Bridbird

Let Me Introduce You to Printmaker Kyoko Imazu

2009-12-08T21:19:00.008+10:00

Kyoko Imazu is a friend of mine, I know her first from my year at RMIT studying printmaking, but mostly from working together at the open studios in the Australian Print Workshop. She lives in Melbourne but is originally from Japan. I love her work and want to show everyone else too!

I have chosen a number of images of her work from her blog and asked her to say a little bit about each one.

"This is a doodle I did when I was in Japan this year. I got ideas when I was reading a comic that I used to love when I was a child. It's got a lot of supernatural beings in it and I wanted to draw something that has a sense of those supernatural beings.Those beings are called Yokai - they are kind of like monsters but some of them are treated like gods too. I put my usual bunny and Jizou, it's a stone statue you can see anywhere like roadsides or cemetery in Japan. I think I felt really nostalgic about my childhood."

"This is one of Japanese Yokai as well, called Jinmenju (Human-face tree). First drawn by this guy called Toriyama Seiken in about 1870. The fruits are human heads and they are always laughing or smiling and if they laugh too much they fall from the tree. It's a legend and this tree is supposed to grow in remote mountain valleys in China.

I want to turn this into a print so I'm thinking about how I should do it at the moment."

"I wanted to draw something from my collection of minerals and fossils. I was looking at a calcite (see the picture second from top from the link) and thought I could actually imagine this to be a miniature island. I wanted it to look sort of like an illustration or ex libris from an old book like Gulliver's Travel so I used wood engraving as a medium. Also I needed to practise the engraving so I was a bit desperate to find an image for woodblock!"

"Rather than going for a detailed rabbit, I wanted this to be a bit more ambiguous. The rabbit's got a claw-like hand but I wanted it to be both familiar/not-familiar and not easily recognisable so I decided to black it out like a shadow."

"This is an invasion of Telebunnies! I used to love teletubbies, in probably pre-high school time. When I look at them now, they are kind of scary and weird with the funny voice and screens in the tummy.... (I think it's like Wiggles in Australia, I don't understand why kids love those old men) So I decided to make a bunny version of teletubbies but more of them so it's like they are going to come and get us with the crazy TV in the stomach to communicate with each other.

I wanted it to look like a doodle so I did sugar-lift. This print is quite small as I was experimenting with the medium so I think I will do them again in a much larger plate."

"I got the image when I was doodling again. I had a Edvard Munch's The Kiss in my head when I made a sugar-lift version of this doodle. In his painting, faces of man and woman are melting in to one another. I think I didn't want to make a parody but kind of pay tribute of his work about life, melancholy and death! Someone at APW said it looks like Michael Leunig's though..."

"This is a work called 'What the Mouse Must Know' and I made it when I was in uni. This school project was about what is real and not real, what defines 'real'. My work has always been about a constructed nature and a question of what is nature, so I decided to use a mix of my own project and school project together. I wanted to make a landscape with lots of animals and plants in it but they are mixed with images from fairy tales and drawings from a colonial time. I put those animals/plants/stories/historical drawings together so borderline of all becomes blurry. And because it's all made of paper it can add the sense of being constructed/man-made and also a fragility to it. I painted the back of each paper strip in light red colour so the colour would reflect on the one behind. "

"I think I will paste a text from a gallery proposal I made last year about this image. Although it sounds really stiff, it can summarise better.

"Kyoko Imazu examines artificial and cultural constructions of nature using the motif of the rabbit. The significance of the rabbit in the context of Australia and in children’s books and films around the world is vastly different. It is viewed both as a pest and a symbol of cuteness. Through distorting and manipulating its physical structure the work challenges conventional representations of this creature in a cross-cultural investigation. Using copper plate engravings and referencing eighteenth century natural illustration the pieces evoke an imagined evolution of this iconic animal."

"This is a doodle from which I got the ideas for Telebunnies (5) and The Kiss (6). I can't really explain how I got these images or why, because I drew them when I was on the tram or on the phone at work. Lots of animals are working or playing like humans. Sometimes humans trying to be animals just like a girl in a picture with rabbit mask.

I'm always thinking about ways to incorporate my doodles into prints but haven't quite figure out how."

"Bob the Hare! I felt a little bit rude about making so many hybrid or anthropomorphic animals in the past ( I still do!). Rather than playing with the rabbit's physical form e.g. hybrid, I wanted to make him as he is, not against his nature, so hopefully he keeps the sense of awe that we used to have to animals. Because of our desire to collect, research, label and understand the nature, nothing is a mystery to us. It's not an unknown anymore and we don't feel scared by it so we do whatever we want with it. I thought this wanting-to-know-everything-around-us resulted in human's dominion over nature. And I think having no respect towards nature is one of the cause of all ecological concerns. By drawing animals as they are in nature, I thought I could pay more respect to the animal."

"This is a watercolour of a tree that I found on the internet. It made a list for world strange tree.

I just couldn't resist drawing it as it was really beautiful! It wasn't raining in the photo but it looks like raining on the paper."

Thank you so much to you Kyoko for taking time to talk about your work. You can view more of Kyokos work on her blog www.rachelscabinet.blogspot.com.

The winner is...

2009-12-03T03:17:00.004+10:00

Well done to Carapace for winning my November Giveaway. I'll be sending out a little goodie parcel to Texas for her!

Teals and Trials

2009-11-28T00:30:00.003+10:00

I got so frustrated yesterday. I had a list of a few items I needed to get from an art shop. If I was in Melbourne I'd know exactly where to go and that the shops would have what I'm after. But not in Belfast! It's so difficult moving to a new place, even though Belfast isn't technically a new place for me, I'm just not used to it and I don't know the secrets! Although I think the secret is you have to buy everything on line because Belfast just doesn't cater to the specialist market of printmaking supplies, grey board or 0.5 2B pencil leads! I have to get used to it and realise Melbourne has nearly 4,000,000 people whereas Belfast has 267,500, so it's obvious really that supplies will be more limited here. Grrrrrr! I've been spoilt!

Oh, hold on, I'm baby sitting my nephew and he's just woken up, I'd better go and see if he's ok.................................................

................................................................ok, nephew on knee here, now there's one thing melbourne doesn't have, my wee nephew! oh and Belfast has a BRILLIANT display of birds in the museum. Here are a few more drawings, I did these yesterday.

Grey Heron

Brent Goose

Teal

Now on Facebook!

2009-11-26T10:40:00.002+10:00

I'm following suit, my bridbird label is now on facebook and I'm quite enjoying playing around with it like a new toy.

Here's the deal, if you become a fan of bridbird page and enter or have already entered the November giveaway I'll enter you twice so you have double the chance of winning! Woo Hoo!!!

I'd also like to introduce you to my good friends Able and Game who make fantastic cards and gift tags, like the one above. Here's the link to their facebook page. They are based in Melbourne and I miss them lots :(

November Giveaway!

2009-11-20T19:42:00.010+10:00

For your chance to win a goodie bag containing :-

1 A5 mounted print

4 cards including a christmas card

2 sets of fridge magnets

simply go to both my etsy shops (bridbird and bridgetfarmerprints) and decide on one thing that you'd like to have for christmas, then leave a comment here on my blog. Please remember to leave your details with your comment, good luck!

Winner will be announced 2nd December.

only one entry per person please, unless you are a fan of my facebook page, Click here to join up!

Thank you to everyone who took part in my giveaway, the winner is Carapace. The competition is now closed. I'll have another soon so keep watching!

That Christmassy Feeling

2009-11-20T02:11:00.004+10:00

Does that just mean cold toes and needing to wear a scarf indoors? Well if thats the case, I'm well and truly feeling Christmassy! Of course it's a different case in Australia where I hear temperatures are getting higher. Would I rather 35 degrees and clear skies or 5 degrees and eternal rain? Honestly, I'd choose the rain, I can't stand the heat, and it's just not Christmassy!

Here are a few of my new designs for Christmas cards. I have three different robins, each one initially drawn in pencil, then colour added on the computer. You can find them for sale on etsy or on folksy, a UK site. I'll also be selling them at markets around Belfast.

Out and About

2009-11-19T09:42:00.004+10:00

I did manage to get to the museum yesterday and drew a couple of pheasants. My favourite was the Silver Pheasant, simple black and white plumage with beautiful markings. I'd love to make a long etched plate of one of these birds. I've had to scan it over a few different pages and haven't quite managed to get him all in, but you get the idea!

Today I went back to Castle Espie. I got in contact with the staff a few weeks ago to ask if they had any specimens and they showed me to the attic where they have a secret stash of old, dusty birds. It was great!

View of Stangford Lough from Castle Espie.

Tomorrow I hope to get to the Belfast Print Workshop and finally join! I always get nervous when it comes to taking steps towards printmaking again, I love it, but it's such a wide area of possibilities it slightly daunts me. I think this is a good thing though!

Sketches at Seapark

2009-11-17T20:52:00.004+10:00

The day I got back from Amsterdam I was still fired up with drawing, I braved the drizzle and went down to Seapark near Holywood to draw. It was great, I sat for an hour until my feet got too cold.

Anyone from this area will know these houses on the shore, they're beautiful. My friend's grandfather helped to build them. I think everyone want to live in one of them.

This poor old dog was so old and stiff he just stood in front of me for ages instead of climbing the incline from the beach up to the path. Thanks for the pose!

The view from Holywood up Belfast Lough to the docks.

I'm raring to go drawing again today now that my first market is out of the way and I have all my stock made. I can set all that aside and do what I really want to be doing. I'm just waiting for a phone call from the museum about drawing their birds.

I've worked it out.

2009-11-13T09:32:00.004+10:00

The best way to draw more is to buy a lovely sketchbook!

While in Amsterdam last week I went into a great little shop that I recognised from when I lived there for three months 6 years ago. They sold beautiful paper, ink and sketchbooks. I decided to treat myself to a new green cloth covered sketchbook, and since then I've been drawing drawing drawing. It feels good!

Here's some of my drawings from the Netherlands.

Oh, also, the Etsy Irish team are having a giveaway, open to everyone and anyone. The winner will receive a marvelous goodie box made up of items from Etsy Irish Team shops. I've donated a few items too! All you have to do is leave a comment in their blog post. Here's the link.

A Wee Peek

2009-11-11T19:26:00.002+10:00

Here's a wee peek of my time last week.

Useful Art

2009-11-01T01:38:00.004+10:00

Here's some more of my fridge magnets. If our fridge wasn't covered up with a wooden door I'd have my favourite recipes held up by these!

I'm very lucky to be off to Amsterdam next week, I can't wait for all the lovely old buildings, lots of art galleries and great little bars and restaurants.

New From The Cutlery Draw

2009-10-22T05:58:00.003+10:00

I finally got round to drawing some new utensils today and have now uploaded them onto my etsy shop. I've also opened a folksy shop and listed a number of pieces there too. I'm getting closer to doing a few markets here in Northern Ireland. They aren't so plentiful as they were in Melbourne, but fingers crossed they'll be just as good!

