{special event - pay-what-you-can art sale}

In My Garden

Acrylics on canvas

20 x 20 inch

I'm clearing out my studio to make room for new ideas, creative dreams and plans.

It's been about 2 years now that I've been exhibiting and selling my work, and in that time I've sent many, many paintings off to new homes.  It's extraordinary to me at times that this has happened, and all because I took small brave steps to doing something that I always wanted to do.

There's a small group of works that span across these past two years that are still with me and I'm really keen to see them off to new homes and create the physical and emotional space needed for new ideas and work to be brought to life.

This is your opportunity to get an original {tinniegirl} painting at a price you can afford.

Jump for Joy

Acrylics and mixed-media on canvas

10 x 12 inch

About Paying What You Can
If you're anything like me you love the idea of the pay-what-you-can concept.  Usually for me though I feel really unsure about the whole thing.  I'm embarrassed about not offering enough, or insulting the person, or not showing them that I truly value their work, etc, etc, etc.  Often as a result I end up just not participating.

To give you an idea I would love to sell these paintings for anywhere between $40 and $150.  I am totally happy with that price range, and what actually matters to me most is that these works of mine are able to make their way into the world.  And even more, that they go to people that really connect with them.  I'm also OK with making a payment plan if you need to pay off a piece over a couple of weeks or so.

Hope In My Heart

Acrylics and mixed-media on canvas

10 x 10 inch

How It Will Work
At 8pm on Monday night Australian Eastern Standard Time I'll be putting up an album of the works on my Facebook art page* You'll have to pop on over and like the page so that you can see the album when it goes live.  If you'd like to purchase one of the works all you need to do is leave a comment on the photo saying SOLD.  The first person to leave the comment is the one who gets the artwork.  Once you've done that email me at tinniegirl/at/optusnet.com.au and tell me the price that you will pay for the artwork.  Yes, that's right, the price will be just between you and I, rather than a public piece of information.

How Does Your Garden Grow

Acrylics and mixed-media on canvas

12 x 12 inch

Collection/Postage
Whatever price you pay for the work this does not include the cost of delivery.  I am happy to arrange collection of any pieces from my home and am also happy to arrange postage at your expense.

Mother Duck Says

Vintage Wallpaper, acrylics and mixed-media on canvas

8 x 20 inch

Any questions, please give me a holler.  Otherwise I'll see you on Facebook at 8pm on Monday night.  Again, please don't be shy if you would like to buy one of the pieces.  This is a gift for both me and you.  Anyone who's a creative soul knows that you need to create space for new things to be born.

If you would like to have a sneak peak at the catalogue of work for sale you can pop over here to view all the pieces.

*If you are absolutely, totally not a Facebook person and there's a work that is calling to you then please email me directly.  However, please know that it is definitely first come first served as they say.

Have a lovely weekend peeps.

*****

I'm off to The Square market in Bendigo tomorrow if you're in that neck of the woods. The market is on from 10am - 4pm at the town hall.  I'll be having a bit of a sale there too.

{breaking apart and breaking open, and coming full circle time and time again}

It's been a tough time around here, there's no hiding from that fact.  I sometimes feel like my life is a constant cycle of hope and despair.  It's an exhausting ride at times.  I long for a slower pace, a smoother ride, a sense of balance.

I receive so many incredibly kind emails and comments about the way I share my journey here on the blog and in day-to-day life.  Sharing my truth, putting it all out in the world, warts and all.  It fills me with peace, and hope, and a great sense of pride to know that my words have an impact.

What I also realised today is that when I do put myself out there in all my vulnerability and imperfectness, and people connect with that story, it always comes full circle and heals me too.  We are all so deeply connected and we all have so much power to change each other, to inspire each other and to share hope.  And when we do it comes back to us like an amazing gift that restores our own souls.  

I wanted to share this story with you today and to tell you that you are such an important part of my journey and that I'm often thinking of you.  Time and time again I come back to this place {this blog} knowing that I will find my people here, and that the more I continue to be present in this space the more my life is enriched and filled with so many blessings.

Thank you.

{and special thanks to my amazing friend Jay for the wonderfully soulful conversation today}

{sunday snippets}

{sunday snippets}: a collection of photos from your week.  No need for words.  Let the pictures tell your story.  Pop your link below if you're joining in.

{other things that heal}

long walks in the sunshine

really, really loud music

spontaneous dinner outings

dark chocolate pizza with strawberries and icecream

ending procrastination

making plans

{other things that would help if i could make them happen}

letting go of the constant questioning

taking action

making art for the fun of it

restful sleep, and lots of it

{what sickness & overwhelm look like}

One of the things that I took away from Vivienne McMaster's You Are You Own Muse class last year was the idea that we can capture ourselves in all our moments, and what a powerful experience it is to see ourselves and let ourselves be seen in all our guises.

I was in the studio this morning eating breakfast and writing.  It's the first time I've been out of bed during the day since Monday.  It's been a tough week of being sick and dealing with all the buttons that pushes for me.  It's been a week of both Ms L and I being sick and trying to co-exist when everyone is completely exhausted and depleted.  It's been another week of knowing that neither of us have any sick leave and there'll be financial consequences to come.  In truth it's been a shit of a week.  For some reason as I sat there I felt called to take out the camera and capture the moment.

I almost deleted the photo.  I wanted to hide from everything I saw there.  The exhaustion, the overwhelm, the fear, the self-doubt, the feeling that everything is constantly falling apart, the sickening sense that my dreams may never amount to anything, the bone tiredness from holding parts of my life together with tape and glue.

