This and that and a thank you.

Well, busy busy busy. Where does the time go? What an exciting happening for me, I have been awarded the Sunshine award from Allison over at her place of creativity at thoughtfulcreations.wordpress.com I will complete the award in the next few days.

In the meantime I have done my ‘yearly’ envelopes for a girlfriend of mine. Each year a group of friends pool a small amount of money weekly and split it up at the end of the year at a weekend away. I was asked to ‘fancy up’ their envelopes two years ago. I did warn them that my method of creating is by process and never know what is going to come out. They are happy with that and wait to see what each year brings. This year my trusty unipin pen dreamt up ‘graffiti’ randomrose style I guess I would call it. It do so enjoy ‘doodling’. I hope they like them.

 

LEMON TREE..WELL….

The other thing  this week is my little lemon pip tree (I posted about her on my other block www.supposerose.wordpress.com  She started out as a pip I literally threw into a tiny succulent pot on my kitchen table. To my amazement she grew and grew and grew. I wondered gleefully if it would be like Jack in the beanstalk…I could be randomrose in the lemon pip tree?? She grew so straight and strong but I worried for her as I am not a gardener of that dedication so I took her off to my next door neighbour who is a dab hand at growing. She too is fascinated with our little lemon pip tree so she is giving it her tender loving care to see what happens. Small thing in this world are the best.

 

Here she is before she went to a new home and bigger pot (she is the straight strong one on the left). Annabella (on the right) wasn’t too happy and edged herself away. I think there is a class distinction between fruit and veg and succulents. Annabella succulent looks a bit high and mighty.

Last but certainly not least. My lemon pip tree carer next door came in with her weird and wonderful discovery, two carrots and two parsnip that had squashed together in the ground. Not enough room but determined to grow. They wound themselves into a tangle.  I have since scrubbed them up, left their jackets on, steamed them and thoroughly enjoyed their freshness and goodness. What a lovely, lovely week.

Happiness to everyone…

 

 

Brave Malala

Halloween

Halloween gifts for the Grandchildren.

Handmade Books

I am getting ready to hold a ‘handmade book/creative writing workshop at my library. Yarra Plenty Regional Library – Rosanna branch so I have been very busy. We will be making two books and doing a short exercise in creative writing. Because the workshop is only for two hours I need to prepare books to a middle stage. I decided to make some decorated ones, that way if we run out of time the group can concentrate on learning the pamphlet stitch.  I have made blank ones (which I hope to use). Participants can  stitch then decorate to their liking with mixed media.

These are the decorated ones, spines and pages also have the holes in them ready  for binding. If these are not used I hope they are an inspiration, a jump-start for some. I know when I am in a class to learn something new, I tend to freeze up so I am one person who needs a little push in the right direction to get me started.

 

and these are the plain ones all. The covers are a soft card and the pages are computer paper. I didn’t want sewing difficult through hard covers etc. as the participants are beginners. I have pre-pricked the spine and pages ready for sewing.

 

On 08/10/2013 I posted pics of the beginning of my ‘Brown Paper Bag’ book. I have added a few more items to it:

I was going to put everything in the pockets of the book but the pages seemed too plain just with the writings so I have added things to pages as well as the pockets.

This is a peek inside the pocket of going to the lake and enjoy my sandwich with the children playing with their toy boats. You can see my paper plate with origami sailing ships on papers clips. More drawings are in there as well.

Off to visit my ill neighbour with my thermos (from magazine) of chicken soup,(drew chicken on yellow paper and the wholemeal rolls are a picture from a magazine also. The flowers are origami. Plus my umbrella (cocktail one) incase it rains. I am enjoying this project as it is purely play.

 

 

 

The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I rediscovered this book buried in my library this morning. Here are a few of the more ‘stranger’ ones.

We had hail stones here today that looked like snow (pics on my other blog www.supposerose.wordpress.com so this little rhyme is appropriate in a way.

 

 

Snow, Snow faster,

Ally-ally-blaster;

The old woman’s plucking her geese,

Selling the feathers a penny a piece.

 

 

Bat, bat, come under my hat,

And when I bake, I’ll give you a cake,

If I am not mistaken

 

Ladybird, Ladybird,

Fly away home,

Your house is on fire

And your children all gone;

All except one

And that’s little Ann

And she has crept under

The warming pan.

 

There was an old woman called Nothing-at-all

Who lived in a dwelling exceedingly small

A man stretched his mouth to its utmost extent

And down at one gulp, house and old woman went.

 

There was an old woman, her name was Peg;

Her head was of wood and she wore a cork leg.

The neighbours all pitched her into the water,

Her leg was drowned first, and her head followed after.

 

There was an old crow

Sat upon a clod

That’s the end of my song

–          That’s odd.