Masher and whisk

Five forks

A lovely vintage beater

My mum went to a Good Food Ireland conference yesterday (she's quite involved with the organisation) and came home with the biggest flower of Kale I've ever seen. Even after my nephew had chewed, pulled and created a little kale carpet on the kitchen floor with it it still looked blooming! So I decided to use it here as a backdrop of green loveliness. We're going to eat it tonight with duck. YUM!

Duck Duck Goose Goose

2009-10-18T20:04:00.005+10:00

Yesterday we took a trip down the coast of Strangford Lough to Castle Espie. Castle Espie is part of the Uk's Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and is home to lots of ducks, geese, swans, waders, and all other seabirds. There is a lot of work going on at the moment, creating new pools and a salt marsh and a fresh water area, but it was still a great trip. I fully intend to come back and spend a day or two drawing.

Look at these little beauties! They are American Wood Ducks. Very pretty

An Eider Duck and a Greylag Goose

Here is the view across the Lough. You can see Scrabo Tower on the hill.

When the drawing isn't going well I always find a change of hand does the trick. I don't know why, I think it's to do with being less precious with your opposite hand and the lines become looser and somehow capture what you're drawing better.

A handsome Whooper Swan

I loved the colours here

The park sells little bags of grain so you can feed the ducks in the small pond area. My 9 month old nephew loved all the birds, he seems to like animals a lot, always wants to get closer. Not the best idea with a hissing goose!

New Clothes, oooh lovely

2009-10-17T21:04:00.004+10:00

The doorbell went and they were here! Hooray! There's nothing quite like new clothes made to measure just for you and these were a real treat.

I treated myself to a few etsy handmade clothes before I left Australia. I'd found Lirola's shop by looking through the 'favorites' of other sellers that I admired and since she makes each item to order they would be ready for when I got to Northern Ireland in a few weeks.

I got this top in a lovely maroon red. It's great to have a top that is casual but still a little bit special and different.

and this one I got in the colour shown. It's just gorgeous! Lovely fabric, lovely colour and they fit superbly! It's always satisfying to find a great shop on etsy!

www.lirola.etsy.com

By Request

2009-10-15T08:50:00.002+10:00

My friend Kyoko of Rachel's Cabinet has requested a few photos of my surroundings here in Northern Ireland so I brought my camera with me today when I went for a walk along the coast at Crawfordsburn Country Park. I think she meant more photos of the suburb I live in, but I'll do that another day!

A lovely grey heron

On a good day you can see out to Scotland from here.

Pretty stalks

This is the mouth of Belfast Lough where all the boats come in from Scotland and England

New Fantail Brooches

2009-10-12T23:56:00.005+10:00

I'm still making them! Here are a few new ones I have available until I send my order to my new stockist Mattt on Gertrude Street, Melbourne. I'm also looking for stockists in the UK and Ireland. If you're interested please send me an email at bridbird78[at!]hotmail.com.

Herb and Spice Jars

2009-10-08T22:29:00.006+10:00

When Jeremy and I first moved in together I went mad and bought lots of lovely jars for all our ingredients. I loved going to all the charity shops and hunting for nice containers. Here are a few new pieces of work in my etsy shop which are based on my jars of herbs and spices.

This image was included in my mum's cook book 'The Red Bay Tree Book.' The Bay Tree being her restaurant here in Northern Ireland.

Settling Into My New Range and Into Belfast

2009-10-06T06:31:00.010+10:00

It's been two weeks since we arrived in Belfast. I've been busy setting up a work space for myself and buying a new printer/ scanner and starting my new range for my Bridbird etsy shop.

The range is based on the pen and ink drawings I made just before I left Melbourne. I'm going to turn them into cards and digital prints. I've listed a few onto etsy already and in the next few days I'll add more. It feels good to start afresh with all new work.

Here are a few cards from my new range, all photographed with my mum's newly renovated kitchen as a back drop. It's lovely to cook and to blog in such a lovely kitchen! Sometimes moving back home is a marvelous idea! (She also has a TV at the end of the bath, and why not!? In fact, I think that's where I'm going to go now!)

Gocco Giveaway Winner!

2009-09-15T10:26:00.002+10:00

And the winner is.................

........... Jenn Erwin.

Congratulations Jenn, I'll post out your bundle of Fantails and a few other goodies as soon as I can.

I think this will be my last post from Australia.

Goodbye for now.

Goodbye Kookaburra laughing down the river

Goodbye spotted Dove cooing outside the window

Goodbye trams trundling over swan street bridge

Goodbye the delicious smell of jasmine

Goodbye the blue sky

Goodbye the gum tree smell which reminds me of home because we used to have one in our garden in Belfast, but has now been cut down.

Goodbye the feeling of guilt when you spend too long in the shower

Goodbye the possums knocking on our ceiling and peeing down the walls

Goodbye the Yarra river sweeping past our house

Goodbye Hawthorn Station and waiting for the train

Goodbye for now my lovely friends

Hope to see you all in Belfast some day soon!

Bridbird is Flying the Nest!

2009-09-14T08:11:00.005+10:00

Once again I've lost my camera charger. I just don't understand why this thing is so elusive! You'd think with all this taking apart of our house and belongings I'd find it somewhere along the way. but no. So no new photos.... Oh, but wait, I took some photos on someone else's camera of my exhibition. I'll see if I can find them. In the mean time, just to say, this is the last day to buy any of my gocco prints. I'm shutting shop on these prints and leaving them all behind when I move to Belfast, so they wont be available after today. So if there are any you want, get them now before it's to late! I'll also be announcing the winner of the giveaway later today or tomorrow.

My exhibition will be up until 26th September, but maybe for longer. Bird's Gallery are holding onto the pictures until I return next year or the year after, so if you can't make it during the show I'm sure you can still see them after.

Gocco Giveaway

2009-09-01T10:49:00.004+10:00

I'm having a giveaway to help with the stock lessening for my move from Australia to Northern Ireland! All you have to do is go to my bridbird etsy shop, look at all my gocco prints and leave me a comment on this blog post which is your favourite design. The winner will receive a set of 6 different coloured fantail gocco prints similar to the one below. The closing date for this giveaway is Monday 14th September. My bridbird shop $10 sale continues until 15th September, after that the shop will be closed for a number of weeks and possibly not sell these items when open again. This could be your last chance!

Good luck!

I'll also just mention for Melbourne readers the fantastic girls of Thread Den, who are truly amazing, are putting on an extravaganza fashion show for Melbourne Spring Fashion Week. It sounds amazing.

They say "it's going to be an amazing night out - with a cast of dancers, live strings, opera singers - and of course stunning couture and ready-to-wear collections from emerging Australian designers.

Tickets are cheap cheap at only $12 (plus booking fee) at the Thread Den shop. And you go into the draw to win a pre-show makeover (and who doesn't love a makeover?) dinner at Sosta Cucina,
bar tab at the after party and accommodation for two. So what's stopping you? Eh?"

Booking details:

Friday September 4, 7.30pm &
Saturday September 5, 7.30pm

The Lithuanian Club
44 Errol Street, North Melbourne

Tickets: $12 + credit card booking fee. Phone:( 03) 9329 5305

Duck Story

2009-08-31T08:54:00.004+10:00

A little while ago I mentioned how I had borrowed a stuffed duck from a pub called The Marquis of Lorne. In order to take the duck I had to give them something in return for the time duckie spent with me. So my little soft toy lamb, that I saw in a junk shop in Northcote, and couldn't resist, sat dutifully on the shelf in the pub for almost a month. I bet it was the time of his little soft toy lamby life!

So, Duckie became my model, I drew her, painted her and finally made a plate. A large perspex dry point plate. Almost didn't fit on my press!

It took a lot of rubbing and wiping to ink up this large perspex plate. Perspex isn't as nice to work with as copper is, I find it takes extra effort to get the ink just right on the plate and it's confusing because you can see ink on the back of the plate too.

I inked up in sepia brown tones with black rubbed over the top in areas. I rubbed the ink clean in areas I wanted white and then over the wing I inked in a mixture of turquoise and black to give that flash of metallic green. That part of the duck has a special name, my mum knows what it's called, but I can't remember. Anyone else know?

And here is The Marquis Of Lorne's Duck. She'll be in my Exhibition next Thursday!

Follow the Red Thread

2009-08-28T23:29:00.003+10:00

Oh Oh oH! I just spent a lot of money but don't regret it in the slightest.

I've been on the trail for these for quite a few months now and after a walk from hawthorn to abbotsford in the rain two sundays ago only to find they weren't at the skirt and shirt market I decided I had to up the quest.

So, I discovered them on the internet (probably something I should have done earlier on in the search), found out they had an open studio day today and went to Brunswick Street to look for them, and there, on the corner of Victoria Street (a little one off brunswick street, not the big one with all the vietnamese restaurants) and Brunswick Street was an A frame with Fibre Red written on it and a red thread leading a path up the street. Up the street and into a building, up three flights of stairs, down a corridor and finishing in a room full of the most gorgeous knitted garments you have ever seen.

photo by Fibre Red

I tried on a lovely red skirt and a perfect tan wrap top and didn't take them off. Im still wearing them now! I had bought a green Fibre Red skirt from the market about a year ago and I basically live in it so I knew these would be good buys. Their next open studio has not yet been disclosed but keep an eye on this page, I highly recommend a visit!

Have a look at their lovely website here.

Also remember my etsy sale, all my gocco prints are only $10USD, I'm relisting sold items all the time so keep an eye on it. Sale ends 15th September.

Website Dreaming

2009-08-27T08:12:00.004+10:00

I was over at Anna of Able and Game cards house yesterday. She helps me with my website and I had a number of things needed to do before I move to Belfast. I thought maybe I'd buy Dreamweaver program so I could continue to update it when away, but it costs $700! I don't understand why they don't make it more reasonable then less people will download it illegally. So just wondering if anyone out there has Dreamweaver for mac? I'll give you a free etching if it works! Seriously I will.

So, I invite you to have a look at my updated website www.bridgetfarmer.com. I have put up new etchings in 2009 gallery and made the sketchbook section. I'm finding on pc computers the images in sketchbook are a bit blue, but on macs they look fine. not sure what to do about that.

I've given you a sketch of my friend Tina and I while on our USA train trip a few years ago. We are sitting in Macey's cafe in Flagstaff Arizona. We loved that town! even with the train noises!

Right, I'd better get ready to go to work. Cheerio for now!

Bird Stories

2009-08-24T17:44:00.002+10:00

Opening night for my exhibition, (well, mine and Ilse's) is Thursday 10th September at 6.30. Do come along for a glass of wine and some nice things to eat and see lots of birds!

At Bird's Gallery, 236 High Street, Kew

It's Either This Or My Sofa

2009-08-19T11:41:00.007+10:00

Hi there! I seriously need to reduce my stock before I move from Melbourne, Australia, back home to Belfast, Northern Ireland. I'm moving home for a couple of years to spend time with family, friends, to meet my new nephew and for Jeremy to experience life overseas and to get to know my family better.

The thing is, I have so much stock for my Bridbird etsy shop and I just can't bring it all with me. So, I'm having a big sale. Everything in the shop has been reduced to just US$10 (from $15 and $19) AND!!! if you buy 2 items you get a third complimenting item free! How can you resist?! Sale ends on 15th September.

Below are a few examples of what is on offer in my shop and I've linked lots of words and pictures to the shop too.

