Kittys Drawings

Hi everyone!

I thought today I would show you all my house. Since I’m always rabbiting on about how awesome it is and I don’t even have any photos. We moved in last October – renting of course – I could never afford to buy a house like this!
When we walked in we were all “OMG” – I was running around saying “eeeee I LOVE it LOVE it want want want”.
We were mega lucky because the Saturday we went to inspect, it was Grand Final day (massive sporting event “football” for my overseas readers – pah! I have little regard for sport ) so there was no one around. Only two other people came through that day and we managed to schmooze the real estate agent. He even gave us the keys that weekend and told us to show our friends around and come sign the lease on Monday.
So when we went to sign all the papers he tells us that he had over 14 emails asking to come see the property because they were too busy watching “footy” when the open for inspection was. Well – you snooze you lose! Ha!

Onto the tour – Let’s preface this by saying I’m only showing you a fraction of the house. The main bedroom is nowhere near ‘display quality’ as yet and the second bedroom is an utter shambles right now on account of my sewing projects strewn all over the bed.
The rest are the rooms we use most often and a part of the way to being decorated in how we like. All these white walls we constantly need MOAR ART to hang on them.

I’m really not much of a home stylist either so I know there’s all kinds of pics here that could be presented better.

K – I’ve tried to put everything in some semblance of order. The French doors lead out to the courtyard and the window is really high and arched – too high to photograph. It reaches well into the second storey. We have two mezzanine floors above the ground floor Puss likes to sticky-beak and follow me around the house so she’s in quite a few of these photos! The pic on the right is the entryway. There’s a powder-room on the left and the garage on the right. This view looks towards the inside of the building. Picture a big barn with a shared driveway down the middle and all the apartments branching off.  Bamboo floorboards which are nice and quiet compared to hardwood

Boof relaxing (furring) on the couch. That’s his favourite spot and he gets rather upset if you sit in it. The couch set I scored off eBay for $90! Freshly re-upholstered too – great colour. They’re supposed to be Parker …they look it. If they are, then I really really did score a bargain!

Dodgy blurry photo. All these are natural light btw – That’s what I love most about this house – so much light!
Also, the beginnings of our art collection. All from Outre Gallery hehe. We plan to cover both walls eventually. Excuse the vacuum cleaner in the corner *ahem*

The steamer trunk is another eBay find. I won the auction for $150 but the guy dropped his price to $50 after telling us that it had woodworm holes. No matter, it’s great as a coffee table hehe. I really should move that box eh, doesn’t look good there does it.  See – not a stylist at all!
Abstract wooden form there is a piece Dad made and gifted to Jonny

One of our Expedit bookshelves. They’re so handy! Few knick-knacks and models…Playstation….etc

My lovely kitchen. Which is awesome. Except no pantry – see? Kinda annoying. I need to get my butt into gear and design something for dad to build. It needs to be enclosed as that shelf has everything rather precariously balanced. And look – dishwasher!! Been a while since I had a dishwasher before we moved here. I hate doing dishes! Still need to do some of course but its that much more tolerable to have a machine do the majority of the work.

My Ikea stainless steel bench. Another thing this house lacks is bench space. So I “needed” this. Its very handy. Dad made me that chopping block. And the little wooden bowl in the background there that I put sugar in.

From the kitchen to upstairs…. Curious kitty

Random things….Jonny’s collection of “stuff”…on our second Expedit…

Girly art on skateboards…..And my paintings on the right. Sitting on my easel. That Dad made for me. Yes, Dad can pretty much make anything
The stairs leading up to the main bedroom are behind the easel.

My jewelry sitting in a hand-tooled leather bowl I brought back from Hungary. Some paintings Jonny’s friend gave him.

Jonny’s red “man chair” – that Puss really loves to get her claws into. Such a naughty cat!! You can see the top of the rangehood there and the window that leads to the courtyard.

Jonny’s desk. Much more sparse than mine. He doesn’t use his computer – preferring my laptop instead. And he says he’s not a Mac convert. Bull!

My desk. You’ve seen all this before….

That door leads into the second bedroom (with its own bathroom). Bookshelf packed full. No more room for anything! Jonny’s mountain-board which he doesn’t ride all that much.

Aaaand my new sewing area. Yay! I need more storage solutions. Everywhere. I want to hide stuff – begone STUFF!!

So that’s my PAD. I love it. Great place to live even though it’s not quite magazine quality yet. Yes, I want it that way too hehe.

Nowwww – better do some drawing huh?

Seeyas!

Hiii!

Since I’m stuffing around with a drawing at the moment – and it’s been about a week since I last posted….I thought I’d show you my most recent working space. Much better than my last one. I have my precious beastie Erebus – no more squinting at a laptop screen. I’ve also cleared the majority of crap away so it’s kind of calming to work here now.

