Yellow leaves and a spot of mudlarking

 

Yesterday Mr. Millicent Crow and I were standing in the rain at Pt Chev beach cackling like a couple of hyenas.  We'd walked to the beach to gather seaweed for me to draw and as I was pouncing on new exciting bits to add to my collection I realised my hands were already full of rosehips I'd picked up on the way (also for drawing).  Too many treasures!  Pretty much alone on the beach, getting soaked through, it suddenly seemed to be a pretty eccentric way to spend a Sunday afternoon!  My slightly obsessive treasure collecting has led me to come home with pockets full of yellow leaves lately and I've finally painted them into a yellow leaf sampler to go with this one and this one.  Maybe a seaweed painting will be next on the agenda?

For review

 

Mr. Millicent Crow and I have just finished the artwork for the review copies of his new album...I drew the pictures (except for the map) and he did the layouts.   It's exciting seeing it all put together and to be able to make a few changes to it before the final copy comes out. 

This project has been good practice for drawing gramophones, hopefully I'll be better at it by the time the final version comes out!

Hand-lettered

I do love a hand-lettered sign and here are some I've found around and about lately:

Luckily for my overflowing house the op shop in Matakana with this beautiful sign wasn't open!

One of these things is kind of like the other

 I finished my crazy mustard/chartreuse swiss cheese scarf in the weekend and realised that it looks a bit like this piece of driftwood that lives on my dressing table:

Or at least some kind of seaweed.  My next plan is to make a bright green one to use up a couple of giant balls of wool I have had kicking round for years.  And to go somewhere where it's chilly enough to wear it all day, it is warming up here!

And here is it in action; my neighbour took this photo of me when she came home and sprung me taking a selfie with the camera balanced on top of the carport.  Thanks Katie!

Notions

 I love old packaging for sewing notions and haberdashery...the fonts, the colours, the slogans! 

 This dome packaging's from my nana's sewing box, which I've used before for painting inspiration.  I've just had some proofs made up prints of this painting, which was part of my My Magpie Eye zine:

It's exciting seeing it in multiples...it's like having an enormous button collection!

Swiss cheese and yellow leaves

 Most winters I seem to get around to doing some knitting just as it's starting to get warm again, and this week I've been making a swiss cheese scarf.  It's a bit wonky, but it's going to be turned into a cowl, so hopefully some of the wonkiness will be hidden in folds.  Very importantly, it's helping me stay awake through TV shows and movies; I have a bad habit of getting too relaxed and falling asleep halfway through, no matter how suspenseful the show!  And it matches these yellow leaves I've been hoarding - they're going to become a painting like this one and this one. 

Hopefully I'll get the scarf and the leaf painting finished before Spring gets here!

Fossick

I was working on Saturday so I didn't get to go to the Zinefest, but I was lucky enough to stay at the Leigh Sawmill on Saturday night, where Mr. Millicent Crow was playing with Great North.  And seeing as we were driving through Matakana, we decided to take a look at Fossick.  Fossick stocks my zines, but I had never been to the shop before, and was excited to find it filled with beautiful taxidermy, maps, glittery cardigans and miscellaneous animal skulls.  They describe it as "A little bit vintage, a little bit gothic, a little bit industrial, a little bit Golden Girls" which is a good combo!   

Here's my zine, tucked away in a beautiful set of drawers

It also had coffee to fortify us for the drive back to town, and a good selection of magazines, very important!

So although I was sad to miss the zinefest, it turned out to be not an entirely zine-free weekend for me, and if you ever find yourself in Matakana and  in need of a copy of My Magpie Eye then head for the old dairy factory!