My computer is unwell, I don't know what is wrong, it has just totally slowed and wants to stop so if I suddenly don't post you'll know why.
Maybe it is tired of all the images I keep putting into the hard drive. Or maybe it just craves less craft, less design in favour of the simpler art of sketching, like the drawings of Bettina's son Ruben who drew these foals (not horses) when he was 1yr and 11 months old! More pics here.
Look at this nifty roll away furniture that Marica found.
It's made by Confused Direction.
Daphne left a comment on my blog that led me to her Puppychick blog which let me tell you is bulging with bunny imagery plus she makes monsters and bags, among other things. It's always inspiring to see people who get so much done and she works in lots of different mediums AND lives locally! She screenprints (shown above), does computer illustration, paints and does incredibly detailed pen and ink drawings... I love crosshatching. I also love this bunny light she has.
I'm fairly good with houseplants, most of the time, but for those of you who struggle to keep them looking like anything but a dried twig with 4 papery leaves then perhaps these plant lamps by OS2 designgroup are the answer.
I was looking through Imelda's archives, (not that I got past the first month)I found the work of Geraldine Gonzalez. I got totally confused because for a second I thought Imelda had somehow posted a photograph of my old house! This woman makes the same things as me, but professionally (i.e. I assume she actually sells them, whereas I just create them for parties and then keep them till the get ruined when I move house).
It is so weird to see someone else doing this, part of me thinks WOW I love it, and part thinks, well why the hell am I not making a living out of it? It's all about confidence though, and selling yourself to the right places. Somehow I just never manage that part. It's like I'm expecting some shop or gallery owner to pop their head in my house (not in it's current demolished state of course) and say WOW I love your sculptural lighting and want to show it around the world but you can just hide away in your garden and I'll make all the effort and send you cheques, big cheques. And praise, lots of praise. And your idea of the perfect world will be validated.
I just HATE being shy. It's so ridiculous because when I'm around my friends I'm so chatty, maybe TOO chatty, but put me in front of a 'grown up' and I crumble, go red and stutter. And let's not even mention the various nervous twitches that break out if I think they don't like me or my work. Ahhh, so frustrating. I know I should be making a living from all the things I make (and there is such a wide variety).
I briefly thought about going into Theatre because I could mix set, costume and prop design, but people I know who do it say it's very competitive and bitchy which I'd hate. Plus deadlines, I bet they have tight deadlines. Not that I can't handle them, when I had my graphics business I quite enjoyed them, but when you are dealing with things that take hours to dry, or sew, it's different to a computer based deadline. Well, it is for me anyway.
Even when I did have exhibitions I detested opening nights, even my own degree show was totally traumatic and I abandoned it on opening night and went to look at others. God forbid anyone realise I had made these things and ask me about them, or worse, criticise them (and therefore me, they were very personal).
I'm guessing I am not alone in this.
Well, that feels a bit better, getting that out of my system, thanks to anyone who made it to the end of this rant. And now let me leave you with some pictures of Geraldine's work, this is basically the sort of thing I do, except a wider variety of media such as lace, translucent fabrics, recycled materials, beads, buttons, ephemera etc. as in this post.
These are so perfect, by Maya Vinitsky I saw them here at Designboom.
My shady Bamboo shelter 2005
It's getting to that time of year when I need to create shady places in my garden. I like to get out some of my favourite fabrics and 'customise' my parasol, build a teepee from bamboo and create a boudoir in the space by my shed. I'd love to see what the rest of you creative types come up with, I'm guessing there could be some amazing tent-like structures, particularly by those of you with young kids.
And all of it for less than £365 which is the price of the Shadylace Parasol (below) by Chris Kabel for Droog Design. It's so leafy and lovely and fits with my red, gold and green colour theme (the only time I have ever been known to restrict myself on colour) which I have as my garden palette (to stop me making hasty purchases whenever I see something in beautiful blues).
But like I say, £365 is a bit rich for me, I went with £6.99 at Ikea and then added my own fabrics. This year I'm going to get a bigger one as last year was just for one person and was the kind that clips on to things, a bit unstable.
When I was looking at some of the great finds on Imedagoze I did a wee link to someone who had commented ( I like to do that, you never know what you'll find) and it led to a blog called Poppytalk with these great 'email me' buttons for your blog.
There was a post about Marcel Weisheit. I went to his site and found this, which I think is so funny and makes me want to do it with my packages, it's a Snack Disguised As A Trout...
His Garden Notes are wonderful (Ulla, I think you'd really like them). I liked this one with trees on it...
Thanks to Nordic Bedouin for her post about Claydies.
The site has the quirkiest things like kooky cycle helmets, gingham disposable tableware for trains (some are very cute with nifty double uses) and this teacup which has a keel so it floats, ideal if I ever get rich and build my permaculture natural swimming pool - a long term fantasy of mine.
Ceramics by Greener Grass Design
Found Via Decor8
Yesterday was so sunny, and even kind of mild but OH the wind. I tried, honestly I tried to do a bit of clearing up in the garden to round off all my good work recently, but it was so windy everything kept blowing over or blowing away or worse, blowing into my veg (and by veg I mean 1cm high oriental salad seedlings and 2mm thick spring onions).
So I decided to read blogs. I've missed out on so much reading because I've been off on wild linking frenzies, as you may have noticed. So I began reading, and it was great, though I did feel I was skimming a bit to cram in everyone's recent weeks of activity and creativity. And then I read Lisa's post about being productive. It inspired me to STOP reading and go round sorting things in the house, which I did... for a while.
But it was all pretty difficult stuff, I can hardly move in this place for bits of wall lying on every surface, and pretty soon I decided to have a nice salad with fresh garden chives and the only place to sit is by the computer. Clearly fate wanted me to read more. And who am I to argue with fate.
So I have been enjoying Decor8 which I missed while Holly was offline briefly. She posts an immense amount and I can't keep up but I clocked this one cause it's in the UK, a fab blog I hadn't come across called Print + Pattern which is positively heaving with all kinds of great patterns, very much my kind of thing so I'll be visiting regularly.
Was going to post lots more of Holly's great finds but it's simpler for you to just visit her great blog and see for yourself. Things like Greener Grass Design (photo and link at top of post) where ceramacist Anne Black makes watery hued tealight holders and so much more.
Today, well today is a different day, gentle breeze and it's warm! So I'm off to do a bit of a garden makeover with my friend in exchange for her reflexology skills, a great swap. She started her refloxology training in Feb and I was one of her practice people. We were both amazed at how much difference she made to my cramps (I have Endometriosis) so she's been giving me top up treatments ever since. Honestly, her fingers were born to do that work, she's a natural.
