At Last!

Somehow I believe that after witnessing Camille in concert, my whole taste in live music has evolved and I will continue to go to see musicians who likewise push the boundaries with their music. It is such a treat to the ears to hear something fresh and unknown, like tasting exotic fruit in the Daintree. I missed the chance to see Death Cab for Cutie, who happens to be one of my favourites, I wasn't really sure at the time why I was resisting buying a ticket, but alas they sold out and I missed out on seeing them last night. Now 'at last!' I know what I was waiting for, the chance to See The Do and M83 in musical glory on the 31st of March, what could be sweeter?

Why that would be Melbourne's favourite venue The Hi-Fi, moving in West-End! They are kicking off with The Drones, a free concert! and future dates include our most beloved Kate Miller-Heidke! Love it xx.

Always on this Line

So the time has come around to submit to the Annual Kickarts Insider Postcard Exhibition, with the theme of 'line'. Last year I attemped to create work for it no less than four times! But nothing stuck and I couldn't come up with anything I could happily submit for my inaugural exhibited artwork. But this year there was no more excuses, and I have been chipping away at this 8x10 piece reguarly and am almost about to post it away. I am considering making a matching soft doll as a sculptural piece but that I haven't started. One piece is a great start. If you are looking for a piece of intricate, textile artistry for a wall near you exhibition opens on Friday 24th April 2009, silent bidding starts at just $40. Be there or be square xx.

Art College Girl

For as long as I can remember, I have dreamed of going to art college. Attending life drawing classes, discovering the history of my lifelong passion in art and being surrounded by a motley crew of creative people and the fruits of their hard work, including hopefully mine.

So the moment has finally arrived for me to take the plunge and throw myself whole heartedly into art college experience and product design in particular. So far it has been everything I have dreamed of and more, and it has barely begun. I the excitement and satisfaction is mostly due to the realization that I am there now, I did it and nobody can take this opportunity away from me and I haven't been dooped, there is so much to be gained from attending. The remaining excitement is derived from my nerdish reading into my course outlines and finding out that yes I will be doing 6 weeks of life drawing, I will grow rounded knowledge of post-modern and modern art history and I will be completing design assessments that will prepare me for an actual career in design, not to mention hopefully making lifelong like-minded friends.

No joke, I've been getting involentary excitement quivers that I am living out the cliche' of attending art college as many greats have done before me including Andy Warhol, John & Cynthia Lennon, Mark Rothko & Edie Sedgewick, just to name a few. Ah it feels so bloody good to be doing what you love! Don't fight it xx

Curvy 6

This is a new artwork titled 'Coral' that I have submitted with two other works for the Yen Magazine publication of Curvy 6, which features the work of 100 fabulously talented young female illustrators and designers from all sectors of the globe. I just hope that I might be one of them, if not this year next xx.

Another year older

Today I start another year of life and living. In theme with how I think the upcoming year will pan out, I am riding the big day in quite a grown up independent way! I worked this morning from 7am! and treated myself to a cute Valentines Day cupcake, which could have been fluffier and more delicious, but was an incredible sight for sore eyes. Tonight I am going for Champagne and movies, which should be a nice finish for the day. I have had a facebook full of lovely messages, and a text message inbox also, so I'm feeling loved enough, even if my loved ones are far away. My nana and my bestie have pre warned me not to expect my card in the mail today, which gave me a chuckle (I don't mind!). A dear friend said that if he was a millionaire he would buy me lots of Chanel merchandise but I know that it wouldn't make me any happier, friendships are far more vaulable. I may treat myself to a nice new bag, that is more expensive than I would usually spend, but I think I will just stick to having a bank account with actual money in it!

Camille, I adore you

On Sunday Night was the most captivating live performance I have ever witnessed, by the most amazing woman I have had the pleasure and fortune of sharing a room with; the lovely Camille. The perfomer emerges from darkness wearing a orange cape and fluro orange socks; she begins with a whisper. Like a true performer, she does not reveal her outstanding skill, as well as that of her backup performers at once, but gradually song by song. Aside from Camille, a pianist, two multi talented beat boxers, two body percussionists and two backup singers graced the stage and as you can imagine created a multifacited depth of sound layers. One could not pick a moment during the show where one of the performers were slightly underperforming, they were all giving it their all; professional and talented.

