i know, i know, art doesn't count as a squat as far as real life skills go.
and uh-huh, yep, i should be drilling Jada on her times tables and english grammar.
and yet...
...the very first word of action in the Bible is,
created.
we are made in the image of a God who creates. how wonderful!
and i intend to allow my family to revel in that truth and gift just as much as we can.
(Jada is holding her entry for the art competition. i asked her what price she would like to put on it. she said, "$5?". bless. i love that $5 is a monstrous amount :) the gallery takes 33%, so i slapped a hefty $25 on it!)
help! can't decide if it's a whizz or a bang? a Kiri or a Susan?
(this is all i'm willing to share at this stage! this is so different to anything i've ever done before and i'm just.not.confident it's worked....)
i still have a few more things to finish off so will decide then i suppose?
but because it's taken longer than expected, we will have to drive it to the gallery, which is windy 2 hour drive......might just have to put it down to "experience" :)
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oh, and for all those pregnant mamas who always seem to be hoping for daughters instead of sons, this:
it's not always 'slugs and snails and puppy dogs tails' :)
"Let's get off that subject. Move on. I'm doing something classical, not whizz-bang. Whizz-bang disappears. It goes 'whizz' and then 'bang'. You insult me by even wanting to bring it into this conversation. I'm not interested."
Kiri Te Kanawa on Susan Boyle.
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i feel like the SuBo of art.
untrained, unprofessional and insulting to the *real* artists!
still, i hope i get a few more years of "whizz" before i go "bang!"
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(ps i think KTeK sounds a wee bit like an elitest snob don't you think? mega cringe)
it's totally true. the good kids don't get (barely any) attention. example (i remembered this today):
a couple of years ago i was browsing in a posh toy store with my 2yo and 4yo and also in the store was a mama with her son who was playing at a table that had Thomas the Tank Engine tracks set up on it. i hear the mama working up to leaving the shop: ...ok, a couple more minutes cupcake then we need to go...(nervous smile) (five minutes later)...ok, sweetie pie, one more minute then we need to go...(tip toe, tip toe) (another 5 mintues)...come on then, let's go...*SCREEAAMM*.. ...no, no, we need to use our *inside* voices...*ROAR, BELLOW, SCREEAAAM*.. ..oh, come on dumpling, be a good boy, i'll buy you a [insert your heart's desire here]... (by now the shop assistant has also joined in trying to help prise the kid's sticky fists off of the train table while trying to avoid kicks and screams) to cut a long (and painful) story short, this scene continued for another 10 mintues or so until eventually the shop assistant promised to give the kid a lolly pop if he left the store when his mother asked him to. the kid grabs the lolly pop and prepares to leave the store with his mother.
and you shoulda seen the ceremony! i'm talking marching band, streamers, back-flipping gymnasts...the works!! ...oh! you're such a good boy! wow, good boy for coming when mummy asked you!(hok?! that's me choking out loud from the back of the store!) ....ad nauseum....
i picked my jaw up off floor and said to the kids: ...come on guys, lets go... we leave.
where's the lolly-pop for my kids? (who *did* actually leave the store when asked!) where's the marching band? and streamers? and back-flipping gymnasts?
sheesh. you kids need to act up a bit more. might get some perks in life...
this adorable top from anthropologie is burning a hole in my head at the moment. i'm sure i could figure it out and make one similar.
so cute!
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we said farewell to this lovely lady yesterday. she's gone to keep a brand new baby girl company. i know she's going to be adored but a piece of my heart goes with each doll.
happy monday!
