self portrait day

Self portrait with baby

Dorothea Lange was a photographer for the farm security administration project in during the depression and documented the homeless. Her images are so powerful, I especially love her image of mother and child, and I wanted to capture the intensity of emotion and dignity that this woman has. Check out more of her images here and here and read more about her here.

bloggers who are self portrait-ing
Nikki shell reminded me of Duane Michals whose "self portrait as if I were dead" is very interesting, some other of his images here and here. Nikki also did her own self portrait
Shells and beans shadow image : jenny of queenthings self portrait is also featured on the self portrait day website : I think bird in the hand and mama unraveled2 might have a self portrait up too. If anyone else is participating please let me know, I would love to see.

there are heaps of self portraits to browse on flickr - here are some I love
hot in the bath by isherwood - great colour and perspective : me by bbdoll - gorgeous
me in green and red by sheeshoo - also beautiful : worker by trojan liam - black and white grungy self portrait : nightgown and my new dress by majapaja - series of interesting self portraits : hypnotize by simon pais - self portrait in the shower : pelo by ende - self portrait macro body hair : red me by Ameli - self portrait with camera : nuit blanche by oooh caro - self portrait shadow

burda pattern 1970-1974

My mum has a huge collection of burda pattern magazines running from 1970 right up until a few years ago. I love looking through them for inspiration. I used to make alot of things from them growing up, and I guess that is where I learnt to sew. Recently however I have revisited them mainly for children's clothing patterns and for retro styling ideas.

Some groovy hair and headpeice styles to enjoy. I love the collar on this shirt (above) with matching scarf, and the groovy crochet cap (below) and check out the fab hair on ladies no.3 and no.4.

keep surfing keep surfing

been flicking through the flickr universe lately and wanted to share my finds.
venegas - brilliant photographer, captures the most amazing colours and textures of ordinary spaces and people
marion quaggatuggu has some great domestic images, capturing fabulous colours and still lifes
i am slightly obsessed by planeta hilda's talent and imagery and imagination - her use of colour and pattern is nothing less than brilliant
the soul of hope collage set is lovely and all the fairys are inspiring
kent h - has a great eye for colour and detail in the urban landscape
mohawk - imagination and weirdness makes for great photos
kittycat - urban safaris - colour and composition and texture
poundstone - illustrations are beautiful and poignant
loosetooth - bread images and softies - she is pretty cool - do i sound slighly stalker-ish
liquid sky arts - has a way with telling stories through pictures - fabulous colour and people, i love her everyday magic and home life pics
adriana oliveira - travelling journal project is simply beautiful ... so so beautiful
gayla's favourite things are interesting - she has an eye for unusual imagery
kim's suitcase has amazing illustrations - so simple but i am in such awe of her

enjoy the weekend

very important scientific experiment

how to do it:

• cut up coloured chalk with plastic scissors into a cup and mix with water.
• break up bits of pink crepe paper and mix into the coloured water
• add some glue and maybe paint
• mix mix mix and spill on the floor
• take off all your clothes and paint your body with the mixture
  
• ooooh great splodgy patterns on the floor and... everywhere
  
• get into a warm bubbly bath and let someone else clean up the mess

mud pies and sewing inspiration

I just cannot believe this Autumn weather, it is simply balmy when it should be wintry. I feel slightly guilty though for not taking advantage and being outside in the garden. Little ones with snotty noses keeps us indoors withjust a few forays outside to make a mud pie or two.

I have been surfing flickr for inspiration for back tack - a sewing or knitting holder, and look what I came up with - check out my faves, some fabulous bags, knitting rolls and pincushions by crafty chicks making fabulous stuff.
I love this knitting roll by gayla
and these handpainted bags and knitting bag by planeta hilda
knitting bag and another by lizette greco
this needle case and knitting bucket by splityarn
more needle cases here and here
bags by cimba
don't forget to check out craftapalooza's pincushion and tutorial
basket bag and pincushion by hillary
pincushion by wol&zo and another by loobylu

month of softies 'may flowers'

My may flower for month of softies. This is my flower kroo softie that my daughter has adopted. I made it a while ago, I didn't have quite enough time this month and don't think I will as I have heaps of sewing to get done for the markets this weekend.

Don't forget to check out my new photo daily and links list.

Self portrait day

I did this 'family self portrait' series - documentary style, about 4 years ago. It was part of an exhibition of mother/artists who make art about motherhood or with motherhood as a major influence in their work. I pretty much had the tripod set up in the corner constantly, we became used to it being there and ignored it. It was set to go off periodically, catching moments not normally available - emotions and interactions.

