Friday Friends, WA Artists - Paul Deej

Happy Friday Maddabling Readers, I hope your weeks have been a good ones.

This week it is my absolute pleasure to introduce to you all the super talented Paul Deej, the WA artist and designer  from Toasted Designs and the Syllabolix collective. 

When I first started to browse through Paul's amazing artwork, a few things grabbed seriously grabbed my attention. I am a bit of a shoe girl so it should be no surprise that I love these painted boots...awesomeness....

and I have a fascination with owls at the moment too - absolutely smitten with this painting...... 

And when I saw this mural, it rekindled teenage memories of a trip to Melbourne where I first saw "real" street art; brightly coloured murals painted in the city, don't you think this mural is just sublime!

Readers, I am now passing on the blogging baton to Paul - to give you all of The Dirt on Paul Deej. I hope you enjoy reading Paul's story as much as I did. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend and don't forget to do something fun! 

P.S. please remember that Paul has given his permission for these images to be used in this blog post. Please respect his work and do not copy, use, reproduce these images, in full or in part without Paul's express permission. 

The  Dirt  on  Paul  Deej

My name is Paul Deej, artist and designer from Toasted Designs and the collective known as Syllabolix. I paint album covers, canvases, murals, pretty much anything I can get my hands on.

I started out at a very young age drawing dinosaurs, and then moved on to comics where I would obsessively copy the artwork. I started with Footrot Flats and ones like that, as I got older moving on to Judge Dredd, 2000AD and eventually Marvel. I always wanted to be a comic book artist, and I read that a lot of artists had a background in graphic design, so I went to TAFE and got my advanced diploma in that. 

My good mates are musicians in the hip hop scene, and from that I started doing quick little gig posters for them which led on to painting album covers which really got me interested in painting for a living. To begin with I was a digital artist, I would sketch then scan it in and paint it digitally as I hated the mess of mixing paint and cleaning up. 10 odd years later I have switched, and most of my artwork now is done traditionally on canvas or paper. I still love to paint digitally though for certain jobs as I like the style it gives my work.

Other than painting in Photoshop, I primarily work in acrylics. I use brushes but also love using paint markers, the Molotow One4All markers specifically. When painting a canvas I will use a mix of aerosol, acrylics and markers to create the finished piece. I also love painting murals with all spray cans as it is a great medium to use and gives amazing results.

I would say I am inspired by beauty first and foremost, a lover of the female form, and I am trying to capture the 'perfect' image of beauty in my artwork. On the other side of this is my fascination of the opposite, of the evil and unappealing. I love movies, horror movies in particular, and I am very influenced by these as well as novels and comic books. 

I also find competition to be very inspiring, even in a small city like Perth the talent level is amazingly high and it would be easy to get disillusioned by it all, but I see it as a challenge. I love checking out other peoples work and it drives me to be a better and more creative artist. I have many extremely talented and driven friends that are always motivating me with their own success and creativity as musicians and artists. And of course my wife and my kids.

I do a lot of commissioned work, so when I get time to paint for myself or work on an exhibition, I mainly paint girls. I love to paint from the heart and not think about it or analyse it, do no planning, and just grab a black canvas and see what happens. 

At the moment my favourite piece I have done was from my recent exhibition, a painting of a young 'steampunk' style girl called 'Telex'. That one just seemed to work from the start, I love the look in her eye. 

Some of my other favourite pieces I have done are the album art I did for the band Downsyde called 'All City', and the album art for 'Monster House' that I did for my friend Hunter.

My plans for the future are to keen evolving my work and my style. My main goals for the moment are getting as much quality artwork out there as quick as possible. I plan on switching to oil paints to give that a try, and I would love to paint more walls. Bigger the better.

Dear readers, do you want to own a piece of Paul's artwork or explore it his creations some more ? Here is how you can connect: 

Become a follower on facebook here: 

www.facebook.com/deejo1

and check out his websites here: 

www.eldeejo.com

www.toasteddesigns.com

http://society6.com/PaulDeej/

Things with Wings - Wednesday Wishes

sometimes, just sometimes, don't you wish you could spread your wings and just fly away?

today's Wednesday Wishes inspiration is simply Things with Wings. 

