Art and Design

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Hyperactive Dogs and Disagreeable Neighbours: Disruptions to Your Creative Flow

It’s been over a year since I last posted on this blog as it has been quite a stressful time for various reasons, that have kept me from my creative pursuits. I guess many of us go through difficult experiences that take over our lives and where we devote extra time to solving aggravating problems before they get completely out of control. Such annoying situations are also very disruptive to our creative flow so that when we have time to get back to these activities it is not always easy to start again and we need to find ways to break through any blockages.

As I said in my last post, a new puppy entered my life at the end of 2022. In the beginning he seemed like your normal, energetic Fox Terrier puppy, and we used the tried and true training methods that had worked with all our previous dogs. Initially he seemed to be responding well but this did not last for long. He started to constantly bark every time anyone left the room or house and at anything that moved outside and began to ignore any of the instructions he had been taught. We knew he was going through adolescence, which meant that he had more difficulty in concentrating during training sessions. However the destructive biting of timber doors and furniture, as well as running like a mad thing around the garden then coming inside and bouncing from ottoman to sofa to lounge chair was rather extreme. It was like watching a sped up dog in a cartoon .

My Dog Showing my Sister Ellie’s Girl who is Boss! (2023)

He was so fast I could not film this manic activity on video. My photos only show him at rest and looking cute because these were the only times I could take his picture. He was becoming a real Jekyll and Hyde. One minute happily playing with a toy or sleeping and the next barking furiously and demanding attention from us or distracted by creatures in the garden. We were giving him lots of love and exercise yet nothing seemed to calm him for long. Our female Fox Terrier was also triggered by his behaviour, as she suffers from a certain degree of separation anxiety and joined in with the barking and howling when we left them alone. We wanted to help him and it was distressing to see his anxiety and obsessive actions. In addition, I could not get on with anything in the studio because of his noisy behaviour and our failed attempts to quieten him down. We began searching online for solutions by investigating new training methods and other therapies.

In the meantime we received an anonymous, messy hand written note telling us that if we did not stop our dogs from barking, the writer would make a noise complaint to the local council. In the past when another neighbour had a problem with our dogs, he came and spoke to us, which is the adult thing to do. However this spineless person did not bother to come and speak with us directly, to give us a chance to explain our situation and that we were attempting to address this issue. Not only did we receive the note, but a bad mannered child, who I will call Shouty Boy, repeatedly yells loudly over our immediate neighbour’s fences from a nearby property, telling our dogs to “shut up” or “be quiet”. Although he can hear us, Shouty Boy ignores that we are actively trying to stop them from barking and his yelling further upsets the dogs. We suspect that The Spineless One lives at the same address as Shouty Boy, as these people obviously don’t like dogs making any kind of noise during the daytime. We never allow our dogs outside unsupervised at night and bring them in at the first sign of barking.

Over the next month Ellie found a marvellous online dog training course which she signed up to, but before we had a chance to see any change in the dog, we received a complaint notice from the Council. They informed us that the time frame for the Anonymous complaint was for the afternoon hours, at the time dogs are more likely to be outside doing doggy behaviour. We needed to resolve this situation before we were threatened with a fine by the Council. I also refuse to let The Spineless One and Shouty Boy tarnish the joy I have in my dog, who loves sitting in the sun in our back garden and investigating the smells and sounds of nature.

A friend suggested we try a Dog Pheromone Diffuser to relax and calm the dogs, but this is very expensive and only worked when they were indoors. After more research we discovered that dogs can also be affected by Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and my dog had all the symptoms. This was confirmed after a visit to our Vet. He was put on the same medication that is given to humans to control this condition. It took some time to work, but now he is a much calmer dog and listens to instructions. He still requires regular, long walks as he has high energy levels that need to be kept under control. With a combination of the new training methods and medication, he is a much happier dog and we have not heard any further complaints from the Council.

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Now we have been able to take both the dogs on a picnic with friends to a large park, where, with the aid of a couple of very long leashes tied to a tree, the dogs could play together without any danger of them disappearing while we ate lunch. It is lovely to see my dog enjoying life as a dog should.

Dealing with this stressful situation took months and negatively affected my ability to create art. I was continually on edge worrying about The Spineless One making a further complaint every time my dog barked. The main thing that helped lower my anxiety levels was singing and playing my ukuleles, but this was only possible once all the dog training and medicines had really kicked in. You can’t play an instrument when a barking dog makes it impossible to hear anything.

