darkness of night blankets the land

My Illustration Friday entry for 'night'.

i can't get no sat-tis-fac-tion

Is it a sign of inspiration or dissatisfaction when your mind won’t quit? I’ve been overloaded in thoughts of things I could make. I’m sketching madly and buying fabric and ribbons and trims, but have hardly any time to actually make any of them.

I spent most of Sunday sewing, but keeping the confidence is something of a struggle at the moment. Elle and Kilkenny popped around on Sunday afternoon, we sat in the shade of the tree on our grassy patch out the back drinking icy cold water. I showed them the cushions I’d been sewing, and told them of my plan to make crafty things to sell.
“How much do you expect to get for them?” they asked
“Oh, maybe $10 or $20 if I’m lucky”
With that they reached into their wallet and offered me $10, (in a gesture that said “why work all day long for $10? Isn’t your Sunday worth more than that?”)

It got me thinking. I mean they’re right, right? But still, there’s something more to all of this. Like I said at the beginning it’s a sign of dissatisfaction in what I’m currently doing that I’m considering these things in the first place. And I’m lucky that there’s inspiration at the same time otherwise I’d just be feeling crappy. At very least it’s giving me a bit of hope. Hope, I suppose, that there are alternate ways of living in this world that don’t involve commuting in peak hour and working 9 to 6 or 7pm at a desk all week long. I’m growing so weary of that.

There are people out there who do it; who earn a living in more flexible ways, and from sources that are more authentic to who they are. And the only difference I can see between them and the rest of us, is that they are actually doing it. They don’t have this conflict of confidence that stops them from even starting, and at the risk of sounding like I’m promoting a brand of sport shoe: they just do it!

I’m not jumping in head deep. I’m not expecting to earn a living from craft. I’m just doing things that I enjoy doing and seeing where it leads, if anywhere. I mean that’s what the wise always tell us right – “Find something you like doing, and do it well”?

My first hurdle is to stop worrying about it all and just start FOR GOD SAKE! (I’m not sure who invented doubt, but I’m sure they didn’t intend it to be used in these instances.)

I’ve been quiet this week, and now you’re probably glad of it. But thanks for listening through all this thick anxiety. And thanks to those who lead the way and inspire me more every day: Jen at Piddleloop, Amy at Angry Chicken, Hillary at Wee Wonderfuls, and all the rest of you crafty vixens.

brink of insanity

I want it! I need it! I must have it! It’s mine, aaaalll mine. Yes, yes, come to me my precious. Exxxxcellent. Huh? Wha!? I can’t afford that! I’ll spend MORE. Waaaait! That’s not fair! It’s just not fair! Hang on! Damn it! Shit! I can’t stand this!

I hate ebay!

Mr You chuckles at me when I use language and chuck a tantrum worthy of a spoilt bratty 6 year old. He’s a veteran when it comes to ebay, but I’m a not so sparkling newby. Let’s just say I’m having a rough period of adjustment. I’m use to the theory that if you see something you like (usually in a shop), you can have it, if you can pay for it and manage to get to it before anyone else. Ebay is shopping, but not as I know it.

I’m trying to build up my profile with lots of AAAAAA+ style feedback, but to do this you have to buy stuff, and there’s the hitch. I don’t want to just buy any old thing, just for the sake of it, I’m looking for things I would actually like to own. Finding cool things is easy, in fact I find things that are absolutely perfect – things I need – things I can’t do without, but I just can’t seem to clinch the deal. I try. I bid and watch and outbid, I check the currency converters, and push the budget, and then inevitably loose every single time. I just can’t stand it.

It’s turning me into a greedy, selfish, bad tempered, obsessed consumer. I don’t need those things. I’d like them, but I’ve got more than enough as it is. I’m fortunate and surrounded by lots of pretty things, and accumulating more stuff is not where I should be focussing my attention. No More. That’s it! I’m putting my foot down. No More I say.

But…

Have you seen this?
And This?
And these?
Oooh, I’ve got to get one of these lenses…

broken

My Illustration Friday entry for 'broken'.

which witch

The entries for Penelope's Halloween 'draw a witch' contest are flooding in, amassing more cloaked folk in one place than Daigon Alley!

There are so many great witches, I am glad I’m not one of those poor judges. Having said that I’m sure most of the entries aren’t in it to win it, more just to partake in the fun, (plus the promise of a set of Penelope’s postcards for every one who enters is an enormous draw card – I got mine this week, so I’m set!). There are already 93 entries, and there are apparently a stack more to be loaded in.

If I were one of those poor judges my “highly commended” trophies would go to:
Number 67 (for cuteness)
Number 6 (for originality of witch and technique)
Number 7 (for collage loveliness)
Number 19 (I can’t tell if this is a Penelope one or not, but looks a bit like it to me)
Number 22 (this one can’t only come from one person – Lori Joy)
Number 24 (looks very Emily The Strange-ish)
Number 32 (Another fantastic Wynlen creation)
Number 48 (a little bit like the witch version of Fairy Beauty)
Number 56 (for all you stylish art deco lovers out there)
Number 79 (another cuteness winner)
And Number 81 (for a good laugh thinking of how funny it would be for the expressway of tourists dashing through the Louvre to be met with this instead).

My Silver trophies would go to:
Number 26
Number 34
And Number 58

DRUUMMMROLLLLLL
And the highly coveted Gold Trophy goes to:
Number 65!

Okay okay, my imaginary trophies don’t compare to one of Penelope’s prints, so good luck everyone. Fantastic effort all round!

i hereby christen thee

Lets all admire the beauty of this jacaranda tree near my house while we attempt to erase all memory of the calamity, that shall from this day forth, be known as “The Sushi Train Incident of 2005; soy and silk don’t mix”.

It all started well enough, me minding my own business, admiring the little plates chugging along the cute little train, while getting lunch at the local sushi train. Then quicker than a blink it ended with me topless in the bathrooms at work, with my dry-clean-only designer apricot coloured silk top in the hand basin, sudsed up to the max with that pink pump hand soap. Then spending ages trying to keep the temperamental blow hand dryer on while I pushed the delicate silk to its limit under the blast of hot hot air.

Stain removed, crisis averted, lousy lunch hour over.
Arh, ain’t that jacaranda pretty…

miles from anywhere

My Illustration Friday entry for 'remote'.

'Wide brown land' doesn't much sound like an endearing term. But somehow it is.

Some good slang terms for remote:

• In the middle of nowhere
• Beyond the black stump
• The back of Burke
• Out at woop woop
• The outback