17 Years Ago, Jimi Hendrix and Art School

Not much survived art school… myself included.  I have only a few pieces still, most lost or damaged over the years. I remember at one time my little Datsun 180B was full of artworks.  The whole boot and back seat was piled high with works.  And there was a skull on the back shelf thingy… somehow it inspired me to create more.  I look back and wonder about all those works.  I remember some but not many.  I remember music was such a huge influence on everything I did.

 

Jimi Hendrix - pencil on paper (never finished)

Recycled fashion, the word vintage was hardly a spot on the horizon, I just loved creating something new from something someone didn’t want anymore.  Oh so many years ago.  Makes me smile when I look back and remember.  I often dream of being back in that time, carefree, creating, each day being inspired by my own creations.  Art, music, fashion… Seventeen years ago… and all I the time I aspired to fashion.  I used to look at the fashion students and wish I was them.  As much as I loved my art and that side of things. I was so influenced by fashion and would spend hours upon hours with my head in magazines.  Collaging my room, drawing the beautiful garments.  Writing about the feeling of the big feature editorial pages – full of high fashion models and amazingly stunning clothing.

My life gets so busy sometimes I feel like I’m the middle of a big bird frenzy…

Beautiful Daydream - Mixed media collage

The World of Fashion… The World of Art

Sarah Crawford - NUDES - Conte on Paper

The image I found today from a submission when I started sharing my creations on the Gold Coast.  It was for a gallery.  Made me smile just now – reminded me of where I have been and how inspired I was at that moment I put this together.  How happy I was and how much I loved my life.  If I shut my eyes now I recall the same feeling I had back then – white light and a beautiful peace and inspiration in my soul.

The world of fashion had all but completely taken over my life since I moved to Byron Bay – I loved being back in the industry, the pace and urgency of everything after a few years kicking back, painting and making the most of the beaches on the Gold Coast.  Fashion gives me the drive to keep creating, always reminding me of how lucky I am.  How else over the years would I have been able to travel the world and get paid to shop?  To sift through magazines, watch catwalk shows, draw pictures and at times – cut and paste!  Oh it hasn’t all been as easy as it sounds.  Ten days shopping from morning to night, day after day, sleeping on planes, the boutiques and stores all blending into one.  I don’t remember the clothes mostly (okay so I do remember that time in Barcelona I didn’t buy the white leather boots and I still feel anxious I missed out!) but I do remember the food.  And that’s just the travel part.  The long hours at a computer, the frustration and at times the tears from frustration – it’s an addiction though and it always draws me back.  But it’s time I take a break, time to explore once more, and once again to be back on the Gold Coast.

So now I am onto the next phase, back into the art world – fully emerged in art, day in day out.  Not just on my creations, but on those of others.  Helping launch an exciting new gallery in Broadbeach.  I tell you I’ve been fortunate.  I work hard so some would say I make my own luck – but I think there are so many people who work hard – sometime of us are just plain lucky.  Sometimes I think it’s being able to see the opportunities and filter through those that are good and those where you will learn.

I always say I crave a simple life – I’ve had anything but.  My life is like a film.  I could write each day and tell you of the adventures, it does make for good reading – it’s finding the time in the middle of the film to stop, take a breathe and fill you in on all that is missed… So maybe it’s an erratic piece of writing, you’re never quite sure where it all fits together.  It doesn’t always have a beginning, it definitely doesn’t have a end…

A rambler if ever there was one.  Oh yes I’m the contradiction.  I’m the observer.  The gatherer of information.  The voyeur of life.  I’m always watching.  You might wonder, if my life is a film, what part do you play?  You might be a lead without even knowing – often in my thoughts and an inspiration in my dreams.  Even the extras are mixed up in a web of intrigue, at any moment jumping in for their moment…