Artist Sally Mann, famous and controversial female/mother artist who photographs her family. Her images are incredibly beautiful, capturing the inner life of her children. They were however incredibly controversial, a few issues involved were 1. Because of how these images exposed her children - they were seen as too sexual too voyeuristic 2. mother v's photographer (which role was she playing, was she abusing her role as mother to be photographer) 3. She was using her children for art/commercial purposes 4. The erotic (the femine meaning of desire and love rather than masculine meaning of sexual) nature of a mothers love was exposed and not generally understood. What does everyone think?
read about her here and here
Some landmark images
man bubbles
picnic
candy cigarette
immediate family
night blooming

Some fellow bloggers who have some self portraits up too.
bird in the hand
flutterby
mama unraveled2

Back tack swap

My Back tack swap arrived 2 weeks ago, great fabric, ribbon and buttons. I doubt if I would have chosen this colour combo, but I love it anyway.

It came so beautifully wrapped in tissue paper with this cute retro tag sticking it all together. Thank you fellow back tacker. I sent mine off last week, I hope it has arrived.




Post scipt added at 1.45pm
I forgot to say I have started a daily photoblog - where I plan to put my favourite images. You can get to it via links at the top of the blog.

Shrinky dinks

lovely lovely - Craftapalooza sent me this package a while ago.








And today we had some fun making shrinky dink pins and shrinky dink necklaces.





Before...



After...





Are these too gorgeous?




Inspiration:
Wee wonderfuls Shrinky dink pins and gorgeous pin cushion
Craftlog shrink plastic tiles
jewellery by jessica pendants
Craftapalooza's gorgeous pincushion - great tutorial, and shrinky dink pin madness, and shrinky dink fridge magnets
moopy and me - shrinky dink pins and gorgeous flower pin cushion

Now how to do it:
Buy some shrinky dink plastic - either for printer or to draw onto with coloured pencils. Cut out shapes and decorate rough side up. Stick a pin in or punch a hole, put onto foil rough side up and bake at 160 degrees centigrade for 1-5 mins, wait until they uncurl. Ta da. Thank you miss craftapalooza for getting me started, we had a lot of fun.

shrinky dink instructions at smile and act nice
Craft for kids instructions - how to do shrinky dinks with kids, patterns etc
shrinky dink website

sewing break

Well my overlocker (serger) packed it in, so I have borrowed mums - with the proviso that "I get the men to help me work out how to use it", these same men may be technical genius when it comes to fixing the computer or the chainsaw but have never stepped near the scary boundaries of the sewing realm. I am not sure what they can tell me that I cannot figure out in half the time myself. Butwait, I am saved, there is a video I can watch that will teach me how to thread it "but mum my video is broken too, I think I will just read the manual and work it out" "oh no, you need the video, you better borrow a video player and then get the men to help you".
"grrrrrr"

Self portrait day -

Self portrait with pregnant belly, pink fingernails and too tight bra marks.

For me self portraiture is not just about the portrait, but can be also a portrayal of life. As part of my self portraiture study, I did a series on my domestic surrounds - as an extension of self.

My favourite contemporary artists working with self portraiture in different ways here: what do you think of them?

Nan Goldin: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency - is her most famous work, a portrait of her friends and herself, her story. Self portrait with black eye, in bed with lover, blue bathroom.
Orlan: Orlan is a French performance artist whose most recent work is herself. Entitled The Reincarnation of Saint Orlan, she has since May 1990 undergone a series of plastic surgical operations to transform herself into a new being, modelled on Venus, Diana, Europa, Psyche and Mona Lisa. the living masterpiece - a bit about who and why. theatre of the self - some pics of the plastic surgery.
Tracy Emin: uses her personal experience to make self confessional works. Her 'my bed' installation was unusually controversial, another controversial personal work titled 'everyone I have ever slept with'. A bit more info about her work here
Stelarc: Australian performance artist who explores the concept of the body and its relationship with technology - creating cyborgs, using his own body to experiment - for full article

EXOSKELETON A six-legged, pneumatically powered walking machine has been constructed for the body.
EXTRA EAR Having developed a Third Hand, consider the possibility of constructing an extra ear, positioned next to the real ear
SURFACE AND SELF: THE SHEDDING OF SKIN As surface, skin was once the beginning of the world and simultaneously the boundary of the self. But now stretched, pierced and penetrated by technology, the skin is no longer the smooth and sensuous surface of a site or a screen. Skin no longer signifies closure. The rupture of surface and skin means the erasure of inner and outer. An artwork has been inserted inside the body. The Stomach Sculpture...

cool stuff

Naive knitting's studio confidante project is so so amazing, that is one talented lady, go and check out the slide show and then browse through all the contributors links.



