Collaged

 

A public holiday, finally time to deal to some of the stack of pictures waiting to go into my inspiration book!  These are some of the images I've been collecting to inspire me:

 
 I see there's a bit of a bird theme going on as per usual!

 And even an Easter bunny.  A very happy Easter to you!

Trash or treasure?

 

Here are some more things I didn't buy at the op shop, looking a bit crinkly I'm afraid from spilling a whole jar of water on my sketchbook.  Might be time for a desk clean up methinks.  

 And hooray, it's that time of year again...

 I might have to do a "Things I didn't bring home from the inorganic collection" edition of drawings. I have already resisted a beautiful '70s couch (severely broken) and a pair of knitted gold sparkly pants!

Left behind in Onehunga

I find it hard to leave Onehunga empty-handed - it's such a treasure trove of great op shops and temptation.  Last week was no exception (and I'm in the process of drawing a few lucky finds) but here are some of the things I did manage to leave behind at the op shop...

 

Yakety yak don't talk back!

I stayed up until the wee small hours making Mr. Millicent Crow a picture of a yak for his birthday, and now I can't get that damn song out of my head!  Yakety yak, don't talk back!

Fly me up to where you are

I raced into town after work today hoping that the flags would still be in Aotea Square, and I was in luck.  This tent of flags is an artwork called Fly Me Up To Where You Are by Tiffany Singh - she got hundreds of kids from South Auckland to write their hopes and dreams on them.  They are beautiful, I'm thinking I'll have to make some flags for our house!

 I love the way the city looks through the flags.  Magical. 

 

These colourful deckchairs are a good place to sit and watch the flags.

And I thought this rainbow apartment block matched the colours nicely!

Signs of the times

 I am glad that I don't have enough space for my street sign collection to be more than photographic, otherwise I'd be stumbling over signs as well as vintage blankets in my rather small house.  But look at that sign painting!  There's a great sign with gold leaf that I see every day from the train - I must be quick sometime and snap a photo of it, too. 

 

 And this one isn't a sandwich board but I still liked it!

My creative space: I'll pencil you in

The style I was painting my blanket labels in, all flat and blocky, was starting to drive me mad, they just didn't look like they did in my head.  So I decided to do a bit of experimentation, and to have a go at drawing them in a more detailed way in pencil, then washing over them with watercolour or gouache.  Here's my first one, which is still waiting to be painted:

  And I miiiiight have bought some more blankets, purely for the labels.  Take a look at these beauties:

Love those fonts.  

 Joining in today with "My Creative Space" over here, and remember:

 Happy Thursday!

Summer's end

These photos are from back on Auckland Anniversary Day, which feels like long enough ago to be nostalgic for already.  We went up to Tawharanui for the day with a picnic, stacks of books, drawing materials, musical intstruments...  All that got done was swimming, eating and playing the ukulele.  Which was just fine.

My Creative Space: stealing time for bits and pieces

Today my creative space is about stealing time.  Stealing a bit of time to jot down some "Things I didn't buy from the op shop" ideas.  The only paper I had in my bag was a scrappy old envelope.

 I'm hoping to turn that series of drawings into a zine full of things I didn't buy from the op shop (and maybe some that I did).

I've also been stealing some time to work on a blanket label painting.  This is my second version of this particular label in progress...the cross hatching has been taking aaages.  

And stealing time for a coffee, because, as they say, a day without coffee is like something without something...

Joining in with "My Creative Space" over here today. 

Happy Thursday!

Retail therapy

Last week I didn't buy from the op shop:

I drew these when we were up north last weekend.  The very next day we went to the bountiful op shops of Dargaville and I was most undisciplined in my op shop spending!  Though there were some goodies I managed to leave behind...I might have to do  "Things I didn't buy in the op shop" Dargaville edition!