I Should've Taken a Before Photo...

art. house. mum.

Yes, that's what I didn't do. Take a Before photo.

This artwork was at the end of its life a few months ago.  Someone had taken two old framed tapestries to the dump.  The Lifeline workers rescued them, put them in their Dump Shop, and one of them was bought.  This old girl was left alone and dejected.  Twice rejected.

Then along came my visionary friend who saw in her potential (and a cheap frame).  She bought her to my studio where we briefly discussed how I should make her into an alphabet painting, and so the journey began.

When I finally got around to starting this project I took a few liberties and tried a few new things.  Rather than taking the tapestry away and painting straight onto a board or canvas we decided that I should paint straight over the tapestry... awful, I know, when you think of the hours and hours or work that was put in by some careful crafter... but it had been discarded by its owner...

The tapestry was paint-thirsty and I should have used an undercoat, but thankfully I had just enough of the background colour to do the three or four layers it required.  (I just used interior house paint which we had left-over from who-knows-what)

With the tapestry out of the frame and slowly being transformed into a new artwork, I decided that the frame itself needed a bit of new life too.  I filled some of the gaps in the corners with PVA glue just for a little extra strength then after a good wipe down gave it a cover of cream spray paint.

Nothing technical or too adventurous, but I've never used spray paint for any of my crafts before (I think that maybe I was just looking for the right excuse...)  I can see myself breaking out the spray paint again... very satisfying.

Have you seen an old tapestry at an Op shop recently?  Or do you have framed print that you've moved on from?  Just a thought...

g



The Art of Saying Thank You...

art. house. mum.

This week I had a few jobs to do.  One of the ones that was looking daunting was writing about 18 Thank You notes to people who will be helping at a Ladies Pamper Night which our church is hosting.  

One of the reasons that I really quite like doing this sort of thing is that it's an excuse to try to use my art in different ways.  So the first job was to design some stationary.  That done, I had no excuse but to sit down and start penning notes of thanks.

Do you know, it was one of the most edifying things I've done in a while.  The stationary doesn't leave too much room for long-winded text, but that tends to suit me just fine.  I decided that, it being a church do, it would be suitable and appropriate for me to include a short verse from the Bible at the end of each note.  And besides, those time-honored words have got to have a bit more power than mine...

So I perched at our kitchen table yesterday, watching the kids played in the wading pool on the deck, Bible open so I could flick through and look as I wrote and prayed for each person.

The activity set my heart to a different place.  I fall so easily into the trap of being ungrateful and not even noticing the things that people do for us and give us... and maybe even worse, not noticing the heart of the people who surround us.  

So I thought that I'd love to encourage you to think of a few people who you would like to thank and I've figured out how to make this Thank You Note available to you as a free printable and I'll challenge you to think of a few people that you might like to send one to.  

Please feel free to find some nice paper, print out a couple of copies and send them off.  

Let the gratefulness begin!  

g

How to Paint with Kids

art. house. mum.

For a long time the term "watercolour painting" really meant water painting in our house.  Because a dear friend with older kids had suggested it to me, the girls' first introduction to painting was entirely stress-free and clean-up friendly.  We simply took a few tubs of water out onto the concrete outside our front door, gave each girl a sturdy (and cheap) brush and let them "paint" to their heart's content.

And then at some point that just wasn't enough.  So at around three and a half I decided that it was worth giving kids' watercolours a go.  But after observing their treatment of the brushes outside I realised that the most important skill for them to learn to have "success" with watercolours was going to be how to use a brush properly.

1.  The first and most illogical point is GO LIGHTLY.  After drawing with chalk, crayons and pencils, they had learned from experience that if you press harder you get a better coverage.  But with brushes, as we all know, you have to go against your instinct and allow the brush to flow across the page or you end up digging holes in the paper and teasing the bristles into a useless knot.

2.  The second point is also kind of obvious, but without the benefit of this little insight I see little learners getting frustrated really quickly...  watercolour paints need to be SOFTENED WITH LOTS OF WATER (I'm talking about the sets of paints in a tin, naturally).  And depending on the brand and type of paints, sometimes a fair bit of water is needed to sit on top of each colour for a minute or two and then it needs to be worked gently with a brush to loosen the paint pigments (at the end of a painting session this excess water can simply be tipped out of the tray so that the paints can dry).  Always keeping your brush loaded with water means that your paints are more likely to loosen and then in turn to give a good colour and flow for your painting.

3.  And lastly, but never least... ALWAYS CLEAN YOUR BRUSH THOROUGHLY.  As an artist I've learned that there is nothing more lovely than to work with a good brush.  And nothing more frustrating than trying to work with a brush that has been wrecked by being badly treated.  Even a cheap brush deserves a bit of respect... any paint pigment left to dry in a brush will end up moving towards the point where the bristles and handle are joined.  And as more pigments are left in that area the bristles splay and a brush becomes harder and harder to handle.  The best thing to do at the end of a painting session is to clean the brushes thoroughly with clean water then lay them flat on a dry towel to dry.   Once they are dry they can happily be stored in a jar standing with their bristles up.