Enjoy xo 

The Owl Warriors 'mate' from thecatintheshoe

Ginger / Winged Grey and Gold Horse Articulated Decoration

 Hinged Beasts Series from benconservato

Porcelain Blue Lavender Dragonfly Teacup+Saucer from FaithAdamsCeramics

 

Stunning Blade Wing Statement Necklace 24K Gold Plated, Real Luna Moth Wings from HaremRoyal

Steampunk Icarus Wings - Handmade, Backmounted, 

Pulley Driven Wings MKII from steampunk22

Good Fortune, Soulfood Soup, Saturday Outing and Handmade Goodness

Happy Sunday readers. I have so much I want to share with you today. A summary would be Good Fortune, Soulfood Soup, a Saturday Outing and Handmade Goodness. Do I have you intrigued? Read on :)

Good Fortune

I recently put my haiku writing skills to work in a gorgeous 1000 Likers Giveaway hosted by Fruzsi Kenez of Peach Patrol. Fruzsi asked: "If you write a little poem/haiku/rhyme about someone in the picture your like counts for TRIPLE!" I got my creative thinking cap on, I love the challenge of a haiku. 

"Haiku poems date from 9th century Japan to the present day. Haiku is more than a type of poem; it is a way of looking at the physical world and seeing something deeper, like the very nature of existence. A haiku poem consists of three lines, with the first and last line having 5 moras, and the middle line having 7. A mora is a sound unit, much like a syllable, but is not identical to it. Since the moras do not translate well into English, it has been adapted and syllables are used as moras."

source : http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-haiku-poems.html 

I looked at the strange friends in the picture, and my focus was drawn to Lulu, I Keep My Antlers Warm. I read Lulu's story and wrote this haiku: 

Nimble fingers knit

a kaleidoscope of warmth

happy Lulu smiles.

Fruzsi loved it! "Congratulations Samara, your prose brought a big smile to my face and completely encapsulated the energy of I Keep My Antlers Warm." 

I received this gorgeous package in the mail from Fruzsi and feel so very blessed! Thank you so very much Fruzsi - readers, don't forget to stop by her facebook page to say hello!  

Speaking of good fortune, I recently featured sweet Debbie of The Smile Emporium who sent me a lovely thank you gift - aren't these peacock earrings and hair pins beautiful? Thank you so much Debbie, they certainly brought a smile to my face :) You should also stop by Debbie's facebook page to say hello!

Soulfood Soup

Coming into the cooler weather, I find it's time to dig out the cookbooks or enlist online searches for soup recipes. I made this one on Friday night, simply delicious! 

French Onion Soup 

(source: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/12576/french+onion+soup) 

Ingredients

80g butter

4 large brown onions, sliced crossways into rings

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tsp plain flour

1.5L (6 cups) beef stock

125ml (1/2 cup) dry red wine

1 bouquet garni sachet 

Salt + freshly ground black pepper

1 30cm baguette (French stick), cut crossways into 12 slices

55g (1 cup) finely shredded gruyere cheese

Method:

Heat the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic, and cook, stirring, for 10 minutes or until the onions are soft and light golden. Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until flour bubbles and comes away from the side of the pan. Add the stock, wine and bouquet garni. Bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes or until soup thickens slightly. Remove bouquet garni. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Preheat grill on high. Place baguette slices on a baking tray. Place under preheated grill (about 5cm away from the heat source) and cook for 2 minutes each side or until light golden. Remove from grill and sprinkle each slice evenly with the cheese. Place under grill and cook for a further 2 minutes or until the cheese melts.

To serve, ladle soup into serving bowls and top with the baguette 

Saturday Outing and Handmade Goodness

There is a fab little facebook page called Stuff To Do In Albany. This page is full of information about what is going on in Albany town. I found two things to combine into a wonderful Saturday Art inspired outing with my dear friend Del of DEL-icious Designz.  

Firstly we visited the amazing free exhibition at the Albany Museum - Line of Sight by Broome photographer Peter Strain. The exhibition is definitely worth a look and runs from Sat 4 May 2013 – Sun 23 Jun 2013, 10:00am – 4:30pm. "Line of Sight is an exhibition of photography and nature pictures by Broome photographer Peter Strain. It features extraordinary close-up photography of tiny creatures from Australia’s rugged and remote Kimberley region, from Broome to Darwin" Here is a peek at what we saw.

