Georgie's Shoes

The owner of these shoes, the lovely Georgie is one of my students from En Pointe and these shoes represent her will and her desire to achieve.

They speak of her strength, of her push and explosion, her artistry and her fluidity.

The shoes that carry her through her dance can also tell of both her quiet beauty and of the power and strength she shares with her audience. They are the elements of song, the stories of love and loss, the whispers of emotion that carries the souls intent and charisma out to the viewer.

Shoes are much more than a covering for the feet, more than an allowance to come up onto pointe, they are the effervescence of the dancer that inhabits them, they are the ghosts of something past, they hold within them a memory, too magical to be lost.

Art is like a broken bike

Sometimes it feels as if I’m chasing an impossible dream, on a bike that’s no longer road worthy.

Each time I finish an artwork I am compelled to start another, unsatisfied and sure that I can do better. Full of hope, I start again like a drug addict chasing a fix, unable to attain a goal that is out of my reach.

As a young dance student I was often told that my performance was acceptable, but I should strive to do better. I wonder if this has set me up for a constant longing for perfection? It drives me on and has me searching for a better way, a more interesting dynamic, a richer combination, a fresh interpretation.

Whatever I desire, perhaps the journey is more enriched for the search? I hope so!

Who knows, but without this inner drive maybe I would not continue to be an artist, is it even a choice? Who’d pick a broken bike?

If you are wondering, this photo was taken in Sofala, New South Wales. It's a cracker don't you think? If you haven't been there, you should go.......

Sophisticated Black & White

Don't you just love black and white? It's timeless and you always have something gorgeous and 'black' to wear it with. I almost wish I could keep this bag, but I made it for a friend, it was a commission.

It's possibly turned out a little more 'evening' than she had in mind. Mmmm.... I might be back at the machine attending to the original brief a little more closely before long. Whoops, I think my creativity may have got carried away on this project. But then again, it could be one of those wonderfully versatile 'day into night' bags.... yes, that's it! What do you think?

Margaret Ellen Turner

I had coffee today with one of the Sunshine Coast’s own contemporary visual artists, Margaret Ellen Turner.

It was great to hear what’s instore for Margaret in the coming months and in fact, I will be working on a media campaign leading up a to an exhibition of Margaret’s work at the Noosa Regional Gallery in September.

It’s so exciting to talk with and work along side artists that I hold in such high regard. Margaret is in fact one of the most respected educators in the arts on the Coast, having worked at both the University of the Sunshine Coast and the Sunshine Coast Insitute of TAFE.

I’ll be telling you more about Margaret’s work soon.

Today's efforts - One frilly bag

I hope you like what I made today. It wasn't an easy day's creativity - it was one of those frustrating - break the needle on the machine and curse days - I hope you know the type. Anyway, at least I have one bag to show for it, a little offering. Tell me about your days at the wheel of your 'creation station'. I'd love to hear from you.......

Some like to Cook!

I am fascinated by the differences between individuals, the variety of things that capture our soul’s intent, that take hold of our spare time and sometimes even become our careers.

I’ve found it incredibly interesting studying the pursuits of my own children, the things they were attracted to from babyhood that have stayed with them. Three of my children are adults now and I am seeing these interests still running strongly within them.

Now, I’m in the midst of raising my fourth child (aged eight) and I often wonder what his life will bring and therefore I was alerted to a possibility when he was watching Masterchef (which he rarely misses). He was so intently fascinated with the masterclass in terrine preparation, that I was quite astonished.

I had been blissfully sewing my crocheted squares together for a granny blanket, I truly couldn’t give a fig for a cooking class and hadn’t given any attention to the television at all but as his passion became apparent (through numerous comments) I began to take notice, for example, “Oh look at that terrine mummy, it’s so beautiful, that man is treating it as if it were his wife.”

Now this is a statement worth looking up from the sewing for. He then continued with other statements of utter rapture. Goodness I thought, this child is in passionate love with a terrine. I asked him if he always felt really excited about food and cooking, and his answer was an unadulterated yes.

My husband is a very dedicated cook making many homemade meals including beautiful breads. Hugo has been participating in this cooking of late, which I assume has sparked some of this enthusiasm.

As you know cooking is NOT my passion, as I’ve confessed previously. I eat only to keep up energy levels to enable more dancing. I generally find eating an annoying waste of time and my husband is sometimes cranky at me for not stopping to have lunch. How different we all are.

Hugo asked me what I got excited about and I replied, bright colours. It could be bright coloured wool or tubes of paint or fabric or papers. I find them irresistible and I own more than I will ever have enough time to use. And dancing of course, I’ll never tire of dancing, not in a million years.

What a wonderful diverse and colourful world we live in and thank goodness we are all so different. Perhaps my Hugo will be a chef one day. We’ll have to wait and see.

Star Motif Bag

I'm using crocheted elements more and more in the bags that I'm creating due to the fact that crochet is just so appealing and so in vogue at the moment.

This bag is my latest creation and I found the pattern for the star design in the June edition of Notebook magazine. I did increase the size of the star by making the trebles into double trebles and BEWARE there is a mistake in the pattern on the third round. Don't you just find that sooooo annoying? It's not really a problem for experienced crocheters, because we can work it out from the picture, but I do feel for people on their L-plates, it must waste so much time.

Anyway, good luck finding all those funky options for your beautiful crocheted motifs - there must be millions.