giveaway . winner!

i got some help from the little hands with the drawing of the giveaway winner!

the winner is Lindsay :)

thanks to everyone who entered, followed and left comments. big thanks to people who posted on their blogs! i'm going to have some fun checking out all your blogs too – am going to find the time soon!!!
happy tuesday to you
:)

saturday shopping list . beautiful things

1. organic macro/micro pillow - pink and orange . raeburnink
2. green and mint pleats on denim messenger bag . zia zia
3. two bears plate . FoxAndClover
4. black leaf chain . lilarubyking

today i am shopping for beautiful things. for more ideas and shopping lists and to play along, head to fancypicnic :)

** the giveaway is still open, don't forget to enter if you haven't already!

in the sky

this is the view out our kitchen window this morning. photos are dark coz it was still relatively dark. our dog was barking {she felt completely invaded} and we were watching the flames light up and go out again. they look so peaceful but there is no way that i'd ever ride in a balloon! they also feel like a tie-in shape-wise with some of the work i'm doing lately.

i'm about to go saturday shopping, come join me :)

my creative space

i figure if i can't spend time working in my creative space i can still add to it! there was no kinder today due to a staff training day so we went shopping. i have gesso, sticky tape and some bright green drawers to store work that is 'drying' or in progress. i think they are so pretty!
the girl in the background is an abbey mcculloch that was in the first issue of frankie magazine as a poster. she is one of my favourite australian artists.

to play along and share your creative space, head to kootoyoo.

* thanks for all the entries and word-spreading for my giveaway so far :)

giveaway . blog birthday

this week marks 1 year of blogging for me {tuesday my time}! i'm celebrating
with a giveaway of this print set {click to get to flickr, bigger/clearer image}.
1. the dream stays with me
2. we get together and dream

my blog has become an like a second desk and a living work in progress. i really love the connections that i've made through this space and thanku all for reading along, your support, visits and comments :)

to enter: click 'follow' + leave a comment!
to enter x2: spread the word on your blog + leave a comment here saying u did.

will be drawn randomly on monday march 30 {melbourne, australia time!}

2 other great giveaways you might like to enter:
chocolate and steel – win a very gorgeous ring.
her library adventures *– win an original mixed media collage or 3 custom brooches, also very gorgeous prizes.

* i've been meaning to thank sophie for passing on the kreativ blogger award . . . thanks sophie!

affordable original art . saturday shopping list

here are some very affordable original pieces from my etsy favourites. i'm really in the mood to go shopping today {actually, mostly i am!}. hope you like them.

1. high seas . katie m kulper
2. jewel grid original drawing - orange . jaimers
3. seeds . kbean
4. collecting - original painting and drawing . prettylittlethieves

play along with your own etsy shopping list at fancypicnic.

** i missed my friday post this week because i had to get my haircut! {poor excuse i know} i just felt flat out, almost running everywhere! happy weekend to you :)

my creative space

it was a short + sweet highly focused stint in my creative space today!

the task i set myself was to pack an order {it can take me ages to get them the way i want them!} and to make thank you drawing/collages to go with originals. i love making these as it can sometimes be a time allowance for exploration. i feel like i mainly have to put my head down and work on the stuff i have started to get things done and sometimes i miss the chance to let let things develop by themselves.

it was one of those good days where the weather was perfect and i felt free/content with what i was doing!

play along and show your creative space over at kootoyoo :)

a work in progress

my dad used to cut our hair when we were kids and i used to hate it {and the wonky fringe}. and now i'm cutting my son's hair! he has the same tricky hair as me, the dreaded cowlick at the front which rules out a fringe and the funny swirly thing at the back which makes it stick up if it's too short.
he doesn't hate it anymore, which makes it fun. actually it's fun to learn new skills i think {there's a long way to go with this one}. this is after one sleep :)

harmless addictions

i was tagged by jess gonacha to reveal 5 addictions!

these days they are pretty harmless ones . . .
1. coffee . needless to say nothing works prior
2. chilli . almost all of our meals have sambal chilli in them
3. green/blue . another needless to say
4. the series . we love to watch series s at our house! there's not much brain space left to read at night anymore and having a series is like reading a great book. am watching an aussie one at the moment, love my way {which is incredibly well done but emotionally hard-going} and the beginning of veronica mars. favourites are 6 feet under, sopranos, entourage, carnivale + dexter.
5. hoodies! i can't think warm top without thinking hoodie. sadly. i bought a jumper last week and had to take it back to swap it for the hoodie that i actually wanted but didn't buy because i thought i should branch out a little.

i'm keen to hear about your addictions!
i've tagged: anna betts {colour + sound}, mitsy {artmind etcetera}, beth {tangledskystudio}, m on the side, janelle {june rhymes with moon}, but would love to hear yours too if you want to play.

getting dressed . saturday shopping list

shopping for clothes is one thing i never get enough time to do!
here's some of my favourite clothing items from etsy that would make getting dressed easier/more fun.

