April: In the studio
Imaginationscapes, repairs, and a great podcast + doco.
Hello friends,
A quick note to you before April turns to May.
It’s been a full month in and out of the studio, with school holidays and interstate fam side-lining the studio flow, but bringing autumn adventure instead, which has been awesome.
In the studio this month…
I’ve found many moments at the edges of my days this month to work on my new obsession - drawing ‘Imaginationscapes’. It’s a word I’m using to describe a big explosion of ideas for our future garden all wrapped up into a colourful drawing.
It’s like a landscape design, except it’s not to scale, nor is it constrained by the limiting reality of things like access, sun angles, or rainfall - the only limit is my imagination which has made it such a fun and inspiring project to work on.
Next up I’m drawing a community imaginationscape. I crowd-sourced the ideas from the collective imagination of my Instagram mates, and boy did they come up with the goods.
I’m currently trying to cram about 30 joyous ideas for the community of our collective dreams onto one page. I occasionally post updates to Instagram if you’d like to follow along.
Other than trying to get my new obsession under control, I’ve been to 2 repair cafes this month, our regular one and we went along to help start a new one at Dodges Ferry too, which was a great success.
I also had a hoot at my first PlasticWise Eastside monthly sewing bee. It was great to muck-in and help make reclaimed fabric bags that go to our local IGA to help shoppers quit plastic bags.
A few last things…
An uplifting podcast that made me feel hopeful about the future of our cities: Making Melbourne The World’s Most ‘Self-Sufficient’ City, With Consultant Will Young, by The Design Files Talks.
Last newsletter I wrote all about my Free Community Event Marketing Plan: An open-source resource for your community group. It led to a flurry of downloads, so hopefully there are many community groups out there finding it helpful.
Finally, The Last Repair Shop, is an Oscar-winning Documentary Short on Youtube that was a beautiful watch.
That’s all from me this month, I hope yours has been ace.
Hi Nat, when I was a kid,I read a lot of books, most memorably, Anne of Green Gables. Inspired by Anne and her vivid imagination and adoration of nature, I would draw very detailed pictures of what my house would look like when I grew up. I wanted a house with a big wrap around verandah, a picket fence and a stream that ran right through the garden. Even as a small child I would pick flowers from our garden and arrange them in vases, and re-style my room on the regular. I completely love the concept of the Imaginescape, reading about this completely made my day. Thank you for the lovely reminder to continue the dream ❤️
I love the idea of an imagination scape! Very cool way of making a first step to making something concrete. Xo