When asked to illustrate Australia, my country, I have to stop to think which part of this island to show.... Is it the wild and largely uninhabited west coast where crocodiles roam the waters, pearl farms dot the inlets and on land the colours are dusty shades of grey green red and orange but the skies are a burning clear blue? Is it my home state's capital city with its jigsaw of old and new buildings, its maze of theatres, shops and cafes, and home to so many stylish black-clad women? Is it the wide pale inland spaces between country towns where fields stretch into the distance, cattle rest under the trees and farm buildings cluster in shades of weathered grey.
I learned the art of decoupage and love the challenge of recreating something from scraps of paper. A teacher introduced me to the idea of filling some of the spaces with paint rather than paper, and then challenged me to start with a picture but then to extend it myself, using the original artists colours and shapes as a guide; make the picture a different shape, take a small part of a larger one and make this scrap into a work of art all its own....and this is what I like doing best of all.
This box begins with a piece of a Fred Williams painting, The Nattai River painted in 1958. Its colours instantly bring the bush to mind, the vast spaces where it seems no-one moves except birds high above you. The piece I used is from the right hand corner and is on most of the lid, and then I extended the painting down the sides, creating a sky and ground and horizon where there had not been one before.
It might not say "Australia" to you, but it does to me.
This post celebrates the 201st challenge at Opus Gluei and I wonder what other people will create?
You have to smile at the complications of a design team spread across the globe when it comes to a seasonal challenge....witness the latest (number 197!!) excitement at Opus Gluei where the theme is snow. SNOW? Its a warm 34C here in Australia today, well, in my little part of it, and I don't think its ever snowed in my street. Now THAT would be an example of climate change, but I'm not advocating for it........
So channeling my inner winter, I attempted a scattering of snowflakes, and then I hung them from a bar and they move in the wind. Before anyone complains about a distinct lack of white, let me hasten to explain I was thinking snow in the evening....glistening against the night sky. What would I know? I've never seen it.
I embossed a snowflake stamp and added a glittery centre, then glued them to grey gauze ribbon. They're double-sided, but you can only see that if I upload a movie....so you'll have to take my word for it.
The inspiration for this little bit of recycling came from a roll of paper that has been lying on the bench for a while, and a nice solid box that was too good to throw away. Years ago I found an old broken letter rack and covered it with paper so it could live again in my then new tiny space that was just for me, and as I've just expanded into a big bright sunny room, it was time for something new for there too.
I have a soft spot for alphabets and lettering and calligraphy.........hence the paper. The hardest thing to do was decide which part of the paper to cut into.
Now I have a place to put all the rulers and pieces of dowel and random tools instead of putting them in a drawer and never finding them again.
Its a good thing that I have friends across the world, they celebrate different things and different days.......and Halloween is just one. Once upon a time I would have muttered about how Australia is being swallowed by other countries and their customs, but now I have to admit to liking the richer tapestry it all makes...................and that's my philosophical musing for today.
The lovely Poobahs at Opus Gluei are mostly from the American continent, so they know all about Halloween and they're slowly teaching me. The challenge this week has a Halloween theme so I incorporated a digi from Make it Crafty. I like how he unravels, and I like to think he's a little zombie-like, which ties him to my group of Zombie Outbreak Response Unit friends. Simon, see what you've done!
I like the shiny bat, made with the help of some Stampin' Up Crystal Effects, and to emphasise the link to my favourite ZORU, I had to use the orange spooky cobweb paper.
It is no secret that I love making ATC; they're tiny little snapshots of an idea, they dont need to have sentiments carefully positioned, they can have all sorts of things in juxtaposition and not look out of place.....because they're so small.
Here are three I made for a Purple Challenge set up by some friends here in Australia.
Have just realised that they all glitter, which combined with purple makes them most unusual for me. I freely admit that some challenges are a bit like the books chosen at my Book Club, forcing me to do things I would not ordinarily do/read/combine/bother with at all!! Just goes to show that it didn't hurt at all.
