Shards....

I'm leaving all the creativity to mum at the moment (see previous posts for whining about work commitments). She's currently undertaking a mosaic project and I took the opportunity to rummage through her collection of broken crockery. My favourite pieces are the ones with the manufacturer's stamps, so I thought I'd share one with you.

Lowercase el....

While I'm busy working like crazy (that moment of relief was fleeting), I recommend you visit the new blog of the lovely Elly. She shares the pages of her beautiful visual diaries which she's been putting together pretty much since we met (and that means a couple of decades). I have swooned over these diaries many many many times, and am super chuffed that she's sharing them with you all.

(Psst! - Remember Elly's beautiful wedding earlier in the year?).

More dots?....

Are the dot-themed posts wearing thin yet? Ok, so this is a bit of a stretch, but I've beaded the embroidery I've been working on and there's a certain dottiness about it. I'll show you the full piece when I'm done. I don't recommend the holding of breath.

(Psst! - the fabric is by Cicada Studio).

More dots....

I went to a tasting of the Top 50 West Australian wines (according to the recent Qantas Wine Awards) last week. I'd like to say that I chose wines based on careful consideration of aroma, palate, hue, balance, body, finish, taste, texture, blah, blah, blah, but if I'm being honest, I check out the label design too. The labels of Harewood Estate caught my eye. The wines we tasted had a label similar to the one shown above, but without the rabbit. All those perfect dots!

The bonus is that the wine was great too (so much so that we're ordering a case), which surely vindicates my wine selection process? One of my dream jobs would be to design wine labels. My partner's a winemaker so it's not that far out of the realms of possibility, is it? You can see my very first label here.

Salut!

Dots....

Well there may be no time for creativity in these parts, but I did find the time to catch up on some online reading. It was at Bloesem that I came across the image above. Love it! It's by Melanie Brument, a French ceramic and textile artist. You must check out her work on her blog (it helps if you understand French). I came across this image when I had a look:

That's my birthday! Ok, only if the French use dd.mm.yy like we do here. :)

Invisible....

Well, I'm certainly invisible in blog-land these days. My apologies to those of you who wait with bated breath for me posts (anyone?). The previously-mentioned day job is taking over, but relief is in sight, though not for a week or so. Please come and visit again soon.

(Psst! - the above is the work of Chinese artist Liu Bolin, known as "the invisible man". Be sure to google him for lots of amazing photos and information).

Rest in Peace Aislinn....

You may have seen my post last week about a fundraiser for Aislinn Andrews and her ongoing cancer treatment. I didn't know Aislinn personally, but it with huge sadness that I post now to share that she passed away on the day of the art action, one day shy of her 30th birthday.

My thoughts are with her family and friends. xo

A motley brew & catch 22....

Hmm, I'm not sure what appeals to me more - the print or the pun? This letterpress print, "A Motley Brew", is available from Bespoke Press. It's by Grace Lee, illustrator for Inside Out magazine (new issue out today!). The catch 22? - the real reason I'm sharing this with you is to increase my chance of winning 10 limited edition prints! But sharing with you means you might enter which means I have less chance of winning. Damn it!

It's business time....

(Now don't tell me you're not singing Flight of the Concords right about now). I've just finished a small business course and want to keep up the motivation to learn more (with the hope of one day finding time to dedicate to "alex sunday", the company). The lovely Bec, editor of blanket magazine, sent me a fantastic link to Australian Design Unit. Oh lordy! - so much top quality information! I'd tell you all about it, but if you're in the creative business, maybe you should just go and take a look for yourself.

Cicada Therapy....

Remember when I won some fabric swatches from Cicada Studio about 6 months ago? Well they've turned out to be a godsend. As regular readers will be aware, my day job in the exciting world of mechanical engineering (please note sarcasm) is currently sapping all my time and energy. I needed to find something to help switch my brain off on the commute home so that I could leave it all behind. Embroidery to the rescue! I've stitched around almost all the circles so far. I've never done this before, and i'm not sure how good a job I'm doing (I think my stitches are too small), but the therapeutic side is working a treat! I'll keep you posted as I progress. Thanks Michelle!

FundrAislinn....

