Wrapped up in bed with flu for the fourth day running which kind of sucks but also presents a good opportunity to Pinterest myself to death. I don't know if I've said this before but my Pinterest boards are the best on the site. Why I have only 340 folllowers is BEYOND me. Have a look and see for yourself. Today I am marvelling at my photography board. I've chosen to blog this lot based mostly on colour and composition.

1.Sarah Jones  2. Sarah Moon  3. Ludmilla Foblova  4. Via. 5. via 6.. Source.  

I spent today really unwisely. After taking the last five days in recovery from this months treatment (a rough one since I fell asleep without reminding the nurses to keep the rate of infusion slow) I woke up to a gorgeous clear skied, sunny day, a clear head and lots of possibilities (relatively speaking at least). So what did I do with those possibilities? I cleaned the house. I vacuumed and dusted. And as the sun set while I finished cleaning the bathroom I began to feel not just dumb crazy tired but a creeping sense of irritation which has sat with me the rest of this evening. I feel restless, frustrated and craving something a little more life affirming than house chores, hospital, medication taken on time and illness. Why would I use what precious little energy I have on house cleaning???? While sometimes the decision to bring life to order via a messy house is just what I need and actually does make me happy - is actually the best use of my energy - today not so. It's just always a hard call. With time to reflect and in hindsight today I would have liked to have gone to a market. Or this cool vintage shop in Norway. Not that that is actually possible given the time frame were discussing (or even in a budgetary sense) but here I am doing it virtually, so if you'd like to join me browsing a cute Norwegian shop called 13 scroll down my chosen favourites or visit them yourselves here. All the orange and green and 60s/70s kitsch is hitting the spot.

Source:

Solange: Losing You

Yesterday was month Eight of the Intragram trial (or is Nine? I'm losing count...) and I slept through the whole thing. Definitely the way to go, waking up to find it's all over. As for the whole after palava, trying to have a relaxed attitude, clearing the week of commitments and just rugging up in bed with ipod, thankful to family and friends for making that possible. I'm in need though of some new music to keep things interesting. Open to suggestions if you have them :)

This video by Solange for 'Losing You' I've been meaning to get up here for ages. Filmed in Cape Town, and featuring some of the Le Sapeur community (a subculture originating in the Congo) it walks down that fine line that is exploitation but thankfully, I think, comes out on the right side.

Visually I can't resist it.

Paying Taxes (Crappy Blogging)

I'm a crap blogger and I know it. I'm surprised anyone ever comes here anymore. What do I think posting pics of my new work table that I "got for a steal"? Captivating. Really.
So now I'm back here not for my usual eye candy, which I've gotten so lazy I don't credit properly any more (yeah, just go to my Pinterest page and you'll find it there), to have a bit of a rant about the cold calls we are always getting for 'free' financial advice. Seminars where we can learn how to cut back on some of the tax we pay, do you know the ones? I am (nearly) always polite, saying no thank you, not interested for now, but today I got off the phone thinking next time I'm going to be honest. Why is there an assumption that everyone wants to get out of paying more tax? Like we are all Cliver Palmer or someone who needs every last cent to themselves so to fulfill our dream of building a life size replica of the Titanic? The truth is we pay our taxes with grace. Every month when I go into hospital for potential life saving treatments of Intragram I am not only thankful to the people who donate their blood for this preparation but to the hospital and a health system who deliver it efficiently and cost free. I have no idea how much it costs but I'm sure it's an amount that myself and many of the others around me, getting infused that day, week, month, couldn't afford on their own. Here's the thing - you cannot demand/expect better state hospitals, public school systems (it doesn't matter if your kids go to private schools, you want them to live in a society that values high quality education for all children, right?), roads and services while in the same breath complaining about the taxes you pay. Good services cost money. If you do feel like complaining about taxes then do what I do - which is complain about those who DO wriggle out of theirs. That's what I want cold calls for - seminars on how to get Clive Palmer and Gina Rhinehart et al to pay their fair share. Bring those on.
Okay then, that's of of my system now. Regular programming of expensive consumer items in pretty pastel colors will resume soon.
PS If you are still visiting this blog (Karen?) I really am grateful. I mean to do better....

Procrastinating.

Too long away from blogging. Too much time in between posts...Back in that familiar place - paralysis in the face of an upcoming exhibition. I feel as though I shouldn't blog, I should use that time for work but then I don't work since I'm paralysed with fear I wont come up with anything...so I dont come up with anything, so I'm not allowed to blog..arghhhh! Trying here to break into that unproductive cycle with some inspiration. I'm going with chalky minty greens...

