Life in Perth Slideshow Slideshow

Life in Perth Slideshow Slideshow: TripAdvisor™ TripWow ★ Life in Perth Slideshow Slideshow ★ to Perth. Stunning free travel slideshows on TripAdvisor

Discovered great vintage design clipart

Great blog with free vintage graphics!  http://www.graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/

Daughters of the brothel - Witness - Al Jazeera English

Daughters of the brothel - Witness - Al Jazeera English

Singing bell rocks - Blackstone- Western Australia

Team work mandala

When you work in harmony - you always have something in common.  We'll be facilitating children's workshops all day at the inauguration of the WA Visual Arts Expo.  Book your child in for any of the workshops.  See more about this event  at http://www.fabartevents.com.au/

Mandala Art Class -

After doing a whole group mandala from all sorts of left over bits lying around in the art room (feathers, caps, popsticks, straws, beads etc.) the students designed their own mandalas. They were very animated with the idea of it being a ritual to solve problems and that all things in life have a centre. We'll now scan these for personalised cards and duplicate the patterns for the use in designing a clothing item or the floor of a building etc. Come back to see more as it all evolves

PERTH MORNING - SKYLINE

Woke to the most beautiful skyline this morning. Taken from lounge upstairs in Duncraig. I love living in Perth.

My guard dog

I sleep well each day knowing that my guard dog is always ready and poised for action

ngaanyatjarra western australia wanarn

The countdown has begun to visit the most remote region of Western Australia - The Wanarn Community in the Gibson Desert.  We're calling this the 'Thelma and Lou' trip as we're both ladies of a certain age, teachers seeking out adventure.  As an immigrant, I cannot wait to meet the Ngaanyatjarra people and hopefully learn as much as we can over the three week period.  Somewhere in between all our own learning we hope the Wanarn people will enjoy what we can offer as artists and educators.  Experience tells me, like all other trips we've been on - we'll come away with intangible life time memories.

We kick start the trip with  a journey to Uluru..... we'll spend just over 24 hours there, hoping to catch this spiritual ground in all its glory with each passing light.  Apart from the obvious - that this is one of the wonders of the world - it's also an early celebration of our birthdays - Marg bursting the seams of sixties and Lou -that's moi - facing the Uluru of 50!

Know anything about Wanarn and the Ngaanyatjarra people - I'd love to hear from you - 10 days to go !
http://thrivinginthedesert.blogspot.com/2008/10/warakurna-artists-and-wanarn-aged-care.html

http://www.environment.gov.au/indigenous/ipa/declared/ngaanyatjarra.html

ARTIST ALERT 26th July 2011 - UWA VISUAL ARTS EXPO

Are you a professional artist wanting to network and be part of the UWA inaugral Visual Arts Expo.  Then check out the following site.  http://www.fabartevents.com.au/.  The FABART team spearheaded by Leanne Pearson  brings to Perth a Visual Arts event that provides a unique opportunity for talented local artists to showcase their works of art, connecting the artist with the community.
There will will an all day kids art activities stand, making it a great day out.  Children will participate in the making of mandalas, shields and swords, recycling bottles into chalices and of course face painting for the little ones - great family day out.

Funny children

Did you know that children laugh on average 300 times a day - that includes a smile - while adults manage a mer 15 on average. 

Doodling and Editing in Picnic

Fairbridge an explosion of folk and colour - ABC South West WA - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Fairbridge an explosion of folk and colour - ABC South West WA - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

FABULOUS MUSICIANS ALL DAY AND NIGHT - GOT TO BED AT 2AM

NON MAINSTREAM KIDS SHINE

FAIRBRIDGE VILLAGE CHAPEL

FAIRBRIDGE GLASS ARTIST

Decorating - Interior Design for people with average budgets

South Africa - Decorex - Interior Design Trade Show has amazing innovative design companies exhibiting that support small business initiatives that create employment for the people

http://www.decorex.co.za/

About 2% of the world can probably afford the seductive items constantly on display in glossy magazines.  The rest of us have to feel inspired and then rely on some self styled creativity - and I like it that way.  Every time I'm not snookered into an overpriced garment or soft furnishing  but achieve the same look with my personal creativity I feel amazing.

