Favourite things at home - a personal look

I want to share a few things that make my days a joy, the things that live in my house, given to me, found and bought. These things are around me all the time. I realised the other day that they are what 'pep up' my tired moments, the dull bits. They inspire me in shape, smell, colour, references to my family (love, warmth, history). They speak to me of life, who I am.

Other random pages to check out for tangent views of home and objects

Christine Hellyar (one of my tutors at Elam Fine Arts) focused on the idea of the home or nest as both haven and trap, and explored the concept of ‘shelter’ in the 80's...

A little blog 'art of the found object' focusing on the details of found things...

One man’s trash is another man’s castle, check out this home sculpted from found objects at The Selvedge Yard

And here are my pics:

Flowers my daughter picks most sunny days
to put in the kitchen window

The (red) coffee perk that was given to my
mum & dad when they got married -
that mum gave to me - and now it does a
mean brew in about 10 minutes on the gas hob

it's a glass 'cloche' cake stand
mum gave us for our house warming

I was given this tea pot by a best friend when
I was in my late teens - and I still have it
intact despite all the house'flat moves I've done

Bought this piece in Nelson on one of my
very few 'single' holidays,
Mum said 'buy jewellery', so I did that too!

I love the chandeliers in our house,
this one's in the lounge

I was given these as a gift to go with some
of my other beachy things

I bought my china cabinet with money
made from painting, everything in it is a
treasure - family hand-downs, gifts,
keepsakes for my kids...

A lamp made from some kind of course-
weave paper, a wedding present

A painting I did, it hangs in a corner
of the kitchen that catches my eye first
thing whenever I go in there

My sister gave me these, from Perth.
I wear them many days in the week. I don't have much
time to think about clothes with two small kids
& they go with nearly everything I put on

Two Chinese-style fans I love,
random purchase from Trade Me

These literally cost me about $4 each
and I've had them for years - some kind
of resin that the light really filters through
in a great way

I love these handles in the kitchen,
I use them everyday, & everyday I think
how I love them still!

I searched for a while till I found these
place mats about three years ago.

My Mum-in-law made these bags (8 of them)
to carry things to amuse my daughter while I
was feeding her baby brother. They are gorgeous with bows,
tassles, sewn ribbons, pockets and more...

I always wanted one of those house & garden
bed linen looks. Finally I bought
a few things that match - the white bedspread was key,
so was the silver fur throw and cushions

Every year we buy a new heart for our anniversary

The ceiling rose in our bedroom. Sometimes I
think how awful it would be if it fell
down while I was sleeping. But most times I just
love it's size and grandeur

Little pink and blue bird fridge magnets

One of two black slab vases (large and heavy!)
with fantastic blue & orange splatter glass mosaic
pieces embedded

Mum bought me a blank recipe book with
cinnamon quills on the spine, then she wrote
her favourite and my grandma's favourite
recipes inside x

Mango foot loofah soap (from my sis again),
it 's like having a mini foot massage

Kaipara Coast Sculpture Gardens

Yesterday, Sunday 20th November, I was invited to the opening of Kaipara Coast Sculpture Gardens Exhibition opening for 2012 near Helensville - just passed Kaukapakapa. Besides the glasses of bubbly and cream scones being a draw card for someone as perpetually hungry as me, I had a great time looking at the sculpture. When I mean looking, I mean staring at each piece through my camera pretty much the whole time and on the run. I had about an hour and a half to go round, which sounds a lot, but not really when there are something like 61 sculptures to view. I had baby sitting, but just till 5pm (and as it was I got back a half past five), which was added incentive to make the most/be efficient with my time.

So there I was looking, looking my brain rattling an internal monologue something like, 'light, more light, faster shutter, no slower shutter, change the iso, zoom in, move over there a bit, nearly, bugger, shutter too slow overexposed, where's the best angle, will those people move?, where's the backlight coming from?, don't breathe, nah that's blurry, oooh good shot! don't twist an ankle, wow that's beautiful, wish so and so could see that...' and words to that effect.

Really, despite the fantastic sculpture being the main draw card, I think it was also the exercise of photographing each piece that made it a distinctive experience for me. I had to think on the run, process each piece quickly, ask questions about lighting, how it fit the space and so on. My experience was immediate and strongly based on how I could compose a good shot. The photos shown here, are not just my favourite pieces, but also the ones that made good images - the ones that didn't photograph so well were mainly due to my fault (blurry), not because they weren't any good as sculptures!

If you want to visit for yourself, see Kaipara Coast Sculpture gardens website for details. Essentially it's about an hour's drive from central Auckland and takes about 1 to 1.5 hours to walk round the 1km trail, no wheelchair access but kids buggies are fine. They are putting a cafe into the plant centre apparently which I vote for with both hands up, but currently there is really nice seating undercover for picnics (wine please!). The plant centre is a great view and there are loads of little garden decorations to buy - I love the glass wall flowers for $9.95 each!

View from my seat on the grass during opening speeches