Goodbye Archie Boy

Such a sad thing happened over the summer school holidays. Our pup that we recently got had some relapses with his autoimmune disease. He was going ok on his medication, but really was never the same dog since initially getting sick when he was just 17 weeks old. I've only just now got to the stage where I can share this here.

Archie-boy days before another relapse

I won't go into the sad details of what happened, all I will say is that when we weighed up everything, and thinking about what the future would hold for him, we decided to have him forever put to sleep, soon after some new medical issues presented themselves at the tender age of 6 months.

That day required some serious emotional eating by all involved in the form of various flavours of ice cream.

Archie in emergency when he first got sick

I painted this artwork to work through some emotions I was feeling surrounding the whole experience. The painting initially read "Will it be ok", and I painted over some of the words for it to read, "It will be ok." It's like I worked through some emotions from the beginning of the painting to the end. The painting is filled with texture and layers to symbolise the depth of our lives and emotions. The spikey bits represent those challenges we face every now and then. The painting is filled with shapes symbolic of happier, calmer times too.

When I was painting this I was asking the universe some pretty unanswerable questions, as we have had some grief surrounding us with close friends and losses and challenges they are going through at the moment.

I don't know what the answers are except that we just try to do our best, and get up each morning and put one foot in front of the other.

***

We thought Archie's last day was in this photo below when he had a particularly bad relapse, but we managed to get a bit more time with him. Since getting sick he always had gunky eyes, and his nose was always dry, yet dripping constantly and under his chin was always wet due to the medication making him so thirsty. I have no idea if he was in constant pain, but I suspect from his lack of activity, he wasn't doing too well.

I'm still trying to work through all this, and I get that he was "just a dog", but I really didn't cope well with it at all. In some ways, it was harder saying goodbye to him than my two previous older dogs, who I know had come to the end of their lives. I was left with no residual anger or guilt when their times were up; just the grief.

Archie really did tick all the boxes for us as a dog and we were over-the-moon happy with him. It took me a long time to bring another dog into our lives, out of fear of what we'd get, and I was so relieved when Archie came along. He was perfect. (Except for perhaps the leg humping, which he never did again after getting sick but we would have gladly welcomed back!)

Now, we are in the same boat again. We really do want to share our lives with a dog and have a pup grow up with our animal-loving kids. But I'm fearful of what we'll get! I just need to trust that the right dog will come to us eventually :)

Happier days - pre auto-immune disease

Our lives were enriched for a short time by having this precious boy with us. I feel bad for my girls who went through this journey alongside us, but I suppose there are some life lessons in there for them. 

I have made him a memorial stone and he has joined our previous dogs Bender and Leela in a section at the back of our garden. (This project can also be found as a free tutorial which you can find here: DIY pet memorial stone)

Goodbye Archie-boy. We loved you to the moon and back and we hope you're having a humping, I mean "twirking", good time in doggy heaven.

Jules.

Happenings...

Hello! My book project is nearly done, so I will be back babbling on here again in no time. I am dreaming up lots of outdoor crafty projects, as I want to get outside and away from the computer now that the weather is warming up. I'm thinking mosaics! And cement! I have caught the cementing bug :)

We have mostly an Australian native garden here but I still manage to find some colour for a vase

Spring has arrived in the land down under and it is a sight for sore eyes. I think the winter just gone was the coldest ever, or maybe it's just that I'm getting older? I'm not built for the cold.

Another reason for getting outside more is this little guy:

Meet Archie! The cheeky fluff- ball bundle of mayhem! Our newest family member.

And in honour of our not-too-long-ago-passed previous fur babies, I have finally made them memorial stones for their graves in the backyard. That was a project I'd been meaning to do for a long time. I have made it into a tutorial too, as I couldn't find instructions online specifically for what I wanted, so stay tuned for that one.

Another thing that's been taking up a lot of my time is cooking. Miss 6 has been put on a special diet by her integrative doctor which is similar to the paleo/ gaps way of eating. I'd go into why, but don't really want to get into finer details but I will say that I think functional/ integrative medicine is the way of the future! I'm doing the diet too as I just feel so much better when I eat this way. I do it mainly to tackle some niggling health issues that I have. I always believe in addressing the root cause of issues and asking the question "why?" Because I'm never satisfied with "it just is." :)

The authors healed ailments such as eczema and OCD through diet, and this just fascinates me no end.

My favourite cook book at the moment Life Changing Food

Mmmm veggie seaweed crackers and baba ganoush- from the book

Gluten free sausage rolls with homemade tomato sauce (both in the book) with a side serve of steamed cabbage and kombucha

I just wish I could eat this way and not have to make all of it. And the dishes are mountainous! I've started asking the kids to help me with washing up, and they can earn a bit of pocket money on the side.

