Grab hold of your bootstraps

And pull like hell,

'til gravity feels sorry for you,

And lets you go

As if you lack the proper chemicals to know

The way it felt the last time you let yourself

Fall this low

- Andrew Bird, Armchairs

Lots on my mind at the moment - it's been an interesting year so far.

But today at least, this is what is making me happy...

... good music, a new canvas, too many cups of coffee, oil pastels.

I have lots and lots of projects on the go right now, and on top of them all I just started a new blanket. Why? I don't really know! Just because of this pattern in a beautiful Japanese crochet book I found on etsy.


I'm getting work ready for this exhibition again this year, and my bookcase is becoming home to a small forest of trees.




I'm loving these vintage map paper cranes I shared in a previous post (not counting toward the 1000, by the way - just some more "just becauses")

... and experimenting with getting some prints made of my work. Very happy with these vibrant giclee prints from The Canvas Studio.



And last, but not least, spending way too much time on flickr. I nearly fell off my chair a week or two ago when this little photo of my crochet experiments made no. 1 in Explore! It seems that flickr loves crochet, and I'm not the only one to be appreciating the art of craft lately :)

I had to take a screenshot to immortalise the moment, but amazingly it was still there last time I checked.

Q&A

Answering a couple of questions from my last post :)

Melissa - Have emailed you, but will put my reply here too. The paper I am using for the 1000 paper cranes came in a little boxed set, made specifically for that purpose I imagine, as it contained 1000 squares of origami paper plus a few spares. I bought it at my favourite bookstore in Sydney, Kinokuniya, when I was there earlier this year. I could spend a whole day there! Each piece measures only 3 inches square, so the finished cranes are quite tiny. Even so, 1000 will form a curtain approx. 1m deep by 2.5m wide when they are finished!


Audrey (sorry I couldn't reply personally, as I wasn't linked to your blog/email in your comment) - I am in the process of preparing original work for two exhibitions, and if you email me, I can send you more info about the pieces available when those shows open in July. I know I have been talking about it for a very long time, but the etsy store is actually coming very soon now - promise! I have just had some giclee prints done of a few artworks to see how they go, and I'm very happy with the quality and will be getting more done soon. I also hope to be selling some original artwork there, and I have some colourful crochet items and vintage map paper cranes ready to go.

The idea of sorting out the paypal and freight, and making time to keep the shop stocked has been scaring me for while, as I want to be able to do it properly, but I'm feeling in the right frame of mind and think I should probably just jump in and do it!

hmmm....

... I think the crochet has influenced the artwork a bit!

I'm working toward two group exhibitions at the moment, so the pressure's on. It's good to have a deadline, though.

The 1000 paper cranes are still going well. The initial enthusiasm of the start of the year has worn off a bit, but at the end of April I was still on track with at least 333 and a third cranes made ;)

I also found time to make some vintage map paper cranes.

Thanks to my lovely blog readers who reassured me in the last post that it is still worthwhile sharing things here. I appreciate your sweet comments :)

Keeping my hands busy..

I've been a (little more than usual) obsessed with colour lately, which you can see in my crochet projects.

Colourful bunting, which will be used for our local Jumpers and Jazz in July festival.

Cushions for Ruby, who loves rainbow colours as much as I do. I still have to finish the square one.

The start of a blanket, in beautiful chunky organic cotton.

And lots of teeny squares for a project called Tetris Psychedelia, which will be worn by a tree this winter. More to come as it progresses!

Anyway, that's what I've been up to in the yarny area :)

Also have some painting/mixed media/papercraft work to share, but that will be another post.

By the time I've uploaded photos to facebook, flickr and ravelry, I seem to forget to post them on this blog. I wonder if I should let it go? Is anyone reading, anyway?