{things i'm diggin'}

• nearly selling out at my exhibition. There's only 2 paintings left - Reef and I Listen To Birds. If you can't make it to the show but you're interested in purchasing one of the remaining pieces feel free to get in touch.
• getting the test prints of my work done this week. I'm gobsmacked by the quality. I can't wait to get my online shop open (hopefully next week!).
• dining at Wabi Sabi last night.
• taking lots of time out this week to rest, relax, be. I've realised recently how challenging I find it to stop but I'm learning how necessary it is to sustain myself, and I'm totally committed to the idea of taking great care of myself.
• counting the sleeps till we have a week away in Port Douglas. It was on my wish list for this year and thanks to a little bit of magic we've made it happen.
• feeling balance return after a topsy-turvy month.
• playing around with some new paintings.
• seeing my Exquisite Palette piece in the window at St Luke this morning. Seriously, a piece of my art in a shop window! The exhibition looks amazing. It's worth a trip to Smith St if you're in the hood.
• entertaining the notion that perhaps struggle is not an essential part of my life.
• plans for a Korean dinner with Ms L this evening.
• the arrival of the weekend.

How about it peeps? What are you diggin'?

{ode to titanium white - part II}

If I hadn't already truly bonded with the name Tinniegirl, I might think about renaming myself Titanium White.  My love for this colour (or is it an absence of colour?) knows no bounds.  In fact, I think it's becoming one of the signatures of my work.

I wonder what other creative peeps are up to today?  I think I'll pop over here and have a look.

{chickens, eggs & painting}

It's been such an interesting experience to see the responses of people to the exhibition and my paintings.  I'm not talking so much about the people who have traveled alongside me on this journey (I've been deeply touched by their responses), but more the people who are having their first experience of my paintings.  This includes a variety of friends, family, acquaintances and complete strangers.

In some ways it's given me the first true experience of myself as a professional artist.  For people who are seeing my art for the first time, exhibited in a public place, they don't question my status as an artist.  They don't wonder whether or not I should be exhibiting.  They don't, dare I say it, seem to think I'm an impostor.

In fact the response to my work has been overwhelmingly positive and affirming, and people just seem to take it on face value that I am a professional working artist.  Just like that!

And somewhere along the line I think I've also made the shift.  Seeing my work hanging on a wall at Chair 14 made me feel like an artist.  I don't feel like an impostor anymore.

It's such a completely different experience to what I've had selling my work at markets, both in terms of the response I've had from punters and how I've felt personally about putting my work out there.  Of course, my paintings have evolved pretty significantly over the last 6 - 12 months, which also helps account for the change.

But I did get to wondering about chickens and eggs, and how I got to this point with my painting.  Which came first?  Was it me deciding to put myself out there with this intent, or was it my work reaching a level of maturity and readiness that has taken me to this new place in my creative journey?

Which came first, the paintings or the artist?

{it's just a matter of time}

Down The Rabbit Hole*

Acrylics and embroidered linen on board

I seem to be running a mad race against time at the moment.  Mad, in that trying to keep up is driving me crazy, and mad in that I know it is an exercise in futility trying to race time.  Isn't it funny how we can know that something is pointless and yet continue to do it anyway?

I know that some form of surrender is in order but I can't quite see my way clear to making it happen.  Yet.

*I've just entered this piece in an open exhibition called The Exquisite Palette.  It's run by St Luke, an art supply shop in Smith Street, Collingwood, which in itself is an exquisite place.  The show opens on Friday night at 6pm.  I'm going to pop along and check it out, even though I'm feeling more than a little shy about it all.  If you want to check out some of the detail in this piece (including the hundreds of french knots on the rabbit) you can see them over in my Flickr stream)

Northern Craft Bonanza News

Unfortunately peeps Chair 14 have informed me that they can't offer us a fortnightly venue for the NCB during winter.

Therefore the NCB will meet monthly for the next couple of months.  Our next catch up will be Thursday August 12th & then Thursday September 9th.  The usual time of 7-9pm applies.

We'll see in September if we go back to fortnightly catch ups or wait until October begins.  Stay tuned here for updates.

A few people have spoken to me about changing venues, organising different interim events and I've had a think about it.  The truth is I think Chair 14 is a really great venue for our craft group and I'm reluctant to make a change at this point.  If we can't go back to fortnightly catch ups in Spring then I think it will definitely be time to think further about it.

As for interim events, if anyone wants to organise something to have on one of the in-between fortnights that would be great.  I'll be happy to share the word here, and to come along.

{What I Loved Most: A List}*

• Talking about Quinacridone Magenta & Paynes Grey
• Beautiful baby cupcakes that matched my favourite painting
• Seeing my work through other people's eyes
• Hearing myself tell the stories behind my paintings
• Feeling myself stepping out of shyness and into the light of my art
• Being surrounded by love, and warmth, and support from all the corners of my life
• Waxing lyrical about my passion for bubble wrap
• Selling 2 paintings to a complete stranger who turned up right at the beginning especially to buy them
• Laughing and feeling light
• Waking up this morning and feeling like I couldn't wait to get started on the next steps

*I love a good list. I know there's a few lovers of lists around the place. I've always been particularly taken with Hula Seventy's list-making. So, you might get to see a few more lists around these parts.

What I Came Home With

A happy heart, really, really sore feet, a fire in my belly and a few less red dots than I set out with.  All the ingredients for a very successful night.

It was a fabulously fun, amazingly wonderful evening.

Thank you to everyone who came along, and to those who sent messages of support and well wishes from near and far.  This journey is made so much sweeter by the amazing people that I'm traveling with.

