BIFF, BrisStylin' & Beanies!

It’s BIFF time! The annual Brisbane International Film Festival starts tomorrow and I’m so excited! The festival always has such a diverse and eclectic range of films on offer, and this year is looking just as good as previous years. 10 glorious days of World Cinema, Aussie Cinema, Retrospectives, a spotlight on British films, Docos, Experimental films, short films, seminars, workshops and so much more! One of the highlights that I’m most looking forward to is the Heath Ledger event. Heath Ledger has been announced as the 2008 Chauvel Award recipient in honour of his contribution to Australian cinema. Hosting this event will be David Stratton from At The Movies, with friends and colleagues of Heath Ledger in attendance. The tickets for this event went up for sale last week, so if you’re interested in going along, check the website pronto. They were selling fast but there may still be some availabe. Do you have a favourite Heath Ledger film? My favourite is this one.


There's another fun thing happening in Brisbane, and it's coming to an end just as BIFF begins. It's a cool giveaway that Amanda, a very talented children's illustrator and designer, is having over at her Twinkle Star Art blog. You have the chance to win this adorable Space Rocket art print!


To enter, head on over here, submit an idea for a quote to go with the illustration and vote for your preferred space boy. Be quick! The competition ends on 31st July. That's tomorrow! So make like a speedy supercharged rocket and zip on over there NOW! Amanda is part of BrisStyle, a talented & supportive group of artists and crafters who live in Brisbane, Australia, and sell their creations on Etsy. I’m also a proud member of BrisStyle. They let me join their cool gang. And I didn’t even have to bribe them with jelly beans or anything. Phew! Coz I don’t like sharing my jelly beans. Check in on the BrisStyle blog for updates, featured artists, news & further info. I’ll also be blogging next week about something big brewing in the BrisStyle camp that will be happening during the second week of August. So stay tuned for details!

That’s it. Enough waffling from me. It’s so cold that my fingers are frozen and I can no longer feel them hitting the keyboard. I’m even wearing three beanies right now. Yes, three! Which very much gives the impression of something resembling a large pumpkin being attached to my neck, rather than the average sized noggin that I do in fact have. I think my head is of average size. I’ve not been told otherwise. It may be that people are simply too polite to say. Either way I'm too cold to care. I hate winter. Grumble grumble grumble...

See you in the shadows on Sunday!

Shadow Shot Sunday #10

I’ve been very fortunate over the last few weeks with receiving blog awards. I received another during this week, which appears to be very similar to the one I posted about last Sunday. So perhaps I shouldn’t have accepted it, but I was so happy to receive this award because it’s from Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s The House in Marrakesh blog, for those who don’t know (and may not have read my first SSS post) was the inspiration behind this little Shadow Shot Sunday project. Since writing my first SSS post Elizabeth has moved from her beloved Morocco and is now living and blogging in New York. The sights and images featured on Elizabeth’s About New York blog are obviously vastly different to those of Morocco, but equally as exciting and inspiring to me. So, a huge and huggy heartfelt thanks to you Elizabeth. Not only for the award, but for simply being YOU. xo


As I already passed this award along last week I’ll not pass it on again. For those who received it last week, if a clumsy dog, cat, friend, child or significant other accidentally knocked it over and it shattered into a gazillion pieces, you need to worry about gluing it back together. Here is a nice shiny new replacement.

The Shadow Gallery collage this week features one photo from each of the participants from last Sunday. Thanks again y’all for playing! If you'd like to participate, shoot a shadow, post it on your blog on Sunday (or near enough to Sunday), add your link to Mr Linky and visit other participants. Have fun!

Shadow Gallery – Skipping Tickets Making Rhymes


The Shooters
1. AnnetteHanigan 2. SweetRepose 3. NeutralDwelling 4. Paz'sNewYorkMinute 5. RosebudCollection 6. Charlie&Grace 7. BubbleBabble 8. Fog&Thistle 9. LaVieEstBelle 10. Lisa'sRetroStyle 11. AboutNewYork 12. Gingerbread 13. HighDesertDiva 14. ThisGirlLovesToTalk 15. PP-Designs 16. GreyscaleTerritory

Here's my Shadow Shot Sunday #10


I’ve noticed a few people composing poems to accompany their shadow shots. A really nice idea as I’ve always had an appreciation for poetry. I thought I’d give it a go and so here is my little poem that I wrote to go with my shadow shot this week.

