My book is back!

I've been working hard on the first actually good drawing for the children's book I'm creating. It's something I've always wanted to do so I thought 'why not now?'. That was a year ago, and I've finally found some time and inspiration lately to get through a full drawing. I've changed the look a lot since I first started the design concepts and working with crochet, photography and digital art compositions. I've gone back to basics with simple drawings and coloured pencils. I'm really enjoying it and have sketched out two more pages for two more native trees to add to this one.

Quickly: The story is about a lost little broccoli that is trying to find his way home. Along his journey he meets native New Zealand trees before finding his home in the vege patch. Or something like it...... feel free to suggest better!

I am looking for your opinion though, I'd love to know what your favourite NZ native tree is. Remembering that this book is designed for your children, so what tree do you think you'd like your children to know about? It's not a popularity contest here. I'm considering adding in the Lancewood... seriously that tree is so random but I've loved it since my Dad taught me about it when I was a child. It is a tad boring though.... silly Lancewood!

I'm also having trouble with the story, so I'm thinking I'll enlist a writer... I'm about to ask her after I finish this post. We'll see if she has the time for me (she better!).

So wish me luck that I stay the course and draw all the other pages for this book, as I'd love to share the finished product with you and your children too. I can't wait to read it to my kids at bedtime proudly.

Miss Ladybird ~ pen, acrylic and pastel on watercolour paper

Another one of my sister, this time in pen. I did this way faster than my pencil sketches and was going for a different balance of shading/toning than usual. More minimal but then not. Anyway, it was fun and I'm super happy with it.

It's what I came home and drew after 'this' happened...

These aren't scanned, they're photographed so it's not the best quality... but you get the idea. Of course the original looks WAY BETTER.

The morning I met Misery

If you've been following my blogging escapades for as long as I've been doing this (too many years now) or know me personally or have worked with me you'd know I am a fan of Tanja Jade, the artist behind Misery. She's been my favourite artist since I can remember and over the years I've collected quite the number of t-shirts, postcards, stickers and random products with the Misery brand upon it. She's always been an inspiration and a really cool New Zealand artist to look up to.

So if you know me, you'd know that it would be big news if I met my favourite artist. WELL. Unexpectedly on Saturday, I did just that (don't worry, I wasn't wearing one of my Misery T-shirts). It was a bit of a surprise really, as I walked up to the doors of her solo show MOMO in Ponsonby - she opened the door for me (yup, I was busy trying to open the wrong door /forehead slap). I can't explain what it's like to meet your favourite artist without sounding like a complete stalker-idiot-fan-club-member. It was just really refreshing to talk to the artist behind the artwork, to find out how long pieces took her to paint, to hear a bit about how it's done and seeing the passion she has for her work. Very inspiring.

Anyway like a love-struck-misery-fan I handed her a gift. Yup. See I thought I'd be dropping an anonymous gift off to a staff member or friend of hers, but there she was and suddenly here I was handing over a little wrapped parcel. Because her MOMO show features a lot of cute vegetable characters, I made her one of my amigurumi baby broccoli. Thankfully she took a shine to him and I wasn't shot down running for the door. Tanja's holding him in the photo below haha!

The show is beautiful and she's using some gorgeous new colours quite different to her older work. I loved seeing the airbrushed/stenciled background patterns, layered with her fun yet creepy-cute creatures dusted with gold embellishments and even a bit of glitter. My favourites though would have to have been the ceramic vegetables, unfortunately they were all sold but DAMN they were cute. I didn't take any photos of them, or any really good ones actually, because as you have just read, I had just met Misery and was floundering about a bit afterwards. (If you do want to see more, and some close up good photos of the ceramics, check out the article on Studio Home here).

It totally made my day and I'm just so excited that this happened to me after admiring her work for so long - I can't wait to see what she'll be doing next. Congratulations Tanja Jade on such an awesome show, I went home like an excited child and told everyone I know... then sat down and started sketching. I guess the creativeness and inspiration rubbed off big time.