1. hills organic tee . maryink
2. wide strap dress . treehouse 28
3. soy and organic cotton leggings in soft turquoise . bobelly
4. black shrug, short sleeve . larimeloom

to join the saturday shopping list {a fun way to highlight work of fellow etsy sellers, visit Fancy Picnic}
:)

work in progress . friday 13th!

the trip to the supply shop was completely successful, even if only to help me with the work i was already starting/have now properly started. {see the yellow!} these are 2 of 7 i am working on. the linen is going to wait for me to have an actual plan – with canvas i hate just jumping in {too much pressure}.
hope you are having a happy friday 13th :)

not so much a review, more of a recommendation

this is the book i flew {85%} through on my 2 days away recently.

if you are are a mother with a passion for art/making/anything creative i highly recommend reading it. Rachel Power interviews well-known Australian women in the arts about the ins + outs of working out the two separate {yet uncannily, fundamentally linked} worlds of production.

i really loved reading this book – it's like a mix of getting together with life long friends/finding a mother's group of women you immediately connect with and reading a blog by your favourite artist/maker and realising that you are going through virtually the same things.

i actually took notes and underlined text {like a student!} while i was reading. there is a common thread in the interviews and narrative that resonated with me the most: for lots of these women having kids coincided with a huge increase in creative energy that just wont fizz out. i remember when i started my etsy shop + blog i was clumsily trying to include this concept in my bio/profile sections - but distilled it to point form, thinking that this wasn't something that people needed to read or know about me on that level! i guess i hadn't really discussed this with anyone before and just thought it to be part of my unconventional 'career path'.

and what a treat, finding the interview with film-maker Sarah Watt, who made a film that i really love, 'look both ways'.

i think you'll like it/relate to it even if you don't know of the women interviewed. after you read the book, you can also read Rachel's blog :)

my creative space

something made me dash out in the rain on my bike today to get more art supplies.

i was thinking at the start of the day, maybe i'll go supply shopping – but i was good and thought it through and decided no, i'll use what i have and just start working . . .

but the urge kept creeping back in! besides, i had bought 2 similar yellows in the golden acrylics and needed a 'lemony' yellow. i also bought some stretched linen canvases {one on board}.

and, i managed to start some new work :)

to play too and to see more creative spaces, hop over to kootoyoo

first birthday

today is my first birthday for gretchenmist.etsy!

to celebrate i'm offering 20% off all full-priced items {i now have a sale section} for today :)

above: 'when i think of you', acrylic, pencil + texta on paper.

pikaland

i contributed work to the march pikaland project which we be launched with the magazine very soon. so many new artists to checkout {29} and a huge workload for amy {big thanks}.
more pics of the work included on flickr.

go see :)

blog cleanup!

i thought it was about time! i was also inspired by the massive overhaul that has been going on at www.madeit.com.au – a great aussie online handmade market place. i have a gretchenmist there too, stocked with prints only at this stage.

i'm gradually moving all my knitting to flickr instead of trying to keep things going with 2 etsy shops and 2 madeit shops! i think it'll be far more practical . . .

i went with the blurry header image – i let it sit for a while in my etsy shop and thought it actually looked ok blurry! {am open to other opinions tho}.

+ i've changed the blogroll to the type that shows snippets of posts.

phew, am tired now :)

work in progress . friday

these are the results of today's effort – it took me quite a while to get into the swing of things today for some reason. i feel like i have so much i want to do and have been suffering from that syndrome where instead of starting you go around and touch/look at all the stuff you want to work on! {don't you hate wasting time like that?}

there's a great storque article: Artistic Endeavors: Dollhead's Favorite Collage which has one of my collages in it! big thanks to katherine for this. am really loving the storque focus on fine art lately.

happy friday to you. am heading out tonite. what are you up to??

my creative space

today i used pink! and orange and my usual colours . . .
and the sun has just shone through the front room window so i took some photos {it's been grey for days and days, which is ok b/c we had some rain}.

play along with your creative space at kootoyoo.

'white trees'

this painting is finished.
i like how the texture of the board is visible through the sky section – looks like steam/smoke swirling through the air above the homes. {the links take u to flickr where u can see the detail!}
it took me ages to get the colours looking like they do in the physical painting. funny/frustrating how the layers of paint all seem to be read by the camera and interpreted in a misleading way. i would love it if there was a book on photoshop designed for artists! there are so many 'manual' style books for people wanting to create wacky images or sci-fi style work etc but none that i know of that can help make artwork look like artwork.
do you know any??

5 million text messages

this is what the text message from the police said this morning:
'Extreme weather in Vic expected Tuesday March 3. High wind and fire risk. Listen to ABC Local Radio for emergency updates. Do not reply to this msg'
it was sent to 5 million victorians! quite incredible really – the weather is getting so out of hand {not a new statement!}.

this pic is a perfect illustration of our day! they are binoculars on a handle and if you look through them you can see 2 of everything :)

we stayed home today & i over did it in the kitchen {lots of orange and poppyseed cupcakes, half of them burnt on the bottom}!

found & finished

i often finish or almost finish work and have them sit in my folder for a little while while i get used to them or decide how i feel about them. it's part of making new images for me – sometimes they gel with me as i'm working and i just have a knowing/familiar feeling about them and other times i need some time to get to know them!

. . . here is community of peaceful souls who love to watch the grasses move in the breeze and the colours slowly change from the loungeroom window . . .
they're in the shop :)

** my treasury was on the front page this morning!

2 out of 3

these ones are done! so starts my week of showing finished work.
this is my morning uplifted: jessica/livefunky's storque article on abstract art – go see.
happy monday :)