More models

I said I was having fun, didn't I? This model of the main house we're hoping to build is only held together by masking tape at the moment... our architect's comments about my failure to use the appropriate balsa wood framing for the verandah/carport posts slightly took the wind out of my sails and I haven't leapt for the glue bottle, but I daresay I'll get there eventually. Meanwhile it's been a REALLY useful exercise plotting it all out and seeing how it might work in 3D.










This view is from the 'east' end of the building. The 'TV' lounge is to the right, with steps leading up past a double-sided fireplace apperture into the main living area, which opens out onto the verandah at the front, as you can see. Beyond the verandah is the sleeping end of the building, with 3 modest bedrooms, one with an en-suite bathroom and a family bathroom. The raised roof over the main living area allows light and air into the building.










This photo was taken more from the western end of the building, showing the car port next to the bedrooms. I don't think that's going to be an issue: living in the country it's not as if we'll have babysitters and I doubt if we'll be going out much in the evenings so cars coming and going won't be a problem at night! The main entrance is up some steps, in between the near edge of the verandah with its big planting box, and the cantilevered front of the main bedroom.

Fingers crossed!

Hold the front page

As I suspected, I didn't get a prize or even a certificate, just the sheer pleasure of having been highly commended at the Bellingen Art Show. I went and picked up my work this morning and ran into Deb Wall (not literally!) and Lina Bluhm. Lina and I had a very nice coffee and a chat in Bellingen before I headed back to Coffs Harbour and took the family out to 'Botanica', a sort of environmental/gardening expo at the Botanic Gardens. Lina and I were talking about how little there is for printmakers around here, and I have to agree. We both have a dream of a community print workshop... but it will be a long way off in the future!

Anyway, since getting home I've continued to enjoy myself with making a model of our new house, from the architect's plans. It's been tricky in places! Mainly, I think, because the plans have been printed and reprinted on different printers, with the result that not all the sheets are to exactly the same scale. Although technically the plans are 1:100 at A3 size, variations in printing mean that they're not all the same, which has made resolving the design of the roof particularly difficult. Luckily I'm enjoying the challenge and here are some working photos from this morning.



This is the main house, without internal walls





The blockiness of the unfinished model is great!

I've finished the office - studio building; this is from the front


An aerial view; I made models of all the BIG bits of furniture to scale, too

Five Random Things about Me

When you've read this and picked yourself off the floor having laughed at me so hard you fell off, you can blame Jan at Snippety Gibbet for tagging me with this meme! I'm just like her in that I've been tagged before and haven't got round to doing anything about it, but this time I'll give it a go.

• One of the worst jobs I ever had was temping at a publishing company in Bristol and sharing an office with the accountant who was permanently drunk and kept a dead fish rotting away in his desk drawer.
• I love exercise, but only the kind you can do sitting down! Think cycling, rowing, weights... Come to think of it, they're all pretty much one-person sports so perhaps the real problem is that I'm antisocial?
• I once won a lottery, and got a pack of 24 airmail envelopes as my prize. I still have 23 of them.
• I am dyslexic with numbers in that I read them in the wrong order. Luckily I know how I mix them up so when recalling numbers I just have to rearrange them in my head... it helps having a very visual memory because I can 'read' them all over again as I correct myself.
• I don't use black very often; I usually make my own black ink out of Prussian Blue and Burnt Umber mixed together and I vary the proportions depending on what effect I want.

Now you know.

I forgot!

I forgot to mention my success on Friday at the Bellingen Art Show, which is a members' exhibition held each year up in the hills... somehow Bellingen seems a long way away from Coffs Harbour, which I guess it is in some ways: instead of palm trees and the ocean there are mountain views, autumn leaves and winter frosts. It reminds me of the cool northern European climate of the first half of my life - until the sun comes out in summer and it gets hotter than it does down here on the coast!




Confluence/
Juanbung












Anyway, for the first time I entered the show, and put in the monoprint I did for the Art Auction here (that didn't sell, obviously), and I got 'Highly Recommended' in the print section. The prize-giving was a bit of a fiasco, and quite embarrassing at the time. The person leading the speeches made a point of asking all prize-winners to come up onto the stage and stay there for photographs, so when my name was read out, up I went. But they completely ignored me! I'd climbed the stairs in front of the crowd only to find the person carried on speaking, having turned her back to me, and to be honest I had no idea what to do. Louise Rawson-Harris from The Bunker Cartoon Gallery (and leading light of Bellingen art circles) noticed my embarrassment, kindly took me aside and engaged me in conversation, and then drew the person's attention to my presence on the stage - but I was still ignored. Being on show isn't my thing and I got to the point where I thought I shouldn't be there, so after gently moving to the back I slunk off down the stairs into the crowd, only for the announcer to tell me off later for ruining the group photograph... The upshot of it all is that I have no idea if I will get a prize or a certificate, because no-one saw fit to tell me about it!

Thankfully the whole event was overtaken by a lovely dinner we had with Anna Fisher at her house in Fernmount afterwards. Anna is a talented graphic designer, and her husband Christian is the architect of the house we'll (hopefully!) start building soon, and she'd invited us back for pasta and fruit salad and - in my case at least - a restorative glass of wine!

Finished

I've finished the edition! 44 good prints, all layered with blotters and tissue and weighted between boards. Just the numbering, signing and packing to go before they are consigned to the couriers in a week's time.