Gardening is Dangerous

It is still amazingly hot here. All the Indian Minor birds have their beaks wide open panting, while the rest of the birds seem to have hidden silently in the branches, too hot to let out a peep.
We were on the way to the beach yesterday afternoon and I kicked a gardening fork which went 2.5cm into my foot and got stuck, I yanked it out, bleed everywhere got scooped up by my boyfriend who thought I had been bitten by a snake and stitched up at the doctors. Now I am bed bound with my foot on a pillow, resting away while through the blinds the world gets baked. The blinds are very beautiful so it’s not so bad. The good news is I can swim so later I will hobble down and dip in the sea. I am not very good at resting but it hurts too much to get up so that helps to keep me horizontal.

100 year heatwave

We are in the middle of what may be the biggest heat wave for 100 years, so it's time to batten the hatches, pull the blinds and drink iced tea. It is also tomato season. The ones in the garden are starting to ripen although I was tricked by the name "tiny toms" and planted them in the front of the bed, they grew to be about six feet high and blocked out all the sun to the things at the back which is a bit annoying but less so now there are delicious tomatoes to eat.We have been enjoying home grown cucumbers and soon out monster corn will be ready. Over the weekend I made a batch of Tomato Sauce from my Mum's recipe, it is amazing how it tastes the same as all those childhood memories.

Friday Round up

Cleaned up Studio

Birthday Snappers

Excellent Novels

Some Drawings

I have had a really great week working away on a whole lot of new projects. I tidied up my studio which is also our only storage space to I have to fight a bit against a tide of boxes, but manages to get a good corner and sat down and have been doing lots of drawing. I have also been loving my new Birthday scissors, or snappers as my niece calls them, that my boyfriend gave me. They are from India and cut beautifully as well as looking very smart. Its a long weekend this week and we are off to the beach to make a batch of tomato sauce and finish reading "Dirt Music" by Tim Winton. His writing has totally swept me away. I read "Breath" his new novel last week and moved straight on to Dirt Music, I really recommend both books.

Augie March "Lupus"

The video we made at the end of December is all finished so now I can show you. It is for a band called Augie March and the song is titled "Lupus". It is loosely based on Hess' Steppenwolf and I reckon it came together really well.
I worked with my friend Lucy Dyson as Co Directors/Co Producers, and Stefan Duscio as the DOP. We had many helpful hands along the way not the least of which were our great actors. It was edited by Billy Browne who is a gun. We shot the whole thing in one day.

Qua Circles

Here are some pictures from the finished Music video for Qua's song "Circles" featuring my Muppet puppets . I have also added the full video so you can have a look at it the whole way through. It is directed by Angus Kemp and features the Muppet's going crazy in a rock and roll manner and some adult themes so don't say I didn't warn you.

Making Love

Cut outs.

Eight meters of paper chain.

Packed and ready to send

First round of cards.

I have to say I have a real weakness for Valentines Day, I know some people think its cheesy but I just can't help loving it. Here is a look at some of the things I am working on which will appear soon on my little and very neglected Etsy shop , hold on to your hats its a new year and I am starting to get going!

Going to the Chapel

Un-puffed up puff balls

Puffed up Puff Balls

Blossom in the trees

Paper chains and Blossom branches

Blossoms in vases

My boyfriends sister got married on Friday and I had fun making the decorations. It was a summer garden wedding and she loves blossom so I made heaps of blossom sticks with tissue paper flowers, huge puff balls to hang in the trees that Martha showed me how to make, and paper chains of pastel flowers. It looked really pretty when it was all done, its amazing what you can do with a stack of tissue paper some florist wire and a dvd box set of David Attenborough's Planet Earth.