and so it goes..

that's it, the end of a lovely 2 weeks off.

I've been out. 

Stayed in.

Gone away.

I've painted.

I've 'snapped' shots.

Here's my faves...

taken from passengers side of car
while driving back from the coast

My daughter Mae, after sculpture garden visit & morning downpour.

On the beach, as we arrived around 4pm.
processed via camera + app on iphone 4s.

Garden delights

Last week on my holiday we ventured south for a couple of days. The forecast was rain, and quite a lot as it turned out. We had planned a stop 90 minutes from home - Wombarra.
Nestled amongst the rather wet ferns and foliage is the home of sculptor Gaby Porter, in the form of Wombarra Sculpture Garden. What a delight it was! Luckily the rain paused long enough for me to wander through the mini rainforest to view and photograph the 60 sculptures hidden here...

"family portrait" - so cute!

I don't think i've ever seen this much sculpture together in such a 'natural' way. Most of the works on display are created by Gaby - but other artists are also represented.
Check out her site - or better still she is launching her book "Wombarra Sculpture Garden"
Saturday 27th April 2-4pm.

Ocean about...

Last Sunday the family and i ventured into town to check out..
Remembering Titanic 100 years at the Maritime museum

Highlights included: some of the costumes from the James Cameron movie, photos of the survivors and a cross section of the ship with a mirror behind it - so you could see an illustration of what was on each deck. Another exhibition: The Fish in Australian Art was also on.

I really loved this work by John Bracks from 1957 (detail), the fish were actually
painted flouro - so on trend.

forgot to caption this one (eek!) but did love the simplicity.

Overall the two exhibitions made for a pleasant Sunday arvo visit.. just before we headed down the South Coast for a couple of days...

Taken around 4pm with iphone,  using camera+ app.

The weather had it's moments, so just as well i had a few art supplies on hand.. and could set up on the kitchen table... (one of the benefits of not camping!)

Inspired by the fish exhibition i sketched up a zine...

Save the date! Sunday May 20, ZINE FAIR at the MCA, Sydney...

Easy as ABC? oh, and D.

I'm not sure how it all began, exactly. But the lovely Lisa and Steph have been organising the ABCD (artists, bloggers, crafters and designers) meetups for over a year now. (They are in Sydney and Brisbane and have facebook pages). This time they excelled themselves..

Not only did they organise the whole thing

(on a Saturday afternoon, in pub location).
They created atmosphere via some lovely decorations too!

The 'goodie' bags are always a hit. Once everyone rsvp'd (optional goodie bag), those attending provide a something that is perhaps indicative of the work/thing that they do.

So for 27 attendees, you bring along 26 bits.

Here's a small selection of what was in this month's:

am looking forward to making my own "red thread bird pillow"

There were plenty of pics taken.. so they should be

coming up via Bondville soon.

out and about

Hello, so if you are following me on instagram (dudleyred)

you'll know that i'm a) on holiday, b) went to check out the newly opened MCA.

The old bit is still there, but now they have a fancy new entrance that announces "yes! we are a contemporary art gallery"

couldn't resist an instagram snapshot

we started with a coffee at the top, on the new roof top terrace, great view

and I'm sure they'll iron out hitches in the service.. we then meandered
back down through the 4 levels of galleries..

This is a detail from a larger space, I didn't want to reveal it all here
as i enjoyed entering the room myself.



Not that a gallery needs to be 'on trend' but this detail seemed very...
 errr ...contemporary...

This piece 'shell worked slippers' by Esme Timbery was getting lots of photographic attention..

and easy to see why

So finishing at the entrance - we saved the best to last..

We wandered into the viewing of Christian Marclay's: The Clock.

Have you heard about it? Millions of pieces of film spliced together, each scene features a time piece.

THEN you realise that not only is the time advancing in the 'movie' BUT

it is also synchronised with the actual real time.

Strangely compelling!

Happy Easter weekend..

Have a lovely one..

Refresh continued..

Then there's loose ends..
I was given a gorgeous crocheted square .. Er.... At ... Christmas ... Eek.
I had intended to stitch a cushion cover for it.. THEN at ... Ikea I remembered!
So: take one premade cover, one insert and voila!

Autumn change..

If you can have a 'spring clean' then why not an Autumn change?

After a day off yesterday.. Which included playing tour guide to a Japanese friend .. I am freshening up a little with a few of my Ikea purchase s.
Like this gorgeous shower curtain for $25..

out and about pt 2

While we were out (the boy at a cadets camp, the gal at a birthday party) we finally popped into the White Rabbit Gallery, in Chippendale. Now people had told me to go, people had told me it was good. But wow! what an experience. It is a private gallery with one of the largest collections of contemporary Chinese art. What a delightful mix - with a sign at the entrance "photography allowed" Hooray!

from the eye catching

to the 'really?' a landscape created from 750 000 headless nails

fabulous little shop and teahouse.. let's keep it a secret...

revive with a selection of tea (mine was red lychee)
and plate of chicken, corn mushroom dumplings.

So there i was out and about, now i'm just worried that my next trip will come a poor second...

out and about.. pt 1

If you follow me on instagram (i am dudleyred) you would know that i had a super Saturday.. out and about.. sometimes you just have to get off 'the grid'. Mr R and i ventured over to Koskela, finally!
Their motto: " Follow your heart, trust your judgement, do it with joy" is evident in their new Sydney showroom. As we wandered around the furniture, accessories, gallery space..

It was a visual feast... thankfully we could take sustenance at the 'sanctuary' that is Kitchen by Mike.

I was relieved to be served quickly and find a seat, something that can be tricky when Sydney shows off something new. I left impressed, happy with my handprinted 'rain drop?' Harvest textile pillowcases..

something i prepared earlier...

A few weeks ago i decided to have a go at the Cloth Paper Scissors magazine reader challenge, to create a luggage tag. I thought it would be good to 'identify' as a creative person... since luggage tags often convey something about the traveller. So i raided an old pencil case and glued a lovely colour combo of stumpy forgotten pencils together. Bit of sawing, bit of sanding ... and voila! ready for the 'creative journey'!
I didn't make the finalists, but the trip was fun. (ok enough now).