How a Chalk Mural and other things can bring rain : )

Over a hundred days with no rain and then just a few teasing drops. I decided to do a few things to encourage the Rain Gods/Goddess', to - well - rain! Firstly I washed my car - you would think that was an easy invitation. Nope! No rain. So then I did a load of washing. I thought that would surely bring a downpour. Nope! No rain. Then I awoke at 6am with a brilliant idea in my head. Chalk Mural on the footpath! How could they resist such a beautiful offering. I headed out to the street with my chalk and began. It turned into way more fun than I expected. As I chalked, people walking with dogs or children started stopping by and saying hello and checking out the colourful picture. I got a total dog fix from one soppy pooch, who licked me on all exposed skin areas. I think it was mutual lurve!! Anyway, I detract from the story. So back to work on the mural and Voila! The mural was done and I got to meet some of my extended neighbours and their children and pets in the process - Bonus!! I went inside for breaky and while eating in the front room, I saw people stopping and taking photo's with their phone camera's and others walking by smiling. Then in the evening - you guessed it folks - RAIN GLORIOUS RAIN!! YAY!! Now, I may sound like I'm taking all the credit here and that is mostly true : ) BUT I did hear from a German friend of ours who was visiting Monkey Mia and the dolphins. She text me to say it was raining up there and so she was sending it down to us because she knew how much we needed and wanted it. So thank you Pia <3 !! And of course to all the rest of you who planted seedlings, hung out wash, washed your car or had outdoor wedding plans. It was a group effort and the Rain Gods/ Goddess' were obviously pleased. So now it is celebration time. Woo Hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Happiness is ....Re - Purposing clothing into funky stool covers

Amazing how a little cutting, sewing and elastic can bring about a deep sense of satisfaction. Something our mothers and Grannies took for granted and which a growing number of younger women are rediscovering. As I'm usually painting or playing with essential oils, I had forgotten the simple pleasures of re- purposing second hand clothing/materials into other creative uses. I had no idea why I was buying this top at the second hand shop that was 5 sizes too big for me ( other than the wildly,colourful material). It just jumped into my hands and said " take me home with you" and so I did!! The same happened when I drove past two chunky, wooden and very old stools that had been put out for the Bi-annual roadside, recycle, pick up. They called to me too and so I screeched the brakes on and reversed and threw them in the car. These two incidents happened months apart and I didn't know until yesterday that these seemingly unrelated events were going to come together and make the quirky, bright, kitchen, bar stools that they are today!. Hubby had to be enlisted to cut off two very solid and large, curved wooden handles from each side of both stools. I then washed the stools clean and brought them inside. I put some sticky felt on the feet and then had fun with the material from the top. I literally cut the top in half and sewed half of the cut sleeve to the neckline to give added width ( my husband calls me the 'Slash and Burn' dressmaker) and that is a fairly accurate description!! I then sewed elastic around the edges and some discarded ribbon, from my sewing box, onto the for corners, as ties. The elastic pulled the material around the seat and the ribbons tied the 4 corners together underneath the seat. Voila!! In less than 2 hours, I had these funky stools finished and ready to seat my ample bottom on. I even like the 2 little buttons from the front of the top, that can now be seen on the side of the seat. YAYA!! Happy days! I would love to hear about your sewing projects or re-cyling successes - just leave a comment below peeps and lets continue to feed our souls this Yummie kind of creative food!

Celebrating the Journey

I've been blogging since March of 2011 - time fly’s and I can hardly believe I am coming up for the 3rd year anniversary. So many yummie things have happened and blogging has been an enjoyable and creative diary in many ways for me. Documenting, through the written word, photographs and videos some of the events and moments that have , in hindsight, shaped my life today. Blogging for me has been about sharing my personal process and insights and achievements and a celebration of sorts of my journey as it unfolds. After all, it's the journey that matters and we honour this in celebration. I would love to hear what you feel is worth celebrating in your life journey and how you celebrate. Please leave comments on my blog page or in comments below - this is a conversation worth having and sharing.

Video - first few layers of paint on 3 different canvases - click on arrows to view in full screen. The music track is 'Thule' by The Album Leaf and can be seen on youtube by clicking on the pic of clouds on bottom right.

Shona Hutchings Art - The first few layers of paint by Slidely Slideshow

Video showing the first few layers on 3 different canvases

This is a very short and simple video made up of photographs taken every 10 seconds as I worked on 3 different canvases. As I'm new to the video making process, this is less creative than I would have liked, however, it is part of a learning curve and we all need to start somewhere. I believe it's better to just do something, anything, as it can take some or all of the fear out of a process that we may be putting off because we are either techno challenged or imagine other obstacles that need to be overcome. There are various websites out there that offer free video making tools ) this was an easy beginners site) and some that you can pay for with more advanced tools. Having stepped thru this process, I am now inspired to be more adventurous and am about to collaborate with a young woman who likes to create music and video's in a similar way to how I like to paint - intuitive, spontaneous, letting go of outcomes, exploring an evolving process etc - you get the picture :) I'm excited about the possibilities and opening up in a whole new way creatively. Stay tuned to this space!!