the start of something big



Freedom #2

Remember way back when (think I few months back) I used to live in the little cottage, on the hills of Ythanbrae, and on weekends I would make yummy yummy coffee and sell pretty art at the gallery? Well we returned to Yea only a week after moving to Brindabella for the opening night of an amazing exhibition. An exhibition by our friend Ben Simpson, an incredible photographer who is the brains behind OGA Design, a rural marketing company which is getting bigger and better and busier than ever! Ben's wife Julia also works in the company as well as being an accomplished silversmith, her works are also available at Gallery 34.

Well, how could Mr M and I walk away from these works of art and not take at least one or two home?! As soon as I saw Freedom #2 I fell in love with the movement, the colouring, the shape and the sheer scale of the canvas. It is definitely going to fill up our lounge room! Mr M couldn't bear to leave without purchasing his favourite Winter Muster #1 also, a beautiful image which captures a moment Mr M loves, mustering cattle in the late afternoon or early morning sun. I told him whenever he has a bad day with livestock to meditate on this photo!



Both pieces are being shipped to us as the exhibition has now closed. I can't wait to hang them in our new home, the first of what will hopefully be a lifelong collection of artwork.

Oh and did I mention Ben has kindly accepted to take the photos at our wedding?! He is perfect for our occasion, with our focus wanting to be on the rural outlook and landscape rather than on us and he is someone we know and trust to make for a relaxing and casual affair.

(Apologies: I can't seem to get Winter Muster image to work - but will have a photo of it soon on our wall hopefully!!)

{ Gallery 34 }

Two Friday's ago the doors were flung open to my friend (and Monty's mum) Liv Lawson's new adventure: Gallery 34 was open for business. The opening night was an absolute roaring success, about 120+ people when we were hoping for about 50-60! Great for business but pity you couldn't move or see the beautiful paintings!

 

The first exhibiting artist is Leone Gabrielle, a local artist from the Highlands who paints beautiful oil on canvas inspired by her yearly far north Queensland and Indonesian travels. Fluttering birds, vivid greens and dreamy blues dominate with a boldness that is somehow both very ethereal and feminine as well as spirited and dramatic. Liv plans to exhibit local artists for solo exhibitions, each one lasting 4-6 weeks. The local art scene in this area around Yea, Mansfield and up to Benalla has really come along in the past 5 years. A gallery in Yea is such an exciting venture for the arts in the Murrindindi Shire, a credit to Liv's belief in rural business and culture.

The Yea Business and Tourism Association has been trying to promote the area as a destination in itself, not a pit stop on your way to a final destination. Most of the traffic through Yea, in fact I would say almost all of it, is headed for Mt Buller. Businesses such as Gallery 34 are branding Yea as a new tourist hotspot, more of a Daylesford or Beechworth rather than a glorified toilet stop! 

 

The gallery itself was once the town bank, a beautiful old building with double brick (nice and warm in winter and cool in summer) with grand arched windows which let the natural light flood in. Liv went about a total re-vamp of the building - polishing the original floorboards, painting throughout, ripping out some walls and putting up others to create more wall space for artwork. The old bank vault has been transformed into a kids playroom! 

 

What grabs you the most is the details that have gone into the styling of the space - something which I really notice and appreciate in cafes, galleries and retail spaces. The counter tops were custom made and are a polished concrete, giving a wonderful industrial feel. The lighting fixtures above the main counter were sourced by Liv after she went on a hunt for a recycled alternative - they are actually old pianola scrolls with indentations, grooves and lyrics still visible. Even going to the toilets is a pleasure with walls adorned with a big sprawling tree featuring vintage wallpaper remnant leaves and a wall decal I like to think as the old banker watching over us all...

 

Coffee is the order of the day - with Jasper free trade and organic coffee (and milk!) being served. The coffee Liv has chosen to use is from Peru and is produced by women, who benefit from the free trade with new facilities for their villages and business training. A range of locally made cakes, muffins and biscuits are also on offer. The solid cafe furniture was handmade from recycled timber by Liv's clever brother, with a big communal farmhouse style table with bench seats. 