In the past when I have found it difficult to get back into my art, I have revisited neglected art materials and techniques or have tried a new art supply to reinvigorate my creativity. This time I decided I needed to do something completely different to rekindle my creativity and purchased an online course on Bird Painting by Artist and YouTuber, Sandi Hester ( https://www.youtube.com/@sandihester). This workshop is not about painting realistic Birds but employs loosening up exercises that frees you to create you own individual bird imagery. The lessons also allow you to work with and develop your mixed media skills using your favourite materials.

Mixed Media: (Anticlockwise from Top Left) Watercolour pans; Pastel W/C pans; Gouache pans; Neocolor I & II Crayons and Coloured Pencils

It is very fun and inspiring to create swatches of your chosen mixed media to learn how they work together and to discover the colour mixes you can make from you chosen palette.

The Bird Painting course reminded me of exercises I had not done since Art School as well as teaching me some new ones. These really help you to loosen up your technique, preventing your work from becoming too precious and allows you to concentrate on the process itself. The following is an example of a couple of these exercises that I completed.

When you are trying to get back you creative flow after a difficult period in your life I have found it helpful not to put any pressure on myself by showing anyone my work. It is not about doing perfect or finished artwork for an exhibition and it does not matter if you do something that is not up to your preferred standard. It is more about experimenting for yourself, even if it is only for a five minute session and getting back into the creative process one small step or mark at a time.

Dogs are wonderful companions in life and I will always do my best to help them when they have problems. While we accept that it is not great to allow your dog to excessively bark and some intervention was required for our own sanity and the comfort of our neighbours, it is always better when everyone can discuss such issues in person. Anonymous notes are not the way to go with complaints and create distrust between neighbours. While any type of dispute is quite unsettling and can affect your creativity for some time, there are always solutions that will mitigate the situation and techniques that can bring back your creative flow.

Happy creating, Kat.

When the sun is shining it is time to get outside and enjoy life with your dog. For inspiration here is a fun version of Walking the Dog performed by Roger Daltrey in 1975.

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Staying Creative: What I Learned in Lockdown

The sun is shining, summer is here and Melbourne has survived a second Lockdown which felt like it would never end. This experience has taught some valuable lessons about how important it is to be adaptable with your creativity and creative space in difficult times.  I hope my experience may be helpful to others.

One thing that I found very hard to do during the stress of lockdown has been to write for this blog. I have sat down many times to put ideas in my notebook or start posts on the computer only to finding it too difficult to concentrate and getting nothing done (I’m still not finding it easy). It was impossible to do anything for too long without getting distracted.

Luckily working on visual artwork and experimenting with mixed media was more successful. I had fun trying out mono printing, drawing with some new polychromos coloured pencils and ink painting, as well as revisiting painting with acrylics on canvas and drawing with oil pastels. Moving between mediums seemed to help with my inability to focus.

Splashy Flowers (Acrylic Monoprint)
Field of Poppies (Acrylic Monoprint)

Using various types of media often requires different types of working surfaces and equipment. I find it best to paint on canvas standing at an easel, drawing and painting on paper on an angled drawing board at a table and using a flat surface for mono printing and watercolour works. Luckily our studio is large enough to accomodate these facilities, but using the space efficiently is important when two people want to use the room for creating different types of art and craft pieces.

I thought that our studio was well organised until I was forced to spend months at home and some things started to bug me. Ellie also needed a sewing machine area for sewing Covid face masks, clothing and textile art. Previously her working table was next to my computer desk but this meant that if she was working at the machine and I was at the computer our chairs would run into each other. Not something that would make for a harmonious environment, especially when you are siblings. Not only that, but Ellie bought a new quilting machine and wanted to have both sewing machines set up so she could move between them for different techniques. She needed a sturdy table to hold this heavier machine. Another addition to the already crowded studio required a lot of reorganisation to make materials and equipment more accessible and to maximise our working surfaces (there are photos of how the studio used to look in the October 20, 2019 post).

Sometimes you just have to get rid of items to reconfigure a space so that it is workable. To accommodate the new flat pack table for Ellie’s machine and an office chair she already possessed, we moved her wooden trolley and an old wooden chair to another room. Her workspace is now on the other side of the room from mine so we don’t drive each other crazy. I also removed the old Apple computer from my desk as it was cluttering up the space and put it in another location (It’s a design classic and we want to keep it as it still works).

