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Well, that feels better. All new fresh design! Ahhh. I actually did a redesign this time last year too, but never implemented it. So a BIG thank-you (and hug) to Mr You for actually making my redesign see the light of day this year. I may have a habit of taking a while to get to things, but they always get done in the end. Sadly I didn't get a chance to do Illustration Friday last week (despite my new pledge), but at least I have something to show for it this time.  Other than the new look, there's a few new buttons too. Hold on to your hats people - I have finally restocked my etsy store, and finally finally have limited edition prints available! I know, unbelievable isn't it? Click on the "store" button over there to go see for own eyes. I just got a new bunch of prints back on Friday too, so some new ones will be added to the store this week. Also, if there's an illo that you would like, but can't see a print of, just ask me (flossyp AT gmail DOT com), because I have some I've made for My Messy Room that aren't on Etsy yet. I also have links to Artstream where my handbags are available to buy online, plus some original illos too. Those linkies are are over there in the side bar too. Another exciting bit of news is that one of my paper-cut illo's will be appearing in Issue 2 of the Mix Tape Zine. You can pre-order a copy here, I think it's being released later this week. The first issue sold out really quickly, but there'll be a few more copies of this one, so there'll be more to go around. :) Phew, that was a busy week back there. Another one perched right in front of me now too, except this one will be work-busy. Not quite as exciting, but good for helping my wallet NOT look so Nicole-Richie-skinny.
This blog is naked!!!!!!! eeeeeee!!! I'm attempting to update to the new blogger templates, AND do a very very overdue design update at the same time. Yikes. It could take a few days, so in the meantime this little old page will just have to go flossy-p-nudey. ...blush
 By the time I'd gotten out of the shower yesterday morning, the postman had already been, and I was greeted to my day with 3 parcels - all for me! :D That doesn't happen very often at all, so it made for an exciting breakfast. The first was a homemade DVD from my sister. After travelling around the country (again), she has settled down to live in Perth (a city far far away). I miss her terribly, but it'll be nice to see her on screeen. The DVD is all about her journey, I will be watching it tonight hopefully. The second parcel was an order of fabric. I heart fabric! I ordered it online (because sadly the fabric shops around here are o-so-boring), a few of the pieces weren't right, but that's being fixed up, so it should all be fine in a few days. Beth had asked me to make her a new bag, so one of the pieces of fabric in this pile is for that. I hope she likes it.  Speaking of Beth, the last parcel was from her. Complete surprise! How sweet! She sent me a house-warming package!!!! Geez, how nice are people in this world?! Honestly, isn't it a spin-out that people you've never even met can be so giving, and such good friends. In her package was a gorgeous illustrated Alice in Wonderland journal, (Beth you should see inside, it has all sorts of illustrated treasures), plus a card picturing the shop where the journal came from. Man, that's the prettiest shop I think I've ever seen. Made me wish I could pop down there for the afternoon. Then, to top it all off she found the most amazing length of vintage fabric and kept it for me. She suggested in the card it could be made into a bag, but I'm not sure I can bring myself to chop into it. I instantly thought I could quilt it, and turn it into a light-weight throw rug, for when I snuggle up on the couch to doodle in my new journal. It is a house warming gift after all. Thank-you Beth, I can't even begin to tell you how nice, and kind and generous I think you are.
 My Illustration Friday attempt for extremes. Some people used to say that she had taken her fancy for high-hair to the extremes.
I am reading a book at the moment; Sixty Lights by Gail Jones. It's not a very thick book, quite slim actually, but it's taking me ages to read. Like a fudgy chocolate pudding, it's delicious and satisfying in so many ways, but you have to eat it slow and only take little bits at a time, or it all gets too much. The language and words used are so syrupy, fluid, eloquent and beautiful, that if you take in too much at once you lose the grace and beauty in the volume. Fortunately the chapters are only a few pages each; the book, aware of it’s richness, sets its own pace. It started out in a sad way. Two children, recently orphaned, coming to terms with what it all means: …Thomas and Lucy existed in a state of effacement and disability, as though they shared an undiagnosable illness. A kind of anaesthetic quality smothered their experience; they were disengaged in each task they performed, and their feelings, such as they were, were delayed and denuded. Moreover, the children had become convinced that there were ghosts in the house, presences that seemed everywhere to call: behold me! At night they saw flitting shapes and weird transparencies. Noises like whispers filled up the darkness. Once Thomas swore he saw his father’s face – unshaven, eyes bloodshot – hovering on the surface of the hallway mirror; and Lucy dreamed that the baby that would have been their sister was crawling in the cramped, dark space beneath her bed. There was no vacancy to grief. There was instead these drastic invasions, that hung omnipresent in the air itself.The bit I’m up to now is more positive, their lives being rebuilt with freshness and wonder. Their Uncle collects them to take them back to his home in England: When they were at last on the ship together, up high at the rusty, red-painted railing, Lucy and Thomas stood hand in hand – in biographical reversal and repetition – as Honoria and Neville had once done, approaching their New Beginning. Thomas pointed out that there were lovers shining mirrors at each other, one on the dock and one not far from them on the deck. It was the woman who was leaving. She tilted her oval mirror to catch the sun and a young man, diminishing, answered from the shore. Lucy was transfixed. This was what she wanted, a photosensitive departure. Light trained by glass to locate and discover a face, a beam to travel on, a homing device, a sleek corridor through the infinity of sky itself.Isn’t it lovely? I'm only half way through, but each time I read a bit more I relish it, like sneaking an expensive chocolate from a box and nibbling at it in a way that makes one mouthful last and linger.
