Brrrrrrrrr!

We had a quick visit to the Barrington Tops on Thursday as we heard that snow was predicted.  This was on top of Mount Allyn on Friday morning.  Not another soul in sight.

Waiting for the snow to start.

Nope, no snow . . . but very cold!

Inspiration

I was looking at one of my favourite blogs, Meet me at Mikes, and loved this shot of her shop window.  I especially loved the hanging cloud mobile.

I have two of my 'creations' on her green list.  The green dog & the wedding bunting.

Screentime.

I managed to do some more screen printing on Monday.  We were meant to be doing some painting outside but the weather didn't allow it.  Oh well.  So I got my screen out and came up with a design.

I then printed it onto a couple of materials to check out the effect using white ink.

It was easier this time around and I was happier with the result.

I'd like to use the brown material (up top) to upholster an old chair that I recently inherited from my nan's house.  Not sure about the others, but I'm looking at my copy of 'Prints Charming' book for inspiration.

A bit of painting.

In my last post you may remember that I mentioned that I 'quickly' did a painting whilst doing a couple of other things?  Well, this is my effort.  I just needed to get some paint (and collage) out.

Not finished and not my usual style or theme, but I haven't had a great deal of time to do much lately.  We've been getting some renovations done to our house and I also had the pleasure of filling in for my sister at a primary school in Newcastle last week (teaching art from infants to primary - lovely). As well as teaching high school.

But I'm hoping to get back on track and finish a couple of things I've started. 

Life just keeps getting in the way!

2 Faced.

Last weekend I was quickly doing a painting (and supervising the children), my husband was mowing the grass and my son James was doing a collage. 

Beatie was probably imagining she was at Hogwarts.

James showed me his work and I did the usual "mmm, that's lovely!". Anyway later on that night I was looking at the opposite wall where James had stuck his artwork and noticed something unusual about his collage.  Have a look.

Can you see the two faces?  One in green looking upwards, and the other looking to the right.  I thought it was pretty funny anyway.

Beatie did get her head out of the Harry Potter novel long enough to take these two beautiful shots of a sunset yesterday from our front window. Can't see any faces in these - yet!

The things you find.

Yesterday we were cleaning out the shed - again! This time I didn't find a dead rat, but I found some of my old art journals from my uni days (about 10 years ago).  This time a pleasant surprise. 

It was great to see what I was working on when I had more time and more resources.

I was majoring in photography and it was pre-digital days so I was using the big medium format Hassleblad cameras.
 

The theme for these series of photographs was tools around the home.  Simple household tools photographed to show their form and beauty. 

I was inspired at the time by photographer Jan Groover. This is one of her works below.

Going Bananas for bread.

Everywhere you go these days there's banana bread on the menu.  What did we eat before someone invented it?  Thought I'd share a yummy banana bread recipe that my son and I often make together and it doesn't last long once it's out of the oven. 

It's a Bill Grainger recipe and I don't always follow it exactly, it depends on what I've got in the fridge, or how many over ripe bananas I've got in the freezer.  I usually use yogurt instead of sour cream, and I often omitt the butter.



Melt and mix banana bread

55g (1/4 cup) firmly packed brown sugar
30g (1/4 cup) almonds, chopped
375ml sour cream
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
125g unsalted butter, melted
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 3/4 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line two 10 x 18cm loaf tins with baking paper. In a bowl, mix together the brown sugar and almonds and put aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the sour cream and bicarbonate of soda, set aside for 5 minutes then stir in the melted butter, sugar and eggs. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Gradually fold in the sour cream mixture, followed by the bananas.


Pour the mixture equally into the prepared tins and sprinkle the brown sugar mixture on top.

Bake for 1-11/2 hours or until a skewer comes out clean. Set aside and cool in tins for about 20 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes approximately 24 slices

Enjoy.  Looks like good weather for cooking - and eating!

The Big Bang!

Well, I woke nice and early on Tuesday morning to get ready for work and when I went into the kitchen I was welcomed to a sort of beer smell,a sticky floor and a tiny bit of broken glass? Hmmm . . . I thought my husband must have accidentally broken one of my nettle brews. 

But no, when he came out he explained that one of the big bottles of cordial (as seen above and in a previous blog) had exploded at 2am.  Well everyone slept through it except him and thank goodness it didn't happen when we were all in the kitchen.  I was surprised that it was the cordial, not the beer?  All bottles have been removed to outside. Obviously I'll have to do a bit more research. Dangerous stuff!

Friendship Flags

I recently made these 'friendship flags' for my son's preschool.  They are based on Buddist Prayer Flags.

Each child (& teacher) painted a picture on material and then I've sewed them on to material tape. They'll be hung up inside the preschool, so they didn't use fabric paint, just acrylic.  I did a similar thing at home with my family and I have the flags hanging in our loungeroom. They're a nice activity to do and a great keepsake to look back on.

Stiff doilies.

I've been preparing some materials ready to make another larger hanging mobile for a friend. 

So I've started cutting up some of my lace doilies that I've been collecting over the past few months, and have been giving them a coat of fabric stiffener.  I've given them one coat, but I think I'll give them another as the one I featured recently on my blog is starting to get a little floppy.  Admittedly I previously used pva glue.