New additions to the holiday house

I thought I'd show you some of the changes at the house. There's a few handmade ideas in these pics also, possible products for jane on jane st.

TYPOGRAPHY

Janette from My Sweet Prints got my mind working when I saw her great ideas using typography as her Art. For the spare bedroom's decor, which I suppose is 'technically' influenced by the beach location of the house, I've done a simple 'life is a beach' saying in an Ikea frame, finished with a sketch of a nautilus shell.

The font is scriptina and the shell is a clipart file readily available from the internet. The font, shell and border are in a teal colour.

Thank you Janette.

BTW the shells are from a little gift shop in Port Macquarie, can't remember the name of the place though, sorry. They are sculpted from balsa wood. Very cute and they fit in so well with what I'm trying to achieve in this room. The bedside table is looking a bit crowded at the moment, but this will change when my Bulter's table arrives from Whiteport.

I've always loved text in art and I'm a HUGE fan of vintage advertising and film posters. Art.com have some fabulous vintage artworks/posters. I was a regular user of the site for inspiration and images when I was doing my design study over the last few years.

My favourite is the Alfred Hitchcock 'Vertigo' poster. I saw it recently on a television show I was watching, can't remember what show it was, but as soon as I saw the print, up went the shout, 'That's my print!'.

Another frame I've done is this one, 'Nothing in life is to be feared....It is only to be understood'. A quote from Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie. I think it says a lot just with those few words. 

The quote is complimented with a background character from Zen calligraphy. I chose Zen because of the philosophy behind these beautiful characters....

True creativity is not the product of consciousness but rather the "phenomenon of life itself". True creation must arise from mu-shin, the state of "no-mind," in which thought, emotions, and expectations do not matter.

The Ikea frame had a creamy coloured matt, so I flipped it over to the white side as a temporary measure. When I get a chance this week I'll go to a framing place and track down a red one. I think it is a bit too bland at the moment.

FURNITURE and ARTWORK

The space at the bottom of the stairs is now filled. 

My search took about 18 months, but I finally found another kang table to suit (console table, they call them 'kang' but I'm not sure what it means). 
The Ikea frames and prints are mounted on shelves (another Ikea wonder) and are complimented with some smaller frames that I've filled with shells, seed pods and starfish. The backing for the starfish is just a medium weight sandpaper. Simple but effective. (Sorry, that photo didn't turn out very well, so I haven't posted it.)

I've had the rattan travel bags for about 4 years now, and they've been lonely up until now, sitting on the floor in the corner.

There was some red 'Circles and Squares' Florence Broadhurst wallpaper left over from the wedding pressie I made Kylie C, from My Flying Ducks, so I grabbed a piece of leftover mdf and covered it using some spray glue.

I collect old chinese calligraphy brush sets and have used a set in a red case to add some more red to the corner. Last thing to do when I can find and purchase a ceramic or stone urn, is to use the 'free' bamboo pieces I 'obtained' from a flower arrangement at work about a month ago.

Well, they were only going to through them out!

My Sweet Prints Giveaway

Thanks to Tina over at Rubies' Place I found My Sweet Prints.

Janette, is a graphic designer and illustrator. She has some fabulous ideas and her prints are just beautiful. 

Her Giveaway is because she has reached 200 followers. Congrats Jeanette! But she's not just offering one of her prints as a prize, she's giving away 2 of your choice from her range.

Head over, have a look and good luck if you enter.

Sew on and sew on

In my post 'Over at Whiteport' I was talking about going over to the Etsy 'Keep Calm Shop' with the idea of purchasing one for the house.

At the time, I was trying to decide between the 'Cook On' and the 'Sew On' poster. As the completion of transforming my work area is fast approaching, I thought the 'Sew On' would be the obvious choice for my purchase.

Then I had a long hard think about it and came up with these using Illustrator. As a self taught Illustrator user, I need to keep playing with the program so I don't lose what I've already taught myself.

 

 {Please note: These are not for sale and are for my personal use. The font is different to the originals and in no way am I intending to use these designs for sale I have also used my own artworks and readily available free clipart for the images.}

It's hard to decide which one, so I'm going to frame all of them. They are printed on A4 gloss paper (not photo paper), but I can print them in smaller versions if I need.

When I have them framed and mounted in the work room (which is nearly finished) I'll post some photos.

