9th May 2008
I have had a seriously crazy, running all around the place, kind of day. But I did manage to get to IKEA to get another table and I bought a cute set of those drawers (helmer - just like Maisie has) to fit underneath for all the nicknacks which usually clutter my desk.
But it’s Friday Archives time. This week I have cheated a little and am republishing something which I put up on Loobylu in 1999 (or maybe 2000?). I made Phil a “Big-P Action Figure” for Christmas that year - and its place in history is nicely marked by the Segway tshirt (ahh… remember those days?). I made a whole crew of little dolls, all about 15cm hight. I was seriously inspired by Dame Darcy’s dolls at the time. I remember they were very fiddly for a novice like me - I made soft bodies from fabric and stuffing and polymer clay heads, arms and legs. I remember that each doll took me about a day to complete. Looking at some of the Dame Darcy dolls again - I feel inspired to make some more. I wonder if she still uses human hair? Mine was nasty acrylic stuff which never really worked
I am really enjoying all the Friday Archives entries that are popping up (it’s as simple as posting some of your past work - be it art, craft, writing or photography - to your blog). It is so interesting to see where people have come from with their work.
8th May 2008
I have this vague plan. It’s a plan about making a small business out of selling prints, cards, softies and what-not to bring in some money so I can afford to spend the rest of my time making *art*. It’s a very nice plan. I’m sure there would be a few people reading this who have a similar plan. I feel like the idea itself has been bubbling away in the back of my mind ever since I embarked on selling christmas cards and soft cats all those years ago, and now seems the right time to start thinking about it again in earnest. But where to begin? I dipped my toe in the great big ocean of etsy and that was pretty fun. I learnt some lessons, made a couple of mistakes, thought about packaging, sold some things to nice people and it was all quite gentle, easy and even a little bit lucrative. And while it seemed crazy-ape-bonkers to start thinking about business plans and budgets, I knew I needed to start doing some kind of planning … but what? and how? I have been procrastinating, to say the least.
But in that wonderful, serendipitous kind of way — In the mail last week I received a copy of Emira Mears and Lauren Bacon’s new book The Boss of You: Everything A Woman Needs to Know to Start, Run, and Maintain Her Own Business
…. and when I opened the book to the introduction, the first thing I read was;
“So: You want to be the boss of you, right? We’re guessing that’s why you picked up this book. You’ve got an idea or a hobby that you absolutely love (or a skill you want to liberate from cubicle tyranny), and you’re pretty darn sure that with the right plan in place you could launch your own creative, independent venture; pay the bills; or maybe even make more than you’re making now.”
… and the back of the book promises that The Boss of You “…will walk you through each step in the process of finally turning your jewelry-making hobby or photography skills into the business you’ve always dreamed about”
Huh! How about that! So I got in to bed that night with my trusty hot water bottle and cup of tea and started reading (see above photo: I was tired of taking photos of books on my desk - very dull… so instead here is where my copy of the book is, in its natural environment). After a couple of pages of reading, I had to get out of bed again pretty quickly because I realised I needed a pen and a notebook as I actually felt inspired to do the exercises set out in the book. I have to tell you, that’s a pretty rare occurrence for me. Historically I would read a book like this and skip through the exercises, (and often the chapters) promising myself that I will go back to them one day and, of course, never do. But I sped through the first two chapters surprising myself with a) how exactly “me” the book seems to be and b) how my business idea wasn’t actually as vague as I thought. Going through sections such as Business Goals, Define Your Business’s Personality and Target Practice were incredibly useful and incredibly entertaining. Really! I was excited and inspired… I haven’t had this much fun reading a book, making lists and feeling positive since doing the Artist’s Way!
So now I am up to chapter three… and it’s a little daunting… “Financial Scenarios”. The money side of a business has never been my strong point, but I intend to push through (I have given myself until Sunday morning as a deadline) because I really feel like this book is so perfect for getting my head around the kind of business I want to create. I love that one of the earliest tasks was make a list of my own personal measures of success. I didn’t even think to put “Make big bucks” as one of the bullet points (although I think the words “dream house” might have made it in there), and the nice thing about what Lauren and Emira have done with this book is embrace the idea that success is different things to different people.
So far I am loving it … I can’t tell you much more as I am refusing to turn the pages until I have completed all the exercises thus far.
I’ll let you know how I progress.