Momo is running until this Sunday, at a popup gallery cnr of Richmond Rd and Ponsonby Rd in Auckland. I've heard Tanja is also using the space as a studio during the week so you can stop in and say hi and see what she's up to. More details here.

I also have to say a big THANKS to Dee who told me that the show was even on! xx

And yes! This is why my dress is lucky... first time wearing it = awesome day. 

My Mother's Day

Had a fantastic Mother's Day today and I wore my lucky dress to celebrate it (will explain this in another post about why it's lucky... eeeeep!).  I got spoilt by the kids, Zoe made me a super cute shell necklace and card. Quinn got me a pink ball she could play with and Zoe also bought paint she could paint with. Haha. Luckily Joel stepped in and gave me a Gordon Harris voucher (love that shop) and nipped out to get me a Soy Chai. I also impressed myself today as it was my job to make dessert at our family lunch at the in-laws. I made a Pear and Gingerbread Upside-down Dessert for the first time and it was delicious!

I love my kids so much, love that us Mums get this day to be pampered and spend special time with our families. Happy Mother's Day!

You thought I'd forgotten didn't you? A big Happy Mother's Day to MY MUM, she is awesome and I wished she lived closer so that she could have tried my dessert... oh and to hug her and stuff, ya know. (Yes Gina, I know she doesn't live THAT far away but still...)

Inspiring words from some awesome bloggers and how they've helped me

{this is a ridiculously long post full of words}

I don't have much time to spend on the internet these days but every so often I'll spy a post that is so good it leaves me thinking for days after reading it. To the point where some posts are so inspiring, they have recently really helped me throughout my every day life. I thought I'd share some special posts with you and how they've changed me. These posts are too good to miss and I hope you click through from here and go and read their entire posts. Big thanks to these three bloggers.

Parenting: Real Life & Staying Sane
by Kristy has been so inspiring, I have used it almost every day since reading it. Things that stood out and that I do almost naturally now are:

"Look after yourself people - eat well (don't be a mum that saves the fruit for the kids and not herself)" - I've been eating the fruit!!!!! Since having kids I've really noticed all the things I'm giving up AND I can really see all the things my mum had to give up or would have had to give up when I was small. I'm not talking about the big things (there are plenty of those), it's the little things like eating fruit! A pear, a kiwifruit or a handful of grapes, I've been eating them too. I do that now and almost with an air of pampering as a shovel grapes in my mouth "teehee, these are for me!"

"If you are married, make your marriage a big priority.  Book in date nights together, even if it just means watching a movie together at home and eating popcorn.  Marriage is a lot like a garden, left to itself, weeds can come in and things can wither and die.  Work hard to keep your love alive!" - It's not just my fruit intake that is sacrificed, my marriage has completely changed since before my kids. There is frankly NO TIME for 'us' anymore. I don't want to miss out here, I don't want to end up with my kids at UNI and I'm left living with a flatmate that I share my last name with... that I hardly know. So taking this advice and some inspiration from Dee's IG feed (time for another date night pic miss) and a dear friend, we have started implementing the stay-at-home date night (this includes a yummy homemade dinner after the kids are in bed, dvd and snuggles on the couch WIN). And it is going really well. I can't wait for date night each week it's a real highlight. We are only new at it so I'm hoping that we stick with it cos it's super important I come out of this kid/parenting thing alive and together with my partner.

"Keep life simple - sometimes you need to prune your life a bit and simplify on what is most important." - This has also been a big one for me, I'm now a pro at saying 'NO'. I was always saying yes to everything and I'd be designing this and designing that, trying to parent, trying to do this, trying to do that, baking this for that. Sheesh. Now my automatic response is 'NO', not in a bitchy way though (although I guess that depends) and it has been so healthy for me. Just a few weeks ago an opportunity fell into my lap for a new website project, I got butterflies hard out and couldn't sleep well with so much excitement. Even though it would have been cool (and I even had the funding offered!) I woke up realising that I just don't have the time and my kids are number one. Duh, I know, but I have to say NO to most things, to stay healthy and happy and so that I'm not juggling a bajillion things at once and in turn yelling at the kids. This makes a huge difference to my overall happiness and stress levels, it is amazing!