More cool stuff I have been saving up:

to purchase:
Maminka -
Primrose design - vintage linens
Rhya - portfolio - textiles and softies
super maggie - handmade
paper source - gift boxes
Robeez baby shoes
rick rack - vintage fabrics
needles pens - handmade stuff for sale
mecozy - tea cosies
dolls - old fashioned
ribbon grab bags
fuzzy bumble bee - frocks
plucky fluff - yarn and nozzlers and cool hats
amazing voog hats
homebaked - handmade shop
duct tape bags -

to admire:
post secret
the thought project - interesting photography and people - private and public
crochet exhibition
exploding dog - cartoon art
button jewellery
needle case - need some inspiration for back tackers
secret worlds
Carol Es - dress pattern installation
The immortal tailor - clothing as communicator - screen printed fabric
Amy Butler's studio - something to aim towards!

cool blogs:
the small object blog - handmade crafts
toy mechanics - how toys work
natural dye journal - great dying tips
french toast girl - cool illustrations
thread bared - amusing observations
croque choux - craft and goodies
jodi's weblog - knitting and laughs
my paper crane journal - clouds
paper forest - beautiful things
elefante, e a vida - felty blog
live journal fiber friday
moopy and me - crafty Aussie mum

online tutorials:
box tutorial - made out of old video cases
Nara paint chip wallets - pattern tutorial here
crochet bag pattern at Micheals - who has lots of other free online patterns too
craftster fanny pouch
craftster japanese purses
craftster jordy bag
super eggplant tote
design a sewing centre -

i do need a holiday

The party was a hit. The food was fantastic. Lots of wine flowing, people talking, the fire going, dogs and chickens and children everywhere. I don't think I sat down the whole night, but I did manage a few glasses of wine and a plate of food. The slow cooked lamb was perfect, the spelt sour dough even more perfect (our best bread yet), the couscous salad was divine, I recommend the recipe and the fennel and pea sprout salad (pictured above) with a simple vinagrette was excellent. The chocolate pots were divine, and cheese platter and lemon tart (I couldn't get custard tart in the end) were quickly demolished.

We crashed into bed after cleaning up, then the nightmare began. Kids woke us up about 5 times between midnight and 3am with toilet trips, straightening covers, nightmares, and various other annoying fussy needs. Needless to say we were both pretty tired today for the markets. And then upon returning home we found this (see pic below) child with do-it-yourself haircut. Right now I am studiously ignoring (while trying to enjoy a whisky) screaming kids as they fuss and bother with straightening their covers and demanding more milk, more stories and more attention - tonight I just don't have it.

menu

Menu for Robs 40th has a subtle middle eastern theme (very subtle).

Hummus and nibbles to start
pickles, cheese and crackers for kids
roast lamb and sour dough cooked in the mud oven
accompanied by chickpea and couscous salad
roasted vegetables flavoured with cumin and green salad
followed by Nigella's chocolate pots and custard tarts from the local bakery
with jelly cups topped with marshmallows for the kids

ps: the pic is of wooden spoons

couch cover all sewn up

This is what I got up to all day yesterday, some of you might remember me talking about this couch cover ages ago, when I was half finished and it seemed like too big a task to ever get it done. It has been sitting in the inbetween stage for months and month. But the impetus to finish spurred me on - Robs birthday party on the weekend, and the half covered couch was too ugly. It wasn't that hard once I actually got going on it, took a whole day to finish though, and I was still sewing at 8pm at night. I think all up it took me maybe 4 whole days of steady sewing, I saved myself a couple of thousand bucks by doing it myself. The fabric is heavy duty faux suede in 'donkey' grey (which has a slight purplish/chocolate tinge), a much more practical colour for a house with young grubby kids.





My little helper (above) and the couch before (below) I couldn't believe I couldn't find a decent before pic, I think the couch was really too too ugly to photograph.




Note: sorry if this is a rambling post - it is 5am and I couldn't sleep thinking about all the things I have to do before sat and the big party - Robs 40th - in the backyard - firing up the mud oven and baking organic spelt sour dough and slow roast lamb. But I still need to clean house, tidy yard (there is a whole week of work in that one), make deserts (Nigella's chocolate pots and custard tarts), shopping, buy robs present, and still do some sewing for the weekend market on sunday!aaagh! is it too early to fire up the sewing machine with kids asleep (yes unfortunately - and I might sew my fingers together anyway).

self portrait day

self portrait




Check it out
I have always been into self portraiture - in fact I became so obsessed I did my honours degree about self portraiture and have exhibited my own and others self portraits. I love self portraits for the same reason I hate to have my photo taken by anyone other than me - the freedom of controlling your representation in an image. Also it is a way of defining and searching for self.

