viv's lookout

about preparations, gratefulness and more...

This week I have been preparing for coming Sundays' start of the Art Journal Series. Packed a box of misters and daubers and have got other inks and ecoline packed into another. Got a lovely group of people coming and going all the way for 5 weeks and I can't wait. This time I do not have a sample ready (or did I not have samples last time either?) and will work with the group as we plod along. I can't wait to be honest.

A couple of days ago I found out my weekend Art Journal Workshop at Scraptivate has been canceled which makes me quite sad. I am so sorry for those who already booked in and there is really nothing I can do. Apparently there were not enough people booked to go ahead and it is believed there is not enough time (one and a half months?) to gain enough interest. mmm.. I have got doubts but hey. I am not running the business so what can I say other than it makes me feel sad.

The above was published in the latest Scrapbook Creations, a canvas article. The lovely Kelsey made a piece as well (which I hope she will share on her blog - hint...) and now she can officially say she has been pubbed in a scrapbooking mag. lol... Shame hers was printed quite small..

Lately I have found some time to finally catch up on a few blogs around the web and would like to share some things I came across and which grabbed me, emotionally.

This post on Jill's blog...

And in answer to her post - here is our pile of precious-ness near the back door. Quite often I find myself complaining about my girls not putting their shoes and boots away but then again; when I find piles like this I always chuckle and I feel very loved when I find some toy or little love note tucked away into one of my shoes...

This post by Em left me in tears.. Sometimes it is just so hard and difficult to be away from family, especially when those ties are really close. Not to be able to see my girls and parents 'play' and 'do' and 'be' together.. To see they learn from each other and laugh and be silly. When I spoke to my dad on the weekend, he told me to give the girls 'a pinch in the arm from opa' when they would wake up the next morning. Both Jase and I looked at each other and said: ok... right.. thinking it was a bit strange. But you know what, they loved it! Totally cracked up! It's stuff like that I miss the most. The small things.

And this post by Gi... So many great friendships have started and are being built because of the internet. Just so wonderful how people connect and find support and kinship in each other. Love how Gi expresses herself... you are awesome girl, truly one-of-a-kind!

I know there is more, but can't think at the moment. Get that sometimes... Anyway;

Ten things to be grateful for, in no particular order:

1- inspiring childhood and life, being supported by my mum and dad (who doesn't have a blog ;))

2- fresh organic vegies, delivered to my front porch every week.. nourishing and wonderful..

3- internet buddies, such lovely friends, who brighten my days again and again...

4- being able to teach classes.. love it...

5- wonderful daughters, love them to bits...

6- having a very magical game come into my life, developed by a very inspiring friend.. can't wait to play tomorrow night with some 'new' friends of ours! ;) yay!

7- school holidays!

8- school starting again on Monday!

9- health... feel so blessed.

10- warm socks cause MAN it's been COLD!!

11- my buddy - oh i am soooooooo lucky!!

(ETA: 12- dial-up... and saving my post in word before my connection bailed on me this afternoon... ARGH...)

Have a wonderful weekend! Oh... and before I go... stay tuned, I am thinking up a give-away soon...

long post, awards and etsy updates!

Yeah where to start? The weekend was great, Saturday went really well, I was quite surprised how quick and easy the set-up of my stand was and I've learned and realized quite a few things, like having such a handy partner who happily makes easels is just fantastic and being helped by 2 little girls who very willingly carry stuff in and out the car is fabulous. Also for a next time I would definitely ask for a stand with power and bring some spotlights and I would also make price tags more visible. I think it went really well.

There were lots and lots and LOTS of people all day through, there was not a 'thin patch' what so ever. I think the girls of Made On The Left have done an outstanding job (to say the least) organizing this event in less than 3 months' time. Well done. Looking forward to the next one ;)

I can't find a good picture of my stand, when I find one I will share for sure.

This week I have been fortunate enough to have received these from the lovely Petrina (thank you!) and amazingly talented Roxanne (thanks a bunch!)..

Here art the "rules" for these awards, (although the award comes with no obligation :) Put the logo on your blog. Add a link to the person who awarded you. Nominate at least 7 other blogs. Add links to those blogs on yours. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs. (copied from Roxanne's blog - thanks!!)

The 7 people I'd like to nominate because of their amazing art work, inspiration and just plain awesome-ness are:

Seth , Gillian , Kim, Sharmaine , KL , Ngai, Clarissa

Yesterday I updated my Etsy shop... with all the stock I prepared for the fair. More pendants will go in over the next couple of days as well as some canvasses and journals. Go check if you like.