Comparison is the thief of a really good parent
by Stella has also been a real inspiration to me and I have found myself almost chanting inside my head "don't compare yourself, don't compare yourself, don't compare yourself".

"Far too frequently I find myself at the mercy of comparison, and it always forces me to forget about the very uniqueness that makes me the perfect mother for my kids... And yet I already know that it's more important for me to recognise my own unique set of skills, talents and traits and bring those to the table, than to berate myself for those areas in which I find myself lacking. " These same wise words also came out of Dee's mouth when I visited her a couple of months ago. She said something like "you can't compare yourself sarah, you just can't, everyone is different". I can't help but think that in this day and age there are a lot more opportunities to compare through social media, magazines and TV. All media really (evil isn't it). But if you were stuck on a deserted island somewhere with no communication to the outside world, no one else... you'd be lonely but you'd have no one to compare yourself with. Every effort would be good, correct and the best for your family cos that's all you'd know and all you'd care about. What's best for YOU and YOUR family, ignorance is bliss?

"It's time to stop comparing and to start celebrating ourselves, not just for who we are as a parent, but for who we are as a person.  Let's not deprive the world, and more importantly our children, of the uniqueness that makes each of us so awesome." This is so exciting! Who I am as a person? I don't want to deprive my children of seeing the REAL me, the HAPPY me, the uniqueness that I bring to the world. I want my kids to grow up knowing that they can be all that they can be and we all know as mother's we need to lead by example so why not start here?

‘Catching the bus’ – how I stopped ‘existing’ and finally began ‘living’ by Liz struck a chord too...

It's a soul searching, heart felt post that might intimidate you with it's awesomeness. The piece I loved the most was "...I’m a believer that if you believe in something or if you are going to be involved in something – don’t do it in half measure. Be authentic to the true meaning of that ‘thing’. So I found myself one morning, sitting in the back row at Church in the middle of the musical worship set. I wanted to dance. To physically express my worship to God. To dance because he is good. To dance because of his ultimate sacrifice in my honour. The thing holding me back was the fear of what the person next to me would think..." What people would think. How many times in my life do I consider what others will think TOO MUCH. This holds me back so much in so many things I want to do. "The next Sunday, with my heart threatening to bust out of my chest, I put one foot in front of the other, and walked the five rows from where I was sitting to the stage during the worship set. Our Youth Pastor was thrashing about, so I joined him. Abandoning any thought about what others might think. That moment was the beginning of the journey that has changed my life completely. It came with a decision of wanting freedom, then reaching and grabbing for it." I want to copy and paste Liz's whole post but that would just be plain rude. (You'll have to go over and read it all yourself). This story of overcoming this fear, was very real to me and I'm so glad she shared it. It has inspired me to also start 'living'. Don't expect me to start dancing though...

So to conclude the longest post I've ever written (if you're still with me):
I need to eat the fruit! I need to spend time with the people that matter most. I need to stop comparing myself with others and I need to keep my life simple and do it unashamed without fear. I need to be me and I need to be me not only for my kids but for my happiness. I want to dance, I want to sing out loud, I want to stomp my feet and make a din... join me!

Thanks to the bloggers above, hope that's ok I pulled some quotes!

Zub Portrait ~ finished

I've finished my latest sketch, I thought I was going to hate it but I LOVE IT.

I pushed myself to do a big toothy smile and it paid off, I think it came out really well. Much better than I ever thought it could, I mean there's always room for improvement of course. I'm still stoked. I'm also glad that I've captured more of Zoe in this than her first portrait when I was just starting to draw again. I felt like she was left out because Quinn's one looked so good. Hehe.

