Dreams to reality

Is there anything better than seeing your dreams becoming a reality? Once upon a time, I began to dream of having my art stocked in real bricks and mortar shops...and so to be receiving queries from shops wanting to stock my work, well, it makes my heart sing...and dance! 

The boxes of photo blocks above have been shipped to my newest stockist, Nest in Penguin, Tasmania, and I hope they find wonderful new homes. 

{Please excuse the dark polaroid, somedays I just have to play with Sonny even though I know the sky is too dark!}

My Little Ladies

Could I be any more in love?

A little bit of loopiness....

The trees have been speaking to me again.  I know, I told you way back in the Spring, loopy.  It's just that we've been having the most amazing autumn weather ~ brilliant blue skies, warm mid day sun, and the trees....oh my goodness the trees!  Such colour, such fire - calling out to me - "look, look at us up here! Admire our leaves, the orange, the red, the yellow against the blue sky backdrop!  Quick, do it now, drive down the back streets, take a long walk around the neighbourhood, take a polaroid,

for soon we will be gone and the trees will be bare...."

And with the bare trees comes the cold. 

But we won't focus on that,
we'll put that thought away for another day,

and we'll walk around the block again soaking up the sun,
the blue sky, and the fire in the trees...

Time...

Don't wish it away,

don't look at it like it's forever.....

{Elton John}

The Blue Table and The Animals

I've had a few emails asking how I get the colour in my still life/butterfly photos, and so thought I'd share with anyone that may be wondering yet too shy to ask.  The secret - it's the blue kitchen table.  Last summer we inherited a gorgeous wood table and chairs, and decided to paint it pale blue to match a darling little chair of Annabel's from Provincial Living.  We painted the chairs white.  By winter we were a bit over it being blue, so had plans to paint it white this summer.  Never got round to it, and I am so glad, as it has provided the perfect tones for my Butterflies, and I think now it will remain forever blue - the Butterflies are so dear to me and the table is as much a part of them as is the polaroid they were captured on.

So yesterday I decided to finally work on a series I've had ideas about for Otis's room...Annabel and all the girls have The Butterflies, but what about the boys?  Knowing I wanted a similar background colour (always a bit tricky as Polaroid is so light sensitive, as you can see in the difference in the Zoo animals, and often the blue table can look more green than blue), and without being able to photograph from above like I did with The Butterflies, I tipped the table on it's side.  Call me crazy I know, it was heavy, I nearly dropped it, nearly woke the kids with it scraping on the floor, but I managed to get it into position in the afternoon sun, put the Provincial Living chair in front of it, positioned the animals, waited for the sun to break through the clouds, and there you have it....

Otis's "The Animals" polaroid series. For the boys.

On my table

{Morning Milk}

The Polaroid bug is back....I've had no film packs in the fridge since our NZ trip...until Mothers Day...my precious little monkies gave me some, how ever did they know?  ;)  Annabel helped me open the carefully wrapped present, and told me "it's for your camera, you can put it in the fridge" - the things they notice with their observant curious little minds.

{On My Table}

{Treasures}

Yesterday morning, still in my pj's, kids playing happily, the sun came out briefly, so Sonny and I had a little play.  All before 8am.  It was a perfect start to the day.

Morgan Kendall - 'enveloped in a yellow embrace'

This photograph by Morgan Kendall, 'enveloped in a yellow embrace' took my breath away.  I fell in love with it, and I can't pinpoint exactly why...is it the romance, the love, the tone, the colours, the processing, the light (oh my god that light!).....I think it is all of it, everything about it is simply stunning.  I love it so much that I asked Morgan if she would be interested in selling a print of it to me.  And the sweetheart that she is, she said yes.  I have been slowly collecting pieces that inspire or move me beyond words for the space above my work area, and I cannot wait to add this to the wall.  It truly does move me beyond words.

You can see more of Morgan's divine art over at her Etsy shop....she is one incredibly talented lady, don't you think?

Once upon a daydream....

{once upon a daydream...i dreamt of Venice...}

Once upon a daydream.....a long long time ago....I travelled in Italy, and I left a piece of my heart there...and I always knew that one day I would go back to live for a while with my future husband and children....and no I am not about to tell you we are headed to Italy...but I have been thinking a lot about this dream and how much I would love to take a suitcase full of polaroid film and spend a year under the magical Italian sun with my beautiful family.....

{once upon a daydream...i dreamt of Florence...}

In the meantime while on our trip home to New Zealand last month I located my undeveloped films from my Europe travelling days.....they were deep in the bottom of a box at the back of the garage and yesterday I picked up from the lab the first set of prints.....I have 21 more rolls to develop...yes that's right, 21.  From Italy, France, the Greek Islands, Portugal, Germany, the Canary Islands, and probably some other places I can't remember.  I was too poor when I got back to London, then home to New Zealand, to develop them, and life moved on....

Every once in a while I will develop a roll of film ~ I plan on savouring the anticipation of what each film will reveal ~ and I will add a few "once upon a daydream" photos to this space from lands far far away for a trip down daydream lane......will you join me?

I dream of sunshine

{I dream of sunshine}

{sisters}

It's grey and cold today, but I don't mind as it's Friday.  I have a quiet house, a perfect time to look through unscanned polaroids...I love discovering polaroids I had filed away for a grey day.  I layered these 2 with textures for a different look to the other butterflies in the series.  I quite like them.  What do you think?

It's still quiet....I think I might even sneak in a cup of tea and a piece of gingerbread before they wake.......

Happy Friday!

The anticipation...

Do you remember when you would load a film into your camera...and carefully compose each shot, not being able to see what you had captured as the magic was inside the camera?  And when you had finished the roll you would drop it into the photo lab, get your 'pick up time' slip, and have to wait  for them to be developed?  Yes, I said wait. Sometimes if you couldn't bear to wait a day or 2, you'd put them in for urgent processing, coming back in and hour or so.  I can remember those days, they seem so long ago yet it was only a few years back.  I can remember standing at the counter as my packet of photos was located behind the counter, opening the envelope and quickly flicking through with one hand as I got my money out and paid with the other, barely able to contain my excitement if I had shots I loved, (or my disappointment if they didn't turn out as I'd hoped), smiling and saying thanks, then slowly walking out of the lab while going through the envelope again, and savouring each photo, taking in all of the details....putting the shots I liked up on my wall when I got home, and the ones I didn't like stayed in the envelope and put into a box, to be looked at again in later years. 

Isn't it funny how today it seems everything is instant - use a digital photo and you can see the shot on the back - like it and keep it, don't like, delete.  Even my beloved Polaroid is instant.  And while I wouldn't be where I am today without digital and polaroid photography, to be honest, I miss the anticipation of film - the build up to that moment when my packet was handed over the counter and I could not wait to open it.  It is an exhilarating feeling.

Yesterday Shannon fixed my Diana Mini, and I was so excited that instead of having an hour of me time while they did some errands in the city, I loaded a roll of black and white film and went with them, taking photos of the city from the car window as we drove around.  And oh what a feeling!  Click and wind - it is a magic sound!  And all I could think about last night was taking them to my lab to put them in for developing this morning, but Otis fell asleep and Annabel is at Kinder, so it won't be until tomorrow that I can put them in...and I am enjoying the anticipation.  And I am going to enjoy it all day, and all night....