Volcom skirt and knit; vintage Harley Davidson boots and shirt. 

The last month of the Melbourne winter is a good time to visit the northern hemisphere. When your resources for dealing with freezing mornings and too-long nights are all but worn through, it's nice to go somewhere warm, humid and wild. Somewhere dense and lush with summer life; somewhere with sunlight so sharp you involuntarily shield your eyes; somewhere very far away from the memory of toes aching in your boots and ice sparkling on the train-station wheelie bins. 

So when I return from the northern hemisphere this weekend, I'm hoping that winter will be gone.  Hoping that Melbourne will be changing into more agreeable garb: something patched together out of daylight savings, weekend camping escapes, afternoon beers in the sun, and rambling walks with the dog. And I'll be hoping that it's time to put away the coats and jumpers and start cutting the sleeves off my shirts and the legs off my jeans... well, maybe in a couple of months. 

This afternoon I’m flying up to Sydney for a crazy couple of days of all-girl art madness… The above photos give a sneaky little peek into what I’ve been working on over the past few weeks in preparation for this weekend.

The Curvy Creative Conference opens at Ambush Gallery with an exhibition on Thursday evening, and we’re following it up with a panel/workshop/hang out at the Volcom School of Cool on Friday. I’ll be answering questions on the panel (scary!) alongside some hugely successful creatives from a whole bunch of different fields: typographer Gemma O’Brien, Volcom creative director Kimberley Reynolds, tattoo artist Lauren Winzer, Ainsley Hutchence from Sticks and Stones Agency, just to name a few… Then Gemma will be hosting a typography workshop, and I’ll be working on a denim jacket painting.

Unfortunately, I can’t hang around for day two of the Curvy conference (I’m heading to Japan!), but there’s amazingly talented creative geniuses speaking on both days, so it’s definitely worth checking out if you’re in the area.

More info here. 

Lately I've been working on some out-of-the-ordinary creations: gluing thousands of beads to skulls, filling mini-bar bottles with flowers and resin, sticking little glittery jewels on the inside of abalone shells... Creations that might be an attempt to communicate magic; to share the way some things resonate and hum; to make literal the special significance that embellishes every day objects when seen through my eyes. 

So, with my brain three-quarters consumed with thoughts about the realities of magic, here's what's left: some colourful pages in my sketchbooks, and some half-hatched ideas for the upcoming Curvy exhibition in Sydney later this week.  It's going to be pretty awesome, so if you're in Sydney, come along to aMBUSH Gallery on Thursday night!

I'm also part of the Volcom School of Cool panel and workshops on Friday – which is day one of the Curvy Conference – where a whole bunch of talented women will talk about their work and careers. After the panel discussion, I'll be painting up a denim jacket while Gemma O'Brien runs a short typography workshop. So much fun stuff happening this week!

We left home in the dark, driving south down the peninsula with only a rough idea of where we might go. The world turned dusky and grey around us while we drove, the day starting to seep in along tree tops and horizon edges. We stopped in an empty car park, then set off down a track, down some stairs. More colours steadily leeched in with the daylight.

And just as we headed around into a little cove, the sun broke over the distant headlands, throwing all it's flashy, fluorescent colours up onto the low clouds. Celebratory colours because it wasn't raining, because we weren't it the city, weren't at work, stuck in traffic or on commuter trains full of sad suits. Celebratory colours because we were somewhere alone, quiet, empty. Not sharing space with strangers. Or with concrete and plastic and mechanical sounds.

Just us and the big ocean. 

Just us and a little window on the quiet wild world.