Lines and Pixels

Some of my recent art work ~

I would show the inspiration for these two ladies, but I don’t have one particular picture.  Rather the idea for them grew from vintage inspired tattoo art mixed with vintage pattern illustrations and finally, a picture I drew a while ago of a Japanese courtier.    Random mix no? 

But it produced something I am quite pleased with.  I want to try to paint these with acrylics, but I have to figure a way to get my line art onto canvas without spending a fortune.  I think that tracing might be my best bet.  I shall have to experiment.  

Sorry for the huge watermarks, but I really can’t risk these pictures getting stolen.  So although I know it’s not going to stop determined art thieves, I sure hope that it’s enough to deter them considering that I do not think that any one would particularly want to steal these anyway!

I drew all these pictures while in Perth, and I wanted to show you, but had to wait until I got home and could scan them.   I haven’t drawn any more line art since I got home, but I have coloured the last picture:

And finally, a bit of fun.  

If you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen my Tweet about how I have not done any pixel art in forever and I wanted to do some thanks to Cherri Drop from Pink Padded Cell.   She did these cute as dividers and backgrounds ~

To see more of her pixel art go here.  I was inspired and drew Ichi~chan and animated him!  It was great to get back to some pixel art and I had fun doing it.

So that wraps up my latest artistic shenanigans; if you are interested in prints of any of my work, or would like to talk about commissioning me to do a specific piece of work for you, please contact me at bonita@bdotdepictions.com.

You can also visit my studio www.bdotdepictions.com to view my online portfolio of photography and art.  

xox,

bonita

Porcelain, Pink & Pancakes! ~ Outfit Thirty Three

  

I found this darling porcelain broach on one of my thrifting jaunts and although it’s the only vintage broach I have at the moment, I am definitely keeping my eye out for more! 

I once had a beautiful blue cameo broach with a bunch of white flowers on it pinned to one of my winter coats but I lost it…  So won’t be making that mistake again!!

Husband climbed our tree to get some photos but I didn’t end up keeping any in the post except the one below.  Oh well; good exercise for him I am sure! 

  

Accessories  ~  Lacy headband  {Diva}  Rose Earrings  {Equip}  Porcelain Broach  {Thrifted}   Rose Bracelet  {Equip} 
Pink  knit top  {Thrifted}   Skirt  {Brought in some random shop}   Shoes  {New Look; UK} 

~ * ♥ * ~

Happy Mother’s Day Weekend everyone!  

I am in the weird camp of sort of being counted as a mother and sort of not…  Technically, my baby is really truly real even if he exists inside not outside of me, and technically I am doing everything that I have to do to take care of my baby that I am going to have to do once he/she arrives anyway.  It’s just that it’s all on autopilot at the moment and that sort of makes me feel like I am cheating!

So Happy Mother~To~Be Day for the expecting Moms out there like me.    > ω <

I wore this outfit to lunch with my in~laws, we had lovely home made soup with home made bread and crepes for dessert!  So delicious ~ I was stuffed!  I adore home made bread, and one of these days I might try my hand at baking some.  I think I might need a bread maker first; although I know you can do it without one.  I think it’s just longer and harder to do. 

What homemade foods are your favourites?

xox,

bonita

Her Books

Let me just say that I love books.  I have not really mentioned it on Depict This! but seriously, I am an addict.  I am collecting new ones all the time, and my dream house has a massive library with ceiling to floor, wall to wall bookshelves and a ladder to reach the top ones!  Sort of like Beast’s library in Disney’s “Beauty & The Beast” if you have seen it! 

If I ever go on the “Hoarders” show, it will be for having too many books.  Not that I think that that is even possible….   Heh, I might need help sooner than I think! > o <

My mother says that the one thing she taught me to do well is read, and while she taught me how to do far more than just one thing well, I must agree that reading is probably top of the list. 

Apparently the BBC says that most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books on the list below.  That is surprising to me, an avid reader and lover of print, but then again, the world would be so boring if we all liked the same things.