Now, if nothing tickles your fancy you could always do me the huge favour of looking after my lovely old sofa for a couple of years!

It has a matching armchair too.

See The Gulls

2009-08-10T10:54:00.005+10:00

I've some more new pieces just out of the drying boards this morning, the excitement of which got me out of my nice warm bed! I've been working on these plates for a while because they are recycled plates from my earlier small etchings of Australian native birds. I sanded down the backs of the old plates with varying grades of sandpaper until they were shiny and new looking. Then dry point etched my seagull drawings in to them. The seagull drawings are from sketches I made while doing my MFA a few years ago. I sketched such a lot then and it's great having so much base to work from. I really must make more time to collect new sketches for new pieces of work.

So, I've made a four plate etching and four single plate etchings. The seagulls were all sketched from outside the Melbourne State Library where they all seem to hang out in large numbers. I'd also like to make a book of the seagulls, I'll see if I get round to it before the exhibition on the 10th September. Getting close now!

Seagull I

Seagull II

Seagull III

Seagull IV

Thread Den Market

2009-08-04T08:53:00.007+10:00

This Sunday (9th August) Thread Den are holding a market at the Lithuanian Club in North Melbourne. There will be lots of stalls (over 50) with a variety of work for sale and activities for children. I'll be there! and there'll be lots of designer/ maker clothes and accessories, bric-a-brac and vintage clothing too!. I think it should be a good day and it's undercover so it'll be fun whatever the weather. And North Melbourne is a great wee area with lovely restaurants and cafes. I recommend Oskars Pizza on Errol Street, YUM! (open for dinner only 5 - 10pm) It's an easy 20/30 min walk from the CBD or you can take the no. 57 tram on Elizabeth Street. You can also pop into the Victoria Market on your way home! Hopefully see you there!

Some Photos

2009-08-02T16:45:00.003+10:00

A fellow stall holder at Rose Street Artists Market gave me a cd of photos that her photographer friend (Carla Gottgens) took. The photos were of me! They were taken a wee while ago while I was printing at the Australian Print Workshop. You can see me struggling to turn the wheel of the lovely old printing press!

Also I should announce that Rose Street Artists Market is now open on Sundays as well as Saturdays. The stalls on each day will be different, it's a chance to get more artists/ makers involved in Rose Street Market. I will continue to do Saturdays until mid September, then I'll be packing up all my things and heading over to Belfast, Northern Ireland to see what's happening there!

Rose Street Market has also started it's online shop, so if you can't make it to Fitzroy, Melbourne on Saturday or Sunday then log on here and see what's available!

Sticky Hands

2009-07-28T16:49:00.007+10:00

My hands are all covered in dried glue and it's hurting the fine hairs on my wrists as I pull it off, though it is strangely addictive. My brother when he was little, attending playschool, used to paint his hands with glue, or if that wasn't available, paint, and spend the rest of the day peeling it off. I'm not quite that bad and I have actually achieved something today.

I decided it was about time I tried to bind my Crow Story book. The components of it (the etched pages and the embossed front covers) have been sitting in my studio for a week or so, I've just been waiting for a day off work to buy some board. I'm now back down to 2 days a week in the gallery where I work, after working 4 days for the past month (didn't enjoy that) so I went to Dean's Art yesterday and bought all the things I needed and got down to it today.

As you can see the book is concertina style, but with a regular hard back cover. The cover is made from lovely black Hahnemulhe cotton rag paper which I embossed using a plate made from cut out pieces of card arranged in a feathery pattern.

The plate (below) looks like it is made from balsa wood, but that is just the layer of shellac painted over the card. I actually used the reverse side of the embossed prints in order to get the full wing effect, otherwise it would have been in relief. I have also made a number of embossed prints as pictures in both black and white. I like the effect.

New Work For Market

2009-07-27T18:16:00.004+10:00

Markets have been quite slow these last few weeks, probably mostly due to the cold winter months, but I was also worried that maybe my stall didn't have enough new work. So I've decided to get down and make some new things. Here are some examples of new pen and ink drawings with a kitchen theme. I'm now mounting them up ready for this weekend's markets!

More Crows

2009-07-19T18:11:00.005+10:00

I've been working most days in the gallery that I work in at the moment. My boss is away so my shifts have increased from once a week to four days and I'm just not getting much of my work done, hence no blog posts!

But I've finally managed to print a few of my smaller crow plates. I've in fact made all eight plates into an artist book which I have yet to bound, but which hopefully will be included in my exhibition in September. I have also printed a number of the plates separately exclusively for my etsy shop which you can view here.

The prints are dry point and carborundum on 6 x 6cm recycled copper plates. I used the back of other plates for these, I wanted them to be rough and have lots of foul bite marks but many were a lot cleaner than I had hoped! But I feel they have turned out similar to how I planned. I really like the thick dark grainy tone of the carborundum and enjoyed painting straight onto the copper.

As I learn all these little bits and pieces of technique and experimentation I get more and more excited about moving to Belfast at the end of September and getting into the Belfast Print Workshop and work larger scale again. I'll definitely miss Australia but I'm glad I'll not have to endure Melbourne summer next year. I would indeed prefer 9 months of winter than experience another summer like the last one!

Turquoise Crow

2009-07-02T10:53:00.005+10:00

I think this is the largest print I've made so far. It only just fit on my little press. At an estimate, from memory, it measures about 40cm across. It was made by drawing with thick PVA glue straight from the bottle, then grit poured on top, like glitter! I then sealed the plate with shellac.

The texture is very deep and it embosses the image into the paper as well as printing the inked image. I went through quite a bit of tarlatan (the cloth used to rub back the inked up plate) because the grit kept ripping it up, like rubbing cloth over sand paper. I also used an etching needle to score into the cardboard plate for the lose lines around the bird. I wasn't sure how this would work, but it seems to have worked as well as if it were dry point into copper. The edition is small, only 4 or 5. I'm hoping to have it in my upcoming exhibition at Bird's Gallery, Kew in September.

John Hegley

2009-06-25T22:16:00.003+10:00

Who knows of John Hegley? I've been to see him a number of times when I lived in Edinburgh and it's always a treat. He grew up in Luton, near the airport, likes dogs and potatoes, hates his brother in law and disrespects people who where contact lenses.

Relaxing with Taxidermy

When their chihuahua got stuffed
they were really chuffed,
no need to feed her
or walkies on a lead her
no more poop to scoop
and doesn't she look smashing on the mantle piece?
She'll always look at the camera now.
I don't know why we bothered having her alive at all.

An Owner's Complaint

I've got a dog that's more
like a carrot than a dog.
It's hairy,
but only very slightly.
It's got no personality
to speak of,
no bark to bark of,
no head
no legs
no tail
and it's all
orange
and
crunchy.

and here's the song/ poem I 've been trying to find for ages, I just found it tonight on youtube.

here's his website with some more poems, but really, you've got to hear him say them. He does it best!

Clunes

2009-06-24T11:51:00.007+10:00

Last Friday Jeremy and I went on a little getaway. We had been told about Clunes, an old gold mining town which had hardly been touched since those days. It's not far from Ballarat and only about 1 1/2 hours from Melbourne. It's also close to Daylesford which was important for us because we had to have dinner one night in the wonderful Breakfast and Beer. This is the town they filmed Ned Kelly, Mad Max and some beer ad apparently!

This photo is from the bottom of Fraser Street looking up.

And this photo is from the top of Fraser Street looking down. We stayed in a comfortable B & B called Dukes at no. 19 Fraser Street where they even have their own wine label and served up a wonderful breakfast of homemade toasted muesli and a great home cooked breakfast.

Most of the shops are only open at the weekend and a lot are empty, but there is still an undeniable charm about the place and a feeling of potential. I couldn't help imagining myself opening a gallery in every empty building we went past! There is also a lovely silence to the town.

We had a bite to eat in the strangely named Widow Twankeys. We were slightly put off by the lurid pink walls, but we were wrong! That was one of the best sweet potato soups I'd ever had and Jeremy's vegie tart was 'incredible!'

We just spent the day wandering and wondering about the town.

Then we stumbled upon the old school which has been converted into the Bottle Museum containing the largest collection of bottles in the southern hemisphere! They are in the process of renovating it, they need a bit of work on the gift shop too, but it was nonetheless quite an interesting little $3 spent.

We continued walking and discovered one of the old gold mines. The little hills in this photo are results of the mining. It's hard to imagine how busy this place was back then. Clunes was the first gold mining town in Victoria, gold was discovered in 1851.

We then pretended to be trees.

and I told Jeremy to be a train at the old train station where they filmed Mad Max. He didn't want to, but I made him and as you can see he actually quite enjoyed it.

DINNER! Now I'd like to say that we had our dinner here, but sadly we took some local's advice and drove to Crewswick and went to the American Hotel and had a horrid chewy steak and dried chicken in a pub bistro decked out with plastic chairs and domdomdom music. I admit I am a restaurant snob (my family's fault) and Jeremy had to put up with complaints under my breath for the entire meal. So to cheer me up we decided to have dessert back in Clunes in the only place open for dinner. The pub was open but only serving pizza and pasta, not great for dessert.

So, what is this little gem of a place called, well, we're not sure. It seems to have three different names depending on who you ask. I thought it was called 'Hardware and Fancygoods' taking on the name of the lettering on the windows. Someone else called it 'The Fig' I think maybe this is what the place used to be called. A man at breakfast in the B&B said he saw a sign over the door saying it was called 'The Flea.' So who knows! But it's not hard to miss, it's the only real place to eat dinner in the town and we wish we had eaten there because the menu looked delicious and if the baked cheese cake was anything to go by yum yum yum!

Us happy to be in such a lovely place, and the next night dinner in the best place in Victoria - Breakfast and Beer!

At Market

2009-06-15T20:08:00.004+10:00

My friend Christina who has a stall beside me at Rose Street Artists' Market just sent me these pictures of my market stall. Market is such fun, even if it is freezing cold in winter and so hot hot hot in summer! Working from home can be so isolating, I think I would go a bit insane if I didn't get to see everyone on Saturdays, and then we all go to the pub for a nice meal and a glass of wine after.

Me at my market stall doing something on the phone.

The necklace colony

The brooch area

Me in a dress I bought from a fellow market stall holder.

Flashing

2009-06-15T13:03:00.003+10:00

I've been waiting for my printer to print out lots and lots of pages and while I was waiting I thought I'd have a little look on youtube. I really love all the flashmob videos, like frozen grand central station and the liverpool street station dance, but I've just seen this improve musical in an american food court which really made me chuckle. I though I'd share them with you!

Now my printing has finished, I'd better get down to some real work.

Just Playing

2009-06-12T20:42:00.004+10:00

While I sit in the gallery where I work, I sew. I make most of my fantail brooches while at work. I don't know what I'd do otherwise! Today I was just finishing off one of my brooches when I had an idea, so I started playing with what I had and these are the outcome. I like their simplicity.

I've just finished watching 'Who do you think you are?' the program on SBS in which famous people find out about their ancestors. I find this sort of thing fascinating. Today it was Stephen Fry. It was a very sad episode because he found out all his great aunt's family were killed in concentration camps. I feel it will be something that will linger with me for the rest of the night and probably into tomorrow. It was very poignant and, as is everything that Stephen Fry does, very eloquent.

