Always On My Mind

Most days I love my job. Today was not one of those days. On the upside, though, it does provide for some amazing people watching opportunities.

Today I witnessed:

A girl who looked 50, but upon closer inspection I decided she was about 16.

A guy with fabulous Tim Burton hair.

A nice young man pushing his grandmother around lovingly in a wheelchair.

A face that I thought I recognised, then realised that the person just has a really generic face. Then I felt bad.

A young girl in a gorgeous vintage dress. Then I saw her mother and understood how the child was dressed so beautifully.

What appear to be in fashion at the moment: short shorts, mullet skirts, bright suede platform sandals (love!), and lots of tattoos.

Also the obligatory kids: bored kids, hyperactive kids, well behaved kids, and kids that make me want to wish infertility upon everyone.


I also had a massive ideas explosion at about 3.37pm(ish). All I could think about was an artwork I wanted to make for the upcoming exhibition with my work peeps (which isn't until August, but they're starting to organise already... OMG!). It's fairly simple, but it will require me to start up another blog or website... probably a blog... I'm totally not talented enough for a website. The only thing is, because of the nature of it, I won't be able to sell it. And I'm pretty sure nobody would want to buy it anyway. Not that this worries me, but it was nice last year to get a little bit of money back to cover gallery costs, materials, and the ridiculous amount of M&Ms I bought. It's also fairly small and portable, which is much better than the sculpture idea I had because I need to move house in a month or so. The thought of packing up all the ridiculous amounts of crap that I own PLUS some half done sculptures was not a pleasant one.

OK, time to go pull my potato bake out of the oven and then try and fit a Maxibon in somewhere. I've got to do all this crazy eating before those healthy new year's resolutions start.

I Feel Possessed

Let me start by saying that I'm not a cook and this is not a food blog. I started this blog as a way to force myself to be creative every day, and even though I don't blog that regularly, it has helped me.

I had an urge to cook something new today, so I went through my recipe books to find something simple, yet delicious. I decided on an onion relish recipe from Donna Hay.
I don't know why I felt the need to photograph the process, but once I started I couldn't stop until my dinner was on my plate.
I think I might continue to do this. Photographing my food made me really aware of what I was eating, and documenting it here makes me more accountable for all the things that I'm putting in my mouth. Making my food nice to look at also made me appreciate what I was eating, rather than just eating blindly while watching TV.

The recipe said that it would make 1.25L of relish, so I halved the ingredients, thinking that it would still be too much for me, but I could take it to work and share it around. I may have reduced it too much because I only ended up with about a jar full, but it tastes amazing, so I don't really care if I did something wrong.

I think my Dad would be proud that I'm finally able to cook a steak properly.

And guess who's having delicious leftovers at work tomorrow? ;)

Didn't See It Coming

This will be a quick one since I've got dinner on the stove.. which for some reason I've taken a bunch of pictures of. Which means I've been either very inspired or very bored lately.

I've had a few late nights of collage making over these last few days. It's something I always did as a kid.. I guess because I wasn't really talented in the way of drawing or painting and found it was a way to express myself creatively. To me it never seemed a legitimate art form as it is just taking other people's work and arranging it in a different way (like a DJ!), but I was inspired to make a giant engagement card for an amazing couple (mainly because I couldn't find anything that was as awesome as them in the shops). After that one project I haven't been able to put the scissors down...

Bow River

I don't want to go back to that wall and those pumpkins tomorrow. I want to sit in the rain drinking surpees. I want to bake and read. I want to cut things out and glue them down. This is the problem with a five day break. It's just so difficult to get the motivation to go back.

Heartbeat and Sails

Those Kusama dots are making their way all over town...

I have a billion (or maybe about five) blog entries to write, but my computer is running extremely slow. I'm getting through this Boxing Day afternoon by eating cheese and watching 30 Rock. I'm also trying to fight off a nap since it's so late in the afternoon. There's something about Christmas that makes me extra sleepy, even when I've had a proper eight hours. Hope your Christmases were awesome!

