Je Suis Fatigue

It sounds better when it is written in French, but either way, I know I am complaining.  I haven't written in over a month and the reason is mostly that I have just been a little tired.  It is not that there has been nothing going on, nor has there been too much.  I have been working extra hours, and trying to channel my creativity into my needlework, but when I do have time to write and something to say, I feel like I would rather sleep or just zone out.  Sorry about that.
I am going to try to get my blood flowing to my brain by getting back on track with my exercise routine, but in the meantime, I will just check in with some of the haps here.

We had a lovely invitation to lunch at Michelle and Vincent's apartment in the city (they are the parents of Mira's roommate who live most of the time in a small town 3 hours away) where we had yummy food, friendly conversation, and dreamy views.  I had to be a tourist and take this shot.

We went out with Nicole and Aaron to an event at the newly remodeled Museum of Contemporary Art called "Art Bar". The museum was on a friday night with a DJ playing funky, fun music, a green screen room that you could walk in to project yourself into a strange world, 3D glasses and super-real projections, piano pinball, and food and drinks.  We wandered through the art and activities and had a glass of wine on the patio overlooking the harbor and the opera house - pretty damn cool.

I have been wanting to check out a small yarn and fabric store called Calico and Ivy, in a neighborhood called Balmain.  It is hard to get to so I had put it off until a couple of Saturdays ago when Mira (home on break after finishing her first semester) and I took the winding bus journey.  It was so worth it to see this cute, family friendly, heavily Italian immigrant neighborhood and the amazing fabrics and wools at C&I.  We had fish and chips at a casual little fish shop on Darling St. (the main drag), and we picked up some macarons from Adriano Zumbo to bring home to share. Wasn't that thoughtful of us?

Lastly, but definitely not least, I wanted to post some photos from the exhibit we saw last Sunday at the Art Gallery of NSW.  It was called Kamisaka Sekka - dawn of modern Japanese design.  The focus was on the artist Sekka, who was like the Japanese equivalent of William Morris.  They also tied in other artists in the Rinpa movement, which was similar to the British Arts and Crafts movement.  Both had an appreciation of nature.  Both believed in the importance of art and beauty in everyday life.  And, both believed in promoting the artistic value of various mediums such as ceramics and textiles.  Interestingly, over the years, the two movements had a reciprocal influence on each other.  Anyone who knows me will know that I was in heaven walking around this exhibit.  I didn't want to leave.  Instead, I wanted to just stare at the images of blades of grass or birds on a twig.  The subject matter is so simple, and some would say mundane, but the execution of the work, the detail, and the balanced energy is, to me, sublime.  I will definitely be reading up on this history of Japanese art and I will go back to see more when they change up the exhibit because they have quite a large asian collection at this gallery.

David took this tricky photo of me in front of the work of another of my faves: Margaret Preston

So I have gotten lots of food for my soul and inspiration for some, hopefully, worthy textile prints of my own.  I just have to wake myself up.  Maybe a cold dip in the ocean...