I think this program would be equally as interesting if it were about normal people off the street. I'd certainly put my name down for it. I don't even know my father's mother's first name, but I'd love to know.

New Hatchings

2009-06-10T13:22:00.004+10:00

I've been neglecting my bridbird etsy shop recently so I thought I'd make some new screen prints for it. It's also good to have new work for market so I got down to it and created these. I didn't make them as quickly as I would have liked because I realised I didn't have any black ink and had to wait a week until my ordered ink finally arrived and I could continue.

I made them in 4 different colour combinations and also as single birds. You've seen the fantail on the left before, the one on the right is new. I've listed a few on etsy already and will be listing the rest over the next few weeks.

I also managed to get a day in printmaking last week and editioned "Fitzroy Birds" I'm hoping to get into my studio today and print another two plates I made yesterday. It's so cold in there though, the thermometer on our alarm clock says it's 8.5 C. :(

What have I been up to?

2009-06-04T12:19:00.005+10:00

Recently I've just disliked sitting at my computer, hence lack of blog posts etc. I always feel I should be getting on with something else. Here are a few of the other things I have been getting on with instead.

The Crows.
I started playing around with unique state prints made from two plates and various scraps of fabric. I found it all a bit stressful, which sounds silly, I should just immerse myself into 'playing' but constantly at the back of my mind I keep thinking 'deadline, I've got a deadline' and should concentrate on work that I'm more sure about for my exhibition in September. I do like the deep red crow with black lines on top. He was made with a collograph plate painted with PVA and grit inked up in red, then a dry point plate printed in black over the top. I really like the deep rustiness of the red colour.

Sketch Etchings
These are dry point etchings, the plates of which I made at Wye River in January. I decided to sketch straight onto the plate, rather than make the plate in my studio from drawings in my sketchbook. I like the immediacy of this way of working, but it is a bit nerve wracking because you don't want to mess up the copper plate.

I must also mention the winner of my may giveaway was Stef of Distracted Muse. I'll be posting her little felt brooch to her this week! Thank you to everyone who took part. I'll have another giveaway soon!

Left Hand Right Hand Drawings

2009-05-26T15:55:00.004+10:00

Brunswick Street Gallery is calling for entries for their 'small works' exhibition. I thought I should give it a go, so I came up with these three pieces. They are pencil drawings on embossed paper. The drawing is done with my left hand, except for the area in the small embossed square, which is done with my right. I personally always prefer my left hand drawings. Nice and lose. I don't really enjoy drawing in too much detail, I prefer to capture the essence of the subject, or maybe I'm just lazy?!

In My Studio

2009-05-22T10:59:00.004+10:00

If anyone is in the Boroondara area of Melbourne you may have seen my picture in the Progress Leader newspaper (page three!) In it I'm working away in my studio, tidied up specially for the photograph.

I've been thinking how interesting I find peoples work areas. I love seeing how others work, their inspiration pictures and postcards, works in progress on the walls etc. So I thought I'd show some (bad) photos of my studio. It got a bit messy in just a week after the professional photographer had visited, but bare in mind my studio is also our bedroom, it's a big room.

Studio + bedroom = extra messy!

I was not so sure I wanted our bed in my studio at first, but now I quite like it. I can lie in bed in the mornings looking at my work, seeing what needs to be done. I don't need to feel quite so bad about lie ins anymore, because I am actually working while I'm doing so!

Studio + bedroom = working from bed!

In The Red Corner

2009-05-15T22:35:00.003+10:00

I bought a number of sheets of various shades of red wool felt from FeltCraftStudio on etsy. I was lacking this popular colour in my last batch. So I've been busy making red fantail brooches. I've listed them on my Featherstitch Fantail blog along with a few new necklaces.

I'll be at Rose Street Artists Market tomorrow, Anna is kindly giving me a lift because I don't like cycling in the rain! I'll also be at the skirt and shirt market at the abbotsford convent on Sunday. Come down for a hot chocolate or visit handsome Steve in his house of refreshment on the balcony!

Here's the red team.

Two Zines

2009-05-13T09:46:00.005+10:00

I have two new zines for sale on etsy. One is Keys, drawings of keys that I've found in our house. The old car key that you just can't bring yourself to throw out even though the car is long gone, it's all that you have left of the old girl! Pretty old keys that you have no idea what they open, but they look nice so you keep them. The bike lock key on your key chain that you still haven't taken off but the lock broke years ago.

The other book is Australian Magpies. It contains reproductions of pen and ink sketches of the wonderful Australian Magpie! Both books can be bought on etsy here and here, they are also for sale in Sticky Institute in the flinders subway in the city.

Right, I'm off to pilates class even though I can't afford it!

Remember to enter my May Giveaway competition on my featherstitch fantail blog!

Big May Giveaway

2009-05-11T09:34:00.004+10:00

I'm having a featherstitch fantail giveaway! Simply go to my featherstitch fantail blog and choose your favourite design, leave a comment on it and I will pull out a winner at the start of June. The winner will win a brooch in similar colours to the design favoured. Remember to leave your email so I can get in contact with you. Good Luck! Here are a few of my most recent designs listed...

www.featherstitchfantail.blogspot.com

Two New

2009-05-06T15:30:00.005+10:00

Since discovering that I can buy felt balls and realizing I can get them online from here or here I've been making a number of fantail necklaces. They have been received well at market, especially the red ones! Here are two of my most recent pieces.

Also, today on the way back from pilates class I saw an Eastern Spinebill, I think a male. I just looked him up in the bird book now. He was very handsome with a lovely long curved beak. (The photo is not mine, just an image from the internet)

Freddy

2009-05-04T12:43:00.003+10:00

I owned a cat called Freddy while I was growing up. He was 17 or 18 when he died and I was away at university. I started dreaming about him regularly so i thought maybe I needed to make a book for him, about him, remembering all the good times we'd spent together. So I made my 'Freddy' book. Originally the book was made using digital prints on good paper and hand bound with lovely japanese binding. I finished the edition of 10 in 2004 and sold the books, but I wanted to make a more accessible edition of this book. So recently I decided to remake it as a photocopied zine.

I have these books at market with me and every time someone looks though them I feel happy that Freddy is being remembered! I still dream about him every now and then. Jeremy says he feels he's known this cat all his life too for all the talking of him that I partake in, even though Freddy died in 2000 and I only met Jeremy in 2005. It makes me feel warm and safe when I wake in the morning if I've dreamt of Freddy. He's almost become more than just my old dead cat, he's 'dream cat' and he often talks to me in these dreams in a very comforting way, almost like a parent reassuring a child.

Anyway, I've listed Freddy book on etsy and I'm going to leave some off in Sticky Institute, the zine shop in the Flinders Street subway, sometime this week.

Here is a poem that I fell in love with. It is one of the poems in the Australian poetry book I had the pleasure of illustrating last year. It reminded me of Freddy.

The Old Colonist by Andrew Taylor

Our old tomcat, with is weak heart,

anything over eighty, though once

menace of the whole district, preferes

to piss in the sink, in the frying pan,

on the vegetables.

Anything but go outside in the rain

and cold. Anything

than go at all. We house him

now in the laundry, on an old cushion

on the antique copper. He pisses

on the soap, finally on the cushion.

The laundry was a hazard of stale shit. Yet

when we scrubbed it with disinfectant,

hosed out the stink, encouraged clean air in,

he was neither grateful nor malcontent,

but with ravelled, unwashed dignity,

intelligent eyes, and ears alert,

from great age and it's obscurity

pissed on the ironing with deliberate intent.

six days later

Too old at last even to wash himself

his only thought was to be comfortable.

Mostly on the table under the vine

he lay on his side, watching all his years

slip quietly from him, kittens prowl

backyard and lane that had been once his pride.

His tail was a scattered skipping rope,

his haunches rejects of an Op-shop coat:

you almost thought the moths would pass him by

he was so tattered. Hardly weighed a pound.

He had stopped eating, would sniff milk. take

barely a bite to eat then turn away,

content that we had offered him the choice,

would purr when we coaxed him, but still turn away.

And yet he had his spirit to the end.

We used his table for our lunch, and found

him comfortable among the cutlery

minutes before the guests arrived - not once

but three times. Lunchtime yesterday. Our last

sight of him was a scornful rickety leap

over the fence, tail raised in a vague

vanishing salute. This afternoon

we found him, dead, ants beginning to swarm,

stretched in the sun, warrior to the last,

sprawled like an insult on the mayor's front path.

Fantail Flock

2009-04-29T14:25:00.003+10:00

After much thinking and working out of finance I decided to buy a new computer instead of trying to get the old PC working again. I thought that if it was going to cost $500 to get the old sluggish thing to work for a few more months, then I might as well spend a bit more on a new computer. So here I am on my new mac. It smells lovely and new and I've already got the Martha Wainwright cd that I borrowed from the library onto my itunes and downloaded BBC radio 4 podcasts! (one of the things I miss most about not living in UK is Radio 4)

So I thought I'd better get on and post on my blog. Here are a few more fantail brooches I have made while the computer has been down.

Also, just to fill you in on the wildlife around here - the Tawny Frogmouth has left his old tree. I don't see him anymore which is sad. Instead I've started seeing yellow tailed black cockatoos over the house and ganggangs over the river, which for inner suburban melbourne I thought was quite surprising. I've also started to see rats in and out of our house which isn't so nice even if I do think they look a little bit cute.

A Murder of ...

2009-04-22T16:47:00.005+10:00

CROWS!

I've been looking into the myths and legends of crows and ravens for my new exhibition happening in september. I want to create a new body of work based on the positive beliefs about these birds rather than the ominous. I'm looking into subject matter such as two crows seen on your wedding day signifies an auspicious marriage due to the fact that crows mate for life and are very loyal. Also how the cry of the raven sounds like the latin word for 'tomorrow' which is 'cras' and therefore the romans interpreted it as an expression of eternal hope.

I've also looked through etsy for crow and raven images for inspiration. Here are a number of beautiful examples of how these birds are used in art.

I have to admit, I have purchased a few of these already, I couldn't resist them and went into late night shopping mode!

Oh! also, I've joined twitter. I'm still new to it and not entirely sure what it's all about but i think I'm starting to like it!

New Maggie

2009-04-20T18:07:00.003+10:00

My computer is still out, that's why I've not been blogging lately, but I've managed to get a photo onto my cousin's computer. My attention is being sidetracked by "Herbie Rides Again" that my cousin's three year old son has playing in the background, so excuse any mistakes!

Well, I've been gocco screen printing again. I sold my last 'Seven Australian Magpies" gocco print last weekend at the Skirt and Shirt Market at the Abbotsford Convent and I decided I needed a new magpie print, so I've made this one based on one of my sketches of this lovely bird! I've listed it on etsy already and I'm framing one up to bring to Rose Street Artists' Market next week.

Evolution

2009-04-06T08:26:00.005+10:00

I've just been looking at my inactive listings on etsy on my bridbird shop and I found these. They are my very first fantail brooches, before they were fantails! They've all change quite a lot since then, changes that I didn't actually realise while I was making them! I find it interesting to see the evolution of a design.

