I'm off my Pinterest P-Plates!

I have over a thousand pictures on my Pinterest pinboards, so I think it's fair to say that I am off my P-plates now.  I love Pinterest, and visit almost daily.  However one gripe I have is that often illustrations and photos appear without their source/ creator's name on them, and I find this both annoying and worrying.  (And not just when it's my work!)  I guess it's a concern that goes beyond Pinterest and is applicable to the internet in general.  Having said that, I will do my best to acknowledge the sources of the pictures I have chosen to show here.  Above: Julie Hendriks/ Beerlala.

Above: Back to the Five and Dime.

Above: African portrait cloth from All My Eyes.

Above: Jean-Denis Malclès.

Above: source not available.

Above: Morito Toyonaga, The Art Room Plant.

Above: via Karen Horton/ Flickr.

Above: via Etsy, item no longer available (expired listing, damn!).

Above: from My Vintage Book Collection (in blog form)/ Flickr.

Above: the wonderful Emily Sutton.  I am a big, big fan.

Textiles from the V&A

A combination of being unwell, work-working and working on things I can't show here have kept me away from my blog.  I'm back as I just had to share these beautiful images from World Dress: Fashion in Detail which highlights aspects of the V&A's costume collection.  Above: cotton/ wool jacket with applied shells, Burma, late nineteenth century.

 Above: Tibetan wool/ silk outer jacket, late nineteenth century.

 Above: woman's cotton shirt with applied seeds, Burma, mid nineteenth century.

 Above: an early twentieth century blouse from India.

 Above: men's leather cloak from Hungary, embroidered with silk, second half of nineteenth century.

Above: man's hooded jacket made from wool, from Algeria, late nineteenth century.

This is a tiny selection from a book that is an absolute must if you are drawn to textiles, especially details like these.

The One-Year Cardigan

 According to the yarn receipt that is still in my knitting bag, I started this cardigan exactly ONE YEAR AGO.  It actually sat untouched -- almost finished -- in said knitting bag during the warmer months, as I tend not to knit in the summer.  Actually, the real reason was that I got stuck on the shawl collar as I couldn't work out how to deal with increases in rib.  (Answer: just watch what you're doing in the next row.  It won't look correct at first but it works itself out eventually.)

The pattern, above, from a mid 1960s Australian Patons booklet found on Etsy.  I have always wanted a shawl collared cardigan, but I decided to get rid of the cables in the pattern and added pockets instead.  I was also lucky to find some beautiful Italian Filatura di Crosa wool on special, which proved a fine replacement for the more pedestrian Totem.  

The buttons are the crowning glory: real plaited leather from the wonderful Buttonmania, in a warm grey that matches the cardigan perfectly.  Thank goodness for that shop!
This post goes out to Ramona, and her one-year i-phone cover.  And to anyone else who has a craft project languishing, particularly if they are in Melbourne, where the rainy weather is perfect for crafting.

New old favourites on lilac

I have made new versions of some old favourites for my Etsy shop.  Lately I am quite fond of lilac, so I decided to photograph the figures against a sheet of paper in that colour.  I find styling photos surprisingly tricky, but I'm content with the relatively minimalist addition of a pile of Ladybird books and my grandmother's handwoven seat cover (pinned onto the wall).  The light at the studio is certainly better for photography than it is in my dark old house.  The variation in the lilac paper's colour between photos is another matter.  As bored as I am with it as a backdrop, I think I'd better stick to white.

A weekend assortment

Just recording two of the larger pieces from my exhibition which I have not shown here already.  The Severance of Relations Between East and West above about a failed relationship, and Burda Moden Juli 1977 below.  Burda magazine was very influential to me as a child.  It is partly responsible for the things I am drawn to aesthetically, and it has provided a good deal of my crafting inspiration too.  If you have a moment, click into this very old post.  It is still one of my very favourite things on this blog.

Contemporary craft above: a new stitched linen scarf that is presently in the shop.  Modelled by my beautiful sister in law EE.  A generous and patient woman!  Thanks E!!!!

Yesterday I decided that I was bored with my old Country Road jumble sale scarf and thought I'd stitch that too.  It didn't take long: I did most of it at JP's house.  JP in turn showed me a pair of suede desert boots that he MADE HIMSELF: that's taking craft to giddy heights!  More of his fantastic work here.

I love Rose Wylie

I had no idea who she was until I received an email about her exhibition from The Tate this morning, but I have instantly fallen in love with the simplicity and poignant humour of the work of Rose Wylie (b.1934).  Some of the images above are from here too.
Please excuse the rushed nature of this post.  I haven't done anything interesting this week, just emailing customers and filling the occasional order.  I have been at the studio too, and I can report that it is getting inhospitably cold.  Enjoy that spring, northerners.

A Bird of Paradise returns

This morning I took a trip up to TarraWarra to refresh their stock of my work.  I also took home a few things which we felt had been there long enough.  Some items looked ancient, like my first attempts at the mushroom series.  Other things, like Bird of Paradise I above, I still feel really content with.

I remember how he came to be.  While watching a nature documentary on the birds of New Guinea, I marvelled at how the males displayed their incredible feathers in order to attract females, and couldn't help but think of men and what they do in similar cirumstances.  How the inconsequential gets puffed up into something grandiose, and what gets hidden beneath the mesmerising feathers.  Or tries to be.

(Of course, to be fair, it works in reverse too.)

The original post about this Bird and his friends is here.
(Oh, and he is in the shop now too.)

Happy Mother of a Design Files sensory overload!

I am ALWAYS chuffed to be involved in anything that Lucy Feagins sets her hand to, but I think that she has outdone herself with her brilliant and slightly crazy Mother's Day gift shoot on The Design Files this morning, above.  (Photo by Sean Fennessy.) Wow, what beautiful, colourful temptations we have in our city!  I am really proud that my painting The Man Who Never Was has contributed to the sensory overload.

The subject of the work is a section of my studio wall, and is part of my current exhibition at Hut 13.  Here is a detail of it below, where you can spot the title, if you look carefully enough:

Thanks so much Lucy F + Lucy M!  And Lisa MC too.

My work on Supersonic Electronic!

My work was recently featured on Supersonic Electronic, a really fun and varied Tumblr art resource based in England.  Thank you very much, Zach.
And how nice that the advertisement next to my piece happens to be for a car that my brother helped to design.

Heart & Lungs cushion debut

I have a brand new slightly larger volcano and burning house in the shop.  They are also extremely pleased to introduce their new friend -- a much larger than life size cushion based on my 'Sack of Heart' painting, which you can see here.  For some reason I find this cushion extremely amusing.  I can report that it took A LOT of stuffing...so it should be rather comfy too.  It has a zip across the bottom and is backed in denim.

Exhibition: Opening Night

Some of the food that Mum and I prepared, with the man cubes looking on from the left.

There's me on the left with Mum and Dad at about 5:30pm.  Dad served drinks, including his own wine.  Thanks so much Mum and Dad!!

Beautiful gypsy music, played by Jill Kellett's husband's band.  Lucky us! Thanks Jill for letting me reproduce your photos too.

Part of the exhibition.  Click here for Lucy's little film, taken well into the night's proceedings.  If you were there, you might spot yourself!
Thanks SO MUCH to Lucy and Jill and to everyone who came.  And for those who have bought things from the exhibition: a HUGE thank you, and remember to send me a photo of it in situ one day, if you like.