I've landed a MARLIN!

No no no!!   I've not been fishing,  I've been shopping!

My MARLIN Cruiser 6 was collected from the manufacturer this morning and it's CHOICE!  The wonderful Josh Stunell borrowed a car with tow bar and picked me up about 9.30.  We hit Erina at 10.45 ish and by 11.30 were registered, insured, hooked up and on the road.  By 12.30 she was home, unhitched and locked up in my carport!

I bought this little diamond after seeing her blue coloured sister opened and closed at the February Newcastle Camping and Caravanning Show.  The ease of set up is what sold me on her and today when Josh saw her opened and set up for the first time he was pretty impressed too!   I elected for an August delivery cos there was NO WAY i was going ANYWHERE under canvas thru winter!  So as spring springs into action next week it was time to collect her.

We arrived at Erina,  parked and walked around to the workshop.  I saw this sexy looking sleek black camper trailer waiting for collection and I hoped she was mine.  She was and she looked fantastic!  Thick black 16 inch wheels and spare, lots of checkerplate and shiny chrome stabiliser leg, handles and jockey wheel.   These awesome units are made by Steve and Chris and are made to suit your specifications.  I wanted a side hinge and extended drawbar and a stand up spare wheel thingy and Steve built her exactly as I wanted.

There was some paperwork to attend to, registration and the like. We opened her up, shut her back down and took some photos.  A not too tedious phone call to the insurance company saw us ready to roll. We hit the road and headed off on her maiden voyage!

I can't thank Josh, Steve and Chris enough.  And thanks too must go to the little old man who dragged me into the Cruiser 6 at that February show and pushed me to open and close it myself.  I have no idea who he was but I bought it because it is so easy for me to set up and pull down on my own.  I am so excited by my acquisition.  Now I just need a car to tow it!

Look up Marlin Campers on Facebook or go to their website at marlincampers.com.au

All photos in this blog are by the totally awesome Josh Stunell.

Art is where you find it!

On sunday 9 June I hit Art Bazaar in Maitland looking for a BIG piece of art to go over my bed.  It had to be landscape aspect, with warm pink/autumn tones. Painting, oil or acrylic, it didn't matter or it could be pen and ink or any combination of the above.    I had a couple of hundred bucks cash set aside for it and a credit card if it was what I wanted but more dollars than I had in folding.  I was keen!

I drove to Maitland. It's a nice run on a sunny sunday, even in a twenty year old rust bucket.   Got a great park, most unusual for me and wandered into the market.  There were people EVERYWHERE. All rugged up in hats and scarves. Winter dress.   I probably didn't dress appropriately. It was short sleeves for me, but it was only cold in the shade.   There were between 50 and 60  stalls there. All with an artistic bent, mostly members of the Hunter Art Network (HAN).  I browsed and wandered and browsed some more and I found........ nothing.   Well nothing unless I wanted a beanie knitted to look like a goldfish or a light fitting made out of an old bottle. Fantastic pieces, but just not what I was after.  There were some mosaic house numbers and kids attire, some glass work but the busiest stall by far was the coffee van.

There was one dude selling original paintings and drawings and he had ONE image I liked.  The right tones, interesting egg tempera paint (egg mixed with powdered pigment) and it was of a seed husk, repeated over and over.  I liked it.  BUT, and there is always a but.  It was too small and portrait aspect.
I considered framing it up with the matte covering his signature and in a BIG frame to get the size I wanted, but....well I just wasn't right.  So I took his card, but left the work there.

Disappointed I came home and decided to look for an image or my own to have made into a canvas. Now you would think that with over 2000 images on my flickr page it would have been easy to find a shot. Yeah..Nuh!  I looked at shot after shot and saw nothing I wanted on my wall.  I already have 2 originals oils in the bedroom and one mixed media modern painting.  So the decision was even harder to make.

My good buddy KB suggested I take a pic of the bedroom and she would work her graphic design magic to make my chosen image appear in situ.  That was so sweet, but I didn't take her up on it......and maybe I should have!  KB is a working mum with her own business as well, so the last thing I wanted was to impose on her weekend with a work related enquiry. Even though I know she was cool with it!    Eventually I found and image I liked and thought would work.  Next task was to find a reasonably prices canvas printer.  KB uses an overseas based company that is the bees knees, but I am a bit of a "keep it in AU" kinda girl.   I do have one canvas in the hallway. It was printed at Domayne about 6 years ago when they printed canvas on site and you stretched and sealed it yourself. It's held up well, obviously due to my excellent stretching and sealing skills!!!  Sadly they no longer offer that service.

I called on the knowledge base of Rebecca, or Farmer Hamby as she is often called.  She has done a few canvasses and pointed me in the right direction.  Eventually I found a 100% Aussie company that had a zillion different sizes to choose from but most importantly fixed and reasonably priced delivery.

Uploading was easy, choosing the type of border was harder. Order placed with a 10 day turnaround.

                                                          Here is the image I used.

And here it is hung.