definatalie.com » Photography

Swell Sculpture Festival

Natalie — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 01:27:29 +0000

Bella by Greg James: A sculpture made of what looks to be bronze of a woman sitting on a table in a green bikini and flowers in her hair as she stares out to the sea. People are sitting at the seats looking out to the sea, seemingly ignoring the sculpture.

The Swell Sculpture Festival at Currumbin Beach has been showing for the last fortnight but we only got out to catch it yesterday morning, before it closes today. We took Miffy with us because there aren’t many art events you can take your dog to! We are bestowing on her an education in the creative arts, primarily teaching her not to pee or poo near or on the art. We walked up and down the beach, stopping to look at sculptures and greet other art-loving dogs, and at the end of the walk we all sat down in the shade of a tree sipping our cool refreshments.

I wish I’d taken one of the booklets so I could have more information to accompany my photographs but please enjoy these snaps and my probably incorrect and uncultured descriptions. It was a super sunny, hot day and looks gorgeous in the photos but trust me, the sand was hot and the sweat was dripping!

War Ears by Pat Hoffie & Stefan Purcell: A huge orange binocular looking structure sitting on the beach.

So many more photos are beyond the cut!

A yellow lifeguard tower against the blue sky.

POD by Erica Gray : A detail photo of a sculpture that looks like a hession sack with small openings slit in the sides.

Welcome to Paradiso by Alejandro Polo: A gold or bronze small palm tree standing upright on the sand with the ocean and another sculpture, Vanessa Stanley's Your Altered Gaze, sitting behind.

Welcome to Paradiso by Alejandro Polo detail: The golden fronds of the palm tree against the shockingly blue sky.

Journey Music by Mariana Martin: A cluster of tall pin like protusions in the sand and people walking in the middle of the sculpture.

Your Altered Gaze by Vanessa Stanley: Nick and Miffy stand in front of a circular frame filled with circular mirrors that reflect different views of the ocean, some warped.

Your Altered Gaze by Vanessa Stanley detail: My reflection in two of the mirrors as I take a photo, the beach and sky behind me.

Who Cares... by Steve Bristow: A life size dolphin sculpture lies in the sand tangled in net, scarred and bloody.

Green foliage against the blue sky with bonus sun flare.

A Passion for Patience by Christina Khumari: A circular, kind of spider web type piece of crochet is strung between two large trees with the beach behind it.

A Passion for Patience by Christina Khumari detail: Close up photo of this piece reveals a spider web structure made with large beads, the sun shining through it makes the beads look like drips of water.

State of Square by Fatih Semiz: A sculpture made up of a star shape outlines that reduce in size to nothing in circular shape. Sort of looks like a slinky that disappears into nothing!

Passages by Erika Mayer & Tom Koch detail: Blue and green frosted glass blobs that take on lots of organic forms, some look like single cell organisms blown up.

A piano on sits on the grass under a tree as passers by come up and play it. A sign on the piano says "Play me."

Wait and See by Julia Birch: A large brown turtle hoisted up by a flag pole type structure and floats in the sky with the wind.

Transient Migration by Anne Leon: Tall sticks with red, orange and yellow long thin flags sit on a dune with Currumbin Life Saving Club and the beach behind.

An orange and green gelati and iced coffee truck with people lined up waiting for delicious, cooling refreshments.

Listen to a Pipe Dreaming by Christopher Trotter: A curly silver pipe emerges from the sand dune and an ear piece extends towards the sea.

The Rebirth by Cezary Stuglis: Welded stainless steel humanoid figures crawl out over the dunes, some have fish scales and one has a large funnel through its torso.

Miffy lies panting on the shady grass with a cup of water next to her.

Settling in.

Natalie — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 23:45:52 +0000

A photo of sand and the beach with two people walking along the shore line.

Since moving I’ve been quiet, but I’m taking some time out to settle in. Where I was once at home in the city, bordered by big buildings and noise while everyone went about their Very Important Business around me, I’m now allowing myself to sink into a world that is much slower and kinder. There’s lots of nature around us now, and I can sit on the balcony and watch magpies pick over the lawn as corellas and lorikeets browse the branches above. I’ve been riding my bike to the shops and getting to know the best route to take, overcoming narrow pedestrian bridges and roundabouts like obstacles in a new life-sized course. We are about 5 or 10 minutes away from the beach and the best hot chips I’ve ever had in my life!

For some people Brisbane is home forever, and for others it’s just a springboard before going on to much more exciting places. I never really thought I’d leave the city even though Nick and I had dreams of living in Melbourne and being fancy artisan types. The move to the Gold Coast was a decision we had to make due to illness and finances; we never thought it’d be the most ideal decision but as I settle in I’m charmed by the sense of community, the fresh air and the space around me. Too often I am seduced by the most glamorous and fancy things but now I’m seeing the value of the opportunity to rebuild myself in such a caring and nourishing place. It’s rather liberating.