The first brooches were made with synthetic felt, the colours were more limited and I wasn't so keen on the feeling of the synthetic felt. I stopped making them for a few months, but then I found wool felt sellers on the internet that had a wonderful range of colours and I started making them again. I always thought I'd make these brooches for a short time only, my attention span is sometimes quite short and I don't like repeating the same design too often. I decided I'd keep making them until I got bored of them. The birds soon became fantails because I liked being able to decorate their tails, as well as their wings.

Now the birds have become more stylised, their heads aren't so rounded and I feel the stitching is more confident. I still love making them, I think because each one is different. I'm not going to stop making them any time soon, only when my eye sight starts to go!

Inspiration

2009-04-03T18:00:00.006+10:00

I've been invited to exhibit in Bird's Gallery (seems like the perfect place for my work!) later this year and I'm starting to think what new work I could do. I'd love to do more aquatint etchings but I just don't have the facilities at home, so I've been wondering about collographing. I saw Jo Horswill's beautiful collograph work on her blog earlier this week and it started me thinking. I love the textural nature of collographs and would love to make a highly textured range, yet still include my linear style. Here are a few prints from etsy I've been looking at for inspiration, some aquatint, some collographs, one quirky letterpress matchbook and a fish print, actually printed from a fish!

Now I need to go and research more about how to make collographs, any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Interviews and Lollypops

2009-04-01T11:06:00.006+10:00

Wendy from Bags and Buds has posted a feature about me on her blog. Thank you wendy!

And today in the post I received my lovely top made by Kirsten of Assemblage that I did a swap for. I'm wearing it now and sucking the lollypop Kirsten sent with it! Thank you Kirsten!

yum.

Could I trouble you for the time Mr. Wolf?

2009-03-31T08:05:00.005+10:00

Look what I was able to do!! I still think I'm not very good at computers and internet, it was only last week that Anna explained to me how the internet works, but I found this!

oh, maybe it hasn't worked, maybe I'm not so good after all. But I have managed to put one at the side of my blog page, not entirely sure why I needed it, but I liked the look of it. It may be gone in a few weeks.

ah no! It is there after all. hooray! Actually it looks quite similar to our kitchen clock that I made in rather a hurry after our bought one fell off the wall.

Thank you to Gigibird on who's blog I saw this lovely quirky clock!

This is The Reason

2009-03-30T09:24:00.004+10:00

About a year and a half ago my little mac laptop died, so I started using Jeremy's old laptop. I struggled through the learning how to use a PC instead of a mac and I became quite good at it!

Now, the PC laptop has died, oh no! I'm typing this from Jeremy's new laptop (a mac) but it doesn't have photoshop, it doesn't have dreamweaver, I can't scan things onto it, or print things from it or put my photos on it...So, blog posts have somewhat come to a halt! I'm contemplating getting a new laptop (a mac!) but it seems such a lot of money!! I'm just hoping the PC resurrects, it did before. Fingers crossed!

While I'm here I should also mention my new website. My friend Anna of AnnaLaura helped me understand the world of Dreamweaver and I got quite far until the above mentioned struck. I've still got a few things to add, but most of it is there! I think it's far better than the attempt I made by myself with the horrible 'page mason' program!

More New Felt Brooches

2009-03-20T08:23:00.004+10:00

Here are a few new felt brooches listed on my Featherstitch Fantail Blog. I've also listed a number on my etsy shop.

Mission Accomplished

2009-03-19T17:36:00.005+10:00

I've been wanting to do this for ages...

...and now finally I've managed...

...thanks to Curious Llama who I met at the Melbourne Etsy meet up a few weeks ago I found an outlet that supplies wool felt balls. I had started trying to make the balls myself, but they were just taking far too long to make it possible...

...but now I can spend my time on embroidering the felt balls and piecing them together...

...to make a fantail felt necklace!

I'll bring it with me to Rose Street Artists' Market this Saturday. There is a fashion show happening this week which should be fun and hopefully bring lots of people. I've heard the market is going to be chock-a-block full of stalls, so it would be a good week to check it out if you haven't been before.

At Queenscliff

2009-03-10T10:55:00.003+10:00

It was a long weekend this week and Jeremy very nicely decided to take me to Queenscliff which is a very old town (by Australian standards) situated at the mouth of Port Philip Bay. He told me there would be lots of birds so I should bring my drawing things. He brought his ipod for that eventuality.

We walked along the marina and as big fighter planes from the Avalon airshow zoomed overhead I looked into the water and saw so many funny little fish. Pufferfish, cuttlefish, a stingray, tiny little fish with very shiny heads, and lovely stripey fish with ink dipped tails.

But for me, really it was all about the pelicans...

...and crepes, pelicans and crepes!

I'm going to be at the stitches and craft fair happening at the Melbourne show grounds in Flemmington this week. I'm teaching a couple of classes of crochet and helping Thread Den man their stall. I'll have some of my felt brooches on sale and there will be lots of other Melbourne made designer clothing on show and for sale. It should be good fun, maybe see you there!

On a Roll

2009-02-24T09:09:00.005+10:00

I'm doing well with the old blog this week eh!? I think today it's because I'm aiming to go for a walk/run and I'm procrastinating.

Anyway I thought I'd post up a few of the Fantail gocco prints in the other colour combinations. As soon as I manage to get to the art shop to buy mount board and somehow get A1 sheets of it back on my bike I will be selling these new goccos at Rose Street Artists' Market. Until then, I've added them to my etsy shop.

I also want to make cards out of them, but that's another logistical issue with the large sheets of card and only a bike!

Remember to check out the Oz Bush Fire Appeal etsy shop, it is still open until 31st March and there are lots of goodies to be had. It's all for a good cause!

Right I'm off to see if my Frogmouth is home.

Waiting for Autumn

2009-02-23T13:34:00.006+10:00

I'm foolishly hoping that as soon as 1st March comes around this summer sun madness will all be over! It's getting a bit too hot for me sitting at the computer here, so this will have to be short and then I can retreat to my studio which hopefully will be a bit cooler.

I've just taken photos of my most recent etchings and listed some on my etsy site. I thought I'd show them on here too.

Right, too much for me, I'm off to cooler climes.

Fantails For Sale!

2009-02-20T08:01:00.002+10:00

Here are a few more new fantail brooches I've added to my Featherstitch Fantail blog. I'm very pleased with myself for working out how to use the paypal thingy! Also I have donated one of my brooches to the Australian Bushfire Appeal shop on etsy which is still full of lots of delightful goodies and all proceeds go to the red cross to help victims of the Victorian bushfires.

Fantails and Frogmouths

2009-02-18T12:33:00.006+10:00

I've been goccoing again after a long time of it sitting on the shelf. I've been meaning to try this idea for a while now, and now that I have done it I really like it and need to buy more gocco supplies because I've very quickly run out AGAIN!

If you're new to my blog and don't know what gocco is have a look at my post on the technique.

My idea was to make prints inspired by the colours and patterns in my featherstitch fantail brooches. I've made the print in a number of colour combinations and listed one on etsy. More will be listed soon.
I've also been making lots of new fantail brooches, I try and make at least 6 a week. They are so slow to make and I have so many other things that I should be doing, that when I just sit down to sew I feel I should be doing something else. So they always get pushed to the back of the 'to do' list, which is a shame because I do quite like making them. Here are a few of my favourites at the moment, including an experimental square one. I'm really into the soft yellow these days.

I've changed my Fantail website a bit to make it easier to purchase, there is now a 'buy now' button on each brooch. I've also mentioned that buying my brooches on a friday, saturday or sunday from the website may create difficulties because I take all my available brooches to market with me and I can't update the website until I return home after market (often with a few gin and tonics in me!)

I thought I'd also keep my readers up to date with my Tawny Frogmouth. I was worried last week because he wasn't in his usual tree along the Yarra River, but I walked (even ran some way!) along the river this morning and there he was sitting in his tree accompanied by another Tawny Frogmouth! They were snuggled up together on the branch. I wish I had brought my camera with me, but I only had my ipod and a hanky! I only stopped one person this time to point them out and she was very appreciative and we had a little discussion about other birds we'd seen along the river. I have to keep an eye out for kingfishers apparently.

Bird Spotting

2009-02-16T07:38:00.005+10:00

We went for a trip down the Great Ocean Road this weekend and we saw some super birds! This may not be that exciting for a number of people, I am aware that things that cause me much interest cause others minimal. But don't care! The photos here aren't even my own photos, I got them off the Internet because I never had the camera with me when I saw these birds, and I've now realised how small the images are. But anyway...

Well, as usual we stayed at Wye River camping ground and the resident Gang Gangs were making their lovely crunchy screeching sounds. I love these black cockatoos.

Then one of these lovelies landed in a tree beside our tent. A white faced heron. I don't think I've ever seen a heron in a tree before. My friend said it looked as weird as seeing a duck in a tree.

On our way home we could see a cloud of white on the road, as we got closer we saw that it was a huge flock of Long Billed Corellas all eating grain that had fallen from trucks leaving the animal grain warehouse. Poor silly things were eating alongside their fallen comrades who'd been squashed by passing vehicles.

But the ultimate spot this weekend was this bird. We were driving along the inland road back from the Twelve Apostles and suddenly this great white bird caught the corner of our eyes. We all saw it and knew, even in that flash, that it was something special. Jeremy did a three point turn and we drove back to the spot we saw it. There it was, a huge white bird of prey sitting on a dead bunny. When we got back to Melbourne I looked him up in my bird book and found out he was a white morph of a Grey Goshawk and that they were uncommon to rare, so we were very lucky to have seen it.

Now I have to go and tidy up my studio because it is a shocking mess and I've started working in the living room to avoid the mess, which kind of defeats the purpose of having a studio.

Sticky Zine

2009-02-11T14:03:00.003+10:00

My friend arrived from London on Wednesday last and had to experience the 47 degree heat with us. We are all very saddened and shocked at the terrible fires just north of us in Melbourne and others around the country. I have donated a number of gocco prints to the new etsy shop set up for the bush fire appeal called OzBushfireAppeal. Etsians donate their work and all the money made goes to the red cross bush fire appeal. They might not be listed yet, but keep looking, there are plenty of other great items for sale. I'll be donating an etching also.

This week I've been making a zine for Sticky's target 144. To be honest I'm not entirely sure what it's all about, but the zine shop Sticky Institute (in the subway under Flinder's Street Station) is trying to get 144 zines made in 144 hours and then selling them at the... hold on, I'm not even sure where they are selling them. I've been trying to find out on the net, but nothing seems very clear.
Anyway, here is my zine, after numerous paper cuts and a chipped tooth. It's made of photocopied dry point etchings of all the instruments in our house. After going looking round the house for them I kept finding new ones Jeremy has hidden away!

My pile of 25 editions waiting to go to Sticky Institute on Friday

The original etched prints.

For the Loan of a Duck

2009-02-03T10:13:00.003+10:00

Well, we've all survived that heat wave, poor Adelaide though who continue in the 40s! I hear the UK are knee deep in snow though. My friend Adele is coming over from London to visit tomorrow, I hope she can get to the airport, let along her plane taking off!

