Custom

I reckon all of us goes hunting for the perfect jeans.  sometimes we find them and then after a while you get a hole in the knee, or they stretch a bit too much ( I HATE stretch denim with a passion for this reason) and you are back to square one.

I had made it a personal goal this year to learn to sew my own jeans but after finding Make your own jeans I abandoned that and just ordered some hand-made ones instead.

They arrived yesterday, 3 weeks after ordering them and what do you know.  They fit!

The process is really easy.  They have a step by step process where you enter your measurements, and then the fun stuff begins.  Choosing the type of denim, treatments, style and embellishments.  When you are happy you order and sit back and wait.

I will definitely be doing this again.  Next time I’d make them a bit longer – my fault, I should have asked someone else to measure my leg, and perhaps choose a different kind of denim.   But I think this is the first time in recent history I’ve had a pair of jeans that actually fit everywhere without the need for a belt or a sewing machine.  Too fun and too wonderful, and – considering how much designer jeans cost and that these are hand made for you to your measurements damn cheap!

Too fun.  Go play!

shadow hunting

Apologies for the quiet around here.

We are approaching the end of the school holidays and two weeks of flu – which has been nothing terrible but with the current swine flue a risk, we have been lying low in case a reduced immune system invites something worse in.

It has been a retreat of sorts.  Lots of time indoors, crafting, watching DVDs, playing DS, making cubbies and chatting.  Going for walks or sorties to ovals for a quick kick around of a ball then home for a rest.  Quite delightful really and a beautiful reconnection in the middle of a busy year, with some more busyness in the background.

I am preparing for my next solo, which will open in the last week of August at Louey & Lane.  It will be around a more abstract theme than I have been painting lately.  A further exploration of the Drift. would… shadows from earlier in the year with lots of new work, and some of my favourites coming out for a second showing.

There has been the struggle for a name.  The realisation that an ad should have been sent to the Art Almanac a few days ago, which has involved some urgent discussions.  And the purchase of some ready-made canvases, which involved a bit of a deep breath (I always make my own but time is running a bit close for comfort).  They are canvas, not linen, but are gorgeous quality and I’m looking forward to getting stuck into them.

The name of the new exhibition will be Chiaroscuro.  And came courtesy of Leonie (bless Twitter and thank you my friend).  It’s perfect, not only because it captures light and dark, which is what these works are about, but because of the double-meaning.  The hidden, revealed and moments of clarity are a recurring theme in my work, and are particularly apparent in these works.  There are big abstracted shadow shapes and a touch of realism in many of them – a corner of something that is causing the shadow.  Like hide and seek.

Must go paint.  and play.

rollarcoaster

I rode a roller-coaster yesterday.  Of the emotional kind.

Horrible.

The computer has been running so slow.  Freezing, and sluggish.  I know what the problem is.  Too much stuff.  And as I have been shedding stuff lately – going through cupboards, piles, stashes, detritus it seemed the right time to address lady mac as well.

So the portable hard drive bought months ago was brought out finally, and the photos were transferred onto it.

When I say the photos I mean all the photos.  9,147 of them.

Yep – you don’t have to say it.

Anyway, the photos were transferred over – slow, slow, slow process.  Checked they were where they should be.  And then the plunge was taken to move all the ones from the mac hard drive into the trash. Check that they are still on the portable drive? yes.  good.  Ok.  Empty trash.  OK!  watch them vanish.  o items.  feeling kind of excited and nervous.  still on the portable drive?  yes.  good.

Wake up the next day to start sorting them into groups.

They are gone.

Family photos, baby photos, get togethers, paintings, holidays, rocks and assorted weird stuff that appeals to me.  reference photos for future works. Time recorded for posterity gone.

I can’t tell you how quickly I collapsed into a sobbing heap when the realisation hit me.  I can’t imagine how it must feel for someone to lose their house and everything in it – let alone loved ones in a fire.  Nothing had changed.  everything had changed.  I couldn’t even find the words to explain to my family what had happened.

The photos were found.  it seems the hard drive is a slow and unresponsive beast that likes to take its time before nodding to the outside world.  Something like an hour later they all just popped up like nothing had happened.

I felt like I’d been kicked in the stomach and won tattslotto all at once.

