The Finders Keepers Market: What I Found and Kept

Hello lovely people! I've finally had a chance to take some non blurry/badly lit photos of the goodies I bought at this year's Finders Keepers market! It was such a fun night, and this year it was set up in one of my favourite buildings in the whole of Melbourne, the Royal Exhibition Building! We did lots of rounds, ate some delicious vegan cupcakes from Mr Nice Guy, tried our hand at the Frankie Mag lucky dips, and chatted to some lovely, not to mention talented creative types! I'm kind of sad that I won't be here for the October market, but I'm going to be running around somewhere in Europe so I can hardly complain!
 

 First up is this gorgeous print by the very talented Leah Bartholomew at Beneath the Sun. The paper isn't part of the print, it's just me attempting to be good at choosing complimentary colours.

 I'm a sucker for nice art prints, even though only half of the ones I have purchased are currently framed. I was instantly drawn to the colours in this, and then by the time I found out that she uses environmentally sustainable materials and natural inks, I was already reaching for my wallet! 

All I know is that I want to be exactly where these horses are. Right now, please.

And she doesn't just do prints, she does cushions, tea towels, pillow cases and stationary to name a few. Go on, take a look why don't you?

Second up are these gorgeous laser cut Narwhal earrings by So Little Time Co. I still can't get over how cute they are. THEY ARE NARWHALS THAT I CAN WEAR ON MY EARLOBES!!!

I'm pretty sure I showed the same level of enthusiasm when I first spotted these guys, so Lovely, the sweet man that he is, bought them for me. Last year he bought me an adorable bunny ring, and I've worn it so much the finish is coming off it's nose. Just like the Velveteen Rabbit *sigh*.
Anyway, these were just one of the super cute laser cut wood designs they had on show and so I highly recommend you check out their website and hide your credit card. Or not. Go on, treat yourself even. 
 

And last, but by no means least, we have this beauty; a wooden laser cut geometric designed hummingbird necklace! What a mouthful. I've been wanting some sort of geometric accessory for a while now, cos I'm entranced by shapes for some reason, and this pretty much satisfies all of those desires, and then some, because it's a hummingbird, which happens to be my favourite of all birds, ever.

This was designed, created and hand painted by the very clever people at Brainbow! You should check them out on facebook, the characters they design are so quirky and adorable! My favourite is the Viewfinder Clock with the moustache!

Visiting the Finders Keepers Market has reinforced, for me, the importance of buying locally designed good quality handmade products; there are so many amazing, unique and well made things out there that can sometimes be overlooked by the cheaper, more accessible product. However, by buying local and handmade, not only are you helping our economy, you're helping to shift the consumer trend away from mass produced, disposable products, that are often made at the expense of the environment and or basic human rights. That can only be a good thing, right?
And it's not like they're hard to find anymore; there are so many art and design markets around pioneered and inspired by the Finders Keepers, and with the internet always at our fingertips, all you have to do is jump onto Etsy for some beautiful handcrafted goodies.

Well, that's my two cents. The next Finders Keepers isn't until October, but if you can't wait until then, they're always updating their blog with new designers and creatives selling wonderful wares. Give it a try! It may not by so great for your hip pocket, but it will do wonders for the soul!

Music Monday - Lisa Mitchell

Music Monday everybody! Did you all have an awesome weekend? Did you go see any live music? Who did you see? 

This week's song is in the same vein of last week's, in that it features a female Australian artist who had all but disappeared since the release of her last album! I'm talking about the lovely Lisa Mitchell, of course! 

I was, and am still a huge fan of her first album, Wonder, which came out quite a few years ago now, and so I am very glad to herald her return to the Australian music scene, and my my has it been worth the wait! Her new single 'Spiritus', is such an uplifting song,  it's got this real 'everything is bright and wonderful' feel to it. Her voice is just as gorgeous, as always, and this time helps to give the song an almost otherworldly quality. 

And the clip looks like it would have been so much fun to make, I adore the human kaleidoscope. 

I'll just let you enjoy it now, shall I? 

Word Wednesday - An Exceprt!

Welcome to another Word Wednesday! Can you believe it's already May? Time is going crazy fast!

This piece comes unearthed from the scores of notes and scraps that will hopefully one day make up my novel! I decided, after being inspired by my lovely writing ladies, to bite the bullet and attempt to make some sense of all those pages. Since writing a lot of these paragraphs, my writing style has changed a little, I've learnt a lot from my wonderful teacher Francesca Lia Block, and my fellow students and friends. This is one of the paragraphs that for now might not make it into the first draft, but I still really like it so I'm going to share it with you lovely people instead!

I hope you like it! As always, all feedback is welcome! 

I lined up all my make up against the edge of the window, with the backdrop of a city plagued with an eternal bout of insomnia stretching out above and below me, and turned to fresh blank page in my notebook. 

With my new kohl eyeliner pencil, I sketched the image of a girl, with large open eyes that go deeper than the white lined page, long lashes, a non-descript nose scattered with freckles and a full mouth with just a hint of a smile. Her face was framed with locks of hair that fell in a tangle of curls. My hand seemed to move of its own accord, disconnected from my consciousness and tapping into my creative spirit that had been suppressed by so much adolescent lethargy and sensory abuse; it guided the pencil independently. 

I did not have any paints, but my foundation brought out her pale skin tone, my bright red lipstick drew the blood into the silhouette of her mouth, while her eyes sparkled with the stars hidden in the sheen of metallic green eye shadow. But my favourite part was the colouring of her hair; using my darkest blush, I licked my finger and dipped it in the compact, tracing the outline, and then the centre of her elegant curls on the paper, until her face was surrounded by a cascade of roses. I held her up to the window, this girl that seemed to be the projection of my soul, and the rushing light of the city traffic below shone through so that it almost looked like blood running through veins in her face. She looked like me, but then again she didn’t; she could have been my sister. It was then that I realised this was the identity I had been searching for, and as long as it existed, rooted deeply in my subconscious, I could not be happy, because I could not be her. 

 

 This artwork is by one of my favourite illustrators and fellow Melbourne creative Emma Leonard! I'm sure I've talked about her on this blog before, but she really is the bees knees! This isn't painted with make up, obviously, but I guess you could say this is similar to what I can see in my brain! Anyways, you can check more of her stuff here if you like, or visit her inspiration blog here! 

Beastman

I adore these artworks from Sydney based artist Beastman!
The colours! The whimsy! The geometry! If I saw one of these painted on a wall I would probably be the crazy freak trying to walk through it into whatever amazing world is waiting on the other side.

He's having an exhibition at House of Bricks in Collingwood, from now until May 6th! I'm totally going to check it out. Come with?