enJOY your journey

 i'm wondering if i can explain my absence from this space

and add a thrifty reference or two?

a journey of new found items & ideas

both worthy of the treasure

collecting the 'interesting' is a part of me

i adore the adventure & the thrill

the fact that they have been someone's previous story is cool too

so over summer these are a few ... from near & far

up-cycled colour & clothing to adorn & wear

practical & cute vessels for a purpose

fun elements & stories that enrich

ethnic elements that tell of a passion for culture

 yeah i've been missing from here for the longest while

i've been on a little journey of the heART

i've been enJOYing that journey

trying to decide if my hARTylittlepeaces blog

has come to an 'end of a season' ??

or maybe just needs to 'be' a little less than before

i have lots of balls in the air you see

creatively of course the main one is my

little smARTy's studio

its my passion & i hope that this shows through in all i do

& in the recent, paraphrased, complimentary words of another::

"running small is becoming more rare

when others see what you're doing, they want to be a part of it to

you have the right core values & i think what you're doing is amazing"

& the feedback, support & actual number of student enrollments

shows me that i am .... i have mostly full-to-the-brim classes

the few holiday workshops were so in-demand, that i added more

& i have a waiting list for some of the weekly groups

#mycuprunnethover #iloveteachingart

currently most of my head space is filled with this focus

it truly is a dream come true

so finding a fresh balance in this moment is where i am

i still want & need to feed my soul & be creative myself

& i'm hoping to paint again  ... you know, i have my own STUDIO
to actually paint in .... 
& i have so so many things i'd like to sew .... & make

and so to blog or not?

i will be blogging more over here

& these days i'm on fb a whole lot more

& i have a new love in ig as littlesmartysstudio 

which kinda makes sense - since my world is v v visual

i really want to love what i do

not let it rule what i do
balance
i think i'm finding it .... 

private painting workshop giveaway

little smARTy's studio 

GIVEAWAY
..... 1.5hour Private Painting Workshop
for anyone from toddler to adult
.... a work of art on quality artist CANVAS ....
to the value of $160 .... tuition & materials

to ENTER simply ...... find us on Facebook by clicking here

1: be a 'little smARTy's studio' Facebook 'Follower' 

2: 'like' the photo/post and 

3: 'SHARE' this post on your own FB wall 

 

Workshop is to be held in Surrey Hills, so make sure you can get yourself there!
GO FOR IT ...... starts now!
Giveaway will be drawn Wednesday 5th March 8pm 

Yay!!

little smARTy's studio

total immersion in colour & creative minds

it has been a wonderful begining

my cup runneth over

pretend sewing

another

very sweet 'toy' sewing machine

pintrested an age ago

but love it & after the post on friday about fp

had to follow up with this

there is even a tutorial
about how to make it
it does require a few special pieces
cute huh!
so yep ...
i have a heap of smocks to make
should have had them made 3 weeks ago ...
they are all cut out
just haven't made a start with the sewing bit!
mmm .... today is the day!
that way i might be able to
actually blog about something
i've um ..... yeah ... made!

over the threshold

its happening

art classes for kids

small groups

my ideas & my own terms

giving children the chance to explore

 perfectly raw first experiences

to know that there are no mistakes, but happy accidents

that there is a language of the visual

making my mark on the minds of little people

what a huge honor

thankyou to the parents who are letting me

'in' on the worlds of their little people

its been a dream come true

pinch pinch .... it really is true

thank you also for all the amazing feed-back

so wonderful to hear there has been an impact made already

 not sewn or painted anything for me lately

but i'll get back to that soon

its been a fabulous first week

enJOYing my journey

shape up

yes its been about 'shape'

& 'colour' is always there too

mmm dropped my bundle with Blogtober

oh well ... i'm here & i've been busy

you can check some of it out over here

yep its term 4 & my classes started this week yay!

had a spare chunk of time on saturday just gone

so headed into Finders Keepers

with a crafty mate .... do you know i'd actually never been

now how is that possible?? & neither had she

really did think i'd just peruse & enjoy the visual feast

but i found gold that just 'had' to come home with

clearly these were earings made specially for the art teacher!

made by melbourne girls stacey & sarah

of Flock: Curiosity Assembly

after a good look & walking by

we walked by again & i couldn't go on past

love your work girls

 oh & because my 'little smARTy's studio' is

completely & utterly top-of-mind ... in case you hadn't noticed!?