The tall table is now in the centre of the room with Ellie’s easel on her side and mine at one end on the other side in front to my wicker trolley. This means that you can walk around the room from either direction so that access to our respective areas is not blocked. I can do messy acrylic work or place my paints and palette on the table for working at the easel and sit down at my other table by the window to draw at the table easel or do watercolours on the adjacent area where I keep my watercolour brushes and palettes.

You can often repurpose an unused piece of equipment so that it does not just waste space. I am not using my metal vertical tapestry loom at the moment and I attached a pin/white board to the frame so I can write reminders and pin up colour swatches or artwork for reference.

Equipment that you use but is just getting in the way of your work often needs it’s own spot for efficiencies sake. Our cutting mat and guillotine were on the central table which limited the working area so we moved them to the side bench. Now each of us can cut paper and card without getting in each other’s way.

Display areas for artwork and inspiration material are always useful in a studio. We had three pinboards that were kicking around and we finally put them up on the walls above our respective areas. This got them out of the way and we can feature our own work in our space.

If you paint on canvas storage can be a big problem. There is a narrow shelving unit behind a bamboo screen to hold blank and completed works. I also have a large bolt of linen canvas that was stuck behind my window table where it was inaccessible and I moved it behind the screen. This made it easier to stretch several small canvases, but I needed more room in the shelving to store them. There were several framed paintings taking up space so I put them up in other rooms of the house. Storing works on walls was a good way of decluttering the studio and now I have more space for new works.

Having the time to work on artworks and reorganise the studio has been very beneficial for our creativity. I enjoyed experimenting with materials and Ellie made some very comfortable and colourful face masks. Ellie was also able to completely clear out her small study, which was full of junk and was blocking her from doing any artwork. She now has access to her art supplies and has started doing works on paper.

While stressful and not something we would want to go through again, lockdown has given both of us a chance to to reevaluate our creative methods, try new techniques and work in a more efficient manner.

Wishing everyone a creative, healthy and happy festive season. Let’s hope 2021 brings brighter and better things.

Kat

For a bit of fun here is a very silly Aussie version of The Twelve Days of Christmas by Bucko and Champs. Most Australians don’t really talk like this!

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Creativity and the New Year Blues

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Above is a photo of the famous and picturesque Brighton Beach in Melbourne on a lovely summer’s day. This is how we want our holiday season to always be, but it has been a very difficult New Year in Australia and the celebrations have felt rather hollow. It is very hard to be cheerful when so many people are suffering with the devastating bushfires affecting our state of Victoria and the whole country. Climate change is very real in our part of the world, which is quite depressing, especially with our Federal government’s hopeless response to this threat. The current situation appears to have no end in sight and it must be terrible for those caught up in the crisis. While it is important to remain informed and engaged with what is happening, it is also vital to do things to get your mind off a terrible situation, otherwise it can effect your well being which is no help to anyone. This is where a person’s creativity can be their best friend.

Last Monday a deadly wind fanned fires in the outer suburbs of Melbourne and brought down many trees on what was a day of nearly 43 degrees Celsius. A strong wind gust caused a tree limb from our neighbour’s African Coral tree to crash onto our dividing fence and damage some of our citrus trees, a minor inconvenience compared with the extreme fires happening all over the place. Everything seems turbulent and out of balance. How do you stay calm and focused when your country is in a state of emergency?

As well as donating to the Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery for those affected by the bushfires, it also helps to take action with things that you can immediately change. Ellie and I decided to deal with the fallen tree branch because our citrus trees needed quick attention so that they will recover. Our neighbours are away for the holiday period and the large branch is too big for us to remove on our own, so Ellie and I cut away the overhanging branches from the fallen limb and removed any broken ones from our trees. Now there is just one big branch stuck on our side of the fence. The rest can be taken care of when our neighbours return. 

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It was great to get outside in the garden on a cool day to make the most of the fresh air and sunshine before the smoke returned to Melbourne. A bit of physical activity can make you feel a lot more relaxed.

Good old New Year’s resolutions in this time of stress can help to regain your focus provided you implement them quickly. This type of planning can be done at any time of the year. For example there is nothing like learning a language to stimulate the brain. I studied Japanese for two and a half years at university (up to third year level) but had let it slip. This year I decided to refresh my language skills and have found a phone app to get me started. I still have my Japanese text books, but using the app allows me to listen, speak and read at the same time. I have begun with very basic Japanese to get me back into the flow and am surprised to see how much I remember. It is fun to learn without the stress of exams and I would recommend using an app first before taking formal lessons as it is like playing a game.

