inspiring....

i can't believe a whole week has passed since i last posted! i finished up at work last friday which was a joke - so unprofessional but i had other things to focus on. i handed in my final folio on tuesday morning at 9am. it was such a huge relief to finally have it finished and out of my hands. it has taken me three days to get myself back together though! i have had my folio strewn from one end of the house to the other, i had house work (so boring) and just catching up with friends. but considering i now have no formal projects on i am deeming this coming week one of inspiration. i want to put together lots of beautiful things that will inspire me to start my next project and i will post many of these little bits and pieces here, as well as listing any interesting websites that i come across. i am really looking forward to doing this just for me - not a project deadline!! so keep an eye out for lots of interesting things over the next week!

one more thing, i received a gorgeous package in the mail this week thanks to georgie love - an online store for independent melbourne artists. i purchased a '(mostly) old paper' pack by applehead - and it is just fantastic. there is old sheet music, vintage playing cards and stamps, beautiful wallpaper, pages from old picture books and even an old negative! i can't wait to start creating something beautiful with these papers! thanks sally!

gimme your stuff!!

i have been reading through some great blogs lately (and i will include the links soon!) and keep hearing about these "swaps"....and i thought - i want to get involved with this!! so yesterday i came across a cultural swap blog called gimme your stuff and i would love to get involved!!

the only packages or letters that i ever get in the mail these days are bills! so it would be great to receive exciting packages in the mail!

being in melbourne i can send you street press, design magazines, the catalougues from exhibitions that i go to in the city, australian sweets & food or tourist-type things, some crafty stuff like ribbons, buttons, and so on, hair clips, some of my own gift cards and badges and cool avanti postcards. if there is something that you want in particular let me know and i will see what i can do.

I'm really interested in....

• retro, vintage, cute fabric, ribbons, felt, buttons and things like that
• vintage - anything! postcards, old photos, old magazines, fabric, paper dolls, stamps and so on
• anything with birds - like old illustrations, postcards, old playing cards, fabric, buttons and so on especially owls, blue birds, sparrows
• interesting craft materials, anything japanese, cool papers, stamps
• japanese craft books or magazines
• cute stationary, stickers or badges
• something that you have designed!!
• design magazines or cool street press (i am such a magazine junky!)
• and anything else that is a bit interesting!

comment and/or email me kara_macleod23(at)hotmail(dot)com if you would like to gimme your stuff!!

rings of saturn....

this is a crazy little doodle that i did while working on my folio and kashy has named it 'rings of saturn' for what ever reason! i love it though!! on the actual drawing i created texture by buiilding up dots of liquid paper - becuase texture is a must!! Hahaha! it is late and i need to sleep - good night!

blue chair....

this is one of my own photos and probably one of my favourite pictures. i used to be part of a photogrpahy club but all those nanas got too political for me! this was taken at monsalvat, out near eltham in victoria. it is a gorgeous historic homestead and i took this photo in the main hall. i love experimenting with my digital camera, it is just so different to my old slr. i achieved this 'blue' effect but playing with the white balance settings on the camera, each setting achieved a different photo but this one was the most interesting.

change....

i found this pictue stored on my computer and I have no idea where it came from but i just love it! i have always enjoyed collage and i like the way that the picture is combined with stitched outlines and especially love the layers which create subtle highlights in the picture. i have had my final pieces mounted today so i just need to finalise my visual diary now. i need to do all of the annotations which is very tedious but hopefully it wont take too long.

we planted nine new trees in the garden today which look gorgeous!! i love having trees in my front garden and i can't wait to get the rest of the plants in too.

new trees....

the weather was perfect today - the sun shone all afternoon. i spent much of the day working on my folio but i did get a small opportunity to go to the nursery to purchase some new trees for our front garden. it is so exciting buying new trees so i was inspired to include this little sketch today. there are no plants in our front garden at the moment so i can not wait to plant all of the new trees.

i love being outdoors and it provides you with never ending inspiration - be it gorgeous little birds and dragon flies, or beautiful colours in a sunset.

i hope that the sun continues to shine tomorrow!

fly away peter....

these gorgeous little creatures have been my friday night fun! while watching a truly terrible movie on tv i doodled in my sketch book and ended up with these two. i think that there is a lot of potential with these wee creatures - i can already see them appearing regularly in my doodles over the next couple of weeks....

i would love to see these two turned into little stamps or stencils and plastered all over the place! Maybe they could do with a little refining first and then they can take over the city!

what do you think?

spring time...

