colourful collections

It must be all this moody, gloomy weather that has come upon us, but I'm thinking in colours. I thought I'd pull together a few colourful collections from one of my favourite blog spaces to visit for bright colour and light, Mokkasin.

simple

Love the simplicity here, and who doesn't like anchors? Ahoy!

via Need Supply Co.

The vintage lover in me is drooling over these little desk delights from Roberta Grove's Etsy shop. Re-purposed from all vintage parts, this is the kind of simple idea that makes me happy.

Weekend project

Lately I've been in the mood for a bit of a project, namely updating our seriously ugly spice rack. Unfortunately I'm very particular about this sort of thing - once I have a look in mind it's very hard to sway me, even if it's not particularly practical or practicable. In this case, I wanted simple apothecary style jars, but after searching on-line and in every store around I couldn't find anything remotely like what I wanted.

Naturally a quick stop at a local community fair over the weekend was the perfect place to pick up some unwanted second hand bottles, the exact thing I was after. After a quick clean I gave them some simple new labels (a little Modge Podge to hold them on), and I have the perfect set of vintage looking herb and spice jars.

It's moments like these that remind me that I can always find exactly what I want outside of regular retail, so long as I'm willing to wait for it - I don't know how much I would have paid for these bottles new, but I got all of these for $1 (as well as a cute little side table/stool for $2). Add to that the thrill of finding something unique, and I have to do a little happy dance.

The weekend is almost here, but before I can relax we have oh so much to do today - and we have to rely on... public transport. Okay, so I'm a little spoilt - I hate taking the bus with children (as a side, I do regularly take the bus to work, but that is not with children). In fact I hate it so much that it was the only thing that convinced me to finally get my drivers licence - at 25 - I did not want to catch the bus with children. Prams poking people's feet, shopping bags falling and spilling fruit everywhere - children screaming... So, I'm just going to ignore that for now and focus on something else, like this painting.

As usual I can't tear myself away from it and declare it finished - it's missing something... So hopefully, this weekend I will actually get around to completing this piece (it already has a home waiting for it).

Happy weekend!

I'm in no way surprised, but our brief sneak peak of warm weather seems to have ended as quickly as it came. Yesterday was miserable. It left me unfocused, and I was in no mood for painting, choosing instead to make some more progress organising my studio. Here's a little look.

I'm still moving things around and experimenting with what works best and where - there's also a whole lot of slowly accumulated 'junk' that either needs a new home or needs to be thrown out. This is what happens to a little magpie like myself - attracted to 'shiney' things with no real value... I have a nest full of crap.

Seriously, how am I supposed to resist these sorts of things? I really don't need this kind of temptation! Gorgeous shoes from Anthropologie. Lucky they're not actually in Australia.

Brown paper packages...

More than a little excited to send off the first painting from my shop this morning.

It's fun that the first one to sell was actually the first of all my small scale water surface paintings. It's actually held a place in our home from time to time, but I'm glad it's found a new home.

the weekend

We often find that our weekends get absorbed with the usual tasks that a small family needs to get done each week, without which we would be filthy and hungry and generally miserable. This weekend was no different, but we managed to weave some much needed recreation around all of the more mundane activities. It was a lovely surprise to wake up Saturday morning and find that one of my small paintings had sold. We celebrated with a nice breakfast, and the remainder of the weekend seemed to flow from there, somewhere between productive housekeeping and relaxing. We fit in a picnic at Floriade, and the weather was gorgeous - so much sun and warmth, and the flowers were quite stunning.

We also managed to fell a tree (which was a little scary - my husband was a little cavalier and almost impaled himself - nice), painted up my new desk, which is actually an old one inherited from my parents in law, as well as a whole lot of gardening. In other words, super productive and fun. We topped off the weekend with a long afternoon of wine and cheese in our courtyard, enjoying this beautiful new spring weather, and a new Frankie mag. Perfect, 

I'm what you might call a 'slow up-taker' when it comes to technology. I'm rarely drawn to the newest gadget, preferring a phone with buttons, and generally needing my husband to help me with anything that requires a manual (I don't like to make blonde jokes, but sometimes...). I think I just like to keep things simple, and I tend to like a slower pace in the world.

But when I saw the iPad I kinda fell in love - so hands on, so intuitive - so I was more than a little bit chuffed to be given one by my man! And yes, I am completely spoilt, and yes, we will definitely be participating in buy nothing new over October.

I feel like Penny from Inspector Gadget (I always wanted her computer book!). This morning we woke to hear about a huge chemical fire here in Canberra. We were told to stay indoors, turn off our heaters, buses cancelled, schools closed - thankfully no one was hurt and it seems everything is okay for us now (and all the kids in our area are enjoying a day off school). I liked being able to turn this on and find out what was going on so quickly. And then I enjoyed going all ninja on some fruit - seriously, who invents these games?

10 years

I was a lucky girl to meet a man like my man - and I was so young! Today marks ten years of togetherness, and I received a huge box containing these lovelies (and wine. and chocolate.). I'm still a lucky girl...

Remember this stool that I bought at the Balmain markets in Sydney? Well, it got a very quick, very rough makeover, and is now sitting pretty in my studio. One step closer to a fully functioning studio! It turned out the whole seat was rotten through (add that to the thick coat of rust and I gather it was left outside in the elements for a long time). You can probably tell that I didn't even bother to iron the fabric, pulled straight out the cupboard (I figure it will iron out with use!), but it did get a full sand and scrub, and is much more comfortable now. Love it.