A photo of my feet on sand.

A photo of Nick walking away from the shore towards the camera.

A photo of lots of tiny tomatoes lined up on a window sill to ripen.

A photo of a hanging pot plant with its green leaves tumbling down.

A photo of my reflection in a window as I take a photo.

A photo of the vista from our balcony through a security grill. Beyond tree tops and roof tops Surfer's Paradise sits on the horizon.

A photo of a Polaroid camera and red polka dot tea cups sitting on a shelf with a pink my little pony tucked inside one.

A photo of several hanging pot plants outside agains a backdrop of greenery.

A photo of a bright orange teardrop shaped light fitting in the hallway.

A photo of an owl shaped clock on a wall with pink and green wallpaper.

Stitch and Twitch: Social anxiety and public crafting.

Natalie — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 08:30:35 +0000

Over the last few months I’ve been coming to terms with learning something new about myself. I’ve been dealing with generalised anxiety and depression for many years but a few months ago I found out I was also suffering with social anxiety. I’ve never been into partying a lot (well, besides my early 20s and that wasn’t terribly enjoyable) and I score dead between Introvert and Extrovert on the Myers Briggs test. I just thought I was being introverted and stuff!

I’m afraid of using the telephone. Sometimes I don’t go outside because I’m afraid of falling over. When I go out I get terribly anxious, I hyperventilate, sweat a lot and stumble over my words. In the last year I started to withdraw into myself, not going outside and I even started falling behind on my work which is largely undertaken inside in the comfort of my own home. My social anxiety is strongly linked with avoidance so I will avoid seeing friends, taking calls (which must distress my mother!) and even responding to emails.

I’m seeing a psychologist and taking medication to help get me through years of pretty crippling anxiety, but it’s very hard. I wonder if there’s a line between just not wanting to socialise because I don’t get much out of it and being afraid of socialising, but these are things I am currently seeking therapy for. My psychologist suggested that I do at least one social thing a week, and after thinking about it and negotiating between all the things in my brain I settled on doing something that I like in a challenging environment.

I love to make things but it’s been a private thing for me up until now. I see the ways in which the crafting movement has enjoyed a revival and how crafty people have started to reclaim public space for making things. Knitting, crocheting, stitching and stuff. I went to a “Stitch and Bitch” night a few times years ago and wasn’t terribly confident about stitching but the social aspect was great. On twitter the other week I wondered aloud about holding a “Stitch and Twitch”, a weekly social crafting session for people with social anxiety. Wonderfully, a few people (pretty much my friends!) said they’d love to attend, so we’ve had a couple of meetings so far and it’s been great!

Today we went to Kerbside and took full advantage of the lovely mismatched vintage furniture, working on our own individual projects. The bar is actually a huge shed type structure filled with interesting stuff and good music, so even if the conversation lulled (another thing I fear!) it was filled with humming and concentration.

I didn’t have much of that concentration today and after unpicking a huge mistake in my cross stitching I switched to crocheting a necklace, then taking photos! Here’s lots of them.

A photo of mismatched seats lining a long table against a fence made out of lots of odd bits of iron fencing facing the street.

A photo of people sitting in mismatched lounge chairs in various floral tapestry fabrics.

A photo of a framed picture of Jesus on a wall next to a mirror.

An out of focus photo of Sonya's silver sequin jacket spangled with lots of silvery bokeh.

A photo of Nick working on his cross stitch.

A photo of lots of bangles on a pale skinned wrist, one is a coiled snake and the others are various big plastic and resin bangles.

A photo of Mem holding up her small Finding Nemo cross stitch in front of her face.

A photo of me taking a photo of my reflection in the mirror. Written on the mirror in white pen is "Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all? And can I have their number?"

A photo of various glasses of cider on a table with Zoe and Sonya out of focus behind.

A photo of various crafty things on the table like cross stitch, crochet, scissors and a drawing.

A photo of some cream yarn and crocheting on a floral tapestry couch.

With chronic bitchface.

Natalie — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 05:16:29 +0000

A photo of me (left) and Zoe (right), two fat pale skinned ladies with blonde hair, standing in a garden at night with sassy faces. I'm wearing a black dress with floral tights and black high heels and Zoe wears a black tunic with purple draped sleeves, black tights and flats while carrying a clear umbrella.

What are friends for if they won’t pose in silly photos with you? Zoe and I decided to do an impromptu photo shoot showing off our incredible modeling skills. I suggested to Nick that he mimic skeezebag Terry Richardson’s style of photo taking but he was very uncomfortable with that considering that Richardson is awful and abusive towards women.