More 'Have you seen' from Etsy

Have you seen...Deanna Maree from Newcastle on Etsy.

  Photo credits here.

Muck Designs

{Image: indesignlive.com}

Let me introduce to you a friend of mine, Anthony Manuatu from Muck Designs.

This is him pictured with his winning design for the iscd 'Art on the Floor' competition for Designer Rugs. The competition is the major assignment for the end of one of the courses we completed together.

Anthony has a series of images that all have a philosophy behind them. He's been selling them from some of the markets here in Sydney, and with the warmer weather coming up, he'll be back on the market circuit.

Here's some of designs.

Series of images together - each design has a story.

Loyalty series

Roses series

Four Gentlemen series
{Images from Muck Designs.com.au}

Something similar I found on Making it Lovely. It's by an American artist, Ryan Kapp.

Five of us from our old classes got together at The Rocks Markets here in Sydney, on Father's Day. It's was good to see them all again as it had been a while.

They all gave me some great feedback on my designs. More designs will be revealed soon.

Check out Anthony's website and his philosophy. It's all about core values and principles.

Project: Ginkgo

The power went out today for quite a while, TWICE!!

So while I still had some battery power left on my laptop, I thought I'd play with some ideas on Illustrator. I couldn't do much without power. Not even the ironing!!! (Joke!)

I'm still a true novice when it comes to using Illustrator, eventhough I've been trying to develop my skills over the last 3 years. I just don't get enough time to do tutorials etc and I've never had any classes on it. Maybe one day. Everything I can do, I taught myself, so that's not bad.

These designs are part of getting ready to do some 'prototypes' while I'm on annual leave. The plan is to try a few prints, fabrics, and colourways, make a few things such as teatowels or cushions. At the moment I'm just dabbling.

I don't have a set up to do anything bigger. A few other designs are still work in progress. I have a cute little geisha, some birds - which I'm thinking will be on a printed branch but the birds will be silhouettes of Amy Butler fabric.

My favourite design at the moment is a Paris inspired theme. I'm planning on making myself a bag with this print, when I get to it.

Here are some more Ginkgo ideas.

Other ideas floating around in my head (usually in the middle of the night) - Antique wire dressforms (mannequins), gumnuts, fennel and splash.

Let me know what you think.

{These designs are by designed to a T, so please don't use them, unless you let me know.}

Shorpy - Historic Photo Archive

Shorpy.com...are you a history and photography buff?

Brendon, my photographer son (and aspiring scriptwriter/film maker) put me on to this fabulous site.

Check out shorpy.com. The site's namesake 'Shorpy' Higginbotham lived in in the early 1900's as a mine worker. It was said that this photo is of him at about 14 years of age.

The detail in these photos has to be seen to be believed.

The images are from all over America in the time when dry plate glass negatives were used. They are so detailed, when you zoom in you can read headlines on newspapers, see people doing ordinary things, tile grout lines...amazing stuff.

From Shorpy.com:
Shorpy is history in HD, a vintage photography blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850's to the 1950's. The site is named after Henry Sharpe 'Shorpy' Higginbotham, a teenage coalminer who lived 100 years ago.

Whiteport featured in Real Living magazine April 2010

I featured a bit about Jennifer McCabe's Whiteport, the online homewares shop earlier this month with my White on White post.

Real Living magazine has done a spread on their beautiful home, in the April 2010 issue - Country Charm (pages 78 - 85).

Jennifer suggests it isn't too tricky to keep a white house clean, with removable sofa covers, wash and wear paint so marks can be easily wiped off, and Porter's Paints Wood Wash for the floors added a rustic finish and is more resistant to stains.

The Hamptons butlers tray I'm after is pictured in a lovely guest bedroom setting.

Jennifer's online store is a haven for anyone who loves French country styling and decorating.

My home is a bit eclectic, with the basis being modern styling, but it's still plausible to include specific pieces from her range to suit my decor. Some things are just timeless and will fit anywhere....especially if it's white.

Jennifer's style works so well in this circa 1900's property in one of Sydney's northern beach suburb.

PS Jennifer, I love the 'Vertigo' framed print in the living area. Another fave of mine I've been coveting for a while from art.com.


I could spend just as many hours going through the vintage posters on this website, as I do on Booktopia. Hate to tell you how much my wishlist is up to in $ value on these websites!


That's why they have wishlists I suppose!