Source:Via Pinterest

Also how about some pictures of the work table I finally found for my work space? This took ages to find  but now I have it there's no excuse. I found it on Gumtree - the seller posted the dimensions (which were perfect) but no photo. Who does that? Turns out I'm lucky she didn't because if she had it would have sold before I got to it such an amazing bargain it was. I kept hassling her for a photo until finally I thought I'd just go and see it for myself. The suburb the table owners lived in is one of the most expensive addresses in this state which would auger well you'd think but I've seen rich people who think their crap is more valuable than other peoples crap and put a price on it you could only describe as an insult to the buyer. This thankfully was not the case. Rich person who wanted to offload an (amazing) piece of furniture at a more than reasonable price - $200. She could easily have got more for this solid dark wood table made from elm. In some ways it is almost too nice for what I'm using it for and if I had a choice I'd probably want lighter toned timber just as it's easier to work on visually. But beggars cant be choosers and I'm pretty happy and ready (please!) to get going.

Indulging Colour.

Here are some pics of the wall I painted, over three days last week - from hot pink to duck egg blue. It's part of the rejigging of this room to create some desperately needed workspace for the exhibition I have later in the year. However it is also, I have to admit, the final touch for a personal style I'd previously dubbed 'Marie Antoinette Meets Gidget'. Naturally it was hard to say goodbye to the pink but I knew I wouldn't regret the duck egg blue. I'm quite obsessed with it. That and pastels in general splashed with a little neon. Colours which also, coincidentally, happen to be in fashion right now. I don't know what to make of that. Artists, I think, like to consider themselves above trends and fashion and it is disconcerting to realise what a follower you are but if you love it you love it. Generally I think I just love colour. While I admire really clean palettes and a minimalist style I'm not really capable of either. I guess these photos can attest to that. I am however trying to draw back from my habit of too much of everything. Pulling this studio space together the one thing I'm desperate to achieve is a sense of clarity so that there is minimal distraction from getting the work I've committed to for the year done. Not sure how successful I've been with that. Calling it "Marie Antoinette Meets Gidget' for a start doesn't exactly inspire a sense of workplace integrity does it? What it does do however is inspire the wannabe stylist in me. For the last couple of days I've been playing with this heavenly shade of blue, co opting my new neon pink sandals and various other 'props' into a photo shoot and exercising my amateur photography skills (oh for some professional photography skills!). It's so indulgent this time wasting behaviour, I know, but I just have to exorcise this frothy decorative impulse before tomorrow - the deadline for beginning some serious work. Hoping this lot will do the trick.

Mood Shifting Neon.

Ok, after that last (somewhat cathartic) post, I'm in the mood for some acid sharp mood shifting neon. I can't get enough of it these days. Enjoy.

SOURCE: Pinterest.

Disability Friendly.

Last night I went to the opening of Bad Girls at CCAS. A perfect evening weather wise and Gorman House, with it's old buildings and garden courtyards, was enchanting while the exhibition itself was spectacular. So it was with some resentment that I was barely holding myself up. Dosed up on oxycodone it still wasn't enough. I know these events are useful for networking but really that was just out of the question, let alone plain socialising with the people I love seeing. I knew within moments of getting there I'd judged my situation poorly. Ok, it didn't help that I'd worn my red suede platforms but flat shoes make me so short I have to crane my neck and I'm just too weak to sustain that so it's not the red shoes at fault here. If anything they helped. After enough of these art exhibition openings one thing I've worked out is that you need stamina. There is no sitting down. Sitting does not really facilitate mingling or networking which is key to how this industry works. My sad, ongoing conclusion is that, once again, there is little room for disability in the modern world. It's just a paradigm thing really. We think ourselves disability friendly because we put ramps up around buildings and hand rails in the bathrooms. It's kind of laughable when you think about it.

Maybe I would have been better off in Victorian times where every well off respectable family boasted an invalid of their own. A servent to carry them down to the drawing room, given the well appointed window seat, their correspondence bought in and then left alone to write their poetry until a warm nourishing lunch was served. No questions, just a fact of life - well people, sick people, people. They just fitted in alongside one another. Now we have modern medicine and antibiotics no one has the right to be sick, unable to work. And if you are sick, and want to get along in the world (because where else is there to get along in?) at least make it look like you can. What a tragic little deal with the devil that is starting to feel like.