7th May 2008
Well, the new desk was a complete debacle. We took down my old, grey, albatross of a desk, stacked it all in the shed, unpacked and constructed the new desk only to find that it wobbled uncontrollably, and unfortunately it was nothing to do with the assembly. We took it all apart again, packed it all up and sent it back to the manufacturer. So I have cleaned off my craft table, shoved it over to the other side of the room and it is now my computer desk. The good ol’ Ingo from IKEA - nice and cheap and solid as a rock… mostly… comparatively. Here’s my On My Desk photo for this week. A record of the most minimal my desk will ever manage to be. Crafting will have to wait until I get to IKEA and get yet another Ingo table… I love the Ingo, it’s like your basic pair of denim jeans. Goes with everything. Wear it anywhere. Dependable. And it can even be quite pretty if you dress it up.
So as you can see, life is pretty dull around here at the moment. Sick children means a lot of interior desk shots and not much else. I went out and visited Christina in her new house today, which was a nice change of scenery and inspiring as always. I even took my camera but didn’t remember to take any snaps to sparkle things up around here. I love Christina and Paul’s house, no matter where they are living. They are more settled and set up in three weeks than we are in three years. Very impressive.
6th May 2008
Project Atelier De Filles continues! I have much inspiration to keep cleaning my studio from some of my favourite Paumes titles pictured above (of the look but can’t read kind).
We are employing Mati’s MOOP theory (”Matter Out Of Place”) which I am going to paint on a plaque Mati-style and hang on the wall. It’s a very useful little word to have clanging around in your mind at a time like this. The most challenging thing is to actually find a Place for all the Matter. For the last couple of years a lot of the Matter’s Place has been the floor.
I have a new desk arriving today - not a very flash one, but one which will replace my enormous grey elephant of a computer desk which I have been putting up with for the last 9 years. I bought the old one when I was feeling all efficient and corporate and it was a big, expensive mistake. While tidying out one of the bookcases yesterday I opened up an old journal (my old “morning pages” actually) and immediately came across the line “perhaps one day I will be doing less desk-work so I can get rid of this horrible ergonomic grey computer desk and get something more ‘me’ ” - hah! Having read that just after feeling a bit guilty for ordering a new desk was very reassuring.
While cleaning out the same bookcase I also came across this old battered copy of “The Little House“. It is one of my all-time favourites.
It’s a copy from my old primary school library which my Grandma, who taught at the school, rescued at some point. It’s water damaged but also has so many important marks - my grandma’s name written in the front, my old school library’s rubber stamp, a little sticker from the store it originally came from in Adelaide which was owned by my Grandma’s friend… those sorts of things make the dirt and the shab completely unimportant.
Ok… back to pulling large amounts of junk out of cupboards and drawers.
Don’t forget that Yvonne has a shop for those who might be interested in chasing up some of those Paumes titles. She has Atelier de Filles 2 (pictured above, which I think is better than Atelier de Filles 1 because the image reproduction is much better). I got mine from Amazon Japan — but the Yvestown shipping is cheaper! My favourites are definitely all of the “Children’s Rooms” titles.
2nd May 2008
Click for page one.
Click for page two
Welcome to the second Friday Archives! In case you missed last week — I have started this thing where every Friday I post some work (illustration, art work, craft, writing) from my past and I invite you to play along. This week I’ve even made a button. You can find it below.
This is an excerpt from a two page comic I drew in 1997. For the whole story you can click on the above links for two pages of angsty, autobiographical comic badness. I drew it all by hand! Those were the days. I wouldn’t dare any more. A lot of liquid paper was used.
Here’s the button:
Feel free to copy it into your site and link it back to loobylu.com
It’s meme-city around here. I am LOVING yesterday’s celebrity sightings!
1st May 2008
Pip tagged me to write six unimportant things about me and (after getting really bored writing about what kind of tea I drink, and how much I love roast potatoes) I decided that I might give it a little twist (I hope that’s ok Pip) — and have turned it into six unimportant things about me that involve celebrities.
So, top of my list:
I met Johnny Depp in the late 80s, had his autograph and have lost it.
Not long ago, Amelia and I were walking through Chadstone singing “I LOVE you, I LOVE you” quite loudly to each other (as you do) and we walked straight by Anthony Callea who looked like he thought we were singing it to him. I hope that made his day because it made mine! I laughed a lot!
I saw Tobie Puttock (does he count?) down at the Camberwell Flea Market recently. His quite gorgeous friend saw me doing that “I think I know you… who are you?” expression and looked at me in a very scary “keep the f**k away” kind of way as if I might try to mob him.
I have only ever written one piece of fan mail and that was in high school to River Phoenix.
My current favourite celebrity is Michael C Hall. I think if I saw him my neck would spasm and my mouth would stop working and I would manage to say something like “fuh duh oh… garrggle”.
I met and had a pretty nice conversation with Anita Roddick back when I was designing at The Big Issue. She was a pretty amazing woman and told me that I should try dumpster-diving for a lark.
