The votes are in, and our theme for 2012 is The Soul Within! get your thinking caps on, & get creative!

sorry this isnt going to work like it can on facebook (the facebook group is Pain Awareness Month if you want to go and join the discussion there) but comment below & i’ll answer what questions i can & post your comments soon as i can!
have fun

x

Nix

IMPORTANT! its voting time! we have narrowed it down to two potential themes for this years competition, and to give you lots of time to create awesome amazing artworks, we’re deciding (and advertising) the theme early this year – and you get to pick! the two themes are below. if you want ‘the soul within’, vote “Strawberry”; if you want ‘strength/structure/support” vote “rhubarb”. i’ve outlined a basic synopsis of each theme, but i’ll start another thread for questions or discussion on the potential themes. at the end of the week i add up all the votes (from this page, from the facebook page, and from the group, phew confusing) and theres our theme!

THE SOUL WITHIN – an illustration of the ‘you’ behind what people see of you; the ‘you’ that you would be if you had the chance; or the person you see in your friend/partner/loved one without their illness/condition defining them. What keeps you fighting, the part that keeps you striving to move forward despite whats pulling you back – no matter how small or weak you might think that part to be, trust me, its there. (personal note – i love this theme because it will {hopefully} make you think about that part of you and the strength required in you just to get up in the morning, and start to appreciate yourself for that and reflect the beauty & strength of it in your artworks)

STRENGTH/STRUCTURE/SUPPORT – more abstract, but this one has an awesome range of possible interpretations. the strength behind you & in your support network, the structure of your body and where it is strong or damaged, the structures that enable you to function despite your body, the structure you’ve built up around you of your doctors, therapists, friends and family who support you, your body that supports you, the structures that support you & your support network – or any of those seen from an outside perspective. (personal note – i love this theme because of the thousand ways it could and will be interpreted and the multiple ways it will resonate with people. it’ll make for some fun & really different artworks!)

I was off the grid last week – i’ve finally found a massage therapist that can go hard enough to get rid of the knots in my entire body, but the fallout isnt pretty! hoping my body adjusts soon as i’m not fond of dizzyness, nausea, & generally feeling crappy.

anyway! good news is, thanks to Leesha Ragdoll the second donation has gone out to the Child Cancer Foundation today! along with a note explaining where and who it came from, so thank you Leesha
i’ll get there, slowly

Hey guys

well…. its been a while. I havent been very well, unfortunately, the Auction and competition took a bit too much out of me

wow! proven by the fact that i paused in this to curl up with my manthing for a bit and then.. couldnt move. I’m getting massive muscle spasms at the moment, and they’re everywhere, all at once. Its…. inconvenient, among other things, but i’ve got a training routine in place to get muscletone back and am trialling a bunch of massage therapists in the hope of finding someone who can give me the pressure and intensity i need to function.

Anyway! The first donation has finally gone out, to K.W.A.N.Z (Kids with arthritis NZ) thanks to Rachel Donnelly. I’m organising the rest, most payments have come through though there are still pieces waiting to be picked up (hint, hint ;P) and i’ll work through them and pass on updates as i go. in total, we raised $960 towards various charities, and the auction was a huge success – at least according to the people who were there. Bex (aka Rose Noire) stepped in at the last minute to help organise it and i couldnt have done it without her. i will attempt to write up a full list of all the performers, helpers and generally wonderfully supportive people that have helped this year, but i know i would forget at least some and i couldnt forgive myself so i’ll leave it as – you know who you are, and thank you

I’ve been on hiatus… sort of enforced by my body, unplanned, and not entirely restful, as there have been other factors (real life) adding to the body crap that comes as part of the deal…. but its been good all the same. we’re reorganizing the house to give me more space to stretch, doing a clean out and generally setting things  up so i can work from bed if i have to (which i’ve had to) but i can rotate the setup and work from my swiss ball or out of bed if i can.

I’ve been contemplating recording my.. fight back to functionality on this website.. but i’m not sure where and our web designer seems to have disappeared (or changed his email) so i cant set up a separate blog page. i’ve brought myself from unable to walk (which i’m not quite at, yet. some days, but not others) to functioning four times since i got fibromyalgia – mostly due to stubborness and not knowing when to stop – and i know some of the techniques and practises i use are a bit unorthodox, taken from various martial arts, feldenkreiss and alexander technique classes, dance lessons and random shit that i made up as i went along – but i feel like they might help. Might be useful to someone.

of course, it would involve sorting out videos of me stretching, and – well, general organising, which i’m not very good at at the moment, so we’ll see. let me know if its something you would be interested in, an inside viewpoint if you will, and i’ll consider it

much love to all of you, and i hope you’re AWAP… i wish i could give you more, and i hope with the help of others who have offered, year three of pain Awareness Month will be bigger, better and more beautiful

oh! we’re also discussing potential themes for next year, so please chime in if you have ideas
Mwah xo

