Drawing.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/k1eHm0PNnjo

The above video from not long ago, about drawing instead of photographing things, as well as meeting Liz Steele a couple of weeks back and seeing her work on her social media, has prodded me into trying to record things in sketches rather than just photos. I want to also try different techniques and use colour, which I don't with my Facebook drawings.

A couple of dozen black cockatoos have been hanging out in the silky oaks behind my house, which is pretty special.

I thought it would be a good thing to record the development of my garden, so I sat down and drew its current status. It's not wonderful, but I felt like it was true about really looking when you are trying to draw it. I'm sure my sketching will get better if I do more of it, quantity is the secret to quality. I'm impatient though. Isn't that the problem in the first place!

Moving.

Fortuitously, I have already spent several months decluttering so I'm in the right state of mind for packing! It's a bit harder to declutter while packing because you don't have time to ponder, you have to put it in the box or not, so sometimes I pack it in the box and ponder it later. But on the other hand, it really forces you to completely empty everything out, not just glance at into a drawer and say "yes, that all looks useful". Really empty it out and it turns out it's 30% crap. Another thing is that my flatmate is staying on and replacing me in the unit so I can leave quite a lot of things she will use. Bookshelves. Cleaning products. Things in kitchen drawers.

Mum dropped by on the way back to Maitland a while ago and we filled the station wagon with a load of things, like winter stuff, keyboard, blanket box, books, coffee table. I've been gradually packing boxes every now and then, so there is another pile ready to go up this weekend, which I'll do myself.

Furniture I'm taking is: blanket box, coffee table, lamp (all done), lounge chairs x3, washing machine, art cupboard, chest of drawers.

Furniture I'm leaving: 4 bookcases, the kitchen table and chairs, probably the bed, TV etc, fridge.

Furniture I've got rid of: freezer, small chest.

I think that's a pretty good effort for downsizing. My rule is, anything I've bought and it's properly useful, I'm keeping. If it was free or basically cheap, I'm leaving it behind—easy come easy go.

Mum is on a bike ride.

I'm proud of my mum. Mum has been riding with Bike for Bibles from Broome to Esparence (others in the team going are continuing to the East Coast but she's already done that). Interesting that while I was on holiday all 4 women in the family were in WA. Haven't talked to her much. I just found a blog about the bike ride. They're down past Perth now. This is a picture of Mum not riding a bike at all.

http://melmothbigride.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/days-16-17-and-18-15th-17th-july.html

Dry paint.

I really want to do some paintings, I just don't have anything in particular to paint. But there has been no craft on this blog in ages, and craft was one of the original REASONS for this blog. And I recently bought some frames for $2 each. And I found some canvasses that fit in the frames among my art junk. I hereby declare my intention to paint a picture.

Tapestry.

It's underway. I sorted the colours. I've started stitching. It's quite hard on the fingers, and I need good light to pick the right colour for each section. I think it's already half done though. So I aim to mostly finish it by the end of the year. I took these photos at night, so they are yellow.