Welcome to Dismaland. AKA Banksy is a genius.

Just when I thought Banksy couldn't possibly get any more awesome. He goes and gets even more awesome.

I freaking love this guy.

Welcome to Dismaland. 

Frida Kahlo's Wardrobe: Locked Away

Have you seen this? Frida Kahlo's wardrobe locked away for 50 years. Incredible!! 

You already know I am a huge Frida fan, so you'll know that my heart is beating rapidly. 

Click through to see more amazing! 

Matthew Kentmann:: Flinders Street Gallery

Big news around our house tonight?

Opening at the Flinders Street Gallery is Matthew Kentmann's new show. He has created a beautiful, dream-like collection of paintings inspired by the Australian coastline. 

He's also my husband.

Flinders Street Gallery
61 Flinders Street
Surry Hills

Exhibition is open from 9th - 19th April.

Please come and say hi if you're around and love art! 

Day 18:: Frocktober - Frida(y)

I upped the ante this week and did Frida(y). 

Little Tienda offered me a frock and was the inspiration - I came to the party with my headband, and accessories - including power brow and mo. 

I will have you know I left the house and went to work like this. A colleague came up to me, looking quizzically. I assured him I'd drawn my mo on. 

So I hit my goal of $4,5000 - actually I got $4,555.55. Now I need to set a new goal given there's still 13 days left in the month. Can you help me reach $5,000? Every dollar helps, $5 is amazing. 

Back to the frock - Little Tienda has generously offered PMM readers 10% off Senora Las Flores dresses - with 20% of these sales being donated to the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation, until the end of October. 

These dresses are seriously comfortable and will become a summer staple for me. Later in the day I added a belt, but whatever way you wear them - they are incredible. That embroidery is MWAH - so special. 

Thank you Little Tienda for helping making Frida come to life today. I had a blast. 

Dress: Little Tienda
Headband: I made it
Mono and mo: Drawn on 
Earrings: Hmm. Can't remember
Necklace: Sussan
Bangles: A gift from a long time ago 
Sandals: Country Road

Miley Cyrus Meets The Art World

By now, you've seen Miley twerking and tongue-gymnasticing all over the stage at the VMAs. Wow. I mean Robin Thicke was bad enough with his sweaty head, and facilitating these gyrations, and then there was the Coles down-down foam hand. 

So now Miley, her tongue and twerking have been immortalised in some iconic artworks. 

What would Hannah Montana say? 

Find more here. 

I've Got Card Lust:: Mother's Day Idea! (LIGHTBULB!)

Yo mama is so awesome she could school Anthony Robbins. Yo mama is so rad she could protect Harry Potter. Yo mama is so brilliant she could outplay Jack White. 

Let yo mama know she's super duper loved by sending her one of these uber cute and arty Card Lust messages. Simple. Easy. And really beautifully illustrated. Send one. Send two. Send a few! 

In fact, send any of yo mama friends a Card Lust. Because heck - they deserve it! Tell them you think they are one hot damn mama! 

What is it? Card Lust is a really cool iPhone greeting card app like no other. It is quirky, cool and easy to use. Card Lust hosts an assortment of notes by Australian girl artists: Elspeth Tremblay, Sara Hingle, Margot Lloyd.

Connect with Card Lust

Check out Card Lust on Instagram

Tweet 'em up

Facebook them!

Check out Card Lust here

Andy Warhol X Christie's

I know, I know, I love a jolly good collaboration. 

And while this isn't so much a collab, it is pretty rad. 

From February 26, Christies is holding an online only sale of Andy Warhol's pieces to benefit The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. 

Say what? 

I know right!!

If anyone had a few thousand spare dollars, do feel free to buy me this (you know how I love Captain Stubing). Or this. Or this. 

Great. Glad we got that out of the way. 

Things I Love and Making With The Smalls At The School

Last week I was lucky enough to attend the launch of Megan Morton's brand spanking new book 'Things I Love'. It's beautiful, and if you don't already own a copy - get your mitts on one, Christmas list it, buy it as a gift for yourself, whatever it takes - just get one. It's sheer brilliance.

Full of beautiful homes - and even more beautiful inspiration, and ideas-a-plenty Megan once again trumps it with her own brand of beautiful. There's a lot to love.

