the goose girl

Greetings poppets!

Say hullo to this little treasure I've shared with you before on the blog and in  my debut exhibition 'Strange Creatures, Sweet Allsorts' last December, and the latest addition to my Etsy Shop!

'The Goose Girl' was a very special drawing for me. She was one of the first drawings I did upon my return home to Darwin in late 2010 after eighteen months of living in London. I was feeling, most understandably, hot and tired and very much like a fish out of water. Coming back to Darwin wasn't really a decision we had control over, given that our visas were due to expire in early 2011 and things were already getting very cold in London- in fact, we left on the first day of snow and just in time to fly out!

I had a wonderful job at an all-girls school in the South-West, beautiful friends, a great flat and the company of my best friend Dave, who I never tired of sharing every second with, exploring our beautiful adopted city. I forgot I was Australian sometimes, and so did the girls I taught: an English accent is one of the nicest in the world and quite naturally, my nasal drawl became much nicer for the exposure to rounded vowels and semi-posh Cockney. Weekends were spent eating in Soho or with our friends Samu and Doug, who loved cooking and 'Come Dine with Me' just as much as we did. Brick Lane on a Sunday provided me with every reason known to woman to burn my savings on trinkets, or, if the weather was bad, Westfield. I spent a ridiculous amount of money on Japanese silk wool and knitted myself the maddest rainbow scarf to cheer myself up on bad-weather days. I felt like a proper Londoner.  

I was so used to feeling like a brave little snail in a strange land, being an Australian in a huge foreign city, that I didn't really know how to feel. Returning back to Darwin after so long away made me think, as I did when I arrived in London, what it means to feel 'at home'.

I'm more than happy here in Darwin, don't misunderstand, but I still feel like part of me is there, in London. I'll probably never be so lucky to live there again, though I hope sometimes soon to go back and visit.

I know now, wherever I might be in the world, 'home' is really what you keep in your heart, the bricks and mortar of memories, and maybe, the secrets in the eyes of a Greylag Goose.

♥ Mel



and on the grumpy star shop today: something old, something newer and something . . . pink!

Good morning lovely readers! Today, and Thursdays in particular, find up to my shoulders, not in cake and Caran D'Ache pencils as I would like (come on, we all have weird fantasies about it raining watercolour pencils, right?) but into-do lists, which are decidedly much less fun. And also very nearly sold out of another edition- namely, 'Redjamjellysplat!'. If you've had your eye on her now is the time to bite the bullet and snavel the very last one, my own copy (the A.P. or artist's proof) in fact! She's been so popular I just know someone will come along one night and just fall in love- and I know better than anyone the eleventh commandment for all Artskind: 'Thou shalt not stand in the way of beautiful useless objects coveted by thy neighbour'.

And in the way of said objects, here's a few little beauties I've popped up on the Grumpy Star shop recently. I drew "The Goose-Girl" over Christmas last year and I'm very proud of her, created as she is of the humble mechanical pencil and nothing more. "Alice Liddell's Pink Flamingo" is a painting I finished yesterday, based on a drawing I did 6 months ago (no chocolate-based treats for you bright sparks who manage to decode my thinly veiled reference to a certain piece of literature lately enjoying a lot of reinventing). And 'Dorothy, Toto and New Shoes' was a drawing I did while sitting in the Spanish wetlands one sunny day shortly after this year's Bologna Book Fair. She was a lot of fun, and I especially like Toto as a sort of minature labrador.

Speaking of dogs, I have taken it into my head I would very much like to be the owner of a French bulldog in the not-too distant future. Monty refuses to comment on the matter and Dave's response was a rather emphatic 'No' when I sought a penny for his thoughts. Perhaps I need to refer him to the eleventh commandment?

Happy Thursdays to all, and to all- happy seeking of beautiful useless objects!

Mel x