I love sitting down with a good book and a cup of tea, but I often read my old favourites over and over again, so I am not in a hurry to get through this list.  And, to be perfectly honest, there are probably quite a few books that I would not want to read anyway.  So if I do read most of the list, I think I will be doing fairly well!  Anyway, shall we see how many I have gotten through?

~  BBC’s Top 100 Reads  ~

1.  Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen x {Love it – I will read this one over and over again, and never get tired of it.}

2.  The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien x {A good book series once you get past all the walking.  Seriously there is too much walking!}

3.  Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte x {*shudders* Creepy. Sorry, but I don't like the Bronte sisters at all.}

4.  Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

5.  To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee x {Started it - wanted to finish, but it wasn't my book and I couldn't borrow it.  *Edit – I did end up finishing it; I had just forgotten.  It's a powerful read.  Not something I'd read over and over again, but still good. }

6.  The Bible x {I think it goes without saying that this one's my favourite... }

7.  Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte x (Stupid. And creepy.)

8.  Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

9.  His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10.  Great Expectations - Charles Dickens 

11.  Little Women - Louisa M Alcott x {Love this book ~ I've read all four in the Little Women series, they are so much fun!  But the last one "Jo's Boys" is really sad.. *sniff* }

12.  Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thoms Hardy

13.  Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

14.  Complete Works of Shakespeare x {Not quite - do Terry Prachett's versions count? I do love The Tempest however, I find it hilarious, The Merchant of Venice and a Midsummer Night's Dream.}

15.  Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16.  The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien x {This book was so funny and I found it really easy to read after the slog of LoTR times 3!}

17.  Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks

18.  Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

19.  The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20.  Middlemarch - George Eliot

21.  Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

22.  The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

23.  Bleak House - Charles Dickens

24.  War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy x {I have started this, but my copy that I found is missing a whole bunch of pages that I did not notice, so I have stopped.  I need a complete story!}

25.  The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams x {Yes, and unsurprisingly the book is better than the movie too.}

26.  Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh

27.  Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28.  Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29.  Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll x {Anyone out there that has not read this one?}

30.  The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame x {I adore Ratty and Mole and Badger. Toad was always a silly fool to me - even when I was quite little!}

31.  Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32.  David Copperfield - Charles Dickens x {Sad, sad, sad.}

33.  Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis x {Another series I keep coming back to and loving everytime.}

34.  Emma - Jane Austen x

35.  Persuasion - Jane Austen x {I've read all of Jane Austen's stuff. She's just so brilliant!}

36.  The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis x

37.  The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38.  Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Berniere

39.  Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden x {Such a happy sad ending, I really love this one.  Both the movie and the book.}

40.  Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne x {Winne-the-Pooh - yay!}

41.  Animal Farm - George Orwell x {I personally thought this book was silly, although I did see the point he was making}

42.  The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown 

43.  One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44.  A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45.  The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46.  Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery x {I have read them all ~ they are so timeless and so good; I love Anne spelt with an 'e'!}

47.  Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48.  The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

49.  Lord of the Flies - William Golding

50.  Atonement - Ian McEwan

51.  Life of Pi - Yann Martel

52.  Dune - Frank Herbert

53.  Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54.  Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen x

55.  A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56.  The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57.  A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

58.  Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

59.  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

60.  Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61.  Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62.  Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63.  The Secret History - Donna Tart

64.  The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65.  Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas x {This is such an awesome, truly EPIC novel!}

66.  On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67.  Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68.  Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding x {One and Two.}

69.  Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70.  Moby Dick - Herman Melville x

71.  Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens x

72.  Dracula - Bram Stoker

73.  The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett x

74.  Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75.  Ulysses - James Joyce

76.  The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

77.  Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78.  Germinal - Emile Zola

79.  Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray {I saw the movie and I really do not want to read this book.}

80.  Possession - AS Byatt

81.  A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens x

82.  Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83.  The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84.  The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85.  Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86.  A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87.  Charlotte’s Web - EB White x {One of my childhood favourites}

88.  The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89.  Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle x

90.  The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton x {Ooooo - I loved Enid Blyton as a kid!}

91.  Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92.  The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupéry x

93.  The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94.  Watership Down - Richard Adams x {The best book with animals I can think of ~ beautifully written with such a captivating story.}

95.  A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96.  A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97.  The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas x

98.  Hamlet - William Shakespeare

99.  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl x {One and two!}

100.  Les Miserables - Victor Hugo {I want to read this very badly...}

~* ♥ * ~

So I have managed to read 35 books off the list and there a quite a few more I am interested in going through; so I should be busy with that and all the other books I am always adopting!