Gorgeous cards are also available, all from recycled papers and most using non-toxic, vegetable based inks and made in Melbourne. (I personally am a sucker for a good card...) JMP silver jewellery features in the gallery, with custom made stamped discs popular to adorn bracelets or necklaces with children's names or birthdates or simple words of love. 

Getting this project off the ground was a huge undertaking which has only come to its fruition through Liv's hard work, determination and passion to create a beautiful space in her town. Well done Liv - I'm sure Tom and your boys are so proud of what you have been able to achieve and create from scratch to make it truly your own. 

Gallery 34 is at 34 High Street, Yea and is open the following hours:

Thursdays - 9 to 4

Fridays - 9 to 4

Saturdays - 9 to 4

Sundays - 10 to 4 (pssst...if you're lucky I might be working on a Sunday and make you a coffee!)

Website is still under construction but should be up and running this week: www.gallery34.com.au


Photography by Emma Durkin Photographics

{ Point + Shoot }

This weekend Mr M and I trundled off on a lovely day trip to Hanging Rock, Woodend, Daylesford and Hepburn Springs. I have been wanting to go over that way to rummage through antique shops,  visit galleries and pop into the Lark bricks and mortar shop.

We scrambled up Hanging Rock then went onto Woodend for a yummy coffee and friand at a lovely deli, admired a beautiful big oak farmhouse-style table that we both really wanted, onto to Daylesford for lots of shopping, art admiring and bazaar rummaging. 

 

I came away from my diggings with a gold ornate photo frame which I have no idea what I will do with but said I would grab one if I saw one (and it was $5). Mr M got an Australian map book and I picked up a 1960 edition of The Potato Growers Digest produced by the Victorian Department of Agriculture. For those that don't know my family are potato farmers, this little publication was full of golden gems of articles and photos which I plan to frame. Was so interesting reading the articles, in 1960 they were getting excited about yielding 6 tonnes to the acre, now we do about 20 tonnes to the acre!! 

  

I followed my nose up the hill and around the corner after getting a bit excited seeing the Lark a-frame on the main street, Mr M had no idea what the fuss was about pfffft. It was as cute as I imagined, lots of Cath Kidston, crochet food, pretty cards and general British charm. What I was most impressed with was the visual merchandising and styling, it just makes such a difference to a retail space and I thought Lark was by far the most well styled shop in Daylesford.

We visited Clayfire Gallery where I swooned over Sara Paxtan's work (if you visit the gallery website the images simply do not do the work justice, I am still fantasising about the piece 'Dusk' sitting on my still blank wall above the dining table). Then onto Hepburn Springs to see what all the fuss was over mineral water but the sun was beginning to set so we started to make our way slowly back to Ythanbrae, stopping in for a good old 'counter-ey' at a pub in Kilmore.

  

 

What did you get up to on your weekend? 

Go anywhere? 

See anything? 

Or did you just stay at home and do housework like we did yesterday? And by housework I mean a serious Spring clean - have never seen our kitchen that sparkling!

Jump over to fat mum slim to see some other point + shoot's from the weekend.

{ Truth Be Told }

Roaming around on Made It I found these whimsical illustrations by Jess Hyde, a Melbourne designer. Her Made It shop Truth.Be.Told is full of designs inspired by fashion illustration, sewing and muted tones {I am loving the pink and grey}. Here are a few of my favourites...

Isn't the last one just too cute? I would really like this as a print in our bedroom. It would be a great wedding, anniversary or Valentines present too.

{All images from truth.be.told }

{ Illustrator Love }

My new favourite illustrator, Erin Petson.

{ Cow Art }

I would very much like to get some 'cow art'. I know. What the hell am I thinking? But if I find the right piece it will work very well with my modern rustic farmhouse. {Is that what I'm calling it?!}

{via House Beautiful}

This fireplace setting works well with the pale brickwork, woven basket, blonde wood chair and natural carpet. That mantle is a beautiful piece of wood, as is our magnificent mantle in the cottage {that I am yet to post photos of, I know, I know, bad blogger}.

Meanwhile, some livestock images I am quite fond of...

Top to bottom via
Tamara Watson,
Susannah Tucker,
Allison Trentelman

It is proving hard to find something I like which features the black Angus cattle which we run here at Ythanbrae though - a lot of photographers/artists tend to focus on the Friesian or Hereford cows. A lot of the photos or paintings I'm drawn to though are more landscapes rather than portraits? Perhaps I am playing it safe? I do love Sharon Montrose's work though. Now there's a portrait of a sheep, a goat, a goose, a deer...

