Stitching and Painting ....

A couple of photos of what I've been working on lately.... Always a bit of stitching and lately some painting with gouache. Three pieces on the go. I intend to finish one of my paintings this week...Yayyyy I am having a week off work just to stay home and play (and of course I must do a bit of housework!!!!) I finished this Klimt doll and sent her off last week to a friend overseas. She's a little bit taller than my previous Klimt Dolls and I have squared off her bottom in an effort to make her more free standing...she still needs to "lean" against something though...perhaps it was all the champagne cocktails???

This funky little owl is scooting across to the USA in a package for a lovely lady.

Arent these paints yummy colours and I just love the names...Antique Seedling, Antique Jasper Green, Antique Green Oxide. I needed more green for my latest painting...these should do nicely. Mmmmm... I will show some painting soon. Lots of sketching, but nothing finished or worth photographing yet.

It was a miserable day last Friday. Dreadful winds, torrential rain and hail and it was bitterly cold. As I came up our driveway the weather had begun to clear and there was a beautiful rainbow which ended (or appeared to end) in our paddock....it was wonderful and light. I took this photo which really doesnt do the rainbow justice, but it made my day so I thought I would share it with you.

I hope you are all enjoying a lovely weekend with family and friends .....

Jacky xox

I Love this time of year...

This is one of my most favourite times of the year. The wattle is blooming..... We moved to Tonimbuk 21 years ago...July. The thing I remember the most was that all the roads were flanked in a gorgeous yellow. The wattle was in bloom. July/August of each year the wattle appears and reminds me of when we first moved to the farm. It also heralds the beginning of spring and longer, warmer days. I am still having lots of trouble uploading photos to blogger... sooooo frustrating, and the time it takes to upload is rather off putting (thus my posts have not been as frequent as I would like and not many photos). Hopefully I will get it sorted soon.

As you know, I recently did a workshop with Helen Timbury on Linocutting and printmaking. What a FUN workshop. Although I wasnt too pleased with my efforts for the day, Helen was a fabulour teacher and we all came home with a set of prints. I know that my next prints will be better with the knowledge that I learnt. Especially with colour.

Sketch for linocut and actual print from class.

I chose a William Morris design to *play* with in the class. I was quite happy with the sketch, but not having done Reduction Printing before I wasnt happy with colour placement (we didnt get a choice of colours...red, yellow and black it was for all of us). I am looking forward to playing with this technique more. Great for mixed medial art!

My fabric book has returned.

My wonderful fabric book has returned from its trip to the UK. Mmmmm..... the girls, Dot, Sesga and Linda have made some beautiful pages for my book as you can see below. Lots of fun...We made our own covers and also a page for the book itself. My theme was flowers and nature.


These are the pages the girls created for me. Starting from the left Dot has made one of her beautiful bird pages for me....lots of texture with gorgeous fabrics and laces and her trademark velvet ribbons.
The centre page was made by the lovely Sesga in Wales. As you know I love Klimt and Kaffe Fassett (the two go so well together). I love the Tree of Life (Klimt) that Sesga chose and the lovely selection of Kaffe Fassett fabrics.
The wonderful page on the right was by the talented Linda Vincent of the UK. A beautiful mermaid (whom I had admired recently on her blog) and the most beautiful embellishing. Tiny shells, sequins, stitching... lovely textural fabrics. A beautiful fabric book that I will treasure.

I have received some lovely gifts in the mail of late...but havent been able to upload any of the pics...thank you to my lovely friends who have sent them and hopefully when I sort out this blogger I can post some pictures easily.

Wishing you all much creativity!

Jacky xox

"The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts"

- Marcus Aurelius -

Bliss...a weekend at home.....

A lovely quiet weekend at home... time to paint, time to sew/stitch, time to journal, time to read, time to cook, time for family.....bliss. I am currently working in Dots fabric book ...lavishly embellished and the most beautiful colours. I will post pictures of my page for her book next week (because she will have it by then). I am just adding the final touches. Dots theme is birds.

Speaking of birds, I made this little owl for a swap in a Yahoo group that I am part of...I know my friend loves these little owls. Whilst surfing blogs I found this wonderful owl... what a talent Anne Wood is!

As a special treat (and also to allow him to be freestanding) I crocheted him a little nest out of sari ribbon as he does soooooo love colour and texture. I'm not much of a crocheter (note how wonky his nest is), but will make a few more of these for future owls...they can take their home with them for comfort.

A while back I began doing some 10- minute collages (thanks to Robyn at Art Propelled and Shelley Klammer). Wonderful idea these quick collages and they really do get you thinking. Pop over the Shelley's blog to see for yourself and sign up for her free e-course. This was my Saturday collage.

This is my Sunday collage.... I think I was obviously pining for some time on my own, to just chill out and do my own thing.

I did a bit of blog surfing and while visiting Judy Wise's blog read this quote in one of her posts. I love this quote so wanted to put it in my journal so I dont lose track of it. Next year I am doing a few classes with Judy, encaustic art and journalling. After visiting her blog I am so looking forward to the retreat!!!

And finally a self portrait. Reading someone elses blog they were doing self portraits so I thought I would have a go.... not terribly sure about the likeness...I think I look better in the self portrait than in real life. The big green blob in my forehead is not a mistake...thats a crease (I always look like I'm worrying about something so I'm told). Maybe I will try another self portrait later.

I hope you all had a wonderful, creative weekend too.

Happy Arting...

Jacky xox

Owls....

I think by now you all know that I love owls and I couldnt resist showing this little fellow (might have shown him in a post before???). I call these my Kaffe Fasset owls as I think they look gorgeous in the funky KF fabrics. How lucky am I? The mail recently has bought me some new owls.... A friend up in Queensland, Gaye, made this lovely pendant with an owl etching. Isnt it gorgeous! I will love wearing this Gaye and thank you so much for making it as my AOTM in our swap group. I just love how Gaye has attached the pendant to the beautiful tag also...its a work of art in itself!

