dream me...

Well... Olive has been busy creating a new look for herself.  And  I am not really sure what else to say as she has kind of caught me by surprise.

I think Olive is probably everything I am not... everything I am scared of being and everything I want to be.  Olive might be my dream me.

stitches...

I had one of those wonderful happy little accidents with Olive... I ripped the bottom of her dress and was about to throw it out and do another one when I thought maybe I should just sew it together (Olive would like that and it is something she would do).  So then it got me thinking about stitches and sewing parts together.  This is something I used to do years ago when I painted houses and stitched the silk tissue around the edges of the painting.  I actually won a Norsewood Art Award  for a piece of work that had a whole lot of little squares threaded together.

I am not sure whether this piece is finished yet or not and I am not really happy with her tool belt, so I am going to sit with her for a while and see if anything more comes.

In the mean time I had another idea for Olive, completely different to the above picture and my original idea of who Olive is... I guess it wont hurt to try.

world famous in Canada...

A while ago I got an email from Eddie Douglas (a children's singer-songwriter from Guelph, Ontario, Canada) asking if he could use an image of my 'Hope floats' print for the cover of his CD. There was a bit of emailing back and forward as we sorted things out and then the finished CD arrived in the mail the other day!!! I am very excited to share it with you today.


It looks amazing to see one of my little girls on the front of a CD!!! Eddie's songs are really lovely and I think my favourites are Luna and Night-time song.

I have also been doing a bit of work on Olive and I think she is nearly finished, so I will share her in my next post (which wont be a month later like my last post... I promise)

I also made the front page on Etsy this morning (while I was sleeping) in this beautiful treasury...

say hello to, Olive...

(image by Mayu colour swatch by Rachel Follett)

Olive is a very crafty girl, she is always making things... sewing, designing, cutting, inventing, creating, drawing, planning, attaching, imagining, gluing, devising, constructing, altering, thinking... 

She makes all of her sisters lovely dresses, although some of her hat designs have never seen the light of day as they are far too extravagant and not particularly practical.  She has even designed a few outfits for the dark beast, much to the horror of her sisters.  But Olive's thinking is that even baddies need to feel good in what they wear (Olive is very kind like that).

I am thinking of adding some soft blue/green tones in the background and a few essential crafty tools to her tool belt. 

I am very very silly...

I spent all week struggling with these colours for the new sister and then it hit me, these are Ariadne's colours... no wonder I fell in love with this colour swatch when I saw it, they were already so familiar!!!

Soooo... last night I had a rethink about the new sister and I am quite excited about her.  It is funny how these things work themselves out.  I should have realised early on why it wasn't coming together so easily.

Anyway, more about that in my next post... this post is about the winner of my giveaway!

The winner is #17 Nancy Melbourn!!!  (Nancy if you can send me your postal address to katherinequinn@xtra.co.nz and your pick of print you want... {this can be from my shop or blog} let me know and I will get it posted out to you asap with a few extra goodies).

birthday giveaway...

(a few things I got on a birthday shopping trip in Wellington)

Today is my birthday, I am 40 ...there is not much more I have to say about that.

So I've decided to have a giveaway to celebrate...  leave a comment on this post and next Tuesday I will pick someone to win a print from my shop or blog and a few other goodies.

(photo by abbytrysagain colour samples by Rachel Follett)

In other news I have decided on a name for my next sister.  I meet a sweet wee girl in the weekend that inspired me, she will be based on these colours above.  I just love this combination, they make me happy... so stay tuned!

Don't forget to leave a comment if you want to enter the giveaway.

can I change my mind...

(Ariadne's knots... unfinished)

I have started writing little info cards to go with my new sister prints (I am getting these ready to list in my shops soon).  I am a little worried though... once I have posted these images and my ideas about them are out in the world, can I change my mind? can I decide that maybe Ariadne is not so fond of sheep anymore, that in fact she is a little afraid of them? Or that maybe Arabella isn't completely who I thought she was? or that Genevieve doesn't actually like to talk? Can I change my mind... ?

I'm going where the weather suits my clothes...

(my wine box offering for this year...)

 I have found myself today with an empty 'to do list' So I am thinking I might do a whole lot of nothing today... and considering we are due for a big storm to hit it is probably a pretty good idea.  But we probably wont get any interesting weather as it usually peters out before it hits us.

I have finished my wine box for this years auction... I had a few chemical reactions that exploded on the surface which added an interesting dimension. It is titled "I'm going where the weather suits my clothes" will let you know how much it goes for in the auction.

Something else I have been thinking of doing is a big abstract canvas painting for myself, really big like 1m x .5m (that is big for me).  It will be like a big huge experiment.  I am thinking that these chemical reactions I have had on the wine box might be interesting to try on the canvas... although it would be good to see if I can control them a little.

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately... I just hope all these thoughts will come to fruition.

I have been thinking...

I have been thinking about my sisters this past month... just thinking about them as I have been too busy to be working on them (I miss them).  I have been thinking about who they are, what they like to wear and what sort of note book they would like to use if they needed one.  So from there I thought that I might like to design a range of jewellery, stationery etc... for each of them (like the Genevieve range or the Ariadne range).

It's just an idea... 

sweet and kind...

(I really love this image I found somewhere on tumblr)

So, I have nothing to show for the last few weeks.  I have been doing lots, don't get me wrong... but nothing I can show.  I have a market this weekend which I have been making more stuff for and I have also been getting myself sorted for a retreat early next year that I will be involved with (more on this later).  And then there is work... it has been crazy busy there!  

I have some ideas forming for another sister, she will be sweet and kind and love to sew... so stay tuned for that soon.

My daughter turned 18 last week... WOW is all I can say about that.

Arabella and her fish necklace...

Arabella knows stuff, she has a knowledge of things that is different to Genevieve's practical expertise...  Arabella's is more of an intuitive knowledge, a familiarity she gains from contact with life, from rolling in it like the ebb and flow of the waves.

She is a watcher and a thinker and when she talks everyone tends to listen... she is often surrounded by animals and fish leap out of the water when she is near.

I have only been fishing once, it was when I accompanied a neighbour who had done a lot of fishing to the river... I never caught a fish but I did happen to snag a $20 note on my line.  On the way home he said to me "Kate (he called me Kate not Katherine and I let him)... in all my days I have never had a catch quite like that" Oh and there was another time, but that way my brother's story... when he got my Aunt tangled up in his line even before we got to the water, that made me laugh.

Arabella...

Well... I decided to get rid of the swimming cap covered in holes and replace it with this lovely blue one, I also gave her some piggy tail tufts and a flowing cape...

I am still working on who Arabella is, although one thing I do know is that she has a strong affinity with the sea... As kids my brother and I were always in and out of water, (I guess living on an Island at the bottom of the pacific ocean you can't help but always be near the sea) my father had all sorts of diving equipment and I used to love floating on top of the water with a mask and snorkel.  It was always so relaxing and quiet, just the amplified sound of my steady breathing... I couldn't imagine being angry under water.

Simple Pleasures...

One of our video students was the runner for this very sweet love story, set on a braeburn orchard... filmed in Hawke's Bay... I just had to share.

I am in the middle of a few commissions at the moment so the seven sisters have been put on hold, although I have been getting Ariadne and Genevieve ready to list as prints (and maybe pendants)? in my etsy and felt shops... sometimes all that prep stuff can take just as much time as painting them!!!