i like my cake and eat it too

new illustration blog

2007-12-14T09:42:00.000Z

i've started a new illustration blog and finished with 10x15 - i know it didn't last very long but i don't have a scanner so was forced to take photos of the drawings. this new blog will be called DRAWN BY MOUSE and as the title says, it is made up of illustrations i've drawn with a mouse. i really like this method; it frustrates me no end but i like its unpredictability and flow of line.

you can also find the link on the right hand side bar.

i've heard rumours

2007-12-13T23:54:00.000Z

i have heard rumours that i will have to cover reception at lunch times. i hate reception work, i don't know why but i do - this could be the final nail in the coffin as far as working at this temp job.

oh by the way i saw jason schwartzman yesterday. he was browsing the books at metropolis yesterday afternoon and made some enquiries about a book of drawings.

if you don't know who he is, he has been in such films as I HEART HUCKABEES,THE DARJEELING LIMITED, RUSHMORE, MARIE ANTOINETTE and a lot of other american indie films.

he is a little man - probably the size of tom cruise (not that i have seen him up close) i was very surprised at his stature, or lack there of.

windy and hot

2007-12-13T01:27:00.000Z

it is windy...

and hot in the city today.

it has been a while since i have managed to put anything on my blog, i have been busy temping and when i get home i am exhausted.
i will try harder

look at what i have to contend with everyday!

2007-11-18T09:42:00.000Z

around our new neighbourhood

2007-11-11T06:22:00.000Z

walking around our neighbourhood is so relaxing, once you get off the main 6 lane freeway on which we are situated. i went for a wonder up to our local post office the other day and took my camera with me to show you some of the sites.
these little workers cottages look small from the front but they actually go a long way back often with 3 bedrooms including living room, bathroom, kitchen and back garden. no chance in being able to afford one of these little gems, they are going for no less than $700,000 (appox £300,000)...

...so no chance in obtaining this 2 storey house.

our little post office on the corner past the tall building.

and the street i walk down; i didn't realise how much i missed the australian flora. these stringy barks are just amazing with their distinctive bark and cascading leaves. eventhough the gardens have mostly english roses and plants a few do plant native flowers and trees...i am on the look out.

melbourne and the big wedding day

2007-11-05T08:45:00.000Z

ed has been posting a lot about dubai so i'll let you look at his blog: ed's blog.

so we arrived in melbourne and hit the lanes, these lanes are full of grafitti some amazing, some just bad tags but on the whole they are worth checking out. on most saturdays you will see at least one wedding party having there wedding photos taken here.

aaaahhhh federation square; full of bars, restaurants and galleries. unfortunately we just missed the pixar exhibition at ACMI

the food is great as well. this fish was served up to us at a restaurant called claypots in st. kilda

THE WEDDING!
and so the last 3 weeks have been leading up to drue and sarah's wedding on saturday 3rd november. it was a brilliant day and thankfully the sun was out and the electrical storm held off until late in the night.

peter, drue and andrew: the main men of the day

dad pulled it out of the bag again and made a great speech.

the first dance went down a treat and was worth the lessons - smoooooooooooth.

carlton baths

2007-10-24T01:00:00.000+01:00

would you believe it.....there is a public pool 2 minutes walk from our flat!!

i have been twice now at 7:30am; at this time the sun isn't too strong for my pale, freckly skin to feel it's wrath.

this morning i was swimming to the tunes of 'the libertines', the life guard had it playing on her stereo.

this town keeps getting better!

our last week in london

2007-10-21T10:21:00.000+01:00

our last week in london was full of farewells and visiting lots of places for the last time - well until we return for a holiday of course.

for ed's birthday it was more karaoke, yes more karaoke! and just when the staff at karaoke box knew me by name, it was time to say goodbye - how embarrassing.

on our last full day in london we went to the 'dutchess of kent' and met up with a bunch of friends, we will miss them so much but know we will keep in touch, after all we managed to do so last time ;)

the only way to embarrass a gal

2007-10-17T10:17:00.000+01:00

this is a slow catch up on what we have been up to since leaving our jobs, our friends and london for the fair shores of melbourne, australia.

well what can i say, my friends at my old work were a brilliant bunch of people and i will so miss them. on my last day we went to karaoke and boy did i convert a lot of people to the ways of karaoke and boy did they embarrass me with t-shirts with my face plastered all over them.

farewell my friends, i know i will see you again.

been busy

2007-09-22T15:50:00.000+01:00

i have been so busy these past couple of weeks, not long left in the country...only 2 weeks.

will post more soon.

goodbye london, i'll miss you ... it has been a good 9 years.

kew gardens

2007-08-25T21:06:00.000+01:00

kew gardens on a hot summer day; the glass houses were amazing, a mixture of tropical and sub-tropical environments. you can walk above the trees and palms as well...it was so humid i started to feel a little light-headed. a brilliant day and some amazing patterned leaves....

new blog link

2007-08-20T11:22:00.000+01:00

my life in illustrations

this is a link to another blog i am starting called 10X15, i am hoping this will spur me on to do some more drawings (working 9-5 5 days a week is sapping my creative impulses), a kind of illustrated diary. i hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think.

claire

lemon shoes and cake

2007-08-19T15:59:00.001+01:00

i made this delicious lemon drizzle cake the other weekend

and found the perfect pair of shoes to go with my dress for my brothers wedding in november. now all i have to do is find a bag.......

"A you-neeeee-cooooorn!!!!"

2007-08-06T21:15:00.001+01:00

this weekend we watched 'a kid for two farthings' a brilliant film from 1955 about a young boy who lives on 'fashion street' (petticoat lane), he is told a tale about the unicorn; if you own a unicorn all of your wishes will come true. in his desperate wish for his father to return home from africa and to grant wishes to those around him (including sonia played by diana dors), joe goes in search for a unicorn amongst the bustling market place rich with imigrants from around the world.

joe does find his unicorn; be it a goat with only one horn and uses his powers to better those around him.

this film made me smile so much and the acting by little joe is flawless.

'its a unicooooorrrrrnnnnnn!'

summer days

2007-08-05T13:18:00.000+01:00

apples in our garden
lea river canal
bumble bee
mansion houses
blue sky, green trees
our garden, our station
church path
mind the gap!

the lovebox festival

2007-07-23T19:56:00.000+01:00

helter skelter

this weekend was the lovebox festival in victoria park, hackney. i was lucky enough to get a ticket as a birthday present from shaun for saturdays line-up.

ed and me sheltering from the sun

this day i think had the best line-up and who was playing......

