artsy week

Hi ho and happy Sunday!

I love Sundays … I woke up early this morning and sat outside under the trees listening to the birds chirp and fly silently across the soft blue sky. The neighbourhood always seems to be silent on a Sunday morning, and with hubby in bed, it was just me and kitty enjoying the silence of the morning.

In the peace and quiet, I pulled out an artwork I’ve been slowly working on over the last week or so. Like most of my artworks, I’m not really sure where it’s heading, so I thought I’d get kitty’s advice. At first he didn’t seem to interested …

Then he attempted to pat himself on it …

Great help he is.

I’ve always been drawn to writing my own inspirational comments and, of course, making art; but until recently, the two hadn’t really met. Over the last few months though I’ve taken to titling my artworks in a more inspirational way, like my recent ‘Let’s Make Dreams Together’, ‘Be Gentle on Yourself’ and ‘Storms Bring Rainbows’ … 

    

… but now I’m really enjoying the challenge of incorporating text into the artwork itself, so we’ll see where that takes me. I’ve often mused over the years about making inspirational card decks out of my artworks, so I wonder whether these are the beginnings of that dream coming to fruition. First things first though, I’ll keep you posted once I’ve resolved this artwork to see whether it’s a success or not!  :)

In other news, I reached the twelve week milestone in my pregnancy this week! YAY! So you can imagine my surprise and appreciation when I caught up with the lovely Cathy from Angelwing Jewellery, and she’d hand-crafted me a beautiful necklace with a little bird pendant out of silver, complete with a baby birdy inside. Awww!

Cathy’s work is just exquisite and so infused with love that each piece literally glows with beauty. I stumbled across Cathy’s work in Bleeding Heart Gallery last last year and I just had to contact her to tell her how much her work touched my heart. I’d never experienced those kind of feelings from a piece of jewellery before, so I knew I’d really stumbled across something special. Since then, we’ve become good friends and we enjoy catching up to chat about art, life, memories and everything in between!!

You can check out Cathy’s website here.

Lastly, I finally finished off some reversible leafy vintage fabric necklaces I’d been working on.

They’re now up on my bluecaravan web store, which I’ve decided to use solely as my online jewellery outlet – it was just too messy having them on etsy, my website and bluecaravan, so it feels good to streamline it all now and have one designated place to display my work.

Anyhoo, I’m off to enjoy the rest of my Sunday – I hope you have a beautiful one too

Luv C xo

preggers progression

Ok, so I promised myself I wouldn’t suddenly transform my art blog into a baby-making-haven just because I’m pregnant, but by-golly, it’s so entirely wonderful and encompassing that I may have to give just a little on that stance :)

So some people tell me it’s impossible to start showing at 11 weeks, but I know my body pretty well, and suddenly there’s a bump in my tummy like I’ve never had before! The rest of me is still the same as before so I’m positive it’s from a baby and not KFC!

The left pic is me at 5 weeks pregnant and here’s me today on the right, at 10 weeks and 6 days. I’m only 1 kg heavier than I was 6 weeks ago, but my pants are getting pretty tight now! Hubby is a big boy (6 ft 3) and I have a fairly small frame, so perhaps that combination is what’s making bub pop out and say hello nice and early! That, and maybe also that I hardly hold my tummy muscles in anymore since falling pregnant. YAYSIES, let it all hang out I say!

It kinda makes it feel more real seeing these pics next to each other just now :)

Anyhoo, I still haven’t felt much like making art but my morning sickness is starting to subside so maybe that’ll start to change soon. I have, however, been thinking lately how cool it’d be to have my baby wearing little onesies with my art printed on them, so at least there’s an inkling of creative desire coming back! In the meantime I’ve added some of my latest prints from earlier this year to my web store, so at least I’m doing some art sharing still.

I’ll be getting a scan in two weeks so I’ll be sure to share pics of my little Martian with you then :)

C xox

kindy murals

I’ve recently started working part-time in a beautiful little privately owned child care centre in the seaside town of Redcliffe, on Brisbane’s Northside. Every morning I work 6 – 9 preparing the kiddies morning teas and lunches, having a play with the children, and dropping the preppies and schoolies off at school in the bus (Can you imagine me as a bus-driver?! It’s colourful each morning, to say the least ;)

 

I admit the early morning wake-ups were a little difficult at first, (and feeling especially old by Friday!), but I’m getting used to it and enjoy the quiet time each day. Anyhoo, because I used to be a preschool teacher in the past, I’m really enjoying working regularly around the vibe of kids again. It’s also PERFECT for this stage of my life – something nice and easy while my little bubby grows inside me, whilst bringing in regular income, which I haven’t had for years as a freelance artist. YAY!

One of the great perks about my new job is that my boss and I have known each other for years, and so once a week I stay back a few hours and get to paint murals all around the child care centre to make it look all pretty. So I still get to do my art as well as working with kids and getting paid for it! So good! I feel so blessed :)

So this tree is the first mural I’ve painted in the centre so far. I’ve added a little pic below with one of the schoolies so you can get a feel for the dimensions. I didn’t think it was anything overly fancy, but the kids and teachers seem to love it. It’s one of the first things you see when you walk into the centre now, and it’s really changed the feel of the space now to a little more magical :) I love painting!

One little girl apparently came into the room the afternoon I’d painted it and literally smiled and hugged the wall. I love that I’ve inspired some other little tree huggers. 'Go forth and multiply, my little friends’.

 

So already the other teachers have already started booking me into the diary to paint things in their various rooms each week, so I think I’ll have my work cut out for me over the next 6 months or so! I’ll keep uploading the newbies as I complete them too. This is gonna be fun!

C xox

swapsies mutual love

If there’s one thing I love, it’s a good quality creative swapsies. Over the last year I have acquired some seriously AWESOME items, from art to jewellery to homewares, all for free from fellow creative peeps, sharing some mutual love for my work too. YAY!

Recently I connected with Molly on Etsy, who has a beautiful hand-made soap store in North Carolina in The States, called Clean Green Bunny.

Long story short, she loved my art, I loved her gorgeous artisan soaps, so we did a swapsies from across the other side of the world! She’s just sent me a link to her recent blog post, where she’s shared some utterly beautiful, heartfelt words about receiving my work and it was so touching, I just had to share.

It’s strange, but over the last few weeks, although we haven’t met, it’s like we’ve become kindred spirits or something. Reading her words, it’s like she ‘gets’ me, and the way she’s connected her memories and musings about my work have truly made my heart soar with joy and appreciation. Isn’t the internet an amazing thing? Connecting people who’d otherwise have never crossed paths, only to share such a sense of connection and mutual appreciation. YAYSIES!

For me, touching someone so deeply through my work is truly my ‘Holy Grail’. I wish for nothing more than to bring joy and true feelings of resonance to those who view my work. And to hear it back in such an articulate way that I can hear so clearly is truly, a heart sweller for me. Thanks Molly!

If you’d like to check out Molly’s blog here, you an read her beautifully worded review, and also see images of her gorgeous hand made soaps, or check out her store here to snap some up for yourself :)