A few weeks ago, while my step sister Jaime was staying with us, we took a trip to Hobart to show her around. When we visit Hobart we usually just stay with friends, but I thought it would be fun to book two rooms for us at The Alabama Hotel (which I've been ogling online for months). I bought tickets to see Ben Folds with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra 6 months prior, not knowing who we'd get to mind Theo that night, so Jaime was kind enough to stay back at the hotel while C and I had one of our extremely rare evenings out - thankfully Theo slept the entire time.



The hotel was really lovely. It calls itself budget boutique accommodation, so there are shared bathrooms and the facilities are simple, but it has a lovely vibe, comfy rooms, the sweetest decor and a wonderful little bar and reading room downstairs with a balcony that overlooks Liverpool Street. It's a nice big step up from a backpackers/hostel but not as pricy as a hotel. It was very comfortable, cute and affordable ($80/night) and I highly recommend it.







Ben Folds was fantastic. It was probably one of the best shows I've ever seen. Even though I've loved his music since I was a little kid (my brother made me a mixtape in the late 90s which I played a lot), I didn't quite realise just what an amazing singer he is, masked beneath his Southern accent and slightly nasal tone. An exceptionally talented musician. And seeing him with the symphony was a total treat. He even made up a song on the spot and directed each part of the orchestra to play along.




I started reading A Bone Of Fact which was in the reading room at the hotel and I got pretty hooked on it. It's a memoir by David Walsh, professional gambler and owner of MONA. I hope I can buy myself a copy sometime, it was very engrossing.




Theo loved the balcony and wanted to wave at the people in their cars below on busy Liverpool Street.







My recommendations for visiting Hobart:
Stay | The Alabama Hotel
Eat | Machine + Room For A Pony + Shoebox Cafe
Shop | Salamanca Market
See | MONA
Wander | Botanical Gardens
Dance | Rektango

Hi there! Long time no see!

This week my step sister Jaime flew home after staying with us for 10 days. We took her to MONA, stayed at the Alabama Hotel (more on that later), she minded Theo while we went to see Ben Folds with the symphony, we visited Deloraine, had a dip in the waterfall at Lilydale Falls and a picnic and a paddle at Cataract Gorge, I took her to a graphic design workshop, we went for a couple of bike rides and we ate A LOT of fruit because Jaime is a fruit addict. We don't get too many guests down here in Tassie (come visit me! I have a sofa bed waiting for you!) so it was lovely to get to show Jaime around and see Tasmania with fresh eyes again. I am so glad that having lived here for four and a half years (!), I still find it to be a ridiculously lovely place to live.

I bought this dress and a new tube of Ruby Woo when we were in Hobart. Literally the only place I buy clothes from is Dangerfield, downstairs at the Myer in Hobart which means that I rarely buy new clothes and when I do I get really excited about it.




I have officially stopped calling this guy a baby now. Look at him - he's ENORMOUS! Several times a day I say to him "Weren't you just born?!" or "Are you even real?!". He has about ten words now and his current favourite activities are dancing, washing his hands (so many times a day), brushing his teeth, jumping on his little trampoline, playing in the dirt in the backyard, kicking and throwing balls, pretending to talk on the phone and diving off of high things. I have been a bit lazy with writing in my little baby book for him and should really do an update - it's nice to slow down and try to be a bit more present and write things down. I have been really busy lately but have been able to spend a lot more time at home with this guy, which is always good.

+ Dress: Dangerfield; cardigan: Revival; shoes: Doc Martens; brooch: vintage.

I've been wanting to write my own list of 100 Ideas, inspired by Keri Smith's for ages. I thought I'd post them in volumes of 25 - here is the first volume.

1. Make a collection of items with similarities (eg. all orange items, tiny things, beach trash, flowers from your neighbourhood, tea tags, things starting with the letter P, etc), lay them out and photograph them. Do this with different items.
2. Doodle on post-it notes and stick them in public places (you might want to use washi tape to stick them to a surface so it doesn't blow away).
3. Take a photo of your feet at the same time every day for a week (in different locations, wearing different footwear/socks/barefeet).
4. Pick a random address out of the phonebook (or search for a random name in an online address directory) and mail them a postcard with a nice message. Include your return address, or not.
5. Participate in (or start) a 'Free Art Friday' in your area and leave pieces of art for people to find in public spaces.
6. Go to a public space and people watch. Make a piece of art in response to this experience (eg. draw people's faces, write down conversations heard, write haikus, create an abstract response).
7. Make a font based on your own handwriting.
8. Do a pencil sketch of some of the products in your pantry or fridge in their packaging. Colour them in with watercolours.
9. Take a photo of your house and do a sketch based on it. Sketch other houses in your street. Colour them with whatever colours you think they should be (purple roofs, polka dot bricks, orange doors, etc).
10. Take close up pictures of the patterns or textures of your favourite clothes.
11. Bookcross a book. Leave a message in the back of the book telling future readers what you enjoyed about the book.
12. Write a series of haikus about someone you love, try to summarise their character. Share them with the person.
13. Write a dot point list summarising your day in chronological order. Try doing this for a week.
14. Go to a thrift shop. Pick an item and write a short story detailing what kind of life you think it had with its previous owner(s).
15. Make pom poms and hang them from a tree in a public area. Try hanging them when nobody is around, then return to the tree later when people are walking by and see if people notice them.
16. Make yourself an interesting business card, regardless of what you do. You can even just have your name and email address on it. Give them to people you meet.
17. Create three self portraits using different materials (eg. pen, paint, collage, graphics tablet, photograph, ink, linocut, etc.) or in different styles.
18. Each time you are in a department store, try on a different perfume. Sketch the bottle and write their names down so that you can remember them and write something about the scent (eg. fruity, musky, lemony, woodsy, floral, light, spicy).
19. Arrange a small, fun, scavenger hunt for someone you know who might need a pick-me-up.
20. Create a paste-up and stick it somewhere that you regularly pass by.
21.  Take a photo, convert it to black and white and get it printed as big as you can (for as little money as you can - I got a huge one printed at A1 size). Hang it in your house.
22. Illustrate one of your favourite recipes and hang it in your kitchen.
23. Write a paragraph review of every tea or coffee you drink at a cafe in the next month.
24. Go for a walk around your suburb/city making quick drawings of signs that you see.
25. Try drawing a zentangle.

