Monday, October 31, 2011

(Long) Weekend Wishlist - Bright and Breezy!

Summer is trying to break through in Melbourne, the sun and warm air is feeling great when it manages to make an appearance.

With the change in the weather, my mind appears to have taken on a lighter, more bright and breezy mood. As a result, my long weekend wish list is full of fresh finds. 

Recently, I made a visit to South Melbourne and discovered a little pocket of great little shops on Coventry Street. I stumbled across Southwood Trading a wonderful fresh homewares store full of wonderful modern pieces. They stock products from one of my favourite Melbourne brands bonnie and neil.  Bonnie Ashley and Neil Downie, create functional decorative pieces which are handmade and hand-printed in their Brunswick studio. Their current collection is inspired by native Australian flora and fauna. I have my eye on some of their wooden storage cubes


If you want to know even more about them, Lucy on The Design Files did a great feature on them back in June.

Moving on from a local bricks and mortar store to an international online store, Dahlhaus. Heather Braun-Dahl makes some great ceramic pieces in her studio in Vancouver, Canada. I have my eye on a one of the turquoise (10 o'clock position in the pic) vases...$46 US well spent in my opinion.


Last but not least is to attend one of the Panelpop workshops which are being held at the Fitzroy store/workshop. If you have not heard of Panelpop they are the brains behind an exciting new stone art medium which can be drawn on directly with pencil or charcoal. Or you can even work your magic with watercolour, oil or acrylics. If you are not feeling creative, you can upload one of your favourite photos which can be printed directly onto the surface. The framed piece is lightweight and UV stable which means you can even hang in outdoors if you want to.  If that's not awesome enough, most of the materials used are salvaged or recycled which will also satisfy your carbon neutral needs.

I had one made a few months ago, using a photo of my dear cat Muffy (I know funny name - but I was 10 when we named her...give me a break!) who was with us for 20 years.

As I have already done a photo, I think I would like to try my hand drawing or painting on one so I think I might sign up for one of the last available spots for one of the workshops they have running this month and in December. Watch this space....





Side By Side Catch Up.

Week 108 - Crazy Babies!
Side by Side Week 108 - Crazy babies!
A parade of giant demonic babies engaged in a battle of good and evil have invaded central Melbourne as part of the Melbourne International Arts Festival. Crazy babies alright!! It has caused quite the stir in Melbourne though... 

Week 107 - Coffee Art
Side By Side Week 107 - Coffee Art
With my brother visiting over the last few weeks, we have been sampling the coffee delights of Melbourne. One of the best both in taste, and for the amazing Barista skills. The place is called Manchester Press named after the old printing press office that used to be in the building. It might be my fave place in Melb at the moment.

Week 106 - Modern History
Side By Side Week 106 - Modern History
It was my Birthday and I am now 33! Eek. One of my wonderful gifts was a refurbished 70s polariod SX-70 camera! Its fantastic...although I am a little scared to use it because the film costs so much! Also in the shot are some photos of me as a kid taken with our trusty polaroid. My Dad would get film from work and as a result a LOT of my old family photos are polaroids. You can just see my awesome birthday costume where I was dressed as a domino - I think I was 9 or so. Random!

Week 105 - Is that a Chicken?
Side By Side Week 105 - Is that a chicken?
I went to take some shots of these and it was too dark last week and I tried again the other day when we were visiting sadly its a phone shot! These are Japanese silky chickens! No I did not make that up and I also did not take a crap photo where you can't see any eyes or beaks etc  this is what they look like. They freak me out because you can't tell what there are up to - they are like toilet brushes on legs! So funny! 
Week 104 - Haste Ye Back
Side By Side Week 104 - Haste Ye Back
I have been working on a little Scottish print for my spare bedroom,which I have decided is going to have a bit of a flavour of home. Haste ye back is  Doric for come back soon.
I have designed the whole print myself and after a lot of changes and layouts. I am super happy with it. I also got a modern deer head from Pulp to add to the 'theme'.

Week 103 - Primary Positive 
 Side By Side Week 103 - Primary positive!
Random photo alert. Shane is like a Womble and likes to re-purpose and recycle. Anyway, he has few car batteries ready to be taken to the recycling place and I was liking the colour and shapes of them all lines up. Primary colours a plenty.

Check out my photos Side by Side with my buddy Ross at the side by side blog