 You may remember a little while back I discovered my new favourite artist, Amy Huddleston. Well thanks to Faun I also tracked down her etsy store, and am now the incredibly proud new owner of an original painting! It's called Tea Time, and is of a girl holding a large tea cup with a kitty sitting comfortably in it. I've counted 3 birds so far, and lots and lots of flowers. As you may or may not know, I am a big fan of large cups of tea, kitties, birds and flowers. So it's really not hard to understand why I adore it. It was a total bargain too, only $50 if you can believe it. I couldn't. I thought it must have been a mistake. But it was no mistake my friends, me thinks it was fate.
Uyanıyorum ertesi sabah, yine bir eylül sabahı, gözlerimi açıyorum.. Ve...Ok, $100 goes to anyone who can translate that for me! There's a whole lot more where that came from. I happened across it by accident in my stats, it's a forum of some sort. And I don't know, call me crazy, but something tells me it's about me, or my work. Ha! If anyone out there can understand it (I think it might be Turkish), I would really really appreciate a translation. Yes, I've tried translator tools, and no, they don't make any sense whatsoever. Not knowing what it says is driving me bonkers. If it was just a paragraph it might be okay, but it's a whole page, plus comments. (AND what I think may be a poem. A POEM I tell you!! By a bearded man!) Anyway, feel free to have a crack. And, sorry, I can't really give you $100, but perhaps there'll be a reward of another kind.
 There's been a meme-ish type of thing ambling around the traps about the Mona Lisa. I didn't have a chance to get to it while it was fresh, but it reminded me of a few works I did when I was at uni. I still have them, so I dug them out from the bottom a box to show you...  They were works of protest (in a way). It annoyed me so much at the time, that what the lecturers responded well to, was if your work mimiced the look of an in-style-artist (there seemed to be a few to choose from). Make it slick, conceptual, and a rip-off of someone elses work, and you were in. One of the things they started to say to people in critiques was "well, it's not quite art, it's more like craft". ARGHHHHHH! God it pissed me off.  So... (rubs hand together maniacally) my next body of work were crafty reproductions of some of the most popular artworks of all time. I never explained the purpose of the work, so all they could say was, "yes, well they really are craft, not art". And despite me getting the terrible marks I expected, it gave me such a great laugh and sense of satisfaction. Anyway, I have chucked out most of my work from those days, but I hung onto these because I thought they were cute, and they still make me laugh.   
 My Illustration Friday attempt for The Blues. Let me introduce you to the Blues; a family of blue whales. The Blues include Mumma Blue, Papa Blue, and their new Baby, Lou-Lou Blue. She's grown so fast you can hardly tell which one she is. Anyway, they're on thier way to the cooler waters of Antartica for the Summer months.
 This time last year I had just left my job to "go it alone", and was attempting to get used to a new lifestyle. Uncanny that it's the same time a year later, and I feel like I'm doing it all over again, having moved to a new town. Getting used to this new lifestyle, in words, sounds like a breeze. I mean in both cases the new option seems like a much nicer one right? And it is. They are. And this past year has been amazing. But big changes are just that: big changes. Adjusting is a process in itself, and every moment seems to conjure more analysis than it would normally deserve. I'm pondering (as though you couldn't tell). Friends from Sydney were suppose to be coming this weekend to stay with us for a week, but today they cancelled. I feel disappointed that we won't see them. It marked a point for me to get to, and now it's not happening. I've suddenly realised we really are "going it alone". So there's a few big adjustments stacked on top of each other at the moment, teetering on my shoulders, both trying to siphon through the same sieve. But it is exciting, and to think it’s all happened in this past year has me feeling somewhat triumphant. Although for the time being at least, I’m treading gently. Padding steadily across a lawn with unknown insects underfoot. p.s. This post has been edited since it's original posting. Thank-you sincerely for your supportive comments. .xx.
 Jen the Canadian must live on the point of the Earth's axis at the other end from where I live. Mail between us seems to take a century. I was so worried when her ATC hadn't arrived by the time we moved house, and I knew it was on it's way. Luckily my good friend Elle checked our old mailbox for us a week later and rescued Jen's sweet package from a life of no owner. Jen (the Canadian) was part of the ATC swap I did a few months ago, and sent the cutest portrait of Tilli sitting on her flattened plant pot. The likeness is so great, even little details like her name tag and the stripes on her head. It's so nice, like a little house warming gift especially for Tilli, hehehe. And so personalised too. Included in the package were some classic Canadian nostalgia: stickers and a keyring with moving parts! (an ice hockey player who skates across the keyring and back again). So cool, thanks so much Jen!!!! I'm so glad it didn't get lost in the mail-neverland, it's an adorable addition to my collection.
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