a certain satisfaction....

I've just finished my third molekin journal and there is a certain satisfaction in having finished it.  It's nice to accomplish something...to see it through to the end.
I am by no means a prolific journaller (even though I refer to these as my daily journals) , and I often wish that I were more consistent in my journalling. 
To be disciplined enough to journal a little each day is what I would love to accomplish....but sometimes weeks go by between entries.  At first this used to bother me, my inconsistency.  But now I just do what I can when I can and I dont feel so guilty about it.
My journals are a mix of sketching, painting, ideas for future projects, a diary of sorts ...it is lovely to look back through them.  Seeing the inspiration for cloths I have made,  paintings/prints I have made.... and to remember goings on in my everyday life.  Sometimes what I write seems really mundane.  But reading back through them,  it all becomes much more interesting than it seemed when I wrote it.
I visited my friend Lynne Hoppes blog today and you should see her lovely stack of journals.

This is my meagre little stack of journals.  Thus far all in moleskins,  but I am keen to try a Stillman & Birn sketchbook like Lynne uses.  They sound great for mixed media and watercolours etc.

It has become a ritual of mine to put a print of Magaly Ohika's art on the cover of my journals.  I love her quirky/whimsical works of art (and own quite a few of them now).  On my first  ever journal I taped one of Magaly's prints (you can buy them in postcard size) to the front,  and here I am at my fourth journal with another lovely print of her art on the cover.  Her beautiful girls above remind me a little of textile work of Sara Lechner.  They both have the same gentle quality about them.

Another little boro cloth on the go.  A friend Lili who visited recently sent me a bag of beautiful kimono scraps.  I decided to try and put them all into a little cloth ... a memory cloth of a lovely time spent with arty friends.

It's cold, rainy and pretty miserable outside today, so I thought I might share this photo  I took last summer at a friends place of his sunflowers growing in his vegie patch....just to add a bit of brightness to the day.

I

BRING YOU

GORGEOUS FLOWERS

TO

STAND

BESIDE YOUR

GORGEOUS SELF

 

-SARK-

enjoy your weekend!

Jacky xox

It's cold outside ......

It's really cold outside,  but we were treated to a day of beautiful sunshine today (after the fog lifted mid morning).  We stoked the fire and I took the opportunity to get out my latest crochet project,  a scarf for my sister Lee.  Lee loves blues and greys and chose this beautiful Italian sock yarn for her scarf (much greyer in real life...looks quite blue here).  I love these sock yarns with the different colour blends.

The scarf design has a lovely petal motif.

While I was in Bali I found these little dilly bags in a few different styles.  Perfect gifts for friends back home,  but also perfect little project bags.  This one holds my wool, crochet hook and scarf easily.  And the best part is.... I leave the ball of wool inside,  tighten the cords and just pull out as much wool as I need..... I dont have my ball of wool getting out of control all over the place. 

The cows were enjoying the winter sunshine.  Might have been sunny but very soggy underfoot and a real chill in the air.  Great for skiing I suppose and there were snowfalls in the mountains not far from us..

Later in the afternoon I sat outside with my old dog Oakey and we enjoyed the last of that sun before it disappeared behind the big hill behind our house.  Very pleasant and quiet day.

LET

LIFE

SCOOP

YOU UP

AND

CHANGE YOU

SOMEHOW

 

-SARK-

Jacky xox

gentle stitching....

Well my holiday is but a distant memory.....we are really feeling winter at the moment.  Short, dark and wet days .... soggy....but not long now until the Winter Solstice and all a the sudden the daylight is brighter,  the wattle starts to bloom along our road and everything brightens.

I am enjoying some gentle stitching... quiet, repetitive stitching, very rewarding (both physically and mentally).

Thread Beads, indigo dyed cloth and old kimono fabrics (some of my favourite things in the world).  The beginnings of a nine patch.

I have also been stitching some fabric stones for Judes  Magic Feather cloths.  Linen backing cloth with silk and cotton appliqued stones.

It's a long weekend here in Australia.  Monday is a public holiday...The Queens Birthday Holiday.  I do love a long weekend - more time to stitch.

I hope you are all having a creative week.

I SEE ALL

THE BEAUTY

IN

YOU

-SARK-

Have a beautiful, indigo week.

Jacky xox

hello there .......

I've been away with my sister.  ......  it's been hard to get back to my blog...... but I thought I must do a post before May is over!!!!!!  My sister Lee and I had the most wonderful time.  Exciting and relaxing.

Bali was wonderful.  Such a beautiful country and beautiful, gentle people...ten days of pure bliss.  Here are a few glimpses of our holiday.

The rice fields of Mahagiri (not long after I took this photo the heavens opened, heavy summer rain and the beautiful view was temporarily hidden).