Oh, and do share how many you have read!  I would love to know the count, and which ones are your favourites.   ^  w  ^

xox,

bonita

Quick Share ~ Blogging Style

I discovered this post on No Sign Posts in the Sea on Thursday, and found it such a good read.  I often wonder about my reluctance to take outfit photos when I think the outfit isn’t good enough ~ where does that hesitance originate from?

What is the point of outfit posting for me?  Is it merely a chance to record the clothes I wear on any given day, or something more than that? 

In commenting on this post I actually discovered something about myself, my blogging and my outfits!  For me, blogging outfits is more than just recording an event in my day {I get dressed; this is what I wore}.   For me is a chance to explore different looks or styles, or even just to have fun with the clothes I am in.   Sure, I stick pretty closely to one given style, but that’s because I want too ~ because I have seen what other people are wearing and although I think it looks great on them; it’s not for me.

I also adore the opportunity that outfit posting affords me to revel another way of creating art.  Putting clothes and photographs together is fun.  I like to take the artistic medium of photography and use it frame the practical medium of clothes.   Even when Husband is taking the photos I am always asking him to take a shot of this pose, with that angle, etc, etc; I am always a part of composing the picture and I do all the editing and polishing to get the final results. 

Some people don’t like the fantasy aspect of the editorial style of fashion blogging and I understand that ~ they want real life inspiration from realistic records of outfits and style choices.  But I guess as an artist I tend to be looking for style inspiration that I can twist and use in a way I want to.  I don’t need to see the same item worn one hundred different ways, I want to think up the hundred different ways to wear it myself!

I also want to absorb pictures and images I consider to be beautiful and combine them into something new.   So for me, I find that easier to do with fantasy styled fashion inspiration/photographs/blogs than with what some people consider the more accurate/honest/truthful outfit photographs. 

I did not even know I thought like that until I read this post, so sorry for the long essay, but please do read this article.  It’s very interesting!

On personal style, blogging, and our narratives

For the past couple of days wearing clothes has felt very organic to me, just natural. I haven't thought twice about what to wear in the mornings; I've just grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt and gone with it. The interesting thing is that I have felt really good about the clothes I have worn, but that I haven't thought of taking outfit pictures, because the clothes have not felt blogging-worthy, and this worries me a little. Actually, it is not even the blogging-worthiness. It is more about the problem I am starting to have with style blogging in general. I feel like the style blog narrative is starting to escape from my grasp, or perhaps that my own issues with personal style are escaping from the world of style blogging altogether.

I have often wondered what long-term style blogging does to our style. I started blogging a little over three years ago because I had become a clothes hoarder and a bit of a shopping addict. I felt like I needed to get my head around what I really thought about fashion, personal style, shopping and body image….

xox,

bonita

P.S.  ~  Here is the link to Part Two  if you are also interested:   

On personal style, blogging, and our narratives, part 2

Apples & Autumn Leaves ~ Outfit Thirty Two

*Heavy Picture Post Alert* 

 

I do not know how I did it, but I managed to pull off some decent photos with the self timer and now I have a huge picture post!  From one extreme to the other; but oh well.  : )   Looks like I am getting slightly better at this whole “take your own photo” thing.   Mind you, I did take a lot of photos over and over again, particularly at the beginning of this shoot, so that helped a lot.  If you think you’ve got the shot you want, my advice is to just make sure and do it again!