I've started going on hour long walks in the morning along the Yarra River, I'm trying to get a bit fit and I'm actually really enjoying it. I was thrilled yesterday to spot a Tawny Frogmouth in a tree while walking. Today I decided to bring my camera with me, just in case he was there again today, and he was! I was so excited that I hung around for about five or ten minutes, pointing him out to other passers by, some of whom must have thought I was a bit odd and possibly weren't quite as excited as I was, but I just couldn't help it. Here is a picture.

On Saturdays after Rose Street Artist Market we all go to the pub for a well earned beer and dinner. At the bar in the Marquis of Lorne in Fitzroy (where we normally end up) I spotted a stuffed duck. Recently I've been trying to paint with one of my fellow rose street marketeers, but I find it difficult not to draw from life. Last week I had been trying to paint from one of my etchings and I just don't think it was working, so when I saw this poor stuffed duck I though Ah Ha! Maybe I could paint the duck! So I asked the bar maid and she said of course I could borrow the duck, as long as I brought something in to replace it in the mean time, just to make a story for it. So next Saturday I'm going to the pub with a gorgeous lamb soft toy I bought in a junk shop who will have a great old time sitting on a shelf in the pub for a few weeks, while stuffed ducky will sit and have his portrait painted!

I had a few funny looks walking to Abbotsford with my duck under my arm!

Oh, For a Bit of Snow!

2009-01-23T15:26:00.004+10:00

Life's a bit hot at the moment. I received an email from a friend in Ireland with a photo of their house totally covered in snow. Oh how I wish I was back home instead of this Australian summer! Of course everyone at home is wishing they were here, but still.

Our computer is in our living room which is west facing and gets a real bashing from the sun all afternoon, heating the room up like a greenhouse. That's my excuse for not posting on here lately.

The above sketch was drawn at Wye River. I had gone for a little walk and sat down by the river. This little bird entertained me for about half an hour. He was so skillful at catching flies, he mesmerised me. When I got back home and to my bird book I found him to be a Flycatcher (makes sense really) aka a Jacky Winter (doesn't make quite so much sense.) I'd like to make an etching of him in the future.

To finish with I'll show some photos of our lovely, but warm, living room in our new house.

That's it on the top floor. It's a great house, a bit shabby and full of noisy possums, but I love it. It's just a shame the lease is only for 9 months because it is due to be demolished in September. All the best places get pulled down, it's so sad.

At the Beach

2009-01-11T14:23:00.004+10:00

I've spent the last few days down the Great Ocean Road with Jeremy's family, caravaning at Wye River. It's so lovely to be by the beach and have constant bird drawing material at hand! Here area couple of pages from my sketchbook.

And a couple of photos of my playings on the beach

Thirty Minutes

2009-01-06T09:02:00.004+10:00

Yesterday I made a new book. It's called "Thirty Minutes in St. James' Park, London" and contains a collection of drawings of (mostly) birds I drew while in St. James' Park, London, last September. I am editioning it out of 50 and they are photocopied on my scanner printer machine from pen and ink drawings and then hand bound.

I have been wanting to make a range of small artist books and zines for a while now. My first one in this range is called "Seagulls Outside State Library" and I was selling it at my market stall before Christmas. I want to sell them on etsy, but I'm not sure which shop to put them in, or maybe I should open a new shop, but three shops might be a bit much! I'm going on holiday tomorrow, to the beach, so hopefully I'll be able to work it all out by the time I get back!

The Currawongs

2009-01-03T09:48:00.005+10:00

Ok, so, I charged up my camera battery and put it in, ready to take photos for new years eve and... my camera has finally died. I think it must be all the dropping of it. I've never been very good at holding on to it! So I went into town yesterday and simply had to buy a new one. So I'm all ready now and here we go...

My larger recent work.

I remember first hearing currawongs when I lived in Abbotsford. They actually say "currawong currawong." I think they are lovely looking birds, about the size of a crow but a little bit sleeker. Apparently they are a little bit evil and rather clever.

My original drawings of the currawongs were done with black ink and a brush (see above) and I wanted to recreate this effect in etching by using sugarlift. This process involves painting your image onto the plate with a sugar solution. You let it dry and then paint diluted bitumen over the top and let that dry. Then put the plate into warm water and the areas where the sugar solution was painted lifts off, exposing the copper plate below. An aquatint is then applied by dusting the plate (still with the bitumen covering the areas where the sugar solution was not lifted) with fine rosin grains and melting them with a flame. Aquatint creates texture on the surface of the plate so it picks up more ink and creates an even dark tone. Then place the plate into the acid for the desired length of time. When the plate is ready take it out of the acid, clean off the bitumen and melted aquatint grains and you are ready to ink up and print.

Finally

2008-12-30T08:56:00.003+10:00

Finally, after 36 hours labour my sister in law gave birth to a son. My brother phoned me late last night and I could hear him in the background! I'm an auntie!

Finally, I have found my camera charger. I found it in a broken bag behind our clothes rack while I was looking for wool to make a blanket for my new nephew!

Finally, I have my new press up and running. I just need to get to know it a bit better before I can start on the real stuff, there are a few things I need to iron out first.

And finally, I'm getting these images loaded up onto etsy and my blog. Here's the Crested Pigeon.

Exciting News

2008-12-29T12:13:00.004+10:00

A few more hiccups before I'm truly back at my blog! I had a few weeks where I thought this computer had died, but it seems to be working again without me doing anything to it! Another hindrance is I can't locate my camera recharger, so I've having to scan everything in and I have a very substandard scanner!

I have decided to finally upload images of some of my scholarship etchings that I did while at Australian Print Workshop the past year. These are the etchings included in my recent exhibition at APW which finished on the 20th December. I have now added these two below to my 'bridgetfarmerprints' etsy shop.
So, what is my exciting news? Well, I have two pieces of news. As I type, my sister in law is in labour with the first baby of our immediate family. They are in Belfast and I am in Melbourne, so I've been kept up to date by my brother with texts. I'm sending them lots of good thoughts!

My other news is that I've bitten the bullet and finally, actually bought myself a printing press. So I'll be printing away whenever I want now. I can't wait to get it all set up and working. I'd take a photo of it to show, but as I said, I can't find my camera battery charger and it would be a bit too difficult to scan!

I'm Back!

2008-12-11T11:46:00.004+10:00

Hooray, we have Internet in our home! No more trips to the library or sneaky posts while at work. I've so much catching up to do because I've been making lots of things since I had so much more time due to not being able to work on the computer!

OK, I'll start today with the new bird prints I've been making.

I was very busy last week because I wanted to get some new gocco prints out for all the markets I'm doing in the run up to Christmas. You can find me as usual at Rose Street Artist's Market every Saturday and at the Abbotsford Convent Makers Market for the next few Sundays. Also I'm doing Northcote Twilight Market at Northcote Town Hall Thursday nights 6 till 10. This is a lovely little market and I just love the cycle up that great big hill every Thursday!

So, here are the new gocco prints, this is a New Holland Honeyeater. I often get asked if I have any prints of this bird and now I do!

And these two little birds are Australian Robins. I thought since robins are Christmassy back home in the UK, I'd try a few Australian ones. The top one is an Eastern Yellow Robin and the bottom one is a Flame Robin.
And of course, no prizes for this one, a Laughing Kookaburra. I heard one from our living room in our new house earlier this week. They sound fantastic!

To read more about how these gocco prints are made see my tutorial blog post on the subject.

We Have a Winner!

2008-12-04T09:27:00.003+10:00

It's been a while since my last post, this is due to not having internet available. After moving out of our previous place I've been living with my boyfriend's friends in their living room for the first two weeks which was an experience. One good thing about it was that their cat was adament that it was going to sleep on our sofa bed and Jeremy's allergies subsided slightly, so there is hope yet of owning a lovely cat one day in the future!

All this while I've been battling it out with very small children in libraries for the use of computers. It gets a bit upsetting when you are there to look through realestate.com.au for a place to live and you have to wait for a crowd of children to stop playing computer games. But maybe my annoyance was just because of my stress levels and desparation to sleep in a normal bed.

Now we have found a lovely lovely house, I think it's the best place in Melbourne! Unfortuneatly it's going to be demolished in 9 months, but we're going to make the most of it in that time. We still have no internet but that is on it's way. Also we need to work out why the shower only has two temperatures - scalding hot or freezing cold, as well as why we can't get electricity in the studio room. But it's coming together nicely.

But the main reason I'm posting is because we have a winner for the November blog giveaway! The winner is Feed The Dog who has had a run of bad luck lately so I hope this will cheer her up. She chose "Circle Blue" as her favourite and it will be flying its way to her in time for Christmas.

For some reason on this computer I can neither add images nor spell check, so my appologies for such a dull looking, badly spelt post. Hopefully soon I will be back in order and able to post from home.

100

2008-11-14T07:54:00.005+10:00

This is my 100th post on my blog and it coincides beautifully with what I am going to post about!

Since May until September this year I have been working on illustrations for a poetry book called '100 Australian Poems You Need To Know" for Hardie Grant Publishers. The book has poems from all through Australia's history and I really enjoyed reading them all when starting out the project because I knew very little Australian poetry to start with.

Yesterday, in the post, I finally received my copy of the book and it is lovely, a really beautiful object even before you've even opened it! Well designed, well put together, great poems and as for the illustrations, well, for me it was quite strange to see all my drawings and etchings in there, but very satisfying.

The book will be available from 1st December, I'm not sure where from yet, I'm trying to find out myself because most of my family will be getting a copy for Christmas!

I've found a review for the book here and info about it on readings website here and I've found a site where you can pre-order a copy here .

Tomorrow we move out of our house, but unfortunately, due to things out of our control (because real estate agents are supposedly in control, but not doing a very good job) we have nowhere to move into. Homeless! So if you see Jeremy and I walking the streets in the next few weeks please invite us in for a drink and a friendly chat, thanks!

Don't forget to enter my blog give away competition!

Bridget's November Giveaway!

2008-11-11T10:58:00.003+10:00

I should be cleaning and scrubbing and packing up our flat, we are moving this weekend (as long as the real estate agents get back to us to let us know if we have our new house, we're cutting it fine here!)

My kitchen is chaotic with half filled boxes everywhere and dirty dishes.The bathroom is clean from waist height up but I haven't quite got down to the bath and sink etc. and our living room is chockablock with cardboard boxes, so much so that I can't get to the skirting boards to scrub or the floor to vacuum.

So I decided to have a rest and I came up with a giveaway idea!

You could win the Featherstitch Fantail, 100% natural wool, 100% hand embroidered brooch of your choice! All you have to do is let me know which your favourite design is on the Featherstitch Fantail website by leaving a comment on your chosen brooch. I will pick the winner at random at the start of December and then make the brooch and send it to the winner.

Good luck!

The Kate Hudson

2008-11-10T14:39:00.007+10:00

I'm very excited! I did a print swap with Kate Hudson, not the Kate Hudson, actress, but the Kate Hudson, Melbourne printmaker. She decided she wanted one of my bird etchings from my exhibition and since we know each other from Australian Print Workshop she got in contact with me and asked if I would be interested in a swap. "Would I ever!!!" I replied, I've been wanting one of her prints for a very long time, and, so, last Wednesday she brought in her gorgeous portfolio and I got to choose one. I really thought I'd choose one of her lovely bird prints, but I fell in love with this one. I love the colours in it and can't wait to move house, get it framed and put it in pride of place on my new wall!