And my lovely friend Julie Hetherington sent me these beautiful owl beads. Wont they be fantastic for journals etc. Just LOVE them Julie...thank you so much. Julie has the most wonderful bits and pieces in her etsy shop so pop by for a visit, your might see some of these little fellows and lots of other interesting pieces..

Love the little green one...cute as!

And finally a Klimt Doll that I finished recently for a friend in the USA. I love using Kaffe Fassett fabrics for these dolls, they really lend themselves to the Klimt style I think. This one is in more pastel/soft colours that I usually use.

I hope you all have a wonderfully creative week. I look forward to visiting you blogs to see what you have been up...so much inspiration out there!

Jacky xox

I think its going to rain......

By the look of this sky we are in for some more rain....its been very cold and chilly on the farm, but still a lovely place to be, especially when one is warm and cosy by the fire, sitting inside looking out! Last weekend my lovely little sister Lee took me to Tasmania for the weekend (we'd planned to do this around my birthday, but here it is July and we finally managed a weekend we could both get away... doesnt life get busy sometimes?).
Tasmania is a beautiful state. Many beautiful old buildings, a lovely slow pace to the city (we stayed in Hobart), wonderful restaurants and cafes and lots and lots of galleries and co-ops.
We stayed at Battery Point very close to Salamanca Place and a beautiful tourist area.

Lee and Jen outside our favourite eatery...Jackman & McRoss

On arrival Lee took us too a lovely little cafe that she had found on a previous visit. A late lunch was in order and the food was beautiful....so much so that we found ourselves there for breakfast the next morning...Panina with scrambled egg, spinach, oven roasted tomato, proscuitto and topped off with avocado...yumbo, yumbo. Breakfast was so good we were back again on the Sunday too!!!!

On the Saturday we went to the Salamanca Market....but first we had to make our way from the hotel to Salamanca Place via these wonderful steps...Kelly's Steps. One has to be fit to live in Hobart as it is very hilly. The above photo is of my sister Lee and our girlfriend Jen on Kelly's Steps on our way to the market.

Cruising the Galleries at Salamanca Place.

We all loved wandering around the Galleries at Salamanca Place. Hobart has a very artistic community and lots of Galleries/Co-ops. Wonderful paintings, sculptures, textile art from local Tasmanian artists on sale and many cafes selling their wonderful Tasmanian produce.

Salamanca Place - beautiful historic area.

No art to show this post, I've been too busy gadding about, but pop over to Grrls blog and see the amazing guerilla knit installation that she is part of at the National Gallery...wonderful job Grrl!!!

Take care all and will post some textile art very soon!

Jacky xox

Hi there.....

Fingers crossed, I am able to load photos again (although I hate to tell you how long it took me!!!!).

So.... what I have been up to? I stitched this little heart was stiched for a friend on vintage linen. I love old doileys and this piece was left over after cutting out the lovely embroidered pieces for another project. The bird fabric was a snippet of a liberty fabric that I love and some gorgeous old handmade lace as a little collar on the bird. Originally I stitched it as a naive type pincushion, but added a temporary hanger in case my friend wanted to hang it instead. I recently I went to an Art Journal workshop with Meg Abrecht (local artist). I had a fantastic day at the workshop. We worked on sketching, adding colour, collaging, painting with gouache. Below is a little still life that we all sketched and later added our gouache. I will take a photo of my finished piece next week for my blog and show you some of the other neat stuff we worked on in our journals. Its been quite chilly these past few weeks. The other morning the fog was still laying low in the valley and you can just make out from the silhouette on the hills in the background all the blackened trees after the fires went through back in February. Hope you're not getting sick of these photos from my kitchen window....the view is forever changing.

I also went into Melbourne for a day with my sister Lee. This photo below is of my sister Lee in a little lane near the National Gallery of Victoria that has the most amazing graffiti. What a bonus to find this little lane between the car park and the Gallery. To see more amazing close ups of this graffiti art visit my sister Lee's blog.

A snippet of the graffiti in this little lane.

Below some photos as we wandered around Melbourne later.

View of Flinders St. Station from piazza area near NGV.

Lovely old Church from same piazza area.

Clock tower and beautiful old building across from National Gallery. I am always in awe of the architecture in these beautiful old buildings.

The reason for our visit to the National Gallery was to visit the Melbourne Design Market that was being held. Wonderful designers showing their wares, fantastic book stores (my favourite being Artisan), wonderful food (and sorry no photos.... it was just sooooooo packed it was actually quite overwhelming). Some fantastic Australian designers showcased their work...... zaish, nicola cerini just to mention a few.

I'm off to Tasmania this weekend. A birthday gift from my sister Lee, a weekend away. I'm sure to have lots of lovely photos for you after the weekend.

Jacky xox

Computer frustration .......

I have so much to share with you all, but my computer has been playing up for weeks. Sooo frustrating. I cant even upload any new photos.
It was supposedly fixed, but can hardly even load a photo for my blog (even an old one).... thus just one meagre offering this week! I made this bird ATC for a friend well over a year ago, but when I flicking through my photo folder I came across it and thought it might be nice...I still like it. Naive, whimsical and simple.
When we have this computer fixed I have plenty of photos to upload, but at the moment, it just wont "play".

I've had visitors (my arty mother in law), I've received some wonderful art mail, I did a workshop in sketching and gouache. I've been out and about .... so plenty of news later.

I've been logging on and checking a few blogs when I can, and leaving comments where it allows me. At least I can still access your wonderful blogs this week.

I hope you are all having a wonderful, creative week. As the ATC says..."Create Joy"

Jacky xox