Kinder time!

A quick not to let you know that Bailey and Nathan made it into the Dr. Stanley Cochrane Memorial Kindergarten (isn't that a great name!) for 2009. This is no mean feat in our council where kinder places are highly prized, we are very very excited to get a first round offer. I can't believer that the boys will be going to kinder next year, wow time flies. I'll have to post a now and then photo, just to see how much hey have grown.

Playgroup today and meeting up with my sister Jenni and my niece Kristen for Maccas - a very special treat for Bailey and Nathan.

Nathan has escaped, which means it's time to go.

Welcome to feral'o'clock . . .

Been a while . . .

It's been a while since I posted. I must admit the last month has been a bit of a struggle, just getting through the day has been a bonus. I'm into making mini-books at the moment and this is one I made for our friends Megan and Steve for the birth of their new little boy, Riley. I'm absolutely loving my new toy the Big Bite Crop-o-dile, it's fantastic to punch holes in anything. I'm doing a workshop in September with the Calligraphy Society making a keepsake book. I love learning new techniques and improving the way I do things.

Here's one of my little munchkins, aren't they cute. The floor puzzle is a big hit at the moment, they both like to do it together and get very excited when it's all finished. We've had some challenging behaviour recently but it all seems to have calmed down at the moment. The new table has helped with table manners and getting them to eat tea. Andrew and I are making a point of sitting down to tea as a family. I think this is an important part of family life.

The Wiggles are still popular, which is why I can type this post uninterrupted - Wiggle and Learn is on ABC!!! Another favourite is Lazy Town, which is from Iceland of all places. It's all about friends, teamwork, exercise and eating well, all good messages at this age.

I was very excited yesterday when my supervisor delayed our meeting because she's happy with how I'm tracking - means I'm on the right path. I have finally written my first words in my pursuit of 40,000. Having lots of fun tracking down books, manuscripts and scripts on the net. I found a rare book seller that has some fantastic examples of Nineteenth Century Illuminated manuscripts, these are not only rare, I actually thought they didn't exist! I love research and researching information about something like calligraphy just doesn't seem like study at all.

It's going to be a good day, Nanna's coming, she's got a surprise and I'm heading off to calligraphy!

All in a day . . .

In many ways Bailey and Nathan are extremes. While being normal boys they love to run around, jump of anything (although Bailey has more height fear) and do rough play. But when all is said and done they and it's time to focus they like different things.

Bailey loves to do puzzles and he is a whiz at them.

Nathan loves to fly through the air!!! A superman in the making.

Today is Tuesday and that means Nanna is coming - yippee!! Calligraphy doesn't start for another week, but today I need to head over to Monash library in Clayton so that I can borrow some more books - the problems seems to be reading them not finding them!! I have to get some words to my MA supervisor and I'm sure she wants something other than, 'I have no idea what to write!' Currently my focus is on the nineteenth century revival of calligraphy, and more specifically broad nibbed calligraphy. But getting the words out of my brain at the moment is a challenge. Still that was one of my reasons for doing my Masters, to challenge myself intellectually.

Nathan is now helping Mummy to type mkhgfcfdc8ki he love s to be helpul.

Possum Magic

This morning when Andrew was leaving for work there were two ring tail possums on the electrical wire across our driveway. The light was amazing because it was an awesome sunrise. I snapped away happily while Bailey and Nathan were eating brekkie in the high chairs.

This was taken using my 100-300mm lens, which when added to a digital camera increases the zoom x 4. I played around with the apeture to get the blurred background, just don't ask me what I did.

I love this one because you can see how close the possums were curled up together.

Yes, we do still exist!!

Eating Nana's cake at Pa's 70th birthday.

Buzzzzzzzzzzzz

New work done for my friend Sar's little girl Charlotte. This is the first of this kind of thing that I've done, and although the fairy looks like she's got something stuck up her nose, I'm not unhappy with the result.

My head is buzzing at the moment from too much information, it honestly feels like it is going to explode. I met with my supervisor yesterday to get my MA moving into reality. Starting with the resurgence of calligraphy in the late 19C early 20C, specifically around Edward Johnston, the focus on letterforms and legibilty. Looking forward to seeing some early 20C calligraphic pieces so that I can compare with 21C contemporary/abstract stuff.

The buzz includes a series of wants that are burning into my brain. It's a matter of working out what I want more. There's a new workshop I'm thinking of doing on colour in calligraphy. Colour theory is not something that I can seem to stick in my brain. Any work I do in colour is purely intuitive. My Dad has explained the difference between warm and cool colours so many times he's given up trying! This is a five month workshop done one Sunday a month. It would be good to use calligraphy within a workshop, without focusing purely on the letters, in fact I think it would free up my lettering. Often when I attend workshops I swear I forget everything I've ever learned. It would also be a way of practising without taking up too much more of the limited time I have.

Time is also buzzing around my brain, hence why I'm blogging at 11pm at night. Hubbie and boys are asleep and this sometimes seems like it's the only time I can actually hear myself think. You have no idea how much I crave the silence of the night. I've been trying to finish PS for the past week and it's taking an interminable time, so much fiddling between Word, PhotoShop and InDesign. Unfortunately I'm going to have to let it go, with the start of my Masters I can't spend that much time focusing on something that is purely voluntary, no matter how much I enjoy it and how much it keeps my skills up. If it doesn't go, there's a good chance I'll go mad!

Trying to simplify my artistic life, to get back to what I enjoy doing rather than trying to work out if something is potentially sellable. Time to give myself the opportunity to call myself a calligrapher and an artist, rather than someone who does calligraphy and draws a bit! Incorporating calligraphy into my art seems the most logical step, although sometimes I struggle with where to start. I spend so much time in my head that sometimes I forget to have a go in the real world.

Remember this year is the year of doing more and thinking less . . . .