THE B52'S! yes! THE B52'S!

damn fred, that shirt is smok'n

kate you're a super sixties vixen
we saw a few bands: 'adem', 'hot chip', 'the rapture' and as the day came to its close we were waiting with baited breath for fred, kate and cindy to storm that stage and give us those classic tunes we all love so much. and they delivered, they did play 4 songs from their 'new' album, i forgave them, and as they played 'planet claire' i enjoyed bopping down the front with as much wild abandon as i am able to muster. they also gave us 'rock lobster', 'love shack', 'private idaho', 'strobelight' and 'give me back my man' - they were amazing.

thank you shaun for a great day and to top it off the weather was amazing (especially after all the rain we have had).

note: i saw the B52'S in 1990 in good'ol festival hall in brisbane, australia and i can say with all honestly they haven't lost any of their enthusiasm, voice or charisma. they will stay up their in my top 5 bands of all time.

oh and i had to add this moment of fashion hell....NO! NO! woman, just 'cause you are at a festival doesn't mean you can wear......well THAT!!!ANYWHERE!!!

coco electrik

2007-07-23T19:50:00.000+01:00

anne played one of her last gigs with 'coco electrik' last weekend at the proud gallery in camden before she has a little baby booty.

they keep getting better and it was great to see her after so long.

classics

2007-07-10T21:45:00.000+01:00

i have always had an interest in gritty, english films from the 60's so i thought while i still have a few months left in london i would try to find as many of of these films i have read about on dvd (re-released dvd's in london are on the whole pretty cheap).

'poor cow' by nell dunn is about a young girl who is married to an incarcerated thief and longs to be with another thief, she has a small child and as circumstances play out she begins to rely on male strangers for money and nice clothes. you never see a way out for her and the film ends, well with no end; life will continue on this path with no way out, in fact she never has dreams of escaping the life she has fallen prey to; her only dream is to have money and a man to take care of her.

'billy liar' by keith waterhouse is in contrast about a young man who wants to escape from his working-class life, living with his parents and dodging his 2 fiancees he escapes into a fantasy world.

i have yet to find 'taste of honey' by shelagh delaney or 'a kind of loving' by stan barstow but my collection is slowly growing and i will be thoroughly depressed by the time i have finished them all - but loving it.

other dvd's i've aquired recently along the same lines:

'whatever happened to baby jane'

'get carter'

'alfie' the original!

'brief encounter'

'vivre sa vie'

my 33rd birthday

2007-07-07T20:25:00.000+01:00

a day full of fun, food and culture:

first off we went to see the antony gormley exhibition at the hayward gallery. what an amazing exhibition; a mixture of interactive installations and works on paper.

ed sneaking behind a room full of cement stuctures

one of the 27 figures dotted throughout the southbank standing on top of buildings - they look like they are about to jump or do they look like they are observing? a very strange sight for those who don't know that they are sculptures.

this was our favourite part of the exhibition; a room full of mist and light so you cannot see more than 5 centimetres infront of you. it was very moist and my shoes got wet and my hair frizzed but what an experience, a must if you are visiting london before 19th august.

and then for lunch we went to my favourite patisserie laduree a full lunch including a wonderful sandwich with the crusts cut off and my favourite sweet: macaroons mmmmm mmmmm oh and some delicious tea. this shop is just amazing; look at this picture, i want to frame it!

me with tea

ed with a gormet macaroon

and my plate mid-way through a plate full of macaroons

and then in the evening ed surprised me with tickets to shakespeares's globe; 'the merchant of venice', it was 3 hours long but a great experience (thankfully we hired cushions, but my back was still tired after the long sit with no back support - how did they cope?)

the end of a wonderfull day :)

33

2007-07-02T16:45:00.001+01:00

gone to the dogs...

2007-07-02T16:20:00.000+01:00

i started my 33rd birthday celebrations on saturday evening by going to walthamstow dogs.

it was interesting and scary. the place was packed with all sorts of people and for such a wet night i was surprised the dogs didn't slip more, the only dog to slip was one of the dogs i bet on: 'mystical sloth'...i should have known.

other great names were: 'toosey tina', pinta magners', 'witches petal', 'look here dan', 'arry olt', 'droopys majella' and 'not so jolly' who won me a whole £9!!! after the night of betting on these strange whispy creatures i came out £4 down so not so bad, some of us weren't so lucky...yes ed i'm talking about you, at least you stuck to your budget.

the culinary choice was 'interesting' but the one thing that caught my eye was second from the bottom - bovrill, yes you can still buy bovrill from canteens like this - bovrill if you don't know is a meat extract drink, think of drinking a hot mug of vegemite and your half way there eweewwwwwwww

ed was brave enough to order something: chicken and mushroom pie (upside-down of course with a splattering of tomato sauce mmmm mmmm

see the guy below with the flat cap; he spent the entire night signalling to the bookies over the other side of the track the odds which constantly kept changing - hence his hands being a blur - he was fascinating to watch.

would i go again? no

but i did have a great time :)

more shoes

2007-06-18T13:39:00.000+01:00

i need to sort out my shoes...there are just too many i don't wear and can't be bothered sending back to australia (3 pairs belong to ed). one thing that is missing though is a pair of red shoes.....yes i have the dorothy complex like most women i know.

click*click* there's no place like home, there's no place like home*

everybody was hula hooping....