a cute little gilcee print from printspace

going in the studio of course

because yes - it may well have been all about

'shape' this week but 

that sneaky passion for colour is always there!

and oh yes

how something so sweet does make me smile

thankyou lovely creative people!

even better that it's made in melbourne hey!!

open doors::2

 i'd like to just say ditto

but really 12 months on & i have been brave

& had the opportunity to open that studio door

& i've not only walked on in but have got busy

you've probably noticed!

 but there are some other doors

that are opening simultaneously

& its a bit confusing as to what is the 'right' fit

there will be some clarity

& i will work out how it all fits together

 but in the meantime my mind is a-buzz

with ideas & possibilities

what doors are you knocking on right now?

go on be brave ....

all the above pics were taken on our recent

travels in ireland & england

light & colour

that moment when

the switch is flicked

and the 'light' goes on

i love that a-ha moment on a child's face

or anyone's for that matter

oh & i might have chosen a style icon

replicas they might be

Aero pendant lights x3

adore them

when i chose them a while back

i very nearly did colour but ....

i'm glad on this occasion i went for white

the tones are lovely & the lighting is crisp

but did you know

light is colour  .... yep - its that light spectrum thing

right underneath these pendants is of course

where all the action happens

some lovely little artists in the studio today

i've had a long love affair with matisse

& his cut outs ...

no lines... just cut

 oh & a spontaneous 'can i paint now'

5 mins before we should have been walking out the door

.... yes of course you can!!

"its a river with a face

i love the colours mum"

nice to have these moments in the studio with my boy

i'm hoping he will love being in there

i think he will .... 

little smARTy's studio

presenting

the "little smARTy's studio"

Art Classes for small groups

from toddlers to teens

A place where creativity is paramount

technical skills are developed

and imagination soars

studio is almost ready

classes are being prepared

students are already enrolling

the face book page is ready for you to 'like'

and

the web page is 'live'

is a dream realised

new studio :: week 1

so excited

... that i almost have no words

my longed for studio

is actually becoming reality

 it will completely change

how we use & what is housed in every room in our home

already there's been furniture juggling

& 'art resources' sorted

 so the build started last week

demolition done

those tricky levels sorted

we've had a bit of rain since then

so stump holes turned to muddy pits

gum boots squelched

timber has arrived by the truck loads

 the joists are in

progress so far has been quick

so studio plus a super huge deck plus a storage space

oooh yeah!

& we will still have the cricket ground

this space below is the floor area

of the actual studio

its going to have a 4m high ceiling

wonderful eastern morning light

will be quirky & have loads of character

just the way i like it

stud walls appearing

ugly exposed plumbing being hidden & sorted

window & door frames have arrived

my job ..... is to prime these this weekend

like to help??

i'm sure i could find you a paint brush!!

 

 stay tuned for further updates

i am enJOYing the journey

but .... there are some things about a reno/build

that seriously .... not much fun

but am so so so thankful that were are able to make this happen

lucky lucky me .... my cup runneth over!

heart the craft: on b&w

heART the craft

a collection, or a single favourite image or idea

this is no.4

 home is where the heART is

isn't it?

love this 'pintrested' image

from 'kinderpendent' but can't find it's original source

great use of this fabulous ikea black & white fabric

i have a great stash of this ... just waiting

... i'm generally not into encouraging kids to 'colour in' someone else's image

but these images are so simple & they are kidd-ish without dictacting

that 'this-is-the-only-way-you-should-draw-a-house' .....

i love the creative play element as well

& they'd be simple enough to make it a learning sewing project

maybe mix it up & not use the 'traditional' primary colours plus green

yep ....

colour ... so yeah, here i am saying i like the way its used ....

sparingly with black & white .... um

generally i'd say that using colour in this simplistic way is conforming

& kind of sticking to the 'safe' side ...

or not taking advantage of the wonderful way that 

a colour responds to another colour

but i think these house graphics call for simplicity

.... might let you all 'in on' what i think about 

colour & using neutrals sometime soon....

(post on colour per request coming soon-ish!)