But I couldn't delete it, and I couldn't stop looking at it.  And the more I looked the more I felt seen, and in being seen I felt validated, and in feeling validated I began to heal.

{you must watch this}

KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

I often get overcome by the question of "what can I as one individual possibly do to address all the crap that goes on in the world"  This film is such a great reminder that we are not alone, and that more than ever before we have the capacity to connect and act together.  It's a long one - almost 30 minutes - which in these days of shortest ever attention spans is asking a lot.  But you simply must, must, must watch this movie, spread the word and act.

{and so i knit}

and sleep, and rest, and hang out with BigCat, and wait to get better.

{the dreaded lurgy strikes again}

It totally snuck up on me this time.  I was absolutely fine on Friday and then Saturday I woke up with a head full of fog.  And that's pretty much how things have remained since.  After the massive roller coaster of the last few weeks I guess it's no great surprise.

Luckily I'm totally addicted to my knitting at the moment.

I'm going to lay low and knit for a few days.  See you soon.

{sunday snippets}

{sunday snippets}: a collection of photos from your week.  No need for words.  Let the pictures tell your story. Pop your link below if you're joining in.

{warts and all}

I've noticed this tendancy developing over the last year.  To hide away from my blog {and the world for that matter} when things aren't feeling all that good.  I used to be so much better at just turning up.  Bringing my whole self.  Warts and all.

I've been missing that chick.  The one who brought her whole self.  Who celebrated the achievements and the milestones, and also bravely owned the crap stuff. The woman who tells her story in all it's guises.

It's funny that it's been as my life has become more successful, as I've felt like I'm getting somewhere with my dreams that I've felt that I have no right to complain or be sad or disappointed.  Somewhere along the line I felt like I had to be happy all the time, constantly grateful, eternally positive.  Even when things have felt completely and utterly crapped out I've noticed this compulsion to focus on the lessons, the learnings, the 'what can I take from this experience that will enrich me as a person'. It's bloody exhausting to be positive all the time.  A relentless and futile pursuit.

What I've been realising over the past few days is that when I only tell the good bits of my story, and deny myself the opportunity to feel and experience all the dimensions of my life it reduces me to something less than I am.  I become a shadow of myself. I don't like this woman who isn't being real and telling it like it is.  I don't like this woman who is so concerned with sounding like a whinger, or being a victim that she leaves no space for feeling pain as well as joy.  This woman is constantly exhausted by trying to be positive.  This woman constantly compares herself to others.  This woman is constantly convinced that everyone else is moving so much further ahead of her, experiencing more success, more joy, more serendipity and synchronicity.  This woman constantly feels that she is not enough and that her dreams will never be.  This woman is exhausted and sad and afraid and overwhelmed.

It came to me on my ride this morning.  The simple truth.  That when I show up and own all the pieces I feel so much less afraid and sad and overwhelmed.  That when I make space for all of it I begin to heal and renew.

This is where I stand today.  Tall.  Wholly present.  Warts and all.

How about you?  Where are you standing today?  Do tell.  If you don't want to share in the comments you can email me at tinniegirl/at/optusnet.com.au

Let yourself be seen today.  Warts and all.

{sunday snippets}

{sunday snippets}: a collection of photos from your week.  No need for words.  Let the pictures tell your story. Pop your link below if you're joining in.

*****

Is anyone else out there feeling as completely wiped out as I am at the moment?  Is it the heat?  Am I just coming down off the exhibition?  I don't know what's going on but I am feeling so exhausted it's overwhelming me.  Apologies if I'm not around much at the moment, here or visiting your neck of the woods.  I'm trying to get to the bottom of what's going on with me and to restore some order to my soul.  Hopefully I'll be back soon.

{like wow, like wipeout}

It takes me by surprise every time.  The complete overwhelm and exhaustion that hits me after an exhibition opens.  On an intellectual level I completely understand what it takes to hang your heart up on a wall for all the world to see, but emotionally I'm never prepared.  Perhaps I wouldn't do it if I was.

Anyway, I'm taking some time to decompress.  But here's a couple of pics of the show for you.  More to come.

In other news I'm guest curating over at Crescendoh this week.  You can read my Art Saves story and check out some of the people and things that have been inspiring me lately.  If you're visiting from Crescendoh, thanks so much for stopping by my little corner of the internet world.

Like I said, more soon...

{sunday snippets, the last 24 hours}

{sunday snippets}: a collection of photos from your week.  No need for words.  Let the pictures tell your story. Pop your link in below if you're joining in.

{too tired for words}

It was amazing!

{coming full circle}

Coming Full Circle
Acrylic and mixed-media on canvas
18 x 18 inch

Excerpt from Artist Statement
Throughout my life I've tried my hand at all sorts of hobbies and crafts that played with colour, shape and form. Big, bold flowers have always been a dominant theme.  For years I had an idea that when I became a ‘real’ painter I wouldn’t paint flowers anymore. I thought that I’d paint something more sophisticated or ‘serious’.

Blossom and Bloom is an exhibition about growth. It’s about the process we go through to find ourselves and how ultimately that process often leads us right back to our beginnings. To what we’ve always known about ourselves.
 

It's so fitting that this exhibition is being held in Ballarat, a city so close to my heart.  Ballarat has played such a significant role in my life going right back to my teens when I used to spend every weekend there hanging out with the most crazy, mixed-up bunch of fringe dwellers.  People who completely shaped me as a person to this day.

My best friends Jane and Richard, both sadly passed away, were born and raised in Ballarat.  It was their home town.  How I wish they could be there to celebrate this moment with me {and I'm sure in some way they will be}.


Detail from Coming Full Circle

*****