In the palm of my hand,
a camera.
Now a palm in my hand,
in my camera.
Why did the palm cross the road?
To escape my poetry…
And to provide shade to a butt-of-all-jokes chick

Ok, I’ll never inflict upon you fine folk my poor attempts at poetry again. Promise! Happy Sunday!

Shadow Shot Sunday Participants

1. Lisa's RetroStyle 2. Charlie & Grace 3. Bubble Babble 4. Paz's New York Minute 5. Bobbie 6. Gemma

7. Sweet Repose 8. Annette 9. Morning Has Broken 10. Elizabeth Schmid 11. ctmott 12. High Desert Diva

13. ppdesigns 14. About New York 15. LazyTcrochet 16. La Vie Est Belle

Learn more about Shadow Shot Sunday here.

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Abba-Dabba-Do!

I went to see the movie Mamma Mia yesterday. This movie was not of my choosing as I had no interest whatsoever in seeing it. I’ve never been a big Abba fan or a fan of musicals on the screen in general. The storyline was far from riveting with a flimsy thin plot, the directing haphazard, the singing cringe-worthy (especially Pierce Brosnan! Yikes!), and the choreography was terrible. But I thoroughly enjoyed every single minute of this ridiculous movie! The experience was like viewing an english language version of a bollywood movie set on a Greek Island. 108 minutes of hilarious super cheesy mindless fun was had. So do I recommend this film? Yep! I doooo, I do, I do, I do, I do, I doooo! ABBAsolutely fabulous! I’ve been belting out Dancing Queen into my hairbrush ever since seeing the silly thing.


I’ve finally added some new things to my shop. Yay! The above are four pics of the six original paintings on canvas stretchers that I’ve just listed. I’ve been reluctant to list paintings on canvas before now because I thought the postage would be too steep. Recently I posted a painting overseas to a friend as a birthday gift and discovered that the international postage wasn’t as high as I’d imagined. It’s certainly still higher than I’d like it to be, but not quite as crazy as I first thought. So I’ll see how they go. If nothing else they’ll spruce up my shop with more colour and make it look prettier. I’m happy about that! I’m also happy about having another exhibition coming up. It’s in less than two weeks. And I’m less than half way finished preparing for it. Aaaarrrgh! So I’d better get to it now. If only I can manage to ditch my hairbrush for a paintbrush. Nah, all good. I have two hands! Dancing Queen, feel the beat from the tambourine, OH YEAH…

Shadow Shot Sunday #9

Shadow Shot Sunday! Two Shadow Gallery collages this week featuring one photo from each of the participants from last Sunday. I love all these photos, they were so fun to create collages with! Please let me know if you ever notice a mistake with any of The Shooters links. If there's a spelling error or a broken link or something just leave a comment saying so or bounce me an email and I'll correct it pronto. I do try to check them before publishing but I'm sure I'll stuff up occasionally. Maybe even more than occasionally. I have to say that creating the links isn't as much fun as creating the collages! If you'd like to participate, shoot a shadow, post it on your blog on Sunday (or near enough to Sunday), add your link to Mr Linky and visit other participants. Have fun!

