messy Miss Kate

Arty Things: Work in Progress

Just pictures today.  All the things I've been progressing & currently working on...

And in between all the activities there is regular tidying up of the painting desk. See? All organised!

Living to 100 : Getting into the Smoothies!

April & May are always busy for our family with lots of celebration for birthdays. I am sure I harp on about that every year, maybe every post during the two months!  Anyway, its an all consuming time adding to an already full schedule.  So things have slipped a bit. There has been lots of temptation around & I've enjoyed it.  Overall I'm maintaining but I'd like to continue moving forward. I remind myself each week, that I have a fresh new week to focus again & kick things off well, make good choices etc.

Today I decided that Monday would be a great day to head to my local green grocer & buy a bunch of freshies & set up some smoothie packs for the week for my Living to 100 post this week. I've always tried to set up my whole week starting on the Sunday. But by doing this, I actually push myself to squeeze the tasks into every corner & crack there is on the weekend so that we have a [actually never] perfect start to the week Monday. It occurred to me that it is eating into my chance for weekend relaxation. And relaxation is important!

So I am very pleased I had this a-ha moment today & I'll be looking to set up some good systems for each week from now on, once the Monday school drop off has been done & the pressure is off.  And a lovely little trip I did have this morning with the 3 little ones, taking time to smell the lovely flowers. 

I bought a mix of veg, citrus & other fruit & set about washing, peeling, cutting up & bagging up 6 smoothie packs to freeze. In this batch I've used kale, ginger, banana, pineapple, carrot, strawberry & kiwi. And I've added a teaspoon of LSA to each bag plus a little sprinkle of chia.  

Review: Movies & Music...

I've been wanting to share a couple of absolutely [I think] fabulous movies that I've seen in the last 6 months & thought I'd just go ahead & share this half written post this week while I am occupied with other things.  

So, I LOVE movies.  And I love to wrangle things so that I can always have something playing whether it be music, a fave TV show or a movie while I create or do my work.  I do love silence but if it goes on too long, I miss the sounds of wonderful.  

So what kind of movies do I like?  

• Rom/Coms - yes definitely
• Vampires - definitely NO
• Science fiction or fantasy - nup
• Drama, foreign, comedy, a little quirky - yes yes yes yes
• Action/crime/conspiracy - yes mostly but depends. James Bond - no, End of Watch/Training Day/The Departed or anything Matt Damon - YES!

But the ones I love best are the ones I can relate to OR acted so well I think they are my best friends & I'm right with them in the movie.  The good hearted sort of movie that brings me to tears about life & struggle & love & then I burst out with a loud belly laugh & maybe even snort a little. Ok a lot.   Absolutely my fave, hands down.  

So below, here's two that I have LOVED. If you haven't seen them, you have been hiding under a rock,

GO get them for this weekend. Yes do!  Go!

They are both about family, parenting, being a couple, expectations, about life, struggle & love.  The level of dysfunction in both families is a modicum more extreme than the average family but thats what makes a great movie. And the overall themes of both resonated with me 100%.

Me: Right now...

I'm taking time out this week to catch up on all sorts.  So I'll catch up on my Living to 100 post next week, I don't want to rush it.  April & May are always so busy for our family with birthdays every 5 minutes, almost ;o]

Since my birthday last week, I've been enjoying a lovely Mothers Day weekend with my babies, looking after my sick self [chest infection thing going on, barking like a dog & sounding like a man - delightful!]. Chelsea has it too.  We are the lame ducks in our family that seem to catch everything going around! We both smell of Vicks right now. Anyone else love that smell?  Must get another Vicks Inhaler - fabulous addiction LOL

So this week I'm trying to catch up on some more arty homework, I've been doing lots of drawing, some painting & I'm also getting ready for my Georgia Poppy's birthday. She is going to be 8 this weekend! I cannot believe it!

Last week I was in & out of the printers and just today, I collected my full set of prints for my new collection [see above!] which I'll be releasing this week! Need to squeeze in time to upload to the shop!

So anyway its one of those itsy bitsy catchy-up weeks that is needed every now & then.  Hopefully I'll be back later in the week with my ETSY all bursting at the seams with new artwork. Originals & prints!

Must dash, here's a couple of pictures from the last few days that I have to share.  And after that, its back to my graphics work & bill [not at all exciting] paying. 

Me & my babies on Mothers Day. Looking & feeling a bit average but important to get in front of the camera occasionally! Love.

And here are all my lovely Mothers Day gifts. Handmade double sided hand printed tote bags from the twins at pre-school, sweet smelling sachet, bag clippy holder, lovely new uggs, a great stylus [I'll be reviewing soon!] & lovely cards, handmade flowers & bookmarks.

Spoiled & truly grateful.

Hope all my lovely readers had a lovely Mothers Day & are having a good week!

Arty Things: Work in Progress

I'm having a good time focussing on my arty learning, playing & designing right now. Lots going on. Lots to work on if I someday would like to make a fulltime career in illustration & design. And thats what I want to do. I'm in the messying around phase right now & its fun going back to basics in some areas, exploring all sorts & drawing drawing drawing & editing editing editing. Here's a few images taken from the camera, computer & studio in the last couple of weeks.

