It's oh so quiet..

Because theres no baby yet!
Having all this time at home, all this free time to do whatever I please, is abit like having Disneyland to yourself but without any of your friends to share the fun and games with.I absolutely love the time that I'm having now, I really do. I haven't had this much time from work for ages,so it feels like I'm learning the skills of being at home. It sounds strange to say that there are skills involved but i really think there are. When you go from working day in day out, and only ever getting to see your couch, your T.V your bedroom at a certain time of the day, its a real joy in knowing that there is a light that floods the livingroom around late afternoonish, that my neighbour listens to Billie Holiday on a record player in his garden which I had never known before, and that I get to sit outside on my balcony whilst it's still light which I had never done before either. I also notice how tempting housework can be, just to feel more productive. For me to feel like this in particular is a highly disturbing revelation!
But theres a downside to all this. The house is so quiet, and as much as I enjoy my time, it's a time that spreads out into an unknown point which scares me a little. It's not as if I can't go out or meet people. I can and I do. (Well maybe not quite so much now because I am after all more than 9 months pregnant and carrying quite a hefty load!)I'm starting to learn alot of things about myself, like how I communicate with my friends and how truly important creativity plays its part in keeping me sane. I never knew it before, because working took me away from all that.
The house won't be quiet for very long though, I definately don't need anybody to tell me that! So, as an example of how I have made the most of this temporary quiet time at home all by myself, I've successfully diverted my nesting instincts to the creative side of me. I have finished my second doll! She was looking like she had a fake tan. Very orange in otherwords. So I rectified it, and finished off painting her arms and the back too.


Heres how I made her:
1.I used the ruby doll pattern from oneredrobin and changed the legs. But i used it strictly for the purpose of learning how to make a basic doll shape.
2. Once I had made the doll, I applied white gesso, and sanded it down.
3. I pencil sketched the face and floral design on to the doll. Sanding it down really made it easier to draw on the cloth. I didn't know that before.
4. I then got stuck in with my acrylic paints.
5. That's it. I wanted to blanket stitch a little pocket at the back to slip in a card or something cute but I don't know how to do it. I could have embellished it with sequins and such. The possibilities are endless really. I have a hard time putting a rein on 'prettifying' things!

I should really give her a varnish but I need to find out what kind. Any ideas on this?
She will be one of my first pieces for my future future etsy shop. :)


I'm off to watch this
Have a lovely Thursday!

Baguette anyone?

Picture me wearing oversized sunglasses, heels and a black shift dress Hepburn style, with Mr T sporting a tortured artist beard (abit like Goerge Clooney but with a major career change) and a tattered book of Baudelaires poems in one hand, walking down the streets of Paris. That's where I am right now as I listen to this divine duet between Juliette Greco and Feist. I'm going through some major Parisian mind control so a song like this makes sense to me whilst Mr T has to shake my shoulders crying "Khairun don't listen to the voices! You are not French, do you hear me??"
Putting my insanity aside for a moment, Mr T does his best to bring musicians like these to Portugal. For the past four years he has introduced me to a whole gamut of sounds as lovely as these. Juliette Greco will be playing on October 14th at Casa de Musica OPorto and October 16th at CCB in Belêm. I wish Mr T the best of luck with this French catch (don't get any french ideas Mr T!)

Saturday Night Weepie

I'm sick. The cold has finally paid me an unwelcome visit after months of wading through classrooms of coughs and sneezes and thinking in a rather smug way that I must be super immune and healthier than ever.
So what did I do? I decided to watch The Notebook, a film adaptation of a novel by Nicholas Sparks. I was a complete apoplectic blubbering wreck so watching this film was really not a good idea given my current phsyical condition.
Lets just say I did alot of ugly crying topped off with whiny sounds. The kind of crying that looks like you are sucking on a lemon, and choking on it at the same time.
Never again. I swear it. Never never never.

Spirit of The Beehive

One of my favourite films.
I'm going to visit the Berardo Museum before work, so I won't be drawing much today.