Shadow Gallery - The Light That Will Cease To Fail


The Shooters
1. GreyscaleTerritory 2. AboutNewYork 3. AnnetteHanigan 4. Epinoza'sLove 5. LaVieEstBelle 6. PP-Designs 7. ThisGirlLovesToTalk 8. MorningHasBroken 9. BubbleBabble

Shadow Gallery - The Seeming & the Meaning


The Shooters
1. Fog&Thistle 2. ZanesMilkMachine 3. Paz'sNewYorkMinute 4. Lisa'sRetroStyle 5. RosebudCollection 6. Gingerbread 7. HighDesertDiva 8. SweetRepose 9. Charlie&Grace

Here's my Shadow Shot Sunday #9


I received an award from Bec from The Small Stuff blog during the week. It's always nice receiving awards, especially when they're from people who have blogs that you think so highly of and regularly visit. Yes, Bec has one such blog. It's one of my favourites! I love Bec's kick-arse writing style, crazy sense of humour and super fun photos! I can't recommend or gush about Bec's blog enough, so just go visit if you've not had the pleasure of doing so already. You'll love and enjoy it as much as I do. Guaranteed! Thanks so much Bec for the award, but more importantly thanks for having such an entertaining & superb blog that truly rocks!


I'm passing this award along to all Shadow Shot Sunday players. Past and present participants. Again. I'm sorry if this seems lazy but what can I say? I love you guys! So there! Happy Sunday!

Shadow Shot Sunday Participants

1. Rosebud Collection 2. Bubble Babble 3. Neutral Dwelling 4. Bobbie 5. Gemma 6. Annette

7. M.Kate 8. Charlie and Grace 9. Lisa's RetroStyle 10. Sweet Repose 11. Fog and Thistle 12. ppdesigns

13. Gina 14. High Desert Diva 15. Paz's New York Minute 16. Elizabeth

Learn more about Shadow Shot Sunday here.

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A-Wop-Bop-A-Loo-Bop!

I was tagged by the lovely Gina from Gingerbread blog a few days ago. Normally I run the other way when tagged. I’m shy. And yes you can run in cyberland. From the comfort of your chair while sipping coffee, devouring chocolate cake and not even getting your shoes scuffed in the process of sprinting away. And as an added bonus it’s not likely that birds will poop on your head (a regular occurrence for me…). The tag is to post seven favourite songs that I’m currently listening to. As I LOVE music I thought this would be a bit of fun. I should have made one of those cool mixwit tapes so that you could play the songs but I figured you probably don’t really care to hear them. So I did a mock-up of a magazine cover using fd's flickr toys instead. Seemed a more fun way of sharing my fave tunes than simply listing them.


I’m really interested in knowing what music those of you who visit my blog are into, though I’ll leave it up to you whether you wish to share your faves, so I’ll not tag anybody in particular. If you’d like to play, simply share your favourite seven songs that you’re currently enjoying. They can be any style or genre (even C&W if that's your thang!) with vocals or purely instrumental. Whatever. As long as they are songs that you are enjoying now. It's not meant to be a list of your all-time favourite songs. Although they would make interesting lists also. Gosh, why not make two lists. Current faves & all-time faves! Yeah go all-out crazy! And dance around the house like a loon while compiling your lists! Fans of gothic music may prefer bustin' out the 'I am a frond of sullen seaweed' dance moves in a dark corner perhaps. Click here to discover Gina’s current faves, including the video clips. If you’re an 80s music fan you’ll dig Gina's selection!

Currently I’m in the process of finishing some new things and getting ready to add them to my Etsy shop. They’ll be original paintings in the same kitsch lowbrow kind of style that I do (eg: artwork in mag cover above) but on a bigger scale than my ACEOs. Hopefully this time next week I’ll be listing them and posting a couple of photos here on my blog. Unless of course I waste time procrastinating (another regular occurrence for me but much more fun than the first one mentioned). In which case, this time next week you may find yet another mag cover mock-up with more favourite songs…

In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your week and see you in the shadows on Sunday!

Shadow Shot Sunday #8

Shadow Shot Sunday! Gosh Sundays are rolling around quickly! This is the eighth shadow shot I’ve posted, so I’ve been doing this for 2 months now. I often lose interest in things all too quickly, so I’m really happy that I’m still enjoying shooting shadows. I think what continues to make it enjoyable for me is seeing how creative others are. Yes, you the participants keep me motivated & inspired! Thanks again for playing & sharing your creativity. The Shadow Gallery collage this week was compiled using one photo from each of the participants from last Sunday. If you’d like to participate, shoot a shadow, post it on your blog on Sunday (or near enough to Sunday), add your link to Mr Linky and visit other participants. Have fun!