Our expert hair and make up is self applied while Nick took the photos. This is our ~lookbook~ for chronic bitchface, inspired by Kris Atomic, a name I might steal for any future band or fashion label of mine. You might recognise Zoe’s tunic as the one I wore in my last ootd, she bought one as well. ~birds of a feather and all that~

A photo of Zoe gesturing wildly while holding a clear umbrella. Her sheer purple sleeve is outstretched and spectacular.

A photo of me standing in front of a hollow brick wall holding a cigarette.

A photo of Zoe and my fat legs. On the left, Zoe's leggings are sheer black in front and solid at the back and she wears slip on shoes with cross over elastic. I wear floral tights with black platform heels.

A photo of me side on, looking down and smiling.

A photo of Zoe with her head turned to the right, holding a clear umbrella behind her head.

A photo of me holding my hands up in front of my face showing off my zombie apocalypse nails, bracelets and big square amber ring.

A full length photo of Zoe, a fat pale skinned lady with shoulder length blonde hair and thick rimmed glasses, posing all mystical like in front of a tree wearing a black tunic with draping purple batwing sleeves and black sheer leggings.

A photo of Zoe and I sitting on stairs posing with our bitchfaces.

Nick wants to start taking more photos of fat people and I really want to encourage him! This was silly and fun but also represents our bodies as curated by us, bodies that aren’t represented as neutral or fun or bitchy or fashionable in our culture.

Where clouds were born.

Natalie — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 11:28:45 +0000

Today we went for a drive through Mt Nebo and surrounding mountainous regions and took some photos. If you like mysterious mountain bushland saturated with clouds and spider webs, you’re gonna love this post. I am a huge fan of mountains and we are having so much rain at the moment so our trip was made really special by all the thick fog, especially on Camp Mountain.

So… insofar as wordy, thoughtful posts I’ve really got nothing right now. Much of my focus is being dedicated to getting through a very rough mental health patch. Writing about what I’m going through is pretty difficult because there exists a buttload of shame and stigma surrounding depression and anxiety, and every time I try to be candid people get weird. Or I get a bunch of unsolicited advice that, while well-meaning, can be really upsetting. So I won’t do that right now (and yes I know, people who get weird about mental health probably aren’t great candidates for support, and trust me – they absolutely are not!)

I hope December is being ok to you, and you’re being ok to you too.

Low brow, low committment.

Natalie — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 07:23:59 +0000

Every time I drive over the Story Bridge I feel warm and fuzzy.

There’s been no time to finish drawings for me :(

Except when I get new inks and I spend a bunch of time playing with them!

The card I made for my sister’s birthday… I’ve been infected with the hipster isosceles and nebula frenzy.

I have trust issues.

I sent off this many necklaces. I hope they all reached their destinations safely! I have a bunch of necklaces to put up in my store, but I’m waiting on chain. Nickel free chain has been proving very difficult to buy in bulk :(

Some random paving.

Sometimes I fiddle with photos in iPhone apps… this reminds me of really cliched Australian landscape paintings. Except with a dirty great bunch of skyscrapers in the distance.

I bought some paper clay to make Nick’s halloween costume and decided to see if I could make a little Venus figurine while I was at it. I’m not quite sure what to do with her… but do you like her horizontal stripes?

This is my work for the On The Wall show at the Sydney Finders Keepers. More info here.

I love my new gold ink, even if it doesn’t work terribly well with a dip pen.
(Video description: gold ink glittering and sort of moving around in the cap of the ink bottle.)

Vitamin D

Natalie — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 09:12:05 +0000

Nick took me down to the coast today. Snapper Rocks is one of my favourite places although we were technically at Duranbah Beach. Some of the graffiti on the rocks is decades old… it makes me wonder if people like Cheryl and John are the sort who wag their fingers at young kids today and if they’re still in love.

I am putting the blog on a sort-of-hiatus for a while as we move in to a busy time of year and I take a bit of time for myself. Things are a bit not great right now, and despite instituting a new weekly schedule I haven’t found any time to write for the blog in the past fortnight. It’s not that I don’t have things to write about, I certainly do, but I need spoons and I need space. My blogging moratorium is not an absolute one, I’ll probably post things as I feel like it and shrug off the schedule. I’m not the kind of person who responds well to the damned things anyway!

Comfort in beauty and memory.

Natalie — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 02:09:18 +0000

Hello fabulous necklace and attractive person! Ever since I figured out how to design stuff for acrylic I’ve been really interested in what other people have been making with it and I really like this idea of several plates that fit together. I’d love to have access to the kind of equipment that would let me make curves and bends in the acrylic though… oh the opportunities for making stuff would really open up then! This photo was posted uncredited on Tumblr.