In case you are wondering what that big glass thing in the background is, I can tell you that it is the "Eclipse Island Optic consisting of three glass lenses, each three metres high. The optic rotates silently on its bed of mercury and lights up the building." source:http://museum.wa.gov.au/museums/albany/whats-on

I found a short history lesson for you dear readers, through some selected text, on the Eclipse Island Lighthouse. "Eclipse Island Lighthouse was built in 1926 on Eclipse Island off the south coast of Western Australia. It was built as a cylindrical tower made of concrete. Initially it was a manned station using kerosene as lantern fuel in combination with a first order Fresnel lens. In 1976 the lantern was completely removed though and the optic was put on display at the Western Australian Museum. Today the light is emitted from atop a mast on the lighthouse's concrete trunk. The characteristic is a group of three flashes every twelve seconds from a focal plane at 117 metres (384 ft) above sea level."  

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclipse_Island_Lighthouse

We then meandered on to the Vancouver Arts Centre for the Annual Mother's Day Market. Maddabling and DEL-icious Designz were both visitors rather than stall holders this year. There was a lot to see, and we were inadvertently snapped by Stuff To Do In Albany, while we browsing the fine handcrafted Italian Glass Bead creations on display at the Nazzy Beads stall. It's kind of amusing that we were in the photo as we had earlier joked about Photo Bombing you see! We also had the pleasure of watching Naomi of Nazzy Beads creating glassy goodness right there at her stall. If you want to see for yourself, you can find more on the Nazzy Beads Facebook Page. 

photo courtesy of http://www.facebook.com/StuffToDoInAlbany

We stopped by the This Paper Cut Life stall and had a chat with Sue Codee. Maddabling couldn't help but buy herself a new brooch, the "Levelling Brooch" to be precise. Isn't it just divine? You can find more of This Paper Cut Life by Sue Codee on her facebook page.  

It was really good to catch up with several of the regular stall holders for a chat, the special folk who become friends (you know who you are ladies) as they do in a small creative community and I hope each one had a very successful market. So readers, that wraps up the Good Fortune, Soulfood Soup, Saturday Outing and Handmade Goodness blog post. See you all on Wednesday for a new Wednesday Wishes x 

Friday Friends, DUSTy Divas - Made in Fabric

Happy Dance for Friday lovely readers - what are you up to on the weekend? I am hoping to pop down to the local Mothers Day market (as a visitor and not a stallholder), catch a movie and generally have a lazy-ish weekend. Oh and if the rain holds off, perhaps a coastal walk somewhere :) 

This week it is my great pleasure to introduce sweet Rhianon from Made in Fabric; a new DUSTy Diva and this weeks Friday Friend.

Rhianon makes the loveliest lampshades, perfect wall hangings and gorgeous painted wooden signs - I just have to share some of my favourites with you now. Take for example, these two touch lamps with fabric shades in pink + blue designer fabric - what a fabulous gift for her! 

I also love this Fabric Hoop Hanging in a gorgeous Japanese paisley print and

for something different, this set of 4 Drink Coasters, in a waterproof paisley print fabric with felt backing, perfect for indoors or outdoors.

Ok readers, time now for me to hand over to Rhianon, to share the inspirational story behind her craft. I hope you enjoy The Made in Fabric Journey. See you all next week and have a fantastic weekend xo 

The Made in Fabric Journey

I’m Rhianon, the face and name behind Made In Fabric. I started on this creative path only recently, but have had a lifelong love affair with all things design, art and creative, so my running my own online creative business is not altogether a great surprise.  

My technical background is landscape design and urban design (which is a bit like architecture on a bigger scale).  My family is a not so diverse range of artists, fashion designers, product design and architecture and this heavily influenced lots of parts of me and what I like to do. I’ve always thought that I see things in a visual way and have always looked for creative outlets for it. 

I ended up having an opportunity to do some markets last year that gave me a great focus and goal to put my ideas around using fabrics into fruition and it has snowballed from there.  Next stop was learning the crafts and then creating a range of unique products with fabrics that I thought were beautiful or quirky enough to adorn walls and lamps and Made In Fabric was born.  There are so many wonderful fabrics to choose from but I am very selective in what I use for my fabric lamps, fabric wall art and wood words.  I have two ‘little helpers’ with me most days, who love a new fabric almost as much as I do, and are over the moon with any spare colourful fabric scraps to play with.