And on the night itself, she was glowing.

 Absolutely take it from me, and put it on your Christmas - or treat yourself. You can buy 'Things I Love' here.
-----------------------

I took the smalls to make God's Eyes with Little Nicki at The School on Saturday. Megan met us at the door, and was doing her thing, charming the pants off anyone who came in.

The Doctor hears me talking about Megan quite frequently, so knew meeting her was kind of a big deal. He was SO cute and chuffed to be talking to her.

We spent such a lovely morning sitting together creating amidst a sea of coloured wool. It was such fun. 

If you've thought about doing one of Megan's classes - do. It's such a rare treat to sit and make. And for me, it was so good for me (and no doubt my smalls) to sit with them and not have any other distractions (other than the need to Instagram what they were doing every now and then) - and be.

Check out the timetable here for The School.

Powerhouse Museum Meets Sydney Water:: A (Quick) Giveaway

This is a sponsored post
Right now (until November 6) there's an interactive exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum showcasing five new , tap™ bottle designs that were created by artists in collaboration with Sydney Water.

It looks like a fun exhibit, and one that's really hands on. In my book, they're the best kind, when I get to participate and have fun - while learning. Win:Win. Plus it's showcasing the work of local artists - and that in itself is ace.

To get more people drinking tap water, tap™ invited the community to help design their new bottle. Participants were asked to use their bottle designs to show why sustainability is important to them.

From the submissions, the five most popular were selected, as voted by the tap™ Facebook community. These as going in to production as a limited edition series of 2000, and given away to the public via a fortnightly Tappyhour competition on the tap™ Twitter page. The competition is running until Christmas. 

If you'd like to check out the exhibition - I've got 5 double passes + 10 bottles to give away. 

This means that you can visit the exhibition AND be more sustainable by drinking tap water and not buying plastic bottles. It's Win:Win:Win. 

If you'd like to enter, please leave a comment below telling me what's your favourite thing about water.  Think big. Extra points for creativity.

I'll announce the winners on Monday morning at 9am. Tickets will be sent out on Monday night in an overnight bag so I can get you to the altar Powerhouse Museum on time to check out the exhibition before it closes. 

Terms & conditions:

- Entries are open from Friday 2nd November, 8pm until Sunday 4th November, 11:59pm

- Open only to NSW residents (unless you're in town visiting, then by all means enter)

- You must be contactable via email

- There will be five winners. Each winner will receive a double pass to the Powerhouse Museum and two of the limited edition tap bottles. 

Puberty Blues:: An Interview With Glendyn Ivin

The highlight of my week is Wednesday - and it comes down to one simple reason.

Puberty Blues.

Matt and I schedule our whole night down to this viewing. By 8:25pm we're curled up on the couch and ready to be immersed in this other world.

I'm going to admit that I've fallen even more in love with the characters with this fresh interpretation of the book. I loved Debbie and Sue in the original film, but this time around, I feel like I've had a chance to get to know them better. And their parents.

Puberty Blues stirs up so many old emotions - and is true to that teenage experience of searching for where you fit in in the world (even if that means me screaming to Debbie "NO don't do it!"). It's a hard truth, but this series does it so well - it's gritty, it's real, but there's beauty to it too.

For me, delight also derives from the detail. The sets are incredible, those homes - the meticulous theming - the peacock chairs, macrame to the max, coloured glass; the costuming; the language, it all just reeks of our seventies childhoods. I can imagine walking into those homes, coloured with their daily lives and scouring for signs of Debbie and Sue.

I've been super lucky to score an interview with the exceptionally talented Glendyn Ivin. Glendyn has a wealth of experience directing Australian film (Last Ride, Beaconsfield, Cherry Bomb). Here he shares some insight into what it was like working on Puberty Blues.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

We all grew up knowing and loving Puberty Blues. Was it daunting making a new version of such a classic Australian film?

It was a little daunting, but any project feels daunting at first. I had total confidence in the the producers and the writers. I knew if we could maintain the brutal truth thats oozes from every page of the book we would be right. The Network was very supportive of what we were setting out to do. Everyone knew this wasn't going to be a sanitised, watered down version of Puberty Blues.