Shadow Gallery - "I'm feeling very unsettled" - Cammie Cat


The Shooters
1. SweetRepose 2. Paz'sNewYorkMinute 3. HighDesertDiva 4. BubbleBabble 5. HouseInMarrakesh 6. Charlie&Grace 7. AboutNewYork 8. LaVieEstBelle 9. GreyscaleTerritory 10. MorningHasBroken 11. AnnetteHanigan 12. Lisa'sRetroStyle 13. HeyHarriet 14. RosebudCollection 15. ThisGirlLovesToTalk 16. Espinoza'sLove

Here's my Shadow Shot Sunday #8


A big thanks to Lisa from Lisa’s Retro Style blog for giving me this rather adorable little award! I think your blog is a fun read also Lisa! I love all those vintage & retro goodies you feature and just one of these days I will eventually win one of your awesome monthly giveaways! Lisa has two fab Etsy shops, LisabRetroStyle carries a range of vintage supplies and cool re-purposed vintage creations made by Lisa. The other shop, LisabRetroStyle2 offers commercially made vintage goods, from homewares and collectibles through to the delightfully kitsch! Both are fun visits for lovers of vintage!


This award didn’t come with any rules so I’ll just make them up and pass the award along to the lovely folk participating in Shadow Shot Sunday. Either current participants, or those who have played along in the past. Happy Sunday!

Shadow Shot Sunday Participants

1. Bubble Babble 2. ppdesigns 3. Paz's New York Minute 4. Bobbie 5. Gemma 6. M.Kate

7. Shannon 8. Gina 9. Charlie and Grace 10. Lisa's RetroStyle 11. Sweet Repose 12. Fog and Thistle

13. ctmott 14. Elizabeth 15. High Desert Diva 16. Annette 17. Michelle Pendergrass 18. Morning

Learn more about Shadow Shot Sunday here.

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An Author's Nightmare?

Book sculpture, altered book making, and book surgery, are just some of the names given to art that is made by using books as the primary material for the artwork. Books may be carved up, sliced, glued, pages cut, folded, burnt, or any other number of techniques may be applied to create book art. While this style of art has many admirers, it’s not a form of art that is respected by all, with some people finding the ‘destruction’ of books to be quite confronting. I LOVE the written word. I love books and they are certainly things to be treasured. For this reason I do understand why people have issues with book art. I’m a little torn on the subject as I can also appreciate some of the beautiful works of art that have been transformed from books. If artists can revive and give new life to old neglected books that have been discarded and not likely to be read again and enjoyed then I believe this is a good thing. It’s not as though individual titles published are generally one-offs anyways. Right? Most have large print runs. Right? Right. Yes, I’m ok with this. Just so long as none of my beloved books are used I’m even more ok with it.


This piece I absolutely adore! It’s called Byrd House and is by Sarah Rebekah Byrd Mizer. To view more amazing book art by Sarah click here.


This is Melbourne artist Nicholas Jones in his studio with some samples of his book sculptures. I’m somebody who will rant furiously about dog-eared page corners in books, yet surprisingly enough I do love these intricately folded book pages. To read a wonderful interview with Nicholas Jones on The Design Files blog, click here.

"The only important thing in a book is the meaning it has for you"
- W. Somerset Maugham

Shadow Shot Sunday #7

According to Dr. Carl Jung, the shadow is prone to project: turning a personal inferiority into a perceived moral deficiency in someone else. Jung writes that if these projections are unrecognized "the projection-making factor (the Shadow archetype) then has a free hand and can realize its object, if it has one, or bring about some other situation characteristic of its power." These projections insulate and cripple individuals by forming an ever thicker fog of illusion between the ego and the real world. Jung also believed that "in spite of its function as a reservoir for human darkness, or perhaps because of this, the shadow is the seat of creativity." – (excerpt from wikipedia)

Hmmm. Make of that what you will. Moving on now from the shadow psychobabble to the Shadow Gallery collages! I created two more this week using some of the super shots from participants. I’m constantly amazed by the clever and diverse range of beautiful photos I see each week from everybody. You're all so inspiring! Sandra from Bubble Babble has been uploading the collages into her blog sidebar, so go take a look. Onya Sandra for spreading the SSS love and featuring everybody’s photos in cute miniture versions! They look fantastic! If you’d like to participate, shoot a shadow, post it on your blog, add your link to Mr Linky found at the bottom of this post & visit other players. Have fun!

