it's winter, it's cold, but quite inspiring

Winter has hit Hobart, that's for sure. The last week has been cold, drizzly and grey.

It has been made somewhat brighter by the DarkMofo event being held at the moment in Hobart. It is quite an unusual collection of events really, music, performance and exhibitions, but I think it will be hard to beat this beauty called Spectra, by Tokyo artist Ryoji Ikeda.

It's just stunning.

From the catalogue, "Imagine a tower of pure, white light, reaching fifteen kilometres into the Hobart sky above the Domain. At the base of the tower, forty-nine custom-made Xenon searchlights are set into the ground in a seven-by-seven grid; combined, they point a fleshless finger at our town straight down, it seems, from some sort of imagined, omniscient seat in the sky.

Sine waves - the purest kind of sound wave - form invisible sonic patterns at the base; your movement alters their composition in a way that only you can specify. Indeed, your experience is unlike your friends', or anyone else's at all. Now, stop imagining, and wait until nightfall."

Lyn, Molly and I dropped in to get a closeup look of it the other night. In the car Lyn was complaining about  me being a bloody artist dragging him out in the cold and drizzle to see some bloody lights and don't you now, he loved it! So did Molly, excepting the sounds. They were a bit scary for her.

I popped back last night to get some pics. It really is one of the best installations I have ever seen. Just don't mention the power bill.

I am sorry again for being so slack here on this little blog. I have been so busy at work and at home too. I will be back soon to tell you what I have been up to :)

I hope you are all well and keeping warm.

Love Sar xx

Lacy lights

I couldn't help it and treated myself to a little porcelain tea light holder the other day at the Market.

It was made by Sally Cassandra and was only $16. She had all sorts of other things but these stood out for me. Lace has been pressed into the surface of the porcelain and show beautiful patterns when lit from inside.

So then I thought I might make a couple of little friends for it.

I used an old recycled jar and glued pieces of paper doily to the outside. I wrapped a wire with old buttons threaded on it around the top to conceal a bit of the screw pattern. I didn't take into consideration that the overlapped pattern would show up more opaque so I might re-make it and cut straight edges to see if that looks better.

Isn't the pattern on the wall pretty?

I also made a little lace wrap for one of my tiny bottles and picked some iceberg roses from the garden.

Quite pretty me thinks!

Imagine the whole mantelpiece covered in pretty tea lights, all white, different patterns. That sounds nice :)

xx

Tord Boontje garland

Obviously this is NOT a Tord Boontje garland :)

But, I was lucky enough to receive one for Christmas from my sister. Thanks Rachael :)

I love Tord Boontje design.

SO, I decided to set it up in the hallway in place of the grotty paper lantern shade that had been hanging there since we moved in.

It was so dirty!

Here is the garland flat packed.

I had read on Anna's blog Door Sixteen that setting up the garland is like organising a pack of wild ferrets.

But there it is! It wasn't too difficult at all.

Look at the shadows..

Not the best pics, but you get the gist.

Ooohh, pretty!

New lighting

Still trudging along on my studio, but we finally have light. Lyndon installed my new chandelier last night and I'm very pleased with how it looks. I think it looks just right with the ceiling rose.

You may just be able to see a bit of glossy floor. We finally (after 3 weeks of hassle) have polished boards. I can't tell you how much I was over that situation. Does it hurt to make a phone call to a customer to say you cannot make it that day and reschedule? Noooo..much easier to leave the customer (moi) sitting at home waiting for hours. Very unimpressed. Thankfully the floor looks lovely.

Now it's the skirting board and picture rail to go...

ps my apologies for going awol on you all x

Bits and pieces

Our new cornice for the lounge room arrived yesterday and I am looking forward to seeing it up. We will get someone in to do it as apparently doing the corner joins, especially with a detailed design, is quite a skill and not one I am about to learn.

Here are our new lounge lights...