Day Tripper

Today was a lazy old day. My brother Joff needed to buy some new shoes, so I convinced him to come into the gallery and have a play since we were already in town. Since I'm there every day looking at the art anyway, I didn't feel bad that we only bothered with the fun kids stuff.

We had fun adding stickers to the Obliteration Room by Yayoi Kusama.

And we had fun discovering that most of the props actually worked.

Then it was time to head downstairs to see we miss you magic land! by Pip & Pop. I've been watching these guys work extremely hard for weeks now and it was amazing to see the finished product at the opening today. Not even the crazy old lady who wouldn't stop talking at me could ruin it (they always seem to find me).

This made me think Hitchcock. If he ate a kilo of sugar and a care bear.

Glitter, and sugar, and little animals, and origami rainbows. I think I'm going to be spending a lot of time down here.

I love the detail. All that coloured sugar is awesome!

On the way back to the city we ducked into the state library to see Stephen Wiltshire doing a live drawing of Brisbane. All from memory. Considering that I sometimes get lost walking to the train.. and I've lived here for nearly 20 years.. I found it super impressive.

White Palms

Photo Friday. Rugged

Round Our Way

So apparently it’s Thanksgiving. That amazing day where you wear cozy sweaters, eat turkey, and (for reasons I still don’t understand) sweet potato with marshmallows. It’s snowing outside and there’s a warm golden hue to everything inside. I’m not sure if this is correct. Like most things, my understanding of this event comes from movies. I don’t like turkey, but everything else about this seems amazing. I am a winter person. I am a snuggle up and eat comfort food person. I am a person who is living in the wrong city. And lets not forget that Thanksgiving seems to be nicely positioned in that wonderful line up of celebrations that starts with Halloween and ends with New Years Eve (again, I’m making assumptions based on movies).

Although when I think about my family, I really don’t think Thanksgiving would work. I mean, we like cooking and eating and laughing. But we’re not so great with the sentimentality. There’s no way that we could go around the table and say what we were thankful for while still keeping a straight face. My Mum would probably start out by saying that she was thankful for her wonderful children (word!), then the rest of us wouldn’t be able to take it seriously. We would go around the table saying things like ‘I am thankful for the day off work’, ‘I am thankful for beer’, and ‘I am thankful to be the brother without the receding hairline’.

A friend of mine suggested we have an Autumn Soiree, because autumn colours are pretty, dammit! And it’s only fair that we get to drink warm apple cider and eat pumpkin pie just like those northern hemisphere people. I think it’s a fantastic idea and I’ve already started planning for next year.

So as I sit here with the air conditioning blasting and being unable to have that much-needed cup of tea because it’s just too damn hot, I’ll be thinking of all of you who are sitting by the fire dunking your sweet potato marshmallows in hot chocolate.

My brother just walked in the door and handed me a beer. See? We’re that kind of family. For that I am thankful.

Beeeeeeeer! Thank you, dear brother.

Handbags and Gladrags

Check out what I scored from Laura of Kit & Nancy!
I'm on the hunt for some film. I hope eBay will be kind to me.

Keep This Party Going

For the last week or so I've been working on my glam raptor skeleton. It has a long way and lots of glitter to go, but it's getting there.

It's also given my a great idea for the next collection of artworks. I won't say too much yet, because all my ideas seem ridiculously stupid until they've come to fruition. But I'm very excited.

I also have a massive article to write (which is proving impossible at the moment due to the fact that the 's' key on my laptop is only cooperating about half the time... writing the word impossible is also fun). Once I get it typed up I'll post it here. I'll warn you now.. it's quite ranty and not full of fun and glitter.. but it's something that has been on my mind for a while and needs to be written.

In the meantime, I'll be making more of a glittery mess and thinking about David Bowie.

Horror Movie

Happy Halloween!

The creation of ice hands.

Getting into the spooky mood.

Not actually Halloween decorations. Just my usual decor.

Welcome to the party...