Extra big special thanks to Cathie for those amazing cupcakes, to CurlyPops for all the assistance of various sorts, and of course to Ms L for being my rock, my greatest supporter and number one fan.

And look at all these gorgeous flowers I received.  Talk about spoiled.

I hope to have some more photos to share soon.

********************************************

Next order of the day.  Get my Etsy shop reopened.  Stay tuned for news on that front. 

First though I might enjoy the weekend off.

Don't Overthink It

I had a few hours to play with this morning and so I got busy making.  I had an idea a while back to make a guest book for the opening night of the exhibition.  

When I was thinking about the cover I just grabbed a whole lot of scraps that have been lying around in the studio for ages.  "Don't overthink it" I told myself.  Just enjoy the process.

There's a few other things that I'm applying that approach to today.

The red dots sitting in the pile of things to take with me this evening.

The party outfit, sitting ready to wear, to a place that I usually wear my track pants to.

The thought of being on show for all the world to see.

It's all a bit surreal really, and buzzy, and scary, and ...  Like I said "Don't overthink it, just enjoy the process"

Hope to see you tonight.

More Creative Spaces here.

Remembering

Gratitude

Acrylics, collage and mixed-media on canvas

On the eve of my first exhibition opening these are the thoughts floating in my head:

There were days, not so long ago, when my heart ached with longing to be a painter,
and when painting scared the bejeezuz out of me.

There was a time, not so long ago, when I didn't know where to start with a blank canvas,
and a time when I wouldn't dare call myself an artist.

There has been a gradual awakening of my spirit over the last couple of years,
and it is painting that has made this possible.

I am made whole by the presence of painting in my life,
and I am deeply and truly grateful.

If you're free and in Melbourne tomorrow night then please do come and join me at the opening of The Journey Home.

Just wishing ....

... and hoping,

and thinking and praying,

and planing and dreaming...

                                the great 'Dusty Springfield'

All works in progress.

All soon to be available in my Etsy shop - originals and fine art prints.

All containing little pieces of my heart.

How To Feel Really Truly Like An Artist

4 sleeps peeps!

How Things Hang Together

belonging: being rightly placed in a specified position

I'm working on the last minute preparations for the exhibition.  The nervousness has been overwhelming, but today the excitement has kicked in.

And I'm working on me.  I can't help but think that it's just a matter of 'rightly placing myself in a specified position', and all will be well in my world.

Perhaps it already is!

Losing My Way, And Then Finding It Again

Hello!  How are you?  

Oh my goodness, what a week.  As well as my blogging break there has been:

• A trip to Sewjourn that was like a perfectly balanced meal.  Salty and sweet, spicy and sour.
• A complete collapse.  All the exhaustion, the holding it together, the trying to be all things to all people, the emotion, finally caught up with me.
• 3 days spent almost completely in bed.
• Eating of an inordinate amount of chocolate.
• No exercise whatsoever.
• Strengthening of important friendships, and beginnings of new ones.  Letting go of some others.
• Renewal.
• Realisations, home truths, cold hard facts and recognition of decisions that need to be made.
• Chicken, leek and bacon pie.
• Bookbinding, painting and some guerrilla crochet.

It's good to be back to blogging.  I've missed it, and I've missed you.

Maybe I'll see you tonight at the NCB.

Tinniegirl Unplugged, And Weekend Goodness

Give me a home among the gum trees

With lots of plum trees

A sheep or two, a kangaroo

A clothesline out the back

Verandah out the front

And an old rocking chair

                           

                                   Home Among The Gumtrees

I know it's only Wednesday but I'm already in weekend mode.

That's because:

• my weekend starts at 5pm today. Seriously loud YIPPEE!
• on Friday I'm going to Sewjourn with some really fab peeps for 3 days of crafty goodness.
• i'm going to spend the days leading up to the weekend planning and preparing, cooking, baking, watching Le Tour and generally relaxing and unwinding.

After realising that I can't do it all, and realising just how much I really was trying to shove into my days, I spent some time taking stock.  The to do list is looking much more sensible, my outlook is a whole lot rosier and the stress levels are far more manageable.

And on that note, I'm unplugging for a few days.  I'll be back next week sometime. 

Just in time to start counting the sleeps till my exhibition opening night!

See you soon.

The Shock That Wasn't Really A Shock

The Cows Came Home

Acrylics and mixed Media on canvas

12 x 24 inch

I came to the simplest realisation late last night.


I can't do it all.

What's that?  


You mean I can't get ready for my first exhibition, concentrate on getting my Etsy shop reopened, take on full time casual project management work, undertake consultancy work on top of that, look after my health, maintain a social life, stay connected to the people that matter, Twitter quirky and interesting thoughts(!), blog regularly, exercise 3 times a week, keep the NCB rolling along, enjoy cooking, organise craft weekends, enter a piece in a group exhibition, work on new creative ideas, submit work for publication, participate in e-courses, learn my way around Photoshop, think about long term career plans, do my taxes, keep up with emails, participate in swaps, watch my beloved Tour de France, maintain my sanity and enjoy my life?

Suddenly I understand why I've been feeling more than a tad stressed and unbalanced.

I couldn't help but gently laugh at myself as I thought I'll probably be enjoying this same realisation until 'the cows come home' .


However it is time to take a step back, let go of some artificial deadlines and focus on what really matters.  There's so much good stuff coming up over the next few weeks.  I wan't to make sure I'm in a place where I enjoy every minute of it.


{If you haven't popped over and had a look at my blog redesign, come on over.  I'm loving the new look.}