Liuli China Museum

I realised when I was going through some photos over the weekend that I didn't blog about our fantastic holiday in China. Roxy and I went in October last year and had a ball. Luckily for me my then-six-year-old loves going to galleries, shopping and taking in the sights.

These photos are of the amazing stop-you-in-your-tracks exterior of the Liuli China Museum in Shanghai. Looking at architecture is one of my favourite pass times when travelling. I love seeing unique sculptural buildings like this, which are a stark contrast to the oh so 'safe' modern buildings in Sydney (with the notable exception of the Opera House of course). Melbourne has some fantastic modern buildings - granted a lot of them polarise opinion, but I think that's a good thing. It's much better than being boring and bland. Do you have some good examples of modern architecture where you live? What do you like/hate about them?

I'll post some more photos over the coming weeks of our trip.

I hope you had a great weekend. The weather here in Sydney over the past week has been hot, hot, hot, but this afternoon we've had the welcome and long awaited relief of a cooler change. It's been so hot at night that we've hardly slept in days. Roxy and I were awake in bed at 3am this morning eating snacks, playing cards and spraying each other with water.
.

Read more...

Portrait of a friend

One of my lovely friends got married on the weekend and she commissioned me to create a portrait of her as a wedding present for her husband. I thought you might be interested to see my process.

This is the finished piece. It's quite big - over one metre tall.

I started by taking a photo of Trenna, then I mucked around with it in Photoshop and had the black and white image printed onto canvas.

Then I began to paint in the background.

She had requested flowers in the portrait so I found some wrapping paper with colourful flowers which I roughly cut out and sticky taped in place to try some ideas out.

I decided to paint some line work flowers in the top left hand corner - I wanted them to be subtle.

Then I started work on the main flower in her hair.

When I'd finished the main flower I realised that I hated the line work flowers and painted them out! And I added some colour to her lips to match the flower.

I continued to rework the background, adding purples and reds to tie in with the flower, until I was happy with it.

I painted out the back of her hair and painted in more of a sweeping ponytail and then brought in background colours over the hair. After some finishing touches I was happy to stop. Sometimes one of the most difficult things is to know when enough is enough.

I haven't painted in so long - I usually create portraits digitally - and I have to say that I really enjoyed it.
.

Read more...

loving :: decoylab

Check out decoylab on etsy. 

.

Read more...

Top Design :: looking for designers

Image source: Jamie Durie

I wanted to wait until the raffle was over to start posting again, and I've been saving this up...

I received an email a couple of weeks ago from the casting director of a new design-focused reality TV show, asking if I would like to apply to be on the show. Now if you know me you'd know that it's not really my thing. So for various reasons I said thanks but no thanks, and offered to spread the word.

Maybe you might be keen? It sounds like fun. Here's the info:

Granada Media Australia is currently looking for designers, artists, creatives and decorators for a new design-based reality television show called TOP DESIGN. The show will go to air on Channel Nine and will be hosted by Jamie Durie.  This will be an amazing opportunity for people at any stage of their design career as the winner of the series will receive a large cash prize and national exposure.

If you are interested you can read more and download the application form.

I can't wait to see the show!
.

Read more...

And the winners are...

Firstly I have to say how amazing it's been to see our online crafty bloggy community pulling together to hold and donate to all the wonderful auctions and raffles to benefit the people of Queensland.

I am so thrilled to have more than doubled my original target of $1500. The total amount we raised here on the red thread was $3,260! Wow. I will update this post later today when I find out the total money raised from all the auctions and raffles. Thank you to everyone who made a donation and entered.

Edit: Collectively we raised $99,089!! WOW isn't that absolutely fantastic!

And a special thank you to Shelley of Sew Much Easier who so generously donated the Janome sewing machine. You rock Shelley!

Now, the winners...

First prize:

Jenni from Far North Queensland, you are the winer of the sewing machine, fabric and patterns. Hoorah! I was so excited when I got the random numbers and started going through the comments looking for the winner. Congratulations Jenni!

Giveaway winners:

Kristy F (no blog), Nic - Yardage Girl, and Cassie (no blog) are the runners up and winners of the red thread sewing patterns. I will send you all an email today.

Have a lovely Australia Day. It's a hot one here in Sydney!

Big thanks again,

xx
Lisa
.

Read more...