Supporting West Australian!

I was reading The West Australian today and came across an article on Danielle Smeets, a "a West-Australian based designer, with a particular interest in textile & surface design" according to her blog. After a visit to her Etsy shop I have placed an order for this and this. Love her work - go check her out.

Lost

I have felt very lost lately, creatively, mentally, physically, on all levels. I’m in that space where I can’t seem to gain enough time for me, we are always doing stuff for others. Not anyone’s fault just the way life goes really. Caring for my family of course is something that goes without saying. Its part of being a parent and doing what we have committed to do.

I’m talking about the time for me. This has usually been in the form of one craft or another over the years and in most recent times it has been either photography or paper crafting of some sort with a little sewing thrown in there somewhere for good measure. I guess it always comes back to that magical word “balance”. How do we balance our lives and make sure that we get some mental space away from the everyday of living each day, week or year. Balance family, friends, us, me. In the course of a normal week I do have time to myself but the inspiration to do something, anything, just doesn’t seem to be there at the moment and when it does I get interrupted and can’t finish what I started or time just simply runs out.

Satisfaction from what I “choose” to do is definitely lacking. It seems to be more about the process of letting go rather than the end result which I have more than often just thrown in the bin, because I think to myself “yuk, where did that come from?” So I ask myself “does all my artwork need to be appealing or can it just be the way it is?” Was that 2 or 3 hours I just spent a waste of time. That famous quote comes to mind “it’s about the journey, not the destination” (I won’t quote Miley Cyrus otherwise that stupid song will be stuck in my head for another day or two).

Well a lot of my destinations are not even worth posting about here so that’s why there are a lot of words today – no pictures – no creations – nothing!

However I do feel better about venting….if you read this far – Thank You!

Hopefully regular programming will resume shortly.

Sneak Peeks for J&D

Well yesterday's shoot proved to be a success all round - can I just say that after all of my shoots the best part for me is opening up the images for the first time and confirming I have captured what I set out to. This one was no exception, in fact I can honestly say that I was overcome with excitement when I had my first glance at these photos yesterday. J is known to be a bit of a quick witted party girl with a large personality but get her one on one and her serious or serene side comes out. She was a joy to photograph and did everything I asked of her. Thank you J for allowing me into your wonderful home and your "personal" side. Here are just some of my favourites. J's eyes are not "brightened" at all in these photos - natural light and position meant they just lit up.

Hyden sessions are starting to fill up so if you are interested in confirming a time then please contact me via email.

I've been working hard

I have been working hard I promise.....I'm not sure that I can share everything just yet but very soon I hope.

I've been working on some photographic prints for my kitchen walls, here's the first one I can show you....some flowering cauliflower - played with some actions and added some texture and subtle text.

I'm doing my very first pregnancy photoshoot today which I am very excited about - a good friend of ours is expecting her 3rd child in a couple of months so perfect timing. I'll be back tomorrow to share some sneak peeks.

I started another pair of socks for Renae - I finished Gemma's ages ago but I can't for the life of me find them in her room to photograph.

One of my favourite treats at the moment is a Muzz Buzz Latte Grande - Having a Muzz Buzz at the bottom of our hill is dangerous for me.....any excuse "I'm just popping down to get the mail" seems to be a daily occurence! But then again aren't you supposed to check the mail every day?

Renae passed her driving test yesterday so now embarks on stage 2 of achieving her driver's licence......6 months of recording her 25 hours and then she can sit the final computer test. I can't wait! She only has 8 weeks til she finishes school and in about 11 weeks she will have finished exams - I remember that feeling like it was only yesterday - freedom! Then the real world came crashing down and a new chapter in my life began. Good times!

Gemma is in the process of making her subject selections for Years 11 and 12 so now we start all over again! She knows exactly what she wants to do so at least that makes it easy but also makes it difficult in a way.

OK I'm outta here.....thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment - I like reading them.