And I have discovered that the sluggish portable drive won’t let me do anything in a hurry which means sorting and organising the photos on it is kind of impossible.  I will probably have to transfer them back onto my hard drive and then move them back again which given recent experience makes me feel sick.

They are only photos.  They are meaningless most of them to anyone but me, but they represent years of looking through the lens and not participating fully in the moment – which was the sobering realisation.

Perhaps what was shed was more than detritus.  I feel my eyes have been opened.

Weekends at the farm

Weekends at the farm, oil on wood, 30×23cm

When I was growing up in Hobart (Tasmania), I was lucky enough to have a couple of friends who lived on farms and travelled in to school each day.  I have wonderful memories of long weekends spent with them, wet grass, animals, horse riding, open fires, running over paddocks and collecting eggs.

There were also the trees – that seem to be on farms everywhere.  Huge great pines with deep, deep recesses.  Giant guardians that always scared me a little.  Do they guard the land? the people?  I believe they are planted for practical reasons – protection from the wind, marking boundaries and probably for aesthetic reasons too.  They definitely inhabit their space with more than that though.

Marvellous giants.

Bringing the new day

Bringing the new day, oil on wood, 30×23cm

New one from me.  Thanks Suse for letting me use your photo.

I loved Suse’s photo because it’s one of those images that can be read a million ways.  Is the fog encroaching?  Is is retreating?  Is it hiding or revealing?  It’s one of those wonderful images that can be read a thousand ways and thus becomes a mediation.

Great journey to paint and a lovely journey of a painting.

veg wednesday – cupboard cake

It was my mother’s birthday the other day, and we had a small friend over for a play, so leaving the house was not easy.

She was coming for dinner and there must be a birthday cake – don’t you think?

Personally any excuse for a cake is fine by me, but, I didn’t have any butter.

After scouring a few too many cookbooks, I found a recipe for a magnificent cake that uses oil instead of butter – so with a few tweaks and alterations, here is:

Cupboard Cake

You will need:

• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 3 eggs (separated)
• 1 + 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup olive oil (any oil will do)
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 cups plain flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• Grated zest of 1 or 2 lemons

With sparkling clean beaters beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks.

In a separate bowl beat together 3 egg yolks, vanilla essence, sugar, oil and grated lemon zest.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt (I have to be honest and say I just threw it all in the sieve and went from there).

Gradually add the flour mix and the water, one after the other.  Bit of flour, bit of water, stir with a wooden spoon, bit of flour, bit of water, stir until all is mixed in.

Add the egg whites – one spoonful first to loosen the mix, then fold in the rest.

Bake in an oiled 30cm cake tin for 1 hour at 160 degrees.  Cake is cooked when a skewer comes out clean.

I iced this cake with some cream cheese frosting that I had in the freezer, which I probably made with cream cheese, icing sugar and a bit of butter – beaten until well combined, but I couldn’t tell you actual quantities of any of that.  It would be just as good with a plain sugar icing made with lemon juice and lemon zest sprinkled over the top.

Such a good cake.  Light and moist and just a touch lemony.

branching out

Sometimes a bit of clarity takes all the fun out of it.

Sometimes appreciating the pace while distancing oneself can be a beautiful thing.

and provide flashes of insight that can be a pleasant diversion in themselves.

I love trees and the transient and monumental life that they lead – without any need for recognition or search for meaning of any kind.

They come, they breathe, they take they give.  They leave.  Another comes.  And they probably are not even aware of us rushing past.

Which is why I paint them.  It’s a great lesson in life I think, the stillness and yielding of trees….

gathering shadows

I’ve been watching the ground again.  And walls.

Watching shadows cast and animated.  Edges, corners, tendrils.

Gathering images and thoughts in preparation.  Discussing possibilities and laughing a lot, and slacking off when I should have been working.  Tending to a sick child and enjoying the quiet and planning.

For another solo.

Which will open in the last week of August this year (date yet to be confirmed) and will be predominantly shadow works.  I am very excited to be given the opportunity to explore these works further.  I’m nervous about a whole show of this kind, and reminding myself that I always overdo it in quantity of works on show.

I’m thinking less works, more evenly spaced.  And feeling quite excited about seeing them hung together in a bright, white gallery.

