heartfelt gallery/crop fest remix

heart #1: felt and applique pocket

After what seems like a long break, I'm back on the blog again.

Meanwhile, I have been trying to adjust to full-time work - in fact, I'm currently doing three jobs, as I am still in my old job for another two weeks, as well as teaching at UQ, and in my new job with Mercy (aka Sisters of Mercy) Services. Which, considering I was basically working only two days a week between November and February, is a huge culture shock!

Change has been pretty much a constant for the past six months. Perhaps longer, it depends when you start counting. But that is when S. resigned from his public service job, which threw things into flux.

 heart #2: deflated patchwork heart

 heart #3: oven g/love heart

Finding things that stablise me has been really important. Art has surprisingly not been a big part of this process, at least recently. Art takes time. I did try to tune in to some tutorials by Michael Nobbs at Sustainably Creative, but found I was too overwhelmed. I remember dad (also called Michael, who was always busy, and who died four years ago this month) saying he played the jazz trumpet as a substitute for painting, as it was easier to pick up and put down again. But I don't play an instrument: basically, yoga, meditation and body combat are my jazz!

 heart #4: Sustainably Creative Heart, drawing

 heart #5: origami

Dad often painted squares when he did paint, being influenced by Joseph Albers (who painted squares) and Frank Stella (who painted stripes) in bright Pop Art colours. I must admit I love the almost ritual quality of the repeated shapes, and patterns, which he claimed to work out on graph paper. which leads me to my repeated heart shapes in this post. 

The idea came from Curly Pops, aka Cam, blogger and fabric artist, who is creating a tea towel of Instagram heart pics to raise money and awareness for heart and lung transplant recipients via the Tour de Transplant currently happening in Victoria (22nd to 30th March). Cam had a lung transplant last year.

 heart #6: flowers and planets

On Friday night we went to crop fest, at Wandering Cooks, at 1, Fish Lane, West End.

Sustainable veggie soup, music, and a good community vibe - what more could you want?

wonky felt rainbow: detail of bigger picture fabric collage

This is a sneak preview of fabric collage I am (secretly) making for my old workplace, Silky Oaks: its going to be called the Tree of Life, and it features hearts on trees. Now the secret is out.

I also have to mention the wonderful Billy Bragg, who we saw and heard on Thursday night at the Tivoli (yes its been a busy week). Bragg is a great communicator, singer and songwriter with a big heart, who creates an instant community at his gigs. I know, I've been to a few now...

Here is Billy busking with Jack Monroe of food blogging fame. Worlds colliding again...

 

 from Mercy Centre, where I attended a mindfulness retreat last Sunday.

Perhaps things will settle down soon. 

more later

Rainbow on Mater Hill

'rainbow on Mater Hill' using Polaroid app.

Last night a rainbow appeared over the Hotel Diana opposite the Mater Hospital, as I arrived to view my art therapy students' case study presentations. Its the end of semester, which means no more assignment writing (for me - hurrah!) but lots of marking activities in the next few weeks. I have now completed (as long as I pass all my assignments) a quarter of my Masters of Social Work. 

Do rainbows really appear at symbolic times, or do we just notice them more at significant moments? I remember seeing one just after my father died, in March 2010, and at the time I found this very comforting. 

'mantra' - pastels and dyetex

This drawing is about meditation, and reflects how the mantra (sound) which I repeat in my mind when I meditate (using the Transcendental Meditation, or TM method) becomes overridden with thoughts. The mantra is represented by the letter 'i' (the mantra starts with the letter 'i') and is in pink, faintly visible inside the white shapes. Meanwhile, thoughts crowd in, and overlay the mantra. Some of them follow pathways, represented by the wiggly lines, and some are more random, represented by colours. The overall effect, although distracted from the intention, is still positive.

Visually, this image appeals to me: it creates the effect of a colour field, which besides being an art movement, also makes me think of the Tamla Motown and Phil Spector's 'wall of sound'. The element of cohesion, and the submersion of individual parts into the overall image, seem to fit with this style of composition (whether music or art). Interesting, since I started this by writing about the sound of the mantra. 

'yarn-bomb' on riverside bikeway near QUT, using Polaroid app.

I spotted this piece of knitted 'graffitti' whilst cycling a few weeks ago, but only just stopped to photograph it. The link above is to a site which details a collective yarn-bombing of King George's Square in Brisbane, tomorrow. Amazing what a google can unearth.

Meanwhile, I am still knitting a jumper I started last year. (As it is sleeveless, it is possible I may complete it this year, while its still cold enough to wear it. I made the mistake of putting it in my handbag the other day, and lost some stitches, and I picked them up slightly incorrectly, so its now flawed, but I don't think it will matter...) 

The middle of 'Caution': location of yarn bomb and bicycle

During the break between semesters, I am hoping to post more often. We'll see how that goes. 

succulent, South Bank, using Pin hole app.

more later. 

Sunday night in the suburbs

'amoeba-ish' collage, watercolour and pastel

Amoeba-ish is a good description of how I am feeling at the moment. A bit lacking in definition perhaps? Nothing particularly bad and nothing particularly good, sort of in limbo. Sunday nights are often like this, I'm glad its still the weekend but aware that its going to be over soon...

I made this image a while ago. I am noticing there are lots of layers, from the centre (nucleus?) to the outside (water?). Its quite colourful, like a lot of my work. I am very attracted to bright colours, and usually pick them up rather than darker or neutral tones. I feel this is a bit childish and not very sophisticated but oh well. (I'm also noticing those negative thoughts.)

What is really exciting in this corner of the blogosphere, is that due to my last post, I have had over 1,000 hits on this blog since I started in December last year. That's very satisfying, so thanks!

I have just finished Jodie Picoult's novel singing you home. Reading her novels is a bit like immersing yourself in a warm but worthy bath;  they always have an 'issue' at their core, but they are quite compulsive.  This one has a music therapist as the main character, so I really enjoyed that, as creative therapists are not often represented in popular culture (One exception  being the 1980's film Truly, madly deeply, which has an art therapist - albeit a male one, quite a rare species - as the love interest of the main character). The 'issue' is fertility rights, in particular over ownership of the fertilised eggs of a couple who break up. The woman (and music therapist) goes into a relationship with another woman, and the man gets involved with the religious right. You can kind of guess the rest, and yes it does involve a court case (well Picoult is American).

Another brief movie review - go see Red Dog, which we went to last weekend. A nice Australian family film about - a red dog! 

One thing I have noticed about this project, doing what matters. I am becoming more outspoken about my values and beliefs. Not just in the blog, but in real life, too. When I am with people with very different values, it is more jarring than it used to be. Well I think that's true, perhaps it was always jarring, but now I am noticing it more. 

I found out recently (or honestly, not that recently) that I should be meditating twice a day, to have a more solid chance of actually changing my brain (neural pathways) for the better. This seems like a tough thing to do, but I am going to try, starting this week (can't do it today, as I missed this morning's meditation). I think its worth a try. I had a return of insomnia a couple of weeks ago. Its hard to break the pattern once it returns. As its anxiety related, I am guessing meditation can help - already my sleeping patterns are much better than they used to be. Creating the routine is the hard part, I'm usually quite good at keeping on doing things once I start...

more later.