The following collages I made while listening to the latest Portishead CD. How good is this CD!?! I’ve been playing it to death for the last month. A haunting collection of gloomy and grainy film noir atmospherics that just seems to get better & better with each listen. The amazingly affecting voice of Beth Gibbons is just as captivating now as it was on their debut Dummy CD from over a decade ago. An incredible release, years in the making but oh boy was it well worth the wait! Sure, it’s hardly happy-go-lucky sunshiny, slurping on strawberry ice cream kind of music, but still very beautiful in an unconventional & spooky kind of way. Everybody should rush out & buy this CD. Seriously!

Shadow Gallery - From Little Things Big Things Grow


The Shooters
1. Lisa'sRetroStyle 2. XueOriginals 3. HouseInMarrakesh 4. LaVieEstBelle 5. Charlie&Grace 6. B&W&Colours 7. RosebudCollection 8. HouseInMarrakesh 9. XueOriginals

Shadow Gallery - Coll-Age of Exploration


The Shooters
1. AnnetteHanigan 2. RosebudCollection 3. GreyscaleTerritory 4. Gingerbread 5. BubbleBabble 6. AboutNewYork 7. ZanesMilkMachine 8. Charlie&Grace 9. HighDesertDiva

Here's my Shadow Shot Sunday #7


“Ducks don’t need satellites / They don’t need satellites / They most likely think the sky ends blue / Don’t you wish you did too?” – lyrics from “Ducks Don’t Need Satellites” by Kate Miller-Heidke

Oh & while you're all rushing out to buy the latest Portishead CD, I also recommend that you pick up a copy of Kate Miller-Heidke's Little Eve CD. It's also brilliant! And, if you can manage to track down a copy that includes the limited edition bonus disc, all the better. On the bonus disc Kate does a wacky and highly entertaining operatic version of the classic Talking Heads song Psycho Killer. Your life will be all the more richer after having heard this song. I swear it will! Happy Sunday.

Shadow Shot Sunday Participants

1. La Vie Est Belle 2. Morning Has Broken 3. House in Marrakesh 4. Bubble Babble 5. Gemma 6. Paz's New York Minute

7. Charlie and Grace 8. Shannon 9. High Desert Diva 10. Bobbie 11. ctmott 12. Elizabeth

13. Annette 14. Lisa's RetroStyle 15. Sweet Repose

Learn more about Shadow Shot Sunday here.

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Sneaker Pimp Pop Wall

The Sunday Arts Program on ABC TV is inviting people to submit photos to their website for inclusion in their online art gallery. They are specifically seeking photos of public art in your community. Submissions are not restricted to Australian residents only. Public art from all over the globe is welcome. So if you have some interesting public art where you live why not take a photo, upload it and share. Or you may already have some photos of public art that you’ve taken while visiting other areas, so you could upload those. There is a lot of ‘commissioned’ public art around Brisbane but much of it doesn’t appeal to me. I often find the ‘non-commissioned’ public art more interesting. I took this photo of some stencil art I found in New Farm a while back & just uploaded it.


You probably can’t make out the Andy Warhol quote, but it’s one of my favourites of his. “Art is what you can get away with”...and it is indeed Andy!

I'd like to wish you American folk a very happy Independence Day!


Enjoy your 4th of July celebrations, whether it be BBQs in the backyard with friends & family or bikini-clad frolicking in the ocean while twirling pretty polka dot umbrellas. Have fun & stay safe!