Fryup : Compulsive behaviour

Let's start this new week with a big high five for me. I've made it a month without alcohol or coffee! I've also eliminated sugar in most of its guises (save for wee nibbles of dark chocolate, occasional scoop of gelato or a touch of maple syrup on my porridge) and a whole bunch of other processed garbage.

And don't I feel good. I've been waking early and jogging most morning with the dog. Energy levels are awesome, thanks for asking. Jeans aren't so snug. Eyes are clear. I can skip past a pub at 5 on a Friday and not cry, order a chai latte at a cafe without eyeballing the coffee beans and I can even get to 3:30 on a Monday without thinking about a block and a half of milk chocolate. It's a little virtuous and a whole lotta fab. Let's see if I can make it to three months.

Now if I had come across Canadian dude Neil, aka Beepart, and his bacon bits a few weeks ago, I would not have looked on his work so favourably. But now I'm able to withstand the sight and smell of bacon without turning into a craving, dribbling mess, I love it. All of it. I love the reclaimed wood, rounded edges and randomness of it all. Go Neil.


Have you always been creative?
I think I started drawing as soon as I could pick up a crayon, it's something I've always done. It's a type of compulsive behaviour. I've always been drawn to the aesthetics of things and wanted to recreate stuff I saw on paper.

What are you most proud of?
What I'm most proud of professionally would be just being able to make a living as a freelance illustrator...when I first started out I wasn't sure it was going to be possible. I'm sure my family wondered too...


What makes you laugh?
Witty, intelligent humour... and South Park too.

Fave blogs?
I have to sheepishly admit that I'm not a big reader of blogs, but I do get email updates from Cupcakes Take the Cake so I can look at tasty cupcakes throughout the day.


FYI I still eat ham... the urges must be cared for somehow.

More: beepart.etsy.com
Pics from top down: bacon, yellow vespa, love sucks and yellow ham

Curiosity : Meet me at Frankie's

Among the many gorgeous blogs I check daily, Meet Me At Mikes is a favourite crafty one. It's clever and nice and funny and everything I look for in a friend. The other day they had a post called Here's Where I'm Up To and they encouraged other bloggers to steal their idea (like only a good friend would). So I did. And here's what I'm up to...

Making : A silly card for hubby's birthday tomorrow... drawn with crayon
Cooking : A whole chook with preserved lemon and Herbie's Jamaican Jerk seasoning in the slow roaster
Drinking : Dandelion tea with manuka honey
Reading: Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Wanting: A roomy (massive), dreamy (old yet structurally perfect) three-story terrace on Bourke St to decorate
Looking: For new ways to decorate our current terrace home!
Playing: Little Voice by Sara Bareilles
Wasting: Less and less the older I get
Sewing: Not so much, really
Wishing: These early spring days would go on forever
Enjoying: The sun rising a little earlier each day
Waiting: For an excuse to wear my new Miss Selfridge maxi
Liking: Green & Black's organic dark chocolate with cherries (if by 'liking' you mean 'addicted to and cannot live a day without')
Wondering: What new words my niece is trying out this week
Loving: Stewed apple and rhubard with fresh ginger on my morning porridge
Hoping: I can find a good, local upholsterer for my bargain chairs that won't rip me off
Marvelling: At the nasty sting a paper cut can deliver
Needing: A bandaid
Smelling: The divine Sohum Apple Fig & Vanilla candle on my desk
Wearing: MNG peachy pink cardi, FCUK jeans & ugg boots
Following: The creative lives of angry chickens, pretty things, constant gatherers & funny cats
Noticing: How much happier I am with a kitchen full of organic whole foods
Knowing: Enough about pesticides and hormones... ewww... to stay well away
Thinking: About how much I'll enjoy devouring my new Mindfood mag tonight
Feeling: Good
Bookmarking: Etsy Etsy Etsy, Oi, Oi, Oi
Opening: The glossy black door to No. 9 this morning to meet a friend for brunch was the nicest surprise
Giggling: At the sigh of a sheep toy being tossed about by my staffie

Steal away! Write your own somewhere and let me know so I can check out whatcha doin' xxx
Pic above by me at Central Market, Kuala Lumpur

Snapshot : An introverted breakfast

Today is cold and wet and I have far too much to do. I would rather be making soup and watching a few Clooney DVDs. It seems setting up a business where you tap on a keyboard from home in your velour takes a lot of organisation, which I've been putting off for weeks but have decided to attack all at once. When, oh when, will I learn? Happily I discovered these wonderfully elaborate answers by Photoslinger this morning in my inbox. He's made my day and it's hardly begun...

How did you become a photographer?
My parents have always been artistic in some kind of way. My father is the photographer (mostly landscape and family shots, but always trying to get the perfect picture), my mother the painter/writer. Both amateur. It probably runs in the family. We are all kind of introverted people with a lot going on in our minds, I guess it's a way to get people interested in you without using the verbal language. Nothing unusual I guess.

I did quite a lot of painting as a kid, but quit when I got older. I tried to write some poetry but it showed more of me than I would like to. I have been doing some instrumental music production, but I am not patient enough to make entire songs. Anyway, I ended up buying a digital SLR camera last year. Since then, I haven't really stopped taking pictures and trying to improve my skills (composition-wise but also my post-processing skills, it somehow stimulates the same part of the brain that I used for painting). I am not always patient, I guess digital photography is the perfect medium for me since it's so fast (and with flickr it's very easy to let many people see what you do). I usually see something that I want to remember or that evokes an imaginary scene, I quickly take a picture and post-process it later when I have time.

I am deeply influenced by movies, I have seen so many of them. It looks more real than painting, but still isn't reality. Right now I am on a learning curve, I am not really trying to have a definite style. There is a lot of night/dark stuff in my photostream but I want more colours. I don't really like the idea that all my shots are dark, I do like colours! That's where I am at.


What subjects do you like to photograph?
- Landscapes, although I have been living in the Netherlands for a few years and can't seem to know how to capture what I'd usually call a landscape (it's more of a flat manscape).
- Architecture, whether it's modern or falling apart.
- Moody atmospheric scenes, although I am not sure whether that's a proper category.

What would you like to photograph?
I'd like to do some street photography. There are no people in my shots but I am not very happy with that (I have some good ones of my girlfriend but am not allowed to post them!). I am also very interested in studio lighting because of the control you get but I don't see that happening anytime soon. It would be a good way to get some of the cinematic shots I am aspiring to though!

flickr.com/photoslinger

Pics from top to bottom: Before breakfast, Le petit dej' and This way up.