I was concerned that fans of the original film might be disappointed. But realised those fans saw the film when they were teenagers and would have been a huge influence on their lives. Seeing the story re-imagined and expanded might never seem right no matter how good it was. Kind of like reminiscing over a how good Pollywaffles were back in the day. Or wishing Wagon Wheels were as big as they used to be. But in reality, when you actually first fell in love with wagon wheels your hand was way smaller... have I got off track?

Regardless, fans of the book and the original film have mostly embraced the series. Mainly because even though it's different it shares the same honesty, spirit and essence of the original story.

 
What were some highlights from filming?

I love shooting so much it's all a highlight. But I guess I do love shooting the more intimate scenes between characters. Mainly because it's a chance to really explore very honest, awkward moments in relationships. Whether they are between the kids exploring sex for the first time or with the parents exploring the more complex emotional issues that appear later in life. Most of those scenes are filmed with only a few people in the room. They always feel very special to be part of.

 
The costumes are incredble, the casting sublime, what were some of the challenges involved with making Puberty Blues?

The key to the show was really in finding 'Debbie and Sue' once we had them everything from the rest of the cast to the houses and wardrobe formed around them. We did a lot research into clothes and details of the period. We set the date to be 1977. But the key I think is building up a world where everything you see if not from 1977, but from the last 10-20 years preceding it. If you look around your house it's rare that everything you have around you is from 2012. But rather a collection of objects from the past and present.

 
This series seems to delve more into the adult world than the original. As a father, does this change/effect how you tell the story?

Being a father of a daughter definitely made me shoot some of the scenes differently. Not so much in their content, but more from a point of view. I became very protective of the girls. Even though it was all 'acting' I would end up resenting the boys in their lives. Not the boy actors, but their characters. While shooting and while editing, I would look at Bruce Board and Danny Dixon and just think you horrible, horrible boys, stay away from MY girls.

My daughter is only five, but from doing this show I have had more than a sniff of what it's going to be like when boys coming knocking on the door, or heaven forbid, knocking on her window in the middle of the night...!


What's next for Glendyn Ivin?

I've just launched 'Flaming Youth' a book of photographs I took while directing Puberty Blues. I'm directing Tv commercials and reading and developing scripts. And... who knows another series of Puberty Blues perhaps ; )    
-----------------------------------------------------  
Flaming Youth - Photographs from Puberty Blues 2012 by Glendyn Ivin - available here For more of Glendyn's work - visit Hoaxville
And you can follow Glendyn on Instagram @glendyn_ivin Tweet him here  

All images are courtesy and copyright of Glendyn Ivin.  

Puberty Blues is on Channel 10 on Wednesdays at 8:30pm. Or you can watch full episodes over here.

Tiny Drawings

Tonight after dinner we were drawing, and Tiny asked me to draw a princess as an extension of her drawing. So I complied with the above drawing. I know. Married to an artist. And clearly no skill with a texta myself. The shame. THE SHAME.

Anyway, Tiny came over to review my drawing and looked agog and aghast. Then started screaming blue murder before careening off to her bedroom.

Ouch. My drawing was THAT bad. Who'da thunk it?

The Doctor then asked if he could have a look at it and review why Tiny was so upset about it. He promptly added in the broomstick. Made sense really. 

Clearly they are NOT Louboutins. The dress is not Lanvin. But clearly my 4 year old believes I should start taking some drawing lessons pronto.

Then I had to cut off the offending princess from the rest of the drawing. Hence the above cut out. Totes awkes.

Have you ever flunked your 4 year olds art task, I ask?

I Am Still Swinging

The other day I wrote about the simple joy that is swinging.

Swing high. Swing low. Just swing.

And then I found this video and I thought to myself: "Gee whizz, what a beautiful and simple concept that has brought so much joy to so many different people."

Clever, clever Montreal for bringing a simple happiness to everyday swingers.

Biennale of Sydney:: Cockatoo Island

On Father's Day we got up early, breakfasted and headed out to catch a ferry over to Cockatoo Island. Much (well deserved) ado has been made about the Biennale, we were keen to get up close and personal with it ourselves, and so our Sunday art adventure began.

