Fashion, aging and how to get it right...

Fashion, aging and how to get it right....A lot has been written on style...I love Audrey Hepburn and Coco Chanel...also Debbie Harry aka Blondie, Innes and many more. I adore the 1930's, hats, scarves and bangles particularly if I have made them myself or 'redesigned' existing ones.
Op shopping is a buzz and out comes the box of stuff to make them my own...not erasing their history, but carrying it into my arena. At the centre of any fashion arena is ....the Body One Has. Back to aging and style ...check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4znrNtLKDE4

 ...it will truly make you smile!

I recently wrote in musing...

'Style has many characteristics. Of course, some are obvious such as an understanding of what is appropriate for occasion, personality and the aesthetics of 'making it all work' visually....colour, texture, proportion, flow etc. But it is the innate relationship we have with our body on any given day that dictates our clothes' message to the onlooker. Age, experience, money, education or beauty won't cut it alone. If you take that body and dress it like a precious and sacred object every day, regardless of how the world has been treating you, your own honest, uncontrived and instinctive style will be enough. Begin lovingly with the personal in all its flesh and form and just drape it until it feels done without trying too hard. Then leave the house with confidence that it is the one thing you absolutely own.'

Pelicans in south west New South Wales Australia..

hello?...were they flying south for the summer?

a lot more rocks....

Love paint...another one on the go...

my half finished painting..

talking to myself

I have not been writing here...stating the obvious, huh? But I have been reading many blogger's postings and finding a common thread amongst we middle-aged women. There is an all pervading search for comfort on a daily basis that is driving us mad! That quest takes us into domains of calming offerings for spiritual affirmations....poems, quotes from the wise, sites to purchase candles, crystals, astrological or tarot readings, self-help books and the love of people we have never met. It also drives us to dwell in fantasy by reading about the lifestyles of others, seeing beautiful objects that transport us to exotic places and trawling on-line fashion shows so we can be in the clothes...in them for a moment. You may notice that I am a little taken with all things French...but I am not French so I can appropriate there. My ideal in food is Mediterranean style and I am lucky to live as an Australian.
Free from much of the world's horror in my own backyard.
So I have been talking to myself a lot about what I'm looking for these days.
It's still the same thing...contentment....je ne sais quoi.....bien dans sa peau....(comfortable in one's skin).
So how do you, after 56 years on earth, continue to chase that pot of gold when it keeps moving?
The Delphic Oracle says 'Know Thyself'....'Connais-toi toi-meme'....
Look at the Blogs I follow and you will find many more answers on the same theme.
It is all about Mental Health, Style, Fashion, Body Image, Relatedness and Nos petits demons....our little demons.
What are yours? And how do you deal with them?

graduates - authentic artworks - happy students

My senior art class are nearing the end of our time together. I have enjoyed teaching them immensely and find that they have all jumped a gap in the past few months. The knowledge that their world is about to be redesigned is both daunting and exciting. I have encouraged them above all, to be authentic beings. To be true to oneself can make us periodically unpopular, difficult to be around and restless until we figure it all out. Of course, it takes decades. All the self-help books, slogans, platitudes and outside advice serves to stir some ancient truth in us, but making art and writing from the heart are two of the valuable practices that will ensure the quest resonates with something close to joy. I do wish them well and am cheerfully grateful for what they each have taught me in return.