i didn't make it here yesterday either - i am so sad about that. i had to hand in my final pieces yesterday for visual communication and when i got there with my mounts my teacher sent me packing to make more changes and additions. but - the pieces will be finished this weekend and then i can focus on finishing the workbook and then and then i will be free to have fun!

i have so many little projects that i want to try my hand at - i have my wedding invites (ek!), i am making these gorgeous little beetles out of kimono fabric, i want to make a pinhole camera, a friend wants me to make her some invites and a million other things! i would really love to get my hands on a print gocco gadget and have a go at that too! big plans - and a new motto - ban procrastination!

i am going to have a great spring spending time in the garden and having fun with my art!

ps. i have placed some new links too.... the piece above is by this great guy called brian cronin....definetly check out his link!

finding your muse....

i didn't have a chance to post anything yesterday - it was such a strange day. i resigned from my job and then listened to the chairman insult me while trying to convince me to change my mind. it has confirmed for me that these are not people that i want to work for.

but what it has bought to the front for me is 'what do i want to do with my life?'

on the surface this seems like a simple question but in reality this is one of the most difficult questions that i have encountered. when i was in school i wanted to pursue photography at university but my dad had other plans and put me on the 'straight and narrow' and so for the last eight years i have studied business and worked in the corporate world. then last year i went back to study visual communication and design and rediscovered how much i enjoy being creative.

the challenging thing for me has been to seperate that corporate mentality from creativity and just create art for the sake of creating rather than being financially driven.

i also have fear....fear that my work wont be as good as others, causing me to focus so strongly on making every piece amazing. it is taking the fun out of the process, making it difficult for me to see the process through and leaving my 'big plans' as just that, plans.

i found an inspiring post on emma laiho's blog, crayon, and i thought that i might include the final note here... "do the little things, one drawing, one page at a time, make it work for you, not the other way round. find your muse and catalysts, whatever works is not cheating. it's real work, but remember to have fun..."

so perhaps i have not answered the big question about what i want to do with my life but i am going to make a promise to myself to relax, enjoy the process and most of all, have fun.

kingyo....

this is another one of my drawings...i found a gorgeous book called kingyo which is all about japanese goldfish art. some of the art was amazing- beautiful illustrations, woodblock prints, paintings and ceramics. i was absorbed in this book for weeks and this is one of the drawings that i did afterwards....

i loved that the japanese bred these tiny fish to have particular colours and patterns - generations of fish! the soft flowing tails and fins are intriguing, and i love the colours and random patterns on their scales. there could be a whole series of drawings on these fish!

missing the sunshine....

listening to the wind howling outside tonight makes me pine for sunshine. the picture that i have included tonight is one of my own. i took this at mossman gorge in far north queensland recently. i love the way that the purple appears metallic against the bronze of the stones. it is a fantastic gorge in the middle of virgin rainforest and one of the only safe places to swim! as you stand on the banks you can see fish swimming past and the forest is full of wonderful birds and it is just so quiet and relaxing. a great place to escape the city to.

a quiet afternoon......

i have had a very quiet afternoon watching the rain clouds roll across melbourne. my good friend jude recommended looking up an australian artist named tony clark becuase she thought that i would love his work - and i do. this piece is call parrot-portrait with flowers from his flowerpieces series in 2003. i have put a link on the left to the gallery that exhibits his work.

fabulous links...

i forgot to scan some of my own work last night to post today so instead i have added two new links. i have really enjoyed visiting these two sites - piper boy's is an amazing design - it comprises his travel photos but he has made it so interactive and enjoyable to view happy snaps! crayon is another blog that i have enjoyed reading and she has listed some great links that take you even further. enjoy!

blue birds...

having grown up in the 80's, blue birds were a constant theme - i had blue bird necklace pendants, earrings and brooches. this is an image that i found on the web months ago and i had printed it out for some reason and i just rediscovered it this week. it makes me think back to my cherished blue bird pendant.....

this image has a great stamp like quality, gorgeous lines making it seem so detailed yet so simple at the same time...i just love it.

a new world has opened to me....

as a recent convert to blogging i am finding the experience totally liberating! i can't wait to start posting some of my drawings and other wee pieces of art so that i can share them with others and hopefully create some interest and enjoyment through my work.

i am currently in a job that requires absolutly no work - amazing - i hear you say, but not so.... think boredom... BUT now i have a blog to occupy each afternoon and i am looking forward to spending much time on making it look fantastic and posting lots of interesting things.

i do have much to learn though - like posting photos and other things that i scan in... ohhhh..and who knows what else might appear!

so look out for my blog and the wonderful little things that will start to appear!