The red table cloth in the print reminds me of a beautiful throw I found in my Mum's old chest, I claimed it years ago and still have it in our bedroom here in Melbourne. When I was a student in Edinburgh my granny came over to visit and she saw the lovely red throw in my bedroom and she said, 'oh, look, it's that lovely throw my mother bought while she was in Turkey!" So, it turns out it's a bit of an antique! I've always had a taste for lovely old things.

Here are a few more featherstitch fantail brooches I finished off last night while watching a lovely, if a little strange, true film about a lion called Christian who was bought as a cub in Harrods department store in London by two Australian guys and his journey to rehabilitation and freedom in Kenya. There is a lovely scene near the end in which the two Australians are coming back to visit Christian after a year, they are told he is a semi wild animal now and probably wont remember them. It is all filmed as it happened and Christian's reaction and their reunion is one of the most beautiful things I have ever ever seen on film. I've actually found the scene on youtube, have a look!

Feather In Your Hat

2008-11-09T12:38:00.003+10:00

I've been stitching and stitching trying to get ready for Christmas. I've started making more of my fantail hat/ lapel pins since they seemed popular at market last weekend. They are made up of the same layering and hand sewn embroidery as the Featherstitch Fantail brooches with hand felted balls to embellish!

I'm also happy because I have finally sorted out my packaging for my brooches. I bought myself a rubber stamp of my "Bridbird" label and I found the most perfect little boxes, in a $2 shop would you believe! Unfortunately the shop has now run out of boxes but I think I may have found a (very cheap) supplier online. I've given them my card details and now waiting to see if anything arrives! Hope they come soon, fingers crossed they come at all!

I've added more brooches onto my Featherstitch Fantail sight too!

Jigsaw

2008-11-03T07:57:00.004+10:00

While I was away last month my friend Andrea was looking after my stall at Rose Street Artists' Market. She also makes things and had her own work at the stall too. Now I am back we've decided to keep sharing the stall. So I thought I'd show a bit of Andrea's work.

Andrea makes jewellery out of old wooden jigsaws. The jigsaw pieces have their original image on the back and the front is covered with beautiful decorative paper then laquered with resin. They are prooving very popular!

Earrings

Earring and necklace set

Brooches

I have also listed more brooches on my Featherstitch Fantail website I'm trying to get lots made for the Christmas rush. Have a look and order early if you any take your fancy!

Be a Tourist In Your Own Town

2008-10-29T17:51:00.005+10:00

A bee in a blossoming tee tree at Collingwood Station

A friend of mine has come to Australia for a visit and we did lots of touristy things today. Lots of things that even I had never done before. It's a shame that it takes someone else to arrive for you to explore the city you live in. I found that a lot of the things we did were probably more interesting for me because I did live here, for example we went to the Rialto Tower that is 88 stories high and has a viewing deck. It was brilliant working out where I lived, where my old house was, where Fitzroys is and how long Lygon Street goes on for! Then we went to the City Museum which had lots of old photographs and old films of how Melbourne used to look. As I said, probably a lot more interesting for me than for my friend. So if you live in Melbourne take the time and go to these places, they're great!

Views of Melbourne from the viewing deck at the Rialto Tower

A lovely poppy in the Fitzroy Gardens. I love poppies.

I then decided when I got home to go down to the Abbotsford Convent and draw. I'm feeling a bit sad that Jeremy and I will soon be leaving Abbotsford and moving across town in mid November. Abbotsford is such a lovely suburb with the Convent grounds, the River Yarra, the Collingwood Childrens' Farm, I wanted to make the most of it on this lovely day!

Abbotsford Convent, continuous line drawing, left hand

Etsy Sale Prices

2008-10-26T11:50:00.009+10:00

Are you an Etsy shopper? Are you Australian and finding it too expensive to shop on Etsy anymore with the fall of the Australian dollar? Well, I've decided to amend my etsy prices for the time being in my Bridbird shop. Kind of like a SALE! All my small gocco screenprints are now $11 US from $16 US.

I have also changed my prices for my BridgetFarmerPrints Etsy shop. This needed to be done to keep my etching prices consistent with the gallery prices. I can't charge more than the galleries do for my work!!

All small Australian native bird etching $65 US from $82

My exhibition opening at the Australian Print Workshop went very well yesterday. Thankyou to everyone who came along. Here are a few photos of my work before the opening. The exhibition continues until 20th December so there is lots of time to look in if you are in the Fitzroy area.

Melbourne Houses

2008-10-24T16:46:00.006+10:00

After waking up this morning having dreamt that I'd slept in and missed my exhibition, which is opening tomorrow, I decided I needed to make the most of the day.

So, I found a new outlet that sells good paper bags, I finished mounting my screenprints and I managed to make a new gocco print. All in time for Rose Street Artists' Market tomorrow.My new gocco print is a two screen print of Melbourne Houses. I went drawing yesterday with a friend and we ended up sitting at the side of the road in the sun and dust drawing the gorgeous Victorian houses that are typical of Melbourne. I want to do a series of Melbourne Houses, I'll have this one with me tomorrow at Rose Street.

We were also drawing in the cemetery yesterday. This is a continuous line left handed drawing. I like drawing with my left hand, even though I'm right handed, I find it loosens me up and I look more carefully at the subject.

Now Jeremy and I are going out for dinner. My lovely brother and sister-in-law booked my favourite restaurant (Wabi-Sabi) from Belfast and even gave us dollars for our evening! Yum yum yum!

Observatory, Exhibition of Scholarship Work

2008-10-21T10:06:00.003+10:00

This Saturday (25th October) is the opening of my scholarship exhibition at the Australian Print Workshop on Gertrude Street, Fitzroy. There are three of us who were awarded the printmakers scholarship this year - Elaine Chew and Matthew Roberts and me. You can see our work (and have a glass of wine) from 2 till 4. The exhibition runs until 20th December, so if you can't make the opening there is plenty of time to pop by.

Observatory

Observatory, an exhibition featuring limited edition etchings by 2008 scholarship recipients Elaine Chew, Bridget Farmer and Matthew Roberts, invites the viewer to explore a world filled with the natural, the treasured and the symbolic.

Elaine Chew’s work explores cultural traditions of superstition and spiritualism. Drawing from the rituals and customs of her peers and relatives, she looks at the way different cultures imbue the everyday world with the spiritual.

Elaine’s suite of etchings in Observatory investigates ideas of amulets and talismans from a personal and intimate perspective, drawing from a history of symbols used to promote good luck, to ward off evil and to offer protection from ill health and jinxes.

Her images form imagined stellar constellations that reflect the idea of the past, the future and the human search for meaning in the unknown. They are personal symbols of longing, commemoration, loss and hope, and a reminder of the unity of all things.

Elaine Chew completed a Bachelor of Fine Art (Printmaking in 2006. In 2007 she received the Janet Holmes a Court Artists’ Grant courtesy of the National Association for the Visual Arts. In 2006 she was awarded the Arts Law Centre of Australia Print Commission and her work was acquired in the Silk Cut Award.

Bridget Farmer’s work has developed through an interest in the native bird life of Australia and the idea of documenting new discoveries. Upon her arrival in Australia, the U.K. born artist was astonished by the extent and range of bird life, most of which she could not name or recognise.

Her fascination in the early paintings, drawings and prints of Australian birds inspired Bridget to speculate about the experience of Western explorers and settlers of Australia when they first came across new and different birds and began to document them.

Over the years Bridget has drawn, studied and depicted these birds in her limited edition prints. Utilising the opportunities provided by her scholarship at APW, Bridget’s suite of etchings in Observatory show her recent experimentation with aquatint, spit bite, soft ground, sugar lift and multi plate etching.

In 2007 Bridget completed a Master of Fine Art (Printmaking) following Undergraduate and Post Graduate studies in Design and Applied Art at the Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh, UK.

Matthew Roberts’ exquisitely rendered etchings counterbalance his subject matters' suggested absence of location with seductively refined detail. Realist in their portrayal of his subject the Black Swan, his plates resonate with the tell tale marks and scratches of the etched medium. His forms dissolve into their subtle textural backdrops.

Matthew’s interest in the Black Swan suggests his personal identification with Australia. Having relocated often during his youth, Matthew identifies with the swan as a nomadic creature – one that could be found in many lands and habitats, happily integrated into new worlds, but whose origins, or ‘homeland’ was in Australia. The simple pleasure of studying the swan’s curious form and transforming this into an experiential drawing process through hard ground etchings has fascinated Matthew since he began making limited edition prints in 2003.

Matthew graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art (Printmaking) in 2007. In 2003 he completed a lithography course at Australian Print Workshop. In 2007 he was the recipient of the George Alexander Foundation Grant.

A New Skill Learnt

2008-10-20T09:27:00.003+10:00

While I was in London staying with my friend Natalie she showed me how to felt. We made a number of felt balls and I got very excited with the possibilities that could be made from these. She also very kindly gave me a little bag of coloured wool to take back to Australia with me to keep on practicing and playing. So I have been waking up at silly hours (damned jet lag!) and going into the kitchen and rolling coloured wool in soapy hands. It's quite time consuming and after asking Jeremy to try and make one (his is the pale yellow ball that I have sewn green 'x's on) he's sure there must be a quicker way. Each time he sees me rolling rolling soapy wool he say it, "there must be a quicker way, there must be!" Men, always trying to invent faster ways of doing things! But I'm quite content at this stage to continue making them slowly.

I have experimented with stitching patterns into the felt balls and I bought a number of hat pin pins. I've always liked these pins. I have also played about with using my fantail birds in this hat pin form, I even sold one at the Convent Makers Market on Sunday.
I'm considering making a 'how to' post on making felt balls, but I think I need assistance to take photos because my hands get so wet and soapy, might not be good for the camera! Maybe while Jeremy is thinking about his felt ball making machine he can take photos of me in action for the next post!

My Love for a Cup

2008-10-17T09:38:00.004+10:00

Well, I'm back in the gorgeous smelling, warm aired, bright sunlit land of Melbourne after 3 weeks in the UK. Most of the time I spent in Belfast visiting family and then the last four days I spent in London. Most of my friends have drifted down to London now so it's a good catch up. Although, London tires me out, so I always decide four days is long enough.

While I was in London I went to Origin, the applied arts fair. It is on for 2 weeks in October and many of my arty friends have stalls, so again, it is a good place for me to visit and see everyone.