I’m also excited about a group show at 775 to follow in October, and the opportunity to present smaller works – probably mostly landscapes in that fabulous warm space.

So watch this space, I’ll be busy.

celebrity

Wake up.

Cuddle children, check emails, open Twitter.

The story unfolds that Michael Jackson has taken an overdose of sleeping pills and may be dead.

Await update, search internet for more info.

Update and links subsequently confirm that he has indeed been pronounced dead.

And that Jeff Goldblum fell to his death in the early hours of this morning while filming in New Zealand.  *(since proven to be false rumor)

And that Farrah Fawcett has lost her battle with cancer and passed away overnight.

Three celebrity deaths that could not have been more different.  Once natural, one intentional and one accidental.  What a threesome.

Celebrity death affects us in a very personal way, for very self-absorbed but natural and human reasons.  We are still here.  Nobody we really knew has gone and yet we are affected by loss, the reminder of the transience of life and the reality that we are still here but may  not be here forever.

For  me – it feels like a shuffling up the ladder.  Everybody move one step forward.

When Michael Hutchence died I was grief-stricken.  When Princess Diana died, I was in shock, when it is someone older who has lived a life fully it is slightly more palatable but still surprising.  Surprising to be reminded that in a second life can change for any of us.

Today is a day for enjoying the sunshine on your face, telling people you love them and having that piece of chocolate cake…

* edited to add – the Jeff Goldblum thing is apparently a hoax.  Nice to know he is a live and well.  The internet can be a dangerous thing can’t it…..

veg wednesday – Morrocan veg & cous cous

I realised the other day that most of the recipes I have been posting have had tomato in them.  I love tomato, but that’s not all we eat….

On Saturday night we had Moroccan roasted vegetables, orange cous cous and caramelised roast pumpkin.  Mmmm

Moroccan Roasted Vegetables

• 1 eggplant – peeled and diced
• 2 zucchini – diced
• 2 red onions – cut into wedges
• 2 carrots – sliced
• 1 sweet potato
• 8 garlic cloves – whole in their skins
• 4 tablespoons of olive oil (or more if it is cooking a bit dry)
• A sprig of fresh rosemary
• 2 tablespoons of Moroccan Spice

Toss all ingredients into a large baking dish and cook in a low/moderate oven (160 degrees at our house) for about 2 hours, stirring every so often to mix it all up and ensure the eggplant in particular is getting done on all sides.  You may need to add more oil as you go if it is looking too dry – it’s a bit hard to judge how much oil the eggplant will need.  It soaks it up and gives a lot  back towards the end.

The final dish should be soft and flavourful.  If the eggplant is cooked it is all cooked.  Nothing worse than undercooked eggplant….

Orange cous cous

• 2 cups of cous cous
• 2 cups of boiling water
• 1 teaspoon stock powder (chicken or vegetable)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup of toasted pine nuts
• 1/4 cup of currants
• 1 orange (freshly squeezed)

Put the currants in a saucepan and cover with the boiling water.  Simmer for 2 mins then add the stock powder and salt.  Turn off the heat and add the cous cous.  Stir thoroughly then put the lid on tightly and leave it for 5  minutes.

Then add the juice of the orange and toss lightly with a fork.  Leave for another minute to absorb the juice.  If it is looking too dry you may want to add another splash of boiling water but don’t overdo it.

Toss the pine nuts in and put in a serving bowl.

Caramelised roast pumpkin

• 1/2 butternut pumpkin sliced about 1cm thick – leave skin on
• 1 tsp sugar
• pinch or two of salt
• splash of olive oil

Splash some oil onto a baking tray and lay your pumpkin pieces one side down, turn so that both sides get a coating of oil.

Sprinkle the salt and sugar over one side and put into a low/moderate oven for about 1/2 hour, turn over and cook for about another hour.

Sometimes they cook faster than others – depending on the heat of the oven, crowding of the tray and the thickness of the pumpkin.

Good hot or cold and even in a sandwich.

This was a very good dinner.  Small girl-child was not keen on the roasted vegies but was positively greedy with the pumpkin.  Son scoffed everything and asked for seconds. This combo will certainly be on regular rotation.  Delish!