Camille is absolutely wild, a gypsy at heart absolutely no inhibitions. Her vocal cords and body make the most suprising noises and movements, I long to be this carefree, it is truely an inspiration to watch and hear. Unlike most concerts where you have a blare of massive speakers, the Brisbane Powerhouse catered for her instrumentation that included patting their hearts, tapping their feet, swinging a fluro orange skipping rope to imitate the sound of waves, wobble boards! on the quieter side as well as the cries of Camille and the backup vocals and pianos; my ears heard everything. As you probably already know I LOVE COLOUR, and I was delighted to find an ongoing theme of orange, which she used to create narrative for the stage show.

Camille also has a remarkable sense of humour, something I could also do with more of! But nevertheless I laughed out loud many times; when she made one of her beat boxers be a koala and continued to steal his shirt when he was "sleeping" in the microphone stand tree and also managed to take two shirts from men in the audience and crafted a gypsy skirt from them which which so sported oh so fashionably, as the French can do with ease! Speaking of humour and fashion, one of my favourite moments in the performance was when Camille came out in a floor length black Audrey dress with black gloves; she was a vision of glamour and grace. Midway through the song, she turned around to reveal a cut out section in the dress that revealed her bum crack! Classic! Oh I could go on and on, but really there is nothing more to say than Camille, I adore you xx.

Yes , yes, Bloody Hell... YES!

"For the million, billion things which lie in wait for us every hour of the day, to please our sight and fill our eyes with perfection. I shall envy no man, for the things which are precious and everlasting can be found in our own heart. Yes, with the help of God, and with no other mortal ever to know … I shall do great things."

- Florence Broadhurst, before she began

So it is official, I got into the Bachelor of Design at Griffith University, Queensland College of Art in Southbank, Brisbane. Although I was advised I would have no trouble, I was still nervously anticipating my results with QTAC. Seriously art world, here I come; there will be no stopping me now xx.

A time comes to say goodbye

It is about time that I farewell to North Queensland, the place that has been my home for eight years. There are so many moments and memories that I will cherish fondly, for old times sake I'd like to name a few:

• Swimming in the pool with my neighborhood friends in our house in Pease Street everyday, many times a day in the summer of 2001
• Hiking up to Bahana Gorge with mum; jumping under the waterfall once we were so hot we thought we would die; eating cherries and crackers in the shade
• Going to Rusty's market every weekend, it was a chore but I will sure miss having it there
• Staying up with Mum and Fiona while they were 'on the piss'; dancing around to 'friends forever'; hearing the story of how they became friends for the 20th time; having loving D&M's till Fiona's eyes glaze over and it's time for bed
• Spending time in my ever changing sanctuary; changing the pictures on my walls as interests came and left
• Hearing Missy Higgins 'the sound of white' with the lights down low in Clarke Street; LOW in the cool echoing house in Woree, and the opening track to Stars album 'Set Yourself on Fire'
• Going to the ice skating rink with Rosie and climbing onto the train track just because
• Going to see Pete Murray at the Karanda Amplitheatre with mum; being surrounded by darkened rainforest whist he sang 'So Beautiful'
• The angry.broken.tearful challenge that was 2003 and the fact that we have moved on
• Escaping boarding school for the occassional weekend
• Working till 3am in the morning with Domino's crew, it was stressful sometimes, but had its moments
• Arguing about music during visual art; talking matter-of-factly about everything like we were far older than we were; contemplating the universe
  
• Laying on the sand looking at the stars at Shipton's Flat, not needing to say anything at all but understanding eachother
• Going shopping with Eadon for perfume; Escada all the way!
  
• Learning to crochet; spreading my creations all around the school; sitting under the blacklight at the disco crocheting with fluro wools
  
• Climbing over mountains to Cedar Bay; swimming in the ocean and having D&M's about all sorts of things; making our cedar wood hair pins- thankyou Toni for making the body of mine and thankyou Tamsyn for searching for it in the creek and successfully finding it; my treasure
• Starting my most successful and enjoyable friendship to date; "I like Ash... just because"
• Being a year 12 at MSB; to many things to mention
• Getting drunk for the first time at Giovanna's party; drinking brain hamoages; sitting on the roof thinking we were within safe landing distrance from the ground; dancing like noone was watching (but yes they definately were... with a video camera in hand)
• Graduating; getting the most important rose of all; hearing 'let your light shine for the last time'; getting dolled up and dancing the night away with Eadon and Ash; driving away from MSB for the very last time as a student
  
• Forgetting all that and having great times with my partner in crime Ash; clubbing, Kate Miller-Hiedke concert going; and all the other little things in between (simply laptoping is enjoyable when its with her)
• Singing on stage with Ash at the Clare Bowditch Concert
  