This is the left hand side – Those brown boxes are where I hide all sorts of crap that I need on hand but its all so small that they should be hidden away. One day I will find a nice little set of drawers that can go on the floor under my desk and free up that space for other knick-knacks.
Also – an assortment of random books, sketchbooks and diaries. That rainbow Moleskine was/is my 2010 diary but ended up being pretty sucky cos I couldn’t be bothered changing it every month. I think I’ll just stick to my iPhone from now on even though I love paper.  The Syd Mead DVD is something I’ve been meaning to give back to Dwardo for ages now – I haven’t stolen it I promise!
The book titled Rage is written by Julie Mac – who works in the department next to mine – she wrote about her teen years as a Sharpie – a subculture I knew nothing about til she wrote the book. Very cool read
Perfume box is there cos it’s pretty. And the little mug is something my grandma gave to me when I was last in Europe – apparently that was mine as a baby. Only found it the other day so I thought I’d put it out.
Aaaand – that’s my Wacom pen (the big silver pen thingy in the stand) and a sketchbook buried under the boxes. Neglected these days since I’ve been working straight from the computer…it does get scrawled on occasionally but I usually have a bit of a hissy-fit about what I’ve drawn and it’s full of crud. Heh.

This is the right side (drawing preview in there).
Check it out! The drawing Audrey did for me on my napkin is framed – woo! A Thank You card from my friend Sal….the scanner – A cactus I bought for Jonny in the background.
I hate cables. This is as tidy as they get – I shoved the long Wacom cable down behind my desk for the photo but I can’t leave it there for long because Boofy (my enormous, fluffy cat) has a penchant for gnawing on them. He’s already taken  a few chomps at the Wacom cable. Also chewed right through the battery cord for Jonny’s laptop. Anyone would think he’s a rabbit! Naughty Boof!
I think, thankfully, my actual computer cables are too thick and not “tender” enough for good chomping material so he hasn’t had a go at those.
Does anyone else have pets with expensive habits??

And this is what I see sittin’ at my chair. Sneaky preview of what’s coming up If you haven’t already seen on Facebook. Sal’s painting is in the background. It’s not hung higher cos there’s an air conditioner up there hehe
Think I need more cute, quirky things. And more cacti. Or a bonsai. Want to get rid of those boxes cos they really don’t “fit”.
Otherwise, it’s a comfortable place to work. My chair is comfy and my shiny LED screen is shiny. Shiny shine shine!  And big.  Yay!
When I ordered my Mac, I specifically asked for a full sized keyboard. No number pad shits me.

And now I can attempt to finish that drawing on screen. Considering whether I can be bothered doing any today, or go read my book instead.
I always feel a bit “meh” about starting something…but once I pick up the pen and start it’s hard to stop. It’s just that starting thing that’s tough. Like exercise haha! Does anyone else get that?

Seeyas!

Eeeeeeeeeee it is here! My precious beasty beast. It is soooo shiny and FAST and super awesome.
It arrived yesterday just a little after 5pm after the delivery man almost sent my dreams dashing to the concrete by having a little trip on the front step! Yikes! I saw that box wobble and images flashed in front of my eyes of the little Apple logo laying forlornly amongst shattered glass and broken LED chips. Oh noes!!!!!

Never fear! The boxes made it inside where I immediately ripped them open and started to assemble my machine. Meanwhile you can imagine the fun the kitties had with the massive boxes! What is it with kitties and their insatiable love for cardboard and paper products?
My only small setback was having to install my Airport Express card (essential for geeking it up online), which is a task usually assigned to a qualified Apple tech as it requires delving into the guts of your computer. Thankfully it wasn’t too hard – if you’ve ever installed some RAM it’s not much more tricky than that. Handy to have small fingers as there is some serious fiddling involved trying to get these itty bitty cables to clip into their spots. I spent a good 20 minutes trying to put one in while keeping the frustration at bay.
After that I was good to go! Hook up all the cables in their appropriate places and turn it ON.

Behold, the SHINY:
(and my swanky office chair. Cool huh?)

(ugh cables)

Yaaaaaaaaaay!
And its sooooo FAST I just can’t believe it. I can power up Photoshop CS4 in three seconds flat (yes I counted)!!! That’s about 20 times faster than my MacPro at work – however that is bloated with 3D software and a virtual machine to run Windoze. But STILL.
Oh and I have named him Erebus – the Greek god of darkness and shadow, son of Chaos. See, I have this habit of naming my computers after Greek legends. Always loved the stories as a child and the names sound so cool. My work computer is called Icarus and the old Macbook Pro lappy is Prometheus.
But I have to go off to Tassie this weekend so I won’t get a chance to test out it’s prowess when it comes to actual work. When I get back I will get right onto that little test let me assure you.
Well I am off to pack for the trip. Early night tonight! Gotta be up at 3am. Eep.
Bya!