Soft Swedish

Swedish homes often offer a lot of inspiration, but there are some things that I love that just wouldn't be possible here in Australia, like the traditional heater below. I love the soft white and pink in this very beautiful Swedish home, via Bolaget (found via sfgirlbybay).

These painted white beams have a simple beauty - we're planning on painting our high ceiling beams in white - I would have loved to strip them back to the bare wood, but 1970s paint means it's probably lead paint, and I don't want that floating around in the air!

For a while now I've been displaying my jewellery on a large sun shaped mirror in my bedroom. I love these other creative ideas, found via Pinterest, and sometimes it's just nice to admire all this pretty.

One; Two; Three; Four.

The grouping of decorative tea cups is gorgeous, and shows off all the beautiful jewellery perfectly, while the ceramic egg tray is very cute and practical for smaller things. Little bowls are always practical (I have more than a few of these as well), and I also like the more rustic version in what looks like a reclaimed cabinet door(?). And below, my beloved sun mirror.

A new look - and something extra!

Change - a new look for my little ol' blog, and about time too. Given that I'm really more of a visual person, I've increased the space for pictures (and I'm so glad I did!), while also cleaning everything up - simple is always better for me.

You may also notice, hiding to the right, there is a little link there to my very own shop! I've been nervously pondering the idea of having a shop for some time now, so this is me, dipping my toe in to test the waters of on-line selling. For now it's very quiet and small, and I'm currently only selling my small water 'surface' paintings. These can be shipped internationally, and for now I'm purely guessing at the shipping costs(!), but I figure I can absorb some of the cost for now while I'm just seeing how things pan out. The fact is I'm running out of studio space and there's no point letting these gather dust! We shall see... And if you like what you see, please feel free to spread the word : )

Well, I hope you like the new look, and I'm looking forward to taking advantage of all this new elbow room! Now, to enjoy what is left of the weekend!

Oh my, it's Friday again. Thankfully our weekend is refreshingly free but I'm quickly filling it up with projects. This week in the studio there has been quiet and progress. I've gone back to older work, re-working pieces to see what happens. I've also begun experimenting with paper (and I'm excited about the results!) so I feel like it's been productive.

I've also begun working towards some new bloggy things, and I hope to be making a few changes around here... we'll see. For now I'm off to enjoy the rest of this week. Happy Friday!

The idea of not buying anything new seems to have turned my shopper's drive right up. I am in love with just about everything from SCP. Here are a few of my favourites...

One; Two; Three.

Although I am working towards some large abstract and figurative paintings, they do take time. A lot of time. So to keep things interesting (and to give me a sense of completion when so much isn't finished), I work on smaller paintings from time to time. I've finally managed to take some shots of them.

These are so different from what I'm working towards, but sometimes it's nice to go back to familiar territory. I don't know how much longer I'm going to paint them (truth be told, I'd love to work on them on a much larger scale like I use to, but for now, I simply don't have time - maybe soon though), but it's nice to see a finished product within a week or so, instead of months!

librarian chic?

Having had my current glasses for over 5 years now, it seemed like time to pick out something new. Plus I needed a second pair for work and one for home. Enter these babies:

I don't think I could like these any more than I do - and the best part, they cost me all of $25 (including postage!) Yes, seriously. And they actually do look really cute on.

buy NOTHING new?

I hope you've had a glorious weekend. Ours was full of all sorts of big boy birthday fun, of course, which led to total exhaustion. But I did get to thinking, as I shopped around for presents (September is crazy for presents - full of major birthdays, anniversaries, and Father's day), and saw to my horror that Christmas decorations are only just around the corner, that all this stuff is just too much. I am not anti-consumerism, but I know I'm not the only person who feels that sometimes, it's just all too much. So I'm thinking of participating in buy nothing new this October. Would you? I am all for op shopping, in fact I love it, so this isn't a completely foreign idea... but I did see a gorgeous bag the other day... it can be pretty darn hard sometimes.

But seriously, how cute is this bag?

via here

Tomorrow (Saturday) is a very special day, as my baby, my little baby boy, turns 4. FOUR! Oh, how our lives have changed since then. I had a fairly horrible pregnancy, which turned out to be the perfect preparation for an even worse new parenting experience. Everything was so hard. And now...

So much wild, hippy hair (thick like mine, and can you believe, not a drop of shampoo has ever touched this?) He can read like a 10 year old, do sums in his head, play soccer like a star, and tell fabulous and intriguing stories. And, isn't he cute! I love love this little boy. I could go on. And on. We will be celebrating with a new bike, dinner at his favourite restaurant, and a little party. We'll also be saying goodbye to some very good friends of ours as they leave our shores for the greener pastures of Boston - hopefully we'll be able to visit during our trip. Happy weekend!

SPRING is finally here! I could gush about Spring all day today, and it is particularly Springish weather as well. Crisp and completely cold in the shade, but the sunshine feels almost like summer on my skin. And I think I'd like to wear this beautiful outfit from the Juliette Hogan collection every day - not sure I have the skin tone for it though...

See more of this gorgeous collection here.