The bottom pic is just a little experiment with one of my new little characters.  I'm thinking I might add a few "experiments" to my shop along with my other new work, to see how they go.

Looking forward to releasing my new work next week!

Arty Things: SHOP SALE, only a few days left.

I'm having a BIG PRINT SALE IN SHOP NOW!

**Last chance to order for Mothers Day** 

To start with, I'm offering 50% off all prints in stock when you add $30 or more to your cart in my shop.

So that means, buy 2 or more prints [to the value of $30 or more] & you'll only be charged 1/2 price.

$30 value = pay ONLY $15.

$40 value = pay ONLY $20.

$100 value [maybe 5 prints or more prints] = pay ONLY $50 etc.

HERE's HOW:

Add two prints or more [$30 or more in combined value] to your cart.

Then use COUPON CODE: MOTHERSDAY2013 when checking out.

Your 50% discount will be automatically applied when you checkout.

TERMS:

Applies to prints in the MOTHERS DAY SPECIALS category until 12th May 2013 [Australian Mothers Day].

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE:

As an added bonus, I'll also be including an extra surprise free print with every order.

 

AND EVEN MORE!  GIFT VOUCHERS IN STORE NOW!

Family & Home: and gratitude...

Its was my birthday yesterday. I was 42 years old. Thats 42 years worth of living! I am so grateful for that. Sunday night I had a lovely dinner with my family. We had some slow cooked Indian curries, salad & lemon meringue pie for dessert. Delicious.

I've been spoiled with some lovely gifts.   Lots of lovely hand drawn pictures & cards from my babies & little gifts from each of them.  Stamps sets for my artwork [as if I don't have enough alpha sets already, but who can resist these in their little wooden boxes eh?], Martha Stewart organising charts [love], a tin with antique map tags & babushka stickies [adore].  My parents gave me this gorgeous French inspired altered book that is actually a box & had some cash inside [swish!] and my brother is taking me out for dinner. More moula from my other brother & my sister & I are not exchanging this year as we are going to Brisbane together later this year which is also my main pressie from Jeff.  Oh! And Jeff brought home some flowers for me that he picked up on his way home from work. Sweetheart.  

Living to 100: Self Compassion

In my quest to find a healthier happier me this year I've been reading & writing about all sorts of topics. So far I guess they have been mostly related to getting a healthier 'body'.  Thats a big part of the work I want to do but there's also a healthier 'mind' & 'soul' that I don't want to forget either. Going around in circles year after year isn't going to move me forward if I'm not considering the complete package.

Lately the universe is delivering some pretty strong themes to me. For starters, I've been seeing 'whales' everywhere!. I know! But thats a post for another day.  

I've also been noticing the topic of 'self compassion'.  I tend not to log into twitter too much, just pushing things through from ETSY or Instagram. Checking in occasionally to catch up on direct tweets to me. But one night last week, maybe it was the week before, I logged into Tweetdeck for some global 144 character banter.

What I noticed, was that Tweets popped right out of the feed, linking to statements on self compassion

Arty Things: Taking a leap...

So this year I'm leaping forward, diving into arty things in a bigger way.  Immersing myself.

I'm currently preparing this new work above [& below] for the printer & I'll have some originals & new prints shop soon. In the meantime you can still grab some of my older work on SALE in store now. 50% off.  

I'm also jumping into a little study period right now so I aim to be online alot less. Concentrating on learning & focussing on my dreams. I still want to share as much as I can about my journey through this little art education though, so it'll be less words [I'm not sure that is even POSSIBLE for a person like me] and more pictures.  I hope you enjoy reading/watching along as I let my work evolve, explore new territory & I soak up arty connections with others.

To get ready for the year ahead & get my mind focussed [because I tend to mull over things for way to long, did you notice?] I downloaded a great little resource that I wanted to share with you. Its Jessica Swift's Goal & Intention kit.  Its particularly great for creative types wanting to explore, get focussed & get serious about the year ahead.  You can see her blog here & download the kit through her ETSY here. Go check it out!

I've got another post coming soon on my studio & being a work at home mum. So check back later in the week.

Ok, so here I go! Wish me luck! xo

Arty Things: To be or not to be...

I try my hardest not to get too distracted by headlines & carrots on social media, magazine covers, facebook, forums, daily digests. They are all so clever at grabbing my attention or pulling people into a debate. I big time procrastinate so I try to mindfully have to physically pull myself away & switch off every now & then. But I also love the connection & 'news' that I get too so I dislike disconnecting.  Tricky.  

Anyway, recently my sister pointed me towards this article here as its a subject close to my heart & its taken a long time to have some self belief & confidence in pursuing. 

It was about 'Creative Types' and pursuing their dreams, specifically the writers sister, and some other blah blah, judgement, 'perhaps its not the most sensible career choice' etc.  Anyway, I'm just - tongue in cheek - summarizing the flavour of the article + another article it referenced + the comments on the opposite side of the fence to mine.

So we know the question. To be or not to be? Sensible or follow passion?

I think for the first time ever, I was compelled to comment publicly.  Here was my answer to that question. Please excuse the typo's, I was in a rush to ignore the bill paying & chase stardom, at the time...