Eric Carle

I was just so thrilled to find a new book by Eric Carle at Benn's books this morning. For those of you who don't know Carle writes children's book - he's best known for the much-loved 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'...now I'd kind of dismissed him as a bit of a one hit wonder but I delved a bit deeper when I really looked closely at the illustrations in the famous book and came to really love them. Is it a mix of watercolours and collages he uses? I'm not sure. In any case the illustrations have a lovely feel, quite alive and vibrant. When my 2-year old was given 'Pancakes, pancakes' I became pretty much hooked. Now I have in my hands this amazing new book which has already opened up a few artistic avenues to investigate. Now here's what caught my eye in the blurb: "Eric Carle ...grew up in Germany during the Second World War. There, his high-school art teacher secretly showed him works by the so-called "degenerate artists". These artists banned by the Nazi regime, were actually the leading masters of modern and abstract art, among them Franz Marc, whose work was not permitted to be shown in public". According to the blurb these experiences led Carle to the belief that children should be allowed to express their talents freely and joyfully. I really love this and I believe that Carle's belief is reflected in his beautiful books. 'The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse' is something special (so I believe - my 2 year old wanted Miffy instead and walked out with Carle's 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' counting book [stickers now all over the car window] and perhaps it's really a book for me. Full of life and colour. I just love it. Carle's 'I See a Star' like 'The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse' also gives insight into the artists' life. There's so much to love in his work...'I See a Song' has no words only gorgeous pictures. It's also animated on You Tube. I could go on and on...

The cookbook trail

Okay so I just read delicious.simply the best and the trail it lead me down is vast. OK, firstly I loved 'simply the best' - first cookbook (ever) where I've thought, yep, I'd cook every single recipe. Now I looked at all the credits and there I discovered the treasure trove of creative people who contributed to the book. So I looked up photographer Brett Stevens and yep I'm impressed...which led me to his latest collaboration the cookbook 'Snow Flakes and Schnapps'. Equally impressive and beautifully done. The review of it is on a site called The Gastronomer's Bookshelf. I'm new to it. It's got reviews and ratings of cookbooks.

All these beautiful things translate to a monster wish list for me:

- I have to have both cookbooks
- I have to cook every recipe from 'Simply the best' simply to see if the book's really as good as I claim
- Find out more about B Stevens
- Contribute to The Gastronomer's Bookshelf
- Do another post about the collective creative community who contributed to 'Simply the best'

Plus figure out how all the bloggers get so many beautiful photos in their posts..oh well gotta start somewhere

Welcome back me!

Oh I got so caught up in quick posts on my Facebook site that I forgot about my blog. Now a million years has passed and the blog is looking woeful. And now I find I've got so much to share that Facebook is no longer enough and I need a blog! So here I find myself again. Oh my lord the art and design world is buzzing, there's so much happening...I keep posting great finds on FB and all I can say about each thing is 'Oh I love it' because everything I post, I do indeed love. Anyway let's get this blog on the road (again)

Creative songs/songwriters

I came a little late to the whole YouTube phenomenon, mainly because my audio on Internet files decided, mysteriously, to stop working some months ago. I've finally found a fix for that and now I'm a bit of a YouTube-a-holic. I've just looked up some of the songs that really stopped me in my tracks in 2009. Here's a couple

The Oscar winning song from the awesome movie 'Once' - 'Falling Slowly'. Love it. And can't stop listening to it. Over and over...

Gabriella's song from the movie 'As it is in heaven'. Unless you have seen the movie the vid may not make a lot of sense. And I couldn't find a good clip with subtitles. But still...have a listen.

And as I searched I found a nice acoustic version of Anna Nalick's 'Breathe'.

Creative for kids: Justine Clark

I used to cringe watching the Wiggles with my niece and nephew and was dreading having to listen to children's music with my daughter. I'm not sure why we treat our children as stupid little people and feed them a diet of ugly toys and silly music. Lots of people will disagree with me. I mean The Wiggles are fun and a total phenomenon and some of their songs are OK, but then I found Justine Clarke.

What a relief to find intelligent, funny and well written songs for kids. Justine Clarke's songs are simply not predictable. You wait for the corny rhyme that you think is coming and she suprises with something original. This is really thanks to Peter Dascent who pens the songs. There is a story-like quality to the songs which I love (for e.g. 'Mrs Knife and Mr Fork'). It's not easy to be original; Peter nails it.

In fact, I'd probably listen to the CD 'Songs to make you smile' while driving even if my daughter Layla wasn't in the car. 'Doin' it', the first track is the best of the bunch on that CD.

Justine's got a couple of Melbourne gigs in March. Check her website for the dates. I won't be there as Layla is still too small but either gig would be great.

Creative cooking: Tony Chiodo

We're fortunate in Melbourne to have access to some really inspiring chefs. Tony Chiodo offers something quite unique. We're lucky to have someone like him here in Melbourne. Tony is into beautiful, natural foods. His cooking style is clean and healthy and totally delicious. Tony cooked for me once and I've never forgotten the meal. His articles/recipes in the The Age and other foodie mags are always worth keeping.

Tony has an apprenticeship from Mietta's under his belt, experience with Aryveda and yoga, and is a macrobiotic and wholefoods teacher. I'd love to attend one of his cooking classes. His website says that he is now also offering cooking classes for children. I'm sure these would be fantastic. If my daughter was a little older I'd book us both in for sure.

Sand art

OK, I know what follows is not about anyone in Melbourne. But I just had to share it with you whilst I remember. There'll be more on Melbourne to come.

I can't think of a better way to start this blog than by recommending you watch a video of 24 year old Ukrainian artist Kseniya Simonova creating sand art. Check out the YouTube video . It shows Simonova creating a beautiful and moving artwork.

The work is about The Great Patriotic War, as it is called in Ukraine, which resulted in one in four of the population being killed with eight to 11 million deaths out of a population of 42 million.

It's so rare to see an artwork that is emotional and intelligent and in a medium which is really different. To be honest when I saw the words 'sand art' my expectations were pretty low, but I was mesmerised throughout the whole video.

Can you even begin to imagine how Ukrainians would feel watching this?