(and YES I know I am a SERIOUS geek shuddup)

You know how I’ve been whining about needing a new computer??? Well I finally bit the bullet and am in the process of buying the ultimate beast of all the Apple products….

Nooo I didn’t go with the new iMac as there’s some issues with the 27″ Intel7 ones….And I can’t wait 3 weeks plus for delivery. Impatient lass here.

So MacPro it is with the shiny new-fangled LED monitor. Not cheap. I’ll be paying for this for a while but I definitely need it – I’ll be able to draw with lots of layers now! And use large brushes without any lag. Yay!!!

Pretty:

Powwwa!! It’s gonna dominate my desk. Yeeeh. Can’t wait to get it. Photos to come of course.

Meanwhile – I’m doin some drawing. Will show you all soon when I get the go ahead from my client
Byeee!!

Hellooooooo!!

Well I’m not drawing anything that is worth showing just yet….Not drawing anything that I can reveal anyway. There is stuff in the works.

So I thought I’d show you my desk…Since we moved house I’ve got a lot more room. That is to say – I have room full stop…where I never used to. The laptop was used true to function – on my lap. Lol.
Now I have a nice big desk and so I spread out my junk. This is about as clean as it gets. I am no organisational nazi – as long as I know where everything is then I’m happy. As you can see, I’m in severe need of some book shelves of some sort. Small, desktop ones for all those books. And some drawers would be nice to stuff my million pens and pencils in. What you see here is just a fraction of the stuff I’ve got. Most of it still resides in the garage!

Okay to start with – this is the Macbook Pro and my Wacom Intuos3 tablet. A little bit of an uncomfortable setup – the keyboard is too far from the tablet which means I have to lean over to see what I’m doing. NEED A DESKTOP COMPUTER. So drooling over one of those pretty new iMacs. One day it shall be mine.
Sorry about the grainy photos too. I suck with the camera.

The general crap next to the laptop…iPhone, pencils, scanner, disused Nintendo, business cards…and if you’re wondering what the hell that big white thing is (cos everyone who sees it asks) – its the subwoofer thingy for my speaker system.

Some magazines and the pencils I dragged up from the garage today. Intend to put them to use soon. oooh and see the metal ruler stolen from my high school. Dragged that all the way from Tassie. Heh.

Some anatomy and drawing books. Yay!

My sketchbooks. A selection of what I’m using right now. I have about 5 on the go. Seriously. Picked up some more today…Notemaker were having a sale just a few blocks from our place so we bought up big. Heaps of O-Check, Rhodia and Moleskin stationary on sale. Sweeeet. I got some coloured drawing paper and that nice sketchbook on the top of the pile there. Mmmm paper.

And finally, the view from the desk…Because my photos suck I’ll explain it a bit….The study is on the mezzanine level so it looks over the lounge and kitchen. Out those windows (which reach to the ground and are the doors to the courtyard) is the street behind our place. There’s a pretty tree currently full of bright purple flowers. Nice and relaxing to look at. And yeh, our house is pretty freakin’ awesome! Love the exposed brick and the excellent lighting. The building used to be a cable tram engine house and the architects preserved the outer shell. The whole complex is amazing and won a heritage renovation award of some such. Noice.

So there you have it! My work space….still needs a few things…I want a new chair too. But I’m happy I got so much room to spread out. Yay!

Oh and that pic on my computer is what I’m working on at the moment. It wont stay black and white either.

Hope you’re having a good weekend!

Muted shades in case you’re wondering. Heh. Me and my stupid post titles.

So this week has been a bit busy – but the weekend less so. I’ve spent my time doing some serious baking. Jonny wanted some more apple cake and I got three lovely meyer lemons from a colleague which needed to be added to a cake too. They both turned out pretty good – the meyer lemon loaf is cooling as I write. A small taste reveals that it is indeed delicious. Every part of the lemon was used – the peel is soaked in a syrup made from the juice and then chopped up and added to the batter. The remaining syrup is drizzled over the cooling cake making everything so lemony – mmmm. Tis good!

But enough about baking – today’s drawing is a (sort of) request from my brother’s girlfriend – she wanted me to draw a unicorn but I drew a horse instead. A quick one today – this took about 30mins. Drawn entirely using Corel Painter with no initial pencil sketch. I think if I do a sketch then things work out better – I’m not sure why. So this isn’t anything too flash.

This week I’ll be printing a couple of my recent drawings. See how they look and maybe setting up an Etsy shop with a few unframed prints. That is provided our internet stops being SHAPED and I can send the full res file to myself to print at work. Nothing more frustrating that slow internet. Grr.  So keep an eye out for my shop yay!