my creative space . last calendar post i promise!

today my space has been mostly outdoors ~ a quick trip to the hardware shop for a sheet of plywood and some nails. back home to hammer the calendar up, then out the back to take some more photos! the top photo shows the light today ~ overcast but quite bright out of the direct 'sun'!

i've listed it in the shop already, but wasn't happy with the display photos i took ~ i have to say that taking photos of my work is by far the biggest challenge for me ~ and photography is such an important part of having an online shop!

the demands i placed on taking the one perfect photos were many! i wanted to show the detail as well as the big picture {all 12 sheets} and i wanted the setting indoors {like where a calendar might live} and i wanted the background to be sparkling! i let go of some of the obvious things and jumped in and out doors with my board and camera whenever the breeze started or stopped. i gave up on getting all detail {the text is charcoal rather than black, so already a little tricky to catch} and settled for a picture that shows all 12 pages and hopefully communicated the general feeling of the calendar, the colour, the 12 designs and the white space . . . am sure there is room for improvement {and maybe a photography course}, but for now, this is the photo i'm going to use {the top one!}.

i'm always interested to read about how people overcome challenges they face with running a creative 'business' . . . if you feel like sharing some, i'm all ears . . . thanks for all the encouragement and lovely comments along the way with this project :)

for more creative spaces or to show yours, visit kirsty at kootoyoo.

collaboration ~ sneak peak

here is a sneak peak of the collaboration between kim {udessi} and i! am very excited about these. will keep you updated on the progress.
hope your week has started out nicely :)

saturday shopping list . the arctic breeze blew through me this week

1. kingyo . mayakonakamura
2. gray fleece hoody with screen printed and sewingbaby . zoechen
3. not your granny's bunting . wunderlust
4. growth and change . katemerrittdavis

** images from shops listed.
** for more saturday etsy shopping lists, visit fancypicnic.

scoutie girl ~ then and now

if you've ever wondered what kind of painting i did pre-etsy, now you can have a squizz!
the lovely judit has interviewed me for her scoutiegirl feature, 'then and now'. it's a great series of interviews with artists and makers showing work of a past era and comparing with current work. judit also keeps this project going on her second blog: craftsthenandnow.
the painting i chose from 2006 is one of my favourites! i finished this series just before the morning sickness kicked in when i was pregnant with our second son. {and it did kick in, so much that i had to let go of my studio!} . . .

this print also made it to the storque ~ it's up top for this article . . . very exciting {thanks to etsy admin}.

what are you up to this weekend? hopefully something fun/relaxing. pop back for my saturday shopping list if you wish :)

creative space . calendar shots

hello and happy thursday!
i'm happy to say that i have finished the calendar and spent this afternoon trying to get some good product shots happening. the light is extremely fickle, like a strobe light almost ~ the clouds are coming and going rapidly! maybe i chose the wrong day . . . but i am very excited to have this done :)

** thanks to caroline for this post which includes one of my brooches and to laura for this post about my work ~ 2 beautiful blogs by artists to go see.
** Petula at yellowgoatdesign is running a survey for her blog ~ if you fill it out you have a chance of winning $50 to spend in her beautiful shop.

pop into kootoyoo for more creative spaces or to share yours.

calendar ~ next installment

the house is finally quiet here, and i'm working on the calendar. it's school holidays, so hubby is off work and with the kids, the neighbours have finished their mid-morning party {with very loud music} and i've had the tedious conversation that i had to have with the real estate agent . . .
am just over half way with the image correcting and quite enjoying myself!
hope you are having a good day/night.

saturday shopping list . dark beauties

1. big sister baubles necklace . minicyn
2. lemonstory tie blouse black . lemonstorynyc
3. hallow print . marmas
4. black leaves messenger bag . helisengezer

** all images from the shops listed
** for more etsy saturday shopping lists go to fancypicnic.

calendar sneak peak!

here's a little preview of the calendar collages ~ {they are rough scans + need a little cleaning up work!}.
lastnight i kept waking up to the sound of paper slipping and falling onto the floor ~ couldn't figure out whether it was real or not! does this type of thing ever happen to you?
thanks for yesterday's comments + happy friday to you :)

my creative space . production

there was a bit of a production line happening in my space this morning as i finally got 20 large sheets of paper cut into pieces. it got tricky on the 2nd lot as i realised that my beautiful hot pressed cotton paper sheets from france were actually big parallelograms rather than rectangles! a little wrangling with the long metal ruler and the cutting mat required to get some straight lines to work from . . .
i started on some drawings ~ i thought i'd do some lights on paper . . .
and, the most ambitious idea: i'm going to make a calendar for 2010 with these small collages! {i know most people who are doing calendars already have them done, but it seems that i want to go full steam ahead a little late anyway!} i hope to have the collage parts finished tomorrow and to work on the clean up and layout over the next week.

i hope you've had a lovely time in your creative space today! pop into kootoyoo for more spaces or to show yours :)

saturday shopping list . good floral

1. blossoms series 21 print . siiso
2. iron maiden photographic print . sfgirlbybay
3. gathered ~ original drawing . janellelile
4. beautiful red white and blue hand printed hemp and cotton pillow . nestahome

* images from shops listed.
* for more saturday etsy shopping lists, visit fancypicnic.

the white light . friday

i have been wanting to make these collages for quite a while and finally did! they look a little flat in these photos, but i like the way the white pieces on the white paper reflect slightly different tones and the bright light that comes off the cut edges {easier to see in the last 3 detail pics}.

shop news:
* free world wide shipping this weekend.
* i played with etsy's new 'rearrange shop' feature last night ~ it's a fantastic new tool, slightly addictive i think! looks a little neater for sure, but i' don't know what happens to my specially arranged rows of 3 {in gallery view rather than listing view} when i list another item??

happy friday to you :)

a little hut/craft synergy interview

big thanks to Patricia of Craft Synergy/A little hut for posting this interview this morning. her blog is beautiful and if you love paper projects, you will love her book. go see :)

creative space . on wood

i finished the painting part of these this morning. i started them on saturday and felt disappointed with them. i'm happy with the first one, but i'm still not sure about the others! i get like that about things that i have to think about too much ~ when i start to question the elements and what they should be looking like, it feels like they are too self conscious and the spontenaitey slips away.
mmm. i kept at it and took some {dark melbourne} photos anyway! this is a classic piece of text from a vintage art mag that was left on my desk after making collages ~ it brought some humour back into the situation :)

i hope you are enjoying your creative space today!
visit kirsty at kootoyoo for more spaces.