 

and when talking colour & environments for children

'well' .... i do have a few thoughts on that too

so anyway back to these funky houses ....

love all the colourful front doors

what colour is your front door??

we have a very conservative charcoal denim one ....

our previous home had a plum purple that i adored

my parents have a very happy bright yellow gloss

might change ours someday ...

but not yet .... will play it safe for a while longer!

you can always have a read on 

my thoughts re: children & drawing

over here .... that is while you're waiting for my

rant all about colour use!

 

open doors

do you remember the movie 'sliding doors'?

i love this concept of choice ...

in the film it was all about that moment of 

either catching the train or not ...

... hence the sliding doors

one element in her life slides past the other

& massive life changes are made

you may have worked out i like referring to a visual reference

the "open door' meaning an opportunity 

for a choice to be made to take a certain path

in my life these open doors have been mostly 

... really obvious

the feeling of making that 'right' choice

the one that is the perfect 'fit' is priceless

the thing is, even when the door is open

it is still not necessarily 'the' choice to make ...

... so choose wisely my friends!

 i've had so many wonderful moments in my life

where the fit has been right & the door was open

& to be honest its felt like its too good to be true when

the open door has just 'fallen in my lap'

 then ...

there have been many times when the door has simply been 

closed shut

tightly shut & i have not understood why

so life sometime seems like a maze where i believe

our God has a guiding hand

a hand to open or close

we still choose the journey but those gentle

or at times not so gentle nudges .... 

guide us along to 'see' the open doors

 when i met my husband is was more like a smack round the ears than a gentle nudge

when my final school year results arrived it felt more like a slam in the face

when we were searching for a new-to-us-home they seemed like all closed doors

when i applied for my first teaching position everything just fell into place

when it came to conceiving a baby naturally 

.... well that has been a door shut closed with a great big bolt

when i finally decided that teaching in a school wasn't for me anymore 

... the doors opened on 'new horizons'! 

i stepped out of the boat & felt brave & it was good

when we looked for new homes closer to our church 

.... we fell in love with the first one we found & it became ours in almost a wink

craig was offered an overseas position & we even went & had a look-see 

... we would have gone but that door was closed for us 

..... with hindsight .... the 'right' move

then another 'os' opportunity ... the door was wide open

.... but we had discovered by then that we were where we wanted to be

.... & with further hindsight .... definitely the 'right' move

one door that i have been 'willing' to open since i was a teenager

has been all about owning & running my own studio/gallery

.... i'm starting to see the real possibilities 

.... feels like i've been dreaming this for so long

it has felt like i've walked past the door many times

i've wanted to turn the handle to see ...

i've just not been brave enough ... silly me

.... but now .... i think the door might just been opening just a titch!
sometime soon i am going to swing it wide open & race on through ...

all the above pics are from the weekend just gone

we were at our favourite beach

went for drive & an explore about Queenscliff

there is still a lovely historical charm to that little town

so which doors will open in my near future ...

hoping its one i've wished for ... soon

celebrate the oops!

thankyou Barney Saltzberg

new 'art of illustrators' over at 

littlesmARTys

because a scrap of paper

a smudge and a smear

can make magic appear

loving it ...

a cup of pink

had a little artist in my life

(not Oscar)

ask me yesterday where the white paint was?

yep

7 whole days ago i gave her the hint that if

you mixed white with red something magical happens!

her world changed forever

what a privilege hey!

& 7 days later she remembered even more the point

whooo hooo!!

my pink cup runneth over

(hope her mummy doesn't mind me posting a close up of the evidence!?)

we all have these 'changed forever' days & moments

when something happens or is said or found

or simply falls in your lap, often when you weren't looking for it!

when it does 

i'm usually terrified & am not sure what to do with it

if i want it or rather to do it?

hmmm sound like a riddle?

kind of is i guess ...

i've had a few people say to me lately

your life is so interesting & there's always something happening ...

... guess it is but i get bored otherwise

its busy & full & wonderful

somehow there is not enough time

& yet i still find myself idle a-plenty

i flog myself for wasting it you know!

flogging myself i mutter:

"seriously get out there girl & get going

you can do more & you want to"

bring it on .... yep just NEED a studio ...

so we can have many many more

PINK

discovery moments

i love it!!

power to the sketch book

new blog post over

at littlesmARTys

my new other blog!

post is all about how i see a sketch book as an important tool

to aide the development of a child's visual experiences

with a range of arty-type materials ...

so if you're intrigued go on over & have a read!!