(i think i might buy some heather grey boots today...yah)
one pair of pants that fit well at waist but too short on legs
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add:
some vintage sweet haul fabric, some gathering stitch (top and bottom!),a pinch of jazz and whole lot of fun
i think i must have been subconciously channeling Portabello Pixie - but with less pop - because i promise i haven't visited that site for over a year!
the boy dolls i made over the last week wore me out! i'm so pleased i've got them done (and there are only 2 left!! whaat?!) but am looking forward to chillaxing a bit this week and playing around with a few more reconstructions out of op shop clothes.
also, super, super excited about entering another art competition. last time i got runner up (and a piccie in the paper!! woot)
i have a purely delightful idea, but as always the challenge is trying to actually produce a decent version of the idea. looking forward to painting again though. so excited!
a couple of weeks ago a friend and i went to see the movie, Boy. let me just say, i always find it fantastically refreshing to see "home" on the big screen instead of that recognisable, but personally unfamiliar, hollywood guff we usually must watch. it was hilarious, but heart-breaking. i wondered if those watching it in cinemas overseas would be chortling at the things our audience chortled at - or, if they'd be "awww"-ing in pity? (or..if they'd even be able to understand the accents??!!)
this movie resonated with me, not just because i'm a kiwi but because i grew up in a very small (fantastic!) community on the west coast of new zealand. in the shadow of the Tainui waka's resting place. Specifically Waiharakeke (but then, every corner has it's own name, so maybe i should say Kinohaku or Hauturu, or near-Kawhia).
if there is any place that screams out home to me, it is this harbour inlet and these hills.
they are as much a part of me as my own brothers and sisters.
igrew up not realising words like e hoa (friend), pito (belly button), tutu ("mischevious fingers"), patero (pass wind), potae (hat), tito (telling lies) etc weren’t english words. I went to school with a roll of around 25. and we either wore barefeet, jandals or gumboots. there were 2 teachers – one for the Junior Room, one for the Senior Room. the teachers were a husband and wife team.
i went to school with maori kids who had names like :
Poto (short),
Nigs (short for…well, yanno),
Worm,
Blue,
Mumma,
Bugs (short for Bugaloo),
Lorne (rumour has it he was born on the ‘lawn’, this is unconfirmed)…
and in fact, our local electrician was called Boy.
i never once thought any of these names were odd or unusual, until a few years after i’d left and gone off to boarding school (there’s another blog entry – or 3 – right there!) and some fresh-grad from the city began teaching at our little country school decided that it was entirely inappropriate to call a child Mumma and so, made everyone call her by her real name, Diana, from then on.
maybe she was right, but everything seemed to change with that awareness.
i began noticing differences. and with age the differences seem to grow like great big walls that i struggle to find ways around.
i miss those days of seeing the people first instead of the differences.
well, you can throw your nose in the air and scoff all you like but this is what came out of that day:
from this:
a wrap skirt from op shop that i never felt "Bam!" in but loved the colours of the print.
(apologies for the pic being upside down. i promise i've tried 10x but blogger's having a tanty today it seems)
to this:
a cute lil dress/top.
since having my fourth baby i feel so awkward in my body - my hips seem higher and wider and this kind of long top is the only style i feel really ok in. my mum cut a pattern from a cute nightie for me the other day out of a noel leeming catalogue (upcycling people!) and i intend to make a whole wardrobe of tops like this.
(the 2cm forest green strip down the centre front is bothering me like nothing else. ick! ideas?)
PS i know i missed week 17 - i made a Super Maori Fulla cape for a 6 year old birthday boy but didn't take a picture...sorry!
i adore katherine quinn's art (seriously, anyone who puts wheels on a duck is mega-cool!) so when a friend sent me two postcards featuring her art, i knew they needed their own display shelf.
and so...
ta da! custom-made shelf!
i can't stop looking at it. it's SO pretty!! (thanks JR)
(this is all i'm willing to share at this stage! this is so different to anything i've ever done before and i'm just.not.confident it's worked....)
take:
the half-size orange suitcase..which goes with my teal bowling case oh-so-well!
my first 'run' of boy-dolls.
...but has fantastic fabric and detail...
i often wished trees could talk. they seem so wise.
leaf-kickin!
joy!
mmmmm, baby fuzz kisses
beauty!
angelic! 
i'm convinced these leaves were having their own little fiesta!
