The Sydney Tweed Ride is this Sunday!

Oh this is going to be fun! A tweedy-bike ride from Town Hall to Alexandria... finally my bike is in 100% working order and it's time to get out and mingle!

Let me know if you are going too... Thanks Pat for the heads up... see you there!

Tweedy!

TweedRun09 042, originally uploaded by tiglen.

Sydney Tweed Ride

Sydney Tweed Ride, originally uploaded by Will..

Tweed Ride in Pink!

tweed_0096, originally uploaded by niftydandy.

Next on the list...

I think it's always nice to expand on creative experiences... ceramics has done wonders for pracitising wabi-sabi spontaneous creation. I'm hoping next year it will be the cello.

Immersion into this new field has included listening to lots of Yo-Yo Ma (especially his Bach albums) and Zoe Keating (a contemporary cello player).

Today I found these lovely experiments by George Showman. A soon-to-be architect exploring gesture and mark-making while playing the cello.

If you have any other cello-tips let me know...

Treasure...

This bag is my friend Sophie's - her grandma made it. Sophie comes from a long line of very creative people, and she herself is an amazing artist and designer!

Chocolate Vessels

Well... terracotta, not chocolate, but they certainly look like chocolate when on the wheel!

The Zine Fair

I had such a nice day rugging up and going to visit the Zine Fair at the MCA on Sunday.

My favourite zines were Yumi's (as seen in second photo), Ebony's, Lee Tran Lam's and Mechelle B's "Hairy Tales".

Cloud Cookies

First step into rediscovering creativity... Cloud Cookies!






Recipe from here.

Trust the Process

The past couple of months have been ridiculously busy and more seriously, creatively strained.


I've found myself feeling anxious and wrought over things that usually come so easily. Which in turn makes me travel further down the path of feeling quite horrible and not at all myself.


Serendipitously a book called "Trust the Process" by Shan McNiff found me while perusing the shelves of the Berkalouw Book Barn in Berrima.


I don't usually do well with the "self-help" genre... but this one has had me contemplating and pondering on the magic of the creative process. Things like:

"the total process of creation is permeated by hidden turns, elusive searches, and subtle appearances"

and

"It requires an inclination to step into the unknown as well as the ability to persist when there is no end in sight. The ways of creation are often paradoxical. When you think there is nothing going on, something comes to you, and when you want something desperately, it's never there."

Reading this book is helping me enormously to figure out how to get through those times of complete uncertainty, doubt, and negative thinking that often strikes during my making process.


My luck at working in a textile design studio where painting, drawing and other such things are an everyday occurrence has somehow affected my ability to create spontaneously, with abandon. Working to a specific brief within a certain amount of time can be a very satisfying process, but I'm wondering if it's taking its toll?


This blog describes my symptoms perfectly:

"Most projects hit a wall for whatever reason & frustration takes over. Symptoms include, but are not limited to: negativity about self/work/client, general crabbiness and a desire to throw the whole project down the drain. It can be pretty paralyzing.”

I hope this isn't sounding too dire! I'm on the path to getting back my spontanaiety! I wonder if anyone has a similar problem - how do you get through those difficult periods?