So combined with puppy mayhem (it's like having a baby again!), masses of cooking, and the kids book I've been working on, things got a little crazy busy. I'm looking forward to chilling out a bit more in the warmer weather and focussing on what's important, and not trying to do everything and be everything to everyone. I think as mama's or even women we can easily get stuck in that trap, until we realise we must do some tweaking for everyone's sanity and ease back on some things. Hence the break from the blog. And I decided, that was OK.

Here's another little snippet from the book:

This dog is quite small within the illustration I did for this page, but I'm interested in enlarging parts I've done so I can see individual line marks and colours. I love seeing brush stories and paint marks.

I'm at the stage now where I'm touching up and editing images, so... nearly there.

Catch you soon,

Jules :)

Creative Life Round Up

Hello creatives :)

It's been a few more days since my last blog post than usual. I have quite a bit on at the moment so posts may be fewer and further between, but rest assured I'm still here. I'll get a bit more regular with my posts when things calm down a bit here with my workload.

Time for a creative life round up! These posts are bits n pieces type posts, showing things I'm working on or thinking about or planning. Kind of like the blog post equivalent of all the left over veggies you have in your fridge that you turn into a soup :)

I feel like I haven't been achieving much because I have a children's book I'm working on brewing in the background that is taking most of my time, but gathering some images today and thinking about other projects that are happening and I'm not yet showing here, I realise I actually have got a bit of other creative work done!

First up is a dragon painting that has been requested of me. It's in it's final stages now. Nearly done, I think. It's acrylic on canvas.

I had one of my plaster birds hanging up on a wall and the hook fell off the wall! So a wing chipped. I thought I may as well make some more whilst I'm in the process of mending one. So I now have some plaster birds and hearts ready to be painted up. I have our local Arts Market to think about coming up later in the year which will be here before I know it.

As well as commissions and tutorials and artwork I'm supposed to be doing, I also love to create for the sake of creating. Creating art that has no owner waiting for it or no purpose in mind for it. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. Therefore, I'm free to just be as strange as I like and explore. That's when discoveries and growth as an artist happens (which is why I think working in sketchbooks is so valuable). 

Speaking of sketch books, here's a recent entry. Mixed media.

This cement water fountain sculpture that I made years & years ago is having some repairs done. Unfortunately the first layer of cement I added had gone off and didn't set, so I had to hose it all off and start again. It's a very time consuming project. Cement works in weird ways; it's hard yet sloppy, grainy but then you can make it super-smooth. It's heavy and subject to gravity, and it's so hard when cured but so delicate when unset. Knock a bit before it's set and it's gone! But I enjoy using it. I like it's permanency and the fact that you can put cement creations outside in the weather.

I have two tutorials nearly finished. One involves cement and the other doilies. Coming soon! I've also been dabbling with mosaic pieces out in the garage, but I might save those for another blog post. Nothing exciting to see yet. Just grouting some of the kids' old works. 

I'm now counting down the days to winter ending. I am tired. I feel like lying in bed watching movies and reading books and truly hibernating till the end of this month. It's not mega cold here or snowing or anything like in some parts of the world but I'm still feeling it. And where has this fatigue come from!? Bring on Spring!

Jules :)

Frosty Morning

Definitely still winter here. We woke to a decent frost this morning. Children tumbled out the door in less clothes than they should have been wearing, and I froze my little fingers walking around taking photos. We were excited to see that our pond had frozen over! Just a quick post today, now I'll leave you with some of the shots I took.

Jules :)

Creative Life Round Up

Here's a creative life round up, where I show a bunch of random shots from my crafty, arty & creative life.

Here I am testing out my new (but old) rug hooking tools. Which I guess are more like punch needles. They have quite a big opening in them so that I can use them with wool. I love the texture of hooked wool, and I love using wool with variations of colours within the ball.. it gives extra textural interest. And, this craft is fast! Which is great for an attention deficient crafter like me :) This effort is from one evening in front of the telly.

A bunting in progress upcycled from a thrifted wool scarf. I've also made some little upcycled tassels to use on this bunting too.

Hanging some of my collected lampshades up. I still have more to hang. I thought it might inspire my husband to get them hooked up electrically when they're all just hanging there from string and thumb tacks. Maybe!

Not being able to find an affordable jacket I like (in Australia) that is also warm I went and ordered a copy of Ottobre Magazine which has some jacket patterns in it. I'll get my Mum on the case when it arrives. She's an excellent sewer. I'm planning on getting her to make some lined jackets for me so that they will be nice and warm, plus how cute will patterned fabric for the lining be?

She also better get ready to sew some dresses for me. I have ordered this dress pattern designed by Dottie Angel. How awesome are they? Hoping to have some made up in time for spring when some warmer weather will be welcomed with open arms.

It's school holidays here now, and our first creative project saw us making some iced cookies. Check out how bad great they look! ;)

We eat more along the paleo/ healthy lines here, and I am yet to find an icing recipe that is easy to make AND use. I cannot master whipping coconut cream (I have ruined quite a few batches) and even this one I could not get to work. It was so clumpy to use but still tastes good I suppose. Looked nothing like it looked in the cookbook! This icing was made from cacao butter, coconut butter, honey and nut milk. 

