Aaahhhh!!!

It's all getting a bit to scary at the moment. I met with the Snr Lecturer at the Theory of Art and Design faculty at Monash today to discuss my Masters proposal and she's ready, willing and excited about supporting it . . . . at this point, I did think about doing a runner (or in my case a slow jog) from her office . . . but then I told the little voice in my head to bugger off and thought how cool. I still have a slight deer-stuck-in-headlights look about me, but in reality fear isn't a big enough motivator to stop me.

Currently working on my Christmas card design in Marg's class and thought about doing Merry Christmas in Latin until I translated it - Hilaris Sarcologos - just doesn't have the same ring does it. Because Gothicised Italic is so formal I thought a formal look would be appropriate, maybe I need to study some Gothic or Blackletter work to get inspiration. I also thought that watercolour holly and berries with gold lettering was a possibility, but I can't find any decent pictures of holly leaves on Google to use as inspiration.

Twins are currently chucking a feral so this means I'll have to cut this post short.

Fully Sick

Yes, we are a fully sick family. My three babies, Bailey, Nathan and Andrew are currently sleeping of a pretty yucky bout of gastro. Last night I took Nathan to the Emergency department because he was having some pretty severe stomach cramps, and by the time we arrived he was very dehydrated as well.

Bailey was sick on Saturday, but appears fine, and Andrew unfortunately succumbed in the early hours of this morning, not long after we arrived home from hospital.

Mummy (me) thinks she may have started it all as I had very severe stomach cramps Friday before last . . . or I'm yet to get it - definitely something to look forward to.

On a brighter note this pudding is one I did for the Lilydale show last year. I scanned in some pretty funky paper to use as a backdrop. Just started calligraphy lessons that will include this year's Christmas masterpiece, currently uninspired by this but it will happen. We're doing Gothicised Italic and all that practice I've done making my Italic less pointy and more rounded just get thrown out of the window!

Scarily, Monash Uni think my idea for a Master's thesis has potential and I now need to work on a 2-3 page proposal outlining my arguments, summarising my points and discussing potential reading and research that will need to be done. At no stage did I consider what it would take to write 30-40,000 words on 'Parallels between medieval calligraphy and contemporary abstrast/experimental calligraphy' . Still I love an intellectual challenge. And I still need to find my transcripts from my three other degrees before applying . . . you can see how I value my testamurs can't you, do I have any idea where they might be? You guessed it - none whatsoever. I do the study for the enjoyment not the piece of paper!!!!

Well while all is still silent here I'm going to make myself a hot cup'o'char and find a quote to go with this fairy drawing I have almost finished. Then if time permits I'll play with the ruling pen working out how to do the gestural writing style of Yves Leterme. Wish me luck . . .

Sold!

Wow, I sold some work on Redbubble today. Someone bought ten of these Christmas Cards, I am just so totally blown away and feeling how fantastic it is that someone likes my work enough to buy it. You can check out other work I've loaded to Redbubble here.

I'm on a design blitz at the moment, totally loving that buzz that comes with being in the zone. I've been playing around with making brushes of my own calligraphy in PhotoShop, which is how I did this card. Once I can work out how to save them as an .abr extension I may even consider selling the brushes. I think though that I need a newer version of PhotoShop and that will have to wait until I'm rolling in it.

I've also been playing about with salt, yes salt. I did a wash of watered-down gouche on some hot-pressed Arches and then used the salt grinder to sprinkle salt over the paper. The salt soaks up some of the liquid and creates a really cool texture. I'm currently working on a fairy on this type of background so will post once it has progressed beyond the sketched in stage - which is where it's at now.

Doing Gothizied Italic in calligraphy class this semester, which should flow in really nicely into Christmas as it's a very Christmasy looking script. I've also sussed out Monash for a potential MA in Art & Design - Something related to calligraphy of course. The application needs to be in by the end of October, but haven't had any feedback yet, so let's just wait and see. If it happens that's great, if not there's always something else I can do.

Time for bed.

Frustration!!!!!

Totally frustrated with Photoshop again. It is the least intuitive program I have ever used. I finally worked out how to manipulate the colour of a black and white image that I have scanned. Now I'm trying to add a background colour via a new layer - the problem? Everytime I select a colour and hit okay I can only get the Grayscale slider up on the colour swatch palette, which means I can't play around with the colour as much as I'd like, can I work out how to change it . . . no . . . can I find anything in help that would actually help me . . . . no . . . am I ready to throw the computer out in the rubbish bin . . . yes . . .

So, I'm going to do what any insane Photoshop user is going to do . . . turn the bloody computer off and go and draw using real pencils and real colours, until I calm down enough to nut out how to change it . . . .

So . . . bye, bye . . .

Raaaaaarrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is Daddy 'raaarrrring' the boys Saturday afternoon over the back gate.

Everything is looking green and the clematis is starting to look like a live plant again instead of the dead twig its been looking like for the winter months.

A good weekend was had by all - for those living in a vacuum Geelong thrashed Port Adelaide bt 119 points; Melbourne Storm did the equivalent to Manly in the NRL and Germany beat Brazil in the Fifa Women's World Cup.

Lunch was yummy at Georges in Camberwell and Bailey and Nathan were so very well behaved, which makes it so much easier.

This morning we've had visitors - Jane, Jordan and Mitchell and Lisa, Cooper and Baxter. Lots of fun was had running around the newly mown back lawn, sand has been put everywhere, especially in Bailey's hair, and Nathan's pockets. The boys are now sleeping soundly before wreaking havoc in the backyard again this afternoon.



This picture was taken last Wednesday at De Bortoli Winery in the Yarra Valley for Andrew's birthday, where we had the yummiest lunch. I can certainly recommend the Emeri Sparkling Wine, very yummy. Andrew and I have now discovered this marinated goat's cheese, which is to die for.

I have finally set up a profile on RedBubble, which is something. I haven't uploaded any artwork or worked out any of the details yet, but at least it's a step forward. Baby steps . . . . .