matouenpeluche

Madeit!

Yipee! It's been a very good week so far! The two drawings I donated to the Etsy Bush Fire Appeal have sold and are on their way to England and the US as we speak! The Etsy shop has raised over $15,000 Australian dollars!! Unbelievable!! And! The brand new Madeit site is up and running too! Madeit is an Australian online shopping site like Etsy. The new site looks very shmick in my opinion! You can see my store here! Hope everyone else is having a good week too!

Oh! PS: The very poised and pretty thing above is Florence and yes a little print of her is available in my Etsy shop!

Tagged encore part II.

I've had another lovely weekend full of drawing, fine food, ginger kittens, more David Attenborough DVDs and stellar walks. Hope everyone else had a lovely weekend too!

So, here is finally me fulfilling a tag from she of the most glamorous blog of all : Gabbi of *Felinofelice! The tag was to photograph my work desk. Well I thought I'd focus on the indispensable tools of my trade. Above are the pencil sharpeners, erasers and pastel chalks I use when drawing. Why do I have so many sharpeners? Well, I need my charcoal pencils super sharp for the line work I do i.e. faces and features to my mind need to be sharp and clear otherwise I get all uncomfortable!  And erasers - well if you've ever worked with charcoal and pastels you'll know that they tend to go all over the place and it's a bit of a battle sometimes to keep the page relatively clean of dust and smudges. You can also see underneath my Strathmore Bristol Art paper. I adore this paper because it's thick and smooth. Thickness is important because of the fixative I spray on my drawings to prevent them from smudging.The fixative tends to warp papers of lesser weight.

The photo below is my Faber - Castell pastel box that my Mum bought for me when I was about ten. Inside are 72 sticks of pure pastel heaven. And below that is Jaffa, the little ginger tom who comes up and visits me and my boyfriend a couple of times a week for milk and cuddles. Seeing as he came up for a visit while I was taking these shots I thought he better get his photo taken too as he is delightful company while I draw! Thank you so much Gabbi! A very interesting exercise!

Little lad II.

I had very ambitious plans today for this blog but I'm afraid I'm a bit of a walking zombie after a full day's work. So I'll let this little chap entertain you in the meantime! He's a cardinal, his favourite colour is ummm...bright red and a little print of him is up in my shop! 

Monday Monday.

I had a lovely weekend drawing for example a Tufted Titmouse, eating salmon seafood risotto made by my boyfriend, pavlova made by angels and watching  "Dirty Harry", Prime Suspect 5 and endless episodes of David Attenborough's "The Life of Birds". It was pouring with rain (good stuff!) and it was a bit chilly (strange!) but it was very relaxing and comfy. P.S. This little fella is now in my shop - I'm rather fond of him actually and pretty pleased with how he turned out!

Meet Gabbi of Felinofelice!

A couple of weeks ago I asked the lovely Gabbi of Etsy shop Felinofelice if she would do an interview for me - and she said yes!  She is a blogger extraordinaire and the owner of a pretty blog which is full to the brim with lovely news and images that have caught her eye. Gabbi also owns an Etsy shop, also called Felinofelice where she has her unique and highly desirable handmade jewelery for sale. So here it is folks : exclusive to Matou en Peluche - the official Felinofelice interview!

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I live in the Los Angeles area of California and share a house with a pudgy grey cat named George. My area of study was sociology and a bit of art. After college I settled into a somewhat non-creative career with the Courts, but I enjoy making jewelry in my spare time and use it as a way of expressing some creativity.

What first made you want to make jewelry and be an artist?

Jewelry making began as a hobby over two years ago through a good friend who was also a jewelry maker. I would often see her sporting lovely little earrings or bracelets that she or her sister had created and one day I finally broke down and asked her to show me how. It’s a fun and addictive pastime, great stress reliever and its wonderful being able to create something for myself or as a gift at a moments notice. I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking to take up a hobby.

Name your top five movies.

This is hard… ‘Elevator to the Gallows’ (1957): Classic stylish crime drama starring  Jeanne Moreau. Has an incredible Miles Davis soundtrack and great twists. ‘Bande à part’ (1964) and ‘Masculin féminin: 15 faits précis’ (1966): Directed by Jean-Luc Godard, completely unforgettable and cool. Both make me wish I spoke French. ‘Die Büchse der Pandora’ (1929): Silent classic directed by G.W. Pabst and stars the mesmerizing Louise Brooks. Louise Brooks is unbelievable; it haunted me for days after watching. ‘Viridiana’ (1961): Directed by Luis Bunuel and starring Silvia Pinal. Also very haunting and controversial in it’s time. It was declared ‘blasphemous’ in Spain when it was first released and it wasn’t till 1977 that it was finally allowed to be viewed there.

In ten years I'd like to be...