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Doing any sort of creative project can be a welcome distraction. Another resolution of mine is to continue with water colour painting, learn all kinds of techniques and try out different materials. After watching some inspiring You Tube videos, I have decided to have a go at making some shimmering water colour paints from old powdered make up to use in craft projects. For pan containers I found 10 plastic make up pots to hold each colour and these will fit into a plastic lidded box which means they will be easy to store. I bought some gum arabic to mix with the shimmer powder as a binder. You will need to leave the container open until the paints dry and once dry the paints can be reactivated with water like normal water colour.

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Here is the video that inspired my project.

I did some research online to find out the lightfastness of the pigments that were used in the make-up powder. For those interested in this type of thing here is what I learnt as they are common pigments used in make-up along with the shimmering mica which is the main ingredient:

Ferric Ammonium Ferrocyanide (Prussian blue) cannot be mixed with titanium white or zinc white as it becomes fugitive (non-lightfast).

Carmine Pigment is fugitive in water colours.

Chromium Hydroxide Green – do not heat over 200 degrees Celsius or the colour might change.

With these results I would suggest that any paint made from these pigments only be used for greeting cards, other types of ephemera or inside sketchbooks where the contents are not exposed to the light. There are artist quality pearlescent watercolours available for archival work. I can’t wait to experiment with these shimmer paints and plan to buy some professional ones in the future. 

In trying times you need to look forward to some good things and to never lose that feeling of hope. 

On a very smoky Friday in Melbourne wishing everyone a Happy 2020. Let’s hope that there are better things to come.

Kat

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SUPPORT YOUR ARTIST FRIENDS: IT MATTERS

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Having supportive friends can make a big difference to your life. Getting support for your creative endeavours from people you know can give you confidence and inspire your work.  There is nothing more uplifting than seeing friends in an audience at one of your performances, at an exhibition or other similar events where you have work displayed. It is also important to support creative friends and to celebrate their accomplishments. 

Recently the ukulele group that Ellie and I help run performed at a local community festival. We had a lot of fun entertaining the crowd and it was great to see the smiling faces of family and friends who came out to support us in the audience. It boosted our performance. After the event I realised the several of the friends that we had invited had not turned up, even though they had said they would attend and had not sent any apologies.

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I was disappointed because in the past these friends have been quite insistent that we inform them when our ukulele group has scheduled a performance so they could come. For many years we have been playing our instruments at their parties, but when our uke group actually performs, not many show up. It was a free concert and in the same area where some of them lived so it would not have taken a big effort to be there, but I guess you can’t make people attend.

Who would want to be the sort of person that can’t be bothered to be a supportive friend? It is important to help out your friends even when you are busy. Don’t just nod and say something is great. Follow through and go to their events and exhibitions.

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If you really like a friend’s artwork and have the funds, buy one and display it in your home. If you can’t afford an original artwork buy a print or a card of their work.  An author would really appreciate you buying a copy of their book to read. Or if music is their medium, buy a CD or a download. The least you can do is spread the word that their work is available for purchase.

Take some photos or video the event and give your friend copies. When an artist is performing or talking to people at an exhibition opening, often it is family and friends who can record the occasion. After all the hours of preparation for something that is over in a short time, it is priceless to have a record. 

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If you cannot attend send an apology and congratulate them for their achievement. It is also thoughtful to send them a bottle of wine to celebrate or a card of congratulations. Show you care.

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And if you never get the support for your art from some people, don’t invite these repeat offenders to your creative events. They do not define you or your work. Positive energy generates more so save your efforts for those who do give you support and don’t take them for granted. Make sure you thank your family and friends for coming and that they know any help they may have given has been greatly appreciated.  

Anything that you can do to support your creative friends is valuable and is the most basic thing you can do for both the arts and friendship. Be the type of friend you want to have. It matters.

Kat

(all images from pixabay.com, unsplash.com or pxhere.com)

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Health Scares and Creativity

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I haven’t posted in quite a while. Earlier in the year I was really busy rehearsing for a ukulele festival and put other creative activities on the back burner. I stupidly let myself get run down at the beginning  of the flu season, became seriously ill with a respiratory infection and ended up in hospital. Luckily, thanks to the wonderful care and attention of the medical and nursing staff, some powerful medication and a long period of rest, I made a full recovery. This whole episode was a bit of a wake-up call. You never know what is around the corner, so it is important to make the most of life and your creativity while you can. Do not to neglect your artwork, whatever that may be.