2007-06-09T18:28:00.000+01:00

now this is another one of my fads, but i think this is going to last.

i ordered an 'adult' (a lot larger) hula hoop to try and do something about my waist. at first it was very hard to keep it up but now after a few days i can keep it up for up to 5 minutes! my waist hurt and my shoulders from holding my arms up but now i am in peak condition for honing those abs....happy days here i come and the best thing is i can do it at home while watching the telly or listening to what ever music i like...i have yet to try hula hooping to 'the smiths' but i am sure i could get a good speed up.

a lot has happend in the last few weeks

2007-06-09T17:49:00.000+01:00

mum and dad came to stay with us for a few days before they flew back to brisbane and would you believe we discovered we live behind mum's old school!!! who would have thought 30 (cough) odd years later i would be living back in the same area.

i can't wait to see them again, only 4 more months.

can you see the resemblance?

here's another family resemblance between my mum, my aunt eileen and myself. it is odd to see such resemblances for me as i was brought up on the other side of the world to my mum's family and didn't have much contact with them. however on occasions like this when we do meet up i feel like i do belong to a much bigger picture.

the next week was paul and kath's vist to our fair shores. we met paul and kath in melbourne in 2005 when we were there for a year and it didn't feel like 1 1/2 years had passed. it was great to spend some time with them: shopping with kath - now you know not just anybody can get me to go to oxford circus on a saturday morning (my version of hell) and portobello market.

monday ed and i took the day off to go to brighton with them and promised them fish and chips at the seaside.

what a relaxing day.....

see you in 4 months where you can show us around your favourite places in downtown dubee

shoes don't last in london

2007-06-08T11:02:00.001+01:00

i have found that my shoes are all scuffed at the toes...and this is not due to my clumsiness this is due to people on the tube stepping on my shoes and trying to push my feet out of the way so they can stretch out their legs.

now the victoria line trains haven't been upgraded since the mass introduction of crappy american fast food chains and therefore the expanse of the nations waist line and increase in height so people are squished into tight little spaces which proves the bane of my life every morning and evening.

i am sure my blood pressure increases two fold when i come into physical contact with anyone on the tube. i flash a glance but hope that my utter annoyance of their rudeness will radiate and they shrink back into their own personal space.

eurovision hat party

2007-05-16T08:43:00.000+01:00

aaahhhh eurovision...there is nothing else like it.
and so to celebrate xavier's bithday and have a bit of fun while watching eurovision he had a hat party.

they didn't stay on all night....although i kept mine on; if i was going to spend all afternoon on making this damn thing i was going to get the most out of it!

grant and xavier

xavier and i in bulgarian attire - obviously inspired and not completely accurate :)

ed as an english country gent with his flat cap.

BRING IN THE HOUNDS! WE ARE OFF FOR A GOOD SHOOT'N

Sao Paulo, Brazil

2007-04-29T14:13:00.000+01:00

OLA, TUDO BEM?

It has been a long while since I have put anything on this blog and that is because I have been on HOLIDAY! Yes that pleasant word that conjures up romantic ideals of relaxing, discovering new cities, eating and shopping; but why do I always feel so exhausted by the end? I am not one of those people who can lie on a sun bed and do nothing all day and I guess that is the only way to have a truly relaxing holiday.

We walked around Sao Paulo everyday in 30 degrees heat; I got prickly heat all over my legs and arms and managed to get sunburnt with factor 50 sunscreen but it was fun.

The reason for our trip to Brazil was my friends wedding, it was such a great day and lovely to see Fe and Simon so happy after all that planning and anxiety.

To escape from the heat we did find oursleves watching Brazilian TV and were amazed at the programme that auctions cows!!! champagne programming.

They do love their meat in Brazil, we went to a restaurant that served unlimited cuts of meat served on a skewers, for someone that doesn't eat red meat I was pleased of the abundent salad selection but was transfixed by meat selection from chicken hearts to serloin to rump to liver now that is choice cuts.

Desperate to get out of the city Ed and I managed to book a night on the island of Ilhabella (beautiful island) 4 hours bus journey from the city centre.

And what a beautiful island it was; palm trees, a bit of sand, sun and no sound of traffic jams and sirens of Sao Paulo.

Now we are back in London and I am actually pleased of some cooler weather but loved our time in Sao Paulo with Fe and Simon and their friends and family

OBRIGADO AMIGOS

they were heeeerrrrreeeeee.

2007-03-16T22:41:00.000Z

drue and sarah stayed with us on a flying visit to london for a friends wedding. it was so good to see them and spend a bit of time with them. drue and ed managed to go down the slides at tate modern...twice

we took them to a little french wine bar in covent garden

and a walk through st james park to soak up the rare uk sun

see you both in dubai in october xx

sping is now officially here

2007-03-10T14:56:00.000Z

my daffodils have finally bloomed!!! spring is really here.

i bought a kimono dressing gown months ago and haven't been able to wear it as it has been so cold but today i brought it out of hibernation, i just love the pattern of the fabric.

i have done a bit more work on my painting-woke up rediculously early this morning and couldn't go back to sleep for thinking of work! of all things. it has gone a little odd but i will just keep building on it and see where it goes.

february's sweet

2007-02-27T19:38:00.000Z

i have decided to chose a chocolate bar a month to review and hopefully hear your say on the bar of choice and to hopefully try new ones and discover the ultimate chocolate bar or sweet. .....now i have just changed my mind...it will be sweet or as we say in australia lolly; anything sweet and eaten as a snack to make you feel better when you are down, bored at work or in dire need of a sugar fix, basically anything bought from your local corner shop.

february has been:

aero mint bar

i love it's fake lime green colour, its minty taste and the way it is covered in light milk chocolate. no other redeming factors other than it is a taste explosion full of e numbers and 'energy'.

255kcal, 9.2g saturated fats and 0.2g fibre

another project

2007-02-26T21:01:00.000Z

i started working on another painting on the weekend.

not quite sure where it is going but this is the first undercoat, hopefully i get time on the weekend to do a bit more.

happy birthday fe

2007-02-25T15:23:00.000Z

last night was fe's birthday drinks at 'the island queen' in islington. for some reason last drinks was at 12 and we didn't end up leaving until 1; this is unusual as this pub is right in the middle of a residential area and the usual hour for last drinks is 11. we didn't end up getting home until 2 as we had to get two night buses home and walk in the pouring rain from the high street....my shoes are still soaking wet and i think they will take at least a week to dry.

changed jackets!

2007-02-23T11:06:00.000Z

Spring is almost here and I have changed jackets!
Gone is the heavy winter coat and in with the mid-weight jacket…this could be a good excuse to shop around for a more up-to-date style.
YAY FOR SPRING!
Now all I need is for my daffodils to bloom.

swimming madness

2007-02-22T09:25:00.000Z

I was swimming my usual pattern at the pool yesterday: crawl 2 lengths, use the kick board for 2 lengths, breath stroke 2 lengths, use the kick board for 2 lengths, when the guy next to me in the other lane decides to steal my kick board!! I only realised once I got back to the other end of the pool. I was dumbfounded – now these floaties are for everyone to use – you take them out of the wire cage and then put them back when you have finished, but this guy couldn’t be bothered to get his own so decided to take mine (which he saw I was using). I asked him
‘did you take the kick board from my lane?’
and he said
‘yes’
I said
‘well you saw I was using it why didn’t you take another one from the cage?’
his reply was
‘well there there for everyone to use’
I looked at him with complete disbelief on my face and he got me another kickboard! Didn’t give me back mine?
I was in the sauna after my swim and he came in huffing and puffing like most men do in the sauna (why????) and I left.
You rude man!

the plate!

