Fun had in Ezra Pound

I suppose any bar that calls itself Ezra Pound is going to be a bar that offers artistic types inspiration. I mean, I know that's why I went out of my way to go there while I was here in Perth.



From the red velvet couches, to the murals on the walls, to the cabinet of old books that I want to own, this place was divine. But it was one mural in particular that inspired me.



As I was sitting at the chair, sipping my red wine, the lazy laughing eyes of this mural were staring back at me, tempting me away from the conversation going on with my three companions, whispering of the story it had to tell.

For it was, betimes, an entry into the Underground; the world that had been created for the fae to skip between freely when they were cast out of Ireland. Entry ways like this exist in many places, all leading to the one Underground, sort of like the idea of the One Forest of Charles de Lint fame. The bar is a favourite for the creatures of the Underground, so close to the entryway of their home.

There were more people who walked past us in our unsuspecting chairs and did not come back out. The barman, almost certainly a magician, creates the glamour for these fae creatures in the backroom and the doorman, almost certainly a hunching goblin, escorts us out when the lights of the bar have dimmed. It's time for us to go, so that the fae can play.





Nikki.

Front Cover for The Fairy Girl

Well, it's more simple than I'd imagined, but nicer than if I'd continued sticking things to it and risking it looking cluttered.

Voila!



Today's the first day that I've even seen clouds since being in Perth. As such, I've decided against going out today and am set to knock around at home. And run through the treasures I located in a Salvos scrap bag yesterday.



Exactly half of a full length dress. The front side, as you can see from the below picture, has been completely unpicked.



The lines of color are part of the material, not sewn on as I originally thought. It's a stunning blast from the past.

Insomnia & Cover designs

Last night, was a lovely night. I'd just been in the spa, had two glasses of muscat, showered then sat copying out the latest story for my next chapbook. About the time it got to be able twelve, I was fairly relaxed. I wasn't exhausted, but I was happy to have some sleepy-time.

Ha ha, I realise now. Famous last words.

I commenced to lay in bed, eyes closed, wide awake, for a full hour before I got up to jot some creative ideas down. For, you see, I've recently found a couple of mixed media collages on etsy, and they have inspired me! I don't assume that I can do anything so striking as the ones you'll see there. But it occurred to me, the last picture you guys saw, my front cover was rather... blank.



Not that interesting. I knew that I could do better than that, but I just didn't know what yet. Hey presto, at just after one o'clock in the morning, I had much more of an idea, a projected sketch that I simply had to get up out of bed at one in the morning to do.



Crepe paper and ribbons and feathers and coins, brightly coloured and striking. The more I get into this craft stuff, the more I realise I miss primary school art. You know, before they started telling you how to do art *right*.

Anyway, most of the materials I want to use are at my real home, in Melbourne. So when I get back there, I'm sure to have more photos of my latest experiment.

And hopefully, by posting here, I'll manage to get to sleep tonight...

Almost a year to the day since I last posted.

Today I find myself visiting a friend in Perth. Now, I knew, when I started packing for this outing, that this is a friend who tends to inspire creativity in me. And, just lucky for me, I had a project in mind.

For the past year, I've been working on a series of vignettes focused narrowly around the theme of modern-day fairytales. Much more recently, I have learned the art of Japanese book binding. With a small amount of prompting from some friends of mine, I was persuaded to the idea of writing up and binding these stories into little chapbooks that look a little something like this:



I'm pretty pleased with it. Covered with black cartridge paper, the spine has been sewn with green embroidery thread. You can see the ink and dip pen I've used to write with in the picture. For a better look at the writing itself:



The story inside is my take on W. B. Yeats' poem 'The Stolen Child', but from the fairy changeling's point of view. The next story, which I've just started working on, is about a changeling girl who's grown up with a human family and experiences some amount of disconnect. It's the writing from this story that's visible in the picture above.

Currently still deciding whether these will be put up on my etsy page. At the moment, I'm liking being able to hold and look at my new creative pretties!

Nikki.