....and for the most recent challenge at Opus Gluei, we had to use clocks or time or something related to time....and I made these two. I think inspiration deserted me, but the clocks are there.
The sentiment says "An unhurried sense of time is in itself a form of wealth", and I like that thought. These stamps are an old Stampin' Up set, as are the embossed cogs in the top picture.
Other people's time related work can be found here.
The trouble with being on holidays is that I'm so busy doing new things that I forget to do usual things.....one of those is the ironing, but I'm not hurrying to do that any time soon. So this is catch-up post to keep track of things.
First some birthday cards I made for dear friends and just in time for the Birthday Challenge at Opus Gluei. The first one was for my friend Ann and is a long way outside my comfort-zone, but right in hers. We've been friends for so long that I have to make sure I dont ever make two cards the same for her....
I wanted it to be bright and cheerful, and to have nothing pink (but that's just because she and I have an understanding about that)....so it has ribbon and bling and fluffy flowers, and its a beautiful gentle orange instead.
The second card is for Emmy, my walking buddy, my recipe-sharing buddy, my dear friend.
It grew from the tiny piece of blue and black embossed paper. The photograph makes it look more sombre than it is in real life. Can't believe I still have some of this ribbon left - a gift from Lisa several years ago, and carefully hoarded ever since!
If you missed the birthday challenge, you can see what everyone else did here.
Over at Opus Gluei this week , there's request to show off some of the things you love to do, but use an ATC to do it. Think of an ATC as your artistic business card...its about that size after all (three and half inches by two and a half inches)(I have NO IDEA what that is in metrics, and I don't care to know either. Inches are so much more do-able)...........
So I went back to what I love the most, which is the muted palette of black, grey, brown..........and came up with these two.... The first makes use of grey gauze ribbon to make both a background and an accent, plus a little piece of wood grained Kaisercraft paper, and my very favourite Scrabble-letters paper too. The second one had to have a touch of orange to lift the black and cream. There's a scrap of handmade silky paper and a matching butterfly about to land on the spidery leaves.
Then, just because it was there, I used up the last of a lovely paper square from a Taylored Expressions kit from several years ago. It reminded of me of the garden today - the beginning of Spring and the first tiny blossoms attracting bees. In my garden there is an old willow tree that has seen better days, but in Spring, all the straggly branches throw out new shoots and the bees come and fill the air with buzzing.
ATCs can be like windows into your craft - what do your windows show?
Once upon a time four friends traveled between the islands of the Cyclades, stopping to sample fresh fish, cocktails in the evening sun, and the warm Mediterranean breezes. It was unforgettable.
The OG challenge to capture something of the essence of a vacation, real or imagined, lead me to revisit that memorable time and create some ATCs with a tiny bit of the flavour of the time.
First a little of the stark beauty that is Thira.....
...antiquities around every corner......
....and walking under strings of octopus drying in the sun.
Proves that I wasn't silly to save those little bits of ephemera afterall.
I love being part of a team that is spread across the ocean....over on the other side of the world its nothing like the winter weather we have here in Melbourne, but I can dream.....
So for a challenge that's all about the bountiful harvest of summer I had to put my nose outside my blankets. This little ATC makes me think it might be summer soon....and when it rolls around, I'll sit on a rug in the sun and eat strawberries..........
I discovered a strip of bunting from kaisercraft and it was just the right colour for these little circles. The string and papers are all from TE kits and FINALLY the busy room shelves are little emptier!
I almost got myself into SO MUCH trouble this week..... Its a secret only a few people will understand, and they're the ones I'm apologising to.
So, before I forget anything else, this is a post to show just what you could do with a book that was anything but a good read. You need a cutting board, a sharp knife, a template of half the piece of fruit, and a paperback you can sacrifice. Bend the spine right back a few times, and if no pages fall out, or the spine doesn't crack in half, that means the binding glue is flexible enough to make one of these.
,,,,and then pop over to Opus Gluei and enter our challenge. Its all about books this week.
.JPG)
.JPG)
