Precious things.

'I should like to bury something precious in every place where I've been happy and then,

 when I'm old and ugly and miserable,

 I could come back and dig it up and remember.'

 EVELYN WAUGH 

To bury precious things is a concept I've had a lot of time to think about lately. With life comes inevitable loss and sometimes the need bury some things we love when it's time to say goodbye. A memory, a love, a word, a promise, a smell, a treasure. 

I am packing up the tiny house I have called home for the past 3 years. Here in this house, I've spent so many nights shivering in the cold, rugged up in bed, pleading for the light of morning. I've washed countless dishes. Cooked for the people I love. Discovered my love of gardening. Reignited my passion for painting. Set up & taken down my easel over & over again. Broken my favourite bowl. Cooked porridge in my pj's & roasted veggies from my backyard. Fallen in love. Sat on the couch peering into the dark, the silence humming while I nurse a broken heart. 

To leave all of that, to wrap & box up all that I own, each object with it's own quiet memory attached, is something I am ready to do. But the preparation to do so doesn't come without moments of unexplainable sadness. A gentle grief that I can't describe or perhaps justify to anyone. This tiny place has housed some of the biggest moments in my life so far & although it is just bricks & mortar, a roof & walls (albeit damp ones!) I feel as though I will be both literally & metaphorically closing the door on a vast chapter & stepping into some unknown territory. 

Don't get me wrong - I am SO excited for this new adventure & the idea of sharing my living space with other people has, over time, become a lot less scary to me. I am looking forward to the sound of floorboards creaking under someone else's feet as they pad back & forwards to the kitchen. To the distant voices of telly in another room & the smell of whatever they're cooking for tea reminding me that it's time to put the paintbrush down & resume a normal eating routine ;) The house I'm moving to has already been a part of my life & I love it very much. There is light & air & high ceilings & a giant garden that I am so thrilled to be able to potter in. I can finally have a big loved-up veggie patch & the best thing? My very own studio. I cannot describe the joy in my tummy whenever I think of that! Does everyone get that excited about a space to make artsy mess in? I feel like I've won the lottery. 

This is the first change, that I've consciously made, in a long time that I am extremely positive about. But thank you for allowing me a little space to confess the sorrow that comes with saying goodbye. 

Here are some things that have been precious to me in the the last couple of weeks.

Nanny's bulbs that appear in all their sunset coloured glory each year in May. Seeing that first flash of orange bobbing around beneath the wattle tree is almost like being hugged by her again.

New potty babies that have gone to new homes to be loved & hopefully house little planty creature.

Hand written mail & knowing that someone's trip to the letterbox might make them smile.

Laughing & laughing with my incredible big sister.

Lunch with Mumma bear for Mothers day. Feeling blessed to the tips of my toes to be able to sit beside her. She's always warm, my Mum.

Bleary-eyed, early morning trips to the market with a dear friend, armed with coffee & coins & the hope of discovering junk & treasures. 

Painting into the early morning hours, listening to this & needing to drag the heater out so that things will dry. 

Gorgeous gardens, flowers bowing their heads in the wind. Winter turning everything green & learning to feel better about the cold.

Witnessing my little brother achieve something I am so indescribably proud of. Wanting to wrap him up & protect his big beautiful beating heart but knowing he is brave & that, sometimes, we just have to trust. Trust the patterns, trust the hopefulness in our hearts, trust that goodness prevails & that even though we sometimes need to bury precious things, we might just dig it up & remember again. One day. 

xx

Keeping busy

I've been busy getting creative and it feels so good. Especially after a period of time when I seemed to be completely sapped of imagination & creative energy. Now, I long for more hours in the day to be covered in paint, my tiny studio full of the smell of glaze & a tea going cold by my side. Probably sounds awful! But to me, that is the ultimate!
The search for a bigger house to move to is frustrating & as soon as something pops up that I just love, it seems to vanish in the blink of an eye. Agents show 0% interest & you feel like such a numpty rocking up to inspections with dozens of other hopefuls, applications in hand, fake smiles plastered on their face... what a silly process!! The joys of house hunting! Wish me luck.. this could take a while. 
My pots and paints are slowly taking over the house & arty remnants seem to pop up in every room. I found a big chunk of orange paint in my ponytail the other day which is fine, but I was already at work when I found it ;) 
I am on the verge of so many things shifting in my life & that can leave me feeling like I am tiptoeing on very uncertain ground. Thank goodness I have art to keep me grounded!
Happy Sunday to you. It is a glorious day here & I am outside in the sunshine with an afternoon of painting stretched ahead. 
xx
PS - I just came across this & absolutely HAD to share. Wow.

"Trust your heart
if the seas catch fire
(and live by love
though the stars walk backward)"

— ee cummings

I have rediscovered my love for letraset! SO much fun watching the letters appear on my pots. Such a childish thrill that I can't get enough of! And I like the way some letters don't come out perfectly. Seems to tie in nicely with the rest of the design. This pot said 'A heart that's remembering how to heal'

A cute little pair ready to be glazed & signed off!

pile upon pile of creative mess on my desk... my several attempts to clean have been, well, unsuccessful!

I am really excited about transferring some of my pot designs onto a flat canvas surface. This one came out quite well, again with letraset coming out imperfectly which I really like. 

'You and your delightful soul'

A couple of weeks ago, my friend commissioned me to do a pot as a gift for his friend. He wanted the colours to be earthy with blues & greens but still in keeping with my style. He also wanted words that involved his & her nicknames of the fox and the platypus. It was SO much fun to do. Mostly because he had an idea of the kind of thing he wanted which is a lot easier to work to than someone who says 'just do anything'... eek! The imagine above was the humble beginning.

The finished product :) I was quite happy with how it turned out. And once glazed, the colours really shone. He loved it & apparently she did too. Just makes my heart sing to hear that! I was so happy.

Little bird guarding my pot full of stamps :)

A practise design that I ended up being quite happy with & have had a really good response to. Yay! Sometimes one colour with black & white can be quite striking.

A concept for the smaller pots that need a strong design. Really pleased with the end result & the stamps didn't smudge on this one as they have been tending to do. About to do a series of these smaller ones, with the same design but different words & background colours.

'I'll wear flowers on my hat if I want to'

I FINALLY finished my last journal which I started in April lasy year... woah! It's never taken me so long to fill one before! This drawing is in my new journal :) Hoping to try her on canvas. She needs a bit of work but was so fun to do.

This is what happens when I watch TV. I can't sit still!

'And this sad bird has begun to weigh me down'. Another new journal sketch. Something to work with :)

Some very dear friends of mine got engaged in January & I had the opportunity to celebrate with them at their engagement party 2 weeks ago. It was a perfect night & they are the loveliest couple! I wanted to make them something nice to put on their walls & lots of hours went into the little framed set above :) It was so nice to make something for 2 people who are so in love & about to start such an exciting journey together! Sorry for the dodgy photo!

Journal bitties!

Pile upon pile of pots... I'm getting closer & closer to feeling ready to have a stall somewhere!

Attempting to leave the pinks & reds & warm colours alone!

The front of my new journal. The words come from THIS poem. I think it is one of my very very very favourites. Couldn't be closer to how I feel right now about lots of things. Jeanette has the most incredible knack with words.

Can't work out if this image is scary or exciting!

Hanging with some chicky babes. They like laying eggs, Easter & watching me paint.

More skecthes, collages & scraps of journal pages.

My latest pot or pencil holder. Simple but bright n cheerful