It's YOU! Hello! Nice to see you! Here you will find stuff about living a creative life in country Australia. I create with watercolour, pen, collage, mixed media and photos. I teach, hosts workshops, collect, dream. I love cheese, travel, my garden, faffing, colour and whimsy. I am crap at time management, and do way too many things, but it is all good. Oh yes, all pictures and photos on here by me too, just saying.

Friday 31 October 2014

THE ENCHANTED FOREST... A collage for the The Collage Club

 THE ENCHANTED FOREST...
A collage for the The Collage Club 

What a fabulous theme this month,for our little group of creatives,THE COLLAGE CLUB  on Facebook.Chosen by the amazing Karen of LEAF AND PETAL,as soon as I read the words ENCHANTED FOREST,my heart did a little 'boom boom' and my imagination began to work overtime.Yep,all the cliches of bunnies, mushrooms and toadstools,faeries,elves, moose,elk,deer,owls,trees....boy was this going to be great fun.

Lucky for me, a sweet and lovely friend had just given me a whole box of old Frankie magazines,which I knew would have many cute and lovely forest themed pictures...foxes and squirrels galore. 

So down to my table I sat, magazines, scissors tape,glue,pen knife,pencils, paintbrushes...I am a very very messy creative. Can you tell? 

I try to be neat...but I get a bit frenetic and whirling dervish,single-minded and intent. Order turns into chaos, quite quickly.

I tend to overwork my collages, I know it...I just keep sticking till there is no more room. For this one I figured I would not fight it too much,I wanted lots to be going on. Lots of things for your eye to dance over.Then I painted in bits,added a bit of texture,filled in gaps. 

So in the end,it did not turn out like I expected,or hoped,and really I should have held back.(And why oh why did I put a dicky twee little rainbow in it?) But I had fun doing it...and surely, that's okay too?

So I am thinking I will do another,and have already started tearing out pages and assembling them for possible reassembling. This could go on all month.(Me no complain!)

LEAF AND PETAL is hosting the linky party this month for our bloggers who collage in the club...please pop over and have a look...at her page, other collages she has done are fabulous... if you have the time and inclination, much recommended!And go to our FACEBOOK page, and have a look at the amazingly  different ways we have interpreted a theme...all of us busy little squirrels...gathering and storing our little bits and pieces.(And feel free to ask to join if it tickles your fancy) x

Okay, off to do some sticking, on this gloomy Saturday.(Oh goody!)More enchantment to come...








 The finished collage....The Enchanted Forest 1,  October 2014








Sunday 26 October 2014

One Saturday with KARA ROSENLUND

KARA ROSENLUND
 cutie patootie, styling and vignetting queen,adventurer, photographer extraordinaire,caravan owner and finder,forager,and collector of beauty...


Oh yes,if the title of this blog post sounds a tad fan girl,well done,you spotted it.True. 

I first started noticing Kara's photos many, many years ago...and then she popped up in a few magazines, and then her cute caravan Frankie,or her stunning home began appearing on the covers of said magazines.Then I saw her name on Instagram,and attached to #7 Vignettes. 

So..I went snooping around Googling her.As you do.I saw images that made me swoon.Her love of Australia,of travel,her colour palette,and her damn skill with a camera made me just think...WOW.I began following her on social media.

Then earlier this year,a dear and lovely fellow Instagrammer,RED AGAPE,was at my house,shooting it for a magazine spread...and she mentioned she was going to do a Kara Rosenlund vignetting workshop at this fabulous place in Sydney called "The School"(LINK HERE!).

Well,of course,having been there before, meeting Megan Morton,the uber creative genius and spark behind this amazing space,I did virtual cartwheels! I was supposed to go to one of the workshops earlier in the year for my birthday...but it had been cancelled(boo-hoo)...so I had all that excitement still bottled up.

 But if I was to go to this session...here here would be my fellow Instagrammer and new friend red Agape,Kara,Megan,vignetting, photography,creativity,beauty,styling, Sydney...all in one...Oh yeah baby, bring it on!How could I say no?!

Fast forward...October 4th. 

And so it was the day.Finally,a little late due to parking and driving (country bumpkins in the BIG SMOKE!?)but finally,eventually, stumbling into The School studio room. And before us, a table laden with props, Kara herself, Megan with a tea trolley doing a super stylish air hostess impression,and a swag of other people like me, waiting to see the magic happen.In this crowd were 2 ladies who I had only known from them living in my phone and computer- Merilyn and Cateybain but who I loved communicating with, my new wonderful friend RED AGAPE,  AND a friend from Uni days, who through the magic of social media I had reconnected with, Urbanrustic. My insides were giddy with joy.

Calming myself, I listened to Kara talk about herself and her creative journey - HUGELY inspiring.I watched as she effortlessly created a beautiful red vignette,a little tweaking here and there,a little colour coding,and the sharing of some vignetting secrets.I was handed a list of tunes to vignette to....my creative juices just fizzing over.

Soon we were given the keys to the Propery (oh my giddy Aunt, that is another adventure and blogpost right there), let loose on the prop table, and away we went...to vignette. Or in my case...to just talk and chat and giggle like a schoolgirl.. and actually interact with people I had just met but felt like I knew already...

Eventually, we did actually do a vignette, not on a table, but with a chair, a stool, and raids from the prop room. It looked pretty good, considering my complete lack of focus...really it must be said my partners in styling did much of it.

Others around us were good girls, furiously and attentively forming wonderful little moments, and I did admire them.But truthfully,to a retail starved,visually overloaded, extremely 

"Oh my gosh this is like XMAS" 

normally isolated-country-living-middle-aged-woman...it was beyond me.

So what did I take way from all this? Well, for starters, Kara Rosenlund is an amazingly generous,earthy,beautiful big-hearted, sensitive,talented beautiful soul.I would hang out with her, have her for dinner,go shopping or foraging with her, take photos with her...in a heartbeat.She was just a lovely person.Megan Morton is still as elegant,funny,beautiful,tall,generous and as encouraging as I remembered. And the people I have met on Instagram are REAL PEOPLE, and are as lovely as I hoped for and thought they might be... 

And I even learnt a little bit about vignetting!
Truly an awesome way to spend a Saturday. Highly recommended.x

table laden with goodies...props galore



and from all these things...we edit, and discern patterns and differences, contrasts and stories

Kara tells us how, shows us how, selecting from the props table

Kara Rosenlund

The beginnings of a Kara vignette, in red, on a mantlepiece


finished vignette, photo courtesy of Red Agape!


And our little vignette, down low, old stuff, green stuff, books, and bits and bobs... by Red Agape, Merilyn and rare pear studio!