Because my energy had been depleted I needed to refresh my creativity and felt that I should try something new. Rather than getting bogged down trying to get a big idea or tackling a large work on canvas, I decided to work on a smaller scale and do works on paper. It would give me the opportunity to revisit coloured pencils, pen, ink and gouache, as well as to learn watercolour properly, something that was never taught when I went to art school. I bought some new paints and materials to supplement those I already had and have been experimenting with mixed media together with watercolour. Change is good for the soul.

Youtube has been a wonderful resource for watercolour lessons and information on paints and other materials. There are so many generous artists who share their knowledge and are entertaining in the process. Wish these had been available when I was at art school.

One thing that really shocked me was the price of water colour paints and materials in Australia, especially water colour paper which needs to be 100% cotton and makes a big difference when learning techniques. I tried to limit the costs by getting one set of paints on Amazon and found some good deals on water colour paper on Fishpond, as well as sourcing some water colour pads made from Italian paper by the local Australian company, Art Spectrum. I only needed to buy a few new brushes as I already had many for gouache. Those few I bought were also made by an Australian company.  Local is always cheaper than imported, especially if you buy from one of your country’s online retailers.

I saved money by using plastic well palettes that I already had for washes and improvised with a porcelain soap dish and some white ceramic tiles left over from our renovations, which are great for mixing smaller quantities of paint or coloured inks and are easy to clean. The larger tile can be used for working on a small sheet of wet watercolour paper. Always keep ceramic tiles or other useful containers for mixing paints.

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I also had some ancient Windsor and Newton pan and tube watercolours from a relative. The tubes had dried up and I cut these open and put the paint in an old theatrical makeup palette so I could use them with the old pans, which I blue tacked into the same container. These are still workable, although not as nice as the new paints. Never discard old watercolours as they can be reconstituted.

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Another thing that I found helpful in revitalising my creativity was reorganising the studio. (For a comparison you can see how it looked in early 2017 by clicking here). It is a good idea to find out what you have so that you don’t waste money on things you don’t really need. I moved the things that I use more often to accessible locations in cupboards and shelves. Those that are not used much were placed on higher shelves or in stacked, vintage suitcases. In one accessible suitcase, under a table, I put all my A3 art paper and pads. a much cheaper alternative to buying a large drawer unit.

The old dollhouse now holds pan paints and inks, coloured pencils and markers, as well as some craft items. Biscuit tins are great storage containers for drawing materials.

I moved my acrylic, oil paint and other brushes from the table onto the white wicker trolley. Making more space on my table surfaces means I have plenty of room for my materials when I am working on something. The tall Ikea trestle table can be used for cutting paper or fabric and is a place for Ellie to work on her projects.

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I still have room for some fun inspirational objects. It is great to be a bit silly and playful in your work space.

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As I’m still finding my feet with watercolours, I don’t want to show any of my early attempts. It is more important to have some fun and enjoy the process without any pressure.

A health scare makes you take stock of your life, especially when you have been lucky and dodged a bullet. Enjoy life and revel in your creativity.

Kat.

In the spirit of the coming Halloween celebration here’s a fun video from one of my favourite 80s Aussie bands, Mental as Anything.

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In Praise of Pigs

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The pig is an animal that has been used as a symbol by many cultures, as well as inspiring writers and artists. (See entries on Wikipedia for a good survey of the cultural and religious associations and the pig in popular culture). Sometimes it is used to depict human failings; at others it represents wisdom and good fortune. Pigs also can be just plain entertaining. Now we have entered the Chinese Year of the Pig I thought I would share my small collection and some random thoughts on the subject.

Undomesticated pigs can be fierce and dangerous beasts. Since ancient times representations of wild boar have displayed this ferocity with great imagination. Take for example this illustration from our dilapidated copy Oliver Goldsmith’s A History of the Earth and Animated Nature, Vol. I 1868. The various species of wild pigs from different regions of the world are put together to create a scene that could only exist on paper or in your nightmares.

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I’m sure that the British illustrator Paul Hogarth was channeling this wildness in his cover illustration for the 1960s edition of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. That is one threatening pig.

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In contrast illustrations of domestic pigs seem much more benign although they can still display a lot of character. In our 1883 copy of the Universal Self Instructoris an entry on how to keep hogs with an accompanying picture. The artist gives you the impression that these two hogs would have been stubborn personalities with minds of their own. They look immovable.