 

And last one…

Eye winker

Tome tinker

Nose smeller

Mouth eater

Chin chipper

Guzzlewopper

 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iona_and_Peter_Opie

All just a slice of fun and nostalgia, although I never heard these strange ones when I was a child.

 

Amazing Photographs / 2

Black and White Shots of Nia

Alain-Laboile. Arte en familia

Alen MacWeeney

anton polyakov

http://arabamolsamontgiymezdim.tumblr.com/

You can find more in this web site,  so beautiful B&W photographs… There is also poems in this blog…. But most of them in my own language. I want to try one of them to translate,

Bu mahalle bir denizkızına adanmak üzeredir. “This neighbourhood  (means this twitter site) is about to dedicate for a  mermaid)

arabamolsamontgiymezdim: The name of the twitter means “If I have a car, I didn’t wear a coat”

bir gün mavidir ….. “one day it’s blue”
bir gün yeşildir …..  “one day it’s green”
hergün güzeldir gözlerin …. “your eyes beautiful everyday”
ben birgün maviyi, birgün yeşili ….  and I was loving you everyday, one day blue, one day green”
hergün seni severdim ….

by Yasin Aykal

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Collaborating with a 4-year Old

I love this

busy mockingbird

One day, while my daughter was happily distracted in her own marker drawings, I decided to risk pulling out a new sketchbook I had special ordered.  It had dark paper, and was perfect for adding highlights to.  I had only drawn a little in it, and was anxious to try it again, but knowing our daughter’s love of art supplies, it meant that if I wasn’t sly enough, I might have to share.  (Note:  I’m all about kid’s crafts, but when it comes to my own art projects, I don’t like to share.)  Since she was engrossed in her own project, I thought I might be able to pull it off.

Ahhh, I should’ve known better.  No longer had I drawn my first face (I love drawing from old black & white movie stills) had she swooped over to me with an intense look.  “OOOH!  Is that a NEW…

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the river: song and sung

I thought I had died and gone to heaven watching this. I captured this on ‘The Smallest Forest’ blog which is the most inspirational blog .

India Flint, Australia’s best-loved Prophet of Bloom,

“maker of marks, forest wanderer & tumbleweed, stargazer & stitcher, botanical alchemist & string twiner, working traveller, dreamer, sax player and occasional poet”

squidges along the riverbank at Fife like a sandpiper, her sack filling with shells and tchotchkes rolled back and forth by the bulge and nuzzle of the tides…then it’s back to the studio like a vodianaya (river daughter and water spirit)—to bind books, stitch robes, and lower bundles of fabric and rusty metal into bubbling dye pots.

In this quiet, peace full video by Tracey McConnell-Wood she is “learning to read the river, but nowhere near fluency, yet”.

This lullaby of wind and tide lulls me to calm; I want to kiss her beautiful, dirty, reed- and woad-stained hands.

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A Voyage Starts With You In My Humble Day

Thank you Nia and thank you John William Walters

Brown Paper Bag Book

I was looking for a recipe in my messy cupboard when my brown paper bags spilled out.  ‘Lunch Time Recipes’ came to me … book? Why not I thought, so let’s forget about the recipe I was looking for and the food I was going to cook. That is how creativity works, either not there at all or bang, must do it now.

I am not an avid cook, let’s face it I don’t even like cooking so actual recipe’s were not for this book. I pondered on what I could do. What do we put into a brown paper bag…sandwiches, and so it began.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I folded each bag in half with the openings on opposite sides. Punched 5 holes into the spine and stitched pamphlet style (directions are in the book).

I have written all the recipes but only started filling the pockets with the first piece which is sharing your sandwich with the sparrows. I had tried to sketch sparrows in the wild in the past but they were too quick unless I nailed their feet to the ground….that’s not nice). So I took photos instead. I drew some of these little ones from the photos, others I just ‘doodled’ them along. I don’t say they are great but what I will say is I had lots of fun. I decided to just cut all my practice birds out and put them into the pocket. I am spontaneous in my art so to play around with practice then sit down and do it all again is not my way. They may not be great but I feel they have that playful look. I did print my favourite one out just onto computer paper and added him (he is the big boy), unfortunately I chopped his legs off…oops sorry big boy.

The blue coloured fellow just didn’t look like a sparrow. By the time he came along the sandwich pieces were all gone so he took the paper bag. I couldn’t help more play so made another bird with paper clip legs and yet another from a book page. The miniature bag you see has a tiny plastic bag in it with what looks like pieces of the sandwich I was sharing with the sparrows. Added some feathers, not sparrows, they are a bit hard to come across.

 

These are the other pages. The day ran out, I had take away and the rest of play will have to wait for another day.

This book is not intended to be anything else but play. I do small workshops and that is my aim to teach people to relax and play. One gets the best surprises.