Nix

Just this minute got back from the charity auction. The guys at Tabac were amazing, Kevin you rock & we’ll definately be seeing you next year! Bex.. without you this wouldn’t've happened… and the same goes to Jessa, Jackie, Jared, Dean, Ryan, Trav, and Jenny.

thank you Anthony for the amazing cakes, Conrad for hooking us up with amazing sound and Boyd for the lights.

our performers just rocked… Evie Gordon, amazing as always, Zvi Indyk rocking some awesome tunes and making the room rock with you, Sam Wheeler i know you were nervous but you sounded amazing. start working on material for next year! Kristie Addison (a cut-down Transit of Venus) i’ve missed hearing you play, and suprised myself by still being able to sing along to some of it. Diamond Fist Willie.. well the name says it all and you definitely lived up to it. & lastly Le Freque & Steve. just beautiful.

Natalie Hugill, you held it together, dragged it out, sped it up and were generally amazing and bubbly and just great.  Plus you dealt with my garbled additions every five seconds with aplomb. SO getting you to come back next year

we have video and camera footage of this event (thanks to quite a few people) so hopefully there’ll be footage for those of you who had to miss the actual event! yay. at some point in the future we’ll get to the point of getting full web coverage during the event, but not quite yet.

Lastly…. as a rough estimate, if everyone comes through, we have raised $880 this year, which is almost TWICE what we raised last year. Congratulations guys!! i can imagine a lot of Pain Charities will be very happy, and i’m personally thrilled, and in shock!

Some of the pieces will still be available on the website for purchase after the auction, we’re in negotiations with the artists now, so they’ll be available at a later date.

The standard of art since last year has gone up (several pieces were bought on behalf of an art foundation) the amount of enthusiasm has grown… next year (forbidding any unforeseen hospital type incidents) we will improve organisation, publicity, planning… and use what i’ve learnt this year to avoid the same pitfalls. If any of you are interested in being involved and helping out in any way, Please email me and let me know – be specific, if you only want to hand out fliers, say that. if the thought of having to turns your stomach, thats also important information to have! we need the team to be more than me, so if i fail the competition or auction doesnt fail -which almost happened this year.

Heres to bigger an brighter things – and to you, my amazingly talented friends
thank you for making this year possible
(& trav i love you)
xoxxo!
Nix

but theres no way i’ll get all the pieces up on teh pieces for sale page in time. i’m trying to make labels for pieces tomorrow and my back has gone mental again and is making it difficult.

all the printed pieces have been printed, theres still two physical pieces to get but they’re being delivered tomorrow. all the performers are sorted & the event is on so see you there!

xo

Nix

YAY!

Ryan just dropped off the canvases (the digital pieces that Harvey Norman Wairau Park and Hauraki Picture Framers sponsored us to print)  and they look AWESOME! All set up to hang and i cant wait to hang them

It wierd… i know i said this last year but it truly feels like its not really real until the auction.. like its me imagining things or something & then all these actual pieces of art and people turn up and i start wondering what the hell happened! In a good way

We’ve lost Plum Green, unfortunately, with the date change. we have picked up some more amazing artists who i’ll add to the artists page once i get their blurbs, & i’ll add the pieces which are now guaranteed up for auction up as i can.. they might not get up before the auction, but i’ll do my best. sorry.. forming full sentences is a little beyond me right now.

see you sunday. ill be the one curled up in the corner
xo
Nix

Many thanks to the sponsors of our auction!

Tabac Bar of course, who are letting us use their gorgeous space and gear and staff and are just generally awesome.

Paul Broadhurst from Harvey Norman Wairau Park who are helping us with printing the digital entries onto canvases, and Hauraki Picture Framers who are framing them all for us.

For me at this point though, its mostly about Rose Noire, Ryan van Heerden and my Travis King, who have pretty much entirely taken over organising.. well, everything. It looks like i’m out for the count at this point unfortunately, and they’re helping keep everything running smoothly. Thank you guys

we have some amazing artists performing and a fabulous MC for the night Natalie Hugill, who i cant wait to see in action again.. i just need to get her all her info! off to do that now, add some more to the performers information now we have confirmations, stretch like hell and hopefully sleep at some point soon! fingers crossed
see you Sunday!

Hey guys

the charity auction is now November 6th not November 5th – so a sunday not the saturday advertised. I’d been unable for various reasons to confirm the date with Tabac so we had to shift it.

i’m also trying to sort out hand over of the organisation of the auction to other people, as i’m obviously no longer fit enough to do it.. i’ve been touch & go through the whole competition, but now i’m seriously struggling. i need to concentrate on my doctors appointments and self management to try and regain some of the functionality i’ve lost this year.

i’m also going away for a few days for some badly needed headspace and a change of scene. hoping it helps.
talk soon
Nix