This is the village of Tenganan ....where they weave the double ikat, one of only three places in the world that do the double ikat:  Japan, India and Bali.  It was amazing to visit this quiet little village and see the women working on their looms.  Such a lengthy process ... the resists, the natural dyeing process of the cotton and the slow process of the fine weaving.  From beginning to end this process can take 8 months.

We visited the produce market in Klong Kong .....  wonderful colours, textures and smells and later Lee and I did a cooking class.  Yumbo!

 I LOVED my trip to Bali and it's people and would love to visit again .  I will be saving!

Since I've been home my Art group have had our annual exhibition again.  This time at the Lillico Glass Studio not far from my home.  A gorgeous gallery out in the countryside near Warragul.  The opening was on Sunday @ 2pm which meant people could go for a nice Sunday afternoon drive and take in our little exhibition and get home at a reasonable hour.

Me,  Ro Bruhn, Dot Christian and Patsy Worledge  at the opening of our exhibition. (click on photos to enlarge)  visit Dots blog for lots of photo's from the day.

The gardens at Lillico are beautiful this time of year.  Carpets of fallen autumn leaves, lovely crisp air and we were lucky enough to have a bit of wintery sunshine.

And the surrounding farms are beautiful.  A real feast for the senses a visit to Lillico.  I'm so lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world, West Gippsland.

It's lovely to be home and to have the opening of the exhibition behind us.  I can now get back to some stitching....I have been missing my stitching, my quiet time!  And I will be  catching up on some of my favourite blogs this weekend

DISCOVER

YOUR

OWN

GOODNESS

-SARK-

Have a lovely week.........................Jacky xox

Birthday girls......

I made this little needle case for my sister Lee,   part of her birthday present.  I used a treasured piece of a japanese fabric (I only had a small piece).  Also some of my indigo dyed fabric for the inner lining from a fun day of dyeing with Nat.  Lovingly stitched with rows of Kantha.  I am encouraging my sister to begin stitching/sewing, so I thought this little gift might be well received....  I am happy to say she loved it.

Tied with silk and a pearl button.

Some wool flannel for her needles.  The little scissor pouch made from fabric gifted to me by Patsy.

Ro and Patsy enjoying the sunshine.

And there were more birthday celebrations.  Ro's birthdayis in April.  We .... Patsy, Dot and I all celebrated  with a beautiful lunch at Ro's ..... there was gorgeous Autumn sunshine, perfect for a walk around Ro's lush garden.

 The gorgeous and vivacious Patsy with some beautiful roses from Ro's garden.

A beautiful bunch of herbs for me from Ro's garden.... it was bountiful.  We all went home with flowers and herbs and we ate fresh product from her garden for lunch....bliss!

This young kookaburra is becoming very tame and visits Ro and Steve for a little feed each day.  Of course when he spotted us out in the garden he flew in see what was going on.

Keeping an eye on us from tree in the garden.

Dot, Shirley and Kerry

We recntly had some friends over from Western Australia (they were here for the Creative Souls Art Retreat with DJ Pettit....lucky girls).  While over we showed them around Melbourne a bit...took them to our favourite haunts and eateries....Ziguzagu (of course), Seniors Art Supplies, Wondoflex, Glenferrie Rd. Button Shop etc. etc.  We did stop for lunch.  Here we are having lunch at "Treat" with three lovely dolls from a group of children in my friend Martha's class.  They have travelled to Australia from America....seeing the world.  So we took them on our shopping spree.  They might even come on holiday with me soon!

Tweedle Dum

And I"ve managed a little art.... this is an artist proof of a linocut I've been working on...playing around with handcolouring.  Getting ready for an upcoming exhibition with my art group.

Yes,  I havent blogged for quite a while,  but as you can see I have been keeping very busy...and  I will be busy for a bit longer! 

My sister Lee is taking me to Bali for ten days for my birthday this year  (our birthdays are two days apart, although I am seven years older than Lee).
It will be a special time away together...we will be searching out ikat and maybe megamendung fabrics.  Checking out all of the local arts and crafts that we can in our ten days.
This is where we are staying in Ubud,  http://www.alilahotels.com/ubud  and in Candidasa, http://www.alilahotels.com/manggis.   Soooo beautiful. 

We fly out late tomorrow,  so I will catch up when I get back (not sure if I will be able to upload photos while away...although I will have internet, so who knows).

refuse to sit

 still for

negative thinking

Jacky xox

Happy Easter ......

HAPPY  EASTER !

Wishing everyone a very happy Easter.   I love to collect rabbits and here a few.  These little bunnies are congregating in my herb pot.

AsI grew older my mum used to give me a little rabbit each Easter.  I treasure those rabbits as my mother passed away many years ago.  Recently my little sister Lee has kept the tradition alive and gives me a beautiful rabbit at Easter time.  The two above are from Lee.... The orange one I received this year (filled with yummy belgian chocolate buttons...they didnt last long!)  and the ornate black rabbit was last years rabbit.  He was filled with turkish delight easter eggs...yum.