Sydney blasted out a cracker of a day, and the Biennale itself did not disappoint. Particularly given the interactive nature of the show. It's clever, witty and fun. Each of us enjoyed the art - as well as the backdrop of Cockatoo Island.

Highlights included finding those two statues at the top of this post. I know. Real life little statues. So cute I took them home.

On the ferry back I chanced upon meeting Tony from Well Spotted. Tony and I have been conversing via the interwebz since 1975. Or for five years. We've never met in real life. But as chance would have it, we were seated next to each other on the ferry. I recognised his Well Spotted t-shirt and thought "Cool, that guy is wearing a Well Spotted tee". Then looked at Instagram and saw that he had messaged me that he too was at the same exhibit just minutes after me. "Hey... Are you Tony?" And so life goes. Shazam social media!

Check out the Biennale if you get the chance (finishes September 16). It's a fun day for bigs and smalls.

Stuff Happens

Remember the other week when I wrote about what was happening for our little family? About the childcare woes, the distinct lack of village, and the big changes?

A few people commented on here and over on Facebook, imploring me to ask some mums. After all, what was the worst thing that could happen? They could say no.

I sat on it for a few days feeling really, absolutely awkward.

Then I bit the bullet and contacted a few mums that I vaguely knew from dropping the kids off to their houses. I asked them if they could look after our smalls one afternoon a week, for the next two terms. I told them they had no obligation.

And then I waited for them to respond. The three all responded saying they'd love to help, but of the three, one logistically couldn't do it. But the other two said YES! And one asked if we could look after their daughter before school. Of course we said YES!

Things have worked out well. Well, so far so good. We won't know until we're in the thick of it. But for now, I feel so much happier with this place we are at.

Thank you for empowering me to ask. Thank you. Thank you.

images - because I love them - by Spanish artist Lola Guerrera via Design for Mankind

Rittenhouse X Poepke X Lucas Grogan

I just had to share this beautiful video because visually it is lucious. I love watching people creating. And these three creative brands together?! Aye carumba. Match made in heaven.

Send Teegs To Mexico

Being part of the blogging community, you get to know really awesome people. Like you. And you. And you dear reader.


AND like Tegan. I 'met' Tegan of Ink & Spindle fame - gosh, must be at least four years ago. She is vivacious, tenacious, enthuasiastic, uber talented, intelligent and beautiful to boot. And she's funny.

Teegs has the opportunity to travel to Mexico for a traditional Mexican textile artist residency. If you can help fund her trip that would be so super ace. You can pledge as little as $1 to help her on her way.

I will let her video do the talking, because she is good at that too. Very eloquent. WOOT!

Click here to help send Teegs abroad and continue her learning and her art-making.

Tides Are Changing

Last time I wrote about the juggle of life - of working, of parenting, of wife-ing, I received a comment from a helpful anonymous commenter that "you chose this and you should suck it up". Clearly that wasn't verbatim - but it might as well have been.

Needless to say, I shut up about talking about family life - and since then I've shied away from sharing family life.

But the thing is, I think that's what most people can relate to.

This term brings another new change for our little family. A new and fresh load of guilt for me to either drown in, or choose to swim to the surface, flap about and save our souls. I'm choosing the latter.

Recently Matt was announced a semi-finalist in the Moran Portrait Prize (bravo Matt!), and within the same week he scored a really, really great job. It had been a long distance between good things for us. It's been a tough year, despite all the hilarity I can muster, it's stretched us to our limits trying to make ends meet, and trying to juggle the mundane.

The flip side was this.

Tiny goes to preschool Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.
Matt's job is going to be Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. 
I work Tuesday - Friday.
The Doctor goes to school five days a week.
Can you see the gap there? The gaping big hole in our week?

Luckily I could switch my day off. So I did. I'll be hanging with Tiny on Thursdays now, and joining the hordes battling Monday-itis.

By design we both work part-time so someone is home with the kids. That is our choice. We chose to have less of an income because family life is the priority for us. And now things are shifting, and we've got to shift with them, and move, like sands through the hourglass.

We've got Tiny going to a different preschool on Fridays - which weighs heavy on my heart. Her current preschool couldn't take her for another day, so I see this as a test. If it doesn't work - we will have to shift again. We'll change things around, switch things up. And I still need to find a solution for an afternoon school pick ups.