I am sharing that creativity with you now as friends have for the last 30 years asked me to. 
Once again there is no order but each time I find an object and transform it, a garment or a room you'll be the first to know.  I'll break down the costs and tell you exactly how I did it.
To get you started here are a few tips : -

• If everyone else is doing it - stay away from it
• Unless you're a female cheetah on the hunt take it easy with animal print on your body
• Everyone is creative - someone just needs to help you open the door
• Walk through your home and count the textures - minimising textures throughout your home brings it down to a skeletal level providing a canvas for beautiful objects to live within
• A home is not a clinic therefore it needs objects of comfort :- lamps, books, rugs
• Each door in your home takes up at least a square metre .... mmmm.... that's a lot of space
• What is the worst thing that can happen if you experiment  with a new colour - exactly no one is going to hurt you.
• Have a new home and want to put your stamp on it - live in it for 2 years before you make major changes - the way you use your home only becomes apparent over all the seasons
• Quick facelifts - doorhandles, lights, planting,paint
• Think of each item in your home as occupying space - Space=Rent - the more space you need = the more rent.
  
  

CUTTLEFISH CARVINGS

I carved this with a skewer

Soft and easy to work with

 

Fairbridge Festival - Pinjarra - Western Australia

 This is the best value  weekend going in Western Australia.  Global artists unite for a non mainstream weekend.  This is not your shopping 'mall' crowd.  This is not the plastic crap stallholder brigade.  This is magic!

FAIRBRIDGE FESTIVAL - WESTERN AUSTRALIA

The place to be this weekend : - http://youtu.be/aCJc5hujyEY

Girl and Cat painting

I have always loved naiive art and have a great collection of students drawings.  Picasso made reference to the difficulty of relearning to draw like a child - uncluttering.  This painting was inspired by my afternoon walks in Sorowako, Sulawesi - a small village I lived in for ten years.  After bathing in the lake , the young girls would sit and soak up the last light of day while grooming their cats. 

TRAVEL

http://www.travelpod.com/traveler-iq  Great game - sharpens the brain on where places are.  North/East Africa  and Russia is  my weakness.

NO AGENDAS

Probably the most liberating state of being is when you accept not all the people you nurture  or have nurtured in your past are going to come through for you.  This is good, because you shouldn't have had that expectation in the first place.  Just be, give and receive in grace but don't wait for the thank you or kill the gift of receiving with too much generosity in reciprocation - it's ok - people can be good to one another without an agenda.  Go forth and conquer.  Having lived this way now for at least 15 years it still amazes me how uncomfortable people feel in a non agenda situation.  It's like you've removed the rules and it takes them a few weeks of hesitance before they accept there is no expectation of reciprococity and each time that happens I feel we're making a small inroad on expanding the empire of No Agendas.

Drop Box

" Tell me honestly...."

You're kidding right.  How many people have been showered with glory for telling the truth.    It's more a case of tell me truth  - according to my truth.  When someone says tell me the truth - know that they are already very clear what that truth should sound like. 

Guilford Perth - Christchurch Grammar

'Tell me the truth'is synonomous with 'be the mirror to my thoughts'.  It has no bearing on the truth at all.   Ever had this experience? 

LOL

Unless you're 15 and under then I don't think so. Visions of hair tossed back and screaming with laughter as you giggle at the bus stop or pouring over My Space - yes - I get it - but anyone over 45 writing LOL - I don't get it. It's not our language, so we have to find an alternative because our generation using LOL is the cyber equivalent of 'mutton dressed up like lamb', mind you these days with the obesity crisis it's more like mutton dressed up as ham. I don't know what the answer is but it will come to me. We don't want to be digital dinosaurs but we also don't want to be the cyber equivalent of grannies in shorts and high heels.

I want to cut that tree down

In fact, I was quite adamont , even got as far as getting a quote from the arborist. Come the given day, two '28's' were fluttering about and we commented that they had all the makings of a honeymoon couple. Within the hour, I realised this to be true and cancelled the treecutter. If newlyweds wanted to set up outside my bedroom window, then all we could do is respond to the compliment by being good role models to our young neighbours. Apparently they learned a lot because 3 days and a morning ago , a sweet little tweet popped its head out and surveyed its neighbourhood. Some may consider Cocos Palms demolition worthy but for others its pure penthouse.

We're now a family of nine.

For the love of doodling

sculptures by the sea Cottesloe, Perth, Western Australia

I have always doodled and should you venture through my home you will notice that nothing is immune. Phonebooks, recipe books, notepads, journals all show my particular brand of graffiti - doodling. Many a lecturer and teacher has taken offence to my habit and have been equally taken aback when I ask the most critical question just at the point of completing my artwork in the middle of their talk.

Study: Doodling Helps You Pay Attention
Recently Time magazine ran an article on  the benefits of doodling, how it relaxed the brain brought it to neutral and cleared the way to excellent concentration - a study by an English psychologist, Jackie Andrade, Ph.D,  found that doodlers absorbed up to 30% more information than non doodlers, which  means when we, the doodlers are  on hold with the phone company, doodling and being calm as we get transferred from one extension to the next - we, the doodlers of the world -  remember better than the rest of you that 'your call is important to us'.