2007-02-13T09:07:00.000Z

well here it is...the plate i bought the other weekend.

do you think i am an old lady for buying this plate?

i think it is lovely.

xxxx

national portait competition

2007-02-12T09:33:00.000Z

i was working on this self portrait a while ago and managed to tidy it up this weekend. i have decided to enter it in the national portrait awards this year. hey i have nothing to lose other than the £20 entry fee so why not. i know it is not the best i can do but it is a start after not painting for 10 years. i have got all fingers and toes crossed.

snow!

2007-02-08T09:59:00.000Z

well it has snowed again in london. this time it has settled and is about 10 centimeters thick. walthamstow looks lovely, just a shame that central london looks wet and sludgy.

tea for 8

2007-02-08T09:46:00.000Z

more photos of fe's weekend

2007-02-08T09:19:00.000Z

karaoke!

dinner

first of fe's hen weekend photos

2007-02-07T09:31:00.000Z

i had the job of organising fernanda's hen weekend:
no strippers
no silly veils
no L plates
that was fine by me! so we went for drinks at 'The International', dinner at 'Katana', a play/musical called 'Avenue Q' (which I thought was pretty bland and didn't warrant the hysterical laughter the audience was displaying, but everyone in our group liked it) then off to fe's surprise i had booked for her; karaoke at 'Lucky Voice' until 1:00. It was an exhausting evening and sitting on the night bus home on my own listening to drunk people screaming 'r-o-x-a-n-n-e' from the front of the bus to the back of the bus until 3:00am was not my best part of the evening.
saturday i met up with Fe to go vintage clothes shopping at 'Alfie's Market' everything was ovr priced but the furniture was amazing and if i had the money to decorate my flat i would buy it all from there. i did make one purchase.....a plate........yes a plate. ed thinks our flat is going to turn into an old ladies flat but i just loved the illustration on it, it is dutch and has a sweet illustration of two people sitting under very odd fruit trees (i should really have taken a photo of it to give it justice).
sunday we all met up for tea at The Ritz , i love this place and wish i could have tea there once a month. we had all the tea, cake and sandwiches (with the crusts cut off) we could eat and after 1 and a half hours we were full to the brim and waddled our way to the tube, or in my case a spot of shopping ... to walk off the food of course.

book club

2007-01-11T12:53:00.000Z

i have been attending a book club with a few friends since the middle of last year. it has been fun and interesting to find out peoples different views on books i liked and loathed. at the moment we are reading 'and the ass saw the angel' by nick cave
this was my choice; i have always wanted to read this book but never got around to it. it is proving very interesting but i won't give anything away until i have finished it and attended our meeting next month.
other books we have read and my scores out of 10 are:
'orlando' by virgina woolf 5/10
'never let me go' kazuo ishiguro 2/10
'brighton rock' graham greene 9/10
'notes from the underground' fyodor dostoyevsky 7/10
'fiesta: the sun also rises' ernest hemingway 8/10
'the possibility of an island' michel houellebecq 3/10 for the first half of the book and 7/10 for the second half.

but one of my favourite books of last year was not a new release but 'day of the triffids' by john wyndham. i am not a fan of sci-fi literature but this book and also 'the chysalids' also by wyndham managed to capture my imagination and stay with me long after finishing. following this tradition of reading 2 books by the same author i am also planning on reading another graham greene book this year and another michel houellebecq. i found 'the possibility of an island' so confronting and hideous in it's subject matter that i am finding myself wanting to find out more about his work by reading more....looking forward to it? maybe not but it will be interesting.

new year 2007

2007-01-02T19:32:00.000Z

surprise, surprise! we went to karaoke but this time we tried a new venue; 'bloomsbury bowling alley' we got there at 11:30 and sang until 2:00am, lots of drink and lots of song to send any normal human being under the table. and i must say i was very pleased with myself, we got home at 5:00am, now for a 32 year old that is pretty damn 'super!' i haven't been out that late or early, in a long time, it did take me all of 24 hours to recover though.

waiting for the 4:30am tube home....aaahhhh london transport, sometimes you do get things right.

christmas in east london

2006-12-27T20:18:00.000Z

the week leading up to christmas in london was very misty and cold; a lovely lead up to the christmas break. we were never going to get a white christmas but this was the closest we were going to get and it was lovely.

facing company away days

2006-12-08T10:16:00.000Z

it wasn't so bad after a few drinks....

company away days

2006-12-01T15:43:00.000Z

now i am not a fan of company 'team building/getting to know the company' events but i had fun. this week we had 2 days at st. albans (a lovely hotel in the country) learning more about the company and getting to know each other; the daytime events were ok but in the evening we had a lovely dinner then a 'disco'. clara who is from columbia invited some friends to show us some samba and latin american dances. i was never interested in these dances until now, they were amazing; so graceful and energetic, they showed us their moves then proceeded to show us a few moves...you know i am almost tempted to go along to a class, that is if some people from work will come along as well.

squid for dress

2006-11-16T09:11:00.000Z

i did intend to buy some squid and i ended up buying a vintage dress.
i have always wanted to go into this little vintage clothing store near my work but never found the time. however on friday i had to go out at lunch to buy some squid for a recipe i was cooking on the weekend and happened passed the shop.
i found this amazing dress: 1950's summer dress that actually fit me!!! now i'm not a large girl, but those girls in the 50's were tiny, to my surprise it fitted perfectly.
i am going to wear it to my friends wedding in brazil next year, now i just have to find a belt, shoes and bag to match.
i just love the detail on the neckline.

cork and cobh

2006-11-13T16:35:00.000Z

it was a week ago now that ed and i flew to ireland to visit my parents. as always we were so lucky with the weather and had clear skies and crisp, cool air. it was great to see where they have planted themselves for the year and to finally get to see a part of ireland.
with murphy as a surname i was expecting irish customs to welcome us with open arms on arrival alas we were just another murphy in a country full of them.
so good to see mum and dad so happy.

bonza!

