Parent late afternoon survival kit

I drew this on a paper bag that had cake in it. On a late, sunny afternoon – Hubby and I were pretty tired but Toddler was bursting with energy!

Baked goods and take away coffee- it helps!

The sweetest thing

The drawing above is of the Prinzessinnengarten- the bar, kitchen and toilets are in (separate) shipping containers and it’s where we went, together as a family, a lot last summer.

View from the top of the stairs

Yesterday I went to go for a walk but realized I didn’t have the time. I had the pram downstairs and didn’t fancy taking it shopping with me as people seem to stare -amused- at me and my empty pram. I get it but the joke, but it gets tiring- especially when I’m sleep deprived. This is when I dislike people looking at me the most.

I then just sat down on the chair outside my front door. Submitting to the weight of sleeplessness and to my losing race with time. I let my eyes follow the lines of the banister, down to the floor, up to the walls, then further up the side of the window, all to the roof, to the curve of the bottom of the stair case and then I looked at the window. I love all the lines, the repetitiveness and pattern.

So I drew it, then I went and collected my hot and sticky toddler- who I love more than I could ever successfully express.

Miniature tea set

I bought this miniature tea set for Toddler the other day, we’ve already broken most of it.

Perhaps not the most thought out of purchases – too fragile for the reality of a toddler and a clumsy mother.

Ode to Laundry

When I had an anxiety attack of laundry last November, while my husband was flown to Amsterdam for the premier of a film he had worked on, I thought somethings have got to change.

Now there’s no changing the fact that laundry has got to get done, if I had the money to pay someone to do it- I’d probably use that money on something else, so the change had to be my approach.

Instead of treating laundry like an annoyance, something I had to do begrudgingly. I decided to take my time and look at it- photograph it, draw it, write about it.  I look at the  textures and weights of the different fabrics, the colours, the shadows, the way it bunches up, layers upon layers.

With this looking I remember all my years of doing life drawing and still life drawing. I think of the Dutch Masters exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria- where in my early 20′s I didn’t care about fabrics- but this exhibition made me. The velvets, silks and laces, and the usage of light were perfect, even if the facial proportions were not.

I feel that this shift of focus is slowly moving into my painting practice. I say slowly, because I don’t feel that I have perfected portraiture yet, but I am getting close enough to feel satisfied with it that sometimes I branch out into paintings that let me focus on fabrics as well as skin tones. A good example of this is my painting of Allison Browning: Here

Roald Dahl, memories of Wales

When Hubby and I lived in Wales, we used to wander the streets where Roald Dahl had grown up. He used to work on Doctor Who at the BBC and we’d often meet there to begin our long and aimless walks. Cardiff, where we lived wasn’t so nice, but the rest of Wales is beautiful. I think the Welsh country side is the most beautiful that I have ever seen. Our first family holiday was to Snowdonia, in the North of Wales- it was, and still is, the best five days and nights of my life. Even though Baby was teething and we couldn’t go hiking.

When I first confirmed Baby’s existence- 1st of November 2009- we went and saw Fantastic Mr. Fox at the movies.

Muttertag

 

Emotional Food

The above sketch is of Hudson’s Cakes, an English café here in Berlin. They bake their cakes on site. Mmmmmmmmm.

Waiting room

 

Sunhat

The sun and the warm has returned to Berlin. The first few days I still left the house with big coats, hats and scarfs- mistrusting. But it hasn’t left, even overcast days such as today it is still warm, the chill has gone!