trevor dickinson mural

on the way to Newcastle Beach from the city is a little tunnel taking pedestrians under the road to pop out right at the beachside...
there has been a mural on either side of this tunnel for years; but the predominate colour seemed to be black, making it dark inside...

in steps trevor dickinson with his awesome drawing and painting skills, and his humour.
it is now light, bright and exciting in this tunnel.





the ufo and superman silhouettes are a nice small touch..
you have to be really looking to notice them, they are very small details (to give an idea of scale: the ufo is that small smudge to the right above the 'showering' person)

dead birds

there have been very big oceans recently... and when the tides recede the detritus left behind on the shores is usually pretty shaming.
so much plastic.

but these two birds were also amongst it all.

door rock
made with:
one pacific ocean rock
two cotton crocheted doilies.

this is a new idea for a door-stop.
not too heavy to move around, yet enough weight to hold a standard door open.
the crochet protects parquet flooring and other smooth flooring materials from being scratched by the rock.

instructional design is everywhere when you start noticing it.
it is one of the areas of design that requires simplicity and clarity to achieve success.
which is why this sign on my local bus is so amusing.

vacate seat for an injured person, ok fine.
vacate seat for an elderly or less mobile person, but is she dancing ?
and vacate seat for a ....? what is that female representing?
is she obese?
is she itchy?is she pregnant?

was the designer having a joke...who designed this?
i would really love to know.

dead bird...
found in the park early one morning on those very first cold clear windy days.
it looked as though it had just fallen straight out of the tree.
frozen.

this was an accidental project...
it started as an idea that i could commission AB to make one for a friend's new baby.
then i started getting involved and found that i was making it myself. i've never tended towards patchwork... it just seemed too crazy to stitch all those tiny squares together by hand.

but it became strangely addictive and meditative to be doing something repetitive.

this cafe, good brother, opened quite recently.
revitalising a very dead part of king street...then a couple of weeks later this new crochet yarn bombing made its way on to the street sign post.
it's the small things that make the city feel lived in again.

these old bottles were found in the old dairy shed at a family property on the weekend.
not sure if they have anything to do with the running of the dairy, it is full of old junk and rusting machinery, so these are probably cast off from some other work.
they've been languishing in that old shed for decades.

of course they cleaned up well and are now gleaming on my kitchen shelf.
the lids are even in working order.
though perhaps not for food storage?


two of them have MASON'S embossed on the glass.
the other reads TRADE MARK LIGHTNING
what did they contain?...
how old are they/...

if you have any idea please leave a comment.

the scene from our inner city apartment. the beach is just beyond these buildings.
the light was perfect for only a few seconds... the colour of that new Sebel wall looked beautiful against the sky...and then there is all the construction work going on behind the old morgue.
great contrasts with the delicate sky.

broken in three

broken!

felicity gleeson made this gorgeous bangle.
it is parts of an old doily embedded in resin, which is perfectly clear and magnifies the textures colour and details of the yarn.



somehow i don't think gluing is going to do any favours for this beautiful piece.

if you are reading this miss felicity.... i need to visit any stocks you may have!!

citrus season

sundays are often when i remember the wonderful centenary centre on the harbour side of city.
it is often just to browse around and look at everything but for nothing in particular.

today's mission was a citrus press.

preferably not plastic.
but not the standard glass dish style ones either. without a clue what other design or way of squeezing oranges their might be (apart from the press/crush ones in fashion which J managed to break too easily with unwitting strength), i though this place was a good start.
after looking for a while at all the glass dish squeezers and one very beautiful green glass one with a jug below to catch the juice (much too expensive)...

...i found this perfect solution.

it is a 1940's piece, made from ceramic
very sturdy and perfect to use sitting over a cup to juice.

...and the autumn/winter oranges are on their way!

after a long break from any posts during summer it is time to be inspired again.

the colour of these aubergines is hard to reproduce in digital form, the texture and deep gloss of the skins are so much part of the pigment.
it is hard not to be inspired to at least cook these vegetables.
they are straight from our community garden... although small they are delicious.
like anything pick on the day from an organic garden they taste so much better than their homogenised sisters.

TOMS shoes are the creation of Blake Mycoskie.
the basic idea is business meets philanthropy... for each pair of shoes purchased, another pair are given to a child in need in various countries of the world.
one for one

great idea
great shoes