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The pig form may be bulky bit it can lend itself to delicate and small artifacts. For example I have a tiny glass pig that I bought in a shop in the US, as well as a tiny pig pin, something that will be fun to wear this year.

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Pigs can be wonderfully amusing creatures and have inspired cartoonists like Walt Disney in his 1933 animation of The Three Little Pigsand the Loony Tunes character of Porky Pig. Here are a couple of comical pigs. The pink one is a vintage bath salts holder and the other was found at an op shop.

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There are many charming images of pigs in children’s books. In our 1901 edition of Country Favourites there are some delightful illustrations of pigs for the story Pat and the pigs by Winifred Fenn. The story is about a very naughty boy who steals cherries and releases the pigs in his charge to eat the flowers in an old ladies garden. Of course, like all moralizing tales of this era he eventually sees the error his ways and apologizes. The likeable and good-natured looking pigs seem oblivious to the fact they are involved in dirty deeds.

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A piggy bank is the quintessential money box with so many creative variations. Countless generations have saved their change in one. When my sister and I were children our grandmother would give us the contents of her vintage hand painted, ceramic piggy bank. Unfortunately this lovely bank was accidentally given to charity.

I was always horrified by the thought of smashing a beautiful piggy bank to get at the contents when there was no bottom opening. I would rather use a knife to loosen the change while holding it upside down. I still have a reproduction of a depression era glass piggy bank and it is easy to shake out the contents. Many financial companies give away piggy banks as promotional gifts and that is the origin of the jovial plastic purple one below.

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Because the pig is one of the animals in the Chinese Zodiac it is popular in Asian countries as a symbol of luck, wisdom and good fortune. A Japanese friend gave me a wooden lucky charm from her local temple, painted with the image of Ebisu (one of the seven gods of happiness) riding a white pig, which I treasure. The gorgeous Korean brass pig was found at a local op shop.

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Pigs are great animals to doodle and I did this drawing a long time ago just for the fun of it.

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Pig objects make an interesting collection and have all kinds of different meanings around the world.  Although sometimes symbolising wild nature, pigs are also revered as intelligent and benevolent animals and can inspire us in our creative endeavours.

Happy Year of the Pig!

Kat

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Creative Festive Decorations

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There are so many options for being creative and making your own sustainable and recycled decorations. Using what you can find around your home and garden, as well as previous years’ decorations, stimulates the imagination while saving money and the environment.

This year I decided to do my own take on the popular ladder tree because we had a vintage ladder that an unknown tradesman had left behind and never returned to collect. It is a wonderfully distressed white-painted ladder and all it needed was a clean with mild detergent.  I have seen some beautiful ladder Christmas trees with glass balls hanging down from the inside. Obviously the owners did not have crazy dogs, who could run underneath and smash the balls to pieces.  Because we do have such mad creatures, I wrapped white cord around the outside of the ladder to discourage our two dogs from walking through.  I could hang the decorations from this cord.

I looked through our old decorations and choose silver and white ones and to add more colour found some stars woven from synthetic ribbon left over from a craft project at our local community centre. A pile of these was put out for anyone to take so Ellie and I took a few. Stapled on crochet thread made ties to attach them to the ladder. On the steps I placed some small decorative gift boxes that I had saved, as well as a small tin bucket as a candle holder. Some fun mask earrings also make interesting ornaments. On the top of the ladder a chrome candle hanger was great for displaying a silver star.

Ladder trees are easy to create. Ours was virtually free and I could reuse many of our old ornaments and at the same time find a use for some craft items. As I have been really busy lately, it was very quick to put together and I did not need to run around and buy a lot of new decorations. Most people have a ladder of some sort. Even modern aluminum ones can be made to look great with lights and simple ornaments so they needn’t cost a fortune.

Craft items can be used in a different way to create interesting ornaments. For a table decoration I found a simple round vase and inserted a long colourful cord that I had made by pin knitting with some crochet cotton yarn. On top of the cord I rested a star decoration to create a simple and unique table centrepiece for the festive season. All it took was a bit of imagination.

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The natural world can provide quick and easy trees. Last year our main tree was created from a dead camellia. This year I wanted to keep it simple in the front room so I used three dead branches that I had stored in the roof to make a small tree for the bay window sill. These were placed in a hand-painted vase.  I decided to use mainly red and gold decorations from our collection which goes more with the summer aspect of our festive season in the southern hemisphere.

