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.

Save so you prosper

These are my kind-of one dimensional piggy banks.  Put the money in, and it falls out the other side.

They are at Hut 13, lined up for the exhibition which officially starts this evening at 6pm.  I hope to see you there!

Hut 13
13 Morey St
Armadale

More advertising material, please!

Very politically incorrect of me, I know, but I just love advertising material.  It's very inspiring.
I have called this 'The Aldi Series', but the images are actually from various sources nabbed from the letter chute.  These will be at Hut 13 for the show too.


BY THE WAY: this weekend I will be at the beautiful Abbotsford Convent, taking part in the indoor market with my VERY talented friend Tracie Grimwood.  We will be selling our prints and cards.  I will have a few wooden items for sale too.  Please come and say hi if you are there on Sunday: 10 - 4 pm.

I made The Curator jealous!!

Well lo and behold, my work has made The Jealous Curator jealous!!  I can hardly believe it.  I feel slightly ill in the tummy, to be honest.  Thanks so much Lucy M.

Around the studio this week.

The days are getting shorter.  I like the afternoon light that comes from the east facing window.

I am having an exhibition!

I am having an exhibition of my new work at the beautiful Hut 13 in Armadale, starting April 24 and finishing on May 8.  Most of the work that I have been showing on the blog lately will be there, plus a few surprises!  Please come along to say hi, have a look and share some home made nibbles and drinks.

Gestalt Interview!

I was extremely chuffed to be asked to be a part of the fantastic local online journal Gestalt.  Laurie Steed challenged me with some great questions, and I hope I did my best to answer them.  Thank you so much Laurie, Tilla and Daniel Atkinson!

Dress to Impress

The dress is actually the largest of these, at just under 30 cm (12 inches) high.  The t-shirt is 10 cm (4 inches) high.  Another sort-of triptych.

Sack of Heart Triptych

This is a sort-of triptych.  The opened chest was heavily inspired by a 1920s paper fold out which I bought on Etsy many years ago.  I have always loved those fold out human body illustrations, especially the 1960s -70s ones that were printed on plastic.  My version is roughly life size.  Did you know that the Spam that we buy here is made in the U.S.?  Are we not capable of manufacturing our own Spam?!  I felt a little embarrassed buying my Spam model, which is interesting considering that grilled Spam sandwiches were my favourite after school snack.  The last part of the triptych is a moth.  It is based on the metaphorical moth which lands on the heart in moments of disappointment in Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things.  (Or something like that.)  I found the moth a bit tricky to paint.  Let's say it has a naive quality.

The Hungry Eye

I painted a picture on a piece of rectangular wood -- and it even has a sort-of background!  I almost feel like a normal person.  It was inspired by a pair of books which sit on top of my bookshelf in the studio, below.  A love that could never be.

I may yet again paint a picture in a 'normal' shape, and I may even paint a background again.  I quite enjoyed that exercise.