2006-11-10T16:35:00.000Z

i just had to post this picture today, i will post the other photos from cork next week.
we saw this faded sign of paul hogan in a little pub in cobh and i just had to get ed to pose in front of it like good'ol aussie mates.

turkish cherry

2006-11-07T11:44:00.000Z

some of us from work went to a turkish restaurant on thursday...i had never smoked a sheesha before and it brought back all of the memories of smoking - that first breath in, feeling it going into your lungs and blowing it back out again....why did i like doing this??? but at least this was a nice cherry flavour and not the gross taste of tabacco.

congratulations

2006-10-31T14:10:00.000Z

congratulations to drue and sarah who got engaged last week.
i am so happy for you both.

now all i have to do is find a dress for the wedding!!! ha ha no really i am not thinking about that, just so happy for you.
hhhmmm what will be next seasons colour?

speaking of weddings and getting together; at the beginning of this month ed and i celebrated 9 years together by going to 'j.sheekey', a brilliant seafood restaurant. we managed to sneak a couple of photos as you are not allowed to due to the high population of celebrities it caters for. damn you celebrities and your shyness.

paris oh sweet paris

2006-10-18T09:49:00.000+01:00

another ed themed entry:
for ed's birthday i treated him to paris and nick cave at the 'grande rex'. it was such a great 3 days and this time, as we had been before we could take our time and just enjoy the sites, sit in cafe's and watch the world go by.

ed's birthday

2006-10-13T16:48:00.000+01:00

ed's birthday was awhile ago now: 4th October, we both had the day off of work so decided to climb to the top of st pauls. the view was great and worth the wheazing (i am so unfit), lucky the rain clouds stayed away enough for us to enjoy the view of tower bridge, the london eye and the tate modern. if you have the chance to go into st.pauls and walk up to the whispering gallery and to the top of the dome it is a more interesting touristy thing to do.

away for awhile

2006-10-03T12:21:00.000+01:00

well a lot has happened since i last posted:

i quit my job-i was so stressed from the missmanaged place i plucked up the courage to leave.
i am now back at a company i worked for at the beginning of the year and appreciating every moment.
i had 2 weeks off of work paid so lazed around at home, read, painted and watched bad television.
went to paris with ed for 3 days and saw nick cave play at 'the grande rex', sat in cafe's, ate pastries and enjoyed the sights.
got a rubbish hair cut on a wim and now have a crooked fringe and one side of my bob is longer than the other!!!

tomorrow is ed's birthday so we are going to either go to brighton for the day (if the weather is nice) or hang around london, see a film, have some food, go for a drink - the usual.

anyway now that everything is back to normal i will start posting again. speak to you all soon.

more paintings

2006-09-12T12:51:00.000+01:00

these paintings didn't turn out very well in the photos but they don't look too bad, they only took me 30 minutes to do so they look rough, but i like the look of them. obviously it is ed and i - well at least i hope you can tell that.

painting portraits 6

2006-08-31T11:34:00.000+01:00

so this has only changed slightly. i have do-poofed the hair and added my brouch i made. i still have more to do on the hair and defining the scarf and brouch but i think it is getting there. oh and the photo seems to have made my face look a lot redder than it actually is.

painting portraits 5

2006-08-23T08:58:00.000+01:00

stage 5:

weekend discoveries

2006-08-22T09:22:00.000+01:00

we went to nottinghill on the weekend to see a friend of a friends band 'the open mouths' play at the nottinghill arts club on saturday afternoon. on the way to the tube station we walked past this building and just had to take this photo - newcomb was my surname before i got married (newcomb without an 'e' thankyou very much!)
when we found a table we didn't move for the entire night - that is why we all look so happy.

painting in stages

2006-08-15T11:54:00.000+01:00

this is what i have done so far, and i'm pretty happy with it. it is starting to look more like me and not someone older. so those of you who do look at my blog please let me know what you think and any suggestions are more than welcome. i will do some more work on it this weekend and hopefully add some patterns and definition to the scarf etc.

painting in stages

2006-08-15T09:03:00.000+01:00

stage 3

painting in stages

2006-08-14T17:06:00.000+01:00

stage 2

portrait painting

2006-08-07T15:46:00.000+01:00

i am currently painting my portrait...thinking of entering the national portrait competition next year. i haven't painted in 10 years but it all came flooding back and i think this is starting out to be a pretty good picture. this is just the beginning so don't think it is finished, i still have to get the eyes right and a lot of the other features but i have 6 months to perfect it.
STAGE 1:

it fell from the sky

2006-08-02T10:59:00.000+01:00

i was walking to liverpool street station among the afternoon rush of commuters yesterday when from out of the sky fell a magazine! it landed on my head! i turned around and asked the girl who was walking behind me if she had seen where it had come from - she said ' it appears to have fallen from the sky' with puzzlement. it was a business magazine, no baring on my life for any sort of devine intervention? i just kept walking and retreated to my ipod for some comfort - the smiths will see me through any situation.

no time for play

2006-07-25T12:27:00.000+01:00

my new job is crazy, i have no time to do anything other than work: what a crime.
hopefully we will buy a laptop in the next few months and then i can blog to my hearts content.
will try to put a picture or two up when i can.

getting to work

2006-07-13T09:49:00.000+01:00

thankfully now that i am working at london bridge i don't have to get the tube to work!
i take a nice casual walk to wood street station then on the overland to liverpool street (which only takes 15 minutes) and then i walk to work which takes another 15-20 minutes. at least now i get to breath in some 'semi'- fresh air and not swelter in the rabbit warrens of the tube system.

next week i have my second book club meet. we agreed to read 'never let me go' by kazuo ishiguro, i enjoyed this book but it didn't blow me away; it was a nice story of friendship, belonging and loss. the only thing that bugged me about the plot was that it was a very similar story to a film called 'the island' that came out about 2 years ago, but hey it was an easy read and one that would be great to take on a summer holiday. i will be very interested to hear what everyone else thought of it.

new job

2006-07-12T12:40:00.000+01:00

i have finally started my new job today (wednesday), don't have much to do; just sitting here looking on the internet, but this afternoon i should have more to do.

