My Creative Space - painterly

This is my favourite painting that I've done for the Downlands Art Show this year. It's a little one, just 30cm square, and was the last one I did. Of course now I'm in 'the zone' I've got no more time (or babysitting) so hopefully I'll be able to find 'it' again to do some more art for the upcoming Carnival of Flowers exhibition, and a Pinktober charity event after that.

Here is a pic of my beautiful studio assistants (although perhaps 'assist' shouldn't have been in their titles)

and the other paintings I finished just in time (these were all 30cm square also) -

and of course, this one which was 60cm square -

There's a bit of shine there, from the light hitting the canvas.

All in all I'm so glad to have submitted something. It was probably the most difficult it has ever been to find the time and inclination to paint, but now that B has turned one, I've definitely felt something shift and a few more things are becoming possible again.

Now I just hope something sells!

For more creative spaces, head over to kootooyoo.

Strike a pose

I have to confess that pettiskirt kit has not yet been made - I ended up getting this gorgeous one from here (online shopping in the middle of the night) - and S wore it to Steffi's birthday party yesterday...

 
that kid's got personality.

So's this kid -

and she's walking now - leading to my favourite parenting moment -

What's yours?

A baby the size of a bus

... it was amazing... beautiful... awesome... we loved it!

The Ron Mueck exhibition at Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art has just finished, and we made it there on Friday - just in time. After the initial 'shock' of the nudity (it's surprising how quickly the kids and I got used to it), I loved looking at the amazing details this artist notices and manages to replicate... the translucency of the skin, the shine of the eyeball, the teeny tiny toenails... the boys were seriously impressed.

And as it was a pupil free day, I took all four kids, and found myself recommending having four to a complete stranger in the lift. They were that well behaved. Fantastic.

After the main exhibit we went down to the 'Ghost World' exhibit for kids. And as usual, the gallery team have done a great job to make a fabulous interactive activity space for kids and they all loved it.

The day ended up costing quite a lot (by the time you add up petrol, parking, food etc - next time we'll definitely take our own lunch), and after a lovely visit to my brother in his new house, we didn't get back home til 9.30pm... but it was a great day that we all enjoyed. I used to look at people with four kids and wonder how on earth they could leave the house - and now I know it's not easy to plan it, but on a good day it's like a roving party.

An in-between post

Just for posterity, I'm reporting that I'm joining in with pottymouthmama's habit plan -

and the habit I am going to master (and look, it's not a biggie) is to drink 10 glasses of water each day.
In doing so I'll at least have less TIME in my day to stuff my face with other comforting things. And I do like to drink water. I'm just out of the habit - until tomorrow, when I will be back in it. And that's that.

And if you haven't read it already, you should go read this hilarious blog - Make Mine Mid Century.
She's prolific and has a gift with words (and has four kids which contributes to the wierd parallels our lives sometimes seem to have).

And I'm also getting my act together body wise and using Trish to help me. She's turning 40 a month after me, and boy, I've got some work to do. The stupid thing is that I know what I need to do, and yet, am not even close. So the reminders that she's posting, and the 'truthful tuesdays' that she's promising, will surely do more good than harm.

And for a little bit more papercut love, this is from 'thetimeisnow' on etsy. Lovely.

I've got some more papercut ideas that have yet to come to life, so the inspiration is welcome.

And that is it for now, have a great weekend!

My Creative Space - Yeehar

I haven't finished it yet, but this is the main painting I'm sending to a local art show next Monday. I have still got to add some glazes, making the colours richer and making the background recede more successfully.

The only way I could do this was with the help of my mother and husband looking after the children. So it has been a big job for all of us. And it felt SO GOOD to get stuck into a painting again. Let's hope someone sees it and can't resist...

For more creative spaces, head over to the lovely kootooyoo (you should see the great lace lights she's made...).

Yummy Boozy Roast

I'm having trials with keeping a three-year-old in bed tonight, and am not feeling as patient as this post may sound.

Luckily tonight was not totally lost, as my oldest son did his first roast using the ingredients above. This recipe was mentioned by a friend just last night, so it was my first time too.

We put a 1.8kg lump of beef in a casserole dish, poured over the Guiness, then the plum sauce, and finished by sprinkling over the french onion soup mix. Put the lid on the pot and into the oven at 180 degrees. Two hours later - voila! Delicious.

My friend, Suzanne-the-Sauce-Queen, could no doubt have done wonders with the liquid in the pot. But we ate it with green beans and mashed potato and it was terrific. And the leftovers will be very handy.

And I think I needed the iron. Very tired. So goodnight!

Really good chocolate patty cakes

Firstly, apologies for the quality of the pics - it was late. But I had to share. Here they are, already in the tupperware, ready to be frozen for school lunches (and to keep them safe from me).

I've made a lot of cakes in my time, but these choc cupcakes are REALLY yummy.Verging on 'melt-in-your-mouth' when eaten warm from the oven. Just ask my husband.

They're from this book (another late-at-night photo, sorry) -

I've made lots of lovely cakes from this book actually (vanilla, hummingbird, carrot, lumberjack, zucchini) and it was the book that really gave me the 'secrets' to a great cupcake, including beating the butter for a few minutes before adding the sugar. Of course that means that we have a lot more noisy beater time now, but ah, they're so much better. Of course, the decoration in the book was a lot prettier than my 'school lunch' version. But Masterchef was on and I had places to go, people to see.

Here's the recipe. They say it makes 24. I say it makes 24 big cupcakes and about 36 mini ones from the one batch.

Chocolate Birthday Cakes - keeps 2 days, freezes 2 months

• 2 cups plain flour
• 2 tsps bicarb
• 1 tsp baking powder (I only had SR flour tonight, so I replaced these first 3 ingredients with that and it worked fine)
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp instant coffee granules (I'll probably only add 2 next time, but the kids are still liking 3)
• 1 cup hot water
• 1 cup cocoa
• 1 cup cold water
• 200g softened unsalted butter
• 2.5 cups caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla

Method (my words)

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees C. Put out patty papers.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the coffee, hot water and cocoa until smooth. Then add the cold water and whisk again.
4. In another bowl cream the butter for 1-2 mins. Add the sugar 1/3 at a time, beating for 2 mins after each addition and then beating until sugar has almost dissolved. Add eggs one at a time, beating for 1 min after each addition or until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and beat again!
5. Add flour and cocoa mix alternately, about 1/3 at a time, beating on low until thoroughly combined. Don't overbeat though, or they'll be tough.
6. Spoon into papers. If you don't want them to crack on top, wait 20 mins before baking. Cracking doesn't bother me, so I just went straight ahead and baked them for about 20 mins (less for the mini size). Cool on wire rack before icing.

I did a simple cocoa/icing sugar/butter/milk  icing and added sprinkles.

Love them. And the kids are stoked. We've got enough for a few weeks. Very happy. Do try them.