MORE OIL PAINTING LOVE

This is what I painted yesterday, I am still torn between just leaving it really painterly or trying for super smooth, super detailed form.

OLEG DOU LOVE

OLEG DOU you blow my mind. I was looking at reference for painting class today and came upon the work of this Russian digital artist. I just want to stare and stare, sometimes the perfection is just too sweet. This is a series called TEARS We cry when we experience pain, sadness or happiness 2008.

MESSY STUDIO DOOR LOVE

I had a heavy case of misty eye yesterday when I came home to the MESSY STUDIO doors hung in their frame. Oh it has been a long, long 10 months of scraping together pennies and endless hours of planning and moving and fixing but I have loved every gut wrenching minute of it. Imagine building a whole house!!! Now you know why those poor people on GRAND DESIGNS are usually at it for 2 years and look like they have been kicked all over by tap dancing donkeys. The trough is on it's shelf and the powder coated letters and symbol arrived yesterday, so hopefully will have them installed after the doors are finished. Just haven't made the REFRESH RENOVATE REDECORATE deadline though, sad face.

IJUSI MAGAZINE #28 LOVE

I am delighted to be in the latest issue of iJUSI MAGAZINE
The Tattoo Issue, #28. The contributors are awesome:

Karo Akpokiere - Maaike Bakker - Berserker (Shane de Lange & Alexander Sudheim) - Brandt Botes - Conrad Botes - Robin Cook - Zama Dlamini - Rikus Ferreira - Byron Graper - Hannes Greyling - Dean Henning - Wilhelm Krüger 
Travis Lyle - Michael Macgarry - Muti - Ninjabreadboy - Natalie Peckham
Scott Robertson - Nathan Roodt - Vian Roos - Marcel Roussouw - Flo Schneuwly
Tanya Shunmugam - Skullboy - Marilize Smith - Alexander Sudheim
Fred Swart - Simon Villet - Brode Vosloo - Garth Walker - Lorcan White
Hougaard Winterbach - Andy Wyeth

The brief was that the drawing had to be created as it would for a real tattoo.
Make sure you read it cover to cover. p.s it has adult content

FEDERATION EDWARDIAN GATE LOVE

We need at gate between the MESSY STUDIO courtyard and the rest of the wee patch of back garden as our darling Juno has never outgrown the chewing stage of puppydom and nothing wooden is safe. I want a old fashion garden gate, just galvanised preferably already rusty, so stopped in a LAVENDER & TROUT, after a lovely morning at the HIGHLAND GAMES, to take pics for reference. This gate was already sold and the other is one of the actual gates to the farm. We are going to have one made to fit the space that we have. Most of the best examples are Australian and in the Federation style which is a Baroque form of architecture prevalent in Australia, overlapping and influenced by the Edwardian period in England.
Have attached some of my favourites mostly from Gumtree.au and ebay.au. 

NEW PAINTING LOVE

Started a new painting yesterday, part of me likes it just like this but I am working towards making the skin dewy and porcelain like. Not sure why but Hey I am going with it all the same.

FRESH TURMERIC LOVE

Going to plant these beauties soon, when I first spied a glorious tangle of them at EARTHMOTHER ORGANIC, I thought they were ginger. I couldn't believe the delicious smell and zany bright buttercup orange revealed by the breaks between the nodes. It is fresh, organic, raw tumeric! Tumeric has amazing healing properties, am busy researching how best to apply it to home health, medicinal and beauty.

HOMES & ANTIQUES JULY COLOUR LOVE

Love this colour palette, so simple, yet has stuck with me for days.
HOMES & ANTIQUES July 2013

OIL PAINTING IV LOVE

I am drawing today so just a quick post with last weeks progress on my painting, does not look like I did much but I spent a lot of time doing little refinements all over. Have a happy day lovelies xxx

HOMOSAPIEN LOVE

There is a fantastic exhibition, HOMOSAPIEN, at the KZNSA, do take some time if you haven't already to go and have a look. There is a beautiful selection of work - sculptures, etchings and oil paintings. I was especially taken by the work of Sandra Hanekom, they look like collages but are incredibly detailed oil paintings. So inspired!

BETWEEN 10AND5 LOVE

Thank you so much to LAYLA LEIMAN for interviewing me in the Creative Women slot on BETWEEN10AND5 and LUCA BARAUSSE for the lovely pics.
I feel fancy!

DIPPED HANGER LOVE

Whilst looking for brass coat hangers I spotted these amazing latex dipped ones on STITCHED & STITCHED. Such a clever idea, keeps the clothes from slipping off the smooth metal, looks wicked too.

ANIMAL FACE HANGER LOVE

How brilliant are these animal face hangers from URBAN OUTFITTERS!

MESSY STUDIO MOSAIC

I should have taken this photo yesterday afternoon but ran out of time, so had to shoot into the sun this morning. This is the background mosaic panel which will be behind the cement trough. We are having some letters and a symbol lazer cut, electroplated and powder coated in black, attached on raised pins.

Below is the design. The words are AQUA VITAE, ''water of vitality", which I hope will herald all kinds of creativity flowing out of the MESSY STUDIO. The symbol is the 'Carmague Cross' or cross of the cowherds, the emblem of the church of Saints Maries-des-la-mer (Mary's of the Sea), South of France. An anchor, cross and heart make up the emblem symbolising hope, faith & charity.

Grouting still needs to be cleaned. The other pics are of the door frame and doors which have been sealed with undercoat, can't wait for them to be installed.

ALLES LOVE

There is a lovely little shop, ALLES, new to our neck of the woods, full of my favourite kind of lost and found stuff. My absolute best piece was this old rusty duck egg blue metal SA Post Office sorting bin. I covet it passionately but have really run out of room and for the moment it is NFS, thank goodness!

TERRAIN LOVE

Did some virtual window shopping last night via THE SIMPLE THINGS mag to TERRAIN. completely out of my budget and post code but it feeds the brain all the same.