 

I was going to put these shoes up for sale; but then I wore them again and realized that even though they are a size to large for me, they really are too cute to let go….  So they’ve been reclaimed for my wardrobe.   ~ __ ^

 

My manicure for the week:

~  L.A. Girl Nail Lacquer  in “Lemon Ice”  ~
~  Konad stamping plate m71  ~

Accessories  ~  Hair Bow  {Best&Less}   Strawberry Earrings  {Best&Less}    Belt  {Thrifted}
Blouse  ~  Thrifted     Skirt  ~  Thrifted     Tights  ~  Random Stall Vendor {Florence, Italy} 
Socks  ~  Best&Less     Shoes  ~  DFO

Above:  Blooper reel!  Amabelle decided to come and play ‘coz it looked like I was doing something fun.  But then it was too boring so she ran away.    >  u  <

Left:  Baby bump at 37 weeks.  Hip, hip, hooray ~ we have made it to full term! 

~ * ♥ * ~

Yes, our house has blue sheds, blue fences, blue gates and a blue chimney!  Actually, the whole house is blue, except for the roof.   That’s why we decided to call it Blue Birch Cottage {as we also have a lone birch tree in our front yard.}!  I like this corner of our back yard; I am so glad we have an apple tree too.   >   <  

Anyway, enough babble from me, this post is already long enough.  Adieu!

xox,

bonita

How to ~ Sew your own wheat sacks

Last week I stitched myself some wheat sacks to use {pregnancy = sore back in a major way} and I thought I would show you all how I made them.  ^ ω ^

It is the first time I’ve had a chance to sit down at a sewing machine in months ~ and I must say it felt good!  I do like sewing, and I cannot wait to expand my skills {especially to the point of being able to sew a straight line. I am thinking that would be good….  = __ =; }. 

I have plans to sew basic things for the house and myself; like cushion covers and curtains, pouches for my handbag and then I want to move onto circle skirts so I can expand my vintage styled wardrobe.  But enough rambling; I am sure you just want me to get on with the tutorial, so here we go!

Note:  These are easy to sew, but time consuming if you aren’t a practised seamstress.  It took me around 3 hours to make two.

Gather your materials:

• Fabric {I used the flannelette on the right with the pandas on it ~ it was leftover in my stash from when I made my panda pants.}
• Measuring Tape
• Scissors
• Thread
• Velcro {or hook and eye tape as they called it!  > . >}
• Decorations {I bought lace and the left-hand purple fabric to make pretty, girly wheat sacks.  Unfortunately I did not have the time to sew them this week, I want to do them this Thursday.  I’ll add pictures when they are done.}
• Sewing Machine {or you could do it by hand if you are really keen!}
• Iron & Ironing Board

Step 1:  Measure out your wheat sacks.  You can make them any size or shape you want {think hearts, flowers, etc..}.   I just went with a basic square about 10 inches in diameter.

 

 

 

Step 2:   Measure an extra piece of material for the velcro to attach to on one side of the square.

 

 

 

~ * ♥  Pattern of the wheat sacks ♥ * ~

Step 3:  Iron your fabric; it makes it looks much more finished and professional if you iron EVERYTHING as you go.  Iron, iron, iron!

 

 

 

Step 4:  Cut your velcro to size.  Cut it smaller than the width of your fabric ~ you do not want it going all the way to the edges as this will make the seams too bulky.   I cut mine with about a 4cm gap on either side.

 

 

 

Step 5:  Go back to the ironing board.  Measure the edge you marked out for the velcro and fold the material over.  As you can see I added 1.2 inches to my 10 inch square. 

 

Step 6:  Press the material as you measure the fold over.  This will crease it and hold it in place so that you don’t have to worry about pins!

Plus it will give the material that nice clean edge. 

 

Step 7:  Pin your velcro in place.

 

 

 

Step 8:  Sew the velcro down, removing your pins as you go.   Just run a straight seam around every edge. 

 

 

 

Step 9:  Place the other piece of velcro on the other half of your wheat sack so that they line up.  Pin & sew.