Now I'm gone - off to gather supplies for the Art Journal Series, starting on Sunday! Still some spots free, depending on if some others keep their booking...so if you are keen, let me know. Can't wait!!! 

only 2 more sleeps ;) am i ready??

The answer is fairly simple; NO I AM NOT.

But I will be and if I am not ready by tomorrow night I guess that'll be fine too... Jase reckons I am pretty organized but he can't see in my head what I am still thinking of finishing off - or even new projects I would like to start! 

I have been trying to get the little Made On The Left side bar thingy up on my blog but for some reason it won't do. Sometimes I wish I had a few more computer skills here and there. Ah well.

Some more stuff I'll be bringing to the fair, these are journals:

And a couple of pendants:

Can't wait to be honest, also meeting all the others at the fair would be cool too...

These are a few links to some of the other people at the fair:

The Tiny Little Girl

Dara Art

Hem'd

RosannaElizabeth

BlushOfBoys

Some other random bits for today:

Waiting for a shipping from LuminArte, which has got misters and daubers and more pigments in it. Can't wait, because I ordered some gorgeous colours like persimmon and hot cinnamon... Yum. For those of you who have already ordered some... a bit more patience please... For some reason my parcel got 'forgotten' in the US and eventhough I ordered weeks ago it should be transiting now.

Also waiting for a huge load of silks to come in. It is such a joy opening up those bags hey. Yum yum.

Gotta go. The girls are attacking the last lot of leftover beetroot and chocolate cupcakes. Another YUM. I need to be quick now.... oh no.....

it's been a good day today

What a lovely day it has been, with lots of creating by this wonderful group of women who surrendered themselves totally to my 'loose' 'unorganized' and 'unstructured' way of teaching. Thank you girls ;)
(I do organize myself but I guess it doesn't show...;)..)

Tonight I'm just staying home cleaning up all the boxes, metal bits and pieces, paints, pigments and papers and while I was doing this I just grabbed my memory card to have a look at some pictures I took today. I must say, these ladies keep surprising me time and time again. Because of the freedom in my classes personalities shine through in their artwork real quick and it's just wonderful to see this process unfold right before me.

Some close-ups to share:

This is a close up of Mandy's canvas... looks great!

One of Lyn's canvas... came together wonderfully...

And a close up of Chris' gorgeous colours and texture!  

You might have seen the link in the top right corner of my blog, but I am actually planning a 5 week Art Journal Series. The first one will be on the 20th of July, Sunday afternoon from 1-4pm and then every week after that, last one being on the 17th of August. Some of the things I will include in this series is soldering, working with water solubles and image altering. We will actually bind the pages into an existing book cover.

For people who have done Art Journals with me before, enough new things will be included to make it interesting for you too and beginners are more than welcome as well. If you are interested, buut won't be able to make all of the Sundays, please contact me and maybe we can work something out. More information can be found here.

Next Saturday is Made On The Left and I can't wait! Very exciting... better get busy, still lots to do..

Thanks for your sympathy and sweet words and emails with regards to my Oma. I really appreciate all your attention, thoughts and prayers.

*fear not what you see*

This 30x30cm canvas has been a process of a couple of weeks, started while teaching my first mixed media workshop at the end of May and slowly progressed into this final result. It will be one of the canvasses I'll have for sale at Made On The Left on the 12th of July, at the Hyde Park Hotel.

And so will this one:

my thoughts..

are with my Oma, who has passed on last Friday...

I really don't know what else to say, each and every word does not seem to make sense at this moment.

Happiness is a butterfly
which
when pursued
is always just beyond your grasp
but which
if you will sit down quietly
may alight upon you


[Nathaniel Hawthorne]

freedom and bliss

Over the last 2 weeks I have been really quite busy but in such an amazingly good way.. I am so enjoying myself, the journey itself feels like pure bliss and I am very curious to see where this journey I am traveling at the moment is taking me.

A little while ago I decided to end creating and writing articles for Scrapbook Creations, and I can’t remember now if I’ve already written about this here.. but that doesn’t matter. At the time I wasn’t sure of the how and what but I just realized it had come to an end for me. I definitely needed a change towards a different direction and even though the girls at SC have always given me all the freedom I wanted (how awesome is that!) it has kind of  hit me lately that now I am truly ‘free’ in creating, free in expressing who I am and where I am coming from. Free to use whichever stuff I want and if the end product is all the same it doesn’t matter. For me, it is about the process. If it is not ‘good enough’ it totally doesn’t matter. Totally does not matter.