the airconditioning is getting to me as well: i have blue fingernails! oh well lunch soon so i can sit by the thames and have a sandwich and watch the boats go by.

just beautiful blythe

2006-07-07T09:59:00.000+01:00

i look at craft blogs regularly and am constantly amazed with the interesting things people make and create it gives me great inspiration. this blog called jam fancy is a lovely blog by Christina showcasing some brilliant Blythe dolls dressed to the nine's. She has recently won the 'blythe beauty contest' in japan with this stunning outfit and beautifully coiffed hair. congratulations!

a new job

2006-07-05T11:46:00.000+01:00

you know what? i was just starting to enjoy working in victoria. in the morning we would get off at green park station and walk though green park to st james park, it only takes 15 minutes avoiding the sweltering heat of the tube for another 2 stops. strolling though the park, past the swans and ducks, over a little bridge and under the shade of the old trees breathing in a little fresh air before work is a good way to start the day.

but on wednesday i start a new, interesting job just near london bridge: 2 tube lines, no green parks to walk though and probably no seat to take the weight off of my feet. one bonus though regarding the area is that it is just across the road from borough market held friday - saturday so i can buy all the exotic olives, oils and cheese i like mmmmm.

sunday BBQ

2006-07-04T16:26:00.000+01:00

so sunday was my birthday, it was a busy morning preparing all the salads etc, ed spending almost 2 hours trying to get that bloomin' BBQ to light while burning half of the dry and dead folage in our back garden, but we got there in the end and everyone was pleased to be sitting in the shade and sipping pims and lemonade in 32 degree heat. it was a great day and thank you to everyone who came and for the lovely gifts i received. and i got to wear my new spotty dress for the occation!
ed's cake was amazing. i asked for a gooey chocolate cake and that is what i got a wheat free chocolate cake from stephanie alexander's book the cook's companion: it had 5 bars of 85% lindt chocolate, no flour, topped with chocolate gnash, it is not sweet at all but bitter and is best eaten with strawberries or fruit, i know he slaved away making this for hours and it was worth it.

craft fair

2006-07-04T13:24:00.000+01:00

the craft fair on saturday went well. some people didn't sell anything so i'm pretty chuffed that i sold: 1 large toy, 1 small toy and 3 brooches, 4 out of the 5 were to people i know but i did sell something to a stranger which made me very proud. will i do this again? yeah why not, there is another fair coming up in august. it was such a hot day: 31 degrees! ed kindly agreed to keep me company the entire day and so we suffered in silence covered in sunscreen, hats and sunglasses.

32 on sunday....

2006-06-30T09:56:00.000+01:00

but no time to think about it as the craft fair is on saturday, world cup that night then people coming around for a bbq on sunday...the best way to be.

squirrel nutkin

2006-06-29T08:59:00.000+01:00

i'm still really enjoying where we live, walthamstow village is so peaceful but you can always find a handful of people outside our local 'the nags head' quietly sipping their belgian fruit beers and stroking the landlords cat (who loves to sit on the tables). as we are so close to epping forest we see so much wildlife and at least once a week see a squirrel and unfortunately have to listen to foxes mating (the worst sound i have ever heard in my life). only 2 days to the craft fair at vestry house and i am getting nervous, i hope a lot of people turn up and people like my stall.

when kath came to stay

2006-06-28T11:51:00.000+01:00

kath came to stay this weekend and it was so great to see her. we ate and drank and went to portabello market and shopped and generally just had a relaxing weekend. i met kath in melbourne last year through iron chief and we became friends through our mutual likeness for stripey tops, good food and complaining. who knows we may all end up back in melbourne at the same time next year for 'iron chief 3'.
here's to a cheesy grin!

clocks

2006-06-27T09:22:00.000+01:00

i have been working on some clock face designs in the past couple of weeks. as everyone that has seen my clock has seemed to like it i thought i would develop the idea more and look into buying clocks in bulk to decorate.
here are the 3 sketches i came up with:

happy 30th birthday drue

2006-06-23T14:18:00.000+01:00

it is my brothers 30th on saturday, unfortunately i will be on the other side of the world. i had thought about extending my overdraft and surprising him for the weekend but then i came back down to earth and realised that wouldn't be a good financial move.
happy birthday drue.
i hope you have a great day.
claire
xxx

enjoying the english weather

2006-06-21T12:16:00.000+01:00

the city and art of prague

2006-06-21T09:28:00.000+01:00

we spent most of our time walking around in the 30 degrees heat jumping from one shadded side of the street to the other to avoid the sun eventhough we were prepared with hats, sunglasses and sunscreen.
the city looks more attractive from the view from the castle; looking down on the orange coloured roofs, very similar to paris from montmarte.

we visited the house of the black madonna (famous cubist building) and went inside to see the very small cubism gallery and eat in the cubism cafe. to my disapointment the food wasn't in the cubist form.
i didn't realise that 'mucha' (art nouveau artist) was a czech artist, i thought he was french but after discovering that he had spent much of his professional life in france it is easy to see why paris has such a love for his work, we went to the mucha gallery which i can't believe was only founded in 2000. his work is truly beautiful.
so our 3 day holiday was fun, hot, interesting, hot, educational and hot and a great trip away from london. i just feel sorry for the locals who seem to be bombarded with england fans watching the world cup ..... and it is being held in germany??!!!! go figure?

the food of prague

2006-06-20T16:19:00.000+01:00

the food wasn't that bad in prague! although we did only have one traditional czech meal; i had a thick pancake with sliced, cooked apples underneath and on top a caramelised, spicy apple sauce, it was nice but i could only eat half, ed had some meat dumplings.....this was all washed down with some 'grog'; a hot spicy punch.
a common sight on the streets of prague are stalls selling over cooked sausages and other 'meat' not really to my fancy either but the england football fans loved them.

other food we ate was at an icelandic restaurant called 'reykjavik' and an asian fusion restaurant. for a landlocked country we certainly ate a lot of fish.

Off to Prague

2006-06-12T10:08:00.000+01:00

this week we are off to prague so no posts this week.
i have got my copy of 'metamorphosis' by kafka to get me in the mood for the city and preparing my tummy for the food.
see you all next week.

my first!

