Life's Cages

So many cages to get caught in.

How many have you freed yourself from?

I know I've escaped a few in my life already.

This is a mixed media piece I created.

The bird is an ink drawing. The cage was a novelty cage that I scanned and made gold. The background is a stock image and I wrote the quote to accompany the image.

(It's for sale as a poster and card. Click on for poster.)

Blossoming Garden

Yesterday was a lovely day. Sun shining... clear sky.

Luke mowed the lawns (which were so very long) while I did a bit of good ol' housecleaning (which honestly... i do not enjoy doing...I enjoy the results... definitely do not enjoy the tasks.  I'd much rather be drawing or painting anyday!). 

So me being the procrastinator I am (especially when it's for something I don't enjoy) found myself quite promptly outside with my new HTC Desire taking photo's of the gorgeous blossom trees in our backyard.

Can I convince myself that it was worth my dusty shelves that I see today when I look at these photo's you think? Or am I just kidding myself? ;)

The Melbourne Show

The Royal Melbourne Agricultural Show - 2010!!


Yesterday was an action packed, sensory overloading, fun yet exhausting day.


Was my Mum's 59th birthday and she loved being able to spend it with the family.


We drove and left the car in Box Hill where we met my sister & little Ruby.We caught a sardine packed train (thanks to the Grand Final) into the Showgrounds...and wondered whether paying 10 bucks each for a zone 1 & 2 ticket was actually worth not driving...especially when we could smell the body odour of all the passengers as we stood on top of each other.. squished together... holding on for dear life each time the train took off!

We got there and Kane was immediately jumping up and down at the sight of the rides!


The rides was all he kept saying he wanted to do.
We had to tell him that we'd have lunch first and then he could go on the rides... and he was reluctantly ok with that.

First thing... Kane and Luke went on were the dodgem cars together which I think is actually a value for money ride (at least compared to the rest).  The passenger doesn't have to pay and it doesn't seem to end too quickly.


Then to my horror... Kane insisted that he wanted to go on the spooky horror house ride. I was so shocked cause when I was 5 there was no way in hell you were going to find me on one of those... but Kane was so insistent.  He couldn't be convinced otherwise...even when I said it was dark and scary!  I tried to get him to take interest in another ride but he just stood staunch and wouldn't move and then even bulldozed me and pushed me towards the ticket booth!!


I think his Daddy was actually proud... cause he's always been a huge Horror fan. (where as I had nightmares for weeks after watching Pet Semetary when I was about 12!!) 

We saw the animals,

the woodchopping,

the art and craft...

and was in the rides section for much of it.

We completely avoided the giant showbag pavillion that had a queue forever to get in (if you can believe it - I couldn't!)

We only bought two showbags *smiles from our wallets!*


And Ruby was over the moon with her new Dora handbag. 

We saw King Kong Elmo but just kept on walking when we saw the ridiculously long line waiting to see him.
Thankfully Kane had already received a cuddle from him at the Flower Show and Ruby was too young to really notice... so no tantrums ensued.

Poor Ruby was stuck with an old stroller with a rusty wheel that squeeked the whole time we pushed it.  It was driving me that crazy that I even stopped by the farmer's tent to ask them if they had any RP7... sadly they didn't.

Both Kane and Ruby were so great... we left the show all gushing that our kids are so well behaved (till tomorrow that is...) :)

Jumped back on the train earlier to beat the awful Grand Final traffic home.  No sardine can on the way home - thank Gawd!

Listened to the last terrifying and exciting 5 minutes of Grand Final once we were back in the car.  My Dad is a big Collingwood fan and honestly... during that last 5 minutes I reckon he was driving as slow as a snail.... Then when it sounded like Collingwood was about to get a goal he nearly crashed!!

I tell you though... I'm not a big AFL fan... but if all matches and especially.. Grand Finals .. were like the game yesterday I think I'd be way more into it.

So the 2010 AFL Grand Final was a draw and the teams have to do it all over again next week. 