• Hand-painting with my baby brother
• Op-shopping with mum and hearing about all her latest ebay finds & sales
  
• Updating my painting class on my love life every Friday
  
• Magic tricks and car trips talking about all sorts of things with Lenny
• Daybreaking it before I say farewell to the people and places that I made up my life in Cairns

I will never forget the special moments that I had in this town. I shall return to visit of coarse, but I have so much more to see; so many more scenes in the movie that is my life to act out. And to the people I've left behind or are taking a different journey, you know if I have spent any time with you talking in any depth about your future, it is because I have faith in you and your ability to have everything you could ever want. I want for you, what you want for yourself just as much, if not more than I want my dreams to come true. I will be gunning for all of you. Thankyou for the memories Cairns xx.

and they gave me a rose...

The night starts here at The Zoo, with the arrangement of red and pink roses over the drum kits, mike stands and keyboard; the roses will not last the night.  The night was not as I had expected; the band members stood inches away from me worn, short and utterly human, they are truely sad robots.  Amy was the epitome of rock and roll women, in her shagged black dress and sex hair.  The song highlights for me were definitely Ageless Beauty, Midnight Coward and Calendar Girl the song of choice for the encore, of which Torque stood at the top of the stage and yelled I'm Alive many times at the top of his lungs, and I sang it right back, as I too felt alive.  At the introduction to Midnight Coward the band rambled something about Singapore that suggested that if everyone can't have sex on Valentines Day then no one can! it made me chuckle anyway. The band threw a rose my way at the beginning of the show; I missed, mid show; I missed, at the end; third time lucky.  I didn't get an actual ticket for the show, so I'm going to press it in a book and keep it as my momento.  Unfortunately Stars didn't play my favourite song which is apparently about fucking someone to death, that is "One More Night"... I guess that leaves me wanting more, and gives me a reason to see them again someday.  

Semi-Permanent Submission

As you already know I have applied for a place in the Semi-Permanent book of 2009, and created two new artworks to submit for judging.  They represent the direction I am planning to go with my artworks, that is with a strong textile base of seductive portraiture.  Cross your fingers and toes for me xx.

- Grandma's Birthday Blanket

- Heartbeats

Calendar Girl

If I am lost for a day; try and find me 

But if I don't come back, then I won't look behind me 

All of the things that I thought were so easy 

just got harder and harder each day 

Calendar girl whos in love with the world, Stay alive 

The pages keep turning, I'll mark off each day with a cross 

And I'll laugh about all that we've lost 

Calendar Girl who is lost to the world 

Stay Alive 

Calendar Girl who is lost to the world Stay Alive 

January,February,March,April,May I'm alive 

June,July,August,September,October I'm alive 

November,December, I'm alive 

I'm alive 

Calendar girl who's in love with the world, Stay alive

I have made up my mind, my decision is in, I am moving to Brisbane on the 1st of January, in pursuit of my dream of having a fruitful life full of art galleries, live music, craft markets, vintage shops and creative friends,  but most of all working towards a career in the arts.  The plan is to spend the 31st of December with my best friend Ashton reflecting on what will be the end of an era, and maybe making a scrapbook of the year that has been.  We will stay up all night, with the help of copious amounts of coffee and wine and then I will fly out the next morning to start my new life in a new city.  I will stay with my nana, while catch the train into the city everyday checking out share houses and looking for jobs.  On the 4th of January I will attend 'Stars' concert at The Zoo; after missing out on seeing Stars perform live on 2 occasions I believe I owe it to myself to see them this time- no matter what.  On the 15th of January (possibly sooner) I will find out if I have been successful in bagging a position at Griffith or QUT and will start a degree in Feb of 2009.  

The pages keep turning, I'll mark off each day with a cross

And I'll laugh about all that we've lost

So that is the plan thus far, the rest is a beautiful mystery.  I look forward to getting my new Frankie calender and Kikki.K 2009 diary and filling it with wonderful dates, concerts and art deadlines.  If I had a goal for my life it would be that every year be more fruitful and busy than the last.  I don't want to look back on my life 5 years from now and think that I should have worked harder or lived more, but be able to congratulate myself for creating the life I wanted by myself for myself from scratch. The year is not over yet, so I will cherish what is left, before I take on the challenge of my life, won't you join me? xx

What is art REALLY?