Many of the ornaments are recycled items. Some are in fact key rings like the red resin hearts, which were gifts from previous Christmas bonbons. It’s good to recycle plastic items. The small gold flowers are from a broken vintage bracelet. The ribbon around the base of the tree was from gift wrapping and the cherry cluster is a brooch. Ribbons are always good to keep for decorating your tree. Any interesting and attractive object can be used as a decoration.

Festive decorating need not be an expensive and stressful exercise. It can be fun and creative, even when you have little time. Just limit yourself to some main decorative items, recycle and use what you have in an interesting way and don’t be afraid to do something different.

Wishing everyone a wonderful festive season where ever you may be and a very happy new year.

Kat

Here’s a photo of a glorious December sunset taken from my studio window.

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Peppers, Paper and a Peculiar Sunset

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Why is it when you are all fired up to do something creative a situation arises that gets in the way? Yesterday I had planned to do some writing for this blog when our washing machine decided to overflow from the top as well as developing a leak underneath, probably from one of the hoses. Much of the day was wasted with moving the steel bench and it’s contents out of the laundry so that we could get behind the machine to see if it was fixable then trying to find a repair person.

We could not get anyone to come before next Thursday. A plumber had told us to hang onto this older machine for as long as possible because it was very sturdy and he said that with many new models, you were lucky if they lasted 5 years so we want to have it repaired if possible.

As the dirty clothes will pile up, what could we do until then? Luckily Ellie found that we could do our washing if the machine was partially filled and set to the final rinse and spin cycles. This took ages because the leaking water had to be mopped up all the time. After all the things that had been drenched by the overflowing machine had dried out, it all had to be put back into the laundry. Luckily it was a day of 35°C which was great for drying things but not wonderful for staying cool in a crisis. Sometimes life gives you hot Chile peppers like the lethal ones in our garden.

Modern technology can be trying at times but it would be much more time-consuming to do the washing by hand. There was nothing we could do to prevent this annoyance, so I had to accept the fact that it was necessary to focus on the task in hand rather than to do what of had planned. On top of this I could feel the onset of a sore throat (probably from the heat) so decided to have a relaxing evening and not to stress.

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On a more productive subject, the papermaking has been going well. We have found that mixing colourful bits of cotton fabric, which has been put through the washing machine and the blender, then mixed with the paper pulp, creates lovely decorative sheets. Below are some examples of Ellie’s work.

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If you put some pieces of thread on the surface of the paper after it has been couched onto the wet cloth, press and dry it, then iron the sheet under a damp cloth, when you peel off the thread it will leave an embossed effect.

Putting loosely shredded cotton onto the paper while it is still in the mould will create surface decoration that is pressed in when the paper is couched onto the wet cloth. Here are some of Ellie’s.

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In Australia it is now autumn and we have been having some beautiful sunsets. I photographed one of these from the studio last week and once I downloaded the photo onto the computer I noticed something that was not there when I looked out the window. There seemed to be a large UFO hovering in the sky with another one in the distance. How could this be?

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Then I realized that the lights have been on in the studio when I took the photo and were reflected in the window. It was just a trick of the light.

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Seeing is not always believing.

Kat

Here is a fun song, UFO, from Australian band Sneaky Sound System from ten years ago. It still sounds great.

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Distractions and Culinary Delights

You know the feeling. You start doing something and you find yourself going off of a totally different tangent that leads into different but fascinating territory. This week I was looking for a favorite recipe (flourless chocolate cake) that my mother used to make and found myself looking at an old cookery book that has been in the family for generations. Now I’m not really a cook, Ellie being the one who inherited that creative ability, but I like to eat and am fascinated by unusual dishes of the past and this old book took me on quite a journey.

Cookery For Every Household by Florence B Jack was published in the UK in 1914 just before WWI completely changed the world. It is a reflection of the previous Victorian and Edwardian way of life, where many people still had maids and cooks to do a lot of the domestic duties. Some of the elaborate recipes are heavily influenced by French cuisine and reflect the old style of entertaining of the wealthy. Our copy at same stage lost its original cover and was rebound in red. The book has over 3,000 recipes and is quite a tome. The book is full of line drawings to illustrate the recipes and as well as basic cooking, there are some culinary dishes that seem quite strange by todays standards.

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It is also amazing that cooks could produce such complicated cuisine with gas rings, simple stoves and equipment.