Dad was telling us the story of how he became a Collingwood supporter and it was all because of a tied Grand Final Match between Collingwood & Nth Melbourne that he saw in 1977.  He (along with Mum & my brother & sister) moved to Melbourne from Sydney a few years before and took no interest in the Footy.  Until his mate showed him the rules of the game during that tied match between Collingwood and Nth Melbourne.  Dad said it got his adrenalin pumping and he got the assumption that Collingwood was the underdogs.  He ended up going to the re-match that next week and supported Collingwood all the way and... the rest is history as far as the Gerard family being a Collingwood family!


Turns out from what I know... the last tie in a Grand Final was that same 1977 Collingwood one that Dad talked about.

And to top the day off... we went to our local pub for a counter meal.

Great day all round!!

Amelie

I can.... without a doubt, definitely say that Amelie is my all time favourite movie.

It appealed to me and touched the deepest parts of my soul and heart when I first saw it.  I came away from the movie theatre all light headed, happy and full of hope.

It's uniqueness, sweetness & beautiful story of love on all different levels just filled every inch of my heart... and I completely fell head over heels for Amelie... she is the most adorable screen character I've ever had the pleasure of watching!  And the quirkiness of the animation thrown in here and there is pure delight... like getting little presents thrown at you from time to time.  Not to mention the pure comedy of so much of it... it's just pure brilliance in my mind!!


I related to her so much... because I'm definitely a person that does... and must... spend a lot of my time alone. It's like my alone time is what keeps me sane...what recharges me... what keeps me going to get through life in tact & happy.  My time alone is crucial for me not to completely freak out from over arousal and stress/anxiety.


But yet... even though I must have that time alone... on the other end of the spectrum in the times I do not wish to be alone... I simply must have & always need love in my life... on all different levels!  I'm very lucky that I do already have so much of that!  But I'm still always searching for love through other means... the kind of love we don't normally think about or see... the love for our fellow man.  Just as Amelie is searching for & creating the very same thing. 

If by some chance... you've not seen this movie... then please.. please...please.. I implore you to watch it!!
I really do think it will change you on some level.... I know it did me.


And don't be turned off that that's it's a foreign film... in fact it's frenchness is what actually makes it even more special... in fact... I just couldn't imagine the characters speaking english and would never ever want them to!

Hopefully this video below will give you a positive taste of it's beauty... so much so that you'll be tempted to watch.

And for those reading this that have already seen it (and I know there's a lot)... do you love it just as much as I?

Maybe share some of your favourite moments or reasons why you love it too? I'd love to hear all about it!  I'd love to chat about this movie without a doubt.

Actually... just writing this has made me want to watch it again for over the 10th time! I think tonight after dinner & Kane's in bed.... instead of internet and work.. I think I may just be treating myself to Amelie... hot Milo... and popcorn.... time will tell. :)

My collaboration with Artists from all over the world

I'm very proud to say I am part of this wonderful project which features so many incredibly diverse and talented artists from all parts of the world.

Organized by the extremely talented ink artist from the UK  - Anita Inverarity who I met through the best art community on the internet ► Red Bubble

All artists who are part of the illustration group were offered the chance to join in. The task was to create a children's alphabet and number book for schools. I was happily assigned the number 12. 


When coming up with the concept and brainstorming the number twelve… I immediately thought of it how it’s also known as a dozen… and so of course the first thing that came to mind was a dozen eggs. So this number is made up of chicken’s/hens & egg’s all in lots of 12. Each colour has twelve images for the kids to find and count. (ie. 12 purple hens, 12 green eggs, 12 pink hens, 12 lime green eggs etc.)

 Anita has organised for this children’s book project to begin first as a printed book shown in an exhibition site at The Children’s Services Centre in Aberdeen Scotland- The largest purpose built office and training centre for the Childcare Sector in the North East of Scotland. From there it will visit 11 Schools in Aberdeen (for 1 Month periods) and be displayed in their Childcare Settings.


Here's the whole fabulous book created by artists from all over the world.
To view each work and artist in more detail visit the Red Bubble Superheroes Alphabet Gallery

If you're from a pre-school or school and this intresests you... then you can order each work as an afforable postcard for less than $2 each and create your own little book to show the kids at school?