I have missed most I think. Today, I spent some time in my parent's swimming pool and after a few laps, discovering how very unfit I am, I simply lay back on the floating foam tubes that we had been playing with earlier and just gazed up at the big blue sky. There was a tall gum tree in the neighbours backyard and the sun was shining on the white branches and I was just looking at the shapes the leaves were making as they were clumped together. Later, my husband commented to me that floating had been good thinking time and it had been. And for me it was also a short time to quiten my mind from everything it is filled with. And it felt good. It reminded me we need to take that time out even if it is only short. So while the weather is warm I hope to do more floating and thinking and then thinking nothing at all...

Progress

What can I say? Progress is slow but there is progress at least and my goal is to achieve more than I did the previous week.

I am venturing into the 2D world. A few kind people (naturally family and friends) have said "make prints"! It feels like it should just be a case of pushing two buttons: scan and print. But it is not that simple. In creating a print I am trying to create something that is as close as possible to the original and maintains the same essence. So with the help of my husband I have spent my week photo scanning, document scanning, and photographing original drawings to compare the digital data and the subtle differences that each method produces. In addition, I have 12 different varieties of beautiful Hahnemuhle fine art paper to choose from to print on! I then need to consider how I will package these prints and the cost to ship to different countries. It all takes time.

I am not feeling extremely confident with the work I have done so far but I keep moving forward with the line in my head that , "everyone starts somewhere. There will be room for improvement. I have also managed a little time to work on a new drawing this week. IT has basically gone from a small thumbnail to pulling that apart and trying hard to work on each section. I hope to have more to show by next week.

And the loveliest progress of all this week: a little sale to a friend in Melbourne. I think it would be nice to keep a little world map pinpointed with all the places my jewellery has found homes.

And so one step at a time I keep on going....

2011!

Yes it is mid January already - about the time I realize that the new year has started and it is time to get moving on all the well intentioned goals I have for the year. I have begun the year with renewed enthusiasm, renewed inspiration and renewed motivation. About a week into the new year however I realized that in fact I have been given no extra time to work on all the things I want to achieve. In fact with all the out of the ordinary outings and visits plus the stretched evenings with daylight savings enticing us outdoors in the evening for a stroll or playground visit - the little ones have been going to bed way too late and I actually seem to have less time than usual. So I have decided I have to make more efficient use of the time I do have and remain focused on what I want to do.

One of the things than greatly inhibits the progress of my Etsy shop is the fact that almost every piece I have made is different or a very limited production so that requires me to photograph every single piece and write a different description for each. I did study photography at uni but it was neither my favourite or best subject and while I enjoy looking at other people's photos I find it a real chore to take them myself. I have been very lucky to be married to a professional photographer who helps me incredibly with this side of things but my etsy shop is something that I want to do without taking away his time for other things he needs to be doing.

So one of my favourite things to do is look through all the photos we have stored on the computer and sometimes I am lucky enough to come across one that I have forgotten that my husband has taken that I can use for my Etsy shop. Such was the case this week when I found my rather poor images of a moon pendant I had made a while ago and then came across an image shot with stars in the background that Hiro-san had taken for me which I could use to list a new item. Yay! My Etsy shop was barely breathing when I checked in on it at the start of the year but with continued effort I hope to bring it back to life.

Happy New Year. I hope it is a great year for all.