I wish I could ask someone at school to pick up my kids one day a week. But since I work - I haven't really struck up any relationships with other mothers to go out on a limb and ask. And it's a big ask, isn't it? To ask someone to take my children home once a week. Is it? Isn't it? I don't know. I've lost perspective now because this change feels so immense for us. I feel the distance even more acutely I think because I am at work. I leave early and don't get home 'til late. The distance and disconnection between work life and family life can be spectacularly damning.

The whole idea that it takes a village to raise a family is an awfully romantic notion. But Matt and I are playing dual-triple-quadruple roles of Mayor, Town Crier (that's me), counsellor, worker bee - we are the village people.

I wish things could have stayed as they were. They were hard, but we had our routine. The smalls had one of us. But I guess this is an evolution of our family life.

This is not a pity party. This is me grappling with what to do next. What's our next move?

the image is Tiny and her cousin P's culinary adventure in the garden this morning. They were cooking. Boy, those little girls, they love to cook.

Giddy On The High: Etsy Success

Well that was the weekend that was folks. I'd been looking forward to Etsy Success for many weeks, and now #BOOM it's over.

I had such a blast meeting so many creative people, 300 of them, all buzzing in the one room. It was electric. It was such a coup to be part of it - one which I am grateful for. I got to meet so many excellent people - and on the flip side, endured the hangover from hell.

Someone really should have stopped me.

Hangovers are not my friend (are they anyone's?), and given I am a lightweight in the booze department, I feel they are totally unwarranted. I barely have a slurp of champagne before I've got to start tossing back the Nurofen.

But back to Etsy Success. The success of Etsy Success is really down to the people. I've said it before - Etsy has enabled so many creatives to come together and create a global community and business, that they would otherwise not have. Sure you can have a blog, and create community from that, or a Facebook page, but Etsy truly is the meeting place, the marketplace for creative geniuses to come together and share. And sell.

As a buyer, Etsy is like falling down Alice's rabbit hole. I can click through for hours finding more and more gold, right from the comfort of my couch.

In the coming week I'll be posting some more info on DIY PR. I promise I won't mention the goldfish again.

LEGO Celebrates 50 Years In Australia

Fifty years ago, a man named John Peddie landed in Sydney carrying a briefcase of LEGO. I don't know whether he brought any clothes to change into - Sydney can be humid, it's wise to travel with spare clothes. But nope - John arrived with a suitcase of LEGO to introduce us Aussies to the humble brick.


John, who is still a member on the Australian LEGO Board of Directors said: "The brand name LEGO comes from the Danish expression 'Leg Godt', which translates as 'play well'. When first arriving in the country, this was my mission, to encourage Australia to 'play well' and it remains the same today."


To celebrate the 50th anniversary, LEGO are hosting a series of events all inspired by the iconic LEGO bricks. There are loads of ways to become involved - which we will be doing our utmost to be part of! We live and breath LEGO. It's part of our daily routine - and that's about to ramp up! 


Did you know that every Australian owns an average of 70 LEGO bricks? We have much, much more. In fact we've probably got about 70 Australians worth of LEGO. That's a heck of a lotta LEGO.


Meanwhile, you should totes check out the website, because I just have the hunch something is brewing over there. Something good is brewing. 


This is not a sponsored post. I love LEGO. You love LEGO. We can all LEGO love together.

Stuff I Did On Saturday

Housework beckoned me, and I responded by vacuuming our living room, plumping up the sofa cushions, and trying to remove the copious amounts of detritus from around our home. 

I was not very successful. I got distracted. 

After deliberating on it all day, I took the smalls into Paddington to Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery to hear Ben Whishaw read Juliet Darling's new poetry - dedicated to her late partner, Nick Waterlow OAM. 

I am so glad I did.

Not only do I love Ben Whishaw - you might remember him from Bright Star, or Perfume or Brideshead Revisited, or Criminal Justice - the list goes on. He is indeed a bright young star - and in real life - he seems totally understated and natural.

But hearing Juliet's poetry read by Whishaw - I was so happy I had decided that YES! YES! Today was the perfect day to rekindle my love for poetry. It was such a beautiful way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

The Doctor even loved it too.