In our house I'm afraid that the brush care lecture was a fairly serious event.  But the flipside was that the twins (and now Little Hands) have always had really positive painting experiences with the watercolour sets which we've  had now for about 18 months.  It is a pleasure to see the way that they have mastered this simple medium and begin to be more specific in how they use it.

Wishing you and yours many happy hours of painting!

g

Spring and Slowing Down

art. house. mum.

Happy Spring!  It sure is the right time of year to be grabbing a few (little?) buddies and heading down to the park for a simple picnic lunch...

There were hundreds and thousands of these show stoppers in the gardens...

Perfect weather...

And music for dancing to boot.

With weather like this, who's got time for blogging?  

Which brings me to my next point... I'm thinking that I'll be slowing down a bit more on the blogging.  Much as I love doing it, there are days when I should be puting more time and effort into other things... like my health (fitness and food prep), this last pocket of time when I'm a stay-at-home mum to a house bursting with inquisitive little minds (counting down the months until Sam and I are full-time best-buddies...), and supporting my rock of a husband who has been very gracious about the hours I have spent learning so much while I've been blogging this last year.

So, in the everlasting pursuit of balance, I'm dropping all promises (mostly to myself) about the regularity of my posts and I'm gonna post on a need-to-post basis... i.e.. if you find me here, then I'll definitely have something worth saying or showing.

Talk to you soon. 

g

Craft Win... Individualising Generic Sleeping Bags

art. house. mum.

Ever wanted to give someone a really great present that you know they just won't love?

This week we had the chance to celebrate the twins' fifth birthday.  Each birthday brings with it a chance to remember; to say thanks; to guide the little ones though the minefield of intense emotions; to encourage the growth of manners; the setting up and maintaining of family traditions; and the expression of our love for these little creatures.

We decided (again?) to err on the side of practical gifts this year, knowing that others around them were likely to take the chance to spoil them with fun gifts which they love.  Hence I found myself a few days before their birthday doing my best to girl-ify a pair of very practical sleeping bags.

The two reasons why we were keen to do this were firstly that we wanted them to love the sleeping bags, even if they don't quite understand that they are an investment which we hope they will use right into adulthood for all kinds of adventures, and secondly that camping gear can be pretty stock standard and on aforementioned adventures they won't want to be standing at the campsite wasting time sorting out which plain black sleeping bag bag is theirs...

So I fell back on an old friend, my screenprinting gear.

Step 1.  Make a paper stencil.  The easiest (and quickest) way to do this is to make a simple paper snowflake cut out.

Step 2.  Place the sleeping bag on a flat surface, the stencil in the place where you want the print on top of the sleeping bag, the screen on top of the stencil, and pull a volume of ink with a squeegie over the screen.

Step 3.  After allowing the printed sleeping bags to dry (and cleaning up the screen and squeegie immediately after printing... important!), why not try sewing some ribbon onto the bag bag and near the top of the sleeping bag?  (I was surprised at how easy it was to sew with the special camping fabric.)

Funny, the twin thing... Hope pulled her sleeping bag straight out of the bag to play camping with it, while Miffy chose to cart hers around in its bag all morning using it as a pillow, seat, footrest...  before eventually deciding to try sleeping in it that night.

Craft win.  Generic camping gear made sufficiently girly and unique.  The only change that I'd make if I were to do it all again is that I'd be organised enough to buy the colour of printing ink that would look best rather than just making do with what I had... wouldn't that pattern have been a cut above it were in white!

g

Three Things... Park, Baking and Neighbourly Cauliflower

art. house. mum.

Three images from our week that tell you a little of what we've been doing.

The cauliflower was a gift from one of our lovely neighbours.  The funny aside is that I've been watching some plants in our garden thinking that they were remnants of last year's broccoli which did so well in our vege patch.  But today I had a good look... and noticed the same remarkable pattern which were growing in the center of this lovely specimen.  So, apparently at some stage I planted some cauliflower... then gave up on it... and now it is looking rather promising.  Talk about absent-minded gardening!

g



Bike Girl with Flowers

art. house. mum.

Flowers anyone?

Wishing you a good week.

g

Three Things... Dogs, Flowers and Toilet Rolls

art. house. mum.

Three things from round here that kind of sum up our days (and yes, Barbie is wearing a toilet roll... but then, you would if you could fit it.  I know you would.)

g

A Bit of Self-Expression in the Laundry

art. house. mum.

So, I don't love the laundry.  Understatement.  I do kind of like the washing line because it's an excuse and a commitment that takes me outside daily.  But the laundry.  Well, it's been unfinished and disorganised since we moved in more than two years ago. 

But this weekend Matt was inspired to get on with painting the walls.  He had undercoated most of the walls by the time I decided to try to bags one for another (blue) blackboard wall.  He kindly obliged me and undercoated this little wall and let me go with the masking tape...

