[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 12 December 2023].
like water for chocolate
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 16 October 2023].
god is love
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 25 September 2022].
it's got pockets!
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 24 August 2022].
As promised, this is the second image from a new series inspired during my recent gig cat-sitting Meg and Mog, titled plush.
The cats' mothers' new home features some vivid interior design colour choices. Colour choices they would not have made. But that they have inherited from the previous owners.
Jo and Becky are far less enamoured with these colour choices than I am.
While there, I struggled with going out and about much due to my health issues and the heatwave. So I spent quite a lot of time, when not working, hanging out in the lounge room with Meg and binge-watching the most recent season of The Handmaid's Tale ahead of the new season airing next month.
After my visit to Minera last October to cat-sit Meg and Mog while they house-hunted, Jo had sent me a link to the advertisement for their new home. When she contacted me to ask if I could cat-sit their two cuties again, I dug out the link and almost immediately asked about the decor. Had they torn out those carpets and removed the wallpaper?
Jo assured me everything was as it had been in the advertisement apart from (obviously) replacing the furniture with their own. I might have squee'd.
When I arrived, the carpet in the lounge was everything I had hoped for. However, I hadn't registered the purple carpeting in one of the bedrooms (the one I stayed in) and the blood-red carpet in the playroom (formerly the dining room) from the photos. Jo pointed out, quite rightly, that the red carpet would have helped mask red wine stains.
I enjoyed and shared the colour coordination of my tights and the carpet in my temporary bedroom before venturing out, trepidatiously, on a photo walk on my first full day there.
But, between work, the heat and my anxiety toward venturing out, I wasn't as attentive as I usually would be in thinking about potential photographic projects in the space during the first few days.
Fast forward to late afternoon Wednesday, and I found myself planning a series of self-portraits inspired by - of all things - the carpet.
I didn't have specific images planned out, but I knew the clothing I had with me and the three carpets I wanted to use as 'backdrops'. Anyone who knows me knows I love colour coordination, so that was in the forefront of my mind.
So I took an extended break from work late afternoon on Thursday to roll around on the floor during the heat and play with some ideas, moods and colour combinations.
So far, the other two images from the series are more related to how I've been feeling recently and thus more emotional. But this image is more playful.
As any woman who owns a dress with pockets knows, whenever someone compliments you on the dress, it's obligatory to announce, "It's got pockets!" And to proudly place your hands in the pockets to demonstrate how awesome it is to have those pockets.
Though my pose may not come across as enthusiastically as I would show you in real life, I am no less pleased with these pockets years after I bought the dress.
But, more importantly, this series is a celebration of carpets. Perhaps the series title should be plush: an ode to wall-to-wall carpeting*.
As a child growing up in the late 70s and 80s, carpets in the home were the norm. The thicker, the better.
I had lived in carpeted properties until about 2014. I even lived in a flat with a carpeted bathroom in 2000 (I don't recommend going that far!)
But since then, I have lived in homes sadly bereft of carpet.
I miss the softness of the carpet underfoot. I dislike the amount of noise I make walking on bare floorboards or laminate floors if I have shoes on. I wear my slipper socks to cushion my feet after a long day of walking, even in the summertime, because I don't have carpet to do that.
I spend much more time brushing dust and hair off my feet before putting my tights on while living in an uncarpeted home.
I remember the excitement of walking barefoot on Jo and Becky's carpet in Minera when I arrived. It was like coming home.
I rue bare floorboards coming back into fashion and landlords deciding laminate flooring is cheaper and easier to maintain. And I'm not ashamed to say so.
So, this will potentially become another ongoing series of self-portraits captured while cat-sitting, like wallflowers.
Let's see how the images pile up.
*I can't resist pointing out that this would also make a perfect title for a series of photographs of people sporting their natural pubic hair. A sight that is probably as rare as carpeted homes these days ;)
N.B. Don't worry about the bruising. That appeared to be from the careless carrying of my laptop bag during the journey to Cotton End. It was no worse and possibly less angry-looking than the bruising I acquired from recent blood tests. I decided not to edit it out. It was too large and had purple tones to match the carpet. Colour coordination :)
inner turmoil
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 21 August 2022].
This photograph is the first from a new series, plush, I started while cat-sitting in Cotton End a couple of weeks ago.
I'll share more about the series - its inspiration, my intentions, etc. - with the second image, which I'll share midweek.
That one's a little more lighthearted.
ochna serrulata
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 21 May 2022].
Technically, these are the fruitlets and sepals of the Ochna serrulata, not the flower, but sepals are part of the flowers, so I'mma let this one pass through because they're damned purty.
Taken during a photo walk around Redland Bay in Queensland back in 2009.
They're designated as an invasive species in Australia despite their attractive appearance.
pure mourning
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 31 March 2022].
Painting:
new lighthouse [dungeness]
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 28 December 2021].
084 peeler
Day eighty-four of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
On Friday, it was all about sticking together. On Saturday, peeling apart.
Neither constitutes the favourite objects I mentioned the other day. They're still to come.
But this design of vegetable peeler was a revelation to me when I moved to the UK in 1999. We'd always had these ones while I was growing up in Australia.
