Shaking things up!

Getting on top of things and making new starts is the theme of this week.

I saw this film on the weekend... Darjeeling Unlimited!

Did you see it? Precious, obscure, annoying one minute and stunning the next! A bit like life really.

film poster

Moving can seem a bit like the image at the top... too much to carry... and as if one's in some vast and strange land or is it mindscape? I don't have Louis Vuitton luggage like they did but my 'stuff' is precious to me nevertheless.

So to focusing and make fresh starts this week. The thing that needed renovating the most I determined on Monday night was the very first blog Visual Eclectica  I started 4 years ago on May One.

And before the reno came the need to consider what the blog means to me... now and then ... to think about what's transpired, what could be done away with and what must stay.

a new blog header 

I've done most of the changes I wish to make there now ... except the one which takes the most time... blog lists and links. That part is so out of date and I realised would have to be tackled on another sitting.

books, blogs, journals and writing on my mind

Last night I was tinkering with blogger and noticed the untouched blog I set up in a fit of restlessness one night in early 2011. I had no idea at that time what I needed a new blog for and in the end I didn't use it save for a few haphazard posts. I think I selected a tumblr template eventually to pursue some initially unformed idea.

Aha I thought... I will employ this shell of a blog for its template and really start on my book Ive been going to do for about a year now.

So just like that, at about quarter to nine last night, I began my book which currently has a most basic working title: homage to the seed ii! You know how the first post becomes the last with blogs... I left a single post from 2 years ago as the FINAL post and began to title 43 posts, allowing 25 for chapters and all kinds of material found front and back of a book was allowed for in the extra posts, all roughly titled so I would remember what to start adding in when the time comes. Things like foreward, afterthoughts, acknowledgments etc etc. The usual!

By the time I turned out the light 5 hours later the book was scaffolded and I was over the moon about having made the jump... even if this rag and bone beginning is a long way from what will be needed to call it  a BOOK!

I'm now sitting in the large hall of a Performing Arts venue, below, in Brisbane ... its afternoon, this place is by the river, parking's free,  the coffee's good, wifi is working and free... laptop and iphone's plugged into power points and a large window on the other side of a busy kitchen looks over the river. Makes it a great place to be able get on with it today... and a welcome change form working at home.

The Brisbane Powerhouse via here

Who knows what progress will be like on this project... just being able to tackle one part of a chapter is useful and now i have a good place to do just that.

Time to notice things...

Having packed up my studio weeks ago and put it in storage everyday life is currently in a highly unusual phase.

But then again...
       
I've been here before...

waiting...

I remember a lovely blogger friend a few years ago went through a very drawn out period waiting to sell her home and she spoke of the frustrations that were part of daily life on hold and I could relate well and exchange the odd note.

All of us find ourselves at times in our lives where something is on hold and we have to become very patient in the meantime. If we are very fortunate the waiting does not last too long.

The first phase of change after putting everything in storage was the couple more weeks spent at home getting ready to put our home on the market. Days really seemed to grow long with that pressure. So many small jobs or time-consuming ones that dulled the mind. I did grow very restless.

And quite soon!

Then there was the next step where the photographer came to take shots of the house for the agents website and such. That meant a huge overhaul of everything in sight. I ran out of puff doing my home studio. I figured it was a work space and I would be forgiven a little chaos peeking through!

I've posted these images of my bookshelf holding some of my journals that go back to when I was about 15. FOr the first Open House I redid my book shelves to try and line up things in some order. That was very satisfying.

Some of the journals have become quite worn over the years they've been shared and read by students and company as I felt that there was no real point in keeping everything in perfect condition and not sharing anything.

Now with cameras and documentation processes so good I share them in other ways.

For every restless hour and annoying moment what I have found is that I am thinking about things in fresh ways,  taking time to explore things that have been on hold... even noticing things I have not lingered on in ages.

It seems the process of re-exploring the things from one's life can really bring forgotten things to light.

Setting up the stage so-to-speak for Open House viewings means creating 'stills', frozen experiences of home with everything perfectly in place and de-cluttered to arrive at an ideal configuration.

After we've come back into the house having waited out a viewing session the house always looks delightful... like a moment has been suspended in time. More photos are taken and then the desire to start making a mess anywhere is greatly diminished.

Last week the creative tension was running high... and yet... any real desire to paint or create seemed to have vanished in the effort to make home utterly organised and hopeful aesthetically pleasing to those coming to view the property.

My mother has fallen in love all over again with her house... not that she has ever been in danger of not enjoying the place. The fact of doing makeovers, adjustments and improvements... it all added to the sense of it being new and oh so appealing all freshened up.

 I have to laugh at the paradox of the present... normally I am busy making 'mess' and thinking of keeping is under control. Just now its perfect and I wonder how to not disrupt a thing between viewing.
Today I suggested we go stay elsewhere till the next viewing is done as it was all perfect for viewers this morning.

                                    Olivia (my mother) arriving home with shopping in hand.

All the time she's spent in the garden has been worth it for her. I se her taking lots of pleasure sitting in different corners of the house and verandahs. She's excited about the next chapter but loving the house being so fresh and appealing!

Olivia reading the Real Estate pages.

Creativity in the kitchen at meal time is now a place for the art to happen... even if on a rather relaxed scale! Preparing food is getting more attention. That's made me realise how often Ive been on the run and not taking that kind of time to source and prepare the best kinds of foods everyday.

Living in an old-style Queenslander home has been a great experience. So much character and ambience. That in itself has made quite an impression on how things are seen and experienced here.

The lattice always casts the most incredible patterns with light.

Ive taken many a photo of these patterns.

And the latest of this verandah...

We don't know the time frame till we leave but we do know that everyday brings more to notice, remember and appreciate! I might not be creating in the studio but something is being fed in the process that is stirring the imagination!

Thanks to all who have been offering there good wishes through this transition.

Will keep you posted!