At Origin I fell hopelessly in love with Sue Binns pottery. I kept coming back to her stall and in the end, even though my suitcases were full, I decided I had to buy something and bring it home to Australia. I decided upon the most gorgeous pair of cups and I don't regret my decision for an instant (even though Australian dollar against the pound made them quite a lot of money!) Every time I catch a glance of them I am filled with delight. I think it is important to buy things that bring you so much joy!

www.suebinnspottery.co.uk

I am also adding a number of new websites to my list of artists I admire. Have a look at them, their work is beautiful. They include :-
*my very good friend Adele Brereton who makes delicate hand raised silver jewellery. (if I ever get married I want her to make my wedding ring!!)
*Cathy Miles, who makes incredibly lovely wire birds and other objects. I was drawn to her work because I used to make a lot of wire object, including birds ( of course!)
*Helen Beard, who I went to my foundation art course with in Liverpool. She makes gorgeous hand thrown ceramics and adorns them with hand drawn figures, flowers and trees.
*Teresa Green, who screen prints onto fabrics and creates delightful garments and bags from them. My friend Alison McLeod (jeweller) has one of her purses and it gets commented on all the time!

Now, after seeing so many inspirational things I want to get down to making making making!

A Trip Down South

2008-10-04T06:52:00.004+10:00

I popped down to the south of Ireland for the last few days, to Co. Leitrim and Co. Donegal. One of my best friends now lives in Leitrim and she and I drove up to Donegal where we have both had many childhood holidays. It's just beautiful, made all the more so by the most wonderful little black dog called Duffy.

Travel Sketchbook

2008-10-01T20:02:00.005+10:00

Unfortunately I don't have my scanner with me (there wasn't really enough room in my suitcase), so I have to take photos of my drawings. They haven't turned out very well, but I thought I'd post them up anyway. They are pages from my sketchbook that I drew to pass the time while I was on the train, plane and boat.

A Bit of Belfast

2008-10-01T03:03:00.004+10:00

What a few days! I've been to birthday parties, weddings, well, one of each. But I've had a full packed few days back home in Belfast and in Glasgow, catching up with friends and family. Here are a few photos of back home.

Double J

2008-09-22T15:11:00.004+10:00

I'm heading off to belfast tomorrow for my granny's 90th and a friend's wedding in glasgow. I'll be away for three weeks and I've decided the two things I'll miss the most about Australia are......the sweet smelling jasmine flower that is just coming into bloom now. The winds are strong at the moment and wafts of jasmine are everywhere......and of course I'll miss my lovely Jeremy!

I'll try and post photos of Ireland and Scotland but I might just be too busy enjoying myself!

Balkan Night in Northcote

2008-09-19T11:06:00.003+10:00

Last night my friends and I went to see a few bands in Northcote. We were up for a Balkan music night, but the first gig wasn't very balkan, a bit more country really. Here is a picture of the two guys we watched while drinking bad wine.

The second band was very Balkanesque and we ate a chocolate and banana crepe and mulled wine, altogether a more successful event!

Featherstitch Fantail Blog

2008-09-15T10:44:00.005+10:00

I've been working on a new blog specially for my felt bird brooches which I have now named Featherstitch Fantail. I will post all my designs on the site, partly for my own archives (because I get sad when I sell them and never see them again) but also so people can see my designs and make orders. I will then remake to order. Obviously I can't make them absolutely exactly identical, but I will use the same colours and make the stitches as close as possible to the pictured image, in the end though each brooch will still have its own individual character.

Here is a new brooch, I really like the colour combination in this one, especially the lime green/yellow thread in the tail surrounded by the black.

I was cycling over to Swan Street the other day and past by lots of beautiful big daisies with black centres, they inspired me for this birdie's tail!

Now I really must get the washing off the line. It's so windy outside, I hope I still have some clothes left on it!

Gorgeous Tilly Morris Jewellery

2008-09-12T09:37:00.007+10:00

Both Tilly Morris and her jewellery are gorgeous! I know Tilly through the Australian Print Workshop, she does an amazing job selling our prints and always wears fantastic earrings. I found out recently the her jewels are of her own making and that she has an etsy shop selling her work. She also has a beautiful website with her full range of jewellery.

Turquoise Heishi Disk Hoop Earrings

Her earrings are made of beads sourced from around the world, including Ethiopian silver, desert seed beads from Peru and cut stones sourced from the Pilbara in Western Australia.

Desert Seads Earrings

Pop into the Australian Print Workshop to see what she is wearing today or visit her website or her etsy shop.

Hooray!

2008-09-11T09:06:00.002+10:00

Hooray, I got onto the front page of etsy in this treasury, unfortunately my peacock was shy and had to hide his head, but still, it was a nice surprise seeing him there.

Here he is with his head.

To Add To My Collection

2008-09-08T10:43:00.006+10:00

What a weekend of markets, I think I deserved my lie in this Monday morning.

I thought I'd show you a new style of bird felt brooch. It sort of came about by accident while I was cutting out the shape at the end. I just didn't make it circle and it turned tear or leaf shape instead. I quite liked it. A nice man bought this one at the Convent Art Market on Sunday to put on his hat.

Also I had a bonanza day for my photo collection. I collect photos of three legged dogs. It isn't a very fast growing collection, (these are numbers 3 and 4 in 3 years) but that's why I was so excited to double my numbers in just one weekend!

This is Olga (I think, if I remember correctly) she was at Rose Street Artist's Market.

And this is Murph, he was at the Abbotsford Convent with his friends.

Today is quite exciting because later this afternoon Jeremy and I are going to look at a new house. We might be moving! It would be a shame to leave the lovely Yarra River and the goats at the Collingwood Childrens' Farm, but this place has a GARDEN! and enough room for Jeremy to have his studio at home. But we haven't seen it yet, so we don't know. ALSO tonight is the night that Jeremy is taking me to dinner to celebrate my 100th sale on Etsy, hooray!

A Flurry of Work

2008-09-03T09:05:00.004+10:00

How I LOVE my studio! I was in it all day yesterday and made so many things. I have three markets this weekend so I thought I'd better get onto it.

The first is on Friday night from 7 till 9ish at Thread Den in North Melbourne as part of their 57 Chevy fashion show. The fashion show starts at 6 and includes local designers. It should be great fun and there is a 50's theme with a 50's cocktail after party. Everyone is invited!

Second market is good old Rose Street Artists' Market in Fitzroy that I love doing and then on Sunday there is the art market at Abbotsford Convent. So many markets, I need to get back to my studio!!!

Here is a little peek at what I've been making. These are for a 'bird on wire' series, I'm thinking of making a card set and button badges, hopefully finished by Friday. I screenprinted the little birds
yesterday, they are small, maybe about (paper size) 7 cm.

I then brought them all down to Jeremy's sound studio because he's been needing to record the sound of a sewing machine for a project he's working on at the moment. (I got him to bring the sewing machine, it's so heavy!) and I sewed the 'wires' in while he recorded. I quite liked the set up, us both working in the same room, tables face to face!

Let the Love Go Round

2008-09-02T10:21:00.003+10:00

It's so nice when you've been told you're in a treasury on etsy. I've had my Kitchen Utensils gocco print chosen for a retro kitchen themed treasury. It's sitting there with other kitchen themed prints and retro kitchen items as well as some handmade kitchen clothing!

I've also been nominated by Cait from Tea and Textiles for a blog award. Which is very lovely of her!

The rules for this award are:

The winner can put the logo on their blog.
Link to the person you received your award from.
Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
Put links of those on yours.
Leave a message on the blogs of the people you've nominated.

So I have chosen

AnnaLaura of course since it was her blog that inspired me to make my own blog in the first place.

CraftCityMelbourne is a fantastic blog about great crafty places to go and wonderful crafty people in and around Melbourne.

SarahMcNeil is a very talented artist who's drawings of animal are simply beautiful, her bird brooches rock too!

MyStory is a printmaker living in the beautiful Dandenong Ranges, she always has interesting images on her blog.

Now I need to go and leave messages on these blogs then I'll go down to my NEW STUDIO and get some work done!!!

Just a Bit Further Before Home

2008-08-31T18:34:00.004+10:00

I've had a great day today! This morning I went to St Kilda to visit some friends at their market stall at the St. Kilda market. We had barbecued bubble and squeak sandwiches on their little homemade BBQ and then the wind blew next doors stall over the wall. Very exciting stuff.

Then I caught the tram up to Flinder's street and talked the whole way with a lovely Polish girl who had just arrived in Melbourne as a tourist. It's nice to talk to strangers sometimes!

One of my new brooches, look I've learnt how to do featherstitch! (on his tail and wing)

In Federation Square I went to the Melbourne Makers Etsy meet up and met so many interesting people who all had their lovely things with them. I think my favourite was a crocheted cushion of a pair of boobs. Brilliant!! I'll let you know if they are on etsy any time soon. I definitely want one.

I then had to go and pick up my bike from Brunswick street, as I cycled down the gentle hill to home I decided it was much too nice an evening to go straight home so I cycled a bit along the Yarra, past the children's farm and the convent. As I was cycling I saw a flock of black cockatoos circling. They landed next to two baths acting as watering troughs, and all drank their fill. I fumbled in my bag for a piece of paper and found the little booklet moonmum had given me at the meet up and quickly sketched the squawking cockies in it!

Black cockie in a tree after his thirst was quenched

Boxes for the Birds

2008-08-28T21:52:00.004+10:00

OH! I've just bought the most delicious new felt in gorgeous colours! Soft greens, rose pinks, a lovely light turquoise, wait till you see my new colour combinations, I'm so excited about them all!
I'm also excited by my new boxes in which to display the birds, I'm playing around with ideas at the moment, but I'm loving making these little birdies and I think I might really concentrate on them. I'm thinking also of starting a special blog just for them, I'll keep you updated as to what happens.

I'm sorry I've been so tardy at my blog lately, new things have been happening including I've been on the look out for a studio, AND now, I've found one! Hooray! No more trying to work in my living room on the floor, creating havoc and making Jeremy's home life a misery of mess! I'll be moving in over the next few weeks, I can't wait.

Lost, Found and Returned

2008-08-26T09:48:00.004+10:00

I have a little story for you.

I used to make these heart brooches, (I'm contemplating making them again as they sold quite well, but were a pain to cut out) Anyway, I sold them at markets and in various shops.
Last Saturday my friend Andrea came to Rose Street Artists' Market, as she is going to look after my stall and sell some of her work while I am away for three weeks at the end of September, start of October. She had the above brooch with her and said, "this is one of yours, isn't it?" I said 'Yes!" She told me that her friend had found it on the street in Windsor, Melbourne and thought it was something Andrea would like so gave it to her. Andrea recognised it and returned the poor lost little thing to me! Maybe the person who bought it and lost it in Windsor will read this and I can then return it to them to complete the story! Anybody been strolling in Windsor lately?

The Spotted Dove

2008-08-14T16:54:00.005+10:00

I've been enjoying pigeons lately, drawings of them, prints of them and pigeons in real life. I have a book that shows a couple of paintings of chinese pigeons, apparently the artist made five volumes of paintings of just domestic pigeons! I'd love to get my hands on it. Here are a few examples.

I think it is funny how pigeons get such bad press, 'flying vermin,' 'rats with wings,' yet the symbol for peace and for love is a dove. But, a dove is a pigeon, just a bit prettier, they are all from the same family. Oh well!

Anyway, I decided to make a gocco print of one of my favourite little birds here in Australia. The Spotted Dove. They are quite common but always hide in laneways acting shifty, as soon as you come across them they flurry off as if they have been caught having a secret meeting. Either that or they are just shy.

This one's for you bro!

2008-08-12T11:15:00.000+10:00