The self-portrait has always been an artist's most intriguing vehicle for analysis and self-expression. The unusual freedom offered the artist by the dual occupation of the roles of both subject and creator has meant that self-portraiture has been of especial value and interest in the work of women artists.
See the articles here and here about the mirror mirror exhibition Self-portraits by women artists

Also check these group projects out:
The mirror project
Picture yourself
Photo Friday self portrait theme

Amazing personal journeys
My own self
Monika Požerskytė "Inspiration or Beeing Muse for Oneself"
Self portraits by Julia Flynn

Check these self portraits out by famous painters:
Andy Warhol, Vincent van Gogh, Picasso, Rembrandt, Frida Kahlo, Chuck Close

Photographers and body artists
Orlan - incredible woman who has changed her self through plastic surgery for art
Nan Goldin (this is the google image search link - I can't find a centralised site for her work, but if you are into self portraiture this stuff is very powerful and real)
Cindy Sherman is a master of the self portrait art
Katharina Sieverding
John Coplins - is worth checking out in more detail, I couldn't find a site dedicated to just him and his work
Robert Mapplethorpe

Scamander Tasmania

The following pics are not from our weekend. They are from Scamander in Tasmania, a beautiful coastal town, where I wished I was this weekend. Instead I was at home frantic and busy. Saturday was finishing sewing for markets today. My back was so sore after a day of sitting sewing that I had to teach Rob how to finish the last few off, and then I went off to take a soak in the tub (accompanied by 2 year old Orlando who made himself useful by scrubbing my feet and knees).

This mothers day I spent at the markets selling my wares and hoping for a surprise at home. But alas, hubby Rob had a hell day with 2 horrible children and didn't manage to get anything done, let alone cook up a storm and clean the house. But on the good news front - it is 7.30pm and the kids are in bed and I have a whiskey waiting for me. Hope the rest of you mothers had a good day.

40 years of marriage

My parents recently celebrated 40 years of marriage. I put together a book of memories for them. These images are a selection. If you would like to read the text, click on the image for a larger version.

Post script:
Technical notes:

1. I made this simple booklet using a scanner, photoshop, good quality paper, a colour printer and an A4 or letter size plastic covers and folder from a stationary shop.
2. scan in images at about 200 dpi to get good image quality when printing
3. open images in photoshop and adjust colour, contrast using the levels and curves tool for contrast and the colour balance - be subtle and fix any scratches and blotches using the clone tool. Then crop the image to the size you want.
4. try making the image slightly transparent if you want to put text over it or layer images (do this by opening another layer and making it transparent using the transparent slide tool in the layers palette and removing the background layer)
5. try turning the image sepia by first making it greyscale in adjust mode menu then making it RGB again and adjusting curves by adding red
6. add text, I have a supply of fonts that i mix and match you can find lots of cool free fonts by searching. my favourites are old type-writer fonts, kids or messy handwriting fonts, and retro fonts.
7. put all the elements together on a blank page the same size at the one you will be printing it onto (check page size and image size)
8. you can now either save it to cd and take it to a professional to have printed and bound or print it at home using a variety of textured and coloured papers and either have it spiral bound and covered or place it into plastic sleeved folder.

I am not a scrapbooker or a graphic designer so don't follow any trends. but i did do a quick google search on "Clean & Simple Scrapbooking" by Cathy Zielske as suggested by bellablue and found it to be a beautiful book here are some pages of Cathy's work (I think they are all hers) that are inspirational.
wish list
lucky me album
home
the place i call home

I am not really into all the bits of cute things and doo-dads and stamps and stickers etc. that you have to buy for scrapbooking. As a photomedia artist I love the images and I love it to be simple, but I do also think that some text - a quote or poem etc can enhance the image and memory. I also love colour and groovy fonts so these are the elements I use for my albums.

dragonfly bag

This is a bag I made a few weeks ago. I am not completely happy with it as I finished it in a rush, surrounded by screaming children wanting dinner (how dare they be hungry when I am trying to finish a project!) and consequently there are some dodgy aspects. Firstly, I didn't have enough plastic for the lining as well so the lining is silky fabric, beautiful but not very hardy, and a bit loose because I didn't measure it exactly. Secondly the pockets - I put the outside pocket on the same bit as the inside pocket and now I can't use them both at the same time. But I love this dragonfly fabric and the shiny lining is pretty special too. Also it is a perfect size and the strap is the perfect length - so not a complete disaster in the end.

Sour dough weekend

This is what my husband got up to while I was selling my wares at the market this weekend. Perfect sour dough bread in the mud oven (that he also made). For more pics of this beautiful bread go to our project blog. And to the great tutorial that we followed to make this bread go to egullet forums. And for instructions to make your own starter go to the science of cooking.





ps. I couldn't actually eat the yummy crust, having recently had my wisdom teeth removed, I had to take my husbands and kids word for it that is was delicious, while I just sucked on the insides of the yummy chewy spongy bread, soaked with butter and honey - mmm devine!

Any suggestions?

I was given about 50 pairs of machine embroidered sheep skin moccasin tops. I have no idea what to do with them. They are quite beautiful and interesting, I was thinking of knee patches for little kids pants or pockets for somthing. They would make an interesting addition to a unique project. Any suggestions?