Exhibition.

   Here is The Juggler framed and hung at the recent Embroiderers Guild of Victoria annual exhibition.

A pity about the reflections, but when photographing something under glass it's very difficult not to see them, and foolishly I forgot to take a photo of the The Juggler with stitching before it was framed. This picture was taken my daughter....................a photo of her picture!

The Juggler.

Like many thousands of people around the world, I was in lockdown for many weeks while the dreaded Virus rampaged around the country. Being retired this didn't effect me a great deal, apart from not being able to see the extended family and go to all the usual activities that I enjoy. However, those with school aged children, in the workforce and having to watch the finances had a very different experience, a not quite so pleasant one it has to be said!  I watched my daughter juggling full time University teaching, supervising her childrens' schooling and trying to fit in all the usual domestic tasks, not forgetting to walk the dog.  Even with a very supportive and helpful husband it was not easy. This print above represents my daughter and all those juggling life during the lockdowns, trying to keep all the balls in the air! I actually went on further with this print, transferring it to fabric and embellishing it with free motion machine embroidery. My daughter wants it for her office wall, and of course I am delighted to give it to her.

Phone Camera.

I was always a little bit scathing about phone cameras, always using my good old Panasonic Point & Shoot for serious photographs. However this morning I came out with just my phone and spotted this spider web with it's drops of rain, like little pearls along the spider silk.

         I really don't think that my 'proper' camera would have done the job any better actually!
 

The Strength of Plants.

This empty shop front has been a point of interest over many months, possibly even years, as the creeping plant inside the glass window dies off in the heat, but returns once the rain manages to get inside the abandoned shop window again.

When passing this time however I noticed that the plant has escaped! It's managed to force itself through the join in the 2 panes of glass and to flower and flourish outside the shop. I wonder how far it will get before someone pulls it out. The strength and determination of growing things!
 

Procreate.

 I recently attended a great 2 day workshop with artist Richard Impey on the use of the Procreate App on my iPad. We obviously only touched the surface of the capabilities of this App even though the course was 10 hours over 2 days (with time for lunch!) This above is all I managed to create, as I used my old large format iPad on the first day, but found that as it was so old, that it didn't have the functions that Richard was demonstrating. On the second day I used my mini iPad with a more recent version of Procreate and created an imaginary scene of mountains, river and rocks. What a steep learning curve Procreate is, as it's really quite different to Photoshop which I use routinely. I hope to eventually own a large format up to date iPad and to really get to grips with this excellent program!

Sunflowers

 

I spotted these gorgeous sunflowers a day or so ago growing in a narrow strip of soil up against a high wall. I didn't see the tiny Ladybird beetle on one of the petals however.

         There are a lot of seeds missing from this flower, perhaps the birds have been having a feast.

                               If you look carefully you can just see the Ladybird beetle again.

   With the late afternoon sun behind them, the flowers haven't as yet turned to watch the sun set.