Here it is. And now once again I'm wondering what to draw next...

Candy for your ears

Music is a huge part of who I am and since having kids it has definitely been thrown into the pile (with the washing) labelled 'not enough time'. Recently a dear friend introduced me to the Shazam app. Well duh, I've also been living under a rock with said kids too it seems. See usually when I hear a good song on the tv, radio, playing in a shop or café etc, I frantically pull out my phone, go to my notes and bang in all lyrics I can muster. I would then google them, find the song and download it later on.

Well no more of that time wasting silliness! Now I just open the app on my phone, hold the phone up to the musical source and BAM it tells me the song and I can download it from itunes right then and there. I feel like the multitasking queen of the world.

So here's some music I've collected thanks to my phone...

Some new stuff...
Katie Costello - Stranger



Another newby (to me)
Holly Brook (Skylar Grey) - Like Blood Like Honey



Also loving this:
Rose Cousins - One Way



Can't get enough of:
Of Monsters and Men - Dirty Paws



Stephanie Schneiderman - Dirty and Clean



And finally... the best for last...
Fay Wolf - The Thread of the Thing



Now on to that washing... dammit.

Made by me FOR me FOR once...

I cranked out some crochet infinity scarves for christmas presents last year and only just got around to finishing the one I started for myself. It was cold enough to wear it this morning, so I got the kids to help me with taking some photos. Zoe's first time with a heavy DLSR, tee hee... Quinn was my stylist, clearly putting every effort into making the shoot look amaze.

Anyway, I love my scarf, I made up the pattern as I went along, its basically a small granny stripe blanket twisted and crocheted together to connect it. Pure genius right? I know.

Oh yeah, here's a post.

I guess I've been a little absent lately, I blame it on the school holidays. I feel like they sucked the life out of me, and first day back and life is all in order again. I've even done the ironing.

Over the last wee while, we've been trying to alter our lives to fit the recent body clock change from Quinn. Oh dear Quinny-bin, you are damn cute but 3:45am is never a good time to start the day... EVER. Except, it seems, it is in her mind... so after spending the last four months trying every. single. thing to make her sleep in, I think we've given up. Last time I was going to bed this early and this regularly was when I was dead tired and pregnant.

I think four months of this is a sign we have to adapt, so yeah early bedtimes etc. Stink. BUT in amongst all the bags under my eyes I managed to buy myself an awesome new desk and kit out a corner of our spare room for 'ME'. One of the things we thought might help the sleep situation was move Quinn into Zoe's bedroom. She wakes her in the morning anyway (while we resettle to no avail)  and we'd had a couple of people tell us what wonders it did for their kids and their sleeping. Especially for the youngest sibling. I think the first morning we woke at 5:30am.... I remember being stoked... stink it was short lived. BUT we'd moved her and that was final, we've always wanted a spare room.

Anyway enough about my ever long struggle to catch 'zzzzzzzzz's, I have a new desk, plain walls for my 'stuff' (that was fun!) and a sweet little hide out to draw.

I've been contemplating getting my children's book idea up and running again but it's such a big project I'm not sure I'll stay committed and get it done. My kids will be adults when it's finished I'm sure! But I still feel that I'm searching for a style of illustration, something that's just me or something that I can get excited about. All these portraits are nice and fun but they get a bit boring for me after a while... and then some days I'm totally inspired by them. And then to find the time, when I'm so tired at night when the kids are finally out of my hair and the natural light has disappeared... I usually end up blobbing.

So yeah, tired, new desk, still drawing.

talk soon

x

Sketch WIP

I'm over here now too...

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Latest sketch-a-roo

My kids are the best to draw, since I know them so well. This sketch is a gift for Joel's Grandma who turns 80something on Monday. So I think it's safe to say she won't be 'logging on' and ruining the surprise for herself. teehee.