Apologies for my infrequent posts of late. Things are hectic! Not with fun stuff unfortunately. But this is something I thought I should let you know about. This fundraiser will raise money for Aislinn Andrew's ongoing cancer treatment. You can find out more at the official site (and peruse the amazing high quality artwork up for auction) and learn a little more about Aislinn at her candid blog, The Young and the Breastless.

It's all about me....

I've been thinking about my name a lot lately. Well, not my name, but my business name. What business? Well behind the scenes here at the sunday project, things are happening. Slowly sure, but they are happening. I'm doing a small business course and thinking about what I'd like the sunday project to become. It's exciting but also a little frustrating because the sunday project is a parttime thing that I think about fulltime. I just have to be patient (and so do you, I'm afraid). Stay tuned....

(Psst! - this cup - 95c from Ikea - has been drawn on using the ceramic pens I wrote about yesterday. The bacon pencil case in the background is made from the below-par panels printed for these cushions).

Anyone for teacups?....

Teacup by Esther Coombs

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Since starting the sunday project, I've found how much I love ceramics. It should come as no surprise - I'm a homewares addict. Alas, I'm not in a position to play around with decals at the moment, so to satisfy my desire to design I bought some ceramic pens. What fun! You just draw your design, wait 24 hours, then cook for 35 minutes in a 150 degrees Celsius oven. Easy! Oh, and the pens come in 2 thicknesses and 8 colours. I'm not really a talented enough drawer to do anything particularly interesting, which is why I'm showing off the work of Ester Coombes (here's her etsy shop)- love it!

More thanks....

Another lucky win for me! Last week, to celebrate the arrival of spring here in the southern hemisphere, Pigeonhole gave away 10 flower necklaces. And one came to me! I'm not the girliest-girl and would never think to buy something like this (and would never think to go for peachy-pink), but maybe that's why I love it so much. I had planned to model it myself, but got camera shy. Look for me strutting around town wearing it though. Thanks Pigeonhole!

Thank you....

You might recall that last month my plates were chosen as the 200th post on a plate a day. My prize was the beautiful plate above, handmade and painted by Mignon Khargie, the site's curator. It is even more amazing than I expected (and this photo really doesn't do it justice). Thanks Mignon!

United Steaks of America....

Ha ha, given my well documented fascination with meat (gosh, i'm a horrid vegetarian), I just had to share this with you. Found at swissmiss.

Postnote: This is the work of photographer Dominic Episcopo (is that not THE coolest surname?!). I've been perusing his website and blog - what a talent! I love the boxing photos he took for Everlast. And his still lifes are superb.

Lovelyprettycheerythings....

You know how you come across blogs every now and then and you feel like you'd happily share a pot of tea (or bottle of tequila) with the blogger? (The last time it happened to me was here). Well, that's how I feel about lovelyprettycheerythings. Nicola writes like I think (and what's not to love about that?!). And she finds some lovelyprettycheerythings to share with us all. Ooh, and she does magical things with beautiful flowers here. What a clever girl.

Birds & the bees....

Wow, I am really slipping behind in the Amerlie & Atticus Photo Challenge. Not to worry, I think I need to just take part when I can. These photos are for last month's Birds & the Bees theme. Does the style look familiar? They're a tribute to the beautiful animal portraits by Sharon Montrose! I couldn't stop at birds, so here are a few four legged friends too. Have a great week!

Superheroes & Villains!....

Ok, so I'm running behind on my Amelie & Atticus Photo Challenge. Forgive me! The day-job is TAKING OVER MY LIFE. No time for reading my favourite blogs even! So I'm very far behind on what all of you are up to "out there". Anyhoo, back to matters at hand....

These shots are for the Superheroes & Villains theme. Now I'm not particularly knowledgeable on the sunject, so had to scout out a suitable model. I could not have hoped for a more compliant one! Stay tuned - I might manage to catch up on the rest of this months challenges on the weekend....

Consume!....

Cover artwork by Adam Nickel.

Oh my! I'm way too busy at the day-job to do anything even remotely creative, so it's good news that the latest issue of blanket magazine is here! This way, I can at least read about creative people and aspire to one day join their ranks. Of course, I'm sturggling to find the time to read it, but I can at least look at the pretty pictures. Get yours here.