If anything and everything is art in some way, does art really exist?  or is something only art when the maker creates it for the purpose of being fine art? or when the art world puts it on a pedestal or a blank piece of gallery wall and deems it art? Does art contain any intrinsic value or is the value in what we as consumers decide it is worth?

Feels like home

My favourite part of a magazine is looking at the homebody pages, where creative people show off their home and the possessions they love within it.  I'm hoping one day I can have a home with pretty things that I love just as much as the ones in the pages of magazines such as Frankie and Russh.  Despite my low budget I do manage to make the lovely four bedroom home I currently occupy look less like a blank canvas and with a few nice op-shop finds, arty posters and childhood treasures.  I will remember my time in Sandy's house very fondly, as it is when I lived alone for the first time, entertained guests and found some independence. 

Open Night

^ Imagine on the walls of the Cairns Regional Gallery

Last night was the opening of the Cairns Regional Gallery Open Exhibition put on by the Cairns Art Society.  The night was alive with the excited hum of the crowd, the bubbling of free champagne and the opinion sharing about the diverse artworks.  With Ashton as my sidekick we took on the night fashionably five minutes late due to a ridiculous lack of parking. We arrived just in time for the exciting part of the night, the announcement of the winning artworks. I was up for Category 4- The Cairns Post award for an abstract artwork of any medium.  I did not win the $2000 prize, however I was highly commended by the Judge Mr Ron McBurnie, the highly regarded artist of FNQ, University lecturer for JCU, avid Vinyl collector and lover of Blonde bimbos.  After the awards were presented I had a chance to have a chat with Ron and he offered me some valuable advice for where he believes I should go with my art.  Ron suggested, pushing the textile stuff even further and more chaotic, sticking with themes and narratives that are important to me and working in larger canvas sizes. 

Overall I was very happy to be recognized amongst artists who are far older and more established and experienced than I am.  I have been feeling a bit embarrassed about my age in the last few months and avoid drawing attention to it, but after doing all this I can see that my age is an asset.  I am starting young and therefore have plenty of years to experiment, find my signature style and build a name for myself, which I feel very grateful for.  So anyway, here's to many more exhibitions in the not so distant future I hope xx.  

^ Ashton and I infront of my artwork

^ You had me at free champagne

^ Cindy Lane (local artist & friend), Ron McBurnie (Judge, Artist and JCU Lecturer) and myself (hopeful artist)

^ Artworks from the Abstract Category

^ Elevator love! Art Gallery Elevator scared face photo #2

"Hands in the air for supergirl"

You're doing it your own way

Walking with your own sway

Smiling into a cloudy day

And I want you to know

How you helped me to grow

I just wanted to say

You're okay

- Kate Miller Heidke

xx I really mean it

Semi-Permanent 2009

The next thing on my artistic agenda is to enter Semi-Permanent, an Australian art initiative that publishes a book every year celebrating young contemporary art and design.  I am hoping to contribute some images that represent my latest move towards, slightly more grown up, slightly sexual, slightly sinister designs utilizing watercolour, paint and textile mediums.  The next works will feature rabbit hats, mink coats and of coarse the female form in all its glory.  Look forward to sharing them with you xx.

Artists of the North

On Friday Night I attended the Artists of the North exhibition displayed at The Tanks, where two of my artworks are on display.  I have to say the standard of artwork from artists in North Queensland is very high.  I noticed the subject matter is very much inspired by the environment and wildlife around the Cairns area.  My own work, I feel is a bit removed from the 'Tropical North Queensland' style, however I do feel very inspired by the intensity of colour within the area.  I am really starting to find peace in the concept of becoming an artist as my career path. I was always worried that there wouldn't be a future in art for me but the more I immerse myself in the art world, the more I find that the art world in Australia is alive and thriving, and profitable even!

Right about now

So party people, it is all happening for me right now, applying for uni, finding a place to live in Brisvegas, having my artwork in the Cairns Regional Gallery, lovely people in my actually existing social life and a new home with a pool. What more could I ask for?  Its scary knowing that my biggest life decisions are before me right now, but with a little help from my friends and my ever growing independence I should get through it all. Cheers to the future xx.

Regina

So good news folks.  "Imagine" has been selected for the exhibition by the Cairns Art Society being displayed at the Cairns Regional Gallery.  This means I will lose my artwork being displayed in an art gallery virginity.  Exhibition opens on Friday night the 31st of October and finishes 7th of December 2008.  What a lovely way to end the year hey!  Hope to see you there xx.