Sunday Morning

Most Sunday mornings I head down to the beach, drop off the boys so they can go body-boarding, grab a coffee and the Sunday papers. I people-watch & marvel at the surfers and the beauty of this beach I love so much. Then I walk back along the beach to the lagoon where it is serene, grassy & shady. I read and doodle in my journal, doze and talk to the ducks, watching the kayakers glide by.

Feeling Like Forrest Gump

I've been messing around in my journal a lot lately, mostly because I've not had much time to sit down to anything more involved. It feels good to just play aimlessly for a while. I also have three smallish canvases that keep giving me a nudge, but I'm not sure what to do with them yet.

Today I walked all over the place and once I started, I felt like I could just keep walking forever. A bit like Forrest Gump, crossing the country, except I keep stopping to pick flowers! My legs know about it tonight though and I've managed to work up quite an appetite too.

One of my destinations was lunch with my mother Doreen at her nursing home. She has become a favourite of all the staff there and gives them her best smiles. It is good to know that she is happy in herself. We sat outside in a sunny courtyard surrounded by yellow daisies and talked about sewing machines.

getting ready to sew

This is a face in my art journal drawn in ink, over water colour squirted from a spray bottle.

Lately I've been all over the place creatively, wanting to try all sorts of different things and not being able to settle on just one. This is just the way it is - so many great things out there to experience and so much fun trying to squeeze it all in!

It's been a busy time here, what with the soccer season starting and lots of things to organise on the homefront. I'm just loving our gentle autumn - soft light & easy temperatures.

I'm now the proud owner of a new sewing machine. It hasn't been taken out of it's box yet and will wait for a block of time to concentrate on re-aquainting myself with the basics. I grew up with my mother's sewing machine nearly always on the kitchen table and would often thread the machine for her, run scraps of material through & loved playing with the 'feet', bobbins and tiny tools.

With the things I learned from my mother and a textile & design course in high school I know enough to get started on my own. There are stars in my eyes about making fabric collage or a wall hanging maybe, based on one of my paintings. We'll see what happens.

Being Domestic

(google image)

I am enjoying being domestic lately and have taken up crochet again. It's been fun playing around with different stitches for a scarf that I'm making in a fuzzy, slubbed yarn - a simple design, nothing too challenging first up. You can make absoutely anything out of crochet as the buddha above (don't you just love it?!) shows. To keep whatever you're making modern, it's a matter of choosing the right yarn, stitches and pattern and of course, using a bit of imagination & creativity.

I did try knitting again too, but can't seem to concentrate on it as I'm always getting interrupted, then lose where I'm up to (!) There's probably a trick to overcoming this that experienced knitters know about. For now I stick to crochet that I know really well.

zen, coffee & walking in autumn sun

The horrible heat of high summer has left us (i hope!) and our nights are cool, the days warm with clear blue skies. great for getting out and about.

So today i dropped in at our regional art gallery, which is nestled in a beautiful Japanese garden. the exhibit was art created by high school students - very fresh and inspiring. i browsed in the gallery shop and found a great book on naive art & a gorgeous pink japanese parasol, both went into my 'window shopping' bag.

The japanese garden was zen, as you would expect & i sat for a while and meditated with the autumn sun on my shoulder. It was difficult to leave the tranquility, but then the lure of coffee (which i have taken up drinking again) & warm blueberry bread served with honey at my favourite cafe, got me moving again. mmm!

We are a one car family & so I often find myself walking these days. i really enjoy the exercise, and while it takes longer to get from A to B, the slow way has it's benefits. On my way home from the gallery i met a delightful 87 year old lady also on a walk and we stopped and chatted for half an hour. Full of energy and good spirits, she was quite an inspiration. i wished that i'd taken a photo as she was a vision in pink. note to self: be less shy about pulling out the camera!