{home sweet home}

I am so excited to share our big news.  If you're a regular around these parts you'll know that Ms L and I have been through quite a long period of uncertainty about our housing situation.  After nearly 3 years in our beautiful home the owners decided it was time to sell up.  That was around 9 months ago. 

We embraced the adventure and considered a tree change.  We realised that for now our hearts were deeply rooted in our local neighbourhood.  We got our hopes up when we thought we'd found our dream place.  Most recently we decided to put all the thinking and searching on hold and wait to see what the new owners wanted and whether they would offer us a new lease.
 

Late last week we found out that the new owners were definitely planning to ask us to leave.  We realised it was time to go. Last Friday night we looked at the lovely house above and both instantly knew that it was right. Today we got word that it's ours, with a two year lease no less.

To top it all off it's got everything I wrote on my fabulously big list about my dreams for a new house - light and space, trees and birds.

OK, it's time to get packing!

{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.

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!