That’s it! I can’t believe I can’t think of any more. Maybe I will remember some at 4am as I usually do with this sort of thing. Oh, I once served Barry Humphries when I worked in a book shop… and I have stood next to / behind / in front of famous people in crowds and I even saw Karen Knowles the other day but it’s all a bit lame. I tag EVERYONE because I love celebrity sighting stories. Let me know in my comments if you blog it.
29th April 2008
I finished cutting out my stencils a couple of days ago. Karena was right — the oiled kraft paper is brilliant, kinda greasy but totally enjoyable to cut into. I can see how people get into paper cutting now.
Unfortunately our littlest family member is miserable and sick again. This time with the HORRIFIC sounding Hand Foot and Mouth disease. Ah dear. Luckily it’s not as bad as it sounds and apart from a rash she is quite cheerful enough to run around and around the doctor’s waiting room screaming “YA YA YA YA!” really loudly. But sick again she is. A friend of mine exclaimed recently (I think it was during the great croup fiasco) “you have all come down with a bad case of the Creche!”. So true. Two days of childcare a week gives me time to work and time for sanity, and Lily enjoys it… but the sicknesses which seem to go around are definitely a major drawback. It’s like a little bubbling petri dish in there. On the one hand it could be said that she is building up her natural immunity, on the other she’s been pretty much under the weather since the beginning of February which is a long time now, and that’s no fun. So we are in quarantine for a few days and I will be lurking around The Crafty Crow for some ideas for fun things to do. My stenciling will have to wait.
25th April 2008
Hello! I am starting a new thing (meme?) here. I am calling it “The Friday Archives”. Feel free to join in!
I have been digging around in my old sketchbooks and discovering recurring themes in my work and I am thinking that every Friday I might post a picture of some art work from ye-olde-days (university, high school, TAFE, primary school etc). I thought if I called it “Friday Archives” it’s pretty open, so apart from old art, photography and craft work, even a poem, short story or some 21 Jump Street inspired Fan Fiction (lawd help us!) might even fit the bill. (If a meme like this already exists, please let me know).
This is my first piece - from 1994. I was doing my first year of Art Teaching Education at Melbourne Uni and was loving printmaking class. I was already using a computer (corel draw from memory) to come up with designs and when I wasn’t playing on the computer I was burning the images into steel plates with acid. This is an artist’s proof of an etching of my Grandmother and her siblings when they were young. I think my Grandma must be the one on the right. They are all looking at the little blonde girl - who was the sister who died when she was just a girl. This ghostly, fabled little sister has always fascinated me.
If you decide to join in the fun - please leave a link in my comments!
24th April 2008
I have a date with this pumpkin and a pie crust this weekend.
This is the pumpkin that we found hiding all those weeks ago. There are a couple more growing on the vine now too and a few others which didn’t get very big before they were devoured by the possums (there’s a lot of fist shaking at possum nests going on these days).
Other plans for this long weekend are making felt beads out of some delicious merino wool I bought from Winterwood today (is it possible to visit Winterwood without getting thoroughly carried away? I have brought home a book on how to make Waldorf Dolls and some fabric to make a start, that’s what I mean by carried away!).
Amelia is making chocolates with her fairy god mother tomorrow and I am going to get back to that “Project Atelier de Filles” that’s been hanging around for a while now.
On Sunday we are off to finally meet new baby Joe (who isn’t so new anymore) and we’re taking him this lovely doll - another Winterwood purchase. It’s a “Papoose” doll from Colours of Australia.
Isn’t she great? She looks a little bit like she should come with a set of fire twirling sticks, a couple of little doobies and a set of bongos, but she’s very cuddly.
23rd April 2008
On my desk on a Wednesday happens so fast! Here’s what I have managed to squeeze in amongst all the detritus today… this is the next stencil I am going to cut. Thank you to everyone who helped out with stencil material suggestions and resources yesterday and today. Every time a comment came in I would say “Wow! Another good idea!”. For others who are contemplating doing some stenciling, the use of spray adhesive when placing the stencil is especially good advice. It’s a tip that a very kind and helpful woman in the art supply shop gave me on weekend and without it I would have been lost and yesterday’s use of tracing paper would have been frustrating if not impossible. For the next stencil I have decided to try Karena’s method which is to treat manilla envelope paper (although I used Kraft envelope paper which I hope is the same thing) with linseed oil (check her comment from 23rd April at 12.44pm for more details — and see a sample here). You can see there’s quite a lot of detail in my design so her words “cut as smooth as butter” was hard to resist. I had both envelopes and refined linseed oil on hand so I am waiting for a coat of oil to dry over night. Thank you Karena!