2006-06-08T15:54:00.000+01:00

i forgot to post on my blog that i have sold my first 'rainbow bruce'! annette who found my blog through drue's saw my little toys and wanted to purchase one for a little girl called daisy. he has arrived safe and sound and will hopefully enjoy his new home.

and maybe make a badge or two

2006-06-08T09:17:00.000+01:00

with the scraps of my toys i made a badge/brooch the other week. i think it looks kinda cool and i have had some favourable comments. what do you think? should i make some more for the craft fair?
tonight is our first book club meeting, 'orlando' by virginia woolf was our book of choice and i must say i didn't enjoy reading it in the slightest. i have never taken to virginia woolf and this is the first of her books i have been bothered to finish (by force). i felt no sympathy or relation to the main character, the sentences were distorted and had no lyrical flow eventhough this supposed love letter to virgina woolf's female lover was supposed to be a thing of beauty and prose i was left feeling let down by such a great premise; a persons journey through 300 years as both a man and female. i am glad it is not just me that found this book hard work, fernanda actually skipped pages to get to the end. lets hope the next book is more enjoyable.

clock-tastic

2006-06-07T11:29:00.000+01:00

i got the idea of painting a clock from another blog (have forgotten the source) so went to homebase the other weekend in search of a nice one; this is enamel and looks a lot like 1950's bakelite. in my eagerness i painted this image, it is ok but not fantastic so i'm going to buy a few more and plan the images before i dive in. i think it turned out ok.

busy weekend

2006-06-06T15:48:00.000+01:00

this weekend was another busy one and the weather was wonderful.

saturday we lazed in our garden and sipped cider and ate strawberries. In the evening we went to rob's birthday dinner at gallipoli which was great as we hadn't seen the globe trotter for ages.
sunday we went to fe and simon's for a bbq to see their new flat in Highbury...lots of fish on the barbie and plenty of pimms and lemonade.

last night i went to the nottinghill arts club with peter. every month they have a night of crafts where they have a few bands play and a theme: last night was fimo (remember that coloured playdoh that you bake in the oven and it goes hard-lots of middle aged women in the 80's loved it to make big earings) the bands were ok but the fimo was fun! everyone swapped colours and chatted about what they were going to make. peter made some brilliant creatures including this lochness monster and i made a little girls head! not very thrilling but after a glass of wine I'm not too inspirational.

all toyed out and talking to myself

2006-06-02T09:05:00.000+01:00

yeah yeah here are some more toys i've made (have made another two since this photo was taken)...this is getting to be a compulsion and not something creative. i have to get more toys made by the 1st of july craft fair so i've ended up turning our living room into a little assembly line. i need a break from making them so i think i'll have to start drawing again to obtain my aim of having another little exhibition by the end of the year.

now ed stole my post about having conversations in your head with strangers and friends....late one night a couple of days ago i was feeling a little more paranoid than usual and asked ed if he had conversations/arguments with people in his head as i do all the time and i was beginning to feel like maybe i was going insane. and to my surprise he did as well. now in london if you want to say to someone:

'don't push'
'oowwww you stepped on my foot'
'you smell please don't sit next to me'
or
'you annoying man, don't sit with your legs wide open, your arms on both arm rests and pick your ears with your glasses and clip your fingernails in public; you are gross, disgusting and a sociopath!'

if you did any of this you may be stabbed or shot and that is the truth as london and england is becoming a very scary place. anyway this thing about having conversations/arguments with people in your head is apparently a normal thing and i guess it sorts out your head and emotions out for you and releases those pent up frustrations you would otherwise become a homicidal maniac and sponatiously combust...SPLAT!

so tired

2006-06-01T11:48:00.000+01:00

this loooong weekend was exhausting. it was a bank holiday anyway dispite having a further 2 days off this week; we had shaun's many birthday celebration gatherings to attend as well as my friend from brissy jane staying with us for a little while. this visit turned into a shopping bonanza interdispursed with high tea at 'liberty' on the first day and 'paul' on the second aaagggghhhh the scones and the jam and the hot chocolate mmmmm thinking about them now makes my mouth water but at the time i felt ill with over consumption.

last night we also saw 'cocoelectric' anne's band play at the islington acadamy. they were supporting a band who i won't name as i thought they were one of the worst bands i have seen in a long time (anything with a wind instument as it's focal point is murder to my ears as far as i'm concerned...if anyone has seen 'ghostworld' just like 'blues-hammer' with saxaphone eeekkk!)

however.... 'cocoelectric' were great, much improved from the days when it was just anne and a friend who sat behind a laptop making bleeping sounds, now 'cocoelectric' is made up of a full band who are completely capable and give anne all the confidence she needs to pull off a good performance. the crowd was appreciative and the band sound great..yay for anne!

more stationery

2006-05-25T10:48:00.000+01:00

this past weekend i was busy screen printing with my little print gocco more stationery for the craft fair. unfortunately i didn't find any 'canson-vivaldi' brand paper and envelopes (these are my favourite as the texture is devine) but i did find some nice bright yellow paper and envelopes that have done the job just as well. the green envelopes and paper are the 'canson' brand paper left over from when i last printed up a batch, i'm going to have to find something similar to these this weekend.

my new glasses

2006-05-24T09:15:00.000+01:00

taaaadaaaaaahhhhhh!

cats eye glasses

2006-05-22T14:00:00.000+01:00

on the weekend i unexpectantly went looking for glasses frames. we didn't mean to walk into opera opera but i have had in the back of my mind to change my glasses frames as i need a new prescription i thought it a good excuse.
this shop has the best unique frames i have seen anywhere, they reproduce old styles from the 30's to the 80's for those of you who are sick of the little choice in frames there are today....whoever invented titanium for frames must be raking it in!
here is a picture of the frames i am waiting to pick up from the shop on wednesday, oh, and i want to say a bit thank you to ed who has bought them for me for my birthday (eventhough it is over a month away). more photos to follow.

book club

2006-05-18T12:42:00.000+01:00

i have joined a book club that my friend has started. there are only 4 of us but it is a start. the first book we are reading is 'orlando' i have read this before but about 10 years ago so i'm looking forward to reading it again and of course meeting up with everyone for a nice meal, glass of wine and a good'ol debate about the book.
i really wanted to finish 'crime and punishment' but with only 50 pages to go i might leave it on the back burner and pick it up again in a month.