The search continues! 

Other creative and crafty projects that we would like to do on the holidays include finishing some previously started projects and starting some plaster animals that will appear as a tutorial on my blog in the near future.

My final MATS illustration project has begun, which is a crazy eclectic mix of icons inspired by collections (I chose a quirky doll collection and beads). Right up my alley! I love that for the last project we get to go a little crazy. I will post the finished project here when done.

Miss 8 recently entered the Young Archie portrait prize. This is her mixed- media piece. I helped her with the planning but every step was completed entirely by her. I suggested a plan of attack: 

-draw your portrait in pencil on plain paper

-create some decorative papers to use for collage

-paint/ fill your background on your good paper (watercolour paper)

-glue your collage pieces onto the background

-transfer your portrait drawing onto the background using carbon transfer paper

-render the figure. She used acrylic paints and coloured pencils for the figure. 

The last step was to sign and varnish. 

The only thing I helped with was reassurance along the way, enlarging her drawing to transfer onto the watercolour paper, and some colour mixing tips when she got stuck. I believe having a plan & breaking it down into little steps removed some of the overwhelm of trying to create something good to enter into a competition. That kind of pressure is heavy!

That's it for now. 

If you've enjoyed these pics, I do the most sharing of my creative life in picture form on Instagram. Come join me there!

Yours creatively,

Jules :) 

Creative Life Round Up

This post is one of those bits-n-pieces blog posts. Here's me and my girls before a recent outing :)

Did you know it took about 30 photos to get a decent one!? Kids! They get a camera lens in front of them and they go silly.

My girls made me some flowers for Mother's Day this year.. I'm happy they won't be dying any time soon!

Something I'm working on at the moment (one of the many hundreds of things) is a mixed media painting for the MATS online illustration class I'm taking. (Read about my journey so far here.) The first task was that I had to gather some bits and pieces before I started the artwork. 

As it happens, my eldest is currently doing mixed media art in her art enrichment program at school (a program where kids showing talent get to do extra specialised art classes- she's so excited she got to go!). She had a sick day last week and we did mixed media art together in the studio. I have to be careful not to make sick days too much fun! (The iPad is definitely off limits.)

Her work so far. This is a background she made and she wants to draw and paint a portrait of me over the top. 

Now for some creativity in the kitchen. Last week one of the mornings I was up super early making seed balls (my own recipe), banana bread breakfast muffins, peeling a pomegranate, popping out our homemade fruit juice gummy lollies and picking oranges from the backyard. And incase all that makes you feel guilty, that is definitely not a standard morning. I do try to get up earlier usually to squeeze in an extra hour or so tasks before the kids rise, but many days I keep hitting that snooze button until the very last minute!

These seed balls I made up was from frustration of never having the ingredients for particular bliss ball recipes. This one is totally customisable to what I have in the pantry, and is nut free so school safe. And yummy :) I just have to be careful not to snack on them all day.

I hope you enjoyed that round up. I'll be back soon with more fun stuff for you.

Jules :)

Creative Life Round Up

Thought I'd do another one of those rambling/ round up/ catch up posts as I've been working on lots of bits n pieces here, there and everywhere. (Which is very similar to how I live my while life really; short attention span, quickly going from one thing to the next, leaving large messes behind me as I go...!)

I made a new craft tutorial for making your own bendable Easter Bunny Ears, and is now up on Alisa Burke's blog. 

Miss S and her bunny ears- my kids usually get to keep my finished crafts from the tutorials I make!

One of my passions is creative interiors, and I'm always looking for ways to spruce up my home. (I keep thinking the prettier it is, perhaps it will hide the mess? No?) I had some beautiful flower linen fabric for ages that I meant to make into cushions. But because my Mum is such an ace sewer, I hand balled the job over her. How good are Mums that sew!?

My new cushions and also some extra vintage fabric cushions I found recently whilst op shopping.

I used to make and sell a lot of bags back in my 20's. Thought I'd get into making some more. This is one bag I made not too long ago. It's from a Made by Rae pattern. (All her sewing patterns are so ace.) So, I have designed a new front panel, which I am not showing here yet, but I did go fabric shopping and bought all those lovely fabrics below the bag photo which will become new bags very soon. Yummy! I love fabric shopping! (Thanks again in advance, Mum.)

Some of the selected fabrics...

A paint palette shot from this week in the studio.

I've been busy working on some paintings, adding hangers, and visiting the local framers for a group exhibition coming soon in a town near me in The Station Gallery.

Some of the 10 works I've chosen to exhibit

And the school holidays have officially started! I've been busy trying to get lots of work done so I can relax a bit with my kiddies over the break. Hoping to do lots of this kind of thing:

Because, downtime and reflection are just as important a part of the creative process, I think.

Hope you've been creatively busy too, I'll be back soon with more creativity...

Jules :)