Don’t get me wrong, I have honestly never really felt restricted or anything while doing what I have done for quite some time, but when creating pages which are going to be published you kind of need to be considerate.

Lately while doing my Art Journal pages it feels so much more liberating to me. I have now come to a point where I create purely for me. And it is nice. It feels so good. SOOOOO good. Haha…

 
This is what I love doing best of all. Or one of the things anyway ;) Playing with paint, pigments, texture and colours. I let myself be guided and the process just happens. Just like that. Well there is maybe a bit more to it...

This is what my art/work room looks like at the moment.  My desk is full with projects and there are piles and piles of colour on my shelves. Good. This is good.

And thank you all for coming back to read my little bits every time!

can't be bothered finding a title

For an article on different binding techniques in the latest Scrapbook Creations, issue 55.

The last couple of days have been filled with lots of homely stuff like baking a lovely carrot cake, play dates for the girls and lots of chatter and good conversations. We had the Winter Festival at school and it was just the most wonderful celebration.... We have had some really chilly nights and winter makes me want to snuggle up inside and knit. Haha.. Living in Perth the days are still fabulous and when we went down to the beach the other night and ate our fish&chips while watching surfers catch some waves I definitely feel like this is my home.

I have yet some more exciting news, my life never gets boring... ;) Sometimes when I get excited about art and stuff I almost feel like I cannot share my excitement enough with some of the people around me and I am very happy I have my blog to express and share these feelings with you, dear friends ;). I also feel very very fortunate to have a partner who understands every little thing about me. And yes, when I told him my latest news he did get very VERY (did I say VERY?)excited about this:

"The Made on the Left Market will be held at the Hyde Park Hotel, North Perth on Saturday 12 July 2008, 11am to 4pm.

Featuring a wide array of Western Australian handmade art, jewelery, clothing and more, this is an unmissable winter event and the place to pick up fantastic fashions and gifts from local makers."

(the text was copied from the Made On The Left site and borrowed the banner from the Made On The Left Blog .. hope you girls won't mind..)

And yes, I will be there. My first ever public exposure to an Art & Craft market as a seller. Of course I have been doing this in my Etsy shop, but to actually be en public...is something else! ;) So I better get cracking and if you won't hear from me for a while this would be the reason! I will bring some of my mixed media pieces and some pendants as well as journals. Please come by and see what all these really cool WA Etsians make and create, because there sure is lots of talent here!

Also, in my sidebar is a little Paypal shopfront and through that you could order polished pigments directly from me if you are interested. Soon I will add misters and daubers as well. At the moment it works only for Australian addresses, however if you contact me with an international order, I will work out a shipping fee for you.

Tonight Jase is taking me to the WASO for my first -ever- classical concert and I am really looking forward to it. Romantic Rachmaninov and I can't wait. Have a great weekend!

very excited to be able to share...

... that I am working on setting up a little shop here on my blog from where I will be able to sell polished pigments, twinkling h2o's and more yummie shimmering stuff!!! I have been selling these goodies at my own workshops already, but to actually sell them from my blog is something which makes me really happy! As some may be aware, I am soooo in love with these products and being able to share them is what I love even more!! So stay tuned and I'll keep you posted!!

art journal pages

Just wanted to share some of my own AJ pages which I have kind of created during the last couple of weeks. Some are completed, others are not and maybe the ones that are 'finished' now will get something added later on. I always feel like projects are not 'finished' as such and will stay 'in progress'...

This is the first page when opening this Art Journal ;)

This picture was taken by the fab dQ in Sydney last year. I don't feel this page is quite 'completed' as such... ;)

I'll leave you with these, so I'll have some more to upload next time ;) Lots of winks ;) this morning for some reason. Not that I feel very 'winky' tho..

Today I might make a start with this awesome -  did I say AWESOME??? - pack I received from RubySt Designs a while ago. I haven't had a chance to play around with it yet but need to get onto it. My fingers are drumming and ready to go. My mind is bubbling and some ideas are coming up...

And something totally unrelated to anything else in this post.... I loooooove these:

They are available from Rare Butterfly. Great skirts too... ;) And another wink.

While I think of it, something else. On Etsy there is this thing where you can *heart* people if you like their stuff. This morning I saw that I received my 100th heart and I thought that is special enough to celebrate! So I would like to offer something.... Let me think...

How about this: buy something (anything) from today till tomorrow (midnight Perth time) from my Etsy shop and I will add a skein of Earthy Recycled Silk for free!! Please leave a note saying you came from my blog and I'll sort it out. (For Australian buyers, I do take direct deposit too)

That's it! Playtime!!!