i'm turning into an elf

2006-05-16T12:40:00.000+01:00

i am in the process of making little 'rainbow bruce's' for the craft fair i am taking part in on 1st july in walthamstow. some have mutated into little scary critters.
this is the bag i finally finished making and puting one of my prints onto, i'm testing out the durablity and strength of it today by taking all of my gym gear to the gym and it seems to be doing very well! here's to making more although they do take ages to sew.

some more drawings

2006-05-10T13:30:00.000+01:00

scary toys and t-shirts

2006-05-09T13:35:00.000+01:00

this is the scary looking toy i made the other day, his odd looking face is growing on me.

i also did some screen printing onto fabric. i am not very impressed with them as the ink soaked into the material too much in places and the definition has been lost. anyway it was my first attempt so i'm pretty happy.

below is a clearer picture of the t-shirt print...kath if you still want one let me know and i'll send you one all the way over to dubai (or duby as you so lovingly call it).

the weekend

2006-05-08T12:26:00.000+01:00

this weekend was pretty full:
Saturday we went into the westend to see a procession of giant wooden creatures parade around the streets of london, put together by a group of french artists and funded by the arts council. the weather wasn't great but the crowds turned out. we then went to the half-price ticket booth to buy tickets to 'blackbird' an interesting play that annoyed me and entertained me ... a little. joghi may who played una over acted and my gosh with a voice as strange as hers i wasn't sure if she was putting it on for the character or she normally draws out all of her vowels slowly and with such a deep voice. the end scene which incorporated a car on the stage (just for the drama of it) was overacted and spoilt the simple nature of the choreography. dispite this blackbird was interesting enough to keep my attention but failed to impress on me it's dramatic plot.

sunday i went wedding dress shopping with my friend fe who is getting married in brazil next year. after a long day of shopping up and down oxford street we visited a bridal dress shop and found 'the' dress. she is going to look beautiful on the day and i am so happy she found the dress she loved.

2 great australian leave us

2006-05-08T11:56:00.000+01:00

well i can't believe the news that grant mclennan from 'the go-betweens and richard carlton an australian journalist have died!
i dont' remember a time when richard carlton wasn't on australian tv, he kept his integrity as a journalist when others succumbed to tabloid rubbish and probably better pay.
i was totally shocked to hear about grant mclennon, so young to have also passed away; what a great song writer...australian music will indeed suffer with out his continued input, but we have some brilliant songs to remember him by.

woops

2006-05-05T10:10:00.000+01:00

we went for a walk along wood street last sunday, had to pass some time waiting for the overland train to liverpool street. everything was shut but we did a bit of window shopping and found some interesting shops: organic fruit and vege shop, hungarian deli, antique market. we passed a cake shop which had only one cake in the window, it looked like it had been there for months; the dust gathering on the icing, it slowly crumbling away and unfortunately depriving the doll of any dignity, i thought it was vaguely funny and sad and ..... DO THEY REALLY THINK THIS IS GOING TO SELL??

toys

2006-05-03T10:15:00.000+01:00

i am slowly making more toys and and finally bought some more felt and stuffing. i made this one for ed's friend who had a baby recently. i hope the little baby likes it. and i made another 2 very similar but with different mouths which make them look a little odd and a little scary

markets and drawing

2006-05-02T12:28:00.000+01:00

i was going to pace myself with the photos i took on the weekend but i just can't help myself.
this weekend was a market frenzy.
Saturday we went to Borough Market and bought some lovely ewe's milk cheese; the frenchman selling it was just too sweet and excitable about the cheese to refuse, some cumin olives and tapenade.
Sunday we did a double bill: Spitalfields Market and Columbia Road Market. Spitalfields isn't as good as it used to be, it is far more commercial and has lost the unique atmosphere it once had but we walked around, dodging the crowds. i found a cardigan, the exact same style of the one i shrank a year ago, so i was very happy.
as we were weaving our way through the crowds we spotted pete doherty (libertines/babyshambles), obviously just come from posting bail at his local police station he is so familiar with these days. do you like my paparazzi shot, it is him really:

and so the weather for our long weekend was changable; it rained it was sunny, then it was windy and it was rainy again it played havoc with my hair no matter how much syrum i had in it!

a few new drawings

2006-04-26T10:15:00.000+01:00

well i have finally started doing some more drawings and doodles.
this image is a little doodle i did about travelling on the tube:

this image is a sketch of a t-shirt design i am going to give a go on the weekend now that i have my print gocco back from australia. i will post up the results next week (^U^)

bag ladies

2006-04-24T15:55:00.001+01:00

this is another observational winge: i see so many nicely dressed women walking to work, on the tube and so many carry their extra items that don't fit into their handbags in to old plastic unattractive bags...i really don't understand why they do this and don't
1. buy a bigger bag
or
2. buy another bag that looks respectable.

i have opted for the large bag, it is huge and a bright red bag with red and white polkadot lining! it fits everything i need and fits even more if i happen to pass by my favourite shop on the way home from work who knows what i might pur-chase.
out of pure voyeristic interest this is what is in my bag today:

2 punnets of strawberries
book: 'yan and the christmas tree' by jun machida (very sweet, philosophical journey of a cat to his home town in russia)
mobile phone
travel pass
pen
glasses
hand lotion (my brand of choice at the moment is 'the sanctuary' with spf 15
umbrella
1 tissue
diary
'green tea' purfume elizabeth arden
purse
combe
mirror
lip balm
20 sheets of plain white paper for drawing
newspaper clippings of: walking trips in the lake district, cooking holidays in england, 1 postcard to win a trip to amsterdam

THE BRISBANE 4000!

2006-04-20T09:31:00.000+01:00

while we were shopping for BBQ's at homebase last weekend we came across the funniest thing. there was a BBQ called the 'BRISBANE 4000'! now i didn't know that brisbane was known for its BBQ's or would be so atractive a name as to use it to tempt you into thinking it would be the best BBQ you could buy, but it made us laugh....good'ol brisbane town.

plant life

2006-04-19T11:40:00.000+01:00

i love herbs and now we have settled into our flat we bought some of our favourites; i can't wait to cook so i can use them: rosemary, basil and thyme.

i have always wanted a bonsai tree and on the weekend i found one for only £10! i love it; so petite and simple. carrying on the them of zen like plants my boss who has now retired gave me this lovely orchid which graces our living room; i was a bit upset when the 2 other buds blossomed as it has put out the symetry of the plant but that is me being too anal.