One of my favourite pieces is my Marimekko unikko fabric lampshade, it so bright and uplifting, but I also love my ‘blue waves’ lampshade, I find it really peaceful to look at. 

I like to be inspired by, but not held to hostage to, fashion and interiors trends. Pantone Emerald green is hot right now and so I’m trying to find the perfect emerald green fabric to create a new lampshade.

I love oilcloth fabrics, there is something uniquely old-worldly yet tough about them and they can be used for so many great things. I also have a deep love of all things Marimekko.  My one regret after living in Europe for over a decade was that I never got to visit the famous Marimekko headquarters. Next time!

I'm very excited about Made In Fabric’s upcoming range of customised children's wood name signs, wood wedding signs, and fun home decor words. These will be handmade from scratch. 

It will feature my signature oilcloth material and am having great fun designing the fonts and coming up with new words to add to the range. I’m also keen to start using my obsession with vintage lace and bring it into the Made in fabric fold, either through lampshades or wood words.

I’ve got plans to produce my own textiles to use in my range, most likely with influences from nature and landscapes. Urban design can include the most amazingly detailed plans that would be wonderful to incorporate into fabric design in a unique way, and tell the story of a city’s history. 

As ever, I have more ideas than time but I have never enjoyed such a flexible ‘job’ so much, it never feels like hard work!

Readers, do you want to see more? Here is how you can connect. 

Buy lovely things on etsy here:  www.madeinfabric.etsy.com

or on madeit here: www.madeit.com.au/MadeInFabric

become a follower on facebook here: 

www.facebook.com/Madeinfabric1

Maddabling Mother's Day 2013 Giveaway Winner Announced!

It's time lovely Maddabling likers, to announce the winner of the 2013 Maddabling Mother's Day Giveaway.

The lucky winner gets a sweet gift pack ready for giving with two divine bath tea bags, a cute handmade mothers day card, a sweet flower and key necklace with matching earrings and a set of three pretty hair pins. 

Conditions of entry into the giveaway were to be a Maddabling follower on facebook and to leave a comment at this link advising that you are: 
http://maddabling.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/maddabling-mothers-day-giveaway.html
AND 
2. In the same comment, for an additional bonus entry, let me know if you are follower of the Maddabling blog 
AND
3. In the same comment, for an additional bonus entry, tell me why your mum (or mother figure i.e. grandma, aunt, stepmother) is so special to you? 

The all important fine print was: 
1. The Giveaway is only open to Australian Residents this time around.
Giveaway Entries will close at 7pm West Australian Time on Wednesday 1st May 2013. 
2. I will draw the lucky winner using random.org. 
3. The winner will be announced on the Maddabling Blog by 8pm Wednesday 1st May 2013. 
4. A link to the blog post will be placed on the Maddabling Facebook Page and the winner MUST contact Maddabling by 8pm West Australian Time on Thursday 2nd May 2013 to claim their prize. If contact is not made, a new winner will be drawn.

So I have visited random.org and put in the number of entries received, got my lovely hubby to push the generate button 

And I can now announce that the lucky lucky winner is: 

DEB! 

Congratulations Deb, please contact me by 8pm West Australian Time on Thursday 2nd May 2013 to claim your prize. As per the Giveaway Fine Print above, if contact is not made within this time frame, a new winner will be drawn.

Pretty Things Distract Me - Wednesday Wishes

As I was searching for Wednesday Wishes inspiration, I was distracted by so many pretty things. This became the theme for today's Wednesday Wishes - Pretty Things Distract Me. I hope you love these finds. 

P.S. Have you entered my giveaway yet? Don't forget to visit this link: http://maddabling.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/maddabling-mothers-day-giveaway.html 

Leave a comment to enter my big Mother's Day Giveaway. The giveaway closes tonight, 1st May at 7pm WA Time. Due to the nature of the botanical bath tea prizes included, entry is only available to Australian Residents. Please make sure you are familiar with all of the terms and conditions of entry, as stated on the giveaway blog post. Good luck everyone! 

25 Baby Pink Polka Dots Paper Straws from theStationeryRoom

Pretty white polka dots on a pink fabric by ampidou

Polka Dot Indie Pink Linen Handbag / Shoulder bag by BagyBags

Pink Felt Ball Garland 'Pretty in Pink' by FeltFoxes

vintage 1980s WALTER STEIGER fuschia polka dot heels by shopcaramiavintage