While they did the job, they were an ergonomic nightmare compared to these ones. And they never seemed as sturdy.
I also can't even vaguely imagine peeling a butternut squash with one of those old-style ones!
A quick Google search to find the old style we used to have indicated this style is much more prevalent now, which is good to see.
I use mine to shave parmesan and other hard cheeses onto my pasta dishes more than I do to peel vegetables these days. But they are a perfect example of design improvements over time.
The initial sketch was drawn with a 4H pencil. Then a mix of 6B, 2B, HB and a little bit more 4H.
048 intersecting
Day forty-eight of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
I know it's lame. But this is really all I had the energy for in the last hour of yesterday. And I didn't even get the perspective from the photograph right.
The source photograph was taken in 2017 in the church in which my great grandparents married.
Except not really.
Because on the third night of the London Blitz, at 22:20 on 9 September 1940, a bomb destroyed the majority of St Mary's Church in Islington, London. Leaving only the tower and spire intact.
A church by the same name still stands there. But, in reality, it's not the same church.
I visited the church with my parents in 2017 when they were in London last.
This was a photograph I took with my phone of the flooring inside the church. It made for a simple subject for today.
I wavered about shading it but decided not to.
The initial sketch was drawn with a 4H pencil. I went over the lines in 4B for the edges of the blue circle, 2B for the yellow one. And HB for the edges of the cream shapes (or whatever colour you want to classify them).
041 mary janes
Day forty-one of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
And then, yesterday, all was right with the world again.
The previous day's curveball means I'll be working long hours this weekend to make up hours lost in the past couple of days, but two positives came out of the past twenty-four hours:
Simon and I are now even closer, and our relationship stronger.
I hit a 10kg weight loss milestone.
Turns out the stress of those 24 hours helped me to jump the next weight-loss hurdle.
I probably would have preferred an hour or more on my stationary bike to get there than what happened. Especially as I'd have been able to watch some entertaining TV at the same time. But I guess I'll take it...
By 14:00 yesterday, we also had an update on Simon's long-awaited return to London. The exact date isn't confirmed yet, but he should be on his way back to London by Monday week at the latest. With any luck, we'll be reunited before Easter. An early birthday present for both of us.
I decided to keep today's drawing relatively simple and not focus too much on photo-realism.
Having said that, somehow, one of my feet turned out slimmer than the other, though that's not really reflective of the source image.
I drew this with a 4H pencil then went over the black outlines of the skirt and shoes with an HB. I went a little heavier over the edge where the white polka dots intersected with the 4H, and I used a 2H pencil for the outline of my tights/legs.
As you can see, I kinda botched the polka dots on the right-hand side of the image despite going great guns on the left first.
I made a mess drawing over the left side of the shoe opening on my right foot with the HB pencil.
020 self-portrait with contouring sponge
...or is it a buttplug?
Day twenty of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
So, it was inevitable that, at some point, I would sketch humans. And inevitably, myself. But I thought I'd start simple with a photo of my hand and a contouring sponge.
There are a number of my photos I want to try to draw. Some are more complicated, including self-portraits. So I want to build up my confidence and skills with shading first. And, also, attempt them on days when I have more time to really focus on the task at hand. Hopefully soon.
This is a drawing of a snap I shared back in November 2018 to capture the amusement I had at the new (to me, at least) shape and design of The Body Shop's contouring sponge.
I used an HB pencil for the base of the drawing.
Then a 6B to shade the sponge. Attempting to use the side of the lead to varying levels of success.
I used a 2B pencil quite ineffectively, in my opinion, for the lighter, longer shadows.
And a little bit of HB for the even lighter shading.
It's definitely not photo-realistic but not a terrible artist's impression.
I hope you're not finding my learning process too tedious!
I'm hoping to get the next instalment of my Love letters to London out to my Patreon patrons this weekend!
green / red
Left: me
Right: the melody censor
For the latest round of Divine Diptychs, I set the theme of complimentary colours, with myself and Susan selecting green and red.
Though I did trawl my archives looking for something, due to feeling a little uninspired in terms of shooting something new, I decided that I didn't want to submit an image that was the easy 'go-to' of plants, and the most 'diverse' predominantly green image I had was of a cactus.
With the green dress seen above in mind, I originally thought about shooting self-portraits in it with my matching green tights, but then had the idea of a bouquet of green 'flower alternatives', which ended up being some tender stem broccoli and asparagus.
As I've recently found some nail polish that dries in 40 seconds, so have actually started wearing nail polish again regularly and buying colours that match to my outfits (purple being my favourite so far), I figured I'd track down some green nail polish to complete the image in my head. The nearest I found was aquamarine, so I tweaked the overall image a little to get a more pure green colour (I also gave myself a Photoshop manicure, reapplying the nail polish to my chipped fingernails, as I polished my nails last Sunday night).
I love that Susan expanded upon her original idea by including a 'pepper purse' in her image after seeing my image! I love her vibrant colours, and that we both look like we're getting ready for a prom or something, and those shoes!
now playing: the hazelman brothers - green dots, red dots