Creative Space

I have a small unit that I live in and one spare room which is an office, come junk room, come storage room, come guest room. I had previously had a sofa lounge/futon in the room but it took lots of space. After a trip to Ikea and a generous gift from my parents the room is now much more functional and funky. I spent much of the morning working on creatively reorganising space in the room and adding some splashes of red - which seems to be creeping into much of my decor these days.

The photos show what my results were.

Matisse inspiration

Well it has been a very long time since I wrote anything on my blog, been a busy time of the year. I had managed to get to an exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, with my friends to see hundreds of drawings by Matisse. It was a great time and there were so many that you left with a head so full of inspiration. I loved the end of it where they had a drawing room, and through out the day they have live music (a violinist - as Matisse played the violin) and live models, as well as lots of still life things to draw. You could draw on paper or they had digital tablets which was so cool. I even had a go drawing on my phone with a doodle app. It was so nice to get some time to just chill and draw.

My still life with pencil and paper in the drawing room

My friend and I played Mr.Squiggle where she drew some lines on the digital tablet and then I had to make a Matisse inspired drawing from it. This face is what I ended up with

This was my attempt to draw one of Matisse's still life drawings on my iPhone .

creative work

I had a folder for my student assessment that I wanted to decorate to reflect some of me and also make it stand out to make it easier to identify when using it in the classroom. I spent a few hours this morning cutting and pasting and getting my hands rather sticky. The following few photos is what I ended up with.

sewing time....

I started making this dress months ago and it has been sitting around for ages - I finally got around to getting it finished. It should be a good addition to my work wear.

renew, reuse, recyle

I had a pair of shorts that I had been tempted to throw away as the zipper had busted and it would be difficult to fix. I decided to get creative and recyle them into a carry bag. So after just a few small bits of sewing I have a new over the shoulder bag, with lots of extra handy pockets on the outside.

photo app fun..

I sit here in candle light, after having a play with a fun app on my iphone. These are a few pictures that I took while playing with it. There is something nice about candlelight....

creativity influences - Sandy

Here is my next creativity influences relfection - My friend Sandy

Creative pursuits - Sewing and photography
Inspiration - Nature, beautiful fabrics, colour and texture and patterns
Creative killers - Myself, motivation and time
Creative things I enjoy - Art, music and an amazing sunset

A few of Sandy's photographs

contact me if you want to be a part of this....

Good Friday cretive reflections

Today is Good Friday and my friends from my art group were asked to help people reflect on the crucifiction and the events leading up to the crucifiction. The following works of art made from paper is what they did. I loved them and hope you do to.

Creative inspiration part 1

Well already I have some responses for what inspires people. I thought seeing I was doing this survey I should also share my responses to the questions that I asked.

Dana - from the Sunshine Coast, Queensland.
I enjoy lots of creative things - I especially love to create anything visual, drawing, painting, as well as making food look visually apealling.
I am especially inspired by nature, beautiful settings, sunsets the ocean. I am also inspired by the creativity of others, I love going to art galleries and seeing what other people have created.
Stiffling my creativity - would be getting busy with life, not putting aside time to just reflect and enjoy creativity.

I also love movies and music even thougth I do not produce these myself, I so enjoy the creative processes that have gone into these. I have to say I so love it when the photography, art design etc. is just so beautiful and inspiring.

I was very inspired by the lamps I saw in Europe and have attempted to create my own paintings etc.

Andrew - from the Gold Coast, Queensland

I enjoy writting songs stories and poetry.
What inspires you to be creative : God inspires me, life love and esp lack of love and my daughter etc.
Hinderances to creativity:  laziness, work and tv esp slows my creativity.
Other creativity I have been involved is the acting I used to do.

 Michelle from Ipswich, Queensland

What kind of creative things do you enjoy doing? Writing, poetry, painting, sketching, and designing.

What inspires you to be creative? Music, the ocean, water, indigenous cultures, being outside being by myself.

What things stiffle your creativity? Talking or others around me talking, being busy with normal day to day life.

What inspires you?

A friend of mine sent out an email to her friends to get a their responses to a community quiz. It got me thinking it would be really interesting to see what inspires creativity in different people. So email me if you want to be involved and keep checking in to see how people are inspired creatively.

a dash of colour on a rainy day...

Today I headed down to my art group with absolutly no idea of what I was going to do. I decided just to play and see what I would end up doing. Firstly I did a fun watercolour and gouche painting of some flowers. Then was trying to decide what to do next when I found a few black and white pictures I had printed out for my teaching philosophy collage (see a previous blog to see this). I decided to add a splash of colour to a couple of photos with some watercolour paints. It was lots of fun to see what would happen.

more creative food - aussie style....

I was wanting to try a new reciepe for dinner...found a yummy recipe for Middle eastern lamb flat breads, but I decided to make it more of an aussie dish and make it out of Kangaroo instead. Yummy - Middle eastern aussie kangaroo flat breads, with homemade yogurt and home grown mint.

my teaching Philosophy ????

I was asked to share my teaching philosophy to a masterclass that I am doing for work. This is what I did for it.....

more food, loving getting creative and then eating it.......

Chargilled vegie stack with grilled Halloumi cheese and Holandaise sauce

Then something sweet - bbq chargrilled peach with fruche, honey and mint.

various photos from the garden from last weekend

Last weekend I took a few pictures in my friends garden here are a few .....