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Here are some illustrations of the latest technology of the time: The electric stove.

I had to laugh at the mention of low electricity rates. Some things were better back in the early 20th century.

Ingenious contraptions were designed to make cooking easier. The Hutchings’ Patent Cooker was a tall steamer which could hold an entire meal to be cooked all at the same time. Imagine having this towering on your stove. I suppose it was the microwave or Thermomix of its day. Great for the busy housewife.

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In complete contrast, the basic meat safe was still in use for storing perishables. This hanging example was very common in Australia to stop ants and other creepy crawlies from getting at the leg of lamb for the Sunday roast.

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Improvisation was encouraged if you did not have the right equipment. If you did not have one of these for straining soup.

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You could do this.

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The book contains recipes based on ingredients that are no longer common in modern books. Take for example Fried Smelts. It made me wonder about the smell. Apparently it is a small fish, which smells like a cut cucumber and should be eaten as soon as possible. Yeah it probably smelt if left too long.

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Another unusual dish is Salsifis. These are a root vegetable similar to a parsnip and are either black or white. Taste wise these resemble asparagus. In America they are called Oyster plant because they were thought to taste similar. The drawing of the dish shows that the pureed salsifis were placed in scallop shells to look like seafood complete with lemon segment bow ties.

I noticed that many of the recipes followed a similar line. No food should look like its original form. For instance Stuffed and Baked Cod resembles a pair of eyes. I don’t think that this is any better than having a fish on your plate looking at you. Quite odd.

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Vegetables were presented so that there was no sign of any leaf. With Dressed Spinach the cooked leaves were put through a sieve, then butter and seasoning was added and the dish was decorated with triangular croutons of fried bread and segments of hardboiled egg. Anyone who had an aversion to spinach would never know that this plant was on the plate. Maybe not such a bad idea after all.

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There seem to be a lot of recipes where the food is dressed. Dressed Crab is another example. It involved the complete dissection of the crab then a mixture of the flesh and mayonnaise was put back into the shell with some claws on top to remind the diners that they were eating what was once a crab. No struggling with a naked crab.

Prawns (shrimp) got a similar treatment. In the Prawn Salad it looks like the two garnishes are dancing in a sea of prawn flesh, lettuce and sliced radishes, a reminder of their origin.

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Meat dishes also seemed to disguise the form of the original animal. The traditional Game Pie with its raised pastry case contains a variety of bird meat. The illustrated example is decorated with the feet of birds in the top hole that seems to be saying “let me out of here.” Not very appetizing.

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There seemed to be an obsession with molding things into cylinders or cones so that they became architectural structures like the following example.

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In those days cooking leftovers was a whole art form in itself. These dishes were not merely an afterthought. Here are a couple of extraordinary recipes.

Proper table linen was as elaborate as the food. There were a myriad of ways to fold napkins. Although the bishop’s Mitre seems a bit sober for a jolly night of feasting. Maybe that was the intention to avoid excess.

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To me it is the elaborately decorated desserts of this period that are incredible and make my mouth water. You may not have lived in a castle but you could eat a Castle Pudding (I think it must be a smear of pudding on the page).

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Nothing defines the period like Jellies. Great wobbly mountains of Jelly. The following recipe for Coffee Jelly could still be made today and would certainly liven up a party.

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The name of this dessert says it all. Tipsy Cake is an elaborate form of the classic Trifle. Layers of sponge cake, custard, strawberry or raspberry jam doused with a cup of sherry and decorated with cream and toasted almonds. Yum.

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For those with delusions of grandeur there is always the Princess Cake with it’s pink royal icing.

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Invalid cookery is where things take a down turn. No wonderful desserts if you were sick. It was a drab world of steamed food, soup and broth. The following advice in the book tells the sorry tale.

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Many of the more elaborate recipes found in this book are the type that nowadays would be made by chefs and are not the sort of food you would have everyday, although there are hundreds for normal meals for the ordinary housewife to feed her family.

I think that old cookery books from the past can still inspire and provide useful information for those interested in creative culinary skills. They also tell a story of the lives of our ancestors and the kind of society in which they lived. You often learn something new when you get distracted.

Kat

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Truly Inspired by A Guy Called Bloke

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The Three Graces (detail)

My blog had the privilege of being featured on fellow blogger A Guy Called Bloke‘s Truly Inspired series.

Here is the link: Truly Inspired: The Artist’s Child

Check out his wonderful poems and writings while you are there.