Ps. If you're looking for more fun creative ideas, you should read Mary's 100 ways to be creative list and her 100 things to do when you're bored list.

This month I...



...went a little bit mad over indoor plants. They're my favourite. Today I bought a string of pearls plant which I've been wanting forever!.



I sent out some zine orders and got a bit fancy with the lettering (the top one may have taken me several days to complete).


I finished my major work for my degree! Hooray! It is currently being exhibited at the Academy Gallery at my uni at the moment until the 7th of December and I'll have to take some better photos of it to do a post about it soon. I got my results back yesterday and am pleasantly surprised with how things turned out.


In the few weeks before submission I was doing 12 hour painting days and basically drove myself insane. This is Atticus saying to me "Are you alright? How about you stop painting for a while and eat/sleep/shower?".


I spotted this write-up in the local newspaper about the show, which mentions my work. I went to the grad show opening at the gallery last week and it was lovely to see all of the fruits of everybody's labours on show, such a diverse, wonderful range. There was a presentation ceremony and some awards (which I didn't even know they gave out) and I was lucky enough to snap up the Tasmanian Contemporary Art award and a $500 cheque. It was a very unexpected and a lovely surprise. I'm going to spend it renovating my studio. I'd love to do a small exhibition next year sometime.


I drew some chickens just for fun.


Theo and C spent the first part of the month in NSW visiting family and I went a bit stir crazy without them. C sent me LOTS of photos of Theo daily which helped.


My garden exploded with flowers (including these lovely irises which basically popped up over night).


On the day that C and Theo were returning home, I was running around the house frantically tidying and there was a knock at the door and this fantastic bouquet arrived from my lovely online friend Sophie who lives in WA. The note that accompanied them congratulated me on finishing my degree and I was so overwhelmed I had a little cry, sitting at my kitchen table (a happy cry). Such a ridiculously lovely gesture! And those proteas are just the most fantastic flowers I've ever seen. It was a lovely moment to finish my uni year on.


My boys returned home! I got stuck in traffic on the way to the airport and missed the plane landing, so the boys were waiting in the pick-up bay when I arrived. I was walking up the footpath toward them and Theo saw me and we walked to each other with arms outstretched and had the biggest hug in the world.

And now to overwhelm you with photos of my child...


We've been going to the park around the corner from our house most evenings after dinner to let Theo have a play before bed. We kick around a ball together and run around and often our two boy cats join us in the park which I love (you can see Tintin faintly in the above picture).


As it has been getting warmer around these parts we've been making a lot of icy poles and devouring them. They're Theo's current favourite thing.


This photo was taken when we went on a drive to Deloraine last week. Theo is looking especially cheeky because he has his eyes on a fountain he's interested in playing in (and that he later tried to jump into).


Sometimes we put Theo in the vintage dresses that I collect. I think he enjoys it.


Theo likes to walk everywhere now. It is so nice to let him walk with us rather than always strapping him into the pram. Today we went on a walk to Bunnings to ogle building and gardening supplies (for renovating my studio and starting a veggie garden). Theo likes to collect rocks to put down his overalls on the walks.

Listening | Serial, Ben Folds Five on vinyl and The Soviet Tape (jazzy Latvian pop rock spliced with Anti-Russian CIA documentary vocals - my favourite thing right now).
Reading | Uppercase magazine and Not That Kind Of Girl by Lena Dunham. I preordered a copy a few months before it was released but my copy didn't arrive for ages. I'm enjoying reading it little by little when I have a chance. She is very relatable and unrelentingly honest, which I appreciate.
Watching | Sherlock.
Making | Lots of different things for my new course, which I'm really enjoying.
Purchasing | A light pad, Ben Folds Five's debut album on vinyl (I saw it in my local record shop and couldn't resist), a whole bunch of goodies from my friend Holly's garage sale, a whole bunch of goodies from my friend Isis' garage sale, vintage baby dresses and a Fujifilm X-M1 (which I'll be reimbursed for by the company I'm doing my new course through, so good!).
Coveting | A new tube of Ruby Woo by Mac lipstick. It's the only lipstick I buy and I wear it everyday, so I use a lot of it!
Looking forward to | Taking Theo swimming over the Summer, doing one last Summer school uni subject in January, working on two zines over the Summer (one cat themed and one supermarket themed), my step sister coming to stay and going to see Ben Folds with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.

How's your month been?