Saturday Fun

Saturday we travelled to Geelong (about 1 1/2 hours away) so that Andrew could play tennis. I know it seems like a long way to go, but as Andrew plays pennant we could end up anywhere in Victoria. Luckily Geelong Lawn Tennis Club had a spare synthenic grass court that Bailey and Nathan could run around on. They chased the tennis ball and some other balls we brought for about 45 minutes before becoming bored. Lots of fun was had.

How cool is this negative layout thingy that I did in Photoshop. I'm making it my life's mission at the moment to skill myself up to being a passable PS user. This wasn't actually that hard to do and I'm thinking that it would be a good way to display all of the photos I need to in the next issue of Postscript that I'm working on. Running across the bottom part of each page. I just need to remember to make the image size a bit larger - this is only about 1cm wide! I'm happy with the effect though.

Today we are heading to Kew Traffic School where Bailey and Nathan and the rest of our playgroup can scoot around on their ride-ons and trikes. Should be fun and plan to take lots of photos. I even bought some really cool patterned paper in readiness for scrapbooking.

Still working on the decluttering and plan to have it all passable by next weekend. This week will be busy as I put together Postscript, start learning Copperplate in Calligraphy class (ah!) and make a sympathy card for my sister. In between the normal demands of a household dominated by twin terrors. Wouldn't have it any other way!

I love my hubbie!!

Just wanted to share this photo with you. Andrew organised all of Bailey and Nathan's cot toys this morning before he went to work. His organisational skills are just amazing aren't they! I should mention that Andrew heads off to work around 7:15am and the reason Bailey and Nathan weren't in their cots is because they were snuggled up to Mummy in our bed - it was very cosy in there this morning.

It's been a fantastic day weatherwise, which means boys outside burning up energy rather than sending me mad inside. Bring on Spring.

Not a lot of calligraphy or artwork being created here at the moment, starting to crank up the next issue of Postscript, the Calligraphy Society's bi-monthly magazine. I'm the Editor, which means lots of work on Photoshop changing images to grayscale and .tif format, and lots of work in InDesign doing the layout of words and images. Now that I've worked out that Cntl-T can be used to scale images in Photoshop, I'm going to try some photo collages. This means not much else will be done until next week. But then given my tendency to practise avoidance behaviour, you just never can tell. It's all good at the moment.

What I said

The good and bad sit side-by-side, but it is the positive that makes the difference

Wow, I can't believe I wrote that in an email to someone six months ago . It was sent back to me today with a note of thanks. Sometimes when we write/paint/do things we see only what it is now, not what it will become with the passage of time.

Like these cards, made for birthdays over the weekend. I do them, I'm critical of them, wish I'd done something else. But, with time and space, I see them for what they are - art created to celebrate. And surely that's enough.

I had a bit Harry Potter weekend, seeing the new movie and finishing the new book. I'm a bit shell-shocked, happy that I know what happens and a bit sad that it's all over. I truly love the power of words, their ability to transport; to convey emotion.

Ants, Ants, Everywhere Ants!

I'm hearing this to a 60's tune but can't remember the name. You have no idea how much I detest this little critters, and I especially detest them when they are crawling all over the toybox!!!! This meant washing all plastic toys and picking ants of the soft ones - my sink was full of little people! Still on the bright side at least I have now cleaned everything, something I'd been planning to do anyway . . . the universe works in mysterious ways.

I relaxed while Bailey and Nathan had their sleep today and indulged in watching Oprah. Generally I don't have the TV on when they sleep and use the time to clean, cook and create (not necessarily in that order). Again the universe is giving me messages, it was on decluttering your home and how to get rid of things you are hanging onto.

I have boxes of baby clothes and don't know why I'm hanging onto them. I have tidied my scrapbook and art supplies but there is other 'stuff' just hanging around and I have sooooo many clothes that I can't hang anything more in the wardrobe. I keep putting the cleaning off. This is partly because I not a cleaning lover and partly I think because I'm overwhelmed by the mess I have created - stupid really. Today I felt so out of control because all of the toys were across the floor instead of being contained to the toybox. Isn't it ironic that I'm overwhelmed by mess, yet I am naturally messy!

I also realise that my creativity is being stifled by the clutter within which I'm trying to create. Kal today showed the room she is painting and how it is uncluttered and painted every couple of months, wow I am in awe of that type of energy . . .

So, the time has come to unclutter, starting with this room that I am sitting in. Sometimes the universe just needs to give you a little push.

It's official . . .

I hate Photoshop! All I want to do is a simple photo collage and can I do it . . . no!!! I can create a new canvas, add layers, but can I scale the photo to the size I want . . . you guessed it . . . no!!! I have books on it, I've checked help and still can't work out what I'm doing. So I did what any sane person does, I used Illustrator, which seems to be sooooooooooo much more intuitive than Photoshop.

Bailey and Nathan loved finger painting this morning and did a fantastic canvas painting for Grandma's birthday tomorrow.

Any tips for my photo collage techiniques gratefully accepted.

Purple always wins!

Of course you had to know that given the choice between vacuuming and playing with purple ink, that purple ink will always win! This is written using a ruling pen, very cool, but still learning how to use it.

I've been studying this piece of work that I started at Summer School in Winter, a week-long calligraphy programme put on by the Calligraphy Society of Victoria. Frustration is written using a drinking straw (who needs expensive tools) dipped in gouache. I wasn't happy with the composition of the capitals and I'm thinking about re-doing it. When I photographed it and tried to fix the lighting levels, my programme turned it green (it's on Arches CP paper, which is cream). I decided to save the photo this colour because I actually think it looks good. I think more funky capitals, moved closer to the middle, and some green spattered using a toothbrush should improve the effect. Will keep you posted on how it works out.

A great weekend was had by all in our household. Andrew won tennis, which is very important when you're playing for sheep stations!! Only two matches left and then it's the finals. Auntie Jenni taught the boys more climbing tricks, like I they need much help! Lets make this a good week!

Fantastic Friday

Welcome to fantastic Friday! Fantastic because I have playgroup in the morning, which means a chance to chat with other Mums and to share our toddlerdom experiences, and Bailey and Nathan have fun playing with different toys and learning to play with other boys and girls. I promise to post photos showing their faces, although it is difficult to get them together. At the moment every time I get the camera out Bailey wants me to take a photo of Bob (the Builder) and Nathan tries to grab it from me, so I get a lot of photos with hands over lenses and boys in and out of shots.

Yesterday had the desire to draw, but what to draw, what to draw. Often by the time I've made up my mind B&N have woken up and I haven't done anything. Yesterday decided graphite and raspberry would do the trick. Raspberries are my favourite berry, although I love the others as well (hence the blog name!). Still have some issues with my shading and don't think I've ever noticed that certain parts of a raspberry resemble a certain bottom part of the human appendage! Or, is that just me and my problem to deal with?

Still have about 45 minutes before B&N wake up, what to do . . . empty the vacuum cleaner so I can vacuum . . . or play with this really cool new Sennelier purple ink I've just bought . . . . mmmm choices, choices . . .

The incredible Climbing Duo

My first post, does this officially make me a blogger? I had to share this photo of my munchkins doing what they do best . . . climbing. They climb onto everything, this toy is a special favourite. Ah the joys of toddlerhood . . . more posts to come.