D is for...

D is for Driving Force (show above) - the quilt I made my Rob for his 40th birthday. The images are abstracted from photographs of engine block and cylinder heads which I took in our garage (he's a bit of a rev-head).

D is for Drawing - which I'm trying to do as much as I can. One of the best things I'm getting from art school is a vast improvement in my drawing skills.

C is for....

C is for Crossroads - my first-prize-winning quilt, which hangs in pride of place in my family room. It is one of my favourites.

C is for Cooper, my gorgeous nephew - I love being an aunty!!

C is for Cara, shown here with Adam & Emma earlier this year. My first neice, first time I got to be an aunty. She is also the reason I became a mum - until she came along, I had decided that I didn't want to have children. She was a delightful baby and toddler, and inspired me to want my own family. Cara will be 18 later this year, and has grown into an amazing young woman who we all adore. I hope to get to spend more time with her if she comes to Wollongong University next year - she wants to be a teacher (and will be a fabulous one).

C is for Creativity, and living a creative life. I'm constantly working at it.

B is for...

B is for Bridges - this is the Bridges side of the family, otherwise known as the in-laws (or outlaws). I've been married so long that I can't imagine being anyone other than a Bridges. When did my maiden name start to sound so strange to me? Nic Bridges is the only name that fits anymore. I sort of like the idea of a bridge as a connecting structure - there are artistic concepts there that I will one day explore.


B is for Bonnie - my old faithful poodle. She is nearly 12 years old now, getting a bit crotchetty in her old age. But still a good dog through and through.

B is for Buddha - I'm not a Buddhist (nor anything else really), but I find the imagery (and many of the philosophies) of eastern faiths so appealing. This is a photo I took at the Nan Tien Buddhist Temple when we visited for the Chinese New Year Celebrations earlier this year.

B is also for Busy - as anyone who has visited this blog before knows, Busy is my middle name.

B is for Balance too - something I'm constantly seeking in my life, but beginning to suspect will continue to be elusive.

A-Z of Me

A few of my favourite bloggers have started a new Meme for August called the A-Z of Me. Check them out on Caity's and Pixie's blogs. I thought it seemed like fun, and might help me get back into the habit of blogging regularly. So here goes...

A is for Adam - my first-born child, gorgeous goofball, creative, clever & constant source of amusement and amazement.



A is for Art (of course) - any of you who know me will recognise art as my passion. I just love it - it feeds my soul, gladdens my heart, captures my imagination. Today was another painting day for the Tullimbah Painting School (see my earlier post). The weather was not so friendly today, it was blowing an absolute gale. Below is my morning's effort. After three hours of painting, we all troup inside to enjoy lunch in the restaurant. The paintings are hung on the walls and we vote on our favourites. I was thrilled that the group awarded me second place!

Art School Progress

Some snaps from my week at school - I am really enjoying having a full day of drawing on Tuesdays. Below is a sample of what was achieved this Tuesday - we had portrait models for the morning class plus a life model in the afternoon for general drawing. I was in the zone.


This is my favourite - another portrait of Kim, a lovely clear-skinned student. I am so thrilled to be able to get a likeness, something I doubted I'd ever be able to do.


I've finished two of these relief sculptures now - so much fun!!

My productive week...

I've had another great week at art school - I really feel like I'm achieving so much and I'm so excited by the progress I can see in my work. We have moved into portraiture in our Life Drawing class - here is this week's drawing of our model Damian.


On Tuesday afternoons I've joined a General Drawing class. This week we all met down at the boat harbour for some outdoor sketching. It was a gorgeous mild afternoon, and thoroughly enjoyably to sit in the sun and draw. Sorry about the blurry photo!

Today in Sculpture I finished this construction piece. It's such fun to arrange and re-arrange found objects and recycled junk into a cohesive composition.

I made a start on my next piece, but it needs more work. Three hours in the sculpture studio just FLIES past!!

And just cause it's been a while since I showed you anything remotely quilty, here's a shot of my worktable where I've laid out the fabric ready to start on a new quilt. I've got a scrummy selection of Lisa's hand-dyes, a hand-painted overlay (I used a new product I can't think of the name of - it's similar to Lutradur, but slightly finer - and painted it with shimmery Setacolour paints) and some strips of fabric which I stamped yesterday with a carved-by-me rubber stamp.

I'll have to keep you in suspense from here on in - I won't be able to show you this quilt till later this year. But don't all the makings look delicious together?

Back to School (Hurrah!!!)

We all went back to school today - the kids to their respective schools, and me to art school. I'm celebrating on both counts - thank goodness the kids are out of my hair & their days are occupied and thank goodness for art school - I've missed it for the past month.

Here is a selection of the days work - I've completed my Colour & Design course, so have joined a General Drawing class on Tuesday afternoons (thus the guitars, etc). In Life Drawing we have moved into Portraiture - today our subject was a gorgeous young 2nd year called Kim who was lovely to draw.

I particularly like this quick and energetic sketch of the stuffed crow from the art school props storeroom - the drawing only took a few minutes when I was warming up at the beginning of the lesson, but I'm really quite happy with it. I think I'll dedicate it to my dear friend Brenda, who loves our feathered friends ;-))))

Another Sunday Flies By...

Today was another busy Sunday, had a quiet coffee this morning, painted for a little while, then headed over to Mum's place for lunch. My "Earth Mother" quilt had just arrived back from its travels with the "I Remember Mama" exhibition, and it was time to take it to it's final home. For those who are not familiar, the quilt is a portrait of my late grandmother who was (and continues to be) my biggest inspiration in my life. We still miss her so much, my Mum most of all - she was so not ready to lose Nan. So, this quilt has always been for her - I know she will love it. It now hangs in pride of place in Mum's dining room.


It has been another busy week, but with many distractions with Rob and the kids home on holidays from school and work. I found it hard to settle down and get much work done, but I did finally clean off my desk - I really needed to clear some space to work. See how nice it looks?

I fear it won't stay that way for long.

This week is back to school for the kids as well as me, plus I have two new groups of Contemporary Techniques classes starting - all systems are go!!

Squared Up

Lisa gave me a copy of some professional photographs she had taken of our prizewinning collaboration, so I thought I'd pass them on to you. You can get a good look at the quilting in the closeup shots. I used three different threads (a blue/green variegated, a purple, and a gold metallic) to achieve the quilting design, which is all done freehand.

I'm Baaaaaaack!!!

What a week it was! I'm still recovering from the excitement. Here's me with my Crossroads quilt (note the blue ribbon!!!). Note also the dopey grin - I still haven't wiped it off my face!
This is the centre of my Bluebird of Happiness quilt. Please excuse the bad photography - the shiny material is a bugger to photograph (never mind the questionable skills of the photographer).

And here we are in front of our prizewinning collaboration. You can see some of Lisa's wonderful work, but this doesn't really show up the quilting very well.

More quilt show highlights to come.