Furniture with quilted padding is very comforting to me, I think it has something to do with the plushiness. Katie Thompson‘s furniture is stuffed full of cozy associations, taking objects like suitcases, crates and tubs and turning them into nice places to sit down. I really want one of these seats!

Sticking to the comforting vibe, this bed is a place I really want to be right now. I’ve always felt like my spiritual home is amongst trees in a rain forest, an escape from the clattering people in the city (even though I think skyscrapers are a bit tree-like.) This lovely photo was taken by Ditte Isager.

It’s quite tempting to say with confidence that people dressed much better a few decades ago, but it’s all a matter of taste and understanding that casual outfits probably weren’t documented so readily. I do love what this man is wearing though; I just wonder if the photographer had asked for his permission before taking the photo or if the questioning look on the man’s face says otherwise… This photo was originally posted on Tumblr by Street Etiquette.

Lately I have been loving old china patterns, particularly blue and white china, so when I found Yee Sookyung’s work I felt instantly connected to it. I am kind of a clumsy person and there have been more than a few occasions in my life when I have smashed something special to me (not necessarily valuable) and I have wondered if gluing it back together would devalue the object in my memory, if it’d just be so ugly that I’d have to dispose of it. I really love these “china trash” objects because it proves that you can make beauty out of broken things that have meaning, so they sort of assume a whole new meaning and memory.

Bonus content

It’s been a bit of a light content week because I’ve been busy but I just wanted to wack this stuff on the end of the post because a new post seems wasteful (why? I don’t know!)

Today is Nick’s birthday and I made him this card. Happy birthday Nick! I love you.

In other news

My second Redrawn post is up at Dangerously Luxe and this week I’ve redrawn two Marc Jacobs looks. They are bright and fun and look pretty fabulous on plus sized bodies!

My Saturday featuring The Finders Keepers market.

Natalie — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 14:18:30 +0000

Coffee is the best way to get a Natalie to start the day! We had our Saturday morning all planned out, we were going to check out the new Coorparoo Markets and then move on to Finders Keepers but parking at the rejuvenated old Myer Coorparoo building AND breakfast in our tummies were seriously lacking, so we decided to have our most important meal at Cafeine.

This mushroom and feta omelette with pesto stuffed tomatoes is the best.

After breakfast we went to the Coorparoo Markets, finally, but we didn’t take photos because we were busy checking it all out. There’s a level of random market thingies and doodads (including tiny helicopters that are amazing) and a level of fresh produce. Horah for close fresh food markets!

After our local jaunt we headed to The Old Museum for the Finders Keepers markets!

I love this building and the surrounding gardens, it’s such a nice venue for a market.

I wore clothes!

THE POM POMS! The colours are right out of the poster I illustrated for the markets!

I’m not kidding, I want these for my birthday party :D

This is the okt-ober dee stall, and see that cute handbag? This one? I LOVE IT. Oh my goodness it’s the cutest.

Seriously, POM POMS.

Nick is staying strong in the face of craft and whimsy overload.

And then we went over the Story Bridge and tended some errands. Saturday success!

Attractive people, fancy headwear and blooming boots.

Natalie — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 02:04:51 +0000

I always love coming across this photo, Club Allegro Fortissimo by William Klein. From my years of musical training (cough, makes me sound more knowledgeable than I actually am!) I think that translates to Club Fast and Loud, which is badass. I have been busy/ overwhelmed in the past month and haven’t organised another Aquaporko in Brisbane, but this needs to happen again and soon! Why am I so terrible at organising things, uhhh!

Boots and flowers totally go together, yes?! I am sensing a strange urgency to acquire a pair of stompy black boots and put fake flowers all over them. Reminds me of this post on Outsapop, I’m loving all the foot accessories!

HELLO floral sunnies, get on my face. Janz & Cooper‘s online shop is still under construction, and I have a feeling I wouldn’t be able to afford these anyway, but I looooove them so much.

Camille Roman’s Le Tour De Force label is full of stunning pieces with clever and intricate fabric manipulation, and her latest headpieces are gorgeous. I like this piece because it performs dual functions as a mask and fascinator. Perfect for the Spring Racing season in Melbourne when you drink a bit too much and need some kind of disguise to get you home unrecognised…

The fabulous Marcia, as photographed by Advanced Style, is a perfect style role model. I need swathes of purple and big sunnies and head wraps like stat! That purple is beyond royal, my eyes enjoy it very much. :D

ALSO!
I am doing a regular guest post for Dangerously Luxe each week where I redraw a look.
Go over and check out my Badgley Mishka/ 3.1 Phillip Lim redraw!