I was figuring that it would be easy to put the white lines in at the start... and easy to take them out at a later stage if they were a major Craft Fail...

But I kind of like them...  I like the way the top box claims some of the blackboard as adult space.  And I like that the noughts and crosses game has encouraged the twins to start learning the lessons of games...

And I look fowrard to seeing what kind of inspirational quotes or notes end up spending time with us in one of the work-oriented rooms of our home.

g

Carnival of Flowers Time

art. house. mum.

If you don't live in Toowoomba, then Spring is the time to visit.  She puts on her technicoloured dream coat for the Carnival of Flowers in September (Oh, it's September already!) and from private gardens to roundabouts and parks there's floral inspiration everywhere.

It's been a few years since we've been able to appreciate some of the finer events of the carnival but with kids in tow, the parks with their interactive displays are a real treat.  This year a few of my paintings will be included in a local exhibition... and that's about as close as we are going to get to culture or fine horticulture.

Water Lillies is one of the paintings that will be on show from the 14th September until the 6th October at Tosari Gallery in Margaret Street.  I had a sneak peek at a few of the other paintings for the exhibition and I've got to say that there are some artists in our area who are doing some pretty funky stuff.  

See you round the gardens and parks...

g

The NEW To Do List

art. house. mum.

I'll start this post with an unrelated painting... just in case you like Blueberry Muffins...

Gotta say.  Spring makes everyone more energetic.  It's lovely.  But it makes the days fly!

As the days fly the list of things that I'm really keen to get done grows... even as I cross things off.

What I did notice was that with having one To Do List I rarely allowed myself to get to doing the nice creative or relational things and if I did take time for them I felt guilty.  So guilt was growing on guilt... the list is so long that Life would have to stand still for a week for me to make any kind of impact.  And on top of that I was only allowing myself to do the jobs which I find monotonous or thankless.  My motivation was waning.

So I'm trying a new system.  Two To Do lists... the fist is called (creatively) the To Do List and it is made up of the jobs which I would really rather have someone else do... 

Order a Gas Bottle

Sort out the Phone and Internet Connection

Do the Washing

Write the Creche Roster for Church

Paint the Doors

Paint the Laundry

Vacum the House (oh, and mop...)

Do two Paintings for an upcoming Exhibition...

The second list is called My Rewards List.  It's full of the things which I do need to write down to remember to do... but I usually don't allow myself to start because I feel guilty about using my time for something nice for me...

Download Skype so that the Cousins can Talk

Ring My Sister

Paint the Alphabet for a Friend

Invite those Friends Over

Start Doing Up the Caravan (for the proposed trip!)

Sew the Curtains for the Kids Rooms

Sew Myself Some Spring Pants

Plant more Seeds

Fix the Kitchen Bench

Order a Load of Mulch...

So now I'm trying to make sure that I do a few "jobs" from both lists each day.  My powers of procrastination have been greatly reduced.  And I am relishing the freedom to embrace the jobs which are giving the most emotional rewards and inspiration.  

But wow, don't the days go so fast!  Gotta run,

g

Spring...

art. house. mum.

As hard as it is to get motivated to garden in Winter, it's just as hard to NOT be excited about the garden as Spring starts smiling at us.

Inside I started with some coriander in pots (because round here we should have another blast of cold and frosts before true Spring takes over).

We cut down some of the agaves that were well established to go into a new garden round the tanks.  And I took these pups to be planted into pots when I find the right ones.  Eventually they'll probably go into the ground somewhere...

And I'm just so thankful that a few weeks ago the kids and I spent a few hours one afternoon weeding half the vege patch then planting a few baby beetroot seeds.  We watered them once then the hustle and bustle of life encouraged me to ignore them and occasionally hope for the best.

Kids love gardening, don't they.  I couldn't resist showing you this photo of today's helper.  Little Hands loves to water.  He started this morning with a watering can then soon moved up to the hose... which seemed harmless at first.  Until I realised that he had twisted the hose head round and rather than giving my little seedlings a gentle shower he was blasting them out of the ground (I hope I'm exaggerating... haven't had a chance to go back and inspect the damage yet) with a jet spray... 

Cute...

HAPPY SPRING!

g

PS.  Want to see how we welcomed the Spring in?  Ainsley from It's the Little Things invited us for a Winter's End Bonfire and Camp.  We had a ball and met some lovely and really interesting people and she blogged about it here.

I Been Baking...

art. house. mum.

Well, I lied.  I'm no great baker (if you haven't figured that out already).  And I'm even more certainly no fine cake decorater.

But what I'd be far too intimidated to try baking and decorating I'll definately give a go painting...

I'll have to keep these well away from the girls... lest they get ideas for what they might like for their birthday...  I'd hate to have to let them down.

But then, this one might just be bakeable... even for me.  It's just two sponges sandwiched around cream and jam then dusted with icing sugar.

Oh.  Now I'm hungry! 

g