Intragram: Month 6

Treatment number 6 is almost behind me. We decided on Tuesday to slow the rate of infusion and it helped, fair improvements on the last two times but next month will try for the slowest rate and hope for better. Just lately I've begun thinking in the long term, what will happen when the twelve month trial is up. Well I know part two of the experiment - twelve months off the program but what is to be expected with that? Back to how I was (I suspect)? - dependent on antibiotics and long unmanageable stretches in bed when the antibiotics stop working? Surely that's the only expectation? But I respect that this is a trial and one of the ways of judging it's efficacy is not just how I am on it but also how I am off it. All the same it does seem a bit cruel. So if I'm correct in my predictions and head back to square one in the twelve months off it then what? Surely then I'll have life long access to the program. I suspect that one of the reasons I'm coping so well with the nasty side effects is my hopefulness about the whole process and just plain gratitude for the opportunity in general, the excitement of meeting the trial protocol. What if I am to spend my life on it though? Every month trotting off to the hospital knowing I'll be out of action for the next week dealing with the side effects -which to be honest at this stage are gruelling - for the rest of my life. The whole "this is as good as it gets" scenario. Thats why it's important within the next months to tame this whole Intragram thing, to get on top of it so that as an option it is all plus plus plus, no negatives.

The Holiday Projects That Never Got Done.

As you recall I left you at the end of my last post on both a personal and (it has to be said) blogging high with pictures of my gleaming cutlery drawer. The truth is though not all my holiday intentions were so successfully executed. Which leads me now to the task of listing, with shame and regret, those projects sitting around the house, in various states of undone, beseeching me with accusing and disappointed eyes. In no particular order it was not to be....

....Cool patchwork totes. You would have been soooo cool. Seriously. At least you with the Julie Patterson fabric and quasi neon red linen lining. I regret that you were not to be this season. Behold though, the  straps - I got the iron out and everything.....Moving on, it was not to be....

.....repainted vintage bathroom cabinet cum sewing box. Why? Because you have to be the perfect colour and it turns out Canary was not it. Nor Academy Grey. It could be red though. I really think you need to be red, specifically Wattyl Sacred Heart. I sure hope so at $19.95 a sample pot.....

Moving on, it was not to be....Studio Space. This started out so promising. I sold the 1960s lounge on ebay for $182.00. Into the vacated space moved my grandmother's 1950s dressing table. Into that vacated  space, where a large desk should have moved, fell stashes of fabric, boxes of nails, magazines, an electrical sander, tangled sculpting wire, magazines, shoeboxes, unused frames, stale cashews, tins of half used paint, magazines, a small filing system and a large bag of second hand clothes burdened with an uncertain future. The whole stagnating mess threatens to undermine the studio project entirely...

The Black Wall - Another Holiday Project Ticked off.

Painting the kitchen wall chalkboard black with the left over paint from my graduate work was on the January holiday 'get it done' list. I'd been waiting for just the right day to do it - that is one where both the courage and the energy for the job co- incided. In the end no energy was forthcoming so I just went with the courage bit and 'soldiered' through on automatic (yes, brave me). It was a case of Now or Never - I'd been thinking about it for ages. However the 'no energy' bit explains the slightly crap job I did of it. Cutting in with black is an art for steady hands and patience. But from a distance you can't tell.

As our living area is very open planned it's hard to miss this new black wall. But my partner is oblivious to such things and it was entertaining for us to see how long it would take him on arriving home before noticing. In the end we had to point it out.

My verdict? It's too black, and a bit startling the way no light reflects off it. I think the next step might be softening it with the chalk duster....I do like however the way it makes the 'yet to be professionally wired in' vintage chandelier stand out.

In other holiday projects ticked off....behold the gleaming cutlery drawer (and new highpoint in blogging)! Wish I'd taken the before photo - it was putrid. How does a cutlery drawer get so dirty when you only ever put clean stuff in there? It's a mystery...

Thank You Brooch With Wire and Felted Marino Wool.

It doesn't always follow that being good at something  will mean you can teach it to others with the same level of skill but in the instance of the Visual Arts course I graduated from recently this was the case. Over the three years I studied I was taught by all in the faculty (six I think) and I was constantly amazed at not only their own talent as practicing artists but also the quality of the teaching - nothing short of passionate, dedicated and skillfull when it came time to pass on their resources and knowledge. Unfortunately the CIT management has caught on to the fact that the Visual Arts students were getting extraordinary value for their money and they are now restructuring the course and making some big changes - most likely less contact hours. It's one of the reasons I decided to keep studying last year when I had at first wanted to take the year off. I'm lucky to get through when I did. In our gratitude my classmates and I created gifts for the teachers out of work we'd made or Maquettes. This picture is of a maquette I was experimenting with but decided to turn into a brooch for Jodie, one of our studio teachers. She loves bright colour so I made it with this in mind. It's made of felted marino sculpted to fit the abstracted wire shape, then stitched back on with tiny stitches. The little green and pink felted circle stitched on reminds me in colour and texture of a macaroon! I really find these kind of little craft projects fun and meditative - especially when I have someone in mind to receive it. Wish there was time for more of this kind of thing.