 

 

 

Step 10:  Sew the three edges of your wheat sacks together with straight stitch.

 

 

 

This is what your wheat sack should look like after sewing the sides together.

 

 

 

 

Step 11:  Over lock the raw edges of your material.  Use a wide zigzag stitch and aim to have the stitches hit right on the edge of the material. 

If the zigzag goes just off the edge, that’s even better, because you want the thread to ‘wrap’ around the raw edge for the best protection against fraying.

 

Step 12:  At the top of the wheat sack you want to stitch a three-sided box crossing over your edge seam, going down the side of the velcro, and back across the edge seam.  This is to stop any wheat/rice grains from falling out that gap up the top.

 

 

Step 13:  Clip the bottom corners of your wheat sack on a diagonal, but be sure not to cut the straight seam!!  Turn the right way around and iron.

 

 

 

~ * ♥  Finished wheat sacks!  Fill with rice or wheat grains and enjoy. ♥ * ~

Well, that was a bit of a marathon!  I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and if you have any questions at all, please let me know.   Plus, I would love to see your own wheat sacks; I bet they are better than mine, so show me!  : D

xox,

bonita

Cleaning out my closet ~ *gasp* Pruning shoes???!

I am a shoe addict.   There is no doubt about it.  I like belts, hats and bags but if you are to add those up against shoes ~ my shoes win: hands down.

No, I do not have any designer shoes {Ah, Jeffery Campbell…. One of these days…}.  And no, my shoe closet is not as large as it could be, nor as large as I would love it to be! 

But at a healthy 30 + figure {Of course I am not including speciality shoes such as riding boots and snowboarding boots} I think I can put myself firmly in the shoe lover camp.

And just like any shoe lover I tend to collect, but never throw out.   When do you prune your shoe closet?  Should you ever throw out any of that precious foot wear out?  Well, I have actually thrown shoes out {once in a blue moon!} and these are the guidelines I have used in deciding what to keep and what to toss or donate.

When do you throw your shoes out?

~  Space & Storage

Okay, I admit I am a shocker with this one.  No, I do not have enough space in the bottom of my wardrobe for all my shoes.  No, I have no idea how I am going to fit them all into my new closet.  However, shoe addict as I am, even I admit there is a certain point where you have to draw the line.

• When you cannot put all your shoes away; now is the time to reassess your shoe collection.
• When you do not wear certain pairs of shoes for an extended period of time {about a year in my case!} because you have forgotten that you had them and they were buried under all the other shoes.

~  Wear & Tear

• When there are holes in the soles, top, lining or other significant structural damage to the shoe.  If they are a favourite pair, you might like to take them to a cobbler; but consider the cost of repairing them over finding another brand new favourite pair of shoes.
• When they are uncomfortable and you do not want to wear the shoes.  So far I have met few pairs of shoes that cannot be broken in, but if you do not have the time or the inclination to break them in, it is time to get rid of them.  Guaranteed you will pass over them every time for a more comfortable pair!
  

~  Out of Style

• When the shoes are out of style.  This one is tricky ~ your personal style may not be in fashion at the moment, but you still love your shoes.  For me, if the shoe is out of style and I do not like it any more ~ then it is time to get rid of them. 

I hope you found the last segment of Cleaning out my closet useful ~ as always, if you have any of your own tips and hints, let me know! 

xox,

bonita

Dig it up; my thrifting treasures!

~ * ♥  Happy feet!  A sneak preview of a pair of shoes in my video ♥ * ~

Yay! Thrifting!

So this is a mixed bag of thrifting jaunts ~ I bought the shoes in Perth, and the clothes in Canberra.   Mostly the clothing came from a thrifting expedition that was, in reality, a complete fail!

I had a mission to find some curtains {our poor house looks very naked with all the bare windows!} and ended up with a everything BUT curtains…..   A lamp, a wardrobe for baby’s things, clothing for me.  Yup, no curtains.  

Still I had some great finds, so all’s well it ends well yes?

xox,

bonita