More advanced in the jewelry making craft. This last summer I met a friend of a friend who makes gold and silver jewelry. We had lunch and he brought with him this incredible little ring he’d made, half gold half silver and completely unique. I fell in love with the idea ever since. I’m hoping to find a class maybe this summer? Making molds and melting precious metals, doesn’t it sound like fun?

Name your top five bands/musicians.

These past months I’ve become quite addicted to some new-to-me songs by Alela Diane, Damon & Naomi, Electrelane and Guther. Since high school I’ve been a small Radiohead fanatic and I’m also a huge fan of Thomas Schärer. He’s an artist I found on Myspace about three years ago but who is also a friend now. You can hear his music on www.myspace.com/staubfaenger . His cover of ‘Little Drop of Poision’ and ‘June 23’ are recommended. That’s more than 5. I hope you don’t mind, but to make up for it I also made you a small ‘mixed tape’? You can download it here: http://www.zshare.net/download/5548654510b149ec/

This was fun, thank you Sam!

Thank you Gabbi! The top photo shows Gabbi in her garden in Summer, the next is the glorious looking George, Then there are two examples of Gabbi's pretty jewelery from her shop. The last little photo is of Gabbi and George together.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Blue Boy.

I must confess I've got a bit of a thing for elephants. It's not the same as my thing for pussy cats of course - those furry people I'm quite irrationally crazy about.For example, I do seem to have quite a few elephant "things" about the flat: a porcelain elephant who is riding pinion with a boiled egg cup, an elephant mobile/ stabile and of course "Hell's Angels". Hell's Angel's (yes, he is one but at the age of 14 I thought it more hilarious to use the plural) is a darling little sand filled elephant that fits into the palm of your hand and is wearing a yellow romper suit with a hood. I thought he was so sweet and adorable I named him Hell's Angels - I think I'd been watching too much Monty Python. And then there is the first love of my life: Nella Fella. Nella Fella was a powder blue soft toy I loved quite fiercely from the age of 0 to ...well, I still love him actually.He is no longer powder blue and he's been through the washing machine quite a few times so his trunk is a bit off kilter but he is still pretty plucky and full of personality.

After I drew the elephant above I thought perhaps it was my subconscious drawing of Nella Fella had he been a real live elephant. Anyway, I've got him made up as a print, "Blue Boy", in my shop - he looks quite happy there amongst all the glamorous gals actually!

And...before I forget...Emma from feliciafairy has set up a Bush Fire Appeal charity shop on Etsy bless her. I will be listing two original charcoal and pastel drawings this evening for the shop. I'll pop in the links for them as soon as they are listed. All proceeds go to the Red Cross Bush Fire Appeal.

Terrible, terrible, terrible...

The bush fires that are devastating country towns in Victoria are still blazing. The stories and photos in the paper are too terrible for words - I think everyone in Australia and the world is silently praying for these poor souls and helping in anyway they can.  May the fires go out soon.

Art Deco Twins.

 For the past few months there have been these delightful identical twins at school. They are from the French speaking part of Switzerland. Anyway, they are like the same person when you are talking to them - they have exactly the same mannerisms, hair and ideas and they agree with everything the other says. The best thing though is that they seem to get on like a house on fire! There is a very real affection there for one another. When I am talking to them (I've never ever seen them apart) it's like talking to someone in stereo. It's always a treat to bump into them in the hall or stairs.I haven't really ever met identical twins before so it is a new experience for me. This is my homage to identical twins: Art Deco Twins above - you can find these two feisty glamorous ones in my shop.  

Tagged encore!

O.K.! So, first of all: Happy Friday Folks! Yipee etc!! Now, down to business! Mothersvea that blogger and photographer extraordinaire tagged me to blog about the sixth image in my sixth folder - and then tag another six people! The lucky image is one that I have actually blogged about before but it was a couple of months ago and it's a highly bloggable subject. This is it above. It is the tower of this gorgeous Art Deco building in Sydney called the AWA Tower. I was lucky enough to go there with my boyfriend last...hmmm maybe November as part of the Historic Houses Trust "Open Sydney" day. "Open Sydney" is a marvelous day that is organised once every two years where historic and modern buildings are opened for the public to examine, admire and ramble over. Being an utter history head and a besotted fan of Sydney it is my idea of heaven! Here is a long shot of the building I took form an enormous bank about a block away. Isn't it heavenly? Thank you Mothersvea! That was fun!

I now tag the following six people to show us the sixth image in their sixth folder:

1) tabidesigns 2) Linda Boucher 

3) *felinofelice  4) Kirribilli Kim 

5) estasketch  6) Things of Beauty

P.S. I haven't forgotten about my Best Blog Tags - I have my list to publish first thing tomorrow morning!! Stay tuned!!