Fifi at the Fringe

This weekend hosts the Open Studio Tour during the Wellington 2009 Fringe Festival. Download a map and visit working artists all around the city. This is a free event and this is your opportunity to have a yarn, make a wee Valentines Day gift, inspect some Wearable Art up close and personal, touch a velvet painting, view some original childrens book illustrations and get a feel for where I work and how. Bring yourself, friends, whanau- I would love to see you there!

Glory

Well I may dip out on grants, awards and residencies of literary note, but the Glory is mine this week. Or should I say its Penny's, my lovely editor at Scholastic- it's in her inbox as I write. All 39,617 words of it. We have just finished the final edits for this, my third junior fiction novel and now all that remains is the mark up, typesetting, proofs, printing, distribution, launch, marketing, launch and selling of lots of copies...

Youth filled summer

New Year 2009 and I find myself in a place I’ve never been before. Not the physical space- Hataitai remains the same as ever; Salvation coffee down the road annoyingly closed until the 14th (but I’ll be there panting at the door for Graham’s great brew), the weather mysteriously changeable and the garden suffering a great lack of weeding. But this year, both offspring are working at pizza parlours and restaurants and no, they don’t go back to school at the end of the month; they start Uni semesters late Feb. So we now have two adults in the house all day living vampire hours. I feel in an odd sort of limbo; the ‘going back to school date’ has always been a kind of deadline for me to regroup for the year and start work again. You know, the endless putting stuff out there and seeing if anything comes back kind of life that freelancers have. So here I am on the 13th January thinking ‘Crap! I probably have to start now because if I wait until Uni goes back we’ll be well into the year and I’ll still be dithering, not to mention broke.’

So I have started gently by running a summer writing and illustration workshop with Saradha Koirala who is an upcoming writer and poet with a string of successes under her youthful belt already. We have a keen bunch of 12-14 year old girls in my studio daily, learning skills to inspire them into the future and I am relishing the delight of that age group who are old enough to make witty and entertaining conversation without the teenaged slouch and emo that comes with turning 15.

Our own daughter has been there and done that (giggle, slouch, emo) and has now emerged as a fine young woman about to turn 21. I found this picture I did of her when I had a new box of pastels and she was a ten year old. Who knew at that age what she would find as her passion other than her cat? Who knew who or what would inspire her along the way? As teachers of one sort or another, we can show, point and ask questions of our youth until they find out what it is they love. I hope that out of our little group of aspiring writers and artists this week, some will find their way with words and images in the future and be the storytellers of tomorrow. Because without them, society is colourless is it not?

The Twelve Days of Christmas

(To be sung in the Traditional Manner, with a

Hearty Voice and Appetite!)

...On the eleventh day of Christmas,

My true love gave to me;

Eleven full length mirrors,

Ten sunbed sessions,

Nine Jenny Craig meals,

Eight aerobic outfits,

Six abdominisers,

Five di-et plans

(pause and take a breath)

Four exercycles,

Three quarts of fake tan,

Two body scrubs,

Leg wax and a bi-ki-ni.

On the twelfth day of Christmas,

With the tact he'd just shown me;

I stuffed my true love with the tu-ur-key!

Merry Eating and Drinking to one and all, and may the recession recede as fast as the Pinot Gris.

Summer Creativity Workshops

I'm teaming up with Saradha Koirala this January to run workshops on writing and illustration for 11-14 year students- our storytellers of the future. Saradha recently won 2nd prize in the Wellington Sonnet Competition and she, like myself, are both graduates of the Victoria University IIML Creative Writing MA Programme. Saradha will be running the writing part and I'll be teaching the illustration all in my wonderful sunny studio in MT Cook. Here's the flyer; please feel free to pass it on. We are looking forward to a great summer nuturing bright young talent.
.

Vinished Velvet

Well here they all are; my Pin-Up Honeys. Click on the picture to see them in full resolution. My favorite is Gloria- which one appeals most to you? I hung them last night with the help of my fabulous other half Adrian- it so helps to have a tall man at your disposal, that picture rail and those hooks were a long way up! Juanita sold before she even got to the cafe, but tonight is the opening and if I haven't contacted you about it, get your own back and come and drink my bubbly at 6.30pm at the Deluxe, Kent Tce, Wellington. I'd love to see you there!

Fly My Pretty (boy child)

I waved my 18 year old off on the bus today- on an adventure north to meet up with his girlfriend, the school part of his life having finished for good and the next part of his journey through the world about to begin. I watched him climb aboard the Naked Bus Company, long hair flowing, skinny black jeans clinging and his head plugged into ‘Tool’ via MP3 player and was reminded of the last time I waved him goodbye. The following poem addressing my emotional state was published in Next magazine back in 1995…

A Free Woman

My baby's off to school,

What's that I hear you say?

Will I take up tennis now,

And laze around all day?

Or fill my empty hours,

With a little part-time job,

Mourning my lost playmate,

Whilst I earn an extra bob?

Then perhaps because I'm lonely,

For my little chickadee,

Get all kind of broody,

And start on number three?

Well I can tell you sister,

That for five long years and more,

I've been a wise apprentice

On the motherhood shop floor.

I've breastfed babes whilst working

And been desperate for sleep:

Juggling creche and preschool,

(Escape routes don't come cheap).

Real life just ain't too much,

Like the good old Brady bunch,

So I'm hanging up my pinny,

And I'm going out for lunch!

Studious!

Here I am with my velvet- this is how big they are in relation to...um...me. I am quite small, but bigger than a hobbit. Note my lovely clean, white gallery wall where they are hanging waiting for transition to the Deluxe Cafe where they will grace the walls on the 8th December amongst the fine aroma of coffee and the delicious smells of pizza the like of which I have never found anywhere else. They load them with baby beets, feta, spinach, pumpkin, rosemary, portobello mushrooms and all manner of amazing combinations. I don't know how they think of it, but only grateful that they do. You can buy EPs from the Wellington International Ukelele Orchestra there too. Fine food, fine music and fine velvet all in a cafe tucked in by the Embassy Theatre. Ah Wellington, how could you be any more satisfying?

Velvet Va Va Voom!

Sailor Gal Betty & the Pin-up Honeys invite you to
the pre-Christmas exhibition opening of

Vintage Velvet

6.30pm, Monday December 8^th

Deluxe Café, Kent Tce, Wellington.

Bubbles will be served for your viewing pleasure.

Vintage Velvet

I have been busy creating for my next exhibition at the Deluxe Café (8 Kent Tce, Wellington) opening Monday 8th December.
Following on from my sell out exhibition ‘Velvet Resurrection’ last year and my win at the WOW awards with ‘The Birth of Velvet’, I have continued exploring the medium and come up with a collection of 'Pin Up Honeys'.
Sweet and sexy gals from the 40’s and 50’s, each are painted and airbrushed on hand cut shaped board stretched with velvet and finished with black felt backing and brass hanging ring. Every honey wears a piece of vintage jewellery and will be flanked by framed seamed (and sometimes silk) stockings in their original packaging. My works are around 45cm high (Carmen Miranda is a little taller because of her sumptous fruit basket hat…) Pictured here is 'Betty'.
If you want to see the works before the show, you may visit my studio at 26 Wright St, Mt Cook where they are in residence on my gallery wall, have a coffee with me and enjoy a bit of Vintage Velvet.