 This is a close up fo this years bunny....love the polka dots.  Very cheery little fellow who is helping make my home feel very 'Eastery' this year and keeping my mum as part of our Easter celebrations.

This special rabbit I bought last year when I was in Thailand with Lee.  It is by a local artist, Supachet.  Lee and I both loved his art .... we visited a gallery with a lot of his art exhibited.  All influenced by his love of  and connection with elephants.  We both bought a rabbit home as a memory of our trip.

This beautiful fabric selection was a gift from my lovely friend Dot (an early birthday present).  They are such beautiful colours,  very Eastery colours I think .... I am thinking I will make a light summer throw or maybe a duvet cover with them...brighten up my bedroom, especially as winter is approaching soon, it will be nice to work with some bright colours.

I woke early enough to catch this beautiful sunrise through the fog .... isnt nature beautiful.  Click for a closer look.  It only lasted a couple of minutes...but it was so quiet at that time of the morning and a lovely way to start my day.

And this my precious little man Oakey....he and I are home on our own over Easter.  The boys have gone to a horse show in South Australia and we are enjoying some quiet time together.... although he sleeps most of the time.  Oakey is 16 now and blind (due to glaucoma) and deaf,  but still such a happy little fellow and apart from his blindness and deafness a very healthy little dog the vet said.  I love him dearly and couldnt resist sharing this photo of him curled up on the couch this morning getting ready for his little morning siesta. He is snoring away as I type.

you are

sublimely,

exactly,

how

you need

to be

at this

moment.

-sark-

Have a wonderful Easter....stay safe.

Jacky xox

Metal and Fabric mix ......

Saturday my friend Nat and I took a trip into Ziguzagu.....our favourite Japanese Warehouse where we find lots of old deconstructed kimono, vintage kimono fabrics...row upon row of baskets of wonderful fabric treasures. If you ever visit Melbourne be sure to visit.  You wont be disappointed!

There are also many wonderful kimono's and Japanese garments to be found and many other Japanese wares.  I found some beautiful old Kokeshi dolls (circa 1950), I bought a lovely metal ikibana (I hope that is correct), used in Japanese floral arrangements.  I am going to use it to print onto fabric and journal papers.  Sorry,  I havent photographed the dolls or ikibana piece.  Will show you soon.

Nat admiring the Japanese garments .....so hard to choose as there are so many beautiful pieces.  I love the fabric in this one.

I bought myself some lovely pieces of vintage kimono linings.  I love to use these for dyeing.  Some of the colours as they age are just so beautiful though,  I think some pieces might be used with just their natural patina of age.

Our day out was planned around a visit to the opening of an Art Exhibition,  "Journeys In - Journeys Out' at the Burrinja Gallery in Upwey.  Jude Craig of Naturally Dyed and  Michael Hyett and Martin Judd of Juet Sculpture collaborated to create an exhibition fusing metal and fabric.  It was wonderful.....  see photos below and visit Nat's blog for even more photos of ZZ.. 

Eco dyed patchwork.  I love how Jude displayed this piece with the reverse as the front .... those raw and frayed edges created such lovely texture.  Arent the colours amazing?  Colours from the Australian bush.

Beautifully framed eco dyed clothing fragments/remnants.  And if you click on the photo you can see one of the metal and fabric sculptural pieces.   (all photos are clickable for a closer look).

Wrapped canvases...each one with a metal object attached.

And the artist posing with a couple of her students/fellow artists.  L to R  Nat, Jude Craig and Jillian.

It was a wonderful exhibition and Jude's body or work was amazing. 

These next few photo's are 'just because' .....  Lynne and Zorana,  here are my new brushes!!!  We've been talking about how much we love our paintbrushes and how exciting when we get a few new brushes, so I wanted to share them with you.  I was recently given a voucher to my local art shop so bought two new brushes, more expensive than my usual purchases...such pleasure in choosing them. Arent they such beautiful shapes?

 L-R.  First,   for acrylic work a new filbert.  Then a chinese calligraphy brush I found on a trip to China Town...I just loved the look of it.  I love the shape of this 3rd brush (and dont even know its correct name),  but it is for my ink and watercolour work....as is the lovely little brush on the end.

Leaf and Rock

Leaving the exhibition I picked up this river pebble and lovely pink gum leaf....they fit together so well and are now sitting on my bookshelf for me to admire.  They make me happy.  I want to crochet a cover for my rock,  or paint it ... but I think it likes it little leaf companion.

OUR LIVES ARE FILLED WITH

GORGEOUS MOMENTS

THE SMELL OF CLOTHES DRIED

IN THE SUN IS ONE OF THOSE.

RELAX, AND LET MOMENTS

LIKE THESE SEEP INTO OUR SOUL.

- SARK -

Relax and enjoy your week.

Jacky xox