a day in the hills

we took a day off today and headed for the hills.

the rhododendron gardens in olinda - full of gorgeous colours and textures

this is the closest i have ever been to a lyre bird - it was so busy scratching up the earth to get worms and insects that it took no notice of us at all

 the rhododendrons, azaleas, magnolias and proteas were bursting with life and energy and colour

and the bees were going nuts in the pride of madeira - surely a contender for Best Plant Name Ever

 we had a lovely relaxing time

exhibition!

Anyone who is or will be in Melbourne over the next couple of weeks - I have 2 pieces in the current exhibition at SJS Gallery in Fitzroy. 

Lumen (36x6cm - $375)

 and

Salvage Moon (61x61cm $650)

Opening night is this Wednesday, 17 October, and the exhibition will run until 27 October.

renaissance

well folks it's been a while but i thought i should try and get at least one post in for September.

i have spent most of the last month focussed on recovery  - i was surprised at how completely knocked flat i was by the surgery. but at 6 weeks i suddenly felt better - didn't need my afternoon nap every day and could walk to the shops with Kind Dog at a much more normal pace.

and now 9 weeks after the surgery i am feeling great. i started pilates this week and am feeling every single muscle in my body that has been lying dormant for the past few years....

all creative energy was put into making the piece for Seth's next book - which i can't show you but i'm really happy with it and it was quite a consuming project.

and i finished Kind Dog's socks and played around with silk and paverpol. and ma brewing some ideas for the next challenge piece. i had planned to enter the Wool Quilt prize this year but broke 3 needles on my embellisher machine and couldn't get replacements before the deadline - which is a large bummer.

more news soon.

breaking studio news

my piece Catharsis is in Eric Adama's online exhibition Ode to Blue ! very excited :)

birthday!

this is birthday week and it has been wonderful :) the recovery gods smiled on me for 3 days in a row (although there has been some backsliding since)

 the birthday festival started on the weekend when all members of the family scattered in search of birthday presents.  these were duly handed over with my breakfast tray on sunday morning

i was spoiled rotten with lots of lovely smelling unguents and pretty things. there was a ring, lots of flowers, some silk scarves from the V&A and an extremely handsome edition of the The Tempest.

then there was afternoon tea with my mum, auntie and brother.  the cake was from A Treat of France in Nicholson street and just wonderful and they did the name thing which always gives me a thrill :)

and then dinner at the wonderful Maha. here we are all glammed up ready to go out.  (excuse the rather grainy phone photos and the yellow light of the kitchen although you'll be pleased to see the fridge again - you may remember it starred in our wedding photos)

i felt (and feel) very loved.

convalescing

nearly 2 weeks ago i spent a few days looking out of this hospital window

and sleeping a lot

due to my endometriosis and adenomyosis filled gynae history i had an abdominal hysterectomy: although we made sure that the doctor had strict instructions right up until she dug the knife in. Kind Dog and a sharpie saw to that...

things turned out to be rather more complicated than they had seemed on the outside, but after nearly 3 hours of surgery all was done and neatly stitched back together.

 The nurses were lovely and made sure that all my snacking needs were met:

i could watch the olympics in comfort

by day 5 i was feeling better

 and we were both quite happy at the prospect of me coming home

so i was carefully decanted into the car and brought home

where i have been well looked after: viz emily's chicken noodle soup on a tray for my first dinner at home

  breakfast in bed every morning

 constant feline companionship

  and wonderful get well presents from Kind Dog

 i even made it into the studio this afternoon for 15 minutes: a little stitching was wonderful but exhausting.  back to convalescing.

exciting news

the latest in the series of exciting bombshells hit late last week.

the New York-based multimedia artist Seth Apter contacted me and invited me to be part of his next book! i still can't quite believe it and double checked my email before i could type that sentence but it's true :)

find out more about the project here on Seth's blog The Altered Page