{via Sharon Montrose}

Okay, so I confess. I may already have some 'cow art'. This piece below {illustration?} came with the cottage, it was hanging on a wall in the empty house when we moved in, so I feel that the cottage sort of 'owns' it, which is nice. I love the frame, but the illustration is just a page out of a magazine I think and is all crinkled. It's not much of a statement piece which is what I would like above the fireplace, but am worried that I am getting too obsessed with images of cows, goats, chooks and geese and my house will look like a crazy menagerie!

{ Too hot? Too cold? }

I've been looking at artwork to possibly go in the bathroom for after it is painted white (at the moment is a terrible powder blue) I thought it would be a lot easier than it has been finding non-tacky, cool artwork for a bathroom! There are the cliched usuals that can go up (seashells, beach scenes, perfume bottle imagery) but I don't like anything too beachy and I don't want the bathroom to be too feminine - after all it's just as much Mr M's bathroom as it is mine!

What do we think of these prints from etsy seller bethberg? I'd like to put them in frames like the white box ones from Corban and Blair or the {standard} Ikea Ribba frame - although I have had trouble in the past with the quality of the Ribba, I think I would spend the extra money to invest in a frame that isn't going to fall apart!

Silver or white??? The walls are going to be white and I always thought the white frames would look good...but now that I look at the prints, which are a bit gritty, I kind of like the industrial look of the silver, especially in my bathroom where the towel rails are silver...

{ Tuesday's Object of Desire }

These prints from Melbourne (and Wellington, NZ) based Sweet William is this Tuesday's Object of Desire. I love that the three sisters live on opposite sides of the Tasman and due to modern conveniences like skype, blogging and running an etsy shop, they can run a successful business together. Genius.

The lovely ladies behind Sweet William try to (and successfully) use recycled, upcycled or reclaimed materials - a double incentive to support their already gorgeous designs. I love the line drawing of the print below, reminds me of doodling I'd do during algebra at high school!

Find Sweet William at their etsy shop, their madeit shop and at their blog. They are also a part of the great Magnolia Square market which I am hoping to get down to Melbourne to a have a look at this weekend.

{ Craft Studio Mood Board }

I absolutley love makingitlovely.com, I can't wait for a new post to appear in my reader from Nicole. I am in awe of how she puts things together in her home. I don't particularly subscribe to a lot of her style (I'm a bit more rustic/whimsical/not as modern) but it just works so well together. Nicole does amazing mood boards for her many projects she undertakes in overhauling her new home. I thought I'd give it a try... Click on the image above to see a larger version.

I am slowly taking over the spare bedroom to totally be devoted to my Little Miss Emma creations. My must-have, big-ticket item is a high bench to cut fabric on like the Stenstorp kitchen island from Ikea. I bought the gateleg table as a bit of a sewing station but have found it not high enough to cut on but good for sewing on (can reach the pedal whereas on a high bench you couldn't).

I didn't want it to be too pink so I think just a pop of colour with the raspberry chandelier (from etsy seller MyFinch) and some pink prints (from etsy seller HadleyHutton) would do the trick. Everything else is a bit too Ikea-inspired I'm finding?? I would like a French inspired Louis chair but thought that a swivel chair on wheels would be more useful? And just so happens that Ikea has one I like! Hmmm...not sure, looks too much like an Ikea catalogue?

The whole house is getting painted in the next month - inside and out - and I want the interior to be Antique White USA by Dulux. I'll be posting about paint colours soon though...

{ Pink swirls }

I have fallen head over heels in love with these prints by etsy artist TrishWA, visit her etsy shop http://www.trishwa.etsy.com/ and support beautifully created artwork by grassroots artists!

What is slowly shaping up to be my little work area/creative studio (aka the spare bedroom...) is getting a facelift, and I'm thinking of getting this print and framing it for the little room??? We'll see...stay tuned for updates about my studio overhaul and how I am constantly looking for ways to improve it, organise it (fabric, ribbons, cotton reels coming out of my ears) and make it a yummy place to work in.