Self Portrait

"A portrait of myself once a week, every week in 2013..." 

Nah I'm just joking. This painting has been included in a group show at Bruce Gallery, Footscray. The show is up until Sunday if you're from that side of town!

Yesterday was my *champagne* birthday, I turned 24 on the 24th. I had such a lovely day/night with my family and friends and now I have a lovely hangover to match which I am treating with cheese on toast and episodes of Rugrats to keep the toddler at bay.

Steve surprised me with a beautiful old autoharp which is something that I have been wanting to learn for quite a while and I am really excited to teach myself how to play.

I feel like 24 is going to be a good one!

20/52

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2013."

Casper: Joking with two friends about this portrait series today, we likened Casper to Dorian Gray with his "finely-curved scarlet lips, his frank blue eyes, his crisp gold hair." Eerily accurate, but hopefully just a coincidence...

Playing along with Jodi. Also on my Tumblr.

Pinhole Camera 2

I think I'm in love.

19/52

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2013."

Casper: I often catch him staring into space, he's a thinker.

Playing along with Jodi. Also on my Tumblr.

My favourite portraits from last week were of two funny boys over at Laura's blog!

Pinhole Camera

This semester I am taking a photography class. Last week we were asked to experiment with sense and the lens of our cameras so I decided to eliminate the lens altogether and make a pinhole camera. I used this tutorial and am so happy with the way these turned out. It is a pretty straight forward process and I would recommend this project for kids around 8 and up.

I am going to take more this week, hopefully they are as good as these ones! Oh and I won't be updating the blog much until June, but I'll keep up with the portrait series of course, so stay tuned for some tutorials and paintings and sewings in a month or so!

18/52

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2013."

Casper: On your white plastic rocking horse with the shiny red eyes.

Joining in with Jodi. Also on my Tumblr.

Billie

I painted this portrait for my friend Camille's daughter Billie, on her second birthday. Casper and I went to her party on Saturday and had such a beautiful afternoon. It was uncharacteristically warm and Casper, Billie and the other kids just played for hours and hours. There was cake and some beer and a fruit platter, all in all a really great, relaxed party, just the way I like it. Happy Birthday lil' BB!

17/52

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2013."

Casper: Watching me paint you.

Joining in with Jodi. Also on my Tumblr.

16/52

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2013."

Casper: Blue-eyed baby.

Playing along with Jodi. Also on my Tumblr.

Painting

Today I was interviewed by my good friend Eloise. We talked for a good 40 minutes and then I got out some of my old sketchbooks and paintings for her to photograph. I took some snaps for my own reference as well. This one surprised me, I had completely forgotten about it! 

I have been thinking about maybe writing some beginner's water-colouring classes up, maybe like a "painting school for beginners" sort of thing. Would anyone out there in cyberspace be interested in that?

Stencil Printed Tights DIY

I'm a dress and stockings kind of a gal, I haven't really worn pants regularly since I was about 14 and when I do, it's purely for utilitarian reasons. It is because of this that when Autumn rolls around I get to wear colourful, printed, wooly or textured tights under my dresses. This can be a source of frustration for me sometimes as tights are the only thing that can't be whipped up on a sewing machine inexpensively (or seamlessly).

Today I bought a pair of red opaque tights and while I picked them out, I was actually wishing for the floral printed ones on a rack next door. The printed ones looked very sheer and rippable, not to mention they were expensive. So I bought the slightly less extravagant red stockings.

Then when I got home I said to meself, I said "Wait a minute, there is no reason why you can't have both the thick, slightly less extravagant stockings and the floral legs. You can print them on the kitchen table!"

So I stuffed cardboard down the legs of the tights and made a stencil of a flower with cardboard and a rotary blade. I used a water based brown fabric paint and a sponge to apply the print in an orderly pattern. I think I will make a smaller stencil next time, and be a bit more higgelty piggelty with my printing.

I flipped the cardboard over, printed on the other side and dried the paint with my hairdryer because I am impatient like that. Then I heat-set the paint according to the manufacturer's instructions and they were ready to wear! Just like that. 

I feel like I have had an epiphany. I will never need to spend ridiculous amounts of money on printed stockings ever again, and neither will you!

Rainy Days

Just thinking about how pretty my son is and how much I love